Celebrating our 170th Year
Chartered February 25, 1838
A 21st Century Parish with a 1st Century Faith
Acts 2:42
Palm Sunday
March 16, 2008
Matthew 21:1-11
Today is the beginning of Holy Week. It is a time when we walk with the Savior observing His arrest, trial, passion, death and burial. The events which lead to His death of course was His triumphal entry into Jerusalem. The small details of Scripture are not accidental or even incidental. Everything is done for a reason and with a purpose. One of the small details of Palm Sunday is the animal involved, the donkey colt on which Christ rode. This animal is not at all incidental to the story. The donkey was a burden bearing Animal.
“Almighty God, you sent your Son, our Savior Jesus Christ, to take our flesh upon him and to suffer death on the cross. Grant that we may share in his obedience to your will and in the glorious victory of his resurrection.”
The Roman military road which led from Jericho to Jerusalem was about seventeen miles long and climbed three thousand feet. It passed through Bethany (where Jesus stayed six days before the Passover, (John 12:1-10) and nearby Bethphage ("house of figs"), which lay on the southeast slope of the Mount of Olives, then crossed over the mount and the Kidron Valley and entered Jerusalem (v.1).
Jesus sent two disciples ahead to Bethphage to fetch the animals. The ride on a colt, because it was planned by Jesus, could only be a deliberate act of symbolic self-disclosure for those with eyes to see. Secrecy was being lifted.
I. Donkeys were…
A. Not for status but for service. The quotation is from Zechariah 9:9. Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. A donkey was sometimes ridden by rulers in times of peace. (see Judges 5:10; 1Kings 1:33).
The Jews would have certainly understood Zechariah 9:9 to refer to the Messiah, often in terms of the Son of David. Therefore for those with eyes to see, Jesus was not only proclaiming his messiahship and His fulfillment of Scripture but showing the kind of peace-loving approach He was now making to the city.
B. Donkeys were used not for battle but for burdens, as `they are even to this day. How fitting that Jesus should be sitting on such a beast of burden for He offers His life for the sins of the world. This is what John had predicted in the desert when he proclaimed Christ. “The next day John saw Jesus coming to him and said, ‘Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world’.” (John 1:29)
Transition: Donkeys were beasts of burden, quite a perfect reflection of Christ’s ministry.
II. They are a perfect reflection of Christ’s ministry.
A. He came to bear people’s burdens warn down by sin and strife.
1. Strife due to living in an imperfect world filled with sickness, war, strife, etc.
2. Sin, which is the root ill for all men, is what Jesus came to eliminate.
B. Jesus came to bear the ultimate burden – the burden of our sin.
1. Sin of omission – when we had the opportunity to do good but failed. Where we could have prevented evil but chose not to get involved.
2. Sin of commission – offenses against God and our neighbor committed in thought, word and action – only one conclusion can be claimed – we are guilty before God and our neighbor.
Conclusion: The Son of Man the Prince of peace appeared on that first Palm Sunday to offer Himself for the life of the world. Today we offer our praise and we journey with Him as He offers up Himself for the sin of all and for your salvation and life.
+ Soli Deo Gloria +
No comments:
Post a Comment