The Triumphal Entry (Matthew 21:1-17)

Years ago my cousin was married to a rabid Redskin’s fan.  We would have some great back and forth … especially because the Eagles weren’t that good at that time. The tides have turned.

As you all know, the Eagles won the Super Bowl this year and so, I would like to offer my condolences to the Washington and Baltimore fans in the audience.

It has been customary for the city to have a parade for the winning team.

Through the years Philadelphia has not had many parades because the local teams were not winners.

It’s been 50 years since the Flyers won the Stanley Cup … or as my daughter called it, the Stanley Bowl when we saw the original trophy at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto.

And it’s been almost 40 years since the 76ers won a championship. And it took almost 100 years from their founding in 1882 for the Phillies to win their first World Series in 1980.

So this year they had a parade for the Eagles … they estimated that there were about a million people along the parade root celebrating their win.

A million people … whose dreams and hopes rise on whether the Eagles win or lose.

We are told that if the Eagles lose — you can see it the next say the way people walk around in the city.

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The parade was about 8 weeks ago … but now …  what you read or see online is all the  preparation for the next season.

The Super Bowl and all it’s glory is past … now we wait in anticipation for what’s next!

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Today is Palm Sunday where we remember another parade … if you will … with the people waiting in anticipation for what’s next.

We celebrate our Savior’s entry into Jerusalem …

We know that it was the beginning of his preparation for the last week of his earthly life … which the people didn’t know … where the very reason and purpose of his coming was about to be fulfilled.

The Apostle Paul summarized that reason and purpose in 1 Corinthians 15:

““For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures,””

These are the simple truths of the Gospel … Jesus died for our sins … Jesus was buried … Jesus rose from the dead … all according the Scriptures.

These are the facts that we believe.

These are the facts that we confess each week in our Creeds.

These are the facts that we celebrate each week in our service of Holy Communion.

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Those of us who have been in the church for a while know the story by heart … as I read in our blessing of the Palms and our Gospel Lesson a few moments ago.

Jesus instructs two disciples to go into the village and untie a donkey and bring it to him.

And then he tells his disciples that if anyone says anything … just say: ““The Lord needs them, and he will send it.””

Jesus rides into Jerusalem that day … with the people throwing their cloaks and palm branches before him.

This is what was usually done for royalty or a victorious military officer as they entered into a city … and this is exactly what they did for Jesus …

But the difference is seen in the mode of transportation … a lowly donkey instead of stately steed! … befitting the life of humility that was always evident in our Savior’s life.

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As we read in our Gospel lesson … Jesus riding into Jerusalem that day was to make public His claim to be the Messiah and the King of Israel.”

Matthew specifically tells us that this is the fulfillment of the prophecy from Zechariah 9:9:

““Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, Lowly and riding on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey.””

Notice clearly the words: ““Behold, your King is coming to you …””

And John … in his account … adds a further clarification: 

““The next day a great multitude that had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him, and cried out: “Hosanna! ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’ The King of Israel!””

Note clearly what he says … ““The King of Israel!””

And Mark adds: ““Blessed is the kingdom of our father David That comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!””

““Blessed is the kingdom of our father David …”” which again … is a fulfillment of prophecy.

So … as Jesus rides into Jerusalem that day … he is hailed as the anticipated King.

Jesus was openly declaring to the people that he was their King and the Messiah that they had been waiting for.

We know … however … how quickly this story changes … from adoration and adulation … to crucify him … crucify him … in the span of 6 days …

We know that all that happened that last week … including Palm Sunday … all the events were a fulfillment of prophecy … NOTHING HAPPENED BY CHANCE.

At this time the ministry of Jesus had been taking place for about 3 years … 

It began with his baptism and temptation in the wilderness … and then his first miracle of turning the water into wine at the wedding feast at Cana.

In those 3 short years he had called 12 Apostles to follow him … he had fed the multitudes … he had healed many … he had raised the dead … he had calmed the sea … AND he taught … and taught … and taught …

… he also did a couple of things that really ticked off the religious leaders of the day …

… he had thrown the money-changers out of the Temple and would do it again … 

AND … as we read throughout the Gospel accounts… one the reasons that they sought to kill him was that he forgave the sins of many of those he came into contact with …

… for example … Zacchaeus … the woman at the well … the woman caught in of adultery … the woman who anointed his feet …

… the reason that they sought to kill him was because he forgave their sins … and by doing so … he revealed that he was God … because as the religious leaders said … only God could forgive sins.

And Jesus never corrected them!

And so … connected with this … he said that he was equal with God.

John 5:18 we read: ““Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God.””

Jesus himself said: ““ I and My Father are one.”” … ““He who has seen Me has seen the Father …””

To the religious leaders this was blasphemy … and to them … a valid reason for his death … but … because they were under Roman law … they could not put him to death.

