From The East | Pastor Adrian Crawford

Pilate’s parade rides in from the West like a drumbeat of empire, horses and the golden eagle flashing in the sun to say, you are under our thumb. Passover swells the city with hope, but Rome rolls in to crush it. Jesus answers from the East with a different parade. Psalm 118 sings in the crowd, palm branches wave, and a king rides not a war horse but a young colt. The image mocks imperial swagger and exposes the people’s hearts. They want conquest. The text promises a Messiah. But their reading runs through a broken operating system, so the lyrics get bent by the beat they prefer.

Psalm 118 keeps saying covenant rescue, yet the crowd keeps hearing military takeover. The contrast names the problem. People hear the music but not the lyrics. A corrupted inner system grabs God’s word and makes it justify fear, politics, lust, and the need to control. Cain proves it. Anger and depression move first, murder follows after. The gospel came to sanctify bodies and emotions, to get to the wound that keeps deciding life.

Jesus’ own words re-tune the ear. The kernel of wheat must die or stay alone. Glory comes by burial before it breaks into a harvest. Momentum does not save. Cross-shaped obedience does. The desire is for the life of Jesus without the life of Jesus, for outcomes without the process that peels the soul like an onion. Prayer shifts from give me the thing to make me the kind of person who can carry the thing.

Genesis frames the road Jesus rides. Humanity walked East into exile, away from the Presence, past a flaming sword. Cain goes East. Babel rises in the East. Abraham gets told to head West. Jesus enters from the East to walk the exile back in reverse. The sinless One goes under the sword so the exiles can come home. On the cross he cries, My God, why have you forsaken me, so honest lament becomes holy again. When he gives up his spirit, the temple veil tears from top to bottom. The Spirit mourns the Master and opens the way. Access replaces distance.

The presence of God now stands open. Shame and condemnation lose jurisdiction. Boundary stones of remembrance mark where God already showed up, so quitting does not get the last word. The King who rode the colt invites honest, specific asking and the courage to let him touch the deep roots. He already traced the exile. He already paid the debt. The question is simple. What voice is being followed, and are the lyrics actually being heard?

Key Takeaways

• 1. Rome flexes; Jesus enters from East Jesus’ entry answers empire with a counter-kingdom image, not a matching show of force. The colt, the palms, and Psalm 118 expose how God’s reign moves without tanks or eagles. Power arrives as humility, and humility turns out to be the truer strength. The direction matters because it announces who really defines the horizon. [05:20]
• 2. Wounded lenses misread God’s word Desire and pain can hijack interpretation so the Bible props up what the heart already wants. That is how a liberation psalm gets drafted into a war chant and how sin keeps a halo. Healing starts where the gospel touches the operating system, not just behavior. Honesty about the wound is the first correction to the lens. [09:29]
• 3. The grain dies to multiply life Jesus names fruitfulness as the road through burial, not around it. Formation hurts because it peels layer after layer that keeps resisting love, control, and surrender. Prayers mature from “do this for me” to “make me the kind of person who can carry what you give.” Glory grows in soil turned by sacrifice. [27:35]
• 4. Jesus reverses exile into presence Genesis sends rebels East; Abraham is called West; Jesus walks in from the East to undo the map of banishment. He goes under the flaming sword so access can replace distance. The torn veil is not decor but architecture ripped open, mourning and welcoming at once. The way home is now a Person, not a location. [35:37]
• 5. Access demands honest, specific prayer The veil’s tearing means no more pretending and no more intermediaries. Lament can be real, requests can be exact, and righteousness is received, not performed. Specific answers meet specific asks when the heart stands uncovered before a Father who already sees. Presence is given, but participation is chosen. [42:07]

Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [00:34] - Passover crowd and tension
• [02:42] - Pilate’s parade of power
• [05:20] - Jesus enters from the East
• [07:47] - A king on a colt
• [09:11] - Psalm 118 and skewed expectations
• [12:10] - Hearing the music, missing lyrics
• [20:38] - When worldview bends Scripture
• [24:02] - Boundary stones and perspective
• [27:35] - The grain dies to give life
• [29:24] - Following Jesus hurts and heals
• [35:37] - Jesus reverses the exile
• [36:51] - Through the sword, veil torn
• [39:09] - Access to presence, call to respond
• [42:07] - Pray honest, specific prayers

1. What two contrasting “parades” are described in the sermon (one from the West, one from the East), and how do their symbols (e.g., war horses vs. a colt) reflect different ideas of power? [05:20]
2. How does Jesus’ choice of a donkey’s colt fulfill prophecy, and why might this have been seen as political satire against Rome’s military display? [07:47]
3. What repeated phrase in Psalm 118 did the crowd chant during Jesus’ entry, and how did their interpretation of it differ from its original meaning?
4. Why does Genesis 3:24 emphasize exile moving eastward, and how does Jesus’ entry from the East reverse this pattern?

1. Why might the crowd have associated Psalm 118’s “blessed is he who comes” with military conquest rather than sacrificial love? How do our own desires shape how we interpret Scripture? [09:29]
2. Jesus says, “Unless a kernel of wheat dies, it remains alone” (John 12:24). How does this metaphor challenge the idea of “momentum” or immediate success in following Him? [27:35]
3. The torn temple veil (Matthew 27:51) is described as both mourning and welcoming. What does this reveal about God’s response to Jesus’ death and our access to His presence? [39:09]

1. The sermon warns about “hearing the music but missing the lyrics” in our faith. Where might you be projecting your own desires or fears onto Scripture instead of letting it reshape your heart? [12:10]
2. Jesus’ path to glory involved surrender and death. What is one area of your life where you’re resisting God’s “process” of transformation because it feels too painful or slow?
3. The torn veil means we can approach God with raw honesty. What specific, unfiltered prayer have you been avoiding bringing to Him (e.g., anger, doubt, grief)? [42:07]
4. The sermon mentions “boundary stones” of remembrance to combat discouragement. What past experience of God’s faithfulness can you reflect on this week when facing a current struggle? [24:02]
5. How might your prayers shift from asking God to “fix your circumstances” to asking Him to “make you the kind of person who can carry what He gives”? [33:30]
6. Shame and condemnation are said to “lose jurisdiction” in God’s presence. What lie about yourself or God do you need to confront with the truth of Jesus’ sacrifice today?