Grace, uh, if you're new here, my name is Ricky. I'm still getting the chance to meet folks. Some folks have started coming to the church, and so we— if you're new around here, we love having you, um, kind of enter into what God's doing at Cross of Grace. And, uh, today we're celebrating Palm Sunday, but we have two, as Alec mentioned, two big events coming up this week. We have a Good Friday service on Friday, uh, that's an easy way to tell when the service is going to be is it's called Good Friday. So we will be meeting on Friday, and, uh, we're going to be— it's going to be a wonderful time of meditating on what Jesus says on the cross and what that says about him and about us and why that is good news. And I am so excited as well that we're gathering at McKelligan next Sunday. I hope you guys know the Lord really is at work. I mean, just looking at Alpha, our Alpha course that we've been doing the last number of weeks at the church, and several people have come to know the Lord through the work of Alpha. And Chuck is going to share more about that next week. And so I just want to encourage you, invite in faith that the Lord is at work. I think we hold back often from extending those invitations when we think, "I don't know if the Lord's really at work. He probably— this person probably isn't going to want to hear. They're probably not going to like this invitation." Extend that invitation. The Lord is at work and it will be a wonderful, I think, memory for us. So, who knows what the Lord can do through something as simple as gathering at McKelligan to sing about and preach about and rejoice in the good news of Jesus' resurrection. Amen.
So Luke 19, please. Turn in your Bibles to Luke chapter 19. Because we are pausing our series on Ephesians to walk through the passages related to Holy Week of Palm Sunday, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday, we're going to be reading the account of Jesus entering Jerusalem in Luke chapter 19. And if you don't have a Bible, you can grab one on the back table, or if you have a smartphone, you can Google Luke 19:28 ESV. And it'll get you there as well. Luke 19, verse 28. And as we read, let's remember this is God's Word. "And when he had said these things," Jesus, "he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. When he drew near to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount that is called Olivet, he sent two of the disciples, saying, Go into the village in front of you, where on entering you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, 'Why are you untying it?' you shall say this: 'The Lord has need of it.' So those who were sent away and found it just as he had told them. And as they were untying the colt, its owner said to them, 'Why are you untying the colt?' And they said, 'The Lord has need of it.' And they brought it to Jesus. And throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. And as he rode along, they spread their cloaks on the road. As he was drawing near, already on the way down to the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, saying, Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!' And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, 'Teacher, rebuke your disciples!' He answered, 'I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.' This is God's Word.
And Lord, I pray that you would allow us this morning a glimpse of that road on the way to Jerusalem. Lord, may we be there, as it were, through the sight of your Word, encountering afresh the reality of Jesus as King and why that is good news. In Jesus' name, amen.
Well, last year the polling organization Gallup asked Americans about how much they trusted a number of institutions. Now, This is noteworthy because normally these institutions have been historically seen in America as being trustworthy, such as the government or schools or banks or newspapers. But unsurprisingly— can you— perhaps not surprisingly— can you— can anybody guess whether our trust in institutions as Americans is increasing or decreasing? Take a wild guess. Okay, that was, yeah, pretty resounding. That was terrifying. I fear for our country. There you go. That is what they found. They found, for example, in the office of the president, the trust in the office was down, not even any particular candidate, was just down in the office 15%. Trust in the Supreme Court was only 25% total. And unsurprisingly perhaps, trust in Congress was down to— think about it, what would your guess be? Down to 7%. 7%. That's pretty low. That's too high, yeah. Well, that— and remember, that's the average, okay? So like there's one guy that's like, "I trust them 90%." So he's weighting the average. It's pretty terrifying. For example, as well, trust in media outlets like newspapers were down were down decisively. Television news was only trusted 11% by Americans. Even traditionally trusted groups like small businesses— everybody loves small businesses. No, we're not anymore. We don't even trust the small businesses. We don't even trust that guy on the street corner. That's where we're at right now. The medical system, trust has gone down. The military, which we've historically trusted as Americans, down as well. And perhaps you could guess where church trust, trust in churches as institutions, were up? No, it was down as well. And this, just so you're wondering, well, maybe that's just one political party, or maybe— no, this is true for men and for women, for every single political party in America.
So here's what this reveals. The institutions that govern us and shape our lives as Americans We do not trust. And so we're in a situation where the people we should trust, or in some sense have to trust to be in charge, we don't trust at all. And that is perhaps why this text about Palm Sunday is such a strange thing for us to celebrate. Notice in verse 37 what is being celebrated. Verse 37, it says, "The whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the works that they had seen. So they're excited at what they've seen, as we'll talk about in a second. They're excited and praising God. Why? They say, Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord. The crowd is rejoicing that someone is in charge and not just in charge, but the king, right? In America, we can vote for politicians, we can unsubscribe from news outlets, we can opt out of institutions we don't trust, but nobody opts out of the rule of a king, right? You can't just do, "I'd rather not." Nope. "I'd like to change that." Nope, you can't. He's the king. And the crowd acknowledges this by laying their cloaks down, which is a symbol of kind of, we're placing ourselves under your authority.
