Well, I invite you to turn in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 21. Matthew chapter 21. There's many ways you can follow along if you didn't bring a Bible with you. Page 826 in the Pew Bible that should be in front of you or nearby you. The text is also printed in the bulletin if you want to follow along there. We're taking a little mini break from the Book of Romans this week and next. Today is Palm Sunday, a day when Christians around the world celebrate the beginning of Holy Week, that final week of Jesus' earthly life that culminates with His resurrection from the dead on Easter Sunday, Resurrection Sunday. We're going to celebrate the resurrection next Sunday, but today we're looking at how Holy Week began. Palm Sunday celebrates what's often called the triumphal entry. Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey, and you know the story. There are pilgrims surrounding Him, traveling with Him, acclaiming Him as King, the promised Messiah. Palm Sunday, that first Palm Sunday, was a day full of excitement, full of heightened expectations. The people are thinking, at long last, finally, the promised Messiah has come to take up His throne. But Palm Sunday is also a day full of irony. Jesus is hailed as King on a Sunday. By Friday, He's enthroned, but not in a palace. Instead, He's enthroned on a Roman cross. executed as a criminal. And so today we're going to look at what happened on that first Palm Sunday. So I'm going to read Matthew 21 for us, verses 1 through 11. This is God's Word. Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, saying 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. If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, The Lord needs them, and he will send them at once. This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying, 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. The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them. Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. And 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! And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, Who is this? And the crowd said, This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth of Galilee. Let me pray for us. Our God and Father, as we come to this familiar text for many of us, we pray that you would help us to see it with new eyes. We ask that you would help us to understand what it means for Jesus to be the true King, our Lord and Savior. It's in His name we pray. Amen. Well, today I want to walk through the story with you first, and then I'll draw out a few applications. The story here begins in verses 1 to 7 with Jesus declaring His kingship. Jesus declares His kingship. Now, He doesn't use words to do it. Instead, he performs a symbolic act, something that we read this and think, hmm, that's kind of strange, what is going on here. But everyone who witnessed this would have understood exactly what Jesus was saying. And so we pick up the story, verse 1, we read that they drew near to Jerusalem. That is, Jesus, his disciples, and a large group of pilgrims from Galilee, from the northern part, Israel and and you need to realize it's Passover time so Passover as you know big celebration Passover commemorates God delivering Israel from bondage in Egypt you know the Exodus story Moses and the plagues and the Red Sea and and this celebration drew Jewish pilgrims really from all over the world not just other areas of Israel but from all over the Mediterranean world and In fact, Jerusalem's population would swell at this time from about 30,000 to as many as 180,000 people there in this somewhat small city to celebrate. So it's a big event. There's lots of excitement. Not only because of what God had done in the past. Yes, they gathered to celebrate and remember that ancient deliverance, but also the people were expecting God to do something like that yet again. And in their minds, they're coming together and they're thinking, God is the God who delivers His people from oppression, and He's going to get rid of these Roman oppressors. He's going to set us free again. And so there's a lot of anticipation as Jesus and the disciples and the others make their way to Jerusalem. I want you to imagine for a moment, just to try to get a feel for what that would be like. Imagine for a moment that Canada invades the United States and takes over. Not likely, but just imagine it. And Canadian officials have installed themselves in places of power in Washington, D.C. And then on the 4th of July, hundreds of thousands of Americans descend on the city for a celebration of what? America's independence from Britain. And the occupying governments, they would get exactly what the message is. We did it before. We got rid of the oppressors. We can do it again. And that is the feel. during Passover. This is what the people are hoping for, praying for, anticipating. And so Jesus and his entourage, they reached the Mount of Olives about a mile or two east of the city, just across the Kidron Valley. And Jesus tells His disciples there in verse 2. He sends two of them off, and He says, How did Jesus know about the donkey and the