Easter Sunday

Easter Sunday - Hope is RISEN!

SERMON TRANSCRIPT

Easter morning, a Sunday school teacher to ask the kiddos what they knew about Easter. And so she said, "Does anybody know what Easter is about?" And this one little boy raised his hand, he was so excited, he said, "Yes, yes, Easter is when "all my aunts and uncles come over to my house, "eat turkey, watch football, and take naps." And I said, "Well, no, that's kinda not it. "You're thinking of Thanksgiving." And then Susie, she raised her hand, she goes, "Oh, oh, I know, I know." She goes, "We celebrated Easter last year. "We decorated a tree and we had presents and there was milk and cookies. And the teacher goes, "No, I think you're probably, you're thinking about Christmas. Does any," and she's real nervous by this point. She's like, "I don't know if any of the poor kids know what Easter is about." And so she goes, "Okay, anybody know?" And Mina kind of sheepishly raised her hand. She goes, "Well, well, Easter is really about the special day when Jesus hung on the cross and he died and they put him in a tomb for three days. And the teacher goes, "Mina, that's awesome, that's great." And then Mina says, "And then we wait "and Jesus, when he comes out of the tomb, "if he sees his shadow, there's three more weeks of winter." That poor Sunday school teacher. Yeah, yeah. Right. Got some work to do. Yeah. So we're not talking about Groundhog Day today, we're talking about Easter. And before we get started, I love to just pray with us once more. Jesus, thank you for today, God. We continue to give you praise, the honor, the glory, God, that you rose that very first Easter and we celebrate that today. God, we are so excited to be here with you. You are here present, we know it. Your Holy Spirit has been felt this whole morning in this space. And so Jesus, we give you the praise, the honor, and the glory. God, be with us. Help us to transform who you want us to become. God, you have something for each of us today. Maybe we knew that, maybe we're here not by our own personal choice, but we're here maybe with somebody else who invited us, or we woke up and jumped out of bed and we couldn't wait to be here at church today. God, you have a word for each of us. God, may we leave this place different than when we walked in this morning by your power. Pray this in Jesus' name, amen. Amen.

Before we get to our passage this morning, I just wanna get us all on the same page as far as what's happened in the life of Jesus. So we're going to recap what's happened to Jesus since he was betrayed by Judas in the garden of Gethsemane. So since that time, Jesus was handed over, he went through a couple trials, and Pilate, even though he was found innocent, they couldn't really find anything wrong with him, because of the pressure and the politics, he handed him over to be crucified. And at that time, the Roman soldiers mocked him and tortured him to extreme extents. And at that point, after dealing with all of that, and physically reaching the point of exhaustion, his body being tortured, he then has to carry his own cross to the top of the hill. He can't make it all the way. So Simon of Serene helps him carry that cross to the top. And at that time, having to endure all of this, having gone through all of this, reaching this point of exhaustion, he speaks with some women there, Mary and Mary and some of the other women. And even in this moment, he's being Jesus. He's meeting them where they're at, comforting them, offering them grace and love. Pilate puts this sign on Jesus's cross that says, "This is Jesus, King of the Jews.”

He's then crucified and bystanders continue to mock him. A criminal hanging next to him asked Jesus to remember him. And Jesus, again, hanging there on the cross, Dying offers salvation and promises that he will see him in heaven that very day. Jesus dies on the cross. The women have been watching the crucifixion from afar. There is an earthquake and the veil in the temple is torn. And at this point, even some of the dead from nearby tombs are raised to life. Soldier wants to make sure that Jesus is dead And so he pierces the side of Jesus, confirms that Jesus is dead. Joseph of Arimathea, who opposed the crucifixion of Jesus, he's a leader, he asked Pilate to take the body of Jesus and Pilate agrees. And so Jesus' body is placed in a tomb. And at that point, the rock, the stone is rolled in front. It is sealed and there are guards placed to make sure that nothing can come in or out. And then this time, this journey from the cross to the cross, and it just shows what Christ had to endure, what he had to persevere. It's the ultimate humiliation for the Creator being humiliated by His creation. And then on Holy Saturday, just yesterday, this is a day of grief, of sorrow, of pain, of mourning, Jesus is dead, and it's Sabbath. And so no one can do anything about the body. Imagine this agony for the people who love Jesus, his followers, having to take a Sabbath, having to take a day of inactivity, just sitting in their emotions. I don't do that well. I'm a person that if I'm feeling something, if I'm feeling off, I need to resolve it. I need to go make it right. If that's talking to a person, I will drive over, I will text them and say, "How do we do this right now?" I don't do well with sitting in emotions. And I can't imagine the followers of Jesus having to sit in their agony. When they wanted to do something, they wanted to address Jesus' body. They just wanted to do something to express their grief and their love. Saturday must have been one of the hardest days after losing Jesus. It had to be overwhelming to the point where their emotions are swelling and so the first thing after Sabbath was over, they wanted to do something.

