WEBVTT 00:00:00.320 --> 00:00:02.160 Well, happy Palm Sunday. 00:00:02.240 --> 00:00:06.879 Today is the beginning of Holy Week, Palm Sunday, and then we have Monday, Thursday, and Thursday. 00:00:06.959 --> 00:00:09.359 That was when Jesus washed the disciples' feet. 00:00:09.519 --> 00:00:16.399 And then we get Good Friday, the day of crucifixion, next Sunday, Easter Sunday, where we have Resurrection Sunday celebration. 00:00:16.559 --> 00:00:26.640 Now, on Palm Sunday, faithful Jews from all over Israel would have traveled to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover festival. 00:00:26.879 --> 00:00:35.039 The city would have been packed with Jewish families that come there to pick a lamb that they would sacrifice the following Friday. 00:00:35.280 --> 00:00:39.520 Now, if you were in Jerusalem and you're standing on the Mount of Olives, here's a picture of the Mount of Olives. 00:00:39.600 --> 00:00:50.719 If you're standing on that Mount of Olives and you're looking across the way, you'd be looking over the Kidron Valley to Jerusalem itself, and you would see the Eastern Gate. 00:00:50.960 --> 00:00:53.520 Here's a picture of the Eastern Gate. 00:00:53.759 --> 00:01:00.719 Now, this gate that we see here was built in the 16th century, so long after Jesus, and then it was bricked up in medieval times. 00:01:00.880 --> 00:01:09.359 But in 1969, archaeologists found the original gate that Jesus would have actually walked through underneath that gate, because that's what they did. 00:01:09.439 --> 00:01:12.480 They demolished cities and built the city on top of the old city. 00:01:12.640 --> 00:01:15.439 So the original gate is underneath that one. 00:01:15.680 --> 00:01:17.120 Jesus would have entered there. 00:01:17.200 --> 00:01:25.519 He would have come from Bethany, probably come over the Mount of Olives that we just saw, through the Kidron Valley, and through that gate. 00:01:25.760 --> 00:01:32.799 Now, Christians call this gate the golden gate, but the Jewish people call this gate the gate of mercy. 00:01:34.959 --> 00:01:40.159 Because the day that they sacrificed the lamb, they walked through that gate. 00:01:42.400 --> 00:01:46.879 So the point is this: the God of mercy enters through the mercy gate. 00:01:47.120 --> 00:01:49.040 Do you see the beautiful symbolism of there? 00:01:49.200 --> 00:01:53.439 We could tie it back into Leviticus 16 if you want to dig deep this week. 00:01:53.760 --> 00:02:00.799 Jesus is that final Passover lamb for us, and he is walking through the gate of mercy. 00:02:01.040 --> 00:02:03.599 The God of mercy enters through the mercy gate. 00:02:03.760 --> 00:02:06.879 And as Jesus enters, people are lining the streets. 00:02:07.040 --> 00:02:14.400 But Jesus knows something that everyone else does not know, and that is that he himself, Jesus, will head to the cross to die. 00:02:15.599 --> 00:02:17.520 He will be the final sacrifice. 00:02:17.680 --> 00:02:26.400 Which means for you and I that we don't have to be our own sacrifice or sacrifice enough to be forgiven, or sacrifice enough to be loved by God. 00:02:26.879 --> 00:02:32.479 God loves us first and provided that and cares for us lavishly. 00:02:32.639 --> 00:02:35.039 Now our text is Matthew 21, 4 through 7. 00:02:35.120 --> 00:02:36.159 Let me read that again. 00:02:36.400 --> 00:02:48.319 This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying, Say to the daughter of Zion, Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, on a cold, the foal of a beast of burden. 00:02:48.479 --> 00:02:51.840 The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. 00:02:52.080 --> 00:02:58.719 They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them. 00:02:58.960 --> 00:03:03.199 So I have three points for us this morning and four little prayers for us to read along the way. 00:03:03.360 --> 00:03:08.560 Point number one is this God draws near to you in humility. 00:03:10.080 --> 00:03:16.240 The story says when he rode into town, it was just crowds lining the streets to see him. 00:03:16.479 --> 00:03:19.680 Now last week I drove to amazing Conyers, Georgia. 00:03:19.759 --> 00:03:24.479 I drove down I-75 south on a way here laughing and then out I-20. 