Chase Able: Good morning. If you have a bible, go ahead and turn with us to Matthew 21. That is where we will be spending our time this morning in Matthew 21 verses 1 through 11. And if you don't have a Bible, the words should be on the screen as well, or there should be a Bible in your pew. So now hear these words from the gospel of Matthew and listen closely, for these are the words of our God.
Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethpage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent 2 disciples saying to them, go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, the Lord needs them, and he will send them at once. And this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophets saying, say to the daughter of Zion, behold, your king is coming to you, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden. The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them.
They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them. Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, Hosanna to the son of David. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.
And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up saying, who is this? And the crowd said, this is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth of Galilee. This is the word of the Lord.
Cole Ragsdale: Thank you, Chase. So who you welcome determines how you welcome them. My in laws have this tradition that anytime anyone comes home, that the entire family will be waiting on the front steps. So as Jameson's boyfriend for the first time heading to the booming metropolis of Jessup, Georgia, which is a rural small town, southeast Georgia about an hour and a half in from Savannah, and we turn right onto Skie Lake Drive, there is the Kennerly family, chocolate labs and all, and doctor Lex with his hands raised high. That it's this moment of welcome, this moment of greeting that the Kennerelys think is an important family value.
And so we've actually I've actually been able to be a part of this tradition now, and it's like this whole find them on find my friends. When exactly did they say we're gonna be getting to Jessup? Like when are they gonna be here? There's this level of anticipation for when one of the family members comes home. And whether or not it's Adeline and Grayson coming from Atlanta, or John Lex and Amy Dale.
And there's this moment that they turn onto Skie Lake Drive, and 2 hoots of the horn and doctor Lex's hands raised high, they're home. They've made it. But what's interesting is that there are a lot of people who have come down that driveway. Whether or not it was a lot of those Amazon workers, like plenty of times, or just a neighbor coming by for a chat, or maybe even just a solicitor that there's no one sitting on the front steps. Because who you welcome determines how you welcome.
So why do I start there this morning? Is that, yes, it is College Sunday, but most importantly, it's Palm Sunday, in which Jesus is entering Jerusalem. That he's being greeted into God's holy city. And while we may not be welcoming Jesus to Jerusalem today, the invitation of Palm Sunday is for us to invite Jesus again into our church, for us to invite Jesus again into our homes, and for us to invite Jesus again into our lives as the rightful king that he is. And regardless, whether or not it's the Kinnerleys on the front steps are welcoming Jesus, here's a few parts where this could maybe get problematic.
If I'm being honest with you, the Palm Sunday story has meant very little to me throughout my Christian journey. I've never quite understood why it was significant for Jesus to enter into Jerusalem, and that riding on the son of a donkey. Like like, what what is what is God doing by this being being included in all 4 of the synoptic or all 4 of the gospels? Like, why is this here? And when it comes to greeting Jesus, or even greeting a friend, there's 2 things that can be maybe problematic, and I just wanna address them upfront.
The first is that of indifference. That it's always rude to to never to not greet someone properly with a level of indifference. Of what? You know what? Jesus, he's some people's God.
He some people take him more seriously than others, and I'm just kind of indifferent towards him. Or maybe for many of us today, the second problem would be that of familiarity. That you know what? I grew up in church, like grandma sang in the choir. I've known Jesus for a long time, and he is just so familiar that as we greet him on a Sunday morning or even greet him during holy week, it's a level of familiarity.
I've loved that this semester our college ministries in walking through the book of Colossians, where we've been looking at the the glory of Jesus. And here's kind of what we've, slid across the table to our students this semester, is that Jesus is in fact so glorious and so beautiful that we cannot make him a part of our life. In fact, to make Jesus a part of our life, but not the point of our life, is to waste our lives. That Jesus is meant to be central, that he is preeminent in all things. So even Chase gave us this this beautiful picture of Jesus so often, we wanna make him an accessory or an ornament that we hang on our Christmas tree.