So we're in our passage, Matthew 28 verse 1 says this, "After the Sabbath at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb." The very next morning. They finally get to do something for Jesus, for their savior who had died. So the women wanted to go embalm Jesus. We know this from Mark's gospel, that they had brought spices to start this process. They were there to grieve, but they were not at all prepared for what was about to happen. They went there to continue their mourning, to honor and to continue in their adoration for Jesus, but instead.

Verse two says, "There was a violent earthquake, "For an angel of the Lord came down from heaven "and going to tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. "His appearance was like lightning. "His clothes were white as snow. "The guards were so afraid of him, "they shook and became like dead men." This was not the scene that they expected to find when they showed up. They had expected to find, honestly, quite the opposite. another gospel talks about is the women are on their way, they're like, who's gonna move? Oh yeah, who's moving the stone for us? We can't move it. But God had other plans, right? God had a different plan. He wanted to do something different that day. He wanted to do the unexpected. The tombs of those days were much different than a mausoleum or maybe a traditional grave site that we think of today. These were basically caves that were hewn into stone by hand and were basically corked or sealed with another rock because as a body decays, it lets off an unpleasant odor. And so these places were basically to be the only way that they could have something to be sealed in the manner that would not disturb the rest of life around smelling dead bodies all the time. And so this rock, in a sense, there's a couple different theories of what these rocks were like. We have the traditional round stone and the kind of rail that kind of rolls back and forth, but when you say stone, we don't realize like how big these things were. We're talking one to two tons, eight feet in diameter, one to two inches thick. There's even some studies in archaeology that did this and they found these tombs that were sealed with basically just ten-foot boulders. And they were just kind of like shoved in there almost like a cork.

And so for Mary and Mary to show up and to see this thing moved was pretty impressive. This is not what they expected to find whatsoever. And I love what even it says, this verbiage here, that the stone rolled back. There's some scholars that actually see that in the tense of the original language and the original account written down. Some would translate as thrown aside. So this rock just wasn't just like, "Oh, nice. Nice little ramp it rolled over to." literally thrown aside to a place where like you walk up and go, "That rock's not supposed to be there. That's supposed to be over there." And so they show up and this is the absolute unexpected. The rock was trying to hold Jesus back. As Pastor Andre said, there were guards there keeping watch. The Pharisees and Pilate were so scared that Jesus was either gonna do what he said he was gonna do or that someone was gonna try to steal Jesus to make it look like like Jesus had done what He said He was going to do. And so they had the elite of the elite, the top soldiers of the day keeping watch over this tomb. I'm sorry, but no fisherman is taken out of it, a Roman soldier in that day. And then on top of all of that, it is actually sealed with a royal seal that basically says, "Do not enter upon death," essentially. This was not traditional. This was out of the ordinary. This was strange. When people buried people, they put the stone there and they walked away. There was no further activity that took place at graves. But there was something special that God was doing. See, they put Jesus in the ground. They rolled a stone in front of the entrance. They proclaimed a royal decree to seal the tomb. They had guards watching and yet it was all undone. Hope that very first Easter overcame anything that humans tried to do to stop Jesus from being alive. Hope has overcome. So why do we say all this? Everything humanly possible was done to contain Jesus in that grave. And yet the hope of that very first Easter overcame it all. Physical barriers, soldiers, kings, political leaders, powers, authorities on earth said, "This story is over." But God said, "I still got something to say. I still have something to say about this and the resurrection of Jesus was not a quiet one. We just read about earthquake and shining like lightning and divine heavenly beings, angels coming down. This was a loud, loud event. There was not one person, thing, power, anything that was gonna do to push back against that. The hope of Christ was proclaimed that very first Easter. Hope overcame everything in order to change everything for the glory of God.

Our passage continues in verse 5 when it says, "The angel said to the women, 'Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus who is crucified. He is not here. He has risen just as He said. Come and see the place where He lay. Then go quickly and tell His disciples He has risen from from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him. Now I have told you." In Luke's account, it says, "In their fright, the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said, 'Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, he has risen.'" Church, hope is alive in the person of Jesus Christ. For the women at that moment, all they were trying to process was that their friend, their beloved, their Messiah was still alive. Just a complete 180 in their hearts and minds. I don't know if you've ever received good news after maybe expecting or sitting in the worst news, but it kind of takes a while for your heart and mind to catch up with what you've just heard. And you're just, wait, hold on, I was in this place and I was prepared for this, my mind was already here, I was making plans for that. And then you get told the opposite And it just doesn't like, "Oh great, now we're good." It takes a while, like, "What? What are you saying?" And so I think in this moment for the women, hope is sinking in. In Jesus, there is hope. And because Jesus lives, hope is alive. In the past three years of Jesus' life, he was sharing the good news, the good news about the kingdom of God, about how he would reign, and what this kingdom would look like. the news of salvation. But that news changes now. We go from the gospel, which used to be this common word in the Roman Empire, talking about this herald that would go from town to town, sharing the gospel, meaning any victory that the Roman Empire had, that's what they would share. Rome won, that was the gospel. Well, Christianity hijacked that word, which I love and said, this is ours now. We have the best news. And we're gonna go and share it with everyone. And so gospel goes from little G to the big G. The gospel is the best news that Jesus is alive. Their savior, their Messiah, their Lord, their teacher, their friend, their hope is not dead, but is alive. Hope is alive.

