As Cydney inferred a moment ago today is a special day that begins a special week?a HOLY week?a week that is set apart from all others. In fact, I would say that the seven days we look back on and celebrate with music and special services at this time each year those seven days are the seven most important days since the first seven days God used to create this world of ours.
I say this because what God did during that first HOLY WEEK made it possible for us to get back what those first two humans lost because of their sin?a personal and eternal relationship with our Creator.
And?it all began on Palm Sunday. Let me put it this way. What happened on Good Friday and Easter Sunday morning?they are the EFFECTS for which Palm Sunday was the CAUSE. Our choir and orchestra and praise band have just led us in SINGING about this pivotal first day of that Holy Week. Let?s continue our study of that day by READING the Scriptural account that INSPIRED their singing. Follow along as I read Matthew 21:1-11.
1 – As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples,
2 – saying to them, ?Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to Me.
3 – If anyone says anything to you, tell him that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away.?
4 -This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet:
5 – ?Say to the Daughter of Zion, ?See, your King comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.??
6 – The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them.
7 – They brought the donkey and the colt, placed their cloaks on them, and Jesus sat on them.
8 – A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.
9 – 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!?
10 – When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, ?Who is this??
11 – The crowds answered, ?This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.?
As we begin this year?s Holy Week observance, I want to ask you a question: Have you ever thought of how significant DOORS are in life?
This week it hit me that it is possible to outline our entire life by simply listing the main DOORS that we go through. For example, the FIRST door we each go through after we come into this world is a hospital door. Ironically a hospital door is usually the LAST door you go through at the end of this life. In between those two thresholds are several other special doors. There?s the door that leads to elementary school and another that takes you into the hallowed halls of your high school. Shortly after high school graduation you leave your home by that familiar door you?ve gone in and out of so many times for 16 or 17 years…and you head off for college where you go through classroom doors into rooms that help you learn the things that will prepare you for your life?s work. On top of that, many times you meet your help-mate by going through the doors of college life. I remember when Daniel started Grove City College, his freshman class was sitting in the auditorium for orientation. One of the administrators told these brand new college students to look to their left and then to their right. The did…and she said that there was a very high probability that they had just seen their future spouses…and she was right in many cases. Fortunately that?s not the way it worked for Daniel. He found his bride by walking through a Sunday School classroom door.
Well, however you find your spouse, when you get married you usually carry your bride…or are carried by your groom…across the threshold into your first home. Do you remember that joyous moment when you went through that door?! Then kids come along and when they get old enough and its time for them to go to school you watch as they step through the doorway of a big yellow bus. I remember watching Daniel step through that door when he headed off to his first day of kindergarten and after the door closed and the bus pulled away, I got in my car…and followed the bus to make sure they took him where they were supposed to!
Well, I imagine that right now you are thinking of all kinds of significant doors in your own life: the door to your first car or the door to your first office, etc. I mean, we have no trouble thinking of the significant doors of life because there are so many of them. Doors lead to so many important things!
Perhaps the best proof of this principle is seen in the doors Jesus went through during this pivotal week?and I?ve brought this all up?because that?s how I want us to study the events of Holy Week this year.
This morning we?ll begin with the door our choirs have already sung about?and we just read about?the door?or more accurately the GATE that Jesus went through into Jerusalem that first Palm Sunday. Thursday night when we gather we?ll look at what happened after Jesus and the disciples went through the door that led to the Upper Room where they shared the Passover Meal. Friday, when you go through the guided meditation time set up by our teens I want you to think of all the ?courtroom? doors Jesus went through…where He endured the trials that led to His crucifixion. And then on Easter Sunday morning we?ll meet to rejoice in the most important door of all?the stone door that Jesus broke through when He rose from the dead and left His tomb. My hope is that all this will help us to understand anew what Jesus meant when He said He was the DOOR…the WAY for us to have our sins forgiven.
But…back to the first door?the Gate into Jerusalem. As we focus on the events of Palm Sunday I want us to seek answers to this question: ?What made that particular door or GATEWAY so significant?not only to Jesus? earthly ministry back then…but to our lives here and now?
Before I try to answer that question, let?s back down the road a bit so we can remind ourselves of the setting. Prior to the first Holy Week, Jesus had just completed three years of teaching and healing. Crowds?multitudes of people?followed Him wherever He went. He arrived at the town or suburb of Bethany, which is just two miles east of Jerusalem six days before Passover. According to the Gospel writers, Jesus stayed at the home of three dear friends: Lazarus and his sisters Mary and Martha.
