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If you would like to read from Pastor Jason's Notes, you will find them below. Keep in mind, they are just a script that he uses to work from on Sundays. Sometimes, all or none of them make it into a sermon.
SERMON TRANSCRIPT NOTES:
Every year, we start the journey to the resurrection on Palm Sunday. Now all over the world, this is known as “Passion Week”. It is the focus of the largest portion of the gospels.
Matthew (1/3)
Mark (3/5)
Luke (1/3)
John (1/2)
Think about that for just a moment. As you read the gospels, the focus on the life of Jesus. But the major focus of the gospels is all on 7 days in the life of Jesus. During those 7 days, there are many events, but we will focus on 3 major events.
The Triumphant Entry
The Cross
The Triumphant Exit
But today, just for the next few minutes, I want to us to talk about the way Jesus came into the passion week.
Matthew 21:1-11 (ESV) 1 Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, 2saying to them, “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. 3If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will send them at once.” 4This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying,5 “Say to the daughter of Zion ‘Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’”6The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. 7They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them. 8Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” 10And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, “Who is this?” 11And the crowds said, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.”
We call this event that we just read the Triumphant Entry. It was the moment that Jesus entered into Jerusalem to face what would become his death on the cross.
If you read the scriptures right before this, Jesus has just left Jericho and encounters 2 blind men that were sitting by the roadside. They call out to Him, “Lord have mercy on us, Son of David.” Now it’s interesting that in this moment, Jesus stops to meet them. And he asks them, what do you want me to do for you? Their response was, we want to be able to see. The bible says Jesus healed their sight and they followed Him.
As Jesus gets ready to enter the city, he orchestrates how He will enter. And he tells his disciples, go get this donkey and a colt and bring them back. When they return, they throw their cloaks on it and he climbs on the donkey and rides it into the city.
As he comes in, the crowds gathered and starting crying out “HOSANNA TO THE SON OF DAVID!” as the threw their cloaks and pam branches all along the path.
I want to look at 2 things about this event really quick.
Son of David!
This is a phrase is so much more than just a simple name. It meant something to the people of the time. It was a term for the Messianic King. The one that they had been waiting for.
But more than just the term Messiah, its important to understand that it meant the king to end all kings. He would be last to enter into that city as the conquering hero. That’s really what they were looking for.
Even as the blind men called out to Him, they were proclaiming the same thing…Come see us King of all kings…the one who has the power to change our situation.
2. Hosanna!
Many times we have learned and thought of this word as simply something like hallelujah. But it’s not a praise, but it means LORD SAVE US! It is a prayer and a plea for help. It is a declaration of the need for a savior to come into their situation.
In the Old Testament, we see this same hebrew word (Hoshaina) in Psalm 118
Psalm 118:25 (ESV) Save us, we pray, O Lord. O Lord, we pray, give us success!
These people lined the streets cried out, o king of all kings, the last that will enter, save us! The problem is, that they didn’t understand that He would come different than what they wanted.
You see they wanted a king on a stallion adorned for war. They wanted him to enter the city with a holy army prepared to kick out the romans. They wanted to be rid of the oppressors in the physical sense. But Jesus came for so much more.
I was reminded of a phrase from the Batman Dark Knight series. Commissioner Gordon says, “He wasn’t the hero that Gotham wanted, but he was the one that it needed.”
The same was true for Jesus. He didn’t enter into the city on a donkey by accident. He was fulfilling scripture about the Messiah. He didn’t call down the blind men as they referred to Him as the son of David, he didn’t tell them not to say anything. He was setting up the greatest 7 days of history. The 7 days that we still look back on and realize changed the world.
He entered the city as Messiah the last of the kings. The one that could save, but in a different way. His battle wouldn’t happen in the streets of the city or the fields surrounding it. He would go to war against the real enemy on a hill called Calvary on a rugged cross.
Jesus was not the king they wanted, but He was the one they needed. Today as we go out to do ministry, you’re gonna encounter people who will be there simply to get something. They want their kids to have fun or something to do. I believe that we have the chance to present something so much more powerful.
We have a king who is here to end the wars they are going through. We have a king who can enter into their city to change everything. We have a king who willingly went to the cross to die for them.
They don’t know it yet…but we are doing the same thing for them. We are picking up our cross to follow Jesus and dying to ourselves that they might get a chance to meet the king.
They may be hoping to meet a Jesus that gives them something that they want, but we offer something more. The last king of their life.