Palm Sunday 2011 - Triumphal Entry, A Donkey's Tale

Good morning. Today we have a donkey's tail. I don't mean the tail where you pin it on the donkey. I mean the other kind of tail, right? It's tough being a Jewish donkey. I have to tell you. First of all, you have to abide by all the laws very carefully. And that means every single one. There are people watching and making sure that you do the right thing. Sure, Sabbaths are great, but while the Sabbaths are great, all the rest of the time they work you very hard, overloaded terribly, overloaded just awfully, and it just comes with the territory.

Well, Moses actually wrote quite a bit about donkeys and even had laws that talked about the donkeys. You do this with the donkey and do that, and if your donkey does this, then you do this other thing. Well, he even wrote about a donkey that talked to its master, and that was a huge, huge hee-haw, believe me. This morning, I'll be speaking for the donkey, since the donkey was not given to talk directly to you this time around. At least, it seems that the Jews didn't believe that they'd just get no respect, and I won't go to bad grammar for that.

Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are like four-channel stereo vision. And what do I mean by that? We get a most extraordinary depth of vision by looking at all four of the accounts when they parallel at once. And this passage we're looking at today is one of those. The four Gospels have been blended and interwoven to give us the full perspective of what took place that day. the day we've come to call Palm Sunday, which is today, and the event called the Triumphal Entry. So today's handout looks a little different from the usual, and if this is your first time here, you'll say, what's the difference?

Well, don't worry about it. But follow along. We'll be looking at the scripture passages exactly in the sequence and the text that you have in front of you there. First, our sponsoring donkey would like to take us through a brief tour of the Passion Week. And it starts like this. And this is the traditional chronology. There are others who worked out different details. But it starts with Friday, that is two days before Palm Sunday. I almost said Donkey Sunday, so excuse me.

Zacchaeus was there in Jericho on Friday. And then Lazarus was raised by Christ there in the town of Bethany. And then on Sunday, which is our topic today, is the triumphal entry, which is where Jesus rode the donkey toward Jerusalem. And here our donkey will take an exit because the donkey's role has ended. Drove out the money changers on Monday. So he went into the temple area on Sunday, but drove out the money changers the next day.

Tuesday was what is called the Olivet Discourse. By that we mean Jesus talked to the disciples about things that were going to happen in the future. And he did so speaking to them on the Mount of Olives as he was there across from the temple and overlooking the city of Jerusalem. Jesus went into the temple in Jerusalem on Wednesday, and on Thursday was the day of what's called the Last Supper.

This is essentially the handoff from Passover to the Lord's table. On Thursday night then was the events described in the Garden of Gethsemane and then the crucifixion and burial on Friday. This we'll be having a look at here on the Good Friday service this coming Friday here at seven o'clock. On Saturday he was in the grave.

The Roman soldiers stood in front of the grave to make sure that the roman seal was not broken and uh... uh... afraid they were disappointed because on sunday there was a resurrection and uh... so that's the sequence and so we'll celebrate a week from today resurrection sunday okay now let's pretend you're a flying donkey From a flying donkey's perspective, here looking at modern Jerusalem and Israel, this is a shot looking over Jerusalem and looking to the east towards the Dead Sea, as you see there in the picture.

Here is the Temple Mount. The Temple is not there at this point in time. The rubble of the Temple has been located and found. But that's the location of it. Here is the Mount of Olives, where Jesus was actually daily during this time, because he would cross into Jerusalem during the course of this Passion Week. Here is Bethany, right here behind the Mount of Olives. And in between here is Bethphage.

Jesus and the 12 disciples had been traveling up to Jerusalem from Jericho, and I do mean up. It was a custom actually of many thousands of Jews. Those who lived in northern Israel would not come through the land of the Samaritans, so they would go down along the Jordan River, which headed downhill and below sea level, and then they would go from Jericho up to Jerusalem. And so here is geographically the pattern. Here's Jericho near the Jordan River, and then Jerusalem nearby.

Now, Jerusalem is nearby. However, there's quite a climb, and the road is windy. Quick summary, it's about 23 miles distance and that's because of this circuitous winding path up the steep climb there and a 3,000 foot climb from Jericho below sea level over 800 feet to Jerusalem above sea level. So a total of about 300 foot climb to go from Jericho up to Jerusalem. Now, if you were on a donkey, that was nice. Jesus only had the donkey for the very last part of this trip. That would have been better than carrying the donkey. So, at any rate, it was a steep climb.

