Luke 19:28 – After Jesus had said this, He went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem.
29 – As He approached Bethphage and Bethany at the hill called the Mount of Olives, He sent two of His disciples, saying to them,
30 – “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.
31 – If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ tell him, ‘The Lord needs it.’”
32 – Those who were sent ahead went and found it just as He had told them. 33 – As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the colt?”
34 – They replied, “The Lord needs it.”
35 – They brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt and put Jesus on it. 36 – As He went along, people spread their cloaks on the road.
37 – When He came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives,
…the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen:
38 – “Blessed is the King Who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Peace in Heaven and glory in the highest!”
39 – Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke Your disciples!” 40 – “I tell you,” He replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”
41 – As He approached Jerusalem and saw the city, He wept over it…
42 – …and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes.
43 – 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.
44 – 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.”
45 – Then He entered the temple area and began driving out those who were selling.
46 – “It is written,” He said to them, “‘My house will be a house of prayer;’ but you have made it ‘a den of robbers.’”
47 – Every day He was teaching at the temple. But the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the leaders among the people were trying to kill Him.
48 – Yet they could not find any way to do it, because all the people hung on His words.
In her book The God Who Hung on the Cross, journalist Ellen Vaughn retells a gripping story of how the Gospel came to a small village in Cambodia.
Back in September of 1999 Pastor Tuy Seng (not his real name) traveled to Kampong Thom Province in northern Cambodia as a missionary. Throughout that isolated area, Seng discovered that most villagers had cast their lot with Buddhism or spiritism. Christianity was virtually unheard of and most people were not open to him sharing the Gospel message. But much to Seng’s surprise, when he arrived in one small, rural village the people warmly embraced both him and his message. When he asked the villagers to explain their openness to the Gospel, an old woman shuffled forward, bowed, and grasped Seng’s hands as she said, “We have been waiting for you for twenty years.” And then she told him the story of the mysterious God Who had hung on the cross.
In her story, she took him back to the 1970’s when the Khmer Rouge, that brutal, Communist-led regime, took over Cambodia, destroying everything in its path. When the soldiers finally descended on this rural, northern village, they immediately rounded up the villagers and forced them to start digging their own graves. After the villagers had finished digging, they prepared themselves to die. Some screamed to Buddha, others screamed to demon spirits or to their ancestors. But, one of the women started to cry out for help based on a childhood memory—a story her mother told her about a God Who had hung on a cross. The woman cried out to—prayed to—that unknown God on a cross. She thought, surely, if this God had known suffering, He would have compassion on their plight.
Suddenly, her solitary cry became one great wail as the entire village followed her example and started praying to the God Who had suffered and hung on a cross. As they continued facing their own graves, the wailing slowly turned to a quiet crying. There was an eerie silence in the muggy jungle air. Slowly, they dared to turn around and face their captors and when they did they discovered that the soldiers were all gone. As the old woman finished telling this story, she told Pastor Seng that ever since that humid day 20 years ago the villagers had been waiting—waiting for someone to come and share the rest of the story about the God Who had hung on a cross. Of course Pastor Seng was more than happy to do exactly that and he began to tell them the rest of what is rightfully called, “The Greatest Story Ever Told.”
This week we have made it our goal here at Redland to tell that story as well—the Story of the one true God—the God Who loves all people—loves us all enough to send His only Son—Jesus, the Christ—to earth where He would hang on a cross for us—thereby making the way for our sins to be forgiven and for us to come into relationship with Him.
As I’m sure you know, Christians around the world consider this week a HOLY WEEK because it is the time we set aside to remember a vital part of that story—the events of the last week of Jesus’ earthly ministry. This special week gives us a great opportunity to tell this story, because in the same way that Cliff Notes condense a novel, the events of Holy Week condense this story into a format that makes it easier to understand. I hope you’ll plan on joining us for each part of our telling—by attending all the special services this week. And don’t come alone. Invite friends and neighbors and co-workers who need to hear.
