Christ is King

Our reading is Matthew 21:1-11, the traditional scripture for Palm Sunday. To the regular worshipper, the story and background are familiar. According to the text, a great crowd had gathered in the city of Jerusalem. It was time for Passover, a time for people to do three things. First, they made their annual animal sacrifice at the temple. Second, they paid their annual taxes to the government. Third, it was time to reconnect with family and friends, like Thanksgiving or Christmas in America. It is for that reason everyone wanted to be in Jerusalem for the Passover. The law required people to attend, but no legislation was necessary. Everyone wanted to be in Jerusalem for the Passover. It has been estimated that the population of Jerusalem swelled to 2,500,000 and on the lips of everyone was the name Jesus.

Each one of the Gospel writers emphasizes the size of the crowd. Matthew calls it a very large crowd (Matthew 21:8). Mark says many people spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut palm branches from nearby fields. Some people followed Jesus; some people ran ahead of Jesus (Mark 11:8-9). Luke says the crowd was so great the religious leaders encouraged Jesus to rebuke them (Luke 19:39). John tells us a great crowd gathered for the festival (John 12:12). All the Gospel writers tell us the crowd cheered for Jesus when he entered Jerusalem. You can’t question the fact that the crowd was large. However, you can question the commitment of the crowd. The massive cheering crowd on Palm Sunday was replaced with the tears of the few on Good Friday.

The massive Palm Sunday crowd disappeared. They simply didn’t understand Jesus’s mission. Some in the crowd cheered for Jesus because he was popular. Everyone was talking about Jesus, and they didn’t want to be left out. Still today, many like being near a celebrity. Some cheered for Jesus for political reasons. They had grown tired of foreign domination and longed for Jesus to lead a revolution against the Romans. If Jesus would use his power and charisma for their cause, then independence was possible. Some cheered for Jesus for personal reasons. They were sick, or a loved one was sick, and they hope Jesus had a healing saved up for them. They cheered for Jesus to get his attention, so he would have pity on them. In the end, each group was disappointed, because they simply didn’t understand Jesus’s mission. They were more interested in their personal agenda than Jesus’s divine mission.

Palm Sunday reminds us “Christ is King.” Jesus came to usher in a new kingdom. Unlike political kingdoms that would come and go, unlike kings and presidents who will be replaced, Jesus’s kingdom will last forever, and he will sit on that throne forever. In the end, Jesus will hold everyone accountable. His kingdom exists beyond this world, because he defeated death itself. Like looking out an airplane window, you must look at the panoramic view of Palm Sunday to see the whole picture. Five times in the Palm Sunday story God tells us that Christ is king. Let me look at each one individually.

1. John 12:12-13 tells us the crowd cut palm branches, waved them in the air, laid them on the ground, and cheered for Jesus, “Hosanna!” as he rode into the city. The palm branch represented goodness and victory. It was symbolic of final victory. Jesus would soon defeat death. 1 Corinthians 15:55 says, “O Death, where is your victory? Where is your sting?”

• According to Bible, Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey. The donkey symbolized peace, so the one riding the donkey came with peaceful intentions. Jesus called himself the Prince of Peace. When Jesus rode the donkey, he fulfilled the Old Testament prophecy in Zechariah 9:9, Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout, Daughter Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
  
  
• When the people cheered “Hosanna” they were hailing Christ as King. The word means “save now,” and though they wanted an earthly king, God offered them an eternal king. Psalm 118:26 says, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.”

• Luke 19:41-42 says, “As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it, and said, ‘If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace – but now it is hidden from your eyes.’” Jesus knew what would happen on Palm Sunday. The people who cheered for him on that day would soon reject him. That reality was more than Jesus could handle, so he wept.

• Palm Sunday reminds us that the reign of Christ is greater than any man’s mind could conceive or plan. The crowd was preoccupied with the things of this world, but God was concerned with eternity. We are free of death because Christ was the ultimate sacrifice. In John 11:25, Jesus said of himself, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in me will live even if he dies.”

The Palm Sunday story reminds us five times that Christ is King. It is repetitive because God wants us to learn that divine truth.

One of the things my wife Kathryn is doing in retirement is studying Russian. This is nothing new. She has been studying Russian on and off for decades. She finds mastering the Russian language vital in her work with her non-prophet, Project Orphan Outreach. She has a heart for orphans in the former Soviet Union. Russian is spoken in many countries in Eastern Europe. When we travel to Christian Camp Gideon in Estonia in Estonia this summer many will speak Russian.

There is nothing easy about the Russian language. She is working hard to master it. Nightly, as we watch television she studies her homemade Russian flash cards to improve her vocabulary. She can tell you the Russian word for “desk.” She can tell you the Russian word for “dark blue.” She can tell you the Russian word for “mirror, thirty-three and cat.” Under her breath, yet loud enough for me to hear, she repeats her Russian vocabulary words, time and time again. Some would find this practice annoying, but I don’t, because I can only say three Russian words, toast, roast beef and soup. I am proud of her. She tells me daily in perfect Russian, repetition is the mother of learning. When I was in school, I repeated the same information over and over to learn it.

God must believe repetition is the mother of learning too. Five times on Palm Sunday, he reminded us Christ is King. He did so when the crowd waved palm branches. He did so when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey. He did so when the crowd cheered “Hosanna!” He did so when Jesus cried for the city of Jerusalem. He did so when Jesus told us, “he was the way, the truth and the life.” Pope Benedict XVI (1927-2022) once said, “But Palm Sunday tells us that… it is the cross that is the tree of life.” Don’t forget it. Christ is king!