Jesus and the tale of two very different Parades

Hosanna: A Different Kind of Power
On Palm Sunday, Pastor Luke invites us into the tension of two parades: Pilate's parade of war horses and power... and Jesus' humble arrival on a donkey. While the crowds shout "Hosanna"—"Save us now!"—Jesus reveals a kingdom that saves not through control or force, but through humility, trust, and the surrender of pride. In a world that prizes self-sufficiency, this message reminds us that real freedom begins with admitting, "I need help." It's an invitation to lay down control, trust the true King, and let His greater rescue unfold in our lives.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:32

Yeah, let's go. Palm Sunday. We're gathering with the church around the world today to celebrate this holy week, this very special week, where we celebrate coming up to Easter, the cross, and next Sunday the resurrection of Jesus. So we're gathering around that. And it's a time to celebrate. It really is. It's our time to celebrate. One of the things that the Jews were known for was the Jewish people knew how to have a good party. They loved a party. They loved the festival. They loved the music, loved the food. They would have, they didn't have like a one-day party, they would have like seven-day parties. They knew how to do a multi-day party. In fact, this this where this story lands is in the middle of a party, a party called Passover. It's a festival, a celebration. And maybe 300,000 people or so would come to Jerusalem, descend on Jerusalem, and they would have this absolutely incredible party that went on for days. And during this time and leading up to this time, Jesus had been teaching about the kingdom of God and what it would be like, and he'd been inviting people to come be part of the kingdom of God. And it was quite subversive to the Roman Empire and the religious establishment, but it was also just rocking everyone's world about what God was really like. Beautiful. And then came people were listening carefully to this because people were waiting for a savior to come. This was part of the Jewish culture, was waiting for a savior to come. Always on the lookout for is this the savior who's going to? And they had a long history of saviors. Think Moses leading the people out of Egypt. Think the judges who would come in and deliver the people from oppression and then rule and they'll go through this cycle over and over. So they had this long history of a leader who would come in and would save the people. And they were looking forward to this Messiah who would come and wondering if Jesus was him. Not to lead them away from Egypt and Pharaoh, but this time to lead them away from Rome and from Caesar and the oppression that would come, hoping that God would give it to them, you know? Get them. Get them, God. Like he did with Pharaoh. Just get them. Who's your then, by the way? I wonder where you want to say, God get them. Those people over there, that group, that that belief system, that political party. Get them, God. That's what these people were waiting for when they met Jesus. It was a get them, God get them. And Jesus comes in and has a very, very different situation. If you think about Passover, it was like the perfect scenario for a rebellion. It was like a celebration of God delivering people from Egypt. If it was ever a God get them kind of moment, and there was a leader, it might have been Jesus. Let's get let's rally behind a rebellion. This was definitely the time, it was a brewing for something to happen. Would have been the perfect time. And so the governor knowing this, Pilate, knowing that these times would have been a perfect time to stew rebellion, he would he would do these big parades through the streets. Through the streets, he would have a procession. Have you ever seen like maybe you think like um North Korea parading their um tanks, or you see this in lots of different countries? People like doing military parades through the streets to project power, right? Think about that. This is what the the Romans were doing during Passover to show everyone. If don't get any ideas, mate, because if you do, we're gonna put you down. Okay? Just calm, just calm down. Otherwise, this is gonna get bad. So on one side of town, you've got Pilate who's doing his procession, and he would have been riding on the big horses and the big show, and and then on the other side of town, you've got Jesus, and it's a very, very different parade. It's power, but it's very different parade. And we're gonna read this story together. Um, in Matthew 21, Tim read this a little bit earlier, but this is a central scripture for today. Um, as they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples saying to them, Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there. Not a big, strong war horse, a donkey. You ever seen a donkey? Have you ever been around a donkey? I've been kicked by a donkey before. Nasty, nasty animals, small, nasty horses. Um with a colt tied beside her, so she's got a foal. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, say say, this is such a funny statement. Say the Lord needs them. And he will send them right away. You can't, you cannot use that logic, okay? I'm gonna take something and just anyone says anything, I'll just say God needs it. I don't think that'll work. This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet. Say to the daughters of Zion, see, your king comes to you, gentle, and riding on a donkey. And on the colt, the foal of a donkey. The disciples went and did as Jesus instructed them. They bought the donkey and the colt and placed their cloaks on them for Jesus to sit on. A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted, Hosanna to the son of David. Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord, Hosanna in the highest. When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, Who is this? Is this the one? Is this the Gedim? The crowds answered, This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee. First thought that I see from this story is Jesus reframes what power really means. Jesus reframes power. What does it mean to gain power? What does it mean to exercise power? On one side of town, you saw the war horses and the pro the power to control and make people do what you want them to do. That was the power on the other side of town. When Alexander the Great rode in, he rode in an incredible white horse, powerful. But Jesus had no war horse, no military parade, just a donkey. It was a different kind of power. If you can imagine how absurd this would be, imagine like King Charles or someone riding down the street on his moped. You know, you'd be looking like doing a double take, thinking, is this something is not like the other. Why is the most powerful man ever coming in in such a humble way? It doesn't make sense to us. The kingdom of Jesus looks a lot more like military than it does control. Sorry, a lot more like humility. Did I say military? Just the old jack there. A lot more like humility than it does control. Around um 167 BC, so maybe 150 or so, 180 years before this event, there was an uprising rising in Judea by a man named Judah's Maccabe. They called him Judah the Hammer. And he had risen up and taken back control of the time when they were being oppressed by another group of people. And to celebrate that great victory, they had palm branches. They were waving the palm branches. And it became like a symbol of like um deliverance from oppression. It became like a symbol. So much so, in fact, that they actually put palm branches, they inscribed them on the coins that the Jewish people used. So they had these coins with palm branches as kind of a uh a memorial or a or a memory of how God delivered the people from their oppressors. This would have been very much in the forefront of people's minds, and we still, the Jewish people today actually still celebrate that. It's called the Festival of Lights or Hanukkah. That's what Hanukkah is. That's the roots of that, is that um that story. So you can see, lay that against the backdrop of this story that's happening right here. People are seeing Jesus come in with humility. He's fulfilling prophecy, and they're looking at him and they're wondering, is this the savior we've been waiting for? And they start waving their palm branches, saying, Is this the one where I think we're gonna celebrate? We're about to be delivered from our oppression. This is the guy who's gonna who's gonna bring it on. And they say this word Hosanna, Hosanna, which means Tim said it before, save us, save us now. Save us now. Salvation is now, waving it saying salvation, and it speaks to our desire for liberation. But it also speaks to humanity's desire to control God. I want to explore a couple of these things. The Romans came in and they occupied the city, they're in, they're in they're in a land that's their own land, but they're now being occupied by other people. You can imagine that. It's a tough situation. The power of Rome is a reminder that they cannot win this fight. Every day they're reminded they have no way of winning this fight. The Roman Empire is just a juggernaut. And um they have this moment of confession here. God, save us now. I need help. I'm struggling. And I don't know about you, but for me, sometimes like I know I want liberation, but I don't want to ask for help. Ever felt like that? There's this tension in the human heart where I want liberty, I want freedom, I want to be free of the stuff that is so destructive in my own life, but I I don't want to ask for help. I don't want to expose that. I don't want to say I need help. It's tough. Maybe I've been ashamed. Have you ever seen like on a desert island an SOS sign, right? You get to a place where you are like so desperate, you did not care. You want anyone to see, I need help. You know, maybe put it in fire or something like that. Like, anyone out there, save my that is the human heart, yet sometimes pride stops us from asking God for help. We were in Alpha last week, and I was listening in on a table, and a couple of people said, I I would have to be very desperate to ask for help from God. I feel like it's my responsibility to suffer for my own stuff. But if I got really, really desperate, then I would ask God. And I think that's probably true of many of us. No wonder that person, that was a Japanese person, no wonder so many so much of I think uh today a third of Japan is on um antidepressant medication, a third of the whole country. This idea of I must suffer for myself rather than ask for help is in the human heart. Yet Jesus is here offering his help to you today. Jesus is here. And it doesn't look like power like you would imagine, it's a humble power. It's more powerful than you could ever imagine, but it's humble and it's offering you here it to you today. The concept of salvation in the Bible is this multi-layered concept. It's like if you're around a Christian for a while, some people might ask you, like, when did you get saved? And what they mean is like, maybe, like, when did you first decide to put your faith in Jesus? Maybe something like that, or maybe when did you pray a prayer to invite God into your life, or did you put your hand up the back of a dark service one day when the preacher counted the three, or something, something like that. It's a multi-layered thing because the Bible explains salvation as being made whole, but it explains it in a past tense, like yes, there was a point where I was saved, but it also explains that as I am being saved, I am constantly being saved by God, and it describes the end as we will be saved when we stand before God. We will have a final salvation, a final being made whole by Jesus. And it's this picture of a reminder to us that we never graduate our need for a savior. We never, I needed a savior back then, but now I'm good. I'm solid by myself. I don't need God anymore because I got I got this Christian