PALM SUNDAY LESSONS
Matthew 21:1-11
The Sunday before Easter, the Sunday Jesus made His triumphal entry into the city of Jerusalem is known as Palm Sunday. This Sunday bears the name Palm Sunday primarily due to the fact that when Jesus entered the city everyone waved palm branches to honor Him. Palm branches were viewed as a symbol of victory. (Olympics) The winners of the Olympic races carried a palm branch as a flag. Jesus descends off the mount to Jerusalem as the victorious King in Israel. The crowd shouted “Hosanna to the King” on Palm Sunday. Hosanna means save. They were crying, “Save us, save us” and that is still our present day request. Palm Sunday crowds are still popular crowds today. Many believers love the Palm Sunday festivities and the Easter Sunday miracles, in spite of our Good Friday attitudes. We are accustomed to and love celebratory moments like the one's Palm Sunday depicts. We are also proud of Easter Sunday miracles. It is because of the resurrection of Christ that we find so much hope in a world full of uncertainty, perplexity and profanity. However, Good Friday is the day we love to skip over. Many Christians ignore Good Friday for various reasons. Some chose to ignore Good Friday because of the wicked and unrighteous acts inflicted upon Christ. Others ignore Good Friday because they understand the good news of Easter Sunday. Regardless of the reason, many Christians and non-believers continue to participate in Palm Sunday festivities and Good Friday crucifixions. In layman’s terms, our Palm Sunday worship does not match our Good Friday words. Our words and hearts do not match! Let’s look briefly at the words of our narrative. In our narrative today, we are blessed to be able to examine what I have called Palm Sunday lessons. Even though it’s Palm Sunday, the lessons found here are applicable not just for Palm Sunday but every Sunday and everyday. The Palm Sunday lessons are too numerous to cover all of them in one sermonic moment. However, I will examine and lift several from the text. One lesson we learn from Palm Sunday has to do with the dialogue that Jesus has with His disciples concerning His need of animals for transportation and teachable moments.
1) In this conversation we learn the importance of making provision before the need arises. Jesus no doubt had spoken to the owner of the animals before sending His disciples for them. Anyone or anything worth having will require necessary preparation. Too many believers are being denied many valuable possessions due to a lack of pre-planning. Things do not “just” happen to work out to our good. We must plan. Not only plan, we must work the plan. You can’t borrow money from a bank for a business without a good business plan. You cannot expect to do much in life without having a plan for the future. We cannot wait until it starts to rain to decide that we need a place to keep dry. Jesus made provision for His final days on earth. Therefore, as Christians, we should follow His example and make provision for ourselves as well. We make provision for job interviews, we make provision for vacations, we make provision for college, marriage, retirement, children, grandchildren and the list goes on. How many today make provision to spend eternity with Christ? In all our planning, let us not fail to plan to meet Jesus.
2) Another Palm Sunday lesson we learn is never place more trust in casual faith Christians than you do in committed faith Christians. Casual faith Christians will always celebrate Palm Sunday moments. They are the ones who love moments of attention and recognition. However, they are the ones who show up on Palm Sunday but will not be committed on Good Friday. They are the ones who will allow the presence of the Pharisee’s to silence their praise. Casual faith Christians are those who are Christians when it’s convenient, when the tempo is upbeat. Casual faith believers are those who are mislead because of mistaken identity. They celebrate you as long as you look like you are the one that they thought you were. They celebrate you as long as they have the ability to control you and receive something from you. Jesus was truly their hero until He turned over the money tables in the temple and announced the restoration of prayer meeting to the church. Many believers love cheering and accumulating things, but many have serious issues with prayer, communing and communications with God. Committed faith Christians will not allow the Pharisees to stop their praise anywhere or at anytime. They believed and live the words of the Psalmist, “I will bless the Lord at all times, and His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make her boast in the Lord, the humble shall hear thereof and be glad. Oh magnify the Lord with me”.
3) Last thing I want to point out is in Verse 10 and that is the question asked by the multitude, “Who is this?” Christians ought to have such a disposition about themselves until the world develops inquiring minds about our relationship with Christ. Our presence should make a difference in the lives of those we encounter. The world should be inquiring about our Palm Sunday activities, our marvelous Mondays, our terrific Tuesdays, our wonderful Wednesdays, our thankful Thursdays, our fiery Fridays, our satisfying Saturdays and our sanctified Sundays. The multitude rejected Jesus on Good Friday because He no longer looked like a King who would overthrow the Romans. They no longer saw him as their King who overthrew the government and established His own kingdom on earth. They saw Him, arrested and condemned Him.