But Jesus is in fact so glorious. The Hebrew word, kavod. He's so weighty that if we were to hang him on the branch of our life, he would snap said branch. That he is not just meant to be on the list of our priorities, but he is the paper by which we write that list. That he frames our entire existence.
And so today, as we look at Palm Sunday, as we welcome Jesus again, who we welcome determines how we welcome. So let's answer the question, who is this Jesus? Who what kind of king is he? And he cannot be met with indifference or familiarity. He can only be met with worship.
So if I was to title this morning's message, it would simply be the king is here. And we're gonna journey verse by verse through Matthew 21, 1 through 11. And just to kinda give you a road map of where we're going, I want us us to see together that Jesus is the true king. But not only is Jesus the true king, he is also the humble king. But not only the humble and true king, but Jesus is also the absolute king.
So we're gonna see this morning that Jesus is true, humble, and absolute. So before we go any further, I would love for us to pray and ask for God's spirit to speak through God's word. So would you join me? Our father, I thank you for sacred moments like this, where our family of faith gathers together to reorient our lives around what is true, And what is true of you, and what is true of us. And so father, I pray that as we think critically and think rightly about your son, that our affections for you would be stirred.
And if you would, in your own seat, would you pray and ask for God to speak to you this morning? And if you'd be willing, would you pray for me? That I would be helpful to you in that task. And, Lord, we pray all these things through the son and by the spirit. Amen.
So we are taking a quick hiatus from the book of Mark and are in the book of Matthew today. So, new to church at all, Matthew is one of the 4 gospels of Jesus or 4 biographies in which we learn about the person and work of Jesus Christ. Up, for these first twenty chapters of Matthew, we've been seeing Jesus on the move, and his ministry and life is kind of hitting a fever pitch. And it's all been building up to this one moment. Starting here in verse 21 or in chapter 21.
Like I said, this story is in all four of our gospels. We're entering into the the end of Jesus' ministry and life here on earth. So join me now in Matthew 21, and we'll start in verse 1. It says this. Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethpage, to the Mount of Olives.
I wanna go ahead and stop there. In these first five verses, we're gonna see 5 textual elements in which Jesus is claiming to be the true king. That Jesus is not just a king, but he is the true king. And it starts here in Jerusalem. Now if you're anything like me, 21st century, my ears mean that means nothing to me, that Jesus is coming to Jerusalem.
But for a 1st century Jew, it meant everything. That Jerusalem is the city of God. That it is the holy city. It's the city of the Lord. It's the city of David.
That it is literally Jeru, city of Salem peace or even in the Hebrew term, Shalom. It's the the city of God's shalom. And Shalom in the in the old testament is not this idea of an absence of conflict, but in fact, it's the the completion. It's of of God's design as things were meant to be. That it's the city in which is the cap it's the capital city of biblical Israel, and it's the city in which any Jew would understand our life under the right rule and reign of God happens here.
That Jerusalem is God's city. It's the holy city. And even back into the book of Genesis, all things have been pointing towards when will the king come back to Jerusalem to restore it, to be the city of peace. That even you think Genesis chapter 3 and Genesis 3 15, which is the the first gospel in which there is one coming from the seed of the woman who will crush the serpents head. And we are waiting for when is that seed going to come.
Or then in Genesis chapter 12, the Abrahamic covenant, that there is one coming who will be a blessing to all nations. And we're waiting, when will he come? Or in 2nd Samuel 7, the Davidic covenant, that there's coming one from the line of David who will rule and reign in the house of the Lord forever. When is he coming? That all of the prophecies of the old testament, all the promises of the old covenant are building towards this moment when when when will the king come back to Jerusalem?
There's many old testament prophecies that we could look at. I just wanna look at 2 this morning. Ezekiel chapter 43, God gives a vision to Ezekiel. Here what he says. Then he led me to the gate, the gate facing east.
And behold, the glory of the God of Israel was coming from the east. Jesus now stands at the Eastern Gate of Jerusalem preparing to enter. Behold, the glory of the God of Israel was coming. But not only that, Isaiah, chapter 52. It says, awake, awake, put on your strength, oh Zion.
