Usually when we talk about Palm Sunday, we looked to passages like Luke 19:28-40, or Mark 11:1-11, or Matthew 21:1-11, and we tend to focus on the triumphal entry with the shouts of Hosanna, and Blessed be the Son of David.
But the journey to Jerusalem, to the Triumphal entry, begins much earlier. There’s a lot going on from the time Jesus starts his journey towards Jerusalem, to when he calls it a night on the first day of Holy Week. Today we’re going to walk through the Gospel of Luke starting in chapter 13, verse 22, and follow the moments that Jesus walked as he made his way to Jerusalem.
So let’s start at the beginning of the trek as Jesus set his sights on the holy city. Luke 13:22, tells us, “He went on his way through towns and villages teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem.” Jesus’ mind was set on the cross that he came to bear. Though he continued his teaching, every step from this moment where we turned his journey towards Jerusalem, had one destination in mind, the cross.
In Luke 13:32, Jesus speaks to the Pharisees who came with death threats from King Herod, "32 And he said to them, ‘Go and tell that fox, “Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I finish my course. 33 Nevertheless, I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the day following, for it cannot be that a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem.” 34 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! 35 Behold, your house is forsaken. And I tell you, you will not see me until you say, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”’”
So Jesus turns his attention to the cross and begins his trek towards it. And he begins to teach of the lostness of humanity, with images like sheep, coins, and sons. It wouldn’t be until chapter 17, verse 11, that we would again be reminded that Jesus’ focus is on Jerusalem.
Here in Luke 17:11, we’re told, “On the way to Jerusalem he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee.” It was in this area that ten lepers came out to be healed. Jesus sent them away to be examined by the priests, and as they went, they were healed, but only one returned to praise God. This one was an outsider, a Samaritan ,and sets a pattern that we will continued to see, as Jesus comes closer and closer to his finished work.
Everything that Luke records from this point on, shows us what makes the Triumphal entry so grand.
From the ten lepers, and the returning of the one, we immediately hear about the kingdom of God and how it’s greater than anything that we could value in our lives. When it comes, it will come quick, but if a person is paying attention, they will see signs of it’s arrival.
It’s following this teaching on the kingdom that we’re given two parables. The parable of the Persistent Widow, and the the Parable of the Pharisee and Tax Collector. The Persistent Widow focuses on seeking justice from a wicked judge by bothering him until he concedes. Jesus’ point is that, we are to seek the Kingdom like this, except our Judge wants to bring justice.
The Parable of the Pharisee and Tax Collector quickly follows and focuses on how a self-righteous person points to others and compares themselves to them, while those that God counts as righteous recognize their sin and seek the Lord’s mercy.
Put these together and God’s kingdom is for those who recognize God’s work, who seek it as greater than their own lives in such a persistent way that they recognize their own failings and throw themselves on the grace and mercy of God.
It’s here that we get two back-to-back real world examples. Children are brought to Jesus for a blessing. They are rejected by the disciples, but embraced by Jesus, who tells his followers that they must be like little children if they want to enter the kingdom. Children are those who are joyful when blessed, they seek greater things outside themselves, they are persistent in their desires, and they are weak and in need of help.
This is contrasted with the Rich Ruler, who comes to Jesus thinking he has done everything needed to gain eternal life. But though he has done the religious work and he has made the money so he is seemingly blessed by God, his heart is in rebellion against God. He walks away from eternal life, to embrace the possessions he has made his idol and his god.
It’s at this heartbreaking moment, as the man leaves Jesus to enter his eternal death, that Jesus speaks of his own death. It’s for the lost, those headed to hell, that Jesus comes to die. It is our sin, our desire for self, our desire to do what God says to abstain from, that brings us into eternal death.
Therefore Jesus turns his disciples’ attention again to where his focus is. Luke 18:31 reads, “And taking the twelve, he said to them, ‘See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished. 32 For he will be delivered over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon. 33 And after flogging him, they will kill him, and on the third day he will rise.’”
Though Jesus tells his disciples about his death and resurrection, they couldn’t comprehend it. But that didn’t matter. It doesn’t matter if we comprehend what Jesus had to do, to bring us salvation, what matters is that we trust Jesus as he moves to accomplish what needs to happen to bring life to those who would embrace it.
Jerusalem is now on the horizon. Jesus has walked over 86 miles at this point from where we first read that he was headed to Jerusalem.
