Word & Deed: Palm Sunday

Alternate Sermon Titles: Donkey Day or The King Who Stops

Scripture References: Matthew 20:29-34, Matthew 21:1-11, Isaiah 35:4-6, Psalm 118, Matthew 27 (Referenced)

Intro: Welcome to this sermon! Today, we're looking at Palm Sunday, the start of Passion Week, Jesus' Triumphant Entry into Jerusalem. It’s a pivotal moment described in all four Gospels. While often called Palm Sunday (though only John mentions palms), the focus might actually be on the donkey. This event showcases the unique nature of King Jesus – a king unlike any earthly ruler. We see the crowds finally giving Jesus praise, shouting "Hosanna!" (Save Now!), recognizing Him as the Son of David, the promised Messiah. But even in this moment of seeming triumph, Jesus reveals His true character and mission.

Key Points:

1. The King Who Stops for the Hurting (Matt 20:29-34):
   • On His way to Jerusalem, knowing the immense weight of the week ahead (suffering, death, atonement), Jesus is interrupted by two blind beggars crying out, "Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!"
   • The crowd tries to silence them, wanting Jesus to have His moment.
   • But Jesus stops. He doesn't brush them off. He asks, "What do you want me to do for you?"
   • He shows compassion and heals them. This reveals the heart of our King – He has time for the marginalized, even amidst His most critical mission. He stoops down.
2. The King Who Rides a Borrowed Donkey (Matt 21:1-11):
   • Jesus deliberately fulfills prophecy (Zechariah 9:9) by choosing a donkey, not a warhorse.
   • Palms symbolized military victory and nationalism (like the Maccabean revolt). The crowd wanted that kind of king – one to overthrow Rome.
   • Jesus chose the donkey – a symbol of peace, humility, and service (a beast of burden). He was signalling a different kind of kingship, a different way of saving. He comes to carry burdens, not conquer with force.
   • It wasn't even His donkey! He borrowed it, showing humility and dependence, yet also authority ("The Lord needs it"). He owns nothing, yet everything.
3. The King Who Defies Expectations (Matt 21:10-11, Matt 27):
   • The crowd acclaimed Him King, shouting "Hosanna!" (Save Now!), expecting a political/military Messiah to defeat Rome. They chanted Psalm 118 but added titles like "Son of David" and "King of Israel."
   • Jesus' mission was different. He came to conquer a greater enemy: sin and death. He targeted hypocrisy within Israel, not just external oppressors.
   • This disconnect led the same crowd, just days later, to shout "Give us Barabbas!" – choosing a violent insurrectionist over the humble King on a donkey. They preferred their expectations over the King they actually got.
   • Jesus isn't a consultant or a vending machine fulfilling our demands. He is King.

Conclusion: Palm Sunday reveals the heart of King Jesus. He is compassionate, stopping for the needy even on His "big day." He is humble, riding a borrowed donkey, signaling peace and service, not earthly power. He challenges our expectations, calling us not just to praise Him when He fits our mold, but to submit to Him as Lord even when His ways aren't our ways. He came to deal with our deepest problem – sin and death – through His own suffering and sacrifice.

Call to Action: As we reflect on this King, let's examine our own hearts. Do we treat Jesus like a consultant or a vending machine, only following when it suits us? Or do we submit to Him as King, trusting His ways even when they don't align with our expectations? He is a King who can be trusted – one familiar with suffering, humble enoug

Transcript

It's not often that I preach in a hat. Maybe I've never preached in a hat. But when you get a new Cubs hat on the same day that they beat the Dodgers, 16 to zero,

I don't know.

Matthew 20, verse 29,

"As Jesus and His disciples were leaving Jericho, a large crowd followed Him.

And two blind men were sitting by the roadside, and when they heard that Jesus was going by, they shouted, "Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!" The crowd rebuked them, told them, "Be quiet."

But they shouted all the louder, "Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!" Jesus stopped and called them, "What do you want me to do for you?" He asked. "Lord," they answered, "we want our sight."

And Jesus had compassion on them. He touched their eyes. Immediately they received their sight and followed Him.

As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethpage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, "Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you'll find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her.

Untie them, bring them to Me. If anyone says anything to you, say that the Lord needs them, and He will send them right away."

This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophets, "Say to daughter Zion, see your King comes to you."

Gentle, riding on a donkey and on a colt, the foal of a donkey. The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them. They brought the donkey and the colt and placed their cloaks on them for Jesus to sit on.