So, the key question for today is this: Why should you rejoice that Jesus is King? Why should you rejoice that Jesus is in charge? So, 3 parts today. The first part is part 1, tracing the portrait of the King.
6 · Establishes the paradox at the heart of Jesus' kingship: while earthly rulers often appear greater than they are, Jesus appears as an unremarkable rabbi yet possesses authority far exceeding his humble appearance
Now, this is a surprising portrait of a king because many times people in charge, people in power or authority, they appear greater than they are. Everybody remembers the little sticker on your rearview mirror, right? Which says in many cars, "Objects may appear larger than they are." What does it say? What's the language? Closer than they appear. Yeah. "Objects may appear closer than they appear." Meaning it may be bigger in your rearview mirror than it is in real life. And that's the way many who are in power are. They seem more impressive than they actually are. Their wardrobe, their— Their swagger, their attitude is impressive from the outside, but when you get to know the real them, well, they are not quite as large as they appear. But Jesus is the reverse in many ways. Notice the surprising appearance of Jesus. He does not appear to be a king at all. He is a simple wandering rabbi in a backwater province of the Roman Empire. He has no real possessions to speak of. He spends 3 years wandering from town to town, staying at whoever will show him hospitality. He was not a person of probably great height or great beauty. That's one of the problems with our portrayals of Jesus. Usually they pick somebody decently good-looking to be Jesus because nobody wants to watch like 3 hours of an ugly Jesus, I guess, in America. And so they pick somebody, it's like, oh yeah, they're pretty, you know. They— in other movies they would play a handsome person. Not so in reality. Not so in the Scriptures. It says that there was nothing about his appearance to draw us to him. He's in charge of no city, no province. He has no army, and he comes riding into Jerusalem not on a war horse raising an army, but on a humble colt.
7 · Expounds Luke 19:29-34 to demonstrate Jesus' divine foreknowledge and sovereignty—he knows exactly where the colt will be and what words will secure it, a feat impossible for any human king, revealing his deity
But notice that this text also gives us a surprising small but surprising illustration of the kingship of Jesus and his immense power. Jesus tells the disciples exactly where to find a particular animal and then exactly what to say to the owners. Now look, any king can command something to be released, but, but this— Jesus appears to have some kind of foreknowledge of where exactly this colt is going to be and, and have some kind of ability to know what exactly to say. And some people have speculated, well, he probably saw the colt earlier and he probably knew that they'd be— no, no, that's not what Luke, I don't think, is setting up here. Luke is, I think, portraying Jesus as knowing where it will be and exactly what to say. And arranging something as simple as that is utterly beyond the power of any earthly king. I mean, imagine I pick somebody at random from, you know, the congregation today and I say, "You, you at lunch will encounter this person named Mary and you're to tell Mary your meal is on the house." And Mary will say, "Of course it is." Like that, nobody does that. That's impossible. The only explanation we find in our text is he is God. The Lord. We read at the end of the passage that creation itself hums and pulses at his very command, ready to praise him, meaning that, that every detail of creation, every rock, every stone, every molecule is under the command of Jesus.
8 · Personal anecdote about Cape Cod illustrating the principle that truly powerful people often don't need impressive appearances—their actual power transcends external display, paralleling Jesus' humble appearance masking divine authority
Earthly rulers often appear greater than they are, but Jesus is greater than he appears and is all the greater for his humble appearance. A number of years ago, I visited Cape Cod, Massachusetts with my wife, Jen. Her grandmother lived on the Cape and I'd never been to the Cape before. I'm, you know, from El Paso. And so, I brought foolishly, I realized later, my, like, some of my best shirts because I just like, "Well, Cape Cod is fancy." right, there's like rich people that vacation up there, and so I need to bring shirts. And so I remember coming out in the morning and asking Jen's grandmother, "Hey, hey, do you have an iron? I want to like iron my shirt before we go into town." And her grandma just looked at me like, "What?" I was like, "Well, yeah, I mean—" And she realizes like within a few seconds, "Oh, this poor kid from Texas has no idea what Cape Cod is." And she goes, "Nobody irons their shirts here." And so I was like, what? So I put on my wrinkled shirt, walk around downtown Chatham, Massachusetts, and I realize everybody is wearing wrinkled shirts. And nobody, nobody cares, right? And it's almost like, listen, yeah, I don't care how I look. I didn't even bother to comb my hair today, basically. And you've got, I mean, Cape Cod is a strange land because you've got these guys that are CEOs or rich or whatever, and they're just out scrubbing barnacles off their boat in a t-shirt that's old and worn through. And what I realized was, in contrast to what I imagined, I imagined that the richer, more powerful you were, the more powerful and rich you would dress to announce your power. Hello. But instead, they're so powerful, they don't care. They don't care what they look like. Yeah, what, are you going to criticize my wrinkled shirt? Go ahead, buddy. I could buy your town. That's the vibe of Cape Cod.