This central part of the story began on the first Palm Sunday as Jesus BOLDLY entered the city of Jerusalem where He received an in incredible reception…and I say BOLDLY because Jesus was a wanted man. The religious establishment had already issued a warrant for His arrest. But that didn’t stop Him from COMING or the people from joyfully WELCOMING Him. It was an exciting time…a glorious day… the first century version of a ticker-tape parade. You see, many people in that crowd had witnessed for themselves the incredible miracle Jesus had recently done when He raised a man named Lazarus from the dead. After all this had happened in Bethany and it was a town that was just a short stroll from Jerusalem. Many others in the crowd that day had witnessed the other miracles that Jesus performed throughout Israel during the past three years. Others had heard of them from eye-witnesses. In any case, this crowd of people who had come to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover didn’t care about the religious establishment. They were wildly welcoming Jesus—in the same way they would greet a conquering king. They laid their coats in the road as sort of a crude red carpet, spread out leafy palm branches and waved them as He passed shouting, “Hosanna! Peace in Heaven and glory in the highest! Blessed is the King Who comes in the name of the Lord!” And—make no doubt—THE King had indeed come to town that day—but ironically, THE King wasn’t the KIND of king people expected. Instead of coming into the city on a magnificent stallion at the head of a conquering army THE King came humbly on a young donkey colt. And—I mention the MANNER of Jesus’ arrival in Jerusalem because this part of the Greatest Story ever told tells us a great deal about this King Who came to town. (I am indebted to Lee Strobel for my outline this morning—and for much of the information under the first point).
(1) First, it tells us WHO Jesus was—and IS.
You see, the fact that Jesus chose to ride into Jerusalem on a donkey was confirmation that He was the Messiah—the Savior Who had been anticipated by the Jews for generations. About 500 years before the first Palm Sunday, a Prophet named Zechariah foretold that the Messiah would ride into Jerusalem atop a young donkey. The prophet Daniel foretold the exact number of days before the Messiah would make this entrance and Jesus rode into Jerusalem on that day. Jesus chose this date and mode of transportation to make a blatant and unambiguous statement to the world—a claim that He was indeed the long-awaited Messiah of God. But—how do we know that Jesus was telling the truth? How do we know He was the Messiah? How do we know this foundational part of the story is true? I mean, after all, many people throughout history have claimed to be the Messiah and the Son of God. How do we know who’s really who?
For example, there was a guy named Sabati Zebbie who was born in 1626, the son of a chicken farmer. In 1648, Sabati declared to the world or whoever was listening that he was the Messiah. He even convinced a few thousand people that they should follow him. I for one think they might have had some mixed MOTIVES in following Zebbie, because he was the seventeenth-century version of Hugh Hefner. His teachings focused on promoting nudity and sexual promiscuity. No doubt, for this reason, he had quite a following—until the year 1666, which was when the sultan of Turkey thought that Zebbie was trying to overthrow the Turkish government. He brought Zebbie in front of him and said, “I am going to give you a choice. You can either be tortured to death or become a Muslim.” According to one account, without batting an eye, Zebbie renounced everything he had been preaching, adopted the Muslim faith and took a job as the sultan’s royal doorman. That of course took the steam out of HIS messianic movement.
Then there was this man, Henry James Prince—an Anglican minister in England. In 1849, Henry James declared that he was the Son of God and the Messiah. He convinced about 50 people that he was telling the truth, and they moved with him to a commune in England. At the time Prince was married to a woman who was old enough to be his mother—but one day, he said that he had been ordained by God to take a SECOND wife—a young virgin. He said that this was a special marriage and would be purely spiritual. There was to be nothing physical about the marriage whatsoever. Well, they had the spiritual marriage ceremony and guess what? Henry James’ new young wife ended up getting pregnant, and that disillusioned a few of his followers. The rest of them became disillusioned, because Prince claimed that he was immortal and in 1899, he ended up dying.