A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road. That's a very, by the way, this is not a part of the sermon, but that's a very expensive piece of clothing. Most people would have had only one cloak.

So think about your wardrobe and what's something that you only have one of.

That's what the cloak was. That's what they're laying on the ground before Him.

Others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road, and the crowds that went ahead of Him and those that followed shouted, "Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!"

When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, "Who is this?" And the crowds answered, "This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth and Galilee."

Easter is for sure the Super Bowl for us as believers, but the whole week leading up to Easter is very significant for us. And so today we're celebrating Jesus' triumphant entry into Jerusalem. We're celebrating the start of what we call Passion Week.

So the text that we just read describes that scene, describes what we call Palm Sunday.

All four gospels cover this event, which says something. This is really significant. All four writers wrote about this day. It's only in John's gospel, believe it or not, that we're told that they're palm branches.

Only in one of the four accounts are they called that.

Luke tells us that all this praise is coming Jesus' way. The crowds are shouting, "Hosanna in the highest!" Everyone's screaming their brains out. And the religious leaders are like, "Hey, could you shut this down?

We need to turn the volume down on what's happening here." And Jesus famously says to them, "If these people don't cry out, the rocks will.

Even the rocks will recognize me on this day." I've always thought this is some sort of backhanded way to say like, "You're dumber than a pile of rocks if you don't recognize me on this day." This is a powerful scene.

And I think for us as Christians, we've been reading the gospels. This event happens at the end of the gospel accounts. And so much of the time, who Jesus is is kind of under wraps.

He's kind of operating secretly. He's telling people not to tell anyone. He's healing people and saying, "Don't talk about this. I don't want the attention." But finally, here on Palm Sunday, we feel like he's finally getting his due.

He's finally getting praised and recognized for what he's done. People are finally giving him what he so rightfully deserves.

Now, you know the story, and you probably know that the tide of public opinion turns against him, and the crowds kind of fickle. But on this day, he's on fire.

And it's such a joy to read and think about. And I just want to make three observations from this text, and then we'll get to worship and lift our voices in praise.

So three observations from Palm Sunday. The first is that the hero of our story stops and takes a call.

As they went out of Jericho, he's headed to Jerusalem, and Jesus set his face like flint towards Jerusalem. He knows where he's headed.

He knows what's about to happen.

And a great crowd starts following him, and he's gaining momentum. And then two blind guys start screaming out, "Lord, have mercy on a son of David." And the crowd starts yelling, probably what we would yell, like, "Hey, be quiet.

Can't you see he's finally getting his due?

Can't you see he's finally getting a moment for himself?

He's been serving, serving, serving for three years, and now we're going to be parading and celebrating, so just shush.

He's been dealing with the sick for three years now. It's his day, just turn it down.

Be silent." But they just kept screaming all the more.

And then Jesus stops, and he asks them, "What do you want to do for me?" And they say, "We want our sight."

And Jesus had pity on them, and he touched them, and immediately they recovered their sight. And I love this about King Jesus.

I love this about our hero.

This is the leader we want.

This is the leader we love.

He's got momentum.

The crowd's worked up.

And how many of you know, if he's going to Jerusalem and he knows what's going to happen in Jerusalem, that he's got some stuff on his mind?

How many of you know Jesus has some things on his plate?

He's got a big week. On his to-do list for the week is conquering death,

taking on the sins of the world, being forsaken by God in the process, being tortured by a group of people who perfected the art of torture and dividing B.C. from A.D. How many know he's got a big week ahead of him?

And I just can't get over the fact that in that process, he takes a call from beggars,

and he stoops down,

and he doesn't just say, "Be healed and be quiet."

Can't you see I got something to do?

He asks the question,

"What do you want me to do for you?"

Now I don't know about you guys, but when I'm busy and I've got a to-do list,

I rarely ask the question, "What would you like me to do for you?" In fact, everything about me exudes, "Don't stop that guy or ask him to do anything for you."

I'm putting off that vibe on purpose just to keep people from taking more from me.

And here he is on the day that he's being paraded, and he stops and he asks these guys, "Hey, on my day,

what can I do for you?" And of course, the miracle of them recovering sight and the restoration of their sight is amazing.

Jesus' authority over sickness is amazing. But what's really amazing to me is what this reveals about the character of our God,

the character of the leader we long for,

the character of our King who would stop,

stoop down, and ask a beggar on his big day, "What can I do for you?" It's beautiful.

