Joyful Worship – Palm Sunday (Values of the Cross): Palm Sunday is when Jesus entered Jerusalem as the King. He was humble, riding on the foal of a donkey. He restored prayer and worship in the temple, making it a place of healing. He will do the same for you if he becomes your Lord. All we can do is respond in joyful worship. “Hosanna in the highest heaven!” Recorded on Apr 13, 2025, on Matthew 21:1-17 by Pastor David Parks.
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This message is part of our Lenten sermon series, Values of the Cross. Christians are called to follow Jesus, but the way of Jesus is often completely upside down and backward compared to the ways of this world. Why is the way of Jesus so different? Join us during Lent for our sermon series, Values of the Cross, as we consider some of the unique values of the cross-shaped way of Jesus and how they transform every part of life. The cross changes everything!
Sermon Transcript
Today, we’re continuing our sermon series for Lent called Values of the Cross from the gospel according to Matthew. We’ve said that Christians are called to follow Jesus, but the way of Jesus is often completely upside down and backward compared to the ways of this world. But why? Why is the way of Jesus so different? Well, in our series, Values of the Cross, we’ve seen that the unique story of the cross of Christ produces unique values that lead to a totally unique way of life — the cross changes everything. So far, we’ve seen that the cross changes our focus, conflicts, purpose, and our expectations. Last week, we were down in that deep, dark valley of Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane, thinking about the need for the total surrender of our will and our lives to our good and faithful Father. This is always true, but it is especially needed when we face times of difficulty and suffering. Now, true confession: we messed with the timeline of the story a bit. The time in the Garden technically would happen on Thursday night of Holy Week. So, today, we’ll back up a bit to Sunday, when Jesus entered Jerusalem as a king. Now, in many ways, we’re going from the dark valley of last week in the Garden of Gethsemane to the bright mountaintop of Palm Sunday today. This story is known as the Triumphal Entry of Jesus and centers on how the people responded to King Jesus with joyful worship. But, as with so many other things, the story of the cross changes our worship. It certainly changes our view of what kind of King Jesus was and is. But if it is true, then it changes how we respond to Jesus as the Lord of our lives, along with the rest of the heavens and the earth. So, if you have your Bible/app, please open it to Mt 21:1.
Matthew 21:1–5 (NIV), “1 As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, 2 saying to them, “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. 3 If anyone says anything to you, say that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away.” 4 This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet: 5 “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.’” I wouldn’t do it, but I’d be curious to know if this would still work. “Go to Bergstrom in Neenah and get me a car. If anyone says anything to you, say that the Lord needs it.” I’d probably be arrested. But Jesus had likely already made an arrangement for the use of this animal. This wasn’t his first time in Jerusalem. Also, this was the week leading up to the Passover celebration in Jerusalem, one of the biggest national festivals required by God for his people. And the Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread was an opportunity to remember and celebrate the saving work of God during the Exodus, a story we just spent many months preaching through. But this means that Jerusalem, the capital city of Israel, and the location of the Temple (the central place of worship for the people of Israel), would’ve been packed with people coming from all over for the festival. It’s not hard to imagine that travel arrangements were made by all sorts of people to move goods or people, but Jesus had something a little unusual in mind. From v. 5, as well as the next section, we see that Jesus definitely entered Jerusalem as the King. But instead of riding a mighty warhorse or a golden chariot, he wanted a donkey and her little colt — not the most intimidating choice. In fact, it was an almost insultingly humble choice. But the Apostle Matthew says this was to fulfill an OT prophecy from the book of Zechariah. “Say to Daughter Zion, [that is, the people of the city of Jerusalem, also known as Zion] ’See, your king comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’” From this, we’re reminded that the OT has many messianic prophecies. They all describe an anointed King, the Messiah, who would be sent by God to save his people once again. Most of these prophecies tell of the victory this King would bring to Israel. But they also tell of the unique character of this chosen King. From this passage in Zechariah (and others), we discover that the King who would come would be gentle and humble of heart, not above riding on a humble animal like the foal of a donkey. We already saw in our series this upending of the norm for someone such as a king when Jesus taught, Matthew 20:25–28 (NIV), “25 Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 26 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever wants to be first must be your slave—28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Greatness, status, pride, leadership, and authority all work differently in the kingdom where Jesus is king because Jesus is a different kind of king. He doesn’t worry about his rights or being given special treatment. He didn’t come to be served but to serve and give his life on the cross to rescue us from sin and death. Jesus was different. But this fulfilled what God had said through the prophets about the king he would send. But how would he be received? How would Daughter Zion respond?
