Mark 11:7-9 (ESV)
[7] And they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it,
and he sat on it. [8] And many spread their cloaks on the road, and others
spread leafy branches that they had cut from the fields. [9] And those who went
before and those who followed were shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes
in the name of the Lord!
Each of the gospels records the event we call Palm Sunday. We call it the
Triumphal Entry. We often remember the day with palm branches and celebration.
It is the day that Jesus rode into Jerusalem while the crowds lay cloaks and
palm branches on the ground before him and shouted praises. But it was hardly a
triumph. The Pharisees rebuked Jesus for letting his disciples act in such a
manner (Lk 19:39). The city of Jerusalem “was stirred up, saying, ‘Who is
this?’” (Mat 21:10). Following his “Triumphal Entry” into Jerusalem Jesus
cleansed the temple of the money-changers and taught the people. The chief
priests and the scribes responded by “seeking a way to destroy him, for they
feared him, because all the crowd was astonished at his teaching” (Mk 11:18).
The Triumphal Entry looked like the coming of a king, and so it was. But it
was not a king coming to reign. It was a king coming to be rejected. Jesus had
been ministering in the north around Galilee. This return to Jerusalem
precipitated his crucifixion. The king had come, but the king had come to die.
He was unrecognized by the people of his capital city. He was rejected by his
religious leaders. Of course what they did not realize, what the Enemy did not
see coming, was that it truly was a triumphal entry. Coming to his death, Jesus
knew that his death was the very thing that would establish his kingdom. Thus,
when the chief priests told him to rebuke his disciples, “He answered, ‘I tell
you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out’” (Lk 19:40).
Jesus had come in triumph, but those for whom he came rejected him. “He came
to his own, and his own people did not receive him” (Jn 1:11). The Good News is
that, “to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right
to become children of God.” Today we have three options before us. We can join
the complacent crowds who say, “Who is this?” We can join the chief priests and
scribes in opposing him. Or we can join his disciples and believe. The king
came. The king was rejected and killed. The king rose from the dead. The king
was and is triumphant. The king will come again, and when he comes no one will
be saying, “Who is this?”
Revelation 1:5b-7 (ESV)
To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood [6]
and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and
dominion forever and ever. Amen. [7] Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and
every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth
will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen.
Jesus disciples worshiped while the city wondered who Jesus was. When he returns his disciples will celebrate while the world who rejected him will weep for they will realize that Jesus truly is King. You can believe today, or you can believe with regret when he comes back, but either way Jesus is King.
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