9 · Applies the appearance-versus-reality principle directly to the listener, challenging them to reconsider whether they've underestimated Jesus based on his quiet presence compared to louder cultural voices, while pointing to his undeniable historical impact
And you realize that often appearances are deceptive. That often in our world we give the most attention, we give the most focus to whoever is the loudest and appears the largest. Whoever's waving their arms and saying the craziest things or seems outwardly impressive. And yet, through the lens of Scripture, we read that appearances do not often reflect reality. And in this case, Jesus, the reality of who Jesus is, is a— well, He appears to be nothing more than a wandering Jewish rabbi, but He is in reality the King of the universe. So, let me ask you, perhaps have you ignored or underestimated who Jesus is? Again, often our world is focused on whoever is making the most noise, whoever seems the most impressive, and perhaps on the world stage Jesus seems relatively quiet, but look closer. Look closer and you will see that not only is his presence historically verified, but his effect on history itself has been undeniable. Within 3 years of ministry, this backwater rabbi turns the world upside down. And within a century, followers of Jesus have spread to every corner of the Roman Empire, even within a few decades. And so profoundly did He reshape the world that even our timekeeping diverges at the birth of Jesus. He is greater than He appears.
10 · Signals structural shift from examining Jesus' identity (part 1: his portrait) to examining Jesus' actions and mission (part 2: his footsteps), reiterating the sermon's central question
Second then, part 2, tracing the footsteps of the King. What kind of King then is He, and why should we rejoice that He is in charge?
11 · Expounds Luke 19:37's reference to "mighty works," establishing Luke's hermeneutical strategy: the miracles Luke selected reveal not just Jesus' power but the nature and purpose of his kingship, with each physical miracle carrying deeper spiritual significance
Now, one of the phrases we read in verse 17 is very important. It says that his disciples began to rejoice with a loud voice, quote, "for all the mighty works that they had seen." Now, this Gospel is written by Luke, the physician turned historian, and likely he interviewed many eyewitnesses of these stories, taking their stories down into the Gospel. But as you can imagine, this is a huge body of material. People would have endless stories about Jesus, so what Luke does is, inspired by the Holy Spirit, he chooses chooses particularly a set of miracles to set down in his Gospel. And one of the things Luke is doing, especially in the first half of Luke, is he is helping us see who Jesus is and what he will do through the miracles that Jesus performs. So, the miracles that Jesus did were intentional. The miracles that Luke records are intentional, and they're meant to show us not just Jesus' power as King, but how Jesus is and will use his power as King of the universe. In every case, these physical miracles, these works, mighty works as the crowd calls them, have a deeper meaning.
12 · Surveys five miracles from Luke's Gospel (leper cleansed, paralytic healed, dead girl raised, demoniac freed, multitude fed), demonstrating how each physical miracle reveals a spiritual reality Jesus addresses: uncleanness, paralysis, death, bondage, and unsatisfied hunger
Now, just a few examples from the Gospel of Luke. In Luke chapter 5, for example, he encounters, Jesus encounters a leper, someone with a debilitating contagious skin condition. And not only did the person suffer physically, they were considered unclean and they had to stay away from their friends and family in town and live out basically in the wild, in caves. But Jesus comes and not only heals him, he makes him clean again, which points to the deeper spiritual reality that the condition of humanity is profoundly debilitating and unclean. And Jesus' work will be to make his people clean again. Then, later in Luke 5, he encounters a paralyzed person. But this paralyzed person, he raises up to be able to walk and move and and leap and run again. And that speaks to the way that we as humanity are often paralyzed and unable to do the good that we ought to do, that we perhaps even want to do. But Jesus is the only one that can free us and give us an ability to be restored again. Luke 7, Jesus encounters a family of a little girl, only to learn that this little girl has tragically died. But Jesus, walking into this room of death, with a word raises this little girl up to life again. And it speaks, I think, deeper to the stranglehold that death has on our world and our desire to be freed from death and find life. In Luke 8— I could keep going and going— Luke 8, Jesus encounters a man oppressed by a legion of demons who is always crying out and cutting himself. But Jesus speaks the word and frees the man from oppression. And it speaks to humanity bound in bondage, longing to be freed. And in Luke 9, the crowd is hungry and far from food, so Jesus multiplies food and the hungry are filled with good things. And it speaks to our constant hunger, our gnawing hunger as humanity, always hungry but never satisfied, only to have Jesus point a way that in him that hunger can finally be satisfied.