Matthew 21:6-11 (NIV), “6 The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them. 7 They brought the donkey and the colt and placed their cloaks on them for Jesus to sit on. 8 A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 The crowds that 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!” 10 When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, “Who is this?” 11 The crowds answered, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.” So, Daughter Zion responded pretty well! The disciples placed their cloaks for Jesus to ride on, and the crowds spread their cloaks and branches on the road to pave the way for Jesus to enter Jerusalem on his humble donkey. Now, not every story of Jesus is in all four gospel accounts of the life and ministry of Jesus, but the triumphal entry is in all four. We know from John’s gospel that it was palm branches that the crowd spread before Jesus (which is where we get the name Palm Sunday). This was the ancient equivalent of rolling out the red carpet. But they went further, shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Hosanna in the highest heaven!” Luke reports some were explicit about their belief, shouting, “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!” (Lk 19:38). Son of David meant the same thing, but you need to know more of your OT to get that reference. The people were also shouting Hosanna, which comes from a Hebrew phrase from the Psalms meaning “Lord save us!” By this time, the phrase Hosanna had become similar to the word Hallelujah, which simply means, “Praise the Lord!” People were thanking and praising God in worship for the coming of Jesus. “Hosanna in the highest heaven!” The people seemed to think that salvation was at hand and that Jesus was the chosen king who would bring it. But what kind of salvation did they expect? Most likely, it was a political salvation from the oppression of the Roman Empire. You see, before Jesus, from time to time, a mighty leader would claim to be the Messiah, raise up an army, and try to overthrow whoever was the evil empire at the time. And it’s not hard to understand why the people thought this way. The history of Israel was full of times when God raised up someone (prophet, judge, or king) to liberate his people, whether it be Moses against Egypt, Gideon against the Midianites, David against the Philistines, and so on. But was this what God was doing through the person and work of Jesus? We’ll see. But at this point, with crowds of people shouting about Jesus and praising God for Jesus as this liberating king, the one the prophets had foretold and the faithful ones in Israel had been waiting for. Matthew says the whole city was stirred up. But why were some people asking, “Who is this?” Well, no doubt most people would’ve at least heard about Jesus by this time. He had been wildly popular in his teaching and healing ministry, having many thousands of people coming to him at a time. And he had no shortage of controversy in his confrontations with the religious authorities. Even if people didn’t believe in him, they still would’ve most likely heard about him. But we must remember, there were no newspapers or social media, so unless you went to see Jesus, you wouldn’t have known what he looked like. So, as the crowds stirred up the city, people were buzzing about Jesus, the mighty prophet from Nazareth (of all places) in the northern region of Galilee. But what would Jesus do? I’ve never been part of a political campaign, but this moment feels like it would’ve been a great time for Jesus to formally announce that he was the Messiah and King, use the momentum of the crowds and the story of the Passover to raise an army, and kick Rome out of Israel once and for all.