And church, I want us to realize this too, without the resurrection, there is no hope. Paul says this in 1 Corinthians 15, he says, "For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile. You are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life, we have hope in Christ. We are of all people, most to be pitied, but Christ indeed has indeed been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. See, without the resurrection, our faith is worthless. True faith has power because of who we believe in, not just in the fact that we believe. A lot of people will just say, if you believe in something, that'll get you somewhere in life. No, true power comes in who we believe in, which is Jesus. Without the resurrection, we don't have the forgiveness of sins. Without the resurrection, there is no hope of heaven. But because the resurrection is real, because Christ did indeed raise from the dead, we have hope. We have hope that we are forgiven. We have hope that our faith in God matters. And we have hope of a future where there is no more sin, where everything that is marred and stained and damaged and destroyed by sin will be undone. Hope is alive. And in our passage, the angel had instructions of what to do with this hope. And what are they to do with the news? With this new reality as it's sinking in, well, they're to go and share the gospel. These first witnesses, these first believers, We're tasked by the angel to go and tell. And so what do we do with that news today? Well, for us, when our reality has changed by meeting the one who is hope, Jesus, and the one who gives us hope, we too have been tasked with the responsibility.

Matthew chapter 28 continues on in verse 8. It says, "So the women hurried away from the tomb, "afraid yet filled with joy," these paradoxing emotions. And they ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly, Jesus met them. "Greetings," he said. I almost wanted to use salutations. The most formal way of saying hello. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid. Go, tell my brothers to go to Galilee. There they will see me." Jesus's resurrection that very first Easter changed eternity. For the very first time, death had been defeated once and for all. We have the account of Jesus raising his friend Lazarus from the dead, but at some point, Lazarus dies again. 'Cause that was not a permanent resurrection. That was a temporary. See, up to this point, All that people knew was temporary hope. You get good news one day, you have hope, and then the next moment it's shattered. You wake up and you think this is gonna be a great day, and then something happens. You get the phone call, you get the email, you get the text, and our lives are thrown into ruins. But the hope that Jesus brought that very first Easter was one that was permanent, was one that was eternal, the one that was everlasting. So what is our response in this hope that is eternal? Our first response is the same of those who saw Jesus along the way. They bowed down and they worshiped him. That's our response. They came face to face with this eternal hope in Jesus on that encounter, and Jesus changed their life. and they fell down and they worshiped. They understood the weight, the significance of Christ in that moment and saw very much of when they last saw him being different. See, the last time that they saw him, they had put him in the tomb and walked away. Very much dead, very much permanent, very much hopeless. And then on their way, He shows up and says, "I'm alive. I'm risen. The story's not over." the temporary in that moment became eternal.

