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Good Palm Sunday weekend my good friends who are “Walking with Jesus”;
It now appears North America, and the USA in particular, will lead the world in number of COVID-19 cases and deaths, if all countries are reporting their numbers accurately. WHY, is a fair question isn’t it? What are the medical reasons, the political reasons, the spiritual reasons, that the most developed, advanced, sophisticated, wealthy country in the world… which had several weeks to prepare, is now being struck the hardest? I wonder what you think?
If this very contagious disease is primarily spread from living person to living person and their proximity to each other, and their interaction, could not the spread of this pandemic be stopped or at least dramatically slowed by one simple thing. . . isolation from each other? But we human beings thrive on interaction, relationships, communication, and being together. In fact isolation fairly quickly brings discouragement, loneliness, depression, and a wide range of emotions which can be very destructive, can’t they?
So what are you my ‘walking with Jesus’ friends doing to combat the emotional effects of social distancing in your life and in the lives of others? We are so fortunate to have a wide range of technologies which enable us to communicate with one another, even if we are geographically far from each other, and I urge you to spend considerable time this weekend using whatever technology is available and familiar to you…telephone, ZOOM, skype, hangouts, what’sapp, facetime, facebook etc. to connect with many people, encouraging them and yourself.
Have you discovered that FEAR drives people to their knees in crying out to God, even if they have not been religious? That is happening right now, everywhere. And God has strategically placed His people, all over the world, in part, so we can respond to the fear in those around us by offering them the HOPE we have in Jesus Christ and God’s Word! Oh I urge you my friends to take full advantage of this moment in history, and BE both ‘salt and light’ (Matt. 5:13-16), to as many people as you see or know, who need God’s help and hope this weekend. Let’s be pro-active, and reach to people, as Jesus would!
Since this global pandemic began, I have been giving you specific Scriptures of HOPE both for yourself and others. Here’s another. . . Psalm 4&5 “Answer me when I call to you, O my righteous (holy) God. Give me relief from my distress; be merciful to me and hear my prayer…. I will lie down and sleep in peace, for You alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety.” (Ps. 4:1,8)
“Give ear to my words, O LORD, consider my sighing. Listen to my cry for help, my King and my God, for to YOU I pray. In the morning, O LORD, You hear my voice, in the morning I lay my requests before you, and I wait in expectation.” (Ps. 5:1-3)
Prayer is one of the greatest gifts God gives to us… conversation with God! And we, who have trusted in Jesus for our salvation, may be confident God hears our prayer and welcomes us as His children, and reaches to us in loving understanding as we pray to Him. Hold on to that, and I urge you to pray with one another on those telephone calls this weekend!
This is Palm Sunday weekend and for the first time in decades, we will NOT be gathering together in large numbers in churches on Palm Sunday! But in our journey with Jesus toward Easter, let’s open our Bibles this weekend to be part of that great celebration which welcomed Jesus in Jerusalem. As you may know all four of the Gospel writers include Palm Sunday in their story of Jesus: Matthew 21:1-17 / Mark 11:1-11 / Luke 19:28-44 and John 12:12-19.
Please don’t be concerned if you find some specifics in one account that are not in another. It is the same when NBC, CBS, ABC, CNN and FOX all cover the same event and file their reports. If you have the time this weekend, I think you’ll find it VERY interesting to read all four accounts and compare them. Perhaps you could take a piece of paper and list the uniquenesses of each account and combine them to form the full story of what took place, at least from these four reports.
Yesterday we spent the evening with Jesus and His disciples at a dinner party thrown in Jesus honor, at the home of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus who had miraculously been raised from the dead by Jesus. While it doesn’t tell us so, I believe they all spent the night there in Bethany at that home, and the next day Jesus sent two of the disciples to go find a donkey that He would ride toward Jerusalem. Now that seems strange doesn’t it? Why would Jesus ride, while everyone else walked? It was only a couple of miles from Bethany to Jerusalem, and Jesus was accustomed to walking many miles a day?