So these guys are screaming out, "Son of David," which it's a term that might just pass us up, but it's a really loaded term.

The title "Son of David" is a reference to God's promised Messiah, the anointed one. And this anointed one is going to deliver Israel from their oppressors and lead them into a place of strength and prominence again.

So where they're not being dominated by other nations, for 600 years they've been dominated by other nations. And God's promised Messiah was going to lead Israel into a place of such strength that the nations were going to come to them.

No longer were they going to be under the foot of other nations. They were going to be led to a place of prominence and the nations were going to flood to them. So this term "Son of David" is super loaded, and we don't have any idea how these blind guys knew that this is who Jesus was. But either way, news reaches them, and I think it probably has something to do with the text

that Carissa Jansen read.

I thought it was so—I love it when that happens, when someone has a prompting, shares a verse, and I have that same verse in my sermon.

But these beggars would have known that God's promised Messiah was not just a political figure.

They would have known that He had healing in His touch, and they would have known that because of prophecies that came a couple hundred years earlier,

600 years earlier, in Isaiah 35. "Be strong, do not fear, your God will come." This was the promise they were living with. "He will come with vengeance and with divine retribution. He will come to save you." Now, that part sounds like this political freedom fighter. But listen to this. "Then the eyes of the blind will be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then the lame will leap like a deer and the mute tongue shout for joy. Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert."

So they obviously have heard something like this, and they're thinking, "If this is God's promised Messiah, then we're going to scream and ask for our sight to be restored."

The second point that I want to make about Palm Sunday and about the leader we love and the king that we want, the one who has our allegiance, the hero of our story makes his entrance in a borrowed 89 Ford Taurus.

Last time I preached this, I had one person get super offended because they drive a Ford Taurus, so I got a text afterwards.

The point of this passage, the point of Palm Sunday, I don't actually believe is the palms.

It's the donkey.

But donkey day doesn't work, right? And we can't—our kids right now are waving palm branches, and that's fine because we can't give them all a donkey. We can give them a paper plate and say, "Cut this up. Make this a palm branch." And we love to tell them the story. But the people brought the palms and made it Palm Sunday, but Jesus brought the donkey, and I believe made it donkey day. And I think he was trying to say something by doing this.

As they approached Jerusalem, they came to Bethpage on the Mount of Olives, and Jesus sent two disciples saying to them, "Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you'll find a donkey tied there with her colt by her. Untie them. Bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, say the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away."

This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophets. Say to the daughter, "Say to daughter Zion, "See your king comes to you gentle and riding on a donkey, and on a colt the foal of a donkey."

The disciples went ahead. Did as Jesus instructed them,

they brought the donkey and the colt and placed their cloaks on them for Jesus to sit on. A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed, they shouted, "Hosanna to the son of David. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord Hosanna in the highest heaven." When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, "Who is this?" And the crowds answered, "This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee."

I've never been to the Holy Land before, and so I was a little bit bummed to find out that the Mount of Olives is more like a foothill. I think when I hear mountain, I think of our Sierra Nevadas. I found out that this Mount of Olives is only about 300 feet higher than the Temple Mount itself.

So Jesus is descending from the Mount of Olives into Jerusalem to the Temple Mount. He's actually headed to the Golden Gate where he'll enter Jerusalem.

I was also honestly a little bit disappointed to find out when I heard that the whole town turned up, I was thinking like 250,000 people, something like that, I don't know. And it was probably more like 2,000.

The other thing that's super interesting is that stretch is about three-quarters of a mile. So it takes about 16 minutes to walk from the Mount of Olives to the Golden Gate. So I hear. I've never been. Some of you probably have. Anyway, it's just a little bit smaller than I thought it probably was. Having grown up, heard these stories,

you know, I pictured someone, you know, up in the Sierra Nevadas,

you know,

John mirroring it, you know,

through large cities. Anyway, I went to seminary to try to fix that, but.

In some ways what's being described here is very special. It is. In some ways it's really pretty normal. In fact, the Jewish people had Psalms of Ascent, Psalms, that they would read, pray, shout as they made their way to the temple. And so they're doing something they've done before.

And as they make their way to the temple, this day, they're actually chanting Psalm 118. So they didn't come up with a new song for this new king. In fact, they see this one as God's promised king, and they're shouting Psalm 118. Let me read it to you.

It's really cool. You should read the whole thing. This is in the New King James Version.

