Palm Sunday

April 13, 2025

Luke 19:28-40

God’s Surprising Strategies—

His Humility is Our Hope!

28After Jesus had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. 29As he approached Bethphage and Bethany at the hill called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, 30“Go to the village ahead of you, and as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 31If anyone asks you, ‘why are you untying it?’ tell him, ‘The Lord needs it.’ ”

32Those who were sent ahead went and found it just as he had told them. 33As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the colt?”

34They replied, “The Lord needs it.”

35They brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt and put Jesus on it. 36As he went along, people spread their cloaks on the road.

37When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen:

38“Blessed is the king who comes in the

name of the Lord!”

“Peace in heaven and glory in the

highest!”

39Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!”

40“I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.” (NIV1984)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

Today we begin what is commonly known as Holy Week. After six long weeks of Lent Palm Sunday marks the beginning of the final leg of our journey— the journey that takes us to both the cross on Calvary’s hill and the empty grave in the garden. When you stop to think about it, my friends, Palm Sunday is symbolic of the entire life and ministry of our Savior. The events that took place on Palm Sunday tell us everything we need to know about Jesus. The events that took place on Palm Sunday give us a clear and correct answer to the question great King David asked in our psalm for this morning, “Who is he, this King of glory?”

While we all know the account of Palm Sunday quite well, Palm Sunday gives us an opportunity to remember that our King is the kind of King that this world will never understand. Our King is the King who conquers His enemies by surrendering to them. Our King is the King who crushes His opposition by allowing His opposition to crush Him. Our King is the King whose path to exaltation includes His willing humiliation. Palm Sunday reminds us that our King is the kind of King who marches into battle as one of us for all of us. Palm Sunday reminds us that when we stay focused on our King we see this truth: His Humility is Our Hope!

Luke begins our text with the words, “After he said this.” What is Luke referring to with these words? He is referring to Jesus’ parable of a “man of noble birth” who went to a distant country to be crowned as king. Before he left he summoned ten of his servants, gave them ten minas and told them, “Put this money to work until I come back.” When the man returned— as king— he rewards those who put his gifts to good use, but he punishes those who refused to acknowledge his kingship.

We see something similar on Palm Sunday, don’t we. Some of the people hailed Jesus as “the king who comes in the name of the Lord,” while others— such as the Pharisees and the Teachers of the Law— rejected Jesus’ Kingship and even plotted His death. The parable that leads into our text gives us an opportunity to ask ourselves, “How do I view Jesus’ Kingship and how is that view reflected in my heart and in my life?”

After drawing our attention to that parable Luke then continues with the familiar account of Palm Sunday. He writes, “As he approached Bethphage and Bethany at the hill called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, ‘Go to the village ahead of you, and as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, “Why are you untying it?” tell them, “the Lord needs it.” Those who were sent went and found it just as he had told them. As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, ‘Why are you untying the colt?’ They replied, ‘The Lord needs it.’”

There are a couple of things worth noting here. First, this is a very good example of the fact that as the Son of God Jesus knew exactly what His disciples would find once they entered the village. He knew exactly how the owners of the colt would react when they saw Jesus’ disciples untying that colt. And He knew exactly how His disciples needed to respond. In the same way Jesus knew exactly what was waiting for Him in Jerusalem. (Pointing to the cross) Not one single aspect of what we call Holy Week caught Jesus by surprise. He knew what was going to happen to Him— and still, He kept on going!

Secondly, no one sat on an untrained donkey and tried to ride it— especially when that animal was going to be ridden through a crowd of shouting people. And yet, as the King of Creation Jesus was able to do this without any difficulty whatsoever. This is yet another example of how our King is always in control of all things— right down to this very day!

And finally, there is the powerful picture of our King riding into the city of Jerusalem on the back of a donkey. The significance of Jesus choosing to ride into Jerusalem on a donkey is three-fold. First, riding into Jerusalem on a donkey identified Jesus as Someone who belonged to the royal line of David. You may recall that Solomon was openly proclaimed to be the heir to David’s throne by riding on King David’s donkey. (See 1 Kings 1:28ff; 2 Samule 13:29) Secondly, if a king wanted to demonstrate his power and his majesty he rode on top of a mighty war stallion. By riding into Jerusalem on a donkey Jesus was proclaiming that He was coming on a mission of peace. This dovetails with the fact that in ancient times a king would ride on a donkey to announce that every enemy had been defeated, and every threat put down. A warhorse was no longer needed because there was peace. And finally, we of course know that Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey in fulfillment of the Messianic prophecy recorded in Zechariah 9:9, “See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt the foal of a donkey.”

Before we move on to the next portion of our text, let’s take a moment to recognize the example that the two disciples have left for us. Think about it. Jesus instructed them to go into the village, untie someone else’s colt and bring it to Jesus. Jesus also told them exactly what to say when they were challenged. What was the disciples’ response? They did precisely what Jesus told them to do! They didn’t question Jesus. They didn’t challenge Jesus. They simply followed Jesus’ instructions.

