As we all know, today is Palm Sunday. Today is the day that Jesus Christ made His triumphal entrance into Jerusalem. And today marks the beginning of the last week our Lord was on the earth. At this point in time, Jesus was very well known. Many people spoke of His popularity and fame. In other words, many of these people had either witnessed or heard about His miracles and signs. He healed numerous people; restoring sight to the blind, making the lame walk, casting out demons, healing the lepers, and perhaps the most powerful of all the signs, how He brought Lazarus back to life after four days of being dead. His reputation and ministry had a great impact in the world back then. People poured out into the streets to receive Him. The people came to receive the one that they saw as the Messiah. But something happened that changed the minds of these people. They had originally received Him joyfully. But what happened? And why did it happen? These are the questions that we'll be exploring today. (Read John 12:12-19).
They took branches of palm trees, and went forth to meet him, and cried, Hosanna: Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! The King of Israel! -John 12:13
Joy of the Passover
The first thing that we see here is the multitude of people in Jerusalem. The people had come for the celebration. What celebration was this? The celebration was the “Passover.” Understand that this is not a straightforward concept. Here is a small explanation. [What does Passover mean in Hebrew?] The name "Passover" comes from the Hebrew word Peg-Samech-Chet, meaning to pass through or to pass over. God "passed over" the Jewish houses when he was slaying the firstborn of Egypt. The root of this word is seen for the first time in Exodus 12:23 when we read “For the Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians; and when He sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over the door and not allow the destroyer to come into your houses to strike you.” [Why were the Israelite not affected by the plague?] The Israelite were not affected by this plague because they had done as God had instructed to Moses and Aaron. Therefore, this date marks the birth of the Jewish nation as they were freed from their enslavement. And they were made servants of God. For this reason, God made this day of celebration. (Read Exodus 12:14-17)
This celebration continues to be very special to the Jewish people. It was a family gathering with great feasts, prayers, and much more. In Israel the Passover is a seven-day holiday. The first and last day are celebrated with a grand festival. (With this explanation of the Passover,) let’s now continue our study for today.
Joy of the Spirit
As we can all see, these people had a joyful spirit, but unfortunately this was only temporary. These people were under the dominion of the Roman Empire. The Roman Empire governed them with an iron hand. These people felt weak and oppressed because Rome took their money, had very strict rules; and crucifixions (the cruel method of execution by the Empire). Many others said that the Jewish people were waiting for the Messiah to arrive. [Why were the people so anxiously awaiting the Messiah’s arrival?] The people were anxiously waiting for the king to arrive. He would free them from their suffering. When Jesus rode into Jerusalem riding on a donkey, these people all saw it as a prophecy coming true. The people saw it as the prophet had said in Zechariah 9:9 when we read “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.”
As I said, they were anxiously waiting for this prophecy to come true, they were anxiously waiting for the arrival of the king who would defeat the Roman Empire. Due to all of this they were convinced that He would fulfill the prophecy, and that they would finally be free.
In Matthew 21:8-9 we read “And a very great multitude spread their clothes on the road; others cut down branches from the trees and spread them on the road. Then the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out, saying: “Hosanna to the Son of David! ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’ Hosanna in the highest!”
The multitude was praising Jesus and they were lifting their voices in joyful celebration, but most importantly, they were lifting their hearts to Him. They were doing this because they felt that in their hearts, the Messiah had arrived. Dear brothers and sisters, How many of us here today would do the same thing? Who can lift their voice right now and shout ‘Hosanna to the son of David’ with the same joy? Who can lift a shout of joy right now and say blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord? Who can lift up their voice and shout Hosanna in the highest? Wake up the person next to you and say, PRAISE GOD!
All of us here can lift our voices and joyfully shout to the Lord. All of us here can lift our hands and heart to God and welcome Him into our life. But what happens after He enters our life, but does not act the way we wanted or expected? What happens when everything that we had is turned upside down because of Him? Do we continue to shout, Hosanna in the highest? The sad reality is that in the majority of the cases, this does not happen. In the majority of cases, that passionate love that we once felt, fades away. When God does not act or perform the way we think He should perform, the joy turns to anger, and the praise into rebellion. This is exactly what happened with these people.
