And so this Sunday coming is Palm Sunday, this is the day Jesus entered Jerusalem on a donkey and everyone around Him went nuts. They pulled off Palm branches and waved them around, and people took off their cloaks for Jesus to get some red-carpet treatment on the way into the city of Jerusalem.
Have you ever made or seen a grand entrance? It could have been at a wedding. Just before the bride enters sometimes they re-shut the double doors at the back, the music goes a little quieter but then bang the doors open, the bride is there all dressed in white with a long flowing trail and the music swells. When Princess Diana got married the train of her dress was about 7 and a half meters long. She knew how to make a wedding entrance.
Movies also like to make grand entrances for their characters to help explain something about them. Remember in the Sound of Music it opens up over a green field with Julia Andrews with her arms stretched out singing on top of the mountains and the camera pans all around her, giving this wide free feel. Or in Star Wars when we first meet Darth Vader, there are all these white stormtroopers and then this guy all in black enters and the music does it daunting and there is that heavy dark breathing about him. Everything is telling you without words that this is the bad guy.
In the scheme of things, in Jesus’ day, his entrance may not have seen so grant or triumphal when compared to others. Back then, the Romans knew how to make a victory entrance. The general back from a war would come in on a golden chariot with 10,000 soldiers, and people would be cheering his name. Then they would bring in the captives from war and feed them to the wild animals for entertainment, showing their dominance to the city folk over their conquered enemies.
And here we have Jesus not with an army, not on a horse, but on a donkey with his twelve disciples.
In the lead up to this entrance, particularly in Mark, Jesus has started in Galilee and has been slowly and deliberately making His way to Jerusalem. Three times Jesus said that He would suffer and die and rise again in this town, and despite knowing this was going to happen, Jesus was determined to come.
Throughout Mark’s gospel, Jesus has been healing people and giving them a glimpse of His power over the Devil, disease, and death, but strangely he has also been telling people to be quiet about it. But now, when Jesus comes to Jerusalem the crowds treat Jesus like a king, like a king in the line of the great Jewish King David, like a king who has come to save them from oppression and slavery. And Jesus doesn’t tell them to be quiet about it. Jesus doesn’t tell them to stop because they are right on the money. Jesus is a king and not just any king.
The passage just before this one has Jesus healing a blind guy. This guy, Bartimaeus called Jesus the Son of David. That is, he is saying Jesus has royal blood in him, to be a son of a king means you are royalty. Jesus heals this blind guy because of his faith. Bartimaeus was blind but he could see something about Jesus. He saw that Jesus is the King who has come to save.
The most relevant Old Testament prophecy in this passage is from Zechariah 9:9 where we are told that a great king will come on a donkey, not just any donkey but a colt, that is a young male donkey. In Zechariah, it says that riding on this donkey will a great king who is righteous and humble and will bring salvation.
Jesus is this humble king. Jesus in the previous chapter just said that He has come not to be served like every other king that has ever come, but to serve. Jesus humbled Himself for us so that we can be saved. Jesus is God and left heaven for us, to become a servant to die on a cross in our place to save us from our sins.
In our passage, the crowds shout out Hosanna. Know what that means? “save us”. They are calling out to Jesus; they are calling out to a king to save them.
Have you called out to Jesus to save you? Is He your King?
You may wonder why Jesus should be your King?
Well, Jesus is like no other King. He is better than any king that has ever live and that will ever live.
Jesus is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Jesus conquers all enemies, including Satan, He has no rival, He has no equal and one day all knees will bow to Him, and all tongues will confess He is king.
And Jesus is a good king. His is infinite in his wisdom, perfect in His character, merciful and just in all His rulings, He is the only true God and the only man who raised Himself from the dead. He is from everlasting to everlastings, from beginning to end, Jesus rules over all things, all places and all people. Is He your King?
Jesus promises to bring comfort to the suffering, to wipe every tear from the hurting, to give rest to the tired and to give everlasting life to those who trust Him. Do you trust Him? Is Jesus your King?
Have you ever heard some misguided person say that “all religious leaders were really the same”? Would you tell them that Jesus is King of Kings and Lord of Lords? Have you heard some nice well-meaning person say, “Jesus was a good moral teacher”? You can then tell them that Jesus is more than that, Jesus is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. If on TV you see some disaster or crisis that looks hopeless remind yourself that Jesus is King and ruling over everything.
Have you accepted Jesus as your King? Have you welcomed Him to take the direction of your life?
Have you kinda sorta once made some decision for Jesus but kinda left it at that? Have you lost a sense of awe of how big Jesus is? Make this Easter a new start to follow Jesus and to really let Him rule over your life.
Is Jesus King over your life? Is He king over your time, over your gifts and over the things that your treasure the most? How does your life give honour to Jesus? What does that look like?
As we approach Easter, maybe take the time to look back over who Jesus is afresh. I used to read a Gospel account of Jesus’ death and resurrection every Maundy Thursday before Easter.
Will you look with eyes to see that Jesus is the King, who comes and saves us from sin and Satan and death? Jesus is the King who is sitting at the right hand of the Father and will come back again to judge the living and the dead, and those who trust in Him will be gathered up and be with Him, in His new Kingdom forever. That is the hope we have, for all who trusts Jesus as their King.
Let’s pray:
Merciful God,
as we think about Easter,
and gather at your house of prayer,
turn our hearts again to Jerusalem,
to the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ,
that, united with Christ and all the faithful,
we may one day enter in triumph the city not made with hands,
the new Jerusalem, eternal in the heavens,
where, with you and the Holy Spirit,
Christ lives in glory for ever. Amen.
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