And as he enters the city of Jericho, a blind beggar hears of his coming, and begins to shout out for Jesus. And like the disciples who rebuked the children for being brought to Jesus, the people along the road rebuke the blind man, but like the persistent widow, this man doesn’t let the rebuke of others stop him from seeking Jesus. And like the children that Jesus embraced, he also embraces this man in his need, and heals him.
This is followed up with the tax collector Zacchaeus. Except this time, it’s the Lord who reaches out to call the sinner to himself. It’s at Zacchaeus’ house that Jesus desired to eat and rest. It’s here, through Jesus’ ministry that Zacchaeus repents of his defrauding of others. This repentant tax collector is the real world example of Jesus’ parable. Zacchaeus gives up his wealth is also the antithesis of the Rich Ruler who idolized his.
It’s here in chapter 19 verse 9 Jesus proclaims, “…Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
There’s that purpose of Jesus of seeking the lost, popping up once again. Now this statement done in front of the Pharisees who had been grumbling to themselves about Jesus eating with such a sinner. So Jesus makes this statement and then has a parable for them.
Jesus gives the Parable of the Ten Minas. In it, three servants are each given one mina, which is equivalent today to about $62,000 (one mina = 11,200lbs of grain; as of 3/20/24 new crop wheat is going for about $6 a lb). One servant takes it and produces 10x, one who produces 5x, one produces nothing and accuses the master of improper acts.
The faithful servant in the kingdom of God is the one who does the work God has called them too. The unfaithful one is the one that makes excuses and accuses God. The Pharisees are in that moment accusing God of eating with sinners, and therefore showing themselves unfaithful.
All of this sets up Palm Sunday. From the moment Jesus turned his full attention to Jerusalem, to his trek through Samaria and the ten lepers, as he made his way through Jericho and ate with Zacchaeus, Jesus’ focus was on Jerusalem.
So as he enters in on the young donkey, and the people praise God for him, and the Pharisees become upset with the whole procession, Jesus’ focus is on the cross set before him. And as Jesus tops the hill, he says these words about his destination, Jerusalem, in Luke 19:42, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.”
There’s no stoping what was about to happen. Jesus wouldn’t stop it, because he knows what’s ahead. And what’s ahead is what Hebrews 12:2 tells us, “looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”
And as Jesus entered Jerusalem, with his joy of saving the lost through the cross just a few days ahead, he went to the temple. A place where his very pre-incarnate presence had filled when Solomon had finished his prayer in 2nd Chronicles 7:1. It’s here that Jesus speaks these words, in chapter 19, verse 46, “It is written, ‘My house shall be a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a den of robbers.” And he begins to teach in the temple everyday of his final week, as he draws ever closer to the cross.
The march of Jesus to Palm Sunday, is a march of determination for the lostness of humanity. We are his prize, we are his joy, and the shame and pain of the cross is but a small momentary loss for his great desire.
As Jesus made his way to Jerusalem, to the triumphal entry, the call for his disciples to be found by the Savior, to seek the kingdom, and to walk humbly and faithful, is the call that is upon our lives today.
We must make sure that we are found by our Savior. That means we need to recognize our sin, and repent of it like Zacchaeus did. When we experience the salvation that comes through that repentance, we must turn to the Lord in praise, as the leper did. We must walk humbly as a child, seeking our Savior, as a child seeks their parent. And we must be faithful with the gifts, time, and life that we have, that we would honor God with it all.
When we do, the temple that he has built in our lives will be cleansed by the Holy Spirit’s work, and our lives will no longer be a den of robbers, but a holy dwelling for the Spirit of the Risen Savior.
Palm Sunday is a day to recognize our King as he comes into Jerusalem. And as we celebrate Palm Sunday, we must also recognize why his march towards it, is so important. It’s because of us. It’s because we are his desire, that no person would perish without the work of the Savior to save them from sin, being accomplished (2 Peter 3:9). And Jesus is still at work, through his Church, to bring about the witness to his great triumph through the cross and shown to be true by the resurrection.
My challenge for you this week is to take the palm leaf in your bulletin, doll it up as you are led, and to post at your house where you can see it. Seek to praise Jesus for the march into Jerusalem, and the cross that he bore for you’re salvation, and then seek to serve him as he deserves. That we would be faithful children of the Living God.
Let us be the people of God, who are saved, and serving on this Palm Sunday. Amen.
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