Joy of Anticipation
As I have said, these people were waiting to be freed from the Roman Empire. They were anxiously waiting for the king to come and round up an army. They wanted to remove the Roman occupation from their land, but this did not happen. What happened? This man named Jesus in whom they had put their faith. Jesus, their next king, according to prophecy, did not try to assemble an army. Jesus did not try to unite the people and leaders of the different communities. Jesus did the unexpected. What did He do? [What was the difference between what the people expected the Messiah to do and what He did?] Instead of uniting the leaders and community, He revealed their sins and wicked ways. This is something that is very evident in Matthew 21:12-13 when we read “Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. “It is written,” he said to them, “My house will be called a house of prayer, but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.”
This man who would be the next king according to prophecy did not say that He would stop Rome from taking their money through taxes. Instead, He told them to pay for it. Look at what He said in Matthew 22:17-21 when we read “tell us, therefore, what do You think? Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, “Why do you test Me, you hypocrites? Show Me the tax money.” So, they brought Him a denarius. And He said to them, “Whose image and inscription is this?” They said to Him, “Caesar’s.” And He said to them, “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” When they had heard these words, they marveled, and left Him and went their way.”
Jesus did not attempt to unite the leaders and raise an army. Instead, he uncovered their sin and wicked ways for all to see. In Matthew 23:27 when we read “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness.” Do you realize what Jesus did? Jesus did everything that they did not expect; Jesus did everything that they did not want. [What happened to the people when Jesus did not do as they wanted?] This is why their praises were silenced and the joy in their heart turned to anger. This attitude is still among believers today. Why do I say this? I say this because it is very easy to praise God when everything is going well or going the way we think they should go. It is very easy to praise and worship God when the circumstances appear totally favorable. It is very easy to maintain the joy in our heart when Christ glorifies Himself and the obstacles in our life fall. But what happens when things don’t go our way?
What happens when the circumstances do not appear so favorable, and we experience difficulties? What happens when God just won’t act the way we want Him to act, or expect Him to act? If we are honest with ourselves, all of us here will admit that the joy in our heart simply fades away, and praising and worshiping God becomes something difficult to do.
One very true fact about our God is that on occasion, He will NOT give us what we ask; but we can be sure of one thing, He will always give us what we need. This is something that is very well reflected in Philippians 4:19 when we read “And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” This small verse teaches us that God will provide for our needs. But as I said, the problem is that what we want is not always what we need, and vice versa. This is what happened to these people, and still happens today. These people wanted something specific, they wanted freedom from Roman oppression. But because they focused only on what they wanted, because they only focused on the circumstances that surrounded them, they failed to see that the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords had in fact arrived in Jerusalem.
In John 1:10-11 we see “He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and his own did not receive Him”, Because they did not follow God, but instead they followed their fleshly needs. [What did the people fail to see?] They failed to see that the Messiah, who they were so anxiously expecting, had come to free them from much more than just their earthly needs, because God did not act the way that they were expecting and wanted. People to this day fail to see that He was opening the doors to the kingdom of God. He came to give them eternal life. God’s plan was much, much more. God wanted to liberate them from Satan’s dominion. But because they could not understand these things, because Jesus did not act the way they expected Him to act, the joy of His arrival quickly died, the praises to His name were silenced, and they all separated themselves from Him. Because Jesus did not act the way that they expected, everything that they had learned, everything that they had witnessed, everything that they had heard, all of the miracles, all of the signs, it was like everything was erased.
The Jewish people wanted to be freed from the Roman Empire, but Jesus came to free them from much more than that. The Jewish people wanted Jesus to act in a certain way, but Jesus did exactly the opposite. Jesus acted to accomplish the will of the Father, and not the will of men. They failed to realize that the prophecy had been fulfilled, and that the King of King and Lord of Lords had arrived in Jerusalem. They failed to understand all of this because their sight was focused on their earthly needs and wants, and not in the will of God. When we think that Jesus will give us a trouble-free life or one that makes us rich, we have missed the point of who Jesus is.
And you, do you continue lifting up your hands, and raising your voice in joyful celebration saying Hosanna in the highest? Have you allowed the circumstances of this world or do the thoughts that dwell in your mind destroy the joy in your heart? Don’t allow the same things that stopped these people from seeing His true nature stop you. Don’t allow anything to kill the joy that knowing Him can bring you. Don’t allow your way of thinking or your expectations to distance you from God. Lift your heart to Him right now and surrender your life to Him. Shout out with a joyful voice now “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. The King of Israel!” Amen.