This was a good choice for lodgings for two reasons. First, all of Jerusalem would be packed with Jews coming to celebrate the Passover. When Jesus came into this world the INNS of Bethlehem were all full with no vacancies?and ironically the same could be said about the INNS in Jerusalem during that last holy week?so it was wise indeed to stay in Bethany. But a second reason I think Jesus decided to stay where He did is because He knew what lay ahead. Think of it. Martha, Mary, and Lazarus had been His friends for years. The comfortable nature of old friendships like theirs was just what He needed. In their home He would be able to enjoy the sustaining power of good meals shared with good friends. Okay, that?s the setting?let?s get back to our question. Why was this DOOR?this GATEWAY?so important? I want to cite three reasons and here?s the first:
(1) It was significant…because going through it was the PLAN all along.
As verse 5 of our text reminds us, hundreds of years earlier Jesus? journey through this gate had been foretold. In Zechariah 9:9 the prophet described the scene as our timeless God revealed it to him. He wrote:?Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your King comes to you righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.? And then, listen to the words God gave Isaiah concerning His plan. This is Isaiah 62:10-11: ?Pass through, pass through the gates! Prepare the way for the people…raise up a banner for the nations. The Lord has made proclamation to the ends of the earth; Say to the Daughter of Zion, ?See, your Savior comes! See, His reward is with Him and His recompense accompanies Him.??
Well, as God in the flesh, Jesus of course knew these prophecies. He knew the plan and He followed it to the nth degree. He secured a beast of burden to ride…but not just any donkey or horse…a young donkey COLT that had never been ridden…because He wanted there to be no doubt that He was claiming to be the MESSIAH. He chose the beginning of Passover week for His entrance?a week that was pregnant with meaning when it came to the reason for the Messiah?s coming…something adults (will hear/heard) about from the Jews for Jesus presentation during SS this morning.
Well, the Jews of Jesus?s day missed the Passover connection but they knew their ?Bibles? enough to remember the words of Zechariah and Isaiah and therefore they would have known the claim Jesus was making. This is why they responded as they did by laying palm branches on the road for Jesus? colt to walk on. Some even remembered that when Solomon became Israel?s king, he was presented on the donkey of his father David. We know this because of what they said in verse 9, ?Hosanna to the Son of DAVID!? So, with their words and actions they were acclaiming Jesus to be their rightful king. They recognized that He was the Messiah Who had come, ?in the name of the Lord.? And in their minds this made sense. After all this was Jesus of Nazareth Who had healed the sick and fed the 5000. He had raised the dead back to life, including their neighbor Lazarus! They thought, ?Now He?s going to raise Israel back to life by destroying the Romans!? So the throngs joyously affirmed His claim?so loudly that the religious leaders complained and Jesus said,?I tell you, if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out!? (Luke 19:40)
Now?please note?up until this point Jesus had avoided public acclaim but not any more. No?now He embraced it. And He did because He knew this was the plan. He knew that going through this door the way He did was essential for Him to complete the task assigned Him. In fact, in his account Mark tells us that Jesus was at the FRONT of this pre-Easter parade. Nowhere else do we find Him at the head of the multitude: not when He descended the mountain after the Sermon on the Mount…not after He left Capernaum….not as He entered the village of Nain. Before this day Jesus chose to be SURROUNDED by people rather than OUT IN FRONT?but not today. He set the pace because He knew the significance of this first DOOR of Holy Week, including what lay on the other side of that door: His arrest, trial, the beatings?His crucifixion.
I?m reminded of the story of James Bonham, one of the heroes of the Alamo. Bonham had been in Texas for only three months when war broke out with Mexico, but his yearning for freedom left him no choice but to march alongside other Texans in their battle for liberty. So, he volunteered for service at the Alamo, a small mission near the Guadalupe River. As the Mexican army filled the horizon and the tiny bastion poised for battle, Bonham broke through the enemy cordon and galloped eastward to the town Goliad to get help. In his book TEXAS, James Michener imagines what the soldier?s appeal must have been. When he arrives at Goliad and finds a group of Texan soldiers led by Colonel Fannin. Bonham says, ?Santa Anna has nearly two thousand already, with more on the away. What we need is for every fighting man in Texas to rush to the Alamo. Give us help! Start to march now!? But, no commitment was given by the Colonel. The only assurance he gave Bonham was that he would think it over. Bonham knew that meant, so hiding his anger he spurred his horse on to the town of Victoria. In his book Michener describes a conversation that took place between Bonham and a young boy.