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But it was his miracles that really caught the people’s attention … as I said … he healed the sick … he gave hearing to the deaf … he gave sight to the blind … AND he raised the dead.

Again … John tell us something different in John 12 … ““But the chief priests plotted to put Lazarus to death also, because on account of him many of the Jews went away and believed in Jesus.””

This is one of the reasons that they sought to kill him.

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What we see is that the people started following Jesus and NOT the religious leaders. 

He was invading their territory … as it were.

The Pharisees and Scribes had it all … they were respected … they received honor … they were wealthy … and here comes this Jesus threatening to take this all away.

… because … in the people’s minds … if he could do all these miracles … then he could deliver them from Roman occupation and Roman oppression.

While the Jews had a measure of independence … they were ultimately under the authority of Rome … and we know that even their religious leaders would make decisions about what they did … as not to antagonize the Romans who were in charge.

This can be seen in some of their deliberations about what should happen to this man Jesus …

… but then here comes someone who could do all these wonderful … miraculous things … things that no one else could do. 

Maybe … the people thought … just maybe … he was the one who could be their deliverer … the long-awaited Messiah … the King of the Jews.

This is why that first Palm Sunday they cried out … ““Hosanna to the Son of David! ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’ Hosanna in the highest!”.”” 

In their minds … as Jesus rode into Jerusalem that day … they were thinking that FINALLY they were going to be delivered from the dreaded Roman authorities.

They did not see … and this is true of most of the world today … that the reason … the root of their problems was their separation from God because of their sin.

… they did not see … and COULD not see … that WHAT they were going through was a result of their rejection of God and the ways of God.

Remember … God had called them to be His people … His own special people.

But God laid out for them clearly the two options that were before them — if they obeyed Him … He would bless them … if they disobeyed … He would judge them.

This is what we see throughout the Old Testament … starting with the wandering for 40 years in the desert because they didn’t trust Him to enter into the promised land 

… through the period of the judges … 

… and then their kings … very few of which honored God … or in the words of the Scriptures …

… it was said of most of the kings … “and they did evil in the sight of the Lord.”

There were very few kings of which it was said: ““… they did right in the eyes of the Lord.””

And it was because of this evil and disobedience that God had judged them time and again … and even though they were back in their God given land … they were now under Roman occupation.

Yes … they had their Temple … they had their priesthood … they had their religious leaders … they had their sacrifices … but they were still under Roman occupation and Roman laws.

BUT THEN … here comes this miracle worker … one who could make the blind see … the deaf hear … and he could even raise the dead!!

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Many knew that a deliverer would come … and they were looking for it …

BUT what many didn’t realize is that he would deliver them from what they would need most of all … DELIVERANCE FROM THEIR SINS!

He would provide the one perfect and final sacrifice for their sins that was necessary!

We go back to announcement by Gabriel to Joseph:  

““But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.””

Notice those words: ““… for He will save His people from their sins.””

And we have Simeon … when Jesus was presented at the Temple as an infant:

““And when the parents brought in the Child Jesus, to do for Him according to the custom of the law, he took Him up in his arms and blessed God and said: “Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace, According to Your word; For my eyes have seen Your salvation Which You have prepared before the face of all peoples, A light to bring revelation to the Gentiles, And the glory of Your people Israel.””

““… For my eyes have seen Your salvation  Which You have prepared before the face of all peoples, …””

My friends … that first Palm Sunday was the beginning of the fulfillment of God’s plan of salvation for His people … for those who believe in Christ as Savior and Lord.

As the week progressed the people who had praised him … would soon cry out “crucify him … crucify him.” … because he was not going to deliver them from Roman occupation 

And their wish … led by the religious leaders … would be carried out … but again … as we know … it too was all a fulfillment of prophecy …

… the prophecy … that Jesus would bear the sins of the whole world … and that he would suffer and die on the cross of Calvary!

Our Psalter for today … Psalm 22 … was written over 1000 years before crucifixion was even invented as a means of capital punishment … but it describes in exact detail what happens when one is crucified … and the some of the events around the cross … read it again when you get home.

The Apostle Paul summarizes what Jesus did in our Epistle lesson for the day in Philippians 2: 

““And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.”” 

We know … however … that it didn’t end there on the cross.

Three days later there would be his resurrection from the dead that first Easter … and by this … God has told us that He has accepted the sacrifice of Jesus for our sins … in our place!

You see my friends … our Savior’s kingdom is not an earthly kingdom … it is a spiritual kingdom … a kingdom in which those who believe are citizens.

As Paul says: ““that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.””

We know that this will happen everyone at some time.

As Jesus rode into Jerusalem that first Palm Sunday … he was riding in as their humble king … and in a week he would rise from the dead having defeated sin and death … and truly he is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords!

Thanks be to God!