Psalm 118, the Psalm that they're reciting on this day, "Open to me the gates of righteousness, and I will go through them. And I will praise the Lord. This is the gate of the Lord through which the righteous shall enter. I will praise you, for you have answered me. You have become my salvation."

The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. Isn't that cool?

This was the Lord's doing, and it's marvelous in our eyes.

This is the day that the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it.

This is the word, save now.

Hosanna,

save now, save please. Save now, save please. Save now, save please.

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

That's the word hosanna. We hear it, and we think, you know, I'm not sure what kind of song or melody comes into your mind, but this is a chant, save now, save now. And you can hear the crowd singing hosanna, and it's not just a churchy word.

In fact, it's really interesting because the crowd that's gathered actually adds some things to Psalm 118. In Matthew's account, they add son of David, which again is a loaded messianic term. In Mark's account,

the people add hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Bless is the coming kingdom of our father David, Hosanna in the highest.

Luke's account says blessed is the king. The people start screaming blessed is the king. John's account, hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the king of Israel.

So you can see what's going on here.

They're chanting with their palm branches some things that could get them in a lot of trouble when you're occupied by Rome.

So the people are declaring what those blind men are declaring. This is God's promised Messiah. He's going to deliver us from Roman occupation, and they're right. They're right about that. This is God's promised Messiah. But the million dollar question is what kind of Messiah?

The million dollar question is not will Jesus save, but how will Jesus save?

Not if he'll fight, but how will he fight?

He's going to deliver. He's going to rescue, but how will he deliver and how will he rescue?

And to understand this, I think you need to know that I don't think this day is actually about the palms.

I believe that Palm Sunday is really about this donkey.

It's really about the beast of burden.

People wanted the palms.

Jesus grabbed a donkey.

The palm branch was connected to military victory.

To receive an army back from battle, you would grab the palm branches and start waving them. So 150 years before Jesus lived, the Maccabees led a successful revolt, and they drove Israel's armies out of the city. And this guy, Simon Maccabee, actually ruled over a semi-independent Jewish state until about 67 BC.

Until Rome put in a puppet king and in place. And so 150 years before Jesus.

now I'm going to read actually a text from 1 Maccabees. Not a part of our Bible, but still really helpful.

I know some of you are like, "Man, first you wear a hat while you preach. Now you're going to read from Maccabees." I am. "On the 23rd day of the second month in the 171st year, the Jews entered it with praise and palm branches,

with harps and cymbals and stringed instruments, and with hymns and songs because a great enemy had been crushed and removed from Israel." What are they doing with these palm branches, guys?

Let's do it again.

Let's run it back.

Save now. Save now. Deliver us. What they're saying, what they're screaming is, "We're done.

We're done.

We're done with the Romans. Before the Romans, we were done with the Greeks and the Syrians. Before the Greeks and the Syrians, we were done with the Persians. Before the Persians, we were done with the Babylonians. And before the Babylonians, we were done with the Assyrians. We're done with 600 years of being oppressed. Save now.

Deliver your people."

So they chose a cymbal, which was the palm branch, and they knew what they were doing when they grabbed them. And Jesus chose a cymbal, which was the donkey, and he knew what he was doing when he grabbed the donkey. He was trying to communicate something. He was trying to communicate something about his kingship,

about how he was going to save,

about how he was going to deliver.

Martin Luther is really helpful on this one. He says, "Look at him!

Look at him! He rides no stallion, and he comes not with fearful pomp and power, but he sits on a donkey, which is no war animal, but is ready for burdens of work that will help human beings. Thereby he shows that he does not come to terrify people, to drive or oppress them, but to help them to carry their burdens and take them on himself."

I can't get enough of this.

This is the leader I love. This is the leader I want. This is the king that we serve.

I love that it's not even his donkey. He doesn't even own a donkey.

He's like, "I've got to borrow a donkey."

I love what he says. He's like, "I don't have it, but when you go get it and say the Lord needs it, they'll cough it up." And it's almost like, wow. Does this God own nothing or everything? And the answer is yes.

He's like, "I don't have it, but just tell him I need it." It's like, okay.

I love it.

I've been in a season of having to borrow things,

and I think as a 44,

55, my 45, I need Tiffany.

Where's Tiffany? As a 40-old, 47-year-old,

I just didn't pass the point of borrowing. So I've had to borrow cars recently, ski gear. I'm always borrowing Ed's weed eater.

And you kind of, as you walk over, you're like, "I should have outgrown this a long time ago."