Matthew gives us the answer… Jesus was doing something that would be recognized by Jews who knew their Old Testament prophecies! Matt. 21:4,5 quotes Zechariah 9:9. One of the events Zechariah predicted 500 years before, which would identify the Jewish Messiah, was that He would ride into Jerusalem on a donkey!
There’s another special thing here, which again shows us the supernatural abilities of Jesus. He could see things clearly from far away and He could foretell things exactly as they would happen. Luke 19:30 says Jesus sent two disciples ahead into the next town, to get a donkey, specifying where they’d find it, and more, listen: “Go to the village ahead of you, and as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you ‘why are you untying it’, tell him ‘The Lord needs it.” Those who were sent ahead went and found it just as He had told them…”
So how did Jesus know where they’d find that colt, and especially how did He know it had never been ridden before? It’s another evidence Jesus is Immanuel, “God with us”!
All the reporters tell us the donkey was brought to Jesus and they threw their cloaks on it, rather than a saddle, and Jesus got on the colt and rode it toward Jerusalem. Have you ever tried to get on a bare back donkey, especially one that has never been ridden? What does that tell you about Jesus’ miracle in calming the colt?
Now remember, this was Passover festival time, so the population of Jerusalem was perhaps 10 times normal. All the inns were full to overflowing, and everyone who had family or friends coming to Jerusalem were staying with them, but still the hillsides around the city were covered with thousands of people sleeping out under the stars. So when Jesus and His disciples came over the rise of the Mount of Olives on the east side of Jerusalem, they would have been passing through a huge area filled with pilgrims, thousands of them.
Have you ever been part of a spontaneous wave of people, all suddenly caught up in celebration? It happens in a stadium when the athletes first come onto the field, or a concert when the lights lower in expectation of the artists coming on stage, or a wedding as the music starts and people rise expecting the bride. That’s what happened on the hillside covered with Jewish Passover pilgrims that day… somebody recognized Jesus as the miracle worker, and a wave of celebration spread spontaneously across the sea of people. As they rushed toward Jesus on the donkey, some began laying their cloaks on the ground making a path, and cheering loudly! Perhaps that’s where the red carpet for dignitaries comes from!?
Many of them had built little shelters of palm branches for sleeping at night, and some quickly grabbed palm branches and started waving them in adoration and celebration. John tells us “Now the crowd that was with Jesus when He called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to spread the word. Many people, because they had heard that Jesus had given this miraculous sign, when out to meet Him. So the Pharisees said to one another, ‘see this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after Him!” (John 12:17-19)
Of course that’s an exaggeration, but in that moment the surge of celebration felt like everyone alive was caught up in this overflow of praise! Can you feel it? Can you put yourself in the surging crowd? Be careful, don’t get run over… and can you hear what the people are shouting? “Hosanna!” It means “Save us”!
Oh yes, wouldn’t it be great if Jesus would unleash some of His miracle power against the iron fist of Roman domination and free everyone from living under such harsh conditions? Would it be great if He would multiply money in everyone’s pockets and save us from poverty? Would it be great if Jesus would heal every sick person, raise up the dying people to good health, give sight to every blind person? Within minutes the cry of “Hossana” swept over the hillside, can you hear the thunderous roar?
And then another wave of shouts began “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the LORD!”
The soldiers on the walls of Jerusalem watching these huge crowds were already nervous as they thought about trying to keep Jerusalem calm during Passover, and the “Hossana” cry was one thing, but now the cry celebrating this guy on a donkey as the KING who comes in the name of God, that’s a whole different shout, that could start a rebellion very quickly! I imagine within minutes mounted soldiers were out on that hillside showing Roman military power and dispersing the crowd, cracking whips in the air and shouting. Better step back, don’t get in their way, they are merciless.
The religious leaders were just as nervous as the Roman soldiers, for if the Passover crowds got rambunctious and caused any type of civil unrest, King Herod would hold the Pharisees responsible to control these Passover pilgrims, and he too was merciless. He had had John the Baptist beheaded in a ridiculous party promise, remember? (Matt. 14:1-12) So Dr. Luke tells us in Luke 19:30 “Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, ‘Teacher, rebuke your disciples!’