And Zion is the highest mountain in Jerusalem. So anytime you see Zion, you can think Jerusalem. Put on your beautiful garments, oh Jerusalem, the holy city. How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, your God reigns. The voice of your watchmen, they lift up their voice.
Together, they sing for joy. And catch this. For eye to eye, they see the return of the Lord to Zion. To Jerusalem, the return of the Lord to Jerusalem. And so as Jesus makes his way to Jerusalem's gate, the true king has come.
That there's this level of anticipation that he has finally arrived. But not only is Jerusalem significant, but look with me at verse 2. It says that then Jesus sent 2 disciples saying to them, go into the village. And immediately you'll find a donkey and a colt, untie them, and bring them to me. Do you notice that Jesus goes on the proactive here?
They're all throughout the gospels, even as we've studied Mark together. Have you noticed that that Jesus is almost responsive, but not proactive? That, hey, we're out of wine. Jesus makes wine. There's a man who's blind, he says, have mercy on me son of David.
Jesus heals him. Or there's a group of 5,000 who have nothing to eat, and then Jesus produces a miracle of me of of a meal. But it's here in this story that Jesus is proactive. You need to go, you will find, This is how it will happen. This is the definite plan of God.
That he is not reactive, but he is again saying, I am the true king. I'm entering the eastern gate of Jerusalem. I am proactive in this plan. This is not an accidental moment, but it's intentional. But not only that, but we see that Jesus tells them that they'll find a donkey and a colt.
That you need to untie them and bring them to me. And like I said, at first, I'm like, why in the world does this matter? But for the disciples that day, this could not have been more significant. Because Jesus, up to this point, we've, in all of the gospels, has never used an animal for anything, nor has he ridden on an animal. You see, to ride on an animal was reserved for the prominent, or for the successful, or even more so what would be in their mind, a conquering king, returning, victorious, seated on a horse.
It is again him claiming kingship. I would imagine that the disciples when he says, hey, I need an animal to ride in on. They're like, we're doing this. Like he's actually about to ride into Jerusalem as king. He rides in.
And in verse 3, join me, it says, if anyone says anything to you, you shall say, the Lord needs them. This is the first time in the book of Matthew that Jesus refers to himself as Lord. That, yes, Lord is the Greek word kurios, which simply means sir or master. But up until this point, he has never said, I am the master. And you can imagine the the the bells going off in the disciples heads of like, this is Adonai.
This is the the Lord of the old testament who is here now. And then lastly, the 5th textual element we see is this prophecy from Zechariah 99. Say to the daughter of Zion, or it's a cultural idiom, for the people of Jerusalem, behold, your king is coming to you. That these first five verses of Matthew 21, Matthew is shouting at us, Jesus is the true king. That he is the one that all of the promises of the old covenant, all the prophecies of the prophets of old have been leading to this moment that the king has come to restore Jerushalom.
I love that our best stories in culture point to this story. It makes me think about Harry Potter, the chosen one, the boy who lived, who waits in the Forbidden Forest, and takes his step out to defend Hogwarts for one last battle. There's this anticipation, there's this this moment or for my Lord of the Ring fans, it's Aragorn, it's the the rightful king stepping out of the shadows to reign and rule. Or probably my fur my personal favorite, It's Lightning McQueen, who is preparing for his last race to ensure that Radiator Springs does not die. That on Route 66, it would thrive.
That all of our stories point to this story of the true protagonist, of the true hero, of the true main character making his way to make all things new. But while we've got this true king, I think we would be remiss not to acknowledge that we, me, have a lot of false kings. That there is things that we choose to sit under their authority because with a king comes a kingdom. And the kingdom that I typically sit under is one of a kingdom of control, or a kingdom of convenience, or a kingdom of comfort. That the the matrix of my decision making falls underneath this umbrella of, does it make me feel comfortable?