13 · Uses painting analogy (Bob Ross reference) to explain Luke's literary method: each miracle is a brushstroke contributing to a larger portrait of Jesus' restorative kingship
So what is Luke doing? Luke is, think of it this way, if you've ever seen a painter work or an old Bob Ross video, everybody's seen an old Bob Ross video, right? The guy with the crazy hair and the little, you know. So what's amazing watching somebody paint is seeing each brushstroke they make and how in the end the artist pulls all those brushstrokes together to form a portrait, right? One of the things that Luke is doing is he is using each of these stories as a brushstroke so that when we stand back, we see a particular portrait and picture in front of us.
14 · Synthesizes the exposition into the sermon's central theological claim: Jesus' kingship is characterized by bringing restoration wherever he rules, reversing the curse of Genesis 3 that introduced uncleanness, paralysis, oppression, and insatiable hunger into God's originally perfect kingdom
So what's the picture? Here is the picture. Luke is telling us that Jesus is the King, and wherever he steps, he brings his rule and his restoration. Where he steps, he brings his rule and he brings restoration. Remember, in the beginning, the kingdom of the garden in Genesis 1 and 2, beautiful and perfect, and all are clean, all are alive, all are free. All abound in good things, and God saw it and said it was very good. Only in Genesis 3 to have profound brokenness introduced to the kingdom. Adam and Eve choose to throw off God's rule. They decide to rule their own lives. I— they decide they could be better kings than the God of the universe. And then look what enters the world as a result: the uncleanness and shame of sin, paralysis, oppression, this profound gnawing hunger that is never satisfied but always Searching. And that's why these stories of Jesus in Luke are so beautiful. It's as though everywhere Jesus steps, his rule brings restoration and life in a reversal of the curse of Genesis 3.
15 · Personal anecdote about master gardener Bill whose every touch makes plants flourish, serving as analogy for Jesus' restorative touch—everywhere Jesus steps in the broken world, flourishing returns
I, um, a number of years ago, I was helping at the Mustard Seed Cafe here in town, and they had this beautiful community garden, and they have a master gardener named Bill who works with the garden. And the best way you can describe Bill is everything that Bill touches turns to green. Have you ever had a friend like that? Like, I am not good with plants. My plants, we just plan to replace plants every year because they will not live. We're just planning for them to die. And that's, you know, that's the reality. But you have— everybody has a friend that as soon as they start working on the plant, cultivating the plant, it's like it just— whoosh— it just flourishes. You're like, "What did you do?" "Oh, just a bit of this and a bit of that," right? It's like everywhere they go, it just, whoosh, things flourish. And you're like, "How are you doing this? I want to do that." That is what Jesus is doing in the Gospel of Luke. Everywhere he steps in this cracked and broken and sunbaked and restless world, he brings flourishing. He touches this person and their body is set right. He touches this person and they're freed from oppression. He touches this person and then they are made whole again. He touches this person and they are made clean again. And it's almost as though, if you can imagine this big canvas of broken desert, arid wasteland, wherever Jesus goes, creation flourishes again, is restored again.
16 · Expounds the crowd's song in Luke 19:38, connecting it intertextually to the angels' song at Jesus' birth in Luke 2, showing how both songs together form a vision of heaven and earth reconciled under Jesus' restorative rule
Now, the crowd sees these miracles, perhaps not even fully understanding them, but in them they glimpse this restoration and wholeness. Look at what they shout, "Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven!" And glory in the highest. And their song actually calls back to Luke chapter 2, where the angels appear to the shepherds at the birth of Jesus and cry, "Glory to God in the highest, and on the earth, peace." And so in Luke, you have these angelic beings saying, "There will be peace on earth." And you have these earthly beings, these humans saying, "There will be peace in heaven." And they're both forming this picture of heaven and earth working the way that God intended them to work originally. That Jesus' rule and restoration would bring the flourishing of creation again.
17 · Poses the critical question: how can Jesus' localized restoration work become universal? The answer lies in his destination—Jerusalem—where the cross awaits, establishing the transition to explaining the crucifixion's role in extending Jesus' restorative rule
But how? How can Jesus take that flourishing work from just being this person and that person and this person and that person, but something that could spread again over and across all creation? Well, that's why Jesus is on the road to Jerusalem. The passage begins with him saying he's on the road to Jerusalem because his entire ministry and life have been leading to Jerusalem.