Now, Passover, which was what the Jews were beginning to or preparing to celebrate here, was the exodus of the Jews from Egypt over 1400 years before, given initially in Exodus chapter 12. And they had Passover on that first Passover actually standing up. They were not to sit. They were to stand during the meal ready to go. Now, Mark 11 1 and 2 goes like this, and I believe it's the same as is on your handout.

As they approached Jerusalem at Bethphage and Bethany near the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples and said to them, go into the village opposite you and immediately as you enter it you will find a colt tied there on which no one yet has ever sat. Untie it and bring it there.

Now, this is donkeys. Now, in donkey terms, the adult male is a jack. The adult female is a jenny. The one year and younger male is a colt. And the one year younger female is the foal. So this is a young male donkey. So Matthew 21, 3, 4, and 5 proceeds like this, If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, The Lord has need of them, and immediately he will send them. This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet, that is the prophet Zechariah, in Zechariah 9, 9, Say to the daughter of Zion, Behold, your king is coming to you, gentle and mounted on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.

So now, John 12, 16, these things His disciples did not understand at the first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written of Him, and that they had done these things to Him. So now, we mustn't sit in judgment of the disciples too much, realizing that they're catching up to Later on, they're catching up to the significance of what was said, the significance of the things that happened. And in truth, we're doing that too, aren't we? We're catching up to what the Lord has already done to make us who we are in Christ. And then it happened like this there in the village.

Matthew 21.6, it says, the disciples went and did just as Jesus had instructed them.

In Mark 11.14, they went away and found a colt tied at the door, outside in the street, and they untied it.

And Luke 19.33 says, as they were untying the colt, its owner said to them, why are you untying the colt? Reasonable thing to ask.

So Mark 11.6 records, they spoke to them just as Jesus had told them, and they gave them permission. Okay.

Now you might wonder now, why did these people just let him take it? Well, It has to do with the understanding of those who lived in and near Jerusalem. In and near Jerusalem, the people who lived in that area took it as their obligation to be the finest hosts of those who came in for the feast. And so you would have people come and stay with you, you would offer them whatever accommodations you had that came along with living in and near Jerusalem. So this would be another instance. Oh, okay, the Lord has need of it? Fine. It goes along with the rest of the hospitality that would be expected for everyone to show.

Matthew 21, 7 and 8 goes like this, and the two disciples brought the donkey and the colt and laid their coats on them and he sat on the coats. Now, Matthew is the only one that actually talks about two animals and you might be wondering looking at this passage, did he sit on both donkeys at once? No, what he did is they laid coats on them and he sat on the coats on the colt, not riding both donkeys at once. So now, Most of the crowd spread their coats in the road.

This was a greeting for those who would be considered honored, perhaps even royalty. And others were cutting branches from the palm trees and spreading them in the road. We insert that word palm from John 12, 13, which says, matter of fact, that's the only mention of palms on Palm Sunday. And you might be wondering why the palm branches? Well, palm branches had become a well understood symbol for Jewish nationalism. One of the reasons why that was thought to be the case, Tamar, who was the one sister of the sons of Jacob, her name means date palm. Tamar was shown along with the date palm in Jewish coins, in Jewish architecture. And notice also when we studied last week the genealogy of Jesus, Tamar, the sister of the sons of Jacob, Tamar was the first female listed in that genealogy. So this is where we get the term Palm Sunday from that one reference there in the Gospel of John. Donkeys, on the other hand, are mentioned a number of times. Isn't that interesting? However, I get a lot of objection if I call it Donkey Sunday, so we won't do that. Okay.

Luke 19.37 goes like this.

As soon as he was approaching near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the miracles which they had seen. and principally being one that had just taken place the prior day, and that is the raising of Lazarus. That took place in these villages right there on the backside, on the east side if you will, of the Mount of Olives.

Matthew 21.9 records this, the crowds going ahead of him and those who followed were shouting Hosanna, or in the original language Hoshanna. O save us! to the son of David, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord."

And this is a quote from Psalm 118.26, Hoshanna, Hosevas in the highest. Okay, as the Jews would walk towards the city of Jerusalem and as they would get even closer they would sing songs back and forth.

Our term for it is Antiphony. And they would alternate between different groups. One would sing one part and the next group would sing their part and they would go back and forth between them as they would walk up to Jerusalem. And different groups and different families would carry on this custom. It was what they would sing every time as they were walking up to Jerusalem.

It was their custom as they approached to sing from Psalm 113 through Psalm 118, that is sometimes called the Hallel, praise. You may have heard that term in Hallelujah, okay? Praise God. And so these are the Psalms that they would sing customarily. There's also the Psalms of Ascent, that is the Psalms that would be sung while they were ascending this very steep and long road. and that would include Psalm 120 to about 134.

