Palm Sunday- From Hasanna To The Cross

Palm Sunday feels like a parade, but we slow down to face the weight of how “Hosanna” can turn into rejection when Jesus doesn’t meet our expectations. We ask what changed in the crowd and what that same pressure reveals about our own faith, trust, and anxiety. 
• painting the Palm Sunday scene in Jerusalem and why the city is buzzing 
• why the praise is real but the expectations are wrong 
• the donkey as a statement of humility and peace 
• how wanting a political savior blinds us to a deeper rescue 
• “Hosanna” as “save us now” and the danger of scripting God’s answer 
• salvation through suffering, sacrifice, and the cross 
• moving from crowd faith to committed faith when it’s costly 
• sitting in Holy Week tension to understand resurrection power 

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Transcript

Worry, Provision, And Trust

SPEAKER_02 0:35

Do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will put on. Look at the birds of the air! They neither sow nor reap, nor gather into bonds, yet your heavenly father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you, by being anxious, can add a single hour to a span of life? Therefore, do not be anxious saying, what shall we eat? What shall we drink? What shall we wear? And your heavenly father loves you, leave them all.

SPEAKER_01 1:14

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. All these things will be added to you.

SPEAKER_00 1:27

Hello. We would like to welcome you to the Food Stop Face Cast with my husband, your host, B-Rob. So without further ado, here's B-Rob.

