Palm Sunday: The King Who Calls Us to Surrender

He sets his face on what his father has given him to do. And he enters Jerusalem not to take power like the kings of this world, but he enters Jerusalem to give himself. Right? Not to claim a throne by by force, but to go to the cross. And there in that place, the king who is not fully understood accomplishes salvation. He bears the sin of those who do not recognize him rightly. Jesus gives himself for those for us, for we who misunderstand him. He gives himself even for those who resist him. [01:05:23] (55 seconds)  #selfGivingKing

It's not guesswork. It's not coincidence. This is the authority of a sovereign lord. Jesus is not being carried along by the events that are happening in Matthew chapter 21. It's not like he's just floating on a a cloud of circumstance. No. He is directing the events that happen in Matthew 21. Jesus knows the place. Jesus knows the timing at once, and he even knows what the response of the owner is going to be. [00:44:04] (41 seconds)  #sovereignDirection

And the question is whether or not our lives actually do reflect that hope. Not in the language or the the vague things that we that we talk about, but in the real decisions that we make, do our lives reflect that hope? In what we prioritize, does our life reflect that hope? Does it reflect it in what we pursue? Does it reflect it in what we are willing to give up? Because it's possible to sing Hosanna and still be moving in a completely different direction than the king. [01:03:48] (47 seconds)  #reflectHopeInLife

all of this would collapse within days. And to some extent, does. Right? The praise fades and the understanding proves to be a little shallow and the same city that is all stirred up in this moment, it it turns in a different way. But Christ does not turn. He continues. He goes all the way, and he does not stop until the work is finished. [01:07:00] (28 seconds)  #ChristSteadfast

Well, the question here is obvious. What direction is your life set toward? Because even when we feel stuck, brothers and sisters, everybody's moving somewhere. Everyone's being carried along by something. It might be a personal ambition. It might be a desire for comfort or security, or it might be fear that carries us along, or might be success that we chase after. It might be approval. It might be just stability. Something is setting the direction. And what is that? [01:01:57] (60 seconds)  #whatSetsYourCourse

And, yes, the prophet may challenge you and bring words of conviction, but the prophet can't claim you. A king has the right to claim you. A king doesn't come offering suggestions. We talked about it in point one. A king comes with authority. A king lays claim not only to your attention span, but also to your obedience. Right? He doesn't just fit into your life as one voice among many different opinions. [00:54:46] (43 seconds)  #kingClaimsYou

And he says to them, if anyone says anything to you, tell them that the Lord has need of this donkey and the colt. Jesus is speaking as one who has the right to ask. He has the right to take, and he has the right to direct. He's not coming to them through the disciples as some middle man negotiating among an equal party. Jesus in this text is is speaking as one who actually possesses authority over what belongs to other people. [00:45:44] (40 seconds)  #JesusHasRight

Their obedience is not an incidental detail either. It's part of what Matthew wants us to see. He wants us to get this glimpse of a king providing instructions to his subjects concerning what the lord lays claim on in this world. So you see, something is being revealed in the small details. The one who is approaching Jerusalem is not just a teacher. He's not just a prophet who's moving along or through the countryside. This is a glimpse of Jesus as king. [00:46:32] (45 seconds)  #glimpseOfKing

Well, the question here is obvious. What direction is your life set toward? Because even when we feel stuck, brothers and sisters, everybody's moving somewhere. Everyone's being carried along by something. It might be a personal ambition. It might be a desire for comfort or security, or it might be fear that carries us along, or might be success that we chase after. It might be approval. It might be just stability. Something is setting the direction. And what is that? The church is called to be a people whose direction is different. [01:01:56] (69 seconds)

He gives himself even for those who resist him. And that means that the hope of this passage doesn't rest on the clarity of the crowd. The hope of the world, the hope of eternal life, the hope of a of a new Jerusalem, a holy city, streets of gold, all that stuff, praise be to God that it doesn't rest on the clarity of the crowd because we would be swallowed up entirely if anything rested on us alone. [01:06:09] (41 seconds)