Matthew 21:1-11
The Sunday before Easter, the Sunday Jesus made His triumphal entry into the city of Jerusalem is known as Palm Sunday. This Sunday bears the name Palm Sunday primarily due to the fact that when Jesus entered the city everyone waved palm branches to honor Him. Palm branches were viewed as a symbol of victory. (Olympics) The winners of the Olympic races carried a palm branch as a flag. Jesus descends off the mount to Jerusalem as the victorious King in Israel. The crowd shouted “Hosanna to the King” on Palm Sunday. Hosanna means save. They were crying, “Save us, save us” and that is still our present day request. Palm Sunday crowds are still popular crowds today. Many believers love the Palm Sunday festivities and the Easter Sunday miracles, in spite of our Good Friday attitudes. We are accustomed to and love celebratory moments like the one's Palm Sunday depicts. We are also proud of Easter Sunday miracles. It is because of the resurrection of Christ that we find so much hope in a world full of uncertainty, perplexity and profanity. However, Good Friday is the day we love to skip over. Many Christians ignore Good Friday for various reasons. Some chose to ignore Good Friday because of the wicked and unrighteous acts inflicted upon Christ. Others ignore Good Friday because they understand the good news of Easter Sunday. Regardless of the reason, many Christians and non-believers continue to participate in Palm Sunday festivities and Good Friday crucifixions. In layman’s terms, our Palm Sunday worship does not match our Good Friday words. Our words and hearts do not match! Let’s look briefly at the words of our narrative. In our narrative today, we are blessed to be able to examine what I have called Palm Sunday lessons. Even though it’s Palm Sunday, the lessons found here are applicable not just for Palm Sunday but every Sunday and everyday. The Palm Sunday lessons are too numerous to cover all of them in one sermonic moment. However, I will examine and lift several from the text. One lesson we learn from Palm Sunday has to do with the dialogue that Jesus has with His disciples concerning His need of animals for transportation and teachable moments.
1) In this conversation we learn the importance of making provision before the need arises. Jesus no doubt had spoken to the owner of the animals before sending His disciples for them. Anyone or anything worth having will require necessary preparation. Too many believers are being denied many valuable possessions due to a lack of pre-planning. Things do not “just” happen to work out to our good. We must plan. Not only plan, we must work the plan. You can’t borrow money from a bank for a business without a good business plan. You cannot expect to do much in life without having a plan for the future. We cannot wait until it starts to rain to decide that we need a place to keep dry. Jesus made provision for His final days on earth. Therefore, as Christians, we should follow His example and make provision for ourselves as well. We make provision for job interviews, we make provision for vacations, we make provision for college, marriage, retirement, children, grandchildren and the list goes on. How many today make provision to spend eternity with Christ? In all our planning, let us not fail to plan to meet Jesus.
2) Another Palm Sunday lesson we learn is never place more trust in casual faith Christians than you do in committed faith Christians. Casual faith Christians will always celebrate Palm Sunday moments. They are the ones who love moments of attention and recognition. However, they are the ones who show up on Palm Sunday but will not be committed on Good Friday. They are the ones who will allow the presence of the Pharisee’s to silence their praise. Casual faith Christians are those who are Christians when it’s convenient, when the tempo is upbeat. Casual faith believers are those who are mislead because of mistaken identity. They celebrate you as long as you look like you are the one that they thought you were. They celebrate you as long as they have the ability to control you and receive something from you. Jesus was truly their hero until He turned over the money tables in the temple and announced the restoration of prayer meeting to the church. Many believers love cheering and accumulating things, but many have serious issues with prayer, communing and communications with God. Committed faith Christians will not allow the Pharisees to stop their praise anywhere or at anytime. They believed and live the words of the Psalmist, “I will bless the Lord at all times, and His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make her boast in the Lord, the humble shall hear thereof and be glad. Oh magnify the Lord with me”.
3) Last thing I want to point out is in Verse 10 and that is the question asked by the multitude, “Who is this?” Christians ought to have such a disposition about themselves until the world develops inquiring minds about our relationship with Christ. Our presence should make a difference in the lives of those we encounter. The world should be inquiring about our Palm Sunday activities, our marvelous Mondays, our terrific Tuesdays, our wonderful Wednesdays, our thankful Thursdays, our fiery Fridays, our satisfying Saturdays and our sanctified Sundays. The multitude rejected Jesus on Good Friday because He no longer looked like a King who would overthrow the Romans. They no longer saw him as their King who overthrew the government and established His own kingdom on earth. They saw Him, arrested and condemned Him.
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