There even have been some phony Messiahs here in America. For example, this woman, Jemimah Wilkinson was born in 1752 to a Quaker family in Rhode Island. She told people that she died when she was 20 years old and then was resurrected. Of course, there weren’t any witnesses to that….but Ms. Wilkinson still ended up convincing 250 people that she was the Messiah, and they were fiercely loyal to her. One day, she was walking along and came upon a small lake. There were a bunch of her followers with her, and she said, “Do you believe that I can walk across that water just the way Jesus did?”They said, “Yes, we believe it.” She said, “Are you convinced that I can walk across the water just the way Jesus did?” They said, “Yes, we are convinced. We believe it.” She said, “In that case, there is no point to actually doing it.” She then turned and walked home—on land. I’m not kidding. This is a true story. And, I’m sure this claim to walk on water didn’t help boost the faith of her followers very much. But another thing that didn’t help was the fact that she died in 1820—and before she did she said, “Don’t bury me, because I am going to be resurrected.” So they “faith-fully” left the body right there, and she decomposed slowly over time. One by one, her following “decomposed” as well.
And this claim to be the Messiah is something people still do today.
For example Rev. Sun Myung Moon continues to say he is the Messiah. He’s been doing this for quite a while? Do you remember back in the 1970’s when his college-aged followers were selling flowers on street corners? Well, Moon is 92 now and his followers don’t sell flowers anymore. These days his Unification Church is into manufacturing, heavy industry, publishing, and politics. U.S. News & World Report once reported: “The Unification church and its businesses have spent as much as $300 million buying political clout in the U.S. in recent years.” Moon’s disciples now own the Washington Times, the New York Tribune, and a glossy news magazine called Insight. The other day they mailed a new book by Mr. Moon to me—and I’m sure thousands of other pastors—trying to convince us that he is no cult leader—and should be taken seriously. They have also tried very hard in recent years to make inroads into conservative political circles. Today Moon’s Unification Church has a presence in over 100 countries. They have hundreds of worship centers here in the United States. They claim to have hundreds of millions of followers. And they still embrace his claim to be the Messiah of God. Page 222 of the official training manual of the Unification Church plainly says, “Rev. Moon is the Messiah.” As the picture in the lower right hand corner shows, back in 2004 in one of our U.S. Senate buildings in downtown D.C., Moon was crowned KING OF PEACE by his followers and after the ceremony he made a long speech in which he said: “Emperors, kings and presidents…have declared to all Heaven and Earth that I am none other than humanity’s Savior, Messiah, Returning Lord, and True Parent. The founders of five great religions and many other leaders in the spirit world, including even Communist leaders such as Marx and Lenin…and dictators such as Hitler and Stalin, have found strength in my teachings, mended their ways and been reborn as new persons.”
So—for thousands of years and even today, we have people who have claimed that they are the Messiah. How do we know which person has the right to say that?
How do we know that Jesus was telling the truth when He made the claim to be the Messiah by riding that donkey into Jerusalem? Well, God made sure that we would be able to know exactly who the real Messiah is. In effect, He gave us a set of fingerprints and said, “When you find the one Individual in history Who fits these fingerprints, then you will know beyond a doubt that you have found the Messiah Who will be your Savior.” These fingerprints came in the form of PROPHECIES that were written and recorded in the Old Testament of the Bible. They were written hundreds of years before Jesus even was born. There are about five dozen major prophecies in the Old Testament and 456 identifying characteristics that specifically and precisely defined Who the Messiah would be.
In all of history, only one Individual ever has fulfilled those prophecies. It wasn’t Jemimah Wilkinson, and it certainly isn’t Rev. Moon. It was Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Deciding to ride that donkey on the first Palm Sunday was the fulfillment of just one of those prophecies—and you might think, “Well, anyone could fulfill that one. All you need is a donkey.” I’d disagree because you might find a donkey—but you wouldn’t find a crowd to welcome you the way the miracle-working Jesus was welcomed—but I’ll give you that one. However—the other messianic prophecies were foretold hundreds of years earlier and were things that Jesus never could have prearranged. For instance, Jesus could not have arranged in advance where He was going to be born! The Prophet Micah foretold that 700 years before the fact that He would be born in Bethlehem. Jesus couldn’t have arranged in advance His intricate ancestry or that He was going to be able to work great miracles of healing that were done in front of eyewitnesses, or that He was going to be betrayed for a specific amount of money, or how He was going to be put to death. He couldn’t have arranged it so He would be the God Who hung on a cross. By the way, the prophecies about the Crucifixion were written before crucifixion even was invented as a way of executing people.