The second way we can respond is to go and tell. Our calling and our purpose for each and every one of us is to spread this hope all around. Your calling is to be a hope dealer. Your calling and where you live, where you learn, where you work, where you play, wherever you go, you are taking this hope of eternity with you. And you are sharing it with everyone that you come into contact with. That's what Jesus said here to go and tell. For those of us who have experienced this hope in Christ, we have to be sharing it with others. The world around us is hurting. The world around us is in dire need of Christ. There's hurt, there's misery, there's panic, there's uncertainty, there's despair all around us. And I see it this way. I see it as us standing on the shore of a rushing river, in a river that is filled with fear and trepidation and worry and anxiety and pain and stress, suffering and failure. And these waves are trying to pull people down and to drown them in this rushing river. And you and I, for those who have the hope in Jesus, are standing on the shore with a rescue buoy in our hands. That is the gospel of Jesus. Would we not throw it to save those who are drowning? See the best part about that is we don't have to do the rescuing. That's the buoy. That's Jesus. Jesus does the rescuing. But we have to throw it. We can't help but just stand there and hold it in our hands. Who needs to know? Who in your life needs to know this story of hope? Maybe for others of us, you'd say, "Pastor, I'm in that river. I'm drowning every day. day. I got fear, I got anxiety, I got worry, I got stress, I got problems on top of problems, on top of problems. There is no hope in my life. Well I want to tell you today that Jesus has a life buoy to rescue you today. Now Now it's not gonna fix everything overnight, but what I will tell you is the temporary hope that you cling to from moment to moment as you drown will become a permanent hope in your life, a hope that is eternal, a hope that nothing can ever take away, a hope that will be with you through every single thing that you walk through in every single thing that you face. And I'll tell you, it's the greatest hope that you could ever have. And until you experience that hope, and step into that hope and say, "God, you know what, I'm done. "I can't do this anymore, I need you." You don't know what this true hope is like. There's so many of you in this room that are just nodding along with me, 'cause you know that hope. You have that hope every single day, and it changes your life. Not only here, but it changes your life in eternity. This hope continues on forever and ever and ever and ever. That very first Easter, God's love shone through the cross in Jesus's death. And the darkest day that we thought all hope was lost, God said, "I still have something to say." And love conquered death. In Jesus conquering death, you and I can live in this new life. We can have this new life free from pain, suffering, uncertainty, despair, hurt, fear, to live in a new life with purpose, with freedom, with hope. This is the story of Easter. This is the story that God wants you for this moment and right now. And that feeling that you're having inside of you with struggle and uncertainty, but there's this drawing that you have. That's the love of God. That's Jesus saying, I want to take care of you. I wanna fix it. I wanna make it right. You just gotta let me in. Let me, God is saying, give you new life today.

Our prayer is that all of you would be reminded or would know undoubtedly that hope has overcome, that hope is alive and that hope is eternal. And we have hope because Jesus shares his resurrection with us. And so we know that even as we endure this life, that is full of pain and sorrow and man, There's just so much sadness that doesn't end. But we know that after we die, we too will experience what Jesus experienced, where we get to be with God in heaven. We're so thankful for the fact that Jesus shares in his victory with us. And that's what we celebrate on this day. We celebrate Jesus' victory and the fact that we are a part of that victory too. So as we close in prayer, Let's remember and praise God for the hope that we have in Christ. If you guys could bow your heads with me. God, we come before you with joy, with humility, and with full confidence, knowing that you raised Jesus from the dead, that the resurrection is real, that the resurrection has very real implications for our lives, ones that bring us joy and hope, a hope that allows us to endure through this life, to live it for you, to join you in eternity. Lord, we praise you because without you we have no hope. We praise you for defeating sin and death and extending hope to us. And we pray that you would fill us today with hope. There are some in this room who need hope desperately. You know exactly what's going on in everyone's life. You know those who came here with joy, and for that we praise you. We know that there are some who came here barely being able to come here, Lord. Just took everything for them to show up. And God, I pray that you would fill them with your hope. Church, if you're here with your eyes closed, heads bowed, If you're here and you are in need of change in your life, if you're in need of Jesus and you're in need of that hope, I want you to pray this prayer silently to yourself in your heart. Repeat after me in your heart, say, Lord, give me hope. I need you and I can't do this life without you. The only hope in this world is in you. "God, forgive me of my sins as I surrender my life to you. "Thank you for your salvation." And God, we pray for anyone who just prayed that prayer, we praise you, God, that you can look forward, that they can look forward to an eternal life with you. And in that eternal life, in eternity, in heaven, they are free from pain, free from suffering, despair, and hurt. God, give them a new life with purpose, freedom, and hope.

And church, for the rest of you, as Pastor Chris shared, I want you to think of someone in your life who needs to know about this hope that is found in Jesus, only in Jesus. And I want you to pray this in your hearts, just quietly to yourself. God, give me strength and boldness and humility and vulnerability in moments where your spirit is leading me to share. God, give me a heart that cares more about others' eternity than any judgment we can face here on this earth. God, help my heart to yearn for this hope to be seen through my life, the way I live and the way I talk. And Lord, give me the words to say to share this hope when that time comes. God, we give you all the glory. We give you all the praise. Thank you for Jesus's life, death, and resurrection. And thank you for the hope that we have in Him. Amen.

Palm Sunday

Palm Sunday - Jesus’ Triumphant Entry Into Jerusalem

SERMON TRANSCRIPT

Welcome! We're so excited that you're here joining us on Palm Sunday. Wow, it's so full, I love it. If you're new, we would love to meet you. So Pastor Chris and I will be under the green tent after the service, and if you could just introduce yourself, we would love to say hi and get to know you. So thank you for being here this Sunday. We're taking a break, as Pastor Chris said, from our Philippians series. We'll come back to that in about a month and finish off the letter, but for now we're going to turn our attention towards this final week of Jesus's life as we approach Easter.