Is it convenient for me? Does it make me feel in control? And ultimately this kind of like Holy Trinity of convenience, comfort and control is ultimately saying that the false king is the self. That we live in an age of expressive individualism in which we look down and in for purpose, meaning, and truth. And here's what I can promise to you about the false kings of our lives.
When I make myself the false king, is that we always overpromise and underdeliver. That what control can promise me, it always will be more than he'll always promise more and deliver less. But this true king keeps his promises. Because a false king would say something like this, follow your heart. The true king says follow me.
The false kings say believe in yourself. And the true king says believe in me. The false king would say discover yourself. And the true king says, deny yourself. The true king would say, be Or the false king would say, be true to you.
And our true king Jesus would say, be true to me. So just a question for us to consider this morning as we want to welcome Jesus as the true king, not just of our of our lives, but of the universe is this, who or what has authority over your life? What person or what thing or what idea has authority? Because a king always has a kingdom, and a kingdom has its rules and regulations. Who is it or what is it that is ruling over your life?
When you think about the decision making matrix, when you think about your finances, and your family, and your parenting, and your job, who is calling the shots? Is it your gut or is it God? Is it your emotions or the truth of the word? Who or what has authority over your life? The invitation and the good news of the gospel is this, that we have the opportunity to repent and rejoice because the true king is here.
That repentance is just this idea of turning away or turning towards. And so we repent from this way of living, and we look at our true king is here, and we rejoice because he rules with justice and mercy, and we thrive, the good of people and the glory of God in 1. May we repent and rejoice because the true king is here. But not only is he the true king, but he's also the humble king. Let's look together at verse 5.
The prophecy from Zechariah 99 says, say to the daughter of Zion, behold, your king is coming to you humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden. It's interesting that Zechariah and Matthew really hone in our attention on that what is the defining characteristic of this king. It says that he is humble. It's the Greek word, prouss, which means gentle, humble, considerate, unassuming. It kinda has this idea of not taking oneself too seriously, that he's defined as humble.
So interesting, if you just, like, grab your worship guide and look at Zechariah 99, that apparently I guess there's an action on there. Zechariah 99, It looks like Matthew leaves out a section. That in Zechariah 99, it says, behold, your king is coming to you, one who brings justice and salvation, humble and mounted on a donkey. Did Matthew misquote Zechariah 99? Why did he leave out the 2 parts that I'm, like, justice and salvation?
Like, bring it. Matthew was wanting to highlight, he's wanting to underscore, he's wanting to bold and italicize This king, he is humble. But not only that, it says that he's mounted on a donkey on a colt. A few of the other translations would even say, even mounted on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden. The the Greek literally translates sorry for this.
The son of a she ass. Like, it's this idea of, like, you have a horse, you got a donkey, you've got a then now you've got like the foal of the beast of the burden that Jesus rides in on the most inconspicuous animal. And it's just and Matthew is just reiterating again and again, this is a humble king. This is a gentle king. This makes me think about my 5 month old.
His name is Tate, and he has a older cousin named Ellie Kate. So when when Tate came on the scene, Ellie Kate was pumped. She was, like, my baby Tate. Like, no, that's my baby Tate. She's, like, it's my baby Tate.
And she was very tactile and, like, wanted to touch Tate and, like, potentially hit Tate. Like, she was all about it. And so, what did we say say to Ellie Kate every time she would get around my son? Gentle. Gentle.
Because gentleness is not a lack of power, but it's power under control. That Ellie Kate has the capacity to hurt my son, so we are encouraging her to, hey. Be gentle. Be humble. And in the same way here, when we're saying that Jesus is our humble king, we are not saying that he does not have power, but it's simply power rightly controlled.
That he is majesty and meekness in 1, that it's the paradox of our savior. And this is terrific news for us That Jesus, who is co eternal with the father, who is before time and after time at the same time, who is the creator of the heavens and the earth, the creator and sustainer of everyone and everything, decided to come down. That being in the very nature God did not consider equality with God, something to be grasped or used to his own advantage. But instead, he made himself nothing, taking on the very nature of a servant to die. That the heavenly made human comes humbly down.