18 · Refutes the notion that Jesus was a victim of circumstances by asserting his sovereignty over his own death, citing John 10 to show Jesus laid down his life voluntarily, possessing the authority both to die and to rise—he chose Jerusalem and the cross
Now, a century ago, a philosopher, Albert Schweitzer, who has my favorite name to say of all theologians, said that Jesus tried to turn the wheel of history but was sadly crushed by it instead. He sees Jesus as, you know, he's doing the best he can, but oh, just the machinations of the Roman Empire and Judea crush him. No, no, no, no, no. The picture in Luke is that Jesus is the one turning the wheel of history. John 10 says of Jesus, Jesus says, "I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and I have authority to take it up again." Do you think this Jesus who could in a moment pick out a random house with a random animal and a random passcode to receive said animal, do you think he's surprised by the machinations of the Pharisees or the Sadducees or the inner workings of the Roman Empire? Do you think for a moment that he cannot see where he is going? No. He chooses to walk the road to Jerusalem because it is there that he will fully and finally bring his rule and restoration.
19 · Explains the substitutionary atonement: on the cross, Jesus takes upon himself all the consequences of Genesis 3 curse (uncleanness, paralysis, death, bondage, hunger) that his people might receive the restoration he brings, extending his rule into the hearts of sinners who receive him
Where he is going is he's going to the cross. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, "Jesus goes to the cross in exchange for his people. On the cross, as Jesus wears the crown of thorns, the King of Kings offers his life for ours. He takes on the uncleanness and shame of his people that they might be cleansed. He takes on the spiritual paralysis of his people that their hearts might move again. He takes on the death of his people that they might have life. He takes on the sin that leads to oppression and bondage that we might be freed. He takes on hunger and thirst and separation from God that we may have a table set before us of bounty and plenty and good again. This is where Jesus is going. He, the great King of Kings, becomes a wretched man that he might extend his rule into the hearts of any sinner who welcomes him.
20 · Establishes the already-but-not-yet tension: Christians still suffer consequences of sin in this age but have hope because Jesus' restorative rule is progressively extending now and will be consummated at his return in a new creation
This is Jesus the King. And while we still struggle with the consequences of sin in our broken world, we now have hope. We wait now and suffer— while we suffer in hope, because every day Jesus' rule and restoration are being extended into the hearts of more and more sinner, and we wait in hope that one day Jesus' rule and restoration will come and end history and at His return bring a new creation forever.
21 · Direct application connecting the exposition to the original problem: unlike the untrustworthy institutions in the Gallup poll, Jesus' rule is trustworthy because it is simultaneously an act of grace—he rules in order to restore, proving his commitment to our good
So, here's the point. Do you see that Jesus' rule is good news? Do you see that Jesus being in charge, Jesus bringing His rule in a sense, is an act of grace? Because where He extends His rule, He extends His restoration. Everything He touches turns from dry and cracked back to green. And He starts in the hearts of every sinner that will come to Him, starts in the heart of any sinner that will receive Him. And do you see how utterly committed the King is to you? Your good. Many times it's hard to trust someone because you're thinking, "Oh, that politician or that medical institution or that thing or that person, I don't know if they want my good or if they just want to be in charge."
22 · Extended personal narrative about son Ford's premature birth and the pediatrician who interrupted her evening to take charge of his care, illustrating that we can trust someone to be in charge when we know they genuinely care about our good
I've told this story before, but I think it's relevant here. Our son Ford was born unexpectedly early. He was late preterm and he was born so early, we didn't have a pediatrician yet. So we had to, you know, we go into the hospital, we have a baby 45 minutes later before he goes into distress, and they're asking us, who's your pediatrician? And we don't know. But we had this card that somebody gave us from a new pediatrician starting a practice. And so we were like, we have this card, I don't know if that helps. And they're like, oh, so is that your pediatrician? Maybe. They're like, oh, so what did they say? Well, we haven't talked to her yet. Like, OK, well, you know, so they— They called the pediatrician. And meanwhile, Ford is— he's born suddenly, so his lungs are underdeveloped. And so they're trying to make calls about his care in the hospital. And he's having trouble breathing on his own. And so out of nowhere, that evening, this lady shows up. And she's dressed like she's just having dinner. And we found out she was. She was in the process of moving from faculty to starting her own pediatric practice, and she happened to be in the area of the hospital and just decided— she got a phone call and decided, "I'm just going to stop in and see this baby and talk to the doctors." So she comes up, interrupts her date night, I think, and comes and begins talking to us, talking to the doctors, immediately almost kind of takes over kind of the responsibility for care of this little life. And over the next 3 or 4 months, we had a number of health challenges with Ford, but the thing that was helpful and comforting was we knew she cares about us. So, when it came to our child, we could go, "Okay, I know you care. Why don't you be in charge? I don't know how to solve lung problems. I don't know how to deal with stomach issues. I don't know how to deal with severe jaundice, but you do. Would you be in charge?"