00:03:24.639 --> 00:03:26.479 Exited in Conyers, Georgia. 00:03:26.639 --> 00:03:28.000 I arrived into town. 00:03:28.159 --> 00:03:29.439 I went into a gas station. 00:03:29.520 --> 00:03:34.240 I bought an Alani because I'm a girl dad and I wanted a little energy, and it's okay. 00:03:34.319 --> 00:03:35.520 I'm comfortable with that guy. 00:03:35.599 --> 00:03:38.319 I'm comfortable buying an Alani and drinking it. 00:03:38.479 --> 00:03:41.439 I can't tell you how much nobody cared that I was there. 00:03:42.080 --> 00:03:43.199 Nobody cared. 00:03:44.000 --> 00:03:47.280 Nobody I had arrived in a town, Conyers, Georgia. 00:03:47.439 --> 00:03:48.319 Nobody cared. 00:03:48.560 --> 00:03:49.280 Nobody. 00:03:49.520 --> 00:03:51.199 Can't stress it enough. 00:03:51.520 --> 00:03:53.919 Just like if you went to Conyers today. 00:03:54.000 --> 00:03:54.560 Nobody cares. 00:03:54.639 --> 00:03:56.080 You just show up, nobody cares. 00:03:56.240 --> 00:03:58.879 That's what it's like for me and you to show up to a town. 00:03:59.120 --> 00:04:04.400 But Jesus, it's like Justin Bieber shows up at the square tonight. 00:04:04.639 --> 00:04:06.560 You would know pretty quickly. 00:04:06.800 --> 00:04:08.800 Like that word would spread. 00:04:09.120 --> 00:04:11.360 And this is what has happened with Jesus. 00:04:11.599 --> 00:04:18.319 Word is out that there is a teaching rabbi who has performed miracles in town. 00:04:18.560 --> 00:04:19.920 Everybody's showing up. 00:04:20.079 --> 00:04:21.519 I gotta see this. 00:04:22.399 --> 00:04:27.040 Just before he enters, he sends those two disciples, hey, go get a donkey for me. 00:04:27.199 --> 00:04:29.199 And Jesus enters on a donkey. 00:04:29.279 --> 00:04:37.439 So we have Jesus entering on a symbol of humility and peace, entering the mercy gate. 00:04:38.399 --> 00:04:45.680 And the Augustine Ear Museum in Germany, there's a very old wooden sculpture, Christ on a donkey. 00:04:45.920 --> 00:04:47.920 The sculpture is made in the 1300s. 00:04:48.000 --> 00:04:52.319 It was made to be pulled behind a cart in a Palm Sunday procession. 00:04:53.199 --> 00:04:58.319 Now, if we look at Jesus, his face in the sculpture, Jesus has a long, slender face. 00:04:58.720 --> 00:05:03.439 And it was to symbolize his knowledge that a cross stood in his future. 00:05:03.600 --> 00:05:06.959 That a cross stood between him and victory. 00:05:07.199 --> 00:05:09.199 Priest and author Henry Nowen. 00:05:09.600 --> 00:05:14.639 He spent an afternoon praying while gazing on this piece of artwork, and he wrote this. 00:05:15.360 --> 00:05:21.439 I look and look and look, and I know that he sees the depths of my heart. 00:05:22.160 --> 00:05:24.240 I do not have to be afraid. 00:05:24.560 --> 00:05:31.120 See, because of Christ's love and humility, we can be fully known and fully loved, and we don't have to be afraid. 00:05:32.399 --> 00:05:33.680 Well, happy springtime. 00:05:33.839 --> 00:05:34.720 Great weather this week. 00:05:34.800 --> 00:05:35.519 I hope y'all had. 00:05:35.600 --> 00:05:36.160 Did y'all enjoy it? 00:05:36.240 --> 00:05:37.439 You never knew what the temperature is going to be. 00:05:37.600 --> 00:05:38.079 Walk outside. 00:05:38.160 --> 00:05:39.439 It could be freezing, it could be warm. 00:05:39.519 --> 00:05:40.240 You didn't know. 00:05:40.639 --> 00:05:44.879 Several mornings this week I walked outside and it was just like, oh, this is so great. 00:05:45.040 --> 00:05:46.480 Like birds are chirping. 00:05:46.560 --> 00:05:47.680 There's some flowers. 00:05:47.839 --> 00:05:52.000 And I'd walk my crazy puppy and he would bite me and he'd peeing everywhere. 00:05:52.079 --> 00:05:54.399 And he's just, he's ruined my life, really. 00:05:54.959 --> 00:05:57.680 There's a lot going on in our house right now. 00:05:59.279 --> 00:06:05.439 But maybe you drove around this week, you had your windows down, playing Garth Brooks, Dave Matthews band. 00:06:05.519 --> 00:06:06.879 That's my generation, my age. 00:06:06.959 --> 00:06:08.319 I don't know what you were playing. 00:06:08.879 --> 00:06:11.279 Pollen, just you know, in your hair, just. 00:06:15.279 --> 00:06:16.240 Maybe life was good. 00:06:16.399 --> 00:06:17.199 Maybe life is good. 00:06:17.360 --> 00:06:18.639 It's very possible. 