Why? In order to meet us and lift us up. That this humble king who comes mounted on the foal of a beast of a burden, he will go lower still. That coming by the end of this week, he will die a death that he certainly didn't deserve and he did not have his life taken from him, he lays it down. We have a humble king.
And as this humble king enters through the gates, the eastern gates of Jerusalem, verse 7 says, they brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them. Most of the crowds spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them out on the road. And the crowds that went before him and that were following him were shouting, Hosanna to the son of David. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.
What we see here is that the people who are crowding around Jesus begin to take off their cloaks. They begin to cut palm branches, hence, palm Sunday, and lay it before the donkey in which Jesus is riding upon. This is the 1st century red carpet treatment. That we are saying, Jesus, welcome to our city. We are thrilled that you are here.
We see this in 2nd Kings 9 as well as when Jehu is king and he returns from battle. And it says in the text that they take off their cloaks, they cut branches, and lay it out before them. And as as they shout this this phrase, Hosanna to the son of David, that these 1st century Jews are actually singing slash quoting Psalm 118 verses 25 and 26. It would sound something like this. Ana Adonai.
Ho shee anah. Ana Adonai. Ho shee anah. Which simply means, Lord, please save us. Lord, please save us.
And it kind of began turn into this rallying cry of, Lord, save us. This is where this text gets a tad tricky for me. They say the right words but for the wrong reasons. That they've got the right words but they've got the wrong heart. I think this is an important moment for us to talk about expectations.
That what they expect of Jesus, what they're proclaiming, Lord, please save us, they want salvation from the Romans. They want salvation from the the oppressive system that they find themselves under. It's what they're expecting of Jesus. They want to be freed from Rome. But Jesus wants to give them much more.
That Jesus does not just wanna set them free from the Romans, Jesus wants to set them free from sin, death, and hell. And it's almost in this moment of, like, if you were to sit down with 1 with 1 of these 1st century Jews and you were to ask, what do you need? What do you need from Jesus? I think their response would be, we we need freedom from Rome. And then, you could almost imagine Jesus saying to them and nodding along like, yes, and?
He's like, well, now that they're free, like I mean, so like a better place for my family, like a better a better life for us to live, and Jesus would say, yes, and. And you know, actually like a new tunic would be great, and maybe some like new sandals for my boy, like And Jesus would say, yes, and. Kinda gives me like some Robin Robin Williams, Matt Damon vibes of like, it's not your fault, Will. It's not your fault. And it slowly but surely that question just gets deeper and deeper and deeper.
So I just wonder for you today, if you were to be sitting eye to eye, toe to toe with Jesus, and he was to ask you, what do you need? And for me, I maybe start with, well, you know, Jesus like, I'm still dealing still trying to work through the grief of the loss of my dad. Like, I think Jesus would look at me and say, yes. And Or you know, and and Jesus like just merrily, like trying to figure out how do we combine these two lives and go on mission together towards you and yes. And Because what Jesus would say to me and he says to you today is that your primary need.
Yes. All of those things are real and legitimate. But what you need more than anything is a God who bleeds. A humble king who would leave the heights of heaven, would come to Earth, and who would die on our behalf. So just a question for you to consider as we welcome the humble king.
What do you expect of Jesus? And are those expectations rooted in what he has promised in scripture? Or are those expectations something that you've come up with? Because we can only trust in the promises of his of what he has promised to do in that expectation of. So what do you expect of him?
And, again, the invitation of the gospel is this, regardless of your expectations, is to repent and rejoice because the humble king is here. He's the true king. He's the humble king. And then lastly, let's look at verses 1011 where we see that he is the absolute king. Verse 10 says this, and when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up saying, who is this?
This, this word Greek word stirred up, it literally means shaken as by an earthquake. Commentator f f Bruce says, even Jerusalem, frozen with its religious formalism, and its socially undemonstrative culture, was stirred with popular enthusiasm. That Jerusalem is erupting at Jesus's arrival. And they ask this question, who is this? Now this is not the first time they've interacted with Jesus.