Matthew 21:12–17 (NIV), “12 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. 13 “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.’” 14 The blind and the lame came to him at the temple, and he healed them. 15 But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he did and the children shouting in the temple courts, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they were indignant. 16 “Do you hear what these children are saying?” they asked him. “Yes,” replied Jesus, “have you never read, “ ‘From the lips of children and infants you, Lord, have called forth your praise’?” 17 And he left them and went out of the city to Bethany, where he spent the night.” This is God’s word. So, instead of declaring himself king and waging a military battle to achieve political victory, King Jesus unexpectedly restores prayer and worship as the primary business of the Temple. In doing so, Jesus made the Temple a place of healing. This was always how it was meant to be. Now, this isn’t to say that business is evil and ministry work is righteous. The true bad guys in this story are the chief priests and teachers of the law, the religious leaders, who tried to get the kids to stop worshipping because of Jesus. However, Jesus had two problems with their business. First, their location. They could’ve set up a marketplace just outside the temple. That would’ve been fine! But the business of the temple was not supposed to be business at all. Second, the way they handled their business was wrong. Jesus said they were making the temple a den of robbers, quoting from the prophet Jeremiah. This likely meant they were taking advantage of the faithful pilgrims who had come from out of town for the festival. They knew these people couldn’t easily go other places to buy what they needed to offer their sacrifices and likely let greed guide their business practices. Fortunately, this never happens today. (Ha!) But nowhere in the Bible does God have a problem with marketplaces unless they are treating people unjustly. God hates that. At any rate, this was happening when Jesus arrived at his house. (Did you notice that?) Jesus calls the Temple in Jerusalem “My house.” Granted, he’s quoting from Isaiah, but still. With his triumphal entry, Jesus seems to be claiming that he was the rightful owner of the Temple. If this is what he meant, this would be a clear claim to divinity. Because God was the one who ordered the building of the Tabernacle and then, later, the temple as the place for worship for his people. But in response to the wonderful things Jesus was doing, the religious leaders chose to ignore those things and take issue with what the kids were shouting. Granted, many religious leaders probably wouldn’t welcome kids shouting in church (I guess I don’t mind too much), but still! Talk about missing the forest for the trees. But I love what Jesus says to them when they complain to him about this. Oh! “have you never read, “ ‘From the lips of children and infants you, Lord, have called forth your praise’?” Jesus gives them a Bible slam. He quotes Psalm 8 to them, and they are speechless. This is what God the Father wanted. He wanted people (including kids!) to see his Son and recognize him as the Messiah and King who was promised to come. He wanted people to praise him and listen to him and respond in obedience and worship. He was a different kind of king, for sure. But they should’ve known he would be. If we go back to the Zechariah quote that Matthew referenced here, we can see this even more clearly. Zechariah 9:9–10 (NIV), “9 Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout, Daughter Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly [humbly in the ESV] and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. 10 I will take away the chariots from Ephraim and the warhorses from Jerusalem, and the battle bow will be broken. He will proclaim peace to the nations. His rule will extend from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth.” Jesus was the King. He was the one God promised would come. But he was a different king. He was a king who would be lowly and humble. He would be gentle. He would not be a king who would wage war against Rome. He would bring and proclaim peace to all the nations because his enemies were greater than any one kingdom. The enemies Jesus would defeat are the enemies of every kingdom on earth — the enemies of sin and death. And it was no different in that day, two thousand years ago, than it is today. No matter how wealthy we might be or how many other nations we might defeat either militarily or economically, we would still be bound by sin and destined for death. But the cross changes everything. Jesus, the humble/good King riding on a donkey, would, just a few days after this story, give his life on the cross as a sacrifice for the sins of the world. But on the third day, Jesus would rise again from the dead, breaking forever our destiny of death for those who love him and believe in him. To receive Jesus means to receive him as your savior. To cry out, “Hosanna! Lord save us!” and see that God’s answer to our cries has been fulfilled in Jesus. But to receive Jesus also means to receive him as your Lord/King. In this way, the cross changes our allegiance. No matter who is our mayor, governor, or president, Jesus is Lord. He is the risen and victorious King of the heavens and the earth. And when he has the allegiance of our hearts and lives, he just might come in and clean house. There might be a few tables that need to be turned over for us today. But then our hearts and lives become a place of healing as well. So, the only proper response is to join the crowds, to join the kids, and shout and sing and pray our praises and our gratitude to our God and King, the Lord Jesus Christ. To him be all glory, honor, and praise, both now and forevermore. Amen. Let us pray.