Now, here from several of the Gospels, we have this compilation. Some of the things said and shouted were, blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord, peace in heaven and glory in the highest. And these were things they would actually customarily say as they would go up on the road from Jericho to Jerusalem.

Mark 11.10, the first part of the verse says, blessed is the coming kingdom of our father david and finally in john twelve thirteen the last part even the king of israel it sounds you would get the impression that here were all these israelites these jewish people receiving christ as their king as the as the descendant of david as their messiah that's the impression one would get john twelve seventeen through nineteen however begins to give us a different picture of what that day looked like, a not so triumphant picture.

It says, so the people who were with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to testify about him. After all, it just happened yesterday and a lot of these people had come right from those towns and some of them had either seen or heard directly about the raising of Lazarus. That would get your attention, wouldn't it? Right? So they continued to testify about him for this reason also that people went and met him because they heard they had performed this sign.

So the Pharisees said to one another, being in opposition, so the Pharisees said to one another, you see that you're not doing any good. Look, the world has gone after him. They're upset. Luke 19, 39 and 40 says, Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, Teacher, Rabbi, Rebuke your disciples! But Jesus answered, I tell you, if these became silent, the stones will cry out." Were the leaders of Israel accepting Christ as their Messiah of King? Do you get that impression? Not so much.

Luke 19, 41-44 says, And when he approached Jerusalem, he saw the city and wept over it. You can imagine Jesus coming up to the Mount of Olives, and he comes over the very crest of the hill there. As a matter of fact, this roadway that we show in the picture off to the right is very similar, if not identical, to the way it was when Christ came along this very pathway that you see in front of you here. And as he'd come over the top of the hill, there he would see the walls, there he would see the temple, and you see the city around, all laid out in front of him. And as he saw that, The minute he crested the top of the hill and saw that, he burst into tears. He wept. Was Christ behaving as if he was coming in victory over the Holy City? Not so much. We don't get that impression.

When he approached Jerusalem, 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 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 you one stone upon another because you did not recognize the time of your visitation. because they didn't realize that Jesus was the Messiah and acknowledge him as their Messiah and King in four decades, 70 AD, late summer.

Just what Jesus describes right here takes place. The archaeologists as they have gone and looked at the site find a big pile of rubble. Some of the blocks of stone that they find in this rubble have things that are identifiable as being from the temple there in Jerusalem. The Romans came in and destroyed the temple, and just as Jesus described, they didn't just knock a few things down and make a mess of it. They took every single stone and dumped it off the edge. Some of the stones were broken up and shattered as that happened. Some of the stones weighed many tons, dozens of tons, but as they fell off the edge, they were shattered and broken. All that was left and what the archaeologists found was rubble.

Matthew 21 10 and 11, For when he had entered Jerusalem, all the city was stirred, saying, Who is this? And the crowds were saying, And look at this. This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee. Was he a prophet? Yes. But what's wrong with this statement? They didn't recognize him as their King and Messiah. That's where they fell short. Though they recognized Christ as a prophet, so far so good, did it seem like they recognized that he was their Messiah and King?

The answer, unfortunately, no. Mark 11 11 Jesus entered Jerusalem and came into the temple and after looking around at everything he left for Bethany with the twelve since it was already late. He came there into the temple area into the we see a portion of the temple courtyard in this picture the entire temple area is about six football fields or soccer fields if you prefer in size and so he came into that area and looked around and nothing much else happened that day. He went back to his temporary home in Bethany. Here, looking into the inner part of the temple, no recognition of him.

The ones who were in charge here, busy doing all their usual priestly and leaderly things, but no recognition of Jesus as the Messiah and King. They're occupied, rather, with the ongoing activities. I've got things to do. I've got things to get done. but not seeing Jesus as their Messiah and King. But what do we do when we have a triumphal entry that's not all that triumphal? What do we do with that? Are we left just with Jesus weeping and the worshipers who don't keep on worshiping throughout the course of this week? After all, in a matter of days, a cry would come up from the crowd, Crucify Him! And it would end there. with his crucifixion.

Nobody's saying, no, wait. Nobody's saying, wait, he's the king. Wait, he's the Messiah. Stop. Since the Pharisees never do seem to come around, what are we to make of this anticlimactic temple entrance? Since the best thing the crowd seems to understand is that Jesus is a prophet, but not their king and Messiah, what should we think? So the thing for us to notice here, this is not a point to be depressed.