The Parade And The Rumor Mill

Right Messiah Wrong Expectations

Salvation Comes Through The Cross

From Crowd Faith To Costly Faith

Sit In Holy Week’s Tension

Sponsor And Closing Invitation

SPEAKER_03 1:48

Hey, hey, hey guys, it's B-Rob. It's Sunday. It's Palm Sunday. It's March 29th. Yeah, we just the new year just started. Yeah. Look that up. My dot my youngest daughter knows what I'm talking about. The year of the horse stallion. Yeah. Anyway, let's get to it. Um today is a great day. Um Hosanna Hosanna. We're going from Hosanna Hosanna to the cross this week. And today is Palm Sunday. It is the actual beginning of Holy Week. It's kind of like a day that feels like a celebration, but carries a weight that everyone misses. Because today the crowd is shouting Hosanna. So I'm going to paint a picture for you. Because in a few days, the same crowd shouting, Hosanna, wants to crucify Christ. So the question, the question today is what changed. The question on the podcast is what changed. So like think about being there that day. Big old loud city, Jerusalem is packed for the Passover, right? People are everywhere. There's anticipation in the air because you know how the rumor meal spreads. I mean, just look on Facebook today. You see, it's not just localized, it's projected, if you look at it in modern standards. But you know how the rumors spread, right? The Savior's coming. The king is coming. Jesus is coming. He's coming everywhere. You know, they heard the stories about how he made the blind see, how he raised Lazarus from the dead, how he speaks with authority that nobody can explain. Authority over the whole earth. You follow? So people are excited. Um kids are excited. They're grabbing palm branches, they're uh throwing their cloaks on the ground. It turns into like a festive parade, if you will. You know? Um it kind of reminds you of the past 30 years and how we treat uh celebrities in America, right? Which is sad because we should be treating the King of Kings that way every day. But let's look at this week, okay? So the it turns into a party, it turns into a big festivity, it turns into a parade, okay? And then all of a sudden you see him. But he's he's not on a big white war horse, he's not on, he's not surrounded by soldiers, but he's on a donkey, a small donkey, but still something inside you says, This is him, this is the king. So you join in with the crowd. You're kind of like an NPC at this point, a non-playable character, a sheep. So you're you're shouting, Hosanna, save us now. You're going with the crowd, right? Every all the stories, all the rumors, everything. You know, for the moment it feels like everything's about to change because the excitement is in the air, right? I mean, if you look at Matthew 21, verses 8 and 9, it says a very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds went ahead of him, and those that followed shouted, Hosanna to the Son of David, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest heaven. You see, the praise was real. No doubt. I mean, it was real, but it was misunderstood, right? So the praise wasn't fake. So let's be clear about that. I'm not I'm not doubting, you know, don't don't get it twisted there. It wasn't a fake praise. They really believed Jesus was the Messiah. They really believed that he was coming to save them, but you see, there was there was a problem. They had the right person but the wrong expectation. You follow? They wanted a political savior. They wanted a king who would overthrow Rome. They wanted immediate relief from their suffering. But Jesus came to defeat sin, not just the system. He came to heal hearts, not just the circumstances. He came to establish an eternal kingdom, not a temporary one. So when Jesus didn't meet their expectations, their praise turned into disappointment, if you will. Imagine being that one person in the crowd. Let's just say his name is, let's just call him Eli. Eli is just a person in the crowd, okay? I'm just telling a story. So Eli has lived his whole life under Roman oppression. And you can look at it today, in today's aspect. You lived your life under the IRS in the British reign aspect. But let's look at Eli. Eli was there. Eli lived his whole life under Roman oppression. He's watched soldiers humiliate his friends, his people, and even killed them. He's seen taxes take everything his family ever worked for. So when he heard about Jesus, he doesn't just think Jesus is a teacher or a rabbi. He sees hope. Hold on, pain ends. He sees hope. He even maybe even sees revenge because that's the thing, the stories, the rumor mills. He's coming to save us, you know, with an army. He's gonna defeat Rome. I'm sure all those rumors were flying. He's already pictured in his head Rome falling, justice being served, life finally getting better. But you see, then days pass. Jesus not only doesn't start a rebellion, he not only doesn't gather an army, and he doesn't confront Rome the way Eli expected in his head. Instead, he teaches, he flips tables of the money changers, and he talks about dying. So slowly this picture that Eli had in his head, full of excitement, turns kind of into confusion, right? And then what happens with confusion? It turns into frustration because you don't know the truth, right? So then frustration turns into distance from actual reality. The word Hosanna actually means save us now. So when everybody, all of Eli's friends, family, all his people, they were shouting Hosanna, they were crying for a rescue. But you see, here's where the tension sets in. They were asking for salvation, but they were actually rejecting the way God was sending salvation to them. Because, see, salvation would come through suffering. Salvation would come through sacrifice. Salvation would actually come through the cross. And that wasn't what they pictured in their head. They had no clue. They they know that's not what that's not what everybody said. It's not what they wanted. Imagine this. Imagine calling 911 for an emergency. You're freaking out, right? You say, I need help right now. I need help right now, and the operator says, help's on the way. Don't worry, help's on the way, but it's not going to look like what you expect. Imagine if he said that to you. You see, because when we cry out, save me, we usually already have the picture in our head of how we need to be saved. Of how that should go. That's exactly Palm Sunday. That's exactly the way I picture Palm Sunday. You see, Eli and his friends, his people, everybody cried, save us now. And God answered, I will. But look at the cross. Keep your eyes on the cross. Keep your eyes on the cross. You see, because before we judge other people, we have to recognize ourselves in them. We say, God, I trust you. We say, God, I praise you. We say, God, I believe you. But you see, a lot of times there's a condition underneath it. It's more like, God, I trust you, God, I praise you, God, I believe you, as long as you do what I expect. We celebrate Jesus when life is going well, when prayers are answered the way we want them to be answered, and when doors are opening. But what happens when the prayer isn't answered? What happens when the situations get harder? What happens when God chooses a path that we did not choose? And oftentimes, and most of the times, that's the case. Palm Sunday exposes those questions. Do we follow Jesus for who he is or for what we think he is? Jesus didn't enter Jerusalem on a war horse. With champions, with soldiers. He came on a donkey. He came on a symbol of humility. He came on a symbol of peace. That alone was a statement. That alone was a statement that said, I am not the king you expected, but I'm the king you need. I'm not the king you expected, but I'm the king you need. Because the real enemy wasn't Rome. It was sin. It was brokenness. It was separation from the Father. It was separation from God. And the only way to defeat that was through the cross. If you follow the story, the crowd followed Jesus when it was cool, when it was exciting, when everybody was doing it. Like I said, an NPC, which is a non-playable character in a video game, like a computer, like a sheep. Programmed. But real faith is when it's costly. Real faith is when it's confusing. Real faith is when it doesn't make sense anymore. Palm Sunday invites us to move from crowd faith, which is emotional, which is temporary, which is conditional, to committed faith, which is grounded, which is surrendered. Now think about Eli again. Picture Eli again. But after the resurrection. He hears the news of the resurrection. The tomb is empty. So now he's really confused. At first it doesn't make sense. He's scratching his head like wow. But then all of a sudden, all of a sudden. Something snaps. Something snaps. Something clicks in his brain. The Messiah. Jesus did save them. Not just from Rome. But from something much deeper. From sin. From death. From separation from the Father, from God. And suddenly Eli just realizes I almost missed the Savior. I almost missed the Savior because he didn't exceed or he did not meet my expectations. I almost missed the Savior. So guys, today don't be like Eli. Don't just celebrate Palm Sunday. I want you to ask yourself, am I praising God with expectations He never promised me? Expectations of my own? Am I willing to follow Jesus even when I don't understand where I'm going? When I don't understand my path, when I don't understand the way. Not when I'm expecting him to lead the way. Or not when I'm not going on the path that I expected, if that makes sense. Or maybe even ask myself, do I want to follow Jesus? Because you have to be real with yourself. Because our expectations are never God's expectations. Because the same Jesus praised on Sunday, he was crucified on Friday. He rose on Sunday. But the truth is, he didn't answer Hosanna the way they expected him to. So guys, this week don't just rush to Easter. Sit in the tension. Sit in the tension. Because you cannot fully understand the power of the resurrection until you've wrestled with the reality of the cross. And sometimes the greatest work God is doing in your life, it does not look like victory. It sometimes looks like surrender. It sometimes looks like waiting. It sometimes looks like sitting still. And it oftentimes may look like the cross. But you see, on the other side of that, on the other side of that surrender, on the other side of that waiting, on the other side of putting everything at the foot of the cross and being still, there is resurrection power. So, guys, I love God loves you. And if you do not have a relationship today with Jesus, you better get right. This episode is sponsored partly by TreyNot. Taking care of your body matters. That's why I've partnered with TreyNot. TrayNot offers high quality supplements designed to support your energy and overall wellness. So if you want to feel better and stay consistent, go to Traynaut.com forward slash B Rob. That's Treynaut.com forward slash B Rob.