23 · Transitions to part 3 by introducing the contrasting responses to Jesus in the passage, beginning with the Pharisees who understand the crowd's claim but refuse to accept Jesus as King, placing themselves in judgment over him
That's the portrait of Jesus in the Gospel of Luke. Not only does it reveal a Jesus that is in charge, but it reveals a Jesus that we desperately want to be in charge. That we would take our lives and go, "Listen, I know you care. Would you rule? Would you reign? Would you bring restoration?" Part 3 then, bowing the knee to the King. One of the things that Luke does beautifully is contrast the very different reactions to Jesus happening simultaneously in this passage. First, we'll look at the Pharisees. The Pharisees at the end of the passage, being the rain clouds that they are, the fun police, show up. Everyone's celebrating, music going on, and they say, "Teacher, rebuke your disciples." which is such a weird— these guys, I mean, I see myself in them, but just poor social timing. There is a parade going on. They're in the crowd. They're saying, "You better stop this," you know. And notice what they're saying. "Teacher, rebuke your disciples." They're not just saying, "Well, this is a little much, isn't it?" No, no, no. They're saying what's happening here is wrong. And the reason that they say that is this: they understand what the crowd is saying. They understand that the crowd is essentially saying Jesus is the King of Israel, that Jesus is the Messiah, but they cannot accept Jesus as King and as Messiah, or they won't.
24 · Identifies the Pharisees' sin as the same as Adam and Eve's—placing themselves in authority over God—and warns that this same temptation afflicts modern listeners who treat Jesus as one option among many rather than as the King who demands a response
And over and over, one of the issues the Pharisees have is they place themselves over Jesus. They place themselves above Jesus, judging him, believing that they are better than him, and that frankly don't need Him. And in that way, we see a glimmer of our first parents in the garden, Adam and Eve, who decide, "No, no, no, no, we will place ourselves above You. We will decide who should be in charge. We will decide who bows the knee to whom, not the other way around." And so many times we can react the same way, can't we? We put ourselves over Jesus or over the Bible or deciding we will examine you. We will see if you deserve to be part of our lives. And I think, unfortunately, some churches play into this, perhaps unintentionally. They're desperately like, "Well, don't you want Jesus to be part of your life? Don't you want Jesus to, you know, to come into your life? He can be a wonderful part of your life. He can help with so many of your spiritual problems." That's not the Jesus of the Gospel of Luke. The Jesus in the Gospel of Luke shows up and says, "I am." And then you must decide how to respond to him. "I am the king," he says. What will you do? And in a way, these Pharisees are unwilling. They see Jesus making that claim and are unwilling to allow him to be the king. And here's the tragic thing. When people reject Jesus, they get what they want. Jesus does not come to rule and reign in their lives. And instead they suffer ruling and reigning their lives instead. Is that perhaps your reaction?
25 · Expounds the crowd's worship song, showing how they modify Psalm 118 from blessing any pilgrim to specifically blessing the King, thereby recognizing Jesus not merely as a king but as their King, which is the first step of faith
In contrast to that then is the crowd who cry, "Blessed is the King!" Now, this song is actually from Psalm 118. It was a song that pilgrims would sing as they made their way up to Jerusalem. But there is a crucial change the crowd makes. If you look up Psalm 118, it actually says, "Blessed is he who comes." But the crowd sings— do you catch the difference here? "Blessed is the King who comes." They take this song meant to say, "Well, blessed is anyone who makes their way to Jerusalem," and they say, "No, no, no, no, no. Blessed is the King who's making his way to Jerusalem." The crowd imperfectly but rightly sees Jesus is the king, but he's not just the king. They are saying he is their king. And this is the first crucial step toward Jesus, believing that he is who he claims to be. And some people will say that Jesus never claimed to be God or he never claimed to be king. He was just a teacher. He just wanted people to love one another. Absolutely not. Jesus knows what he's doing. He claims that even the rocks owe him allegiance. So the question is this: Do you believe Jesus is your king? Not just a king, not even just the king, but do you believe he is your king?
26 · Expounds the colt owners' response in Luke 19:33-34, using the hypothetical of someone taking your prized car to show how extraordinary it is that the owners released a valuable ceremonial animal based solely on 'The Lord has need of it'—they recognized Jesus' authority
And then there's one other fascinating detail that I think really helps us here. Notice when Jesus— there's one other group of people in the story. When Jesus sends his disciples to get the colt, the only explanation— they— well, first of all, they are interrupted by the owners of the colt. Now, you have to understand, the colt was probably a ceremonial animal. It was probably relatively valuable. It was probably being reserved for some particular ceremonial use. Okay, so I don't know, just imagine in your garage your preferred car, difficult to obtain. You know, maybe it's— I don't know, maybe you're one of those Tesla people. You've got a fancy Tesla, right? You've got this thing and you're preserving it 'cause you are gonna take it on a drive. You're planning out, you've got the road trip plans on your kitchen table. It's being preserved. And you go out to shine it up yet again, only to discover 2 people in the garage fumbling through your stuff for the keys to the Tesla. And when you say, "What are you doing?" They say, "The Lord has need of it." Right? It's just— that is not going to work. There's no way. There's no way, right? Like, "Oh, of course. Of course." You know? Does Abraham Lincoln want to drive it? Does Napoleon? Oh, Napoleon— you know, you're calling 911 saying, "We've got a psychiatric situation here. The Lord, is that you? Are you the—" You know? But I think from the context of the passage, it's likely that— I mean, you imagine this is making a huge hubbub, right? This is a massive parade. So people are aware that Jesus is coming to Jerusalem, and it is very likely that the owners of the colt, when the disciples say the Lord has need of it, the disciples know who is asking for it. They know that Jesus is asking for the colt, and so they willingly give up this kind of special ceremonial cult to Jesus' disciples that they might bring it to Jesus.