Jesus presented two gospels. Jesus had been presenting to the Jews the gospel of the kingdom. Earlier in Matthew chapter 4 and chapter 9, in which the Jews were receiving Christ as the king of the kingdom, was central. Would they receive him as their king? That's the gospel of the kingdom. Your king is here. Do you recognize him? The Jews rejected the gospel of the kingdom, which is why Jesus' entry that day wasn't all that triumphal.

But Jesus spoke of, and in fact he continued to speak of throughout that week, and would soon do the work for another gospel, one that's very important for us to recognize. In just five days, Jesus would die on a Roman cross, taking voluntarily upon himself the debt of the sins of the whole world, for all mankind of all time, including everyone sitting in this room. Then after the preparation for and burial in the tomb.

Christ would rise again from death, not to a life like this present one. You see, that's what had happened with Lazarus. Lazarus was raised to this kind of life. That wasn't to be what happened to Jesus. Not back to this earth, to this kind of life. Not another body like this one. Imagine Lazarus. He went through this death and then he got raised and then he had to go through it again. Right? But not with Christ. Not with Christ. A new kind of life.

You see, what took place just a matter of days after this not-so-triumphal entry, is there was a payment made. A payment made for all of our sins. When Jesus, as it's recorded in the Gospel of John, said, It's finished! A lot of people will think of that as, okay, it's finished, I'm done. And yes, it does mean that, but it means more. Jesus yelled from the cross an accounting term. It's actually one word, and it means paid. And he spoke it in a particular form, which means it's all completely paid with continuing effect. The payment was made.

A body was laid, forever raised. Now, here we have a picture of some guys in Iraq, as it turns out, baptizing one of the soldiers. They're making a makeshift baptismal pool right out in the desert sands. We're going to be having a baptism behind the screen here. We don't have any desert sands, I'm afraid, but we'll do the rest of it. And we'll have a baptism here and need to talk about what does that mean. What's going to happen shortly needs to be understood. This is the way baptism was used in a couple instances so that we understand it.

Cloth that started off white or something close to that was baptized into the vat of dye to color it For example, purple or red. They would take shells, and by the way, it took about 10,000 of these shells to make one ounce of dye. They would also take a particular worm, a crimson worm, and also to make red or purple dye, a dark colored dye. They would take the cloth and dip it into the vat of dye, and when they would do so, they would say they are baptizing it. They're putting it into this vat of dye in order to bring it out red. And so the baptism indicated a permanent change. A permanent and radical change had taken place. This white cloth is now red. This white cloth is now purple.

Another way the word baptized was used was to take the raw material for a sword and to heat it up, heat it up intensely in the heat to make it white hot. And then from there, they would take the sword and plunge it into a vat of cold water. And the water would then suddenly cool the outside metal of the sword and case harden it. It would make it a much harder material on the outside. and therefore they would come up with a good sword, not one that would be easily dinged and bent, but one that was very hard and would hold its edge and would be resistant to being bent and distorted.

These pictures that we have here are the ones that are used to give us the idea, what does it mean to be baptized into Christ, as is recorded in the book of Romans and in Galatians. To be baptized into Christ means to be identified with Him, and as we are placed into Him, to be radically changed, just like the cloth was radically changed from its white to its, in those days, permanent red or purple color. just like the sword that would be permanently changed in character, hardened and strengthened and stiffened because of being plunged as white hot into the cold water. So what we're about to do here is representing this radical change that takes place when a person believes in Christ. We have four people, if all goes as planned, we have four people who are planning on being baptized here today and we'll follow that shortly. So those of us who have believed in Christ, including those who are about to be baptized, and are therefore saved, have been spiritually immersed into Christ, are permanently and substantially changed by that one spiritual immersion. We're picturing that as we do the baptism.

Scripture connects that baptism into Christ with being united or identified with Christ, specifically in His death, burial, and resurrection. Romans 6, 3-10 spells exactly that. So when you believed that Christ, the Son of God, died for your sins and was buried and rose again, you were baptized into Christ. You were immersed into Him in order to be radically changed, in order to be identified with Him. in his death and burial and resurrection.

As we will sometimes say it, people will sing the old spiritual, were you there when they crucified my Lord? And in fact, we can sing, yes, I was there when they crucified my Lord. I was there when they laid him in the tomb. And I was there when he rose up from the dead. Yes, I was there.

Let's pray. Lord, as we anticipate this baptism, as we look back on this time when the people of Jerusalem didn't seem to fully understand who you were, tragically for them, and yet at the same time we recognize that though you rode in on a donkey on that anticlimactic day, there will come a time soon We pray that it is very soon when you will come back to the city of Jerusalem riding on a white horse. And we just look forward to that time and event when we will be with you. Thank you for what you have pictured in the baptism that's about to take place here. We pray in Jesus name. Amen.