00:06:19.040 --> 00:06:22.399 But for all of us, eventually something happens. 00:06:22.639 --> 00:06:24.399 Like we mess up. 00:06:24.720 --> 00:06:26.879 Say something, do something, think something. 00:06:27.120 --> 00:06:29.600 Phone rings, something happens. 00:06:30.000 --> 00:06:33.360 I just say that and say there's a lot we can be afraid of. 00:06:33.600 --> 00:06:39.120 There's a lot we can be afraid of that something might happen, something could happen, or something might be known. 00:06:39.839 --> 00:06:45.839 There's just a lot to be afraid of of our own mistakes or the possibility of a mistake or our past sins. 00:06:46.720 --> 00:06:49.759 What an amazing picture we have on Palm Sunday. 00:06:50.079 --> 00:06:53.199 The God of mercy enters through the mercy gate. 00:06:53.439 --> 00:06:55.600 And that he knows all of you. 00:06:56.480 --> 00:06:58.319 And we can look upon him. 00:06:58.800 --> 00:07:00.720 And we don't have to be afraid. 00:07:01.040 --> 00:07:03.360 There's no condemnation waiting for you. 00:07:03.600 --> 00:07:09.519 All the holiness and justice needed is satisfied in Jesus Himself. 00:07:09.839 --> 00:07:11.199 I love the scene in C.S. 00:07:11.279 --> 00:07:15.040 Lewis's Narnia book, The Magician's Nephew, Diggory and Polly. 00:07:15.120 --> 00:07:16.800 They're hopping between different worlds. 00:07:16.879 --> 00:07:22.720 Eventually they end up in Narnia and ringing out is the sweetest sound they've ever heard. 00:07:22.879 --> 00:07:24.399 It's creation itself. 00:07:24.639 --> 00:07:26.800 The world is being created. 00:07:26.959 --> 00:07:32.639 And they realize this sound is coming from a someone, not just a somewhere. 00:07:33.360 --> 00:07:34.480 And then we read this. 00:07:34.560 --> 00:07:38.639 They made you feel excited until you saw the singer himself. 00:07:38.800 --> 00:07:40.959 And then you forgot everything else. 00:07:41.199 --> 00:07:44.319 It was a lion, huge, shaggy, and bright. 00:07:44.480 --> 00:07:46.480 It stood facing the rising sun. 00:07:46.879 --> 00:07:51.680 Its mouth was wide open in song, and it was about 300 yards away. 00:07:52.079 --> 00:07:59.920 Then a couple chapters later, Diggory gets up the courage to ask something of this lion, this fierce, powerful creature. 00:08:00.079 --> 00:08:04.319 And Diggory's scared to death to make this request. 00:08:06.240 --> 00:08:07.839 But please, please, won't you? 00:08:08.000 --> 00:08:10.399 Can't you give me something that will cure mother? 00:08:10.560 --> 00:08:16.000 Up till then he had been looking at the lion's great feet and the huge claws on them. 00:08:16.160 --> 00:08:18.959 Now in his despair, he looked at his face. 00:08:19.759 --> 00:08:23.680 What he saw surprised him as much as anything in his whole life. 00:08:24.000 --> 00:08:32.080 For the tawny face was bent down near his own, and wonder of wonders, great shining tears stood in the lion's eyes. 00:08:32.399 --> 00:08:42.639 They were such big, bright tears compared to Diggory's own, that for a moment he felt as if the lion must really be sorrier about his mother than he was himself. 00:08:43.679 --> 00:08:45.519 What a beautiful image. 00:08:45.919 --> 00:08:54.159 It's a Palm Sunday image, a fierce and powerful creature that's gentle and compassionate. 00:08:54.399 --> 00:09:05.279 That's what we have in this Jesus the Christ, fierce and powerful, and yet wants to be known to us as compassionate and gentle. 00:09:05.840 --> 00:09:08.879 Back in our text, Matthew quoted the prophet Zachariah. 00:09:10.159 --> 00:09:10.720 Can you imagine? 00:09:10.799 --> 00:09:12.080 The king's coming. 00:09:12.320 --> 00:09:13.840 The boss, the authority. 00:09:14.000 --> 00:09:17.279 It gets this feeling like we're gonna get caught. 00:09:17.440 --> 00:09:19.039 You know, we're gonna have to pay the price. 00:09:19.200 --> 00:09:20.399 Like he's coming. 00:09:20.639 --> 00:09:21.759 Better get your act together. 00:09:21.919 --> 00:09:22.639 Do you remember the movie? 00:09:22.799 --> 00:09:23.679 Remember the Titans? 00:09:23.759 --> 00:09:24.080 I love that movie. 00:09:24.240 --> 00:09:25.440 Denzel Washington movie. 00:09:25.519 --> 00:09:26.399 It's a bit older. 