?Where are you going next?? the boy asks. ?To the Alamo,? Bonham responds without hesitation. ?Will you go back alone?? ?I came alone.? As Bonham disappears, the boy asks his father, ?If things are so bad, why does he go back?? To which the father responds, ?I doubt if he considered any other possibility.? Now?we don?t know if these words were said, but we know the trip was made. Bonham rode back to battle certain that it would mean his death.
So did Jesus. He resolutely entered that gate knowing that the cross was on the other side. And His disciples should have known as well because He had told them three times exactly what was to occur. For example, in Matthew 20:18-19 He said,?We are going to Jerusalem. The Son of Man will be turned over to the leading priests and the teachers of the law, and they will say that He must die. They will give the Son of Man to the non-Jewish people to laugh at Him and beat Him with whips and crucify Him. But on the third day He will be raised to life again.?
Please note Jesus? detailed knowledge of the event. He told them WHO: ?The leading priests and teacher of the law.? He told them WHAT: ?They will give the Son of Man to the non-Jewish people to laugh at Him and beat Him with whips and crucify Him.? So…forget any suggestion that Jesus was trapped. Erase any theory that Jesus made a miscalculation. Ignore any speculation that the cross was a last-ditch attempt to salvage a dying mission. No?Jesus knew the plan. He knew what He had to do and there was no surprise or hesitation on His part. As Peter said later in Acts 2:23,?Jesus was given to you and with the help of those who don?t know the law, you put Him to death by nailing Him to a cross. But this was God?s PLAN which He had made long ago. He knew all this would happen.? Max Lucado writes,?The journey to the gate at Jerusalem didn?t begin in Jericho. It didn?t begin in Galilee. It didn?t begin in Nazareth. It didn?t even begin in Bethlehem. The journey to the cross began long before. As the echo of the crunching of the fruit was still sounding in the garden, Jesus was leaving for Calvary.?
I don?t know about you?but understanding this gives me a lot of comfort?for a couple reasons. First, it shows me that God has a plan. Fulfilled prophecy like this shows that He works His purposes out. The world may seem out of control but God never is. The nightly news reports may make us feel like no one is at the helm but Someone is. God is in control. He knows what He is doing.And He has told us this in His Book. The Bible tells us what will happen in the last days. We know God has already won the victory. We know He?s prepared an eternal home for us. We can REST in that knowledge no matter how unsettling life becomes. But another reason Jesus? journey through this gate comforts me?is because it shows me how much God loves me. He loved me enough to willingly die in my place…which leads me to mention a second thing about this door.
(2) It is significant…because Jesus had to go through it in order to SAVE us.
The Bible says that we are all naturally born sinners?in desperate need of saving and as Paul said in 1st Timothy 1:15,?Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners.? The only way to do that was to pay the price for our sins which means Jesus had to die the death we all deserve so He had to go through that gate. He had to get to the cross on the other side.
In Scotland there is a lighthouse called Old William?s Light. I?m sure like all lighthouses these days it?s been automated by now, but there was a time when it was operated by a man?a man who kept the light in operating order and turned it on whenever it was needed. Weather permitting, he only left his important post two times a week: to go to town to get groceries and on Sundays to go to church. One day people realized he hadn?t made his weekly trip into town for supplies…and when he didn?t show up at church his friends were worried so they went to the lighthouse and found the man unconscious. There had been a bad storm that week and apparently the light house keeper had slipped on the rocks and broken his leg, but he had known that the light needed to be lit. So, he had agonizingly crawled up those long winding stair steps to the top where he threw the switch turned on the beacon. He was too weak to crawl back down so he just laid there. In his weakened condition, as he laid their in the top of that drafty tower, he caught pneumonia. His friends took him back to the hospital but it was too late. He died a few days later.
After the funeral, a ship captain came out and said, ?I want to erect a monument to this man.? ?Why is that?? the friends asked. ?Because I was a captain of a ship that night and was caught in the storm. I did not know where I was and was headed for the rocks. Then the light came on and I was able to see where I was.? He said, ?This is the first time in my life I can truly says somebody died that I might live.? Well, he was wrong. Two thousand year ago on that hill called Calvary Christ died to that captain could live…so you could live…so I could live. Jesus climbed not a light house tower but a cross for you and me. He went through the Jerusalem gate, knowing the cross was on the other side…the cross where He would take our sin on Himself.