And another thing: Jesus couldn’t have arranged that His bones would remain unbroken—as was the custom of the Romans when it came to this form of execution. There were two people crucified with Jesus—one on either side. The Roman soldiers broke the legs of those two in order to hasten their death. But they didn’t break the bones of Jesus, and that was a fulfillment of prophecy. Jesus couldn’t have arranged that they would pierce Him with a spear, which they did—another prophecy. He couldn’t have arranged that the soldiers would cast lots for his clothing—another prophecy. It goes on and on and on. These events were predicted at least half of a millennium before Jesus even was born. In fact, I was going to call this Holy Week series: “Easter B.C.” because of all the prophecies about the Messiah—prophecies given hundreds of years before Christ.
Well, when you put all of these prophecies together, you see that there is no way they could have been fulfilled by intent—or by ACCIDENT. The odds against it are too great. This weekend the mega-jackpot lottery has in the news. Its well over half-a billion dollars and even though someone has won…I heard a newscaster say that the odds of winning are one in one hundred seventy-six million. He also said there is a way you can be sure to win. All you have to do is buy fifty lottery tickets a week and you’ll win once every sixty-eight thousand years! Well, when you study the chances of one man fulfilling all the messianic prophecies it makes winning the jackpot mega lottery seem like a sure thing. In fact, one scholar had his 12 classes of graduate students in mathematics compute the actual odds of 48 of these prophecies coming true in any one individual living down through history.
Do you know what they found the odds were? It’s too high of a number for me to describe so just imagine that the entire universe is filled with grains of sand. But go further than that and take a trillion, trillion universes the size of our universe and fill them all with sand. Okay—with all those grains of sand, think about just one grain of sand being colored green. Imagine that you could take a spaceship, travel for as long as you want through all this sand, stop one time, open the little porthole….and reach out to pick up one grain of sand from all of these trillion, trillion universes. That grain of sand would have to be the one colored green. What are the odds that this could happen? The odds that this could happen are the same odds that 48 of these prophecies could come true in any man who ever has lived throughout history. That’s what Jesus did—and He fulfilled not just 48—but ALL the Messianic prophecies. So…the way Jesus came to town reminds us of fulfilled prophecy and that tells us WHO Jesus was. It—and all the other prophecies He fulfilled leave no room for doubt. Jesus was—and IS—the long-awaited Messiah of God.
(2) But the events of the first Palm Sunday tell us another important part of the story. They tell us WHAT Jesus was LIKE.
As I inferred, the crowds on that Palm Sunday who were welcoming Jesus triumphantly into Jerusalem had no idea Who He really was. They thought that, as the Messiah, Jesus was going to be a political and military hero Who would achieve victory over the hated Romans occupying their land. But that’s not what Jesus was like at all. He didn’t come to CONQUER people. He came to SAVE them…which is why He chose to ride on a donkey—a common beast of burden—an animal that is universally recognized as being symbolic of humility and servanthood….an animal so low to the ground that adult riders had to bend their legs to keep their feet from dragging the ground.
I mean, this part of the story tells us that Jesus was not the warrior figure those people dreamed of. He wasn’t like that at all. No—He was—and is—the Prince of Peace. He came to be the PEACE OFFERING between sinful man and their Holy God. The crowds wanted a conquering king they could put on a throne. What Jesus wanted—what Jesus STILL wants—is for individuals to use their God-given free will to put Him on the throne of their hearts.
Jesus literally WEPT because He knew the people of Jerusalem wouldn’t do that—and He knew they would suffer for that rejection. He knew that in 70AD the city would fall in a horrible battle—and that made Him weep. Does that sound like your typical King? Do most kings weep for their subjects? No—they don’t. Jesus is not like any other earthly ruler because He came to die for His subjects…die as payment for their sin. Shortly before Jesus got onto the donkey to ride into Jerusalem, He said, “I am coming as a servant to give My life as payment for other people.”
Now—think about that for a moment. Think about the idea of a servant king—a humble God.