00:09:26.639 --> 00:09:34.480 It was placed back in the 70s where Denzel Washington, as a coach, a black coach, gets assigned to coach a mixed team. 00:09:34.960 --> 00:09:40.320 And the whites don't like the blacks, and the blacks don't like the whites, and they're all being horrible to each other. 00:09:40.399 --> 00:09:42.159 And Coach Boone is committed. 00:09:42.240 --> 00:09:45.600 He's gonna get this team to be united. 00:09:46.159 --> 00:09:49.759 And there's this moment in training camp where they're all horrible to each other. 00:09:49.919 --> 00:09:50.799 They're all horrible. 00:09:50.879 --> 00:09:51.440 It's horrible. 00:09:51.519 --> 00:09:54.960 And you kind of get the sense like the next morning they're gonna get it. 00:09:55.200 --> 00:09:58.320 Like, coach is gonna show up and they're gonna get it. 00:09:58.480 --> 00:10:00.720 They are gonna pay the price. 00:10:02.240 --> 00:10:04.799 But coach shows up and it's not what happens. 00:10:05.519 --> 00:10:06.879 He doesn't let them have it. 00:10:07.039 --> 00:10:12.240 He gathers them together and he calls them to a higher way of living. 00:10:12.480 --> 00:10:18.960 And what's clear is that he cares about who they are becoming more than just punishing them. 00:10:20.240 --> 00:10:25.440 See, when we're exposed, we expect punishment or condemnation from God. 00:10:25.759 --> 00:10:29.759 Surely God must condemn me, be disappointed in me. 00:10:30.480 --> 00:10:34.480 We brace for condemnation, but we receive compassion. 00:10:34.799 --> 00:10:37.279 We expect a powerful king. 00:10:37.679 --> 00:10:41.440 That we receive a savior on a donkey. 00:10:42.720 --> 00:10:46.559 We all know that God is approaching us and pursuing us. 00:10:47.200 --> 00:10:48.960 Do we need to be afraid? 00:10:49.360 --> 00:10:51.120 Is he gonna zap us? 00:10:52.240 --> 00:10:54.080 Or does he welcome us? 00:10:55.440 --> 00:11:03.039 Palm Sunday tells us that the lion, the coach, is strong and mighty, but he is good and loving. 00:11:03.519 --> 00:11:07.840 And the prayer is this, and you don't have to bow your head, you can just read it just as I read it. 00:11:08.000 --> 00:11:12.879 Lord Jesus, help us receive you as you are, gentle and full of mercy. 00:11:13.200 --> 00:11:15.360 That would be a prayer we could pray all week. 00:11:15.600 --> 00:11:19.279 Jesus, help us receive you as you are, gentle and full of mercy. 00:11:19.919 --> 00:11:21.440 Matthew 21, verse 8. 00:11:21.600 --> 00:11:27.039 Most of the crowds spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 00:11:27.200 --> 00:11:32.559 And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, Hosanna to the Son of David. 00:11:32.799 --> 00:11:36.320 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, Hosanna on the highest. 00:11:36.559 --> 00:11:41.519 And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, Who is this? 00:11:42.399 --> 00:11:47.519 And the crowd said, This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth of Galilea. 00:11:47.679 --> 00:11:51.120 Point number two is this we misread who God is and what he is doing. 00:11:51.200 --> 00:11:52.559 That's our depravity. 00:11:53.519 --> 00:12:04.399 So Jesus is on a donkey, the people are lining the streets, they're laying down their cloaks, they're laying down those palms on the street, they're singing a song that's from Psalms, Hosean on the highest. 00:12:05.759 --> 00:12:12.960 You have to imagine 200,000 Jewish people in this city, these Jewish pilgrims, here for Passover. 00:12:13.120 --> 00:12:17.120 Many are in debt, many or all of them are overtaxed. 00:12:17.440 --> 00:12:19.600 They have had it. 00:12:21.440 --> 00:12:22.799 So they're ready. 00:12:23.039 --> 00:12:27.919 And they are laying down these palms, which were a nationalistic symbol. 00:12:28.559 --> 00:12:32.080 So for many of these people, they're saying, save us from Rome. 00:12:32.240 --> 00:12:34.720 They're saying, Jesus, I think you're going to be our political savior. 00:12:34.799 --> 00:12:35.840 You're going to march in Jerusalem. 00:12:35.919 --> 00:12:40.080 You're going to overthrow the Romans, and we're going to have a Jewish leader. 