Palm Sunday - March 29, 2026

Perhaps the most important point of this day is this, that Jesus loved you so much that he was willing to go through this week for you. He loves you enough to fulfill these prophecies so that you could see without a shadow of a doubt that he is God. That he loved you enough to ride in this packed Jerusalem towards his death so that he could save you. So that he could save the fickle and the faithful alike. [00:38:10] (29 seconds)  #JesusLovedYouSoMuch

More importantly than this bothering me is the question of this, does it bother Jesus? Is Jesus rolling his eyes at this praise? Is Jesus soaking it up or is he burdened by the lack of sincerity within it? Is he holding off these people at arm length fully knowing that they'll soon leave him when he needs them most? Does their soon to be fickleness disqualify them from this present praise? The answer is no. It does not. [00:31:09] (33 seconds)  #JesusDoesntRollHisEyes

But on Palm Sunday, we learn that Jesus will accept praise from broken people. And that's great news because we're all broken people. But but debating this all today and wondering of how Jesus accepts our praise may miss the entire entire point of this day. Perhaps the most important point of this day is this, that Jesus loved you so much that he was willing to go through this week for you. [00:37:44] (37 seconds)  #PraiseFromBrokenHearts

All creation is made to worship the king that is Lord over all and we can never give God the praise that he actually deserves. If God required praise from only perfect people, we wouldn't get any of it. Church, this may be a complete no brainer, but I want you to hear it today. Jesus enjoys your praise. He enjoys it even when you feel messy, even when you're gonna turn on him for a little bit in the next few hours. [00:33:40] (28 seconds)  #WorshipEvenWhenMessy

The Israelites are expecting one thing from Jesus. They know how they want Jesus to to behave, and they praise him as he enters in. And when they don't see the results they want, God doesn't meet when God doesn't meet these selfish expectations, their praise turns. Hosanna in the highest becomes crucify him. Blessed is he who comes turns into curse and kill the one who comes. And this bothers me because at times, this can be the cadence of all of our hearts. [00:29:18] (36 seconds)  #PraiseTurnsToCondemnation

And this bothers me because at times, this can be the cadence of all of our hearts. At one point, it's easy to say, God, you're so good when life is going good. And then when things don't go the way we want, it's easy to pout and to doubt. In other words, our hearts can say this refrain. If you aren't gonna be what I want, when I want, then what good are you, Lord? [00:29:47] (27 seconds)  #ConditionalFaithIsShallow

After all, this king can feed thousands of people off just a few loaves and a couple of fish. He can heal the sick and injured, and he can walk on water. He also can raise the dead. As far as going into battle, having a guy that can create unlimited food, heal the wounded, and raise the dead could be quite handy, would must say. This is gonna be the best king ever in their eyes. Victory through any battle is absolutely sure. [00:27:17] (23 seconds)  #MessiahOfMiracles

But one thing has always bothered me about his triumphant entry, and it isn't anything that's explicitly in the text today. See, what bothers me really comes from the overall context of this week. Today, the crowd is yelling praise and making requests to Jesus. They're spreading their cloaks on the streets, putting branches down before him, shouting, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. They're saying, Hosanna, save us. Hosanna in the highest. [00:28:29] (29 seconds)  #TriumphalEntryContextMatters

Jesus enjoys your praise but he also desires for us to always have a more complete understanding and to trust his plan of all that he's up to in our lives. But he enjoys our praise even when it's in short duration. He enjoys it. He's worthy of it. And I'll tell you, it's good news for us today that Jesus doesn't judge our praise off of how well we serve him or count it sincere as long as we don't make make a misstep later. [00:34:59] (30 seconds)  #PraiseBeyondPerformance

See Jesus loves you and he desires to be glorified by you. He loves it when we desire him and his works, when we look up to him and we're satisfied, when we are excited by his very presence. Even when he doesn't end up working like we thought he would or should. Jesus deserves our praise and he accepts our praise. And the truth is, and you know this already, that none of our praise is ever perfect. [00:35:48] (27 seconds)  #JesusWorthyDespiteImperfectPraise

The pharisees are upset. Modern day language, Jesus, tell your disciples to stick a sock in it. Enough. Jesus says, praise will be given to me today. And if it isn't from them, the very rocks will cry out. The kids are gonna sing a song next service. And it says, there ain't no rock that's gonna cry in my place. As long as I'm alive, I'm gonna glorify his holy name. I love that. [00:32:59] (33 seconds)  #RocksWillCryOut

See, they are expecting Jesus to be a new king for them. Perhaps the prophesied king and savior that have been talked about from all the prophets, the prophets that we've been reading about in route 66. The king that is gonna overthrow this Roman rule that's gonna put the Israelites back on top and fix things once and for all. After all, this king can feed thousands of people off just a few loaves and a couple of fish. [00:26:56] (27 seconds)  #ExpectingARedeemerKing

And yet we know that many of these same people are gonna be yelling something else in just five days. Crucify them. See their fickleness is so alarming. It it bothers me and makes these cries of praise seem hypocritical or at the very least just insincere. The Israelites are expecting one thing from Jesus. They know how they want Jesus to to behave, and they praise him as he enters in. [00:28:58] (29 seconds)  #HypocrisyOfPraise

If you aren't gonna be what I want, when I want, then what good are you, Lord? What's the point of all my hard work, God? What's the point of my church attendance, my prayers if you're gonna, you know, not show up on your end? So would you just do what I want or or or what is the point of all this? In unexpected circumstances, it is easy to either get frustrated with God like this crowd does later in the week, [00:30:08] (26 seconds)  #WhatGoodIsGodIfNotNow

Jesus enjoys your praise. He enjoys it even when you feel messy, even when you're gonna turn on him for a little bit in the next few hours. Even though he welcomes this worship and praise, however, he still weeps over how much we don't fully understand the the fullness of what he's doing. And so he loves our praise, but he is in some ways always weeping over our limited understanding, the lack of understanding that we're trying to accomplish that he's [00:33:57] (33 seconds)  #HeWeepsOverOurBlindness

What we see in Palm Sunday is he wasn't just riding into Jerusalem. Jesus is riding towards each of you, towards a relationship with you. He rides into your life today like a king. And whether you praise him or not, he's coming for you. And he won't even let a crucifixion stand in the way of getting to each of you. So [00:38:39] (27 seconds)  #JesusRidesTowardRelationship

The Israelites are expecting one thing from Jesus. They know how they want Jesus to to behave, and they praise him as he enters in. And when they don't see the results they want, God doesn't meet when God doesn't meet these selfish expectations, their praise turns. Hosanna in the highest becomes crucify him. Blessed is he who comes turns into curse and kill the one who comes. And this bothers me because at times, this can be the cadence of all of our hearts. At one point, it's easy to say, God, you're so good when life is going good. And then when things don't go the way we want, it's easy to pout and to doubt. In other words, our hearts can say this refrain. If you aren't gonna be what I want, when I want, then what good are you, Lord? [00:29:17] (56 seconds)