St. Jerome was one of the early Church Fathers. He is best known for his translation of the Bible from Greek into Latin. In fact, Jerome?s translation, known as the Vulgate, served as the official Bible of the church for about a thousand years. It is said that near the end of his life, Jerome was living near Bethlehem translating some of the Bible when he had a dream. In the dream, Jesus appeared to him. He was so overwhelmed by the appearance of Jesus that he felt he just had to give Him something so he got some money and offered it, saying ?Here! This is yours.? Jesus said, ?I don?t want it.? Jerome brought some more possessions. But Jesus said, ?I don?t want them either.? And Jerome said, ?If there is anything in the world that I can give You, tell me what it is. Tell me! What do You want? What do You want me to give You?? He said he dreamed that Jesus looked at him and said this: ?Give me your sin. That?s what I came for.? Well, Jerome?s dream was real?because that?s why Jesus came. He came to take away our sin.
But?it?s not only WHAT Jesus did on the other side of that gate that makes it so special. It?s also the WAY He walked through it.
(3) You see, Jesus? expression?His reaction to everything that was happening?it helped remind us what God is really like.
Now?as Christians?as people of the Book?we know that the best way to understand God is to understand Jesus. We know the Bible teaches that in Jesus God became touchable…knowable.
For example, Hebrews 1:3 says,?The Son is the radiance of God?s glory and the exact representation of His being.? By literally coming down to our level, Jesus gave us a window to look through and understand the heart of our Creator and what He did on this first Palm Sunday is a perfect example. I say this because when He rode through that Jerusalem gate, Jesus?the King of Kings?God in the flesh?did a very un-kingly thing. HE WEPT.
Now?I want us to pause here and note that one of the most prominent portraits of God throughout the Bible is that of a king. Psalm 10:16 says, ?The Lord is King forever and ever.? Psalm 47:7 says, ?He is the King of all the earth.? Psalm 89:18 proclaims,?The Holy One of Israel is our King.?
And…from the very beginning of His life, Jesus is addressed as a king. Remember? Referring to Jesus, the angelic messengers announced to Mary:?the Lord shall give unto Him the THRONE of His father David: And He shall REIGN over the house of Jacob forever.? (Luke 1:32-33) And….later the wise men came to visit the Christ child with the question,?Where is He that is born King of the Jews?? (Matthew 2:2) In His very first message Jesus proclaimed that, ?The KINGDOM of Heaven was near!? (Matthew 4:17) Even the penitent thief on the cross realized that he hung next to royalty for he said,?Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.? (Luke 23:42) So, borrowing from the wording of Revelation 19:16, we know that on that first Palm Sunday, the ?King of kings and Lord of lords? rode into town.
And…whereas Jesus? entry into Jerusalem was a big deal….Matthew says that ?the whole city was stirred…? even so, it was unlike the processionals of the earthly rulers of that period of history because as I said, when Jesus approached the city, He began to weep…and kings of that day didn?t weep….at least not in public on a day like this.
But Jesus is not like earthly kings. So as He rode through the crowds waving palm branches and shouting His praises, instead of smiling and giving a typical ?royalty wave,? He wept. He wept because His heart was broken by what He saw in the hearts of those people. He knew they had already rejected Him and the blessings He had come to bring. He knew that in just five days their cheers would turn into demands for His death.
Do you remember Jesus? words from Luke?s account of this day? Luke 19:41-44 says, ?And when He approached, He saw the city and wept over it, saying, ?If you had known IN THIS DAY, even you, the things which make for peace! But now they have been hidden from your eyes. For the days shall come upon you when your enemies will throw up a bank before you and surround you and hem you in on every side, and will level you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.??
Ever wonder what Jesus meant by the phrase, ?in this day?? Well, it should be somewhat familiar to us here at Redland because we studied the book of Daniel together recently a book that tells us that 500 years earlier an angel appeared to Daniel and told him of certain dramatic events to be marked off on God?s timetable events that would affect Israel directly and the surrounding nations indirectly. They would all occur in what is now known as the seventy weeks or 490 years (Daniel 9:24-27). The first week would start with the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem under the decree of the Persian king Artaxerxes, which was done on March 28, 445B.C. Over the next sixty-nine weeks or 483 years, Jerusalem would be restored and rebuilt until the Messiah would come. In Daniels? great prophecy of the 70 weeks, God had revealed the specific time in which the Messiah would be presented to the nation Israel. Although on that first Palm Sunday the nation was unmindful of the divine timetable, Christ was obviously conscious that this day in which He made His entry into Jerusalem was the specific day foretold by Daniel.