Do we show that same kind of humble obedience to what our King says to us in His Word? If Jesus tell us to do something or to not do something that puts us in what might be an awkward situation with our family or our friends or our co-workers do we humbly obey what our King tells us? Or, do we challenge and question what our King says to us? If ever we find ourselves in a situation where we might hesitate to be obedient to our King and to His Word we would do well to remember the example these two disciples have left for us.

Now look at verses thirty-five to thirty-eight of our text. Luke continues, “They brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt and put Jesus on it. As he went along, people spread their cloaks on the road. When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen: ‘Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!’”

We know from other potions of Scripture that there were different groups of people who formed what Luke describes as “the whole crowd of disciples.” There were those who had come to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover festival. There were those who were there to “praise God for all the miracles they had seen.” Remember— Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead just days before He rode triumphantly into Jerusalem. And there were Jesus’ chosen apostles.

Did all of these people truly understand why Jesus was riding into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey? Probably not. Some of them may have thought that Jesus was finally going to gather His army, drive out the Romans and establish His Kingdom right here on this earth— with Jerusalem as its capital. Remember that even Jesus’ chosen apostles anticipated that Jesus would “restore the kingdom to Israel” (Acts 1:6). Some of them— especially those who had traveled to Jerusalem from far away places to celebrate the Passover may have been caught up in the enthusiasm of the moment and joined together with the others in joyfully singing praises to God. And then there were those who by the grace of God grasped the true gravity of this moment.

The true gravity of Jesus riding into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey is seen and heard in the words which the people were singing, “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” These are words of pure praise— praise to the Lord God for sending the Messiah-King into this world! And note very carefully, my friends, that much to the chagrin of the Pharisees in this crowd of people, Jesus accepted these words of praise! Up until this point Jesus did not want the people to openly proclaim that He is the Messiah. Recall that even as they were coming down from the Mount of Transfiguration Jesus told Peter, James, and John, “Don’t tell anyone what you have seen, until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead” (Matthew 17:9).

Now the time had come! Now all the world was to know that through Jesus there is “Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” While few if any in this crowd anticipated that Jesus’ upcoming coronation would not be with a crown of gold but rather with a crown of thorns, from our perspective it is very easy for us to connect the dots between the songs of praise the “great company of the heavenly host” sang at the time of Jesus’ birth (Luke 2:13, 14), and the song of praise the people sang on the day that Jesus triumphantly entered the city of Jerusalem.

The realization that there were different groups of people within the huge crowd of disciples who were praising Jesus as He rode into Jerusalem on the day we call Palm Sunday, leads us to ask— Which of these groups best describe us? Are we like the people who came to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover only to find themselves in the middle of a Palm Sunday celebration? In other words, are we here today simply because it’s Sunday and as much as possible we try to make it a habit to go to church on Sundays? Or, are we here today because we knew that today is Palm Sunday and we didn’t want to miss out on bringing our praise to our Savior-King as we once again see Him riding into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey?

Or, are we like the people who were praising Jesus “for all the miracles they had seen”? In other words, are we here today simply because as we look around in our life— both past and present— we can see that God has been good to us. We can see that on an earthly level He has richly blessed us in more ways than we can count.

Or, are we here today because in some ways we are like Jesus’ apostles who didn’t quite understand why Jesus came into this world. Think about it. Jesus’ own disciples were competing with each other over the earthly advantages that Jesus could give to them. “Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory” (Mark 10:37). “They came to Capernaum. When he was in the house, he asked them, ‘What were you arguing about on the way?’ But they kept quiet because on the way they had argued about who was the greatest” (Mark 9:33-34). Have we ever misunderstood Jesus’ reason for coming into this world? Have we ever looked at our connection to Jesus, have we ever looked at our connection to His church as an opportunity to ask Jesus to grant our self-determined list of earthly needs and wants?

The reason I asked you to look at the different groups of people who were praising Jesus on the first Palm Sunday and trying to determine which of those groups best describes you, is because I want all of us to remember. Remember how important it is to stay focused on the fact that the real reason for Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem was so that He could reach His goal— the cross on Calvary’s hill. Remember that the real reason Jesus chose to ride on the back of a donkey was to emphasize His humility. Remember the real reason Jesus rode into Jerusalem on that first Palm Sunday so many years ago. Jesus rode into Jerusalem defenseless, knowing full well what those who opposed Him were resolved to do to Him. Jesus rode into Jerusalem resolved to accomplish eternally great things for sinners like you and me.

“Who is he, this king of glory?” May God grant that not only on this Palm Sunday but every day we will remember that the correct answer to that question is— He is Jesus, our King! Because Jesus is our King we know this truth: His humility is our source of hope— our hope for “peace in heaven!”; our hope for “glory in the highest!”

To God be the glory!

Amen