‘I tell you, Jesus replied, ‘if they keep quiet the stones will cry out.”
What was happening here? It was a miracle of God! God had stirred up these people because His Son was worthy of this moment, and it was an opportunity for all Israel to recognize who Jesus was that day. He was the one the Passover celebration points to…Messiah! He was the one every Jewish sacrifice offered at the Temple each day pointed to. He was, as John had said, “The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” (John 1:29) This Jesus was “Immanuel”, God among us. This was a God stirred up spontaneous celebration!
But as with almost all spontaneous celebrations, the crowds soon returned to whatever they were doing as Jesus on the donkey moved on down the hillside. Luke tells us in Luke 19:41 “As Jesus approached Jerusalem and saw the city, He wept over it and said, ‘If you had only known on this day what would bring you peace – but now it is hidden from your eyes. The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.”
Oh my, what a sad, terrifying declaration, predicting of the price of rejecting Jesus. In truth exactly this did happen. In the year 70ad, only about 40 years after Jesus said this, that Palm Sunday, the patience of Rome ran out, and the Roman army destroyed the city of Jerusalem, including the great Jewish Temple. The destruction was so severe, so intense, so complete, some historians described it as Jesus predicted.
Matthew, Mark and Luke tell us Jesus went on into Jerusalem that day, directly to the Temple and as He had done once before (John 2:12-24), He drove out the buying and selling which was defiling the Temple courts. This time Jesus shouted something very powerful: “It is written, My house will be called a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of robbers.” (Luke 19:46)
Can you imagine the noise, the shouting as tables are turned over, animals are running loose, and coins flying through the air? Anyone who saw it, and heard what Jesus shouted would have been stunned. Had He just called the Temple His house? Had He quoted Isaiah 56 and God’s promise that if His House, the Temple, was honored as a House of Prayer for all nations, and the Sabbaths were sacred there, then He would bless His people. Was Jesus quoting this promise and claiming that He was the One who had made that promise through Isaiah 600 years before? Can you imagine, my friends, the fear, the confusion, the tension in the air with all eyes turning to the Pharisee religious leaders and the Roman soldiers all around, wondering what would happen next?
Matthew tells us “And He left them and went out of the city to Bethany, where He spent the night.” (Matt. 21:17) It appears Jesus did what He had done in Nazareth so many months ago, when an angry crowd tried to throw Him over a cliff (Luke 4:30)… He just walked right through the crowd. And untouched Jesus walked out of Jerusalem. Evidently the two disciples who had gone to get the donkey, had taken it after Jesus got off and went toward the Temple.
I presume Jesus and His disciples, one of whom was leading the donkey, walked right through the crowded streets of Jerusalem, out through the gate, across the Kidron Valley, back up the hillside of the Mount of Olives with all those people and their little shelters, and then on toward Bethany two miles to the east. They probably dropped the donkey back off to its master, and that evening sat around the table with Mary, Martha and Lazarus talking about the day they’d had. What do you suppose they said to each other?
What would you have said? While none of the reporters tell us what took place that night, I’m imagining it was a discussion long into the night as the disciples, Mary, Martha and Lazarus all heard Jesus explaining all that had happened that day, and what it meant about who He was, Jesus the Messiah, and why He had come to earth and what His mission was, and what would be happening in the next few days.
I imagine that as they all laid down to rest that night, Jesus may have gone out to a quiet place, under the stars, to talk with His Father again, as He often did whenever there was a major event, and certainly this Triumphant day had been a major event. May I urge us all to do the same this weekend?
Find some quiet time with God. Certainly Palm Sunday weekend 2020 is unlike any we’ve ever experienced. Ask Jesus to give you a fresh perspective of HIM and what HE wants to accomplish in our world over these next few days with Easter 2020 approaching, and how He wants YOU to experience Him in a fresh, new way.
Here’s a powerful song a dear friend has recommended to me, and I think it fits for right now: “Just Be Held” by Casting Crowns. Here’s the YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Click to read today’s chapters: John 12; Matthew 21; Mark 11; Luke 19. (At the top you can choose a different translation.)
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Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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