(4/1) As followers of Jesus around the world remember his triumphant coming into Jerusalem, the Passion week is the grand finale, the culmination of over 300 ancient prophecies that Jesus Christ fulfilled through his birth, life, suffering, and resurrection. And 2000 years ago, on the Sunday before the Passover, it seemed as if Jesus was fulfilling prophecy once again. He came out of the wilderness on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the people were filled with anticipation (Zechariah 14:4).

They spread their cloaks and laid their palm branches on the road in front of Jesus shouting, "Hosanna," which meant, "Save us." They thought this was the moment that they had been waiting for, but they missed the significance of it. What they missed and what many of us don’t realize, is that on this particular day, what is known to us as Palm Sunday, that is the day the people of God were supposed to choose the Lamb.

And so, this was the day when they were to choose the lamb which would be sacrificed at twilight before the Passover, for the Lord had commanded the people, "On the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family" (Exodus 12:3). And it’s in that context that Jesus comes riding up to the city, reinforcing the expectation of the people that he is the promised son of David, but even though they correctly identified him as the Messiah, he wasn’t that kind of king. He had indeed come to save them, but not through a military uprising, he came as the sinless Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. And even though he appeared on the same day that the people chose their spotless Passover lambs, instead of turning to Jesus, instead of choosing the Lamb of God, they turned away because they misunderstood what he came to do.

It’s interesting, because just like today, there were those there who were looking at the same scene that we are looking at, but they are seeing it from a different perspective. For example, the 12 apostles, Peter, Andrew, James, John, and the others, knew nothing about Palm Sunday, because it wasn’t a holiday, it wasn’t something they celebrated. In fact, it would be several centuries before the Church even began to celebrate Palm Sunday. And so, they’re not feeling what the crowd was feeling, because they understood what was at stake in that moment. Thomas had expressed it best when he said to all the disciples, "Let us also go, that we may die with him" (John 11:16).

But for the crowds of people traveling to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover, many of them recognized Jesus riding on a colt to be a Messianic sign of the coming of the son of David. And so, in their minds that meant that Caesar, their oppressor was about to be defeated, and so this was an exciting moment. But the disciples saw it differently, they were struggling with feelings of anxiety, because they didn’t have great expectations of how this story was going to end. And maybe for some of you reading, you have experienced that feeling of not knowing for sure how the story is going to end.

Like when I flew out to Arizona when my mother was dying with cancer. I prayed over her, asking the Lord to heal her, and she was grateful for my prayer. But then she said something that I’ll never forget, she said not every story ends the way we want. Now, I didn’t want to hear that, but I knew what she meant, I knew she was just trying to prepare me.

This is where we find Jesus, he was going up to Jerusalem even though he knew the fate that was waiting for him there. He was determined to celebrate the Passover with his disciples there in Jerusalem, but the disciples were not so eager. They were following him faithfully but apprehensively on this death march, because he told them that he was going there to die. But when the people saw Jesus coming, riding on the colt, they saw him as their new King. And so, they called out, "Hosanna to the Son of David," because this was the hope of their fathers (Matthew 21:9).

This was a dream come true, this was their dream of a Savior, one who would deliver them, liberating them from the oppression of Rome. And so, they shouted, "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" "Hosanna in the highest!" (Matthew 21:9). This was what they have been waiting for, but as they are celebrating, the disciples are shuffling along behind Jesus, feeling confused and discouraged, because they knew that he was about to die.

And so, they were following him, but they were on edge, unsure of themselves, anxious and worried about what they were about to face in Jerusalem. As they continued on, they were surrounded by crowds of people celebrating the one who they believed would liberate them from the oppression of Rome.

And so, there were different perspectives among the people on that first Palm Sunday, but the most important thing for us to understand is that he came within our reach. From our perspective we know that Jesus stepped down through the corridors of time, taking the very nature of a servant, and being made in human likeness he walked among us. John the Baptist saw him coming and said, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!" (John 1:29). And so, Jesus humbled himself, he brought his glory within our reach, but the people didn’t choose him, they didn’t choose the Lamb of God. Their first reaction was to shout, "Hosanna to the Son of David" (Matthew 21:9), but in just a few days when he didn’t meet their expectations, those very same people begin shouting, "Crucify him!" (Matthew 27:23).

Different perspectives, the disciples and the crowds of people, they were all experiencing this together, but they were expecting something that wasn’t in God’s plan. The crowds of people thought that Jesus had come to be their king, they saw the colt, and they thought the kingdom was coming. But Jesus knew that there had to be a cross before there was a kingdom because his kingdom is not of this world. And so, Jesus humbled himself and became obedient to death, even death on a cross, declaring, "My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways" (Isaiah 55:8).

And his life ended, leaving some confused and others disappointed by their unmet expectations. And yet, still others believed because they saw him raised from the dead, they saw him in his glory, and without question or controversy, their confession is great. "He appeared in a body, was vindicated by the Spirit, was seen by angels, was preached among the nations, was believed on in the world, was taken up in glory" (1 Timothy 3:16). And so, as followers of Christ, this Passion week and always, let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful (Hebrews 10:23).

Read past sermons by Pastor John Talcott