Palm Sunday - Doing God's Will

The first ticker tape parade was for Gertrude Ederle, who swam across the English Channel in 1926. The next year, there was a parade for Lindbergh for flying across the Atlantic. We have ticker tape parades for our baseball champions and our Superbowl champions. We seem to love to cheer on our heroes. Today, we celebrate another hero coming into the big city – Jesus enters into Jerusalem. Just like our ticker tape parades, this was a big event. People were cheering for Jesus. They were celebrating his arrival into the city where they expected him to reign over the nation and the world.

As we look back at Palm Sunday, we see it through a historical lens. We recognize that Palm Sunday was the day that Jesus came to Jerusalem, but more importantly, it was the day that marked the beginning of the end of Jesus’ earthly ministry. We know that though today, the streets are filled with people cheering him on, calling out, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord,” and “Hosanna in the highest,” we know that in five days, the crowds will be chanting another phrase – “Crucify Him!” So, as we recognize and remember that the crowds celebrated Jesus’ coming into the city, we know that God had a plan that was being played out over the next week that would change the world.

So as we look at Palm Sunday, it is important that we see what God was doing here and how everyone did their part, or didn’t do their part, to accomplish God’s work.

So first, what was God doing? Why was Jesus going to Jerusalem in the first place? We know from the book of John, and from common sense, that Jesus would have gone to Jerusalem before. Knowing that he was around 33 years old when he came into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, we have to assume that he must have been to the city at least once or twice a year since there were three holidays which called for the people to assemble in Jerusalem.. If we use some round numbers, we can assume that Jesus came into Jerusalem 2 times a year for 30 years, so he came to Jerusalem at least 60 times. In none of those other times do we see a parade for him. But this time it was different. Before Palm Sunday, Jesus’ time hadn’t come yet. But on Palm Sunday, his time had come and Jesus knew it, his disciples knew it and the people knew it. It was now the right time for God’s plan for salvation, the plan that He had in place since the beginning of time. God was preparing for the next part of His sovereign and perfect plan.

So as it was now Jesus’ time, we have the opportunity to see how certain people reacted to God’s sovereign plan. Did people do their part or did they hold back? And as we look at the reaction of these different people, we need to look at ourselves and see who we are similar to.

Let’s read Luke 19:29-36. In verse 29, we see that Jesus gives two of his disciples very specific instructions for attaining a colt to ride into the city. Could Jesus have just gone and gotten the colt himself? Of course! But he chose to use his followers to do his work. Jesus is like that. He knows that there are times where he can do something himself but he waits for his followers to do something so that he can continue his work. In this case, his two followers need to follow very specific instructions to get the colt. They follow his instructions exactly and everything goes exactly as planned. That is the great thing about Jesus. If we follow his instructions to the letter, things will turn out exactly as planned. If we remember that his plans are always better than our plans, we should follow his instructions to the letter as well. Are we like the disciples? Do we follow Jesus’ instructions even though there might be conflict? Jesus will take care of us even in the conflict, just as he did with his disciples, giving them the right words to say when the occasion arises.

Starting in verse 41, we read that Jesus weeps over Jerusalem. Why is he weeping? He weeps because he knows that he is going to be rejected by the leaders and hence by the people. He knows that if they had accepted him, he would have been able to bring in his kingdom and reign forever. But he knew that they were not ready to accept him. They were not ready to allow Jesus to be their king, their lord. Is Jesus speaking to any of us today, asking us to accept him, to allow him to be our king and our lord. Many people go to church and pray to God, but do they allow Jesus to be their Lord? Being Lord means being the king, being the head honcho. Being the guy who makes all the decisions. Who’s in control of your life? Are you in control, afraid to let Jesus take over because you aren’t sure what that will mean for your life. If you are still making your own choices, then you haven’t given it up to Jesus. If you are not doing those things that you know God is calling you to do, then you haven’t given it up to Jesus. If you think that you will give it up to him at some point, but you are just not ready to give it up to him yet, then you have not given it up to Jesus. I can’t tell you how many people I know who claim to have given it up to Jesus and yet won’t do what he is calling them to do. They say all the right things, but they know deep down that they haven’t given 150-percent to try to do what Jesus is calling them to do. Are you one of those people who have plans to give it up to him but haven’t done it yet? Don’t be like the people in Jerusalem who thought they would do God’s will when they were ready. When the time came, Jesus wept for them because they hadn’t given themselves up to him.

Sadly, this has resulted in terrible times for the Jewish people. In verse 42, Jesus says that because they didn’t give it up to him, they would be blinded to the truth that would bring them peace. This is the peace that surpasses all understanding. The peace that comes from Jesus, not as the world gives it, but as only Jesus can give it. Jesus continues by prophesying that their city would be sieged upon, they would see the destruction of their temple and that they would even lose their lives. All because they were determined to keep control for themselves. Hence, they have seen the loss of their land, the destruction of their temple, suffering and persecution for centuries building up to the horrors of the Holocaust. Jesus saw all of this coming and it all could have been avoided if they had just given it over to Jesus and he wept because of their hardheartedness. If you have not given control over to Jesus yet, then do not wait until you feel like it. Do not wait until it is a good time for you. Do not wait and take the chance that you will miss “the time of God’s coming to you”. If you do, you set yourself up for a fall that is unnecessary and painful.

So, we can find ourselves like the disciples, who heard Jesus’ instructions for what they were to do, and followed those instructions and allowed Jesus to be in charge. OR we can be like the Jewish leaders and Jerusalem, who did not listen to Jesus and paid the terrible price of loss of everything. It is our choice. Meanwhile, we can take solace in knowing the Jesus himself was obedient unto the cross. He knew that it was the Father’s perfect timing for him to enter into Jerusalem and prepare for his death as a sacrifice for our sins.

Luke 18:31-34 Jesus took the Twelve aside and told them, "We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled. He will be handed over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, insult him, spit on him, flog him and kill him. On the third day he will rise again."  The disciples did not understand any of this. Its meaning was hidden from them, and they did not know what he was talking about.

Matt 20:28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.

We see from these verses that Jesus knew what was coming. He knew that he was going to be sacrificed in a terrible way. Yet he followed the Father’s instructions. He continued on the right path until it was done. Like the disciples following his instructions, Jesus would be obedient to the Father. It is for this reason that we can now call heaven our home, and why we have the hope of the New Testament that we may suffer and struggle in this world, but we have prepared for us by Jesus a place where there is eternal life.

Will we give our control over to Jesus? Will we let him be our Lord and rule over us? Will we do what Jesus did and give up our lives so that we can gain our lives? Praise be to Jesus that he gave up his life so that in heaven and on earth, every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that he is Lord, to the glory of the Father.

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Last modified: April 4, 2009