thing sort of sorted. I I I've got my ticket to heaven and we're moving on. That's not the concept. It is I am in constant need of a savior. I need God. I find myself praying more and more. God, I need you. God, I need you. It's a constant prayer in my life, but not all of us want to ask for help. I often don't ask for help because I don't want to bother people. You know, I don't want to be a burden, don't want to be a bother. Um or maybe because I I don't want to owe people anything. I don't want to owe you anything, so I don't want to ask. We all have reasons why we don't ask people for help. Maybe it's shame. I don't want anyone to know that I actually need help. Because I've I've I've like so dialed in this curation of this image that I have. You look at my Instagram, it's just like I'm living my best life. But we know that's not the whole story. There's more to it than that. So Hosanna is this humble reminder, God, I need you. Save me, save me now. But let's talk about control for a little bit, and then we're going to respond to God, okay? Let's talk about control. I was with um a group of people, you know, training to do ministry yesterday, and we were having this discussion, and one of the guys said, I'm constantly being reminded about God and being aware that I'm trying to manipulate God to look more like me, to like the things that I like, to think the way that I think, to look more and more like me rather than me being transformed into the image of Christ. That's very honest, right? And I think if we're honest, many of us, all of us, do that at times. God, I want you to get on my agenda. Get with it, God. I heard I saw this, um, I don't know why these things pop on my feet, but I saw this silly thing on Instagram where a guy was saying, I spent 60 years as a Christian, I prayed, and God didn't answer any of my prayers. How dumb is that? He said, I prayed for a bigger house, he didn't answer that. I prayed for good health, he didn't answer that. I prayed for this, and I'm thinking, wow, it's just like Santa Claus. This is this is amazing. Who taught you this was God? He's God, you're not God. How about pray God change me, humble me, and make me more like Jesus? How about we start with that prayer? Change my pride, change my heart, save me from my selfishness. I don't know about you guys. You're looking at me like, oh, a little judgy, especially this side. But I need that. I need that prayer. I need that prayer more and more. So, do you want Jesus to come into your life the way that you want him to? Do you want him to go get him? Is that your prayer? Get him, God. I want Jesus to come the way that I want him to come. I want him to come, I want him to come powerful and wreak havoc on the people that are causing me pain. Or are you saying to Jesus, come, Lord Jesus, come, I want to be like you. I want what you want. And the more, the longer I'm a Christian, the more I'm praying, God, your will done, you your will be done, not mine. That's what I find praying in my heart. Your will, not mine. Because God's contrast with what he wants and the stuff in my heart is so different. He is so good, so much better than I ever imagined, that God, whatever you want, that's what I want. Because you are so much better than me. Jesus, if you want to come in on a donkey, let's buy 20 donkeys, let's let's get after the donkeys. Let's whatever you want, that's what I want. That's that's this week. So it's an invitation for us to surrender, to trust Jesus. That although Jesus's power didn't look like what I expected, Jesus was much more concerned with greater things than simply the Roman Empire. He didn't come in to destroy the Roman Empire, he came in to destroy sin and death. He had a much bigger fight than simply with a military. He came to deal with the condition of the human heart. We're sitting around the table the other night, and one of my children asked, Why did Jesus have to die? That's a good question, isn't it? Why did Jesus have to die? And I just said, the only way that you can defeat death is by dying and rising again. That's the only way you can defeat it. Jesus had to die to defeat death, to raise again from the death and conquer death. So that you and I don't have to die, but we can live forever in the kingdom of God. That's the good news of the gospel. That Jesus is king even over death, let alone sin. So we're gonna have a chance to respond to God. And I pray that this week, as we go through this week, I hope that you do um jump on new version and um connect with the church on there. Get maybe it's a good chance to do a reading plan, to read through uh the the final chapters of of the gospels to go through this week together. It's a great reminder of what it means to follow Jesus. Um, it's impacting every year. I pray that you do that. But I pray also that you just respond to God in surrender. Jesus, not my will, but your. That's the prayer that he prays in the garden. We'll read it later in the week. Father, not your will. Not my will, but yours. So we're gonna pray. I wonder if there's things in your life where you've been trying to control God. Or maybe there's there's stuff in your life where you need help, but your maybe your pride or whatever it is has been stopping you from asking. We just take a moment with God, a moment of honesty, and we'll pray over it together, okay? Thank you, God. Respond to your word in our lives. There's so many people here, so many needs represented. So many ways we've been trying to fill those needs. Today we look to you. We ask you, God, to come and save us. Save us. Hosanna, save us now, God. We need you. I pray that Hosanna would ring so loud in our hearts. That who cares who's watching or listening, we need you, God. We put all of our shame or all the reasons why aside, and we just we throw ourselves at the mercy of you, God. We need you. We need your help. Come and help us, God. And I just pray over people here today who've in a moment of honesty right now could say.