This coming
Sunday, April 14 we observe Palm Sunday. This Sunday commemorates
Jesus’
“Triumphal Entry” into Jerusalem. This event was so important in Jesus’
life
that all four gospels record it (Matt. 21:1-11; Mark 11:1-14; Luke
19:28-44;
John 12:12-19).
In each
account, Jesus’ actions were portrayed as deliberate and premeditated.
He sent
two disciples ahead to bring back an unbroken colt on which He would
ride.
Matthew recorded that Jesus engineered this event to fulfill Scripture,
“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O daughter of
Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; He is just and endowed
with
salvation, humble, and mounted on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of
a
donkey” (Zech. 9:9).
Instinctively,
Jesus’ disciples knew what was happening. They laid their coats on the
colt.
Most of the crowd spread their coats on the road, their version of the
“red
carpet” treatment. Others were spreading palm branches on the road. As
Jesus
descended the Mount of Olives into Jerusalem, the crowds preceding Him
were
chanting, from Psalm 118:25,26, a prayer for the national salvation of
Israel,
“Hosanna (“Save us now”)! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the
LORD.”
Then they added their own words, “Blessed is the coming kingdom of our
father
David. Hosanna (“Save us now”) in the highest!” (Mark 11:9-10).
Reactions
to this entourage as it entered Jerusalem were mixed. People in
Jerusalem
asked, “Who is this?” The crowds were saying, “This is the prophet
Jesus, from
Nazareth in Galilee” (Matt. 21:10-11). Underwhelming, to say the least.
To them
he was a prophet, but he was not the King, the Messiah! Some Pharisees
in the
crowd were much more adamant, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!” To
which Jesus
curtly replied, “I tell you, if these become silent, the stones will
cry out!”
(Luke 19:39-40). Immediately thereafter, when Jesus saw the city, He
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 will come upon you when your enemies will throw up a
barricade
against you, and surround you and hem you in on every side, and they
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.” (Luke 19:42-44)
His
prophecy was terrifyingly accurate. A mere forty years later, the Roman
army
trapped a million Israelis inside Jerusalem at Passover, and
slaughtered them
mercilessly. The temple was torn down, and not a stone left standing on
another. Why did God judge them? Because Israel did not crown Jesus as
its
King. Instead they had Him executed.
Where does
that leave us in 2019? I ask you, who is Jesus to you? Is he merely a
good man?
Merely a teacher? Merely some well-meaning, but eccentric prophet? Or
have you
decided to crown Jesus as your own King?
Your decision is a fateful one.
The Apostle John
stated in blunt terms, words both comforting, yet alarming – “He who
believes
in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not
see
life, but the wrath of God abides on him” (John 3:36).