I want to begin by telling you a funny story I heard from another pastor recently. It tells a story about a five-year-old boy named Sam who one weekend gets sick. And so he decides to stay home from church, and he stays home with his dad, and his mom takes his two siblings to church. And when they get back, Sam notices that they're carrying palm branches in their hands. And so he says, "Mom, what are the palm branches? What do they mean?" And his mom said, "Well, today was Palm Sunday." And when Jesus walked by everyone, waved palm branches, and said, "Hosanna, praise the Lord." And the five-year-old Sam thinks about it for a second, and he says, "Great, but one Sunday I don't go to church and Jesus shows up.”

We want to be like Sam. We don't want to miss what God is doing on Palm Sunday. And so that, like, again, Pastor Chris said, this begins Holy Week. And our prayer for all of us is is that this week we pay attention to the ways in which God wants to meet us this week. We want to begin with this question today of what is Palm Sunday all about? Why do we, meaning even the global church, take time out of whatever series, whatever we're covering, and everyone around the world is taking a break to have a Palm Sunday? Let's acknowledge its significance. And so this is the day, as you know, that Jesus was hailed as king, and he would bring a new kind of kingdom to the world. At the time, where this is happening, there were two separate ideas of what that kingdom would look like. The one that Israel had in mind, and the one that Jesus knew, he would be ushering in. From Israel's perspective, you have to know their history a bit. And so, hundreds of years before this, they've fallen away from God. The Israel's kings over and over again have rebelled against God, have chosen their own way. The people would not listen to the prophets that God had sent to try to get their attention, to try to get them to repent. And so God eventually let them suffer the consequences of their actions by letting them be defeated by other nations, by letting them be taken captive. And in captivity, God is still sending prophets to say, "Hey, I have a plan. I have a plan of redemption." And these prophecies pointed to a future redeemer, a savior, a Messiah, a rescuer, a king. And so in their minds, if you're Israel over hundreds of years, you kind of have these pieces to the puzzle. And for them, they assembled those pieces in a way where they thought of the future king being a warrior king, someone who would establish a new earthly empire.

They thought that this new king, this leader, this rescuer, would release them from any oppressive regimes and kingdoms that ruled over them, that this new king would conquer anyone that opposed them, just like the kings of old, like Saul and David and Solomon. However, Jesus, in a different perspective, in the true perspective, he taught about a different kind of kingdom. He was also teaching and showing them that he was gonna be a different kind of king, though they didn't realize that at the time. So he'd been teaching for three years. He's had run-ins with religious leaders. He's performed miracles. He's been discipling a close group of people. And now as we come to our passage this morning, the pace of Jesus' story quickens at a breakneck speed to the climax at the cross. So I'm gonna go ahead and pray, and then we're gonna dive into our passage this morning. Would you guys pray with me?

God, thank you for this day. Thank you for the chance to gather with each other, to praise you, to learn more about you. And we do come before you, Lord, with humble hearts on this Palm Sunday, recognizing your triumphal entry to Jerusalem. And God, I pray that as we study your word, you would help us to realize the significance and the sanctity of this passage and what is happening here in the life of Jesus. And at the end of this time together, we'd be drawn closer to you and have a deeper appreciation and understanding of who you are and what you've done. We pray this in your name, amen.

All right, I'm just gonna go verse by verse. We're gonna be in Matthew 21. We're gonna start in verse one. And so you can follow along. I think we'll have the verses on the screen. But verse one says, "As they approached Jerusalem and came to Beth, Bahaag, I cannot say this word, Bethphage, on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples. Pause right there. The disciples, if you picture this scene, the disciples and Jesus are on the final ridge at the Mount of Olives and they can see the city in the distance. But they're not alone. This is Passover season, where thousands of people are heading to Jerusalem by the same route. And Jesus knows, is aware of this upcoming scene and what this will look like for the people that are with him and for the religious leaders that are in Jerusalem. He knows the scriptures and the prophecies, so this is a very loaded scene for him. He knows what is happening. But for the people, this is a huge group, thousands upon thousands outside, going with Jesus to Jerusalem. Verse 2 says, "Saying to them," to the two disciples, "Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me. "If anyone says anything to you, "say that the Lord needs them, "that he will send them right away." This is, this little scene right here, even just with this donkey, is hundreds of years in the making, and we'll get to that in a second. But this is where those expectations for the people of Israel come into play in approaching Jerusalem.