colt? Was this supernatural knowledge? Was this something He planned ahead of time? That's very possible. That phrase, the Lord needs them, maybe that was an agreed-upon password. We really don't know for sure, but either way, the disciples go. They do as Jesus told them, and in verse 7 we read, they brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and He, that is Jesus, sat on them, the cloaks. You've got to think about this for a moment. Jesus has already walked a hundred plus miles since beginning the journey from Caesarea Philippi. Why does he need to ride a donkey now? And the rest of the pilgrims continue on foot. And in fact, there was a Jewish tradition about this that seems to imply that all who arrived to Jerusalem for Passover had to walk into the city on foot. And so Jesus riding a donkey, a young donkey, would be very conspicuous. I mean, he would stand out from all the other pilgrims arriving to the city. And what's going on here? Matthew tells us in verses 4 and 5, he says that this took place to fulfill the Scriptures. And he's quoting from a combination of Isaiah 62, 11 and Zechariah 9, these ancient promises about the coming Messiah, the Messianic King. And there in the Zechariah passage, The prophet envisions this day when the Messiah finally comes, returns to Jerusalem, and he comes as a victorious but humble king riding a donkey. Donkey might seem like an odd form of transportation for us, but the donkeys were the official royal transportation for Israel's kings. And in the passage, Zechariah goes on to see the Messiah coming, and when he does, he establishes universal peace in a worldwide kingdom. And Matthew says here, as Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a donkey, he's fulfilling these ancient promises. Now realize, all of this was very deliberate on Jesus' part. This is not just some accident of circumstances. It's not as though Jesus simply got tired and decided, I know there's some donkeys up ahead and I'll ride on one of them. Jesus is openly declaring His kingship. He is publicly declaring, without any ambiguity, that he is the messianic king. Yes, in fulfillment of Zechariah 9, but he's also drawing on King David's return from exile. He's drawing on Solomon's riding a donkey into Jerusalem to take his throne. The symbolism is clear. A number of years ago I was in Washington, D.C. with one of my sons and we were walking along Massachusetts Avenue near the U.S. Naval Observatory and we're walking along the sidewalk and all of a sudden this large motorcade starts coming toward us. In the front, there's police officers on motorcycles in a special formation, and then behind them, police cars, and then a series of black SUVs, and then right in the middle, a black limousine, and then behind that, more motorcycles, cars, SUVs, and so forth. Very impressive. There were a number of people walking down the sidewalk, and we all stopped and just watched what was taking place. And the message was clear. Whoever it was in that black limousine was a very important person. And it turns out it was the vice president. He lives right near the observatory. But the message was clear. Important person coming your way. And likewise, Jesus says by his actions here, I am the king you've been waiting for. I am the long-awaited Messiah. and his traveling companions, they clearly get the message. Look at what happens in verses 8 and 9. The crowd acclaims Jesus as king. Verse 8, they give him the red carpet treatment, so to speak. We read that most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. Again, we look at this and think, what in the world is going on? But back in Israel's history, 2 Kings, when Jehu was proclaimed king, the people spread their cloaks on the ground in front of him. It's a royal affirmation. Likewise, the branches. Now, you notice Matthew doesn't say what kind of branches they are. That's a detail that comes from John's account. He tells us they were palm branches, hence Palm Sunday. And why the palm branches? Maybe it was simply a matter of that's what was available, but there's probably more to it. These Jewish pilgrims. They knew the stories. About 200 years before, Judas Maccabeus had wiped out the foreign armies that were oppressing Israel, and he marches into Jerusalem, and there's a big celebration, and the people are waving palm branches in celebration, a sign of victory. And so here, the people spread out palm branches on the ground to make way for the king. They also use their words. Verse 9, you see what they say there. Hosanna to the Son of David. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest. Son of David. Again, royal title. Messianic title. The phrases that they sing. Hosanna means save us. And blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. You heard those earlier in the service. They come from Psalm 118, a royal psalm. And in that psalm, Israel's king is surrounded by exuberant pilgrims and he leads them in procession into Jerusalem and then into the temple courts. The crowd, they recognize Jesus' royal gesture. They know what this is about. The riding on a donkey, approaching Jerusalem, the city of David, and they respond with royal acclamation. And one thing to realize here, is that this crowd, the pilgrims with Jesus, they are by and large primarily from Galilee, where Jesus is from. Many of them traveling the whole way with Jesus. Many of them had witnessed His miracles, heard His teaching. Some of them had been following Him for quite some time. And there's a contrast we're going to see in a moment in the passage between this crowd with Jesus, celebrating Him, and the people of Jerusalem. You know, often we kind of conflate the two groups, but this group singing Hosanna is not, by and large, the same group who later in the week chants Crucify Him. That second group is primarily the people of Jerusalem. And how do they respond to this? There's this magnificent celebration going on outside the city walls, approaching the city, and how do they respond? Well, we see in verses 10 and 11, as Jesus enters Jerusalem, the people of the city are not celebrating, they're nervous. We read, when he entered Jerusalem, verse 10, the whole city was stirred up, saying, who is this? And Matthew doesn't mean here that they're excited. They're agitated. They're disturbed. You may remember back earlier in the Gospel when the Magi come to Jerusalem and they ask, where is he who was born the king of the Jews? Matthew tells us that Herod and all Jerusalem were troubled. when they heard about this rival king. And so, likewise here, Jerusalem hears these praises, Hosanna to the Son of David, and they're nervous. Because remember, Jerusalem is under Roman rule. Caesar, for all intents and purposes, is king. And any talk of a Jewish king That is going to bring trouble on Jerusalem. And so, the people of the city, they are concerned. Who is this character portraying himself as a king? And the crowd answers them in verse 11, but I don't think their answer really did much to alleviate their fears. They say, this is the prophet, Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee. And so you've got to understand, as a king, Jesus was a threat to Rome's political power. As a prophet, someone who comes with divine authority, he's a threat to the religious leaders, the corrupt religious leaders who were in league with Rome. He's a threat to their power. And so, Jerusalem has good reason to be worried. And you know how the events unfold over the course of the next several days. Jesus does, in fact, stir up trouble in the city. I mean, just after this triumphal entry, we read about Jesus going into the temple, cleansing the temple, basically issuing a prophetic judgment upon the religious establishment. And then His parables and His denunciation of the scribes and Pharisees in Matthew 23. And Rome does in fact step in. They put an end to what looked like a potential revolution. That is how Jesus ends up on a Roman cross later in the week. And all of that, those events we know as Holy Week all begin here with this triumphal entry on Palm Sunday. Maybe you're wondering what Palm Sunday, that first Palm Sunday, has to do with us. I mean, that was a long time ago. None of us were there. What are we supposed to do with this? Maybe some of you are sitting there, and this is reminding you of those history classes in school. You learn about some ancient battle, and you kind of just file it under, that was interesting, but not really relevant. And that's not a criticism of history. I love history. But you know how it is. Sometimes you read about these things and you think, okay, what do we do with that? And you know the amazing thing about the Bible? This book that was written thousands of years ago, it is just as much God's Word to us here today, right now, April 2, 2023, as it was for Matthew's original readers. And so what is Palm Sunday? What does this triumphal entry say to us? Let me highlight two things. The first is that Jesus is not the king we expected. And the second is that Jesus is the king we need. Jesus is not the king we expected. I came across a little saying this week about expectations. Expectations are future resentments, or we could say expectations often become future resentments. I mean, you know how it is. You maybe have these unrealistic expectations of a friend or a spouse, and inevitably that friend, the other person, does not meet your expectations. It's impossible to do so, but still you get frustrated, right? Maybe even angry or resentful or hurt, and the list goes on and on. The crowds there on Palm Sunday They had expectations. But Jesus was not the King they expected. They were right to sing in praise, to shout Hosanna, and to say, blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. Jesus was in fact the true King, the Messiah, but their expectations, the kind of King they were anticipating, those expectations they had were distorted. They were expecting a conquering warrior, someone like King David. And you know the stories of David. In their minds, Messiah, when he comes, he's going to wipe out these evil Romans, and he's going to make Israel great again. They wanted a military hero. That's the kind of king they expected. But that's not the kind of king Jesus is. And we get a glimpse