That concept has got to be the oxymoron of all oxymorons because it just doesn’t “compute.” I mean, the words “servant” and “King”don’t go together…anymore than other contradictory words—words like: jumbo shrimp, working vacation, rap music, a numb feeling, an exact estimate…and my favorite: a nonstop flight because the flight has to stop somewhere sooner or later.
So—the idea of a humble God—a servant king—we’d never put those words together. But in Jesus’ case they DO go together because that’s what Jesus was like—IS like. He has infinite power and absolute perfection and deserves to be the focus of the worship of all creation. On that donkey that first Palm Sunday you had the Son of God, Who was rightfully entitled to all the perks of being the Creator and Ruler of the entire universe. Here you had Jesus Who had every right in the world to angrily sweep into Jerusalem on a stallion, swing a sword and destroy anybody who wasn’t bowing down to Him. Yet He chose to come as our Servant. He chose to come and die on that cross in our place. Jesus—the King of Kings—humbly offered Himself as a payment for the wrongdoing that separates you and me from our Holy God.
You know, just like those people in the crowds who welcomed Jesus to Jerusalem 2000 years ago—many people today have an inaccurate image of Who Jesus is.
People often see Jesus as a person Who wants to storm into their lives and take over—and this makes them feel uncomfortable for two reasons. First, they don’t like to have anyone but THEM running their lives. Unlike Carrie Underwood, they don’t want Jesus—or anyone else—to take the wheel. No—they like running their own lives, thank you very much. But the second reason Jesus’ coming makes them uncomfortable is the fact that they know they are sinners. They think of all the times they should have told the truth but were deceptive…all the times they should have reached out and helped someone who needed help, but they turned our backs. They think of the times they gave into lust…or to the temptation to hurt another person with their words.
They think of their sin—and conclude it would be a good idea to keep a safe distance from Jesus. They know in their hearts they deserve to be punished—and like a child running from a spanking—they run from the thought of Jesus riding into their lives.
And make no mistake—Jesus IS LORD—and we NEED Him in our lives. In fact, our lives only work when we let Him come in and rule…but Jesus won’t storm into anyone’s life. He only comes in to forgive us and cleanse us and lead us—when we ask Him to.
Listen. Jesus didn’t come to retaliate. He came to rescue and restore us. As He told Nicodemus, “God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.” (John 3:17) Jesus will SAVE anyone who calls on His name. He will forgive and cleanse any sinner. He did that for me—but He won’t do it uninvited. He won’t storm into your life on the back of a magnificent white stallion. In a sense He’s still riding that lowly donkey…because He only comes in when we humble ourselves and admit our sin…and INVITE Him in.
That’s what Jesus is like. He has made THE WAY for us to be forgiven. He wants to wash our sins away and empower us to live victorious—ABUNDANT lives! He wants to take away the fear of death itself—but He won’t do any of that unless we ask Him to. He is the SERVANT KING. As Paul puts it, “Although He was in nature God, He made Himself nothing. He took the very nature of a servant…He humbled Himself and became obedient to death on a cross.”
So…this part of Holy Week can help us understand Who Jesus is and what He is like.
(3) But as I already inferred, it tells us one last thing. It tells us what Jesus DESERVES.
As we read a moment ago, when Jesus approached Jerusalem He told a couple of his followers, “Go into that little village over there. When you go in, you are going to find a donkey that never has been ridden and is tied up. I want you to untie the donkey and bring him to Me, so I can ride him into Jerusalem. In case the owners come up when you do that and ask what you are doing, just tell them the Lord needs it.”
Reading these instructions should remind us that Jesus DESERVES our humble obedience. After all, He is Lord—and when we follow Him as Lord—He does amazing things with our lives…things that only the Lord of Lords could do!
In his book, The Angels Were Silent, Max Lucado talks about this part of the story. He says:
When we all get to Heaven I know what I want to do. There’s someone I want to get to know. You go ahead and swap stories with Mary or talk doctrine with Paul. I’ll catch up with you later.
First, I want to meet the guy with the donkey. I don’t know his name or what he looks like. I only know one thing: what he gave. He gave a donkey to Jesus on the Sunday He entered Jerusalem.