Right here in this scene, scripture starts to be fulfilled. Prophecies begin to be fulfilled. Jerusalem is of huge significance. It's the capital city, it's the central place of worship, it's the central place of politics where people would travel for Passover, it's where the king back in the day would reign. It's the central location for Israel's self-understanding of life under God. This will become truer than ever imagined. Jesus coming to Jerusalem means so much, And Jesus' approach is full of purpose and meaning, and the Jewish people pick up on that. They just have a different conclusion than what Jesus is actually saying and doing. Verses four and five say, "This took place to fulfill "what was spoken through the prophet. "Say to daughter Zion, 'See, your king comes to you, "'gentle and riding on a donkey, "'and on a colt the foal of a donkey.'" Right here, Matthew is quoting Zechariah 9:9. Old Testament prophet from long ago, telling that this is how the Messiah would enter. I wanna focus on how this king is described in this passage here. It says lowly, which can be translated as peaceful or humble or gentle. And this picture of humble and peaceful is in stark contrast with the aggressive military and leader of popular messianism. Instead of aggressive and offensive, Jesus is gentle and compassionate. Instead of overpowering and power hungry, Jesus is approachable and humble. This hearkens back to earlier words in the Gospel of Matthew, as Matthew has tried to paint a picture for the readers of who this Messiah is. In Matthew 12, quoting Isaiah 42, he says that Jesus is a servant. In Matthew 11, he says that Jesus has a gentle and humble heart.

Again, just trying to paint the picture that even though people are expecting this kind of leader, one that will take over, one that will lead an uprising, Jesus is actually a very different kind of leader. And if his demeanor and character are any indicators of how different of a leader he is, it also shows just how different his kingdom will be. Verses six and seven, we continue, it says, "The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them. "They brought the donkey and the colt "and placed their cloaks on them for Jesus to sit on." So disciples show a lot of respect and reverence. I don't know, how many of you have ridden a horse before? Yeah, oh wow, quite a bit, oh my goodness. All right, I've only ridden a horse like once or twice, But I was very thankful for a saddle. It was very comfortable, and I can't imagine doing it without. If you have, props to you. That seems pretty legit. But in this scene, Jesus gets the treatment, right? He gets some cloaks, makes a very soft saddle for him. And again, just more painting the picture that this is special, right? This is something to be revered.

Verse eight says, "A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. This is like the red carpet scene, right? We see, kind of have images maybe of people lining whatever street they're on, and now the road is just covered, and Jesus is on this donkey, and he's approaching the city. I was trying to think of something similar, and maybe it's like those motorcades. Maybe, I don't know, we don't live in San Francisco. But the last time the San Francisco Giants won the World Series, the city celebrated, and all the team is in the streets, and people are crowded around the streets, and the confetti's falling down from the sky, and it's just a party. It's like, yeah, I was cheering, and yay for the team. That's kind of maybe similar to what is happening here, but probably tenfold, because the meaning of this scene is way more important than the Giants winning a World Series. But this is huge fanfare. This is massive, and it's a crowd. It's exciting. It is a huge scene, a joyous scene. Verse 9 says, "The crowds then went ahead of him, and those that followed shouted, 'Hosanna to the Son of David! "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, "Hosanna in the highest heaven." Hosanna is a Greek form of the Hebrew word translated save us which sounds like a plea, but in this case, it's more of just an exclamation, acknowledging of who this person is and what they could do. Save us, Hosanna. And they're shouting, save us, son of David, which is a reference and a way of saying king, sent by God. They are giving praise to the Lord of Heaven, to Jesus, which is the right response. This is what they should be doing. They get this part right. They have the Messiah before them that God sent, and they are just praising him with everything that they have. They just have a misunderstanding of what this next week in Jesus' life will look like.

This is 10 and 11 read, "When Jesus entered Jerusalem, "the whole city was stirred and asked, 'Who is this?' "The crowds answered, 'This is Jesus, "the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.'" So once this crowd reaches the city, the city itself is like, what's going on? There's a party coming towards us. Who are we celebrating? What's happening? And so the crowd informed, you know, the rumor just starts spreading, like, hey, this is the prophet, this is Jesus. And prophet of Nazareth doesn't sound as exciting as king, But for the people, this would definitely have overtones of this is the Messiah. This is the one that we have been waiting for. After years and years of silence from God, finally, He has sent the one that we've been waiting for. Jesus was here to bring about His heavenly kingdom into reality, but the road to glory for Jesus has to get a lot darker before it gets any better. because he knows what entering Jerusalem really meant.

I wanna walk through the life of Jesus together in this week following Palm Sunday, in our week coming up here. Jesus would enter into the city on what would become Palm Sunday, then the following day is Monday, and on Monday, Jesus enters the temple, and he's angry, he's very upset. He's upset that the religious leaders have allowed the temple, this place that is supposed to be holy, that is supposed to be a very unique place where God and humanity meet, where there is shalom, which means everything that God intended, it's happening there, but instead the religious leaders have let the temple become a place of worshiping money and corruption, and Jesus is not having it. And so he expresses his anger, And he would further upset the religious leaders who were already pretty upset with him. And the tension between them would reach a point of no return.

Tuesday, in Jesus' life, he would continue to teach at the temple, trying to heal the corruption that had been present for so long. Teaching this is what it's supposed to be. Teaching about his kingdom, what's going to happen. But as he's doing that, the tensions continue to rise.