00:12:40.159 --> 00:12:42.000 Like you're going to save us. 00:12:42.399 --> 00:12:46.320 But Jesus wasn't about that kind of empire kingdom. 00:12:46.559 --> 00:12:47.679 He was about their hearts. 00:12:47.840 --> 00:12:52.000 Everything he'd been telling them was about their hearts, the core of who they are. 00:12:52.559 --> 00:13:00.720 And the prayer is this Lord, expose the ways we reshape you into our own image. 00:13:00.960 --> 00:13:05.039 Rescue us from our small hopes, and give us yourself. 00:13:05.679 --> 00:13:18.159 Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 12, 9 through 11, but he, so this is Jesus, said to me, Paul, My grace is sufficient for you, for my powers made perfect in weakness. 00:13:18.399 --> 00:13:24.879 Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 00:13:25.039 --> 00:13:33.200 For the sake of Christ, then I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. 00:13:33.360 --> 00:13:35.759 For when I am weak, then I am strong. 00:13:36.000 --> 00:13:40.399 Last point is this God loves us all the way to the cross. 00:13:40.720 --> 00:13:45.519 We can finally admit the thing we've been avoiding, so afraid of. 00:14:01.519 --> 00:14:08.639 And he deems us righteous, not by our work or your record or your resume, but by his work for you. 00:14:09.360 --> 00:14:12.799 That's imputed to you from the cross. 00:14:13.200 --> 00:14:18.320 So the prayer is this Jesus, give us the grace to trust the way you work. 00:14:19.679 --> 00:14:22.879 Through weakness, through surrender, through the cross. 00:14:23.120 --> 00:14:29.679 Teach us that your love is greater than our mess ups and our pain and even our own plans. 00:14:30.639 --> 00:14:34.080 After Jesus is in the city, he enters the temple. 00:14:34.320 --> 00:14:37.600 That's where he throws over the tables, the merchants that were selling stuff. 00:14:37.679 --> 00:14:40.000 He's so frustrated that people are making money. 00:14:40.080 --> 00:14:44.240 They've made this holy spiritual place money-making. 00:14:44.480 --> 00:14:45.759 He's furious. 00:14:46.000 --> 00:14:49.360 The next morning he returns and begins to teach parables. 00:14:49.600 --> 00:14:52.080 All the religious people are asking questions. 00:14:52.320 --> 00:14:58.480 And just before leaving, he teaches one last short parable about God as a mother hen. 00:14:59.519 --> 00:15:01.919 Matthew 23, 37 through 39. 00:15:02.000 --> 00:15:07.759 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it. 00:15:07.919 --> 00:15:13.200 How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings? 00:15:13.519 --> 00:15:13.759 Right? 00:15:13.919 --> 00:15:19.360 I mean, you see that image of compassion, of love, of protection. 00:15:20.720 --> 00:15:22.080 And you are not willing. 00:15:22.559 --> 00:15:31.679 See, your house is left to you desolate, for I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. 00:15:33.279 --> 00:15:42.320 Even the confusion of the crowds wasn't enough to throw off Jesus' mission and the faithfulness of God to provide for us. 00:15:42.639 --> 00:15:47.600 And the prayer is this, Father, anchor our hearts and your promises. 00:15:48.960 --> 00:15:58.480 When life feels uncertain, remind us that your story, your redemptive story, is not fragile and our place in it is secure and safe. 00:15:59.279 --> 00:16:04.799 Church, this week begins with Hosanna, and then the people yell, crucify him. 00:16:05.840 --> 00:16:08.559 And then on the cross, he says it's finished. 00:16:08.799 --> 00:16:15.600 And the next Sunday we'll gather to celebrate that he is risen and in Jesus we have a new life. 00:16:15.840 --> 00:16:17.200 Let's pray together. 00:16:18.000 --> 00:16:33.360 Heavenly Father, so thankful that you love us even while we reshape you, even while we have false expectations of you, even while we're apathetic, even while we're rebellious. 00:16:33.840 --> 00:16:44.399 Thank you that you know us and love us, and in Jesus, we are your beloved sons and daughters, fully righteous, fully secure, and fully safe. 00:16:44.639 --> 00:16:52.480 Help us to trust all the more in Jesus and to celebrate and enjoy the forgiveness and the new life we have in him. 00:16:52.799 --> 00:16:54.000 In Jesus' name we pray. 00:16:54.159 --> 00:16:54.720 Amen.