27 · Synthesizes Luke's structure (first half: Jesus' identity through miracles; second half: living under Jesus' rule through teaching) to establish that recognizing Jesus' kingship necessarily leads to submitting every life area to his restorative rule
And here's the point: when we see who Jesus is, when we see what Jesus does, we must bow the knee to Jesus. This again is calling back to the whole structure of Luke, right? The first half of Luke in general is displaying miracles about Jesus, revealing progressively the identity of Jesus, and then the second half of Luke leading up to the crucifixion is mostly teaching. And so the way Luke works is mostly, "Here's who Jesus is and what he does and what he's going to do." And then the second half, "Here's how it looks to live under the rule and reign of Jesus." So first half, Jesus is King. Second half, here's how to live in Jesus' kingdom, right? That is— those two things can't be separated, and Jesus covers everything from from divorce to sex to money to taxes to forgiveness, every area of life. Essentially, Jesus is extending his rule and reign to every area of our lives. And we may resist, but let's remember who Jesus is. Where he extends his rule, he also extends his restoration. So when Jesus, in a sense, intrudes on our marriages or our sexuality, He's not just saying, "Well, give me that." "Yeah, what are you gonna do with it?" "I don't know, I just want it." No, that's not Jesus at all. Jesus is saying, "Give me that. Let me restore it. Give me that. Let me renew it." That's what Jesus is asking for.
28 · Extended personal anecdote about his 3-year-old son who believes he should rule the household, illustrating humanity's tendency to believe we are competent rulers of our own lives when in fact we need someone wiser to be in charge
When we see who Jesus is and that his heart is toward us and that he, where he rules, he extends his restoration. We bow the knee. Now, look, we've got a constant illustration of this in my household because we have a 3-year-old. And our 3-year-old, I think I've shared this before, we unwisely at his birth began calling him the king of babies. And so he really, he was the best baby. He was our only good baby. And so just let us have that. And he was, you know, he was just the best. So we would sing and make up a little song. "And I'm the king of the babies." And so then, as he got like 2 into 3, he would kind of like dance along with it. It was kind of his theme song. It was great. It's great to have a theme song. And then, I think I've shared this before, but one day I overheard him playing with his toys singing, "And I'm the king of the kings. I'm the king of the kings." You're like, uh-oh. That's not good. That's not— that's not good. That's not good. Oh, man. And here's the reality. At 3, at age 3, he believes— he believes that his rule and reign should be extended throughout all household matters. He believes he should decide what is going to be eaten and when. He believes he should decide when we go to the park and how. There's this latest thing where he— there's this one side street in our neighborhood that the guy has, like, a jacked-up, you know, truck. He calls it the monster truck. And he wants to visit the monster truck every time we drive. So finally yesterday, I parked in front of the truck and said, "This is the last time we're gonna look at the truck." And you could just see the battle of wills. Like, "No, no, I want to see the monster truck every day." Like, "Nope, this is it. This is the last time." Right? And he believes he is an effective ruler. He believes he is competent in financial and moral matters. He believes that his rule and reign should be extended throughout all parts of our family. But we as his parents know better, right?
29 · Applies the 3-year-old illustration directly: like the toddler, we want to rule areas of our lives we should surrender to Jesus, but the passage reveals that Jesus not only has authority but knows better than we do and restores what he rules
And in much the same way, we as even— maybe you're a Christian, maybe you're not a Christian, but I think we all face this struggle that when we see the rule and reign of Jesus, we're fine with, "Okay, great. Take the parts of my life I don't care much about. You know, I'll give up. I'll start attending church on Sunday mornings. I'm not doing a whole lot there." You know, I'll give up this part, that part. But when Jesus begins asking for areas of our life to extend his rule and reign into areas of our life that we don't wanna give him, a battle of wills ensues, right? And the battle is, do we know better or does the king? And what we see in this passage is not only that Jesus is the king, whether we want him to be or not, not only do we see that his heart is inclined toward us and he cares deeply about us, But we also see He knows better than we do, and where He rules, He restores. And so, this Sunday, Palm Sunday, the main application then is, I think, for all of us, wherever we are, to take our lives, especially those areas in which we want to rule and reign, and bow the knee.