And then Wednesday of Jesus's life, this is the day where plans are set in motion to capture and to kill Jesus.

The next day, Thursday, Jesus's life, we call it Maundy Thursday. Maundy, which comes from the Latin to mandate. And he would gather his disciples. He would wash their feet. He would break bread with them. And then he would command them or mandate them "to serve and love one another." What he knows is such a significant meal with them, that's his most important command, "to serve and love one another.”

And then that night, things get very dark. And he goes to the garden to pray, and then we go into Good Friday. And as Pastor Chris said, it's a very dark day. This is the day where people's cries turn from, From Hosanna, praise Jesus, return to crucify him. He would stand trial that morning, he would be tortured, he would carry his own cross to the top of the hill, and there he'd be crucified and give his life, becoming the ultimate sacrifice to save people from the punishment of their sins. It's the darkest day in history. It's the day that the Son of God died. And yet, it's a part of God's plan. As dark as it is, this is what God intended. And Jesus, who has been given the royal treatment almost a week before this, on Palm Sunday, knows that this is coming. He's entering the city, being celebrated, Having people shout Hosanna and knows what this week looks like.

And then in this week of Jesus' life, there's Saturday, what we call Holy Saturday. And this is a day of in-between. This is a day of lament, between lament and hope, where Jesus is still in the grave, but we, being on the other side of this whole event, know that he wants to come the next day. And so it's just the day of in-between. we're in between sorrow and joy, between grief and hope, between loss and gain, between death and life. We don't wanna rush past this day. Everyone is so excited to get to Easter, and rightfully so. It's the biggest day, as Pastor Chris said, the Super Bowl of our Christian faith. But being present in each day is so important. And so this Saturday, be present in this in-between, where we're grieving what happened and yet hopeful for what is about to happen, what we're going to celebrate.

And then on Sunday, Easter Sunday, we know that when the tomb, this is when the tomb where Jesus lay would be found empty. And the world would discover that Jesus lives, that he is truly God, that Jesus would begin his reign in this new kingdom. And so next week we get to celebrate the best day. And it means that death is defeated, that Satan and sin do not win. And that means for those who believe, we have eternal life with God. So I wanted to walk through this week, and especially today, because for Jesus, Palm Sunday ushered him into the toughest week of his life. And on this day, in this passage, we learn some important things about Jesus. Palm Sunday teaches us, first, that Jesus is the fulfillment of prophecy. God is sovereign and he is in control. And he has had a plan of redemption since Genesis 3, when sin entered into the world, he had a plan. And that plan was fulfilled in the life and death and resurrection of Jesus. The savior who has been foretold for years, all throughout the Old Testament, comes to fruition here. And God's plan never fails. What he says will come true.

Secondly, Palm Sunday teaches us that Jesus is worthy to be praised. Just as the people were praising Jesus on the road, shouting Hosanna, giving their utmost respect and reverence to Jesus, this is truly what he deserves. Jesus is worthy and requires our worship. He is the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, our Redeemer, our Savior, our Messiah. What other response do we have but to praise Him for what He's done for us.

And thirdly, Jesus, Palm Sunday teaches us that Jesus is not always what is expected. The Jewish people, when praising Jesus on this Palm Sunday, on the road, we're expecting this new earthly kingdom. And we're expecting this in the next days for it to go very differently, for there to be an uprising, for them to be in weeks time on top of the world. this is the new power that's in place, our lives are gonna change, we're gonna become top dog in the known world again, just like we were back in King David and Solomon, we're going to reach new heights of earthly glory, is what they thought. They were thinking like Caesar or King David. You see, often when it comes to leaders, we're drawn towards big personalities, powerful communicators, result producing leaders. rather than persons of beautiful character. Jesus is humble, meek, lowly, and gentle. Maybe not the first words that we would use to describe a great leader. And yet Jesus is the ultimate leader.

An author and pastor, Paul David Tripp writes this. He says, "Do we really look for leaders "who are known for their gentleness? Do we esteem leaders who have their vision and emotions under control so that they're not controlling, demanding, or easily corrupted? In Jesus, we no longer need to look horizontally for what can only be found vertically. Jesus wasn't the militaristic leader or influential political leader, but he was gentle and lowly, peaceful, a servant come to sacrifice himself. The next week in Jesus' life is not at all what the Jewish people expected. It's not the kind of leader they expected, it's not the kind of kingdom they expected, and yet it's exactly what they needed. It's exactly what God had planned.