He knew everything was right on schedule…to the day. But they didn?t?or WOULDN?T?see this and because of they wouldn?t?because they rejected Jesus they would experience God?s judgement. This is what Jesus was talking about. He was weeping and saying, ?Even now if you would open your eyes and repent and respond….it?s not too late!? But He knew they wouldn?t do that?and that because they wouldn?t in 37 years the clock would run out when, under the Roman General Titus in 70 A.D., the city would be destroyed.
We sigh and think they should have seen. They should known! It was right there for them to read in the book of Daniel. How could they be so blind! But?we do the same thing. We know what God would have us do. It?s right here in His book! But still we disobey Him and face the inevitable painful consequences of our sin.
Well, Jesus? response on that first Palm Sunday tells us what God?s reaction is to our rebellion. Jesus showed us that God doesn?t sit in Heaven and gloat over our foolishness. He doesn?t think, ?Well, they deserve the pain they are experiencing! The fools!? No?that day Jesus showed us that God weeps over our sin.
Palm Sunday shows us that God is not a ruler Who is remote and insensitive…like the King we used to see each week in the Sunday funnies? strip The Wizard of Id, a monarch who obviously could care less what happens to his subjects. No, on that day Jesus helped us to see that God is more like a loving parent Who is crazy about His kids. Even though He has a universe to run…planets to keep balanced and presidents and kings to watch over…God still is concerned about our individual lives. I mean, God not only knows…He also CARES that we have to deal with grouchy bosses and flat tires and broken dishes and late flights and toothaches and crashed hard drives. He weeps with us when we face financial crises and scary medical diagnoses. God is a King Who is moved by our problems?even when our problems stem from our willful disobedience of His loving laws. Referring to this Isaiah 63:9 says, ?In their distress [GOD] too was distressed.?
Let me put it this way. God not only knows your sorrows. He can taste their bitterness in His own mouth. I?m saying that on Palm Sunday, Jesus helped us to see that we matter to this King! We are precious to Him. He highly values us…more than anything else in all creation. Remember? Scripture records the fact that after God made the world and the plants and the animals….He saw that it was GOOD. But when He made man and woman…He said that it was VERY good!
When I read of God using those two words in response to man?s creation I can?t help but think of a human parent in the delivery room?rejoicing over the birth of his children. Do you know what I?m talking about parents? Do you remember the joy you felt when you first laid eyes on that little one? I do! My response was to jump up and down! Do you know what God?s response to us is? Zephaniah 3:17 says God composes songs to reflect His joyous love for each of us. If you doubt me on this turn to that text…better yet listen as I read: ?God will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing!? How does that make you feel? Think of it. God writes songs about His love for you and me! No wonder Jesus wept knowing what the children He loved so much would face! My point is that the King Who came to town that first Psalm Sunday watches you every day of your life. You are more important to Him than anything in the universe. God desperately loves us….and because of that love, this all-powerful, invincible King makes Himself vulnerable….He allows Himself to be moved by our lives. Everyone of our attitudes and actions affects God. When we disobey Him, we not only break a rule….we break His heart. When we sin, we don?t? just commit an infraction. No?we shake our fists at Someone Who has extended bloody, nail-punctured hands to save us. And that of course is exactly what happened on the other side of that Jerusalem Gate. Our King Jesus hung in agony on the cross out of love for you and for me….because God is a king Who would rather die than live without His subjects. Philip Yancey writes,?In a nutshell, the Bible from Genesis 3 to Revelation 22 tells the story of a God reckless with desire to get His family back. Jesus embodies the promise of a God Who will go to any length to win us back…?
But?there is one other way that Jesus is unlike earthly kings. The KING OF KINGS allows you to decide whether or not to give Him your allegiance. You can sit on the throne of your life or you can ask Him to sit there. It is up to you. Yes?one day every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that He is Lord…but now…in this life, it is your decision. You choose whether or not to let Him rule. We close this service with a time in which we invite you to make that all important decision?the decision to bow down and admit your sin to Jesus asking for His forgiveness….committing to follow Him as Lord. If you?ve never made that decision I encourage you to do so today. Jesus is indeed the DOOR?the only way to come into relationship with God. In fact, I invite you to publically respond to God?s rule. Leave your seat and come down the aisle and share that commitment with me.
It could be that you are already a Christian and you feel Our Lord commanding you to join this church?to move your membership here so you can serve Him in this place. We would love to have you in this church family if that is God?s will! So come! Whatever your decision, I promise you this. When you allow Jesus to rule, your life will change, in wonderful, unbelievable ways and this morning we invite you experience that kind of change. Won?t you come forward as we sing?