You kind of feel like, "I should have a car of my own that can make it. I should have a weed eater that runs, and I should have gloves for my kids to go to the snow." This is embarrassing.

It's not even his donkey.

He's like, "Hey, can I, it's my big day.

I'm about to divide BC from AD.

I'm about to conquer death.

Can I borrow your donkey?

Oh, dude, this is the leader we want.

This is the one who deserves our allegiance. I love him."

Night three,

worship team, would you guys come?

The hero of our story is unable to live inside the expectations of others.

And I can read that here in church, and you can be like, "Yeah, man, stick it to the man." You know?

That's so punk rock. Have you ever been the man or woman that he sticks it to?

Do you know what I mean by that?

That the Jesus you want is not the Jesus you get?

What goes down for you when the Jesus you want is not the Jesus you get?

When he's unwilling to live within the expectations that you've set up for him, "I do this, then you do that."

When he disrupts our formulaic approach,

when he says to us, "Actually, you'll serve me, I won't serve you."

It's really difficult.

They wanted Jesus to take care of Rome.

That was their enemy.

And then Jesus takes aim at their greater enemy,

takes aim at sin and death, right? Have you ever wanted Jesus to deal with them,

and then he just immediately starts taking it to you?

And you're like, "Wrong guy! You got the wrong guy!"

They wanted Jesus to deal with their oppressor and take down Rome, and Jesus takes it to their religious leaders and takes off to take it. He starts talking about tearing down the temple.

And you're like, "No, no, no, no! The Colosseum! The Colosseum!"

You got the wrong guys.

Scripture doesn't need to start in the house of the Lord. It starts with them, those guys.

They're misguided. Deal with them.

If you move forward in Matthew and read Matthew 27, you should this week, you find out that after Jesus is arrested, they put a choice before the people.

Who do you want?

You want donkey guy?

Or you want Barabbas?

And the crowd starts screaming, "Give us Barabbas!"

Why was Barabbas in jail?

He's an insurrectionist. He's a famous freedom fighter.

They're essentially saying, "We're done with donkey guy! Palm branches!

Save now!"

We want to fight on these terms, right?

What do you do when the Jesus you want is not the Jesus you get?

Well, I just want to submit to you that we submit to him that Jesus is king.

And that's what we celebrate.

We celebrate and receive on this day our king,

the leader we really want.

He's not a cosmic consultant giving you life hacks.

If Jesus is a cosmic consultant, when he says, "Go get a donkey," you're like, "We don't actually own a donkey, and this doesn't logically make sense to me." But when Jesus is king and he says, "Go get a donkey," you're like, "How high?"

Because we submit to him. We're his subjects.

And if Jesus is king, he's no vending machine for us. So it doesn't work that way, that you put in your dollar and press C6 and then you get what you want. And then if you don't get what you want, you feel totally justified to thrash the vending machine.

Have you ever felt that way?

Over a Snickers? I'm just wailing on it.

You feel so justified. I gave you what I had. Now you give me what I deserve.

It's like,

we could laugh, but this is how this goes with God.

Jesus is king.

We're called to submit even when his ways are not our ways.

Would you stand with me?

I want to say to you, Church, as we come to the table and remember his sacrifice, that this king that I'm calling you to submit to is a king who can be trusted, one who's familiar with suffering,

one who understands the spot that you're in.

One who's humble and stoops down and takes a call.

One who drives a Ford Taurus and he borrowed it.

This is the one I'm inviting you to trust and to turn to. And I also want you to remember and to reflect as you take communion to just think about the cross,

the cross of Christ.

This is the one I'm asking you to trust.

The God who through his defeat was so victorious that billions of people will celebrate his victory next Sunday.

He knows what he's doing, but his ways are not your ways.

I want you to consider a God who is sovereignly working even when it seemed like silence and that Jesus was being forsaken.

And I want you to consider a God who conquered death through his dying.

Who saw that coming?

I'm asking you to submit to that God, the one who's both humble and has everything under his feet.

Jesus,

if there's any place that we are treating you like some sort of consultant,

we recognize you as king this morning.

If there's any way in our lives we've been thinking, oh, this is optional for me.

We become again your subjects.

And we thank you for your ways even when they're not our ways.

And what we really do want is relationship, not some formula where we do this and we get that.

We really do want to know you and we really do want to be like you. So as we come to the table to remember your work,

would you reveal yourself to us?

Your ways are not our ways.

Come to the table and delight in Jesus, King Jesus, this morning.