So, given what we've learned about Jesus from our passage, let me ask a few things that you can talk with God about this week as you reflect on these truths. First, do you trust and live knowing that God is in control? It's easy to say it. Yes, I know that God is in control. Yes, I believe that. But do we actually live that way? We are all fighting worries and anxieties. And oftentimes those worries and anxieties lead us to wanting to take more control. The more the world around us seems out of control, our grip gets firmer. We say, "I gotta do more." But we have to remember that Jesus knows everything, knows us, knows the situation, and he has a plan. Even when we think we have control, and then things, often things later go sideways, things get chaotic, it becomes very challenging, overwhelming, we have to remember from the very beginning that Jesus is in control. So do we trust and live knowing that he is in control? Trusting that the plans that he has made and the work that he is doing in us, he will finish. Sometimes we do. If you're reflecting right now, you're like, yeah, sometimes, that's good. And that's part of the Christian faith and the Christian life, is to learn how to do that more and more. To continually give up control, to surrender to him, submit to him. All right, that's the first question.

Secondly, is Jesus king in your life? Is he receiving all the praise, all the reverence, all the worship that he deserves? It can be easy for us reading these, the Bible and the stories here, to criticize the Jewish people for turning their words of praise, of hosanna, to words of crucify him. but can also be easy for us today to go from praising God on a Sunday in the middle of a service, to then the very next day living a very different life. To living a life that is not at all dependent on Jesus, where he is not reigning over our lives, where we are living out of selfishness, out of pride, independent from God, only giving God a few moments of our day, if that, when really we should be living with him as our king every moment of every day. So do we give him our praise continuously, worshiping him with every facet of our life, living for him daily? Is Jesus king in your life all the time?

Last question. What are our expectations of Jesus? Do we try to define who we think Jesus should be and what he should do? Maybe like Israel, we have thoughts as to what Jesus will do for us. It's like, oh, God, I'm sick again. Can you, Jesus, I think you should make me better right away. This is my plan. These are my thoughts that I think are great. So if you could do that for me, I think we're on the same page. Or Jesus, I'm having relationship issues. Can you please help that other person to see that I'm right? That would be great. This is our will, right, God? Maybe we're feeling stuck at work. We're like, Jesus, if you could get that promotion going for me, get that ball rolling, please. I've been working faithfully, being quiet about it, just a humble worker, can you please do the things that I want you to do?

We often think that we know who Jesus should be and what he should do in our lives. But just as he was a different leader than the Jews expected, different from the way of the world, we must recognize that Jesus works in our lives Probably differently from what we expect or what we may think is best. Because he calls us to the path of compassion and love. He calls us to serve and to sacrifice. He calls us to put others before ourselves. And he calls us to endure and to submit. Heading into different seasons of life, we think, God, I think this will go best if, and fill in the blank, and we give God the answers and expectations, when really our hearts and our prayers should reflect what Jesus taught us, which is, "Lord, not my will, but yours." It's a prayer that Jesus would pray himself in the garden before being betrayed, and it's hard. It's hard to pray that prayer, "Not my will, but yours." but we wanna walk like Jesus as He has walked before us, walk in His footsteps and surrender to God. So that's our prayer this week. We wanna be aligned with what God is doing in our lives. And again, our prayer today and this week is to pay attention to the ways that Jesus wants to meet us this week. We went through those days of Holy Week to encourage you to walk that with Jesus this week. So tomorrow when Jesus years ago gets angry, think about those emotions. Think about what Jesus is going through. He's got angry at the temple. He has a righteous anger because he wants the people to have a place to commune with God. And then on Tuesday, he's trying to heal. He's trying to make things right and sit with that, dwell on that, meditate on that on Tuesday. And every day this week, Wednesday, where plans are made for his capture and his death on the cross. And then Thursday, the command for all of us to serve and love one another. Sit with everything that Jesus did this week so that when we come together on Friday to mourn and to grieve, we can be there with the full emotion of what is happening. And then on Sunday, we can come together with the biggest praise that we can ever muster because we know fully to the best that we can what that meant and what Jesus endured through this week to get to that point on the cross and then to rise again. This holy week, pay attention to where Jesus wants to meet you.

Let's pray. God, again, thank you for your word that encourages so much. And God, we do wanna walk with Jesus this week. It's so encouraging to know that every emotion we feel, Jesus has felt. And so this week I pray that we would feel close to you, God, wherever we're at, whether it is a great week and we're having lots of joy and excitement and happiness, God, I pray that we would be rejoicing with you. And God, if it's a difficult week, if it's challenging, If we feel like we're the end of ourselves, God, I pray that we would be reminded of what Jesus endured and be close with you in that, to suffer whatever we're suffering through with Jesus by our side. God, I pray that you would deepen our relationship, that you would deepen our love for you so that we can come together and worship fully with you in this next week. We give you all the praise. We love you with everything we have. Help us to worship you. Help us to recognize that you are king. God, make us better servants of your kingdom. We pray this in your son's name, Amen.