His fame had begun to spread across the region. But this is a question of what will we do with this man who has shown up in Jerusalem at the eastern gate. He's fulfilling all of the prophecies, that he's coming humbly. And now he comes absolutely. What will we do with Jesus?
The same question that they asked, we must also ask, who is this? About 3 weeks ago, I got to take a trip to Cuba with 50 of our college students. It was an amazing time of we basically just like practiced evangelism. We'd installed a water filter, and would sit down on the floor of Cuban home, and would share the gospel of grace with these people. It was, a terrific experience.
But what I was not prepared for, was that after we would share the gospel and we would just ask, like, hey, like, let's have a dialogue around this, like, what do you think about this? How does this make you feel? The response that we got typically was this, thank you for sharing that, but I believe in God in my own way. I was like, am I back in Birmingham like that? Like like, okay, like, okay.
And it was fascinating watching our students have to think through how do I respond to a real person, an image bearer of God in real time. I believe in God in my own way. What will I do with this Jesus? I want you to hear how Claire Fegley, a junior in our ministry responded, in grace and confidence. She said, there is no my way, there is only God's way.
And God's way is through Jesus Christ. That he is who we must deal with. Or we took a bus up to the mountain, and we're sharing the gospel, and we're hit with the exact same response, I believe in God in my own way. And Theo Coe, a sophomore in our ministry said, can I just read to you John 146? It says where Jesus says, I am the way, the truth, and the life that no one comes to the father except through me.
Tim Keller would say this about the absolute king, is that we either crown him or kill him. There is no alternative. That indifference towards Jesus is defiance towards Jesus. That we either crown or we kill because he is too glorious to be put on the shelf of our life. He is too magnificent to be an ornament we hang on our tree.
He is God. And so just a question for you to consider as we welcome the absolute king, does your life crown Jesus or does it kill Jesus? Does your parenting crown Jesus or does it kill Jesus? Does your financial matters crown Him or kill him? And we could go down the list.
Does our lives crown Jesus or kill Jesus? And thankfully, that the invitation of the gospel is the same. May we repent and rejoice that our absolute king is here. May we turn from a life that kills him and embrace a life that crowns him and we rejoice because the absolute king is here. One interesting note about Palm Sunday that I have left out up until this point, is that as Jesus is making his way through the Eastern Gate of Jerusalem, tens of thousands of Jews are making their way to Jerusalem as well.
Because that Friday is Passover Friday, in which tens of thousands of of lambs will be slain on the altar. None of which will provide the forgiveness of sins. But on this Passover Friday, the Passover lamb will be slain for the forgiveness of sins for us all. And so maybe the answer to the question, does your life crown him or kill him? The reality is is that all of us have killed him.
That my life has killed Jesus. That your life has killed Jesus. And the beauty of the gospel is that our absolute, humble, true king enters as king, and on Friday, he dies as sacrifice. And then on Sunday, he rises and reigns as king now and forever. That our true, humble, and absolute king is also our sacrificial king.
That while we have killed him in many a ways, that he is our Passover lamb for the forgiveness of sins. So this week, as we have entered Jerusalem's gate and Jesus makes his way towards Golgotha's cross, I pray that you would welcome him today as the true king, as the humble king, and as the absolute king. And that we would look towards Friday knowing that there is the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. And then we would celebrate together on Easter, that our king who is sacrificed is now ruling and reigning now and forever. May we welcome Jesus.
May we repent and rejoice, because the King is here. Let's pray together. Gracious God, we acknowledge you as the king this morning. And spirit, I pray wherever we need to repent that you would prompt us and convict us, and that we would turn to you. And as we get eye to eye and toe to toe with you, Jesus, that we would rejoice.
And so, Lord, as we sing and response this morning, may our worship be pleasing to you, and may we welcome you, King Jesus. We pray this, Father, through the Son, and by the Spirit. Amen.