When we all get to Heaven I want to visit this fellow. I have several questions for him:
- “How did you know it was Jesus Who needed the donkey? Did you have a vision? Did you get a telegram? Did an angel appear in your bowl of lentil?”
- “Was it hard to give? Was it difficult to give something to Jesus for Him to use?”
I want to ask that question because sometimes it’s hard for me. Sometimes I like to keep my ‘animals’ to myself. Sometimes when God wants something I act like I don’t know He needs it.
Here are some other questions I want to ask this guy:
- “How did it feel to look out and see Jesus on the back of the donkey that lived in your barn? Were you proud? Were you surprised? Were you annoyed?”
- “Did you have any idea that your generosity would be used for such a noble purpose?”
- “Did it ever occur to you that God was going to ride your donkey?”
Sometimes I get the impression that God wants me to give Him something and sometimes I don’t give it because I don’t know for sure and then I feel bad because I’ve missed my chance. Other times I know He wants something but I don’t give it because I’m too selfish.And other times, too few times, I hear Him and obey Him and feel honored that a gift of mine would be used to carry Jesus into another place. And still other times I wonder if my little deeds today will make a difference in the long haul. Maybe you have had those questions too. All of us have a ‘donkey.’
You and I each have something in our lives, which if given back to God, could, like that donkey in that it would move Jesus and His story further down the road. Maybe you can sing or hug or program a computer or speak Swahili or write a check. Whichever—that’s your ‘donkey.’
Whichever, your ‘donkey’ belongs to Him. It really does. Your gifts are His and the donkey was His. The original wording of the instructions Jesus gave to His disciples is proof. He literally said, ‘If anyone asks you why you are taking the donkey, you are to say, “IT’S LORD is in need.”’ The language Jesus used is the language of royal levy. It was an ancient law which required the citizen to render to the king any item or service he or one of his emissaries might request. In making such a request, Jesus was claiming to be King. He was speaking as One in authority. He was stating that as King He had the right to any possession of His subjects. It could be that God wants to ride your ‘donkey’ and enter the walls of another city, another nation, another heart. Do you let Him? Do you give it? Or—do you hesitate?
By the way that guy who gave Jesus the donkey is just one in a long line of folks who gave LITTLE things to our BIG God. Scripture has quite a gallery of ‘donkey-givers.’ In fact, Heaven may have a shrine to honor God’s uncommon use of the common. It’s a place you don’t want to miss. Stroll through and see Rahab’s rope, Paul’s bucket, David’s sling…and Samson’s jawbone. Wrap your hand around the staff which split the sea and smote the rock. Sniff the ointment which soothed Jesus’ skin and lifted His heart. Rest your head on the same cloak that gave comfort to Christ in the boat and run your hand along the smooth wood of the manger, soft as a baby’s skin.
Or set your shoulder beneath the heave Roman beam, as coarse as a traitor’s kiss. I don’t know if these items will be there. But I am sure of one thing—the people who used them will. The risk-takers: Rahab who sheltered the spies. The brethren who smuggled Paul. The conquerors: David, slinging a stone, Samson, swinging a bone, Moses lifting a rod. The care-givers: Mary at Jesus’ feet. What she gave cost much but somehow she knew what He gave would cost more. The anonymous disciple in the boat. He mad a bed out of the boat so God could take a nap. And the curious pilgrim on the Via Dolorosa. For all we know, he knew very little. He just knew Jesus’ bloody, beaten back was weary and his own back was strong. So when the soldier pointed, this man came. Quite a fraternity is it not? Strong stewards who view what is theirs as His and make it available whenever He might need it…sharecroppers in a vineyard who haven’t forgotten Who owns the property…loyal students who remember Who is paying the tuition.
Now—review with me a bit. If the prophecies prove that Jesus really was the Messiah—and if Jesus—the King of Kings—really did humbly offer Himself as payment for our sin…then in light of all that, what is the appropriate response to all this knowledge? The logical response to me is, “Lord, if You want me, then You can have me—because of Who You are. You deserve all that I am and all that I have.” Isn’t that the only logical response? I mean what better use could we put our lives to than to serve the God Who has served us. What better way is there to spend your life?
LET US PRAY