of it, even here in the passage, as Jesus rides into the city on a donkey, not a war horse. And as the week continues, he doesn't use violence to establish his kingdom. He didn't slaughter the pagan Romans. Instead, he willingly suffered a grotesque and shameful death at their hands. And so even Jesus' own disciples, they had these distorted expectations of the kind of Messiah He was. Do you remember earlier in the Gospel, do you remember Peter's response to Jesus after Jesus says, we're going to Jerusalem and I'm going to die there in Jerusalem? Do you remember how Peter responded? Was it, well yeah, of course, that's exactly what Messiah is going to do. No, Peter rebukes Jesus. No, Jesus, this will not happen. This is not what Messiah comes to do. It was just unthinkable for Peter that something like that would happen. And the things that end up happening during Holy Week, His betrayal, his arrest, the crucifixion. I mean, all of this was just unthinkable for the disciples and the others who came to Jerusalem with Jesus. This is not what they expected. It turns out Jesus was not the kind of king they were hoping for. And it shook them. We're so familiar with these stories that we forget just how unsettling all this was for them. That mismatch between expectation and reality. It was like the rug had gotten pulled from out under their feet. And maybe you're there too. Those times when Jesus doesn't meet your expectations. Do you know what I'm talking about? Have you been there? Have you experienced that where it just doesn't seem like Jesus is showing up and doing what we expect Him to do? Faithful Christians experience that. Now, we know the correct answer theologically, right? Jesus never fails. Yes and Amen. That is true and right and good. But it sure feels like he does at times. It's a real Christian experience. You know, Jesus loves me, so surely he's going to make my circumstances better. Because I'm faithfully serving him, he's not going to let me get cancer. Well, if I do get cancer, he's going to heal me. I mean, why wouldn't he? He's the great physician. Or what about the shooting at that Christian school in Nashville last Monday? Six people killed, three of them children. Where was Jesus? If he's this king that the people are celebrating, why did this happen? And I have no doubt that some of you are sitting here this morning, you're wrestling with these kinds of questions and doubts. That mismatch between what you expected from Jesus and what He has or has not done for you. As I've said, real Christians struggle with this. And I want to say to you this morning, it's okay to come here on Sundays with questions. It's okay to show up here on Sundays being confused about what Jesus is doing in your life. You know, I don't get it. It doesn't make sense. It doesn't seem right. It's okay to struggle with believing that He's good when you look at how bad your circumstances are. I mean, whole books of the Bible were written by people wrestling with these very kinds of things. I mean, have you ever read the book of Lamentations? I mean, we all know towards the end of chapter 3, the happy part, the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. Have you ever read the rest? It's gut-wrenching. I mean, it's full of painful questions about God's goodness. Or take Psalm 88. Psalm of Lament. I would encourage you, later today, go spend some time with Psalm 88. I would guarantee that many of you will come away from Psalm 88 thinking, I'm not so sure that's supposed to be in the Bible. It's just, it's dark. It's depressing. I mean, the psalmist is lamenting God's seeming absence. And he prays, and he prays, and he prays for relief from his suffering, and God just doesn't seem to answer. And the psalm ends on this wonderful note, You have taken from me friend and neighbor, darkness is my closest friend. No silver lining, no happy ending, at least in that psalm. So what does all this mean? for us. Does it mean Jesus is going to fail us and He can't turn the darkness into light? No. Not at all. He can certainly change the darkness into light. And He does sometimes. But more often than we would like to admit, He doesn't. Jesus doesn't always meet our expectations. So where does that leave us? It can leave us reeling. It can leave us feeling disoriented. I really thought following Jesus was going to look a lot different than this. I just don't understand. Listen, those seasons of disorientation, if you haven't experienced it, you will. And if you have experienced it, you know what I'm talking about. Those seasons of disorientation. They're incredibly painful, aren't they? They aren't fun. In those seasons where we start to realize that Jesus is not the kind of king we expected, God is doing a very painful work in us. A necessary work. but a painful work. He's stripping away false hopes. He's stripping away naive expectations. Not to make us miserable, but to mature our faith. He's bringing us to a place where we start to understand that Jesus is not the king we expected. He's not going to just fit the mold of what we want from our Savior and Lord. But He is the King we truly need. God brings