30 · Establishes that the essential posture of Christian life is bowing the knee—both at conversion and progressively throughout sanctification—citing Luther to show that Christian maturity is progressive surrender of life areas to Jesus' restorative rule
Look, the posture of the Christian life is, is, is This, it is bowing the knee. This is the posture of the Christian life. No Christian can come to Jesus standing like this. And if you feel like you've come to Jesus standing like this, you haven't come to Jesus. The only way to come to Jesus is to say, "I've made a mess of my life. Would you rule and reign instead of me? Would you restore?" And as Luther once said, "The Christian life is one of constant repentance." The way you make progress as a Christian is progressively in each area of life, bowing the knee here, bowing the knee in your marriage, bowing the knee with your finances, bowing the knee with your work, with your struggles, with your hopes, with your fears, with your dreams, bowing the knee and allowing Jesus to extend his gracious rule and restore.
31 · Synthesizes the entire sermon by returning to the opening trust crisis and contrasting it with Jesus the trustworthy King whose rule brings restoration in every dimension—cleansing, life, freedom, satisfaction, and fulfilled hope—issuing a call to rejoice
So, we began talking about how little Americans trust our institutions, but Palm Sunday brings us a King who brings us His rule as an act of grace. So this Sunday, church, let us rejoice. Let us rejoice that in a world where many appear greater than they are, there is one who is greater than he appears. Let us rejoice that in a world of untrustworthy rulers, there is one whose rule is worthy of trust. Let us rejoice that in a world of shame and guilt, there is one whose rule brings cleansing. Rejoice that in a world of death, there is one whose rule brings life. In a world of oppression, there is one whose rule brings freedom. In a world of gnawing hunger, there is one whose rule satisfies and brings good things. Rejoice that in a world of hopeless longing, There is one whose rule will fulfill every good hope, and his name is Jesus.
32 · Pauses for direct pastoral address to both non-Christians (challenging the desire for restoration without rule) and Christians (calling them to surrender specific life areas), using a hymn to model the posture of trust and submission
So let us then take just a moment. I'm just going to pause here. And if you're not a Christian, maybe your wrestle today is, do I give my life to Jesus today? I want the restoration, but could I get it without the rule? Part, maybe? No, friend, nor should you want to. And for the Christian, well, I think of the old hymn: Whatever my God ordains is right, His holy will abides. I will be still whatever He does and follow where He guides. He is my God, though dark my road. He holds me that I shall not fail. Wherefore to Him I leave it all. So let's just take a moment and say, Lord, is there any area of our lives that you are asking for today? May we in this moment give it to you, the King of Kings.
33 · Corporate prayer inviting Jesus' rule and reign, grounding the congregation's trust in his mercy displayed at the cross, and asking for grace to surrender joyfully
Lord, we invite your rule and your reign. We rejoice that you know better than us We rejoice that we can trust you because we see your mercy and your love toward us on the cross. So, Lord, we ask, we ask for your help that we might surrender, a happy surrender on Palm Sunday to the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.
34 · Transitions from sermon to communion, clarifying participation guidelines and framing communion as an invitation to accept Jesus' rule and receive restoration
Now, please, we're going to transition toward communion, and if you are a follower of Jesus, you are more than welcome to participate with us. And if you have not yet believed in Christ, see this as an invitation. This, this simple act of communion of the Lord's Supper is an invitation to you that you today can accept the rule and reign of Jesus and rejoice in it and find yourself restored and progressively being restored. And if that's you, if you believed in Christ even today, you're welcome to share in this family meal.
35 · Corporate confession using Psalm 51 followed by gospel assurance from Titus 3, establishing that confession leads not to a stern judge but to a welcoming King who saves by mercy through regeneration
First, let's confess our sins according to Psalm 51, where we say, "Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love, according to your abundant mercy." And, Lord, we just— any of these areas we've confessed to you, we ask for your mercy and we trust in Your steadfast love. We rejoice in Titus 3 and the truth there. It says, "When the goodness and lovingkindness of God our Savior appeared, He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to His own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and the renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior." So, when we come, church, and confess, we do not find a frowning, a stern king with his arms crossed in front of us. We find a smiling king bending down to welcome us.
36 · Communion liturgy reciting Jesus' words of institution, administering the bread and cup with the traditional words establishing the Lord's Supper as memorial of Jesus' substitutionary death
So with that, please take the communion elements in your hand. And scripture says, the Lord Jesus, on the night of his arrest, took bread, and after giving thanks to God, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, take, eat, this is my body given for you. Do this in remembrance of me. Please take the bread. And in the same way, he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant and sealed in my blood, shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. Whenever you drink it, do this in remembrance of me." Please take the cup.
37 · Final transition from communion to congregational worship response
And now please stand, church, as we respond in worship. We're going to sing a song that will help us