about this reorientation of our hopes and dreams. And so, let's consider that Jesus is the King we need. He's not the King we expected, but He is indeed the King we need. If you keep reading in Matthew's Gospel, it's clear that by the end of Holy Week, Jesus has disappointed His disciples. I've spent some time this past week trying to put myself in the shoes of the disciples on Good Friday and Holy Saturday. The week begins with so much celebration, so much joy, so much anticipation. The King's here. Everything's going to be set right. And then on Friday, They hear the soldiers mocking voices. They witness Jesus' agony on the cross. Darkness engulfs the land. And then they take Jesus' limp body down from the cross and place it in a tomb. And then on Holy Saturday, that day we often forget about, there's just silence. Jesus is in the grave. and the disciples are all alone. I mean, can you imagine just how hopeless they felt? I mean, talk about disorientation. They had banked all their hopes on Jesus, all their hopes and dreams. They thought He was the King they were waiting for, and from their perspective, He had failed them. I mean, what other explanation could there be for all this that happened? I mean, to them, the cross looked like a big no to everything they had hoped for. And then something happens early on Sunday morning. You know, Jesus got up out of the grave. The crucified King was now the risen King. And that changed. I was going to say a lot of things, but I think that's an understatement. That changed everything. And it took some time for them, but their disorientation gave way to a new orientation, a new understanding of Jesus. He's not what we expected, but He's exactly the King that we needed. In the light of the resurrection, The cross looks much different. We see now, Jesus didn't fail them, and Jesus hasn't failed us. And I want you to get this this morning. At the cross, there is a no. Jesus says no to all of our misguided expectations of Him, because He has said yes to our deepest needs. He said no to our misguided expectations because He said yes to our deepest needs. They wanted rescue from the evil and oppression of Rome, but Jesus came to do more than that. He came to rescue us from evil in its full depths. He came to rescue us from the power of sin, from the power of the devil, from the power of death. And those powers could not be conquered with weapons or armies. They could only be defeated by the power of His humble, self-giving love at the cross. And so, Jesus is not the King we expected. But He's the King we truly need. And let me conclude this morning with our response to Palm Sunday. I want you to think about this. When you're confronted with that mismatch between what you expect, what you desire, what you hope for from Jesus on the one hand, And then on the other hand, His answer to those expectations and desires, or what often feels like His non-answer to those expectations. When you are faced with that mismatch, and you don't understand the ways of Jesus, how will you respond? How will you respond? Andrew Peterson, he's a Christian musician. He has a song titled, Always Good. Some of you might know it. This song wrestles with believing God's goodness in the face of unimaginable pain. And he wrote the song for a friend of his. The friend's wife died just a few hours after giving birth to their first child. And Andrew performed the song at her funeral. And the song is It comes in the first-person perspective. And it gives voice to that disorientation we feel when Jesus doesn't meet our expectations. And then, toward the end of the song, after wrestling with confusion and pain, there's this just beautiful prayer. The song says, as we try to believe what is not meant to be understood, Will you help us to trust your intentions for us are still good? Because you laid down your life and you suffered like I never could. You are always good. Always good. Do you see what he's saying? When your circumstances are screaming at you that Jesus is not good, that He doesn't care, that He can't be trusted. When you can't make a sense of anything that's going on in your life, what do you do? The song says, look at the cross. That bloody, grotesque, shameful death on the cross. Look there and you see Jesus' heart. You say with Paul, he loved me and gave himself for me. How do I know that he's good? Well, I can't look at the circumstances. I know he's good because he laid down his life for me. He's the king I need. And so in that confusion, in the darkness, you keep trusting his heart. I see what He came to do. I see what He intends for me. I don't understand how it's all working out right now, but I see His heart of love. I see His humble, self-giving love because He showed it at the cross. And I trust that He's always good. Always good. Let me pray for us. Our Lord Jesus, would You indeed come and help us as we try to believe what is not meant to be understood? Would You help us trust that Your intentions for us are indeed good? Help us to know that You love us as we look to Your cross and see Your heart. Steady us, Lord, with this knowledge that You are always good. Amen.