Palm Sunday: Who Is Jesus to You? | A Holy Week Invitation | Jeff Gokee

Mar 30, 2026

Devotional

Day 1: The Central Question of Our Lives

Palm Sunday invites us into a moment of profound self-examination. It is a mirror held up to our souls, asking us to consider who we truly believe Jesus to be. This is not a question for a single day on the church calendar, but the central question for every day of our lives. Our answer brings either great clarity or great condemnation, revealing the true object of our faith and the foundation of our hope. [11:09]

And Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. And on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” And they told him, “John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.” And he asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Christ.” (Mark 8:27-29 ESV)

Reflection: When you quietly consider the posture of your heart, who do you say that Jesus is? Is he primarily a helper for your problems, or is he the Christ, the sovereign Lord of your entire life?

Day 2: The Conflict Between Earthly and Eternal Perception

Human nature tethers us to an earthly perspective, causing us to misunderstand God’s work. We often want salvation from temporary hardships, like the crowds wanting freedom from Rome, while God is offering an eternal rescue from sin. This disconnect happens when we focus on what God can do for us now rather than who He is for all eternity. Our vision becomes limited to our immediate wants and circumstances. [09:08]

Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4:13-14 ESV)

Reflection: Where in your current circumstances are you asking Jesus for “living water” merely to make an earthly journey easier, rather than to truly satisfy your soul for eternity?

Day 3: Setting Our Minds on the Things of God

It is a common struggle to set our minds on human things instead of divine purposes. We, like Peter, can confess Christ one moment and then rebuke God’s plan the next when it involves sacrifice or suffering. Jesus calls this mindset a hindrance, for it values our comfort and understanding over His perfect and sovereign will. We are called to align our thoughts with His eternal perspective. [21:05]

And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.” (Matthew 16:22-23 ESV)

Reflection: What is one situation in your life where God’s way of operating—perhaps through waiting, difficulty, or surrender—is frustrating your human logic and desires?

Day 4: The Call to Daily Surrender and Sacrifice

The Christian life is one of daily surrender, sacrifice, and submission. To deny oneself is to relinquish control, trusting that God’s ways are higher than our own. Taking up our cross means embracing the sacrifices that come with following Jesus, whether in our resources, relationships, or ambitions. This life of open-handed trust is the antithesis of a self-protective, consumeristic faith. [28:56]

Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” (Matthew 16:24-25 ESV)

Reflection: What does surrendering a specific area of control—perhaps your finances, a relationship, or your future plans—to the Lordship of Christ actually look like in practice this week?

Day 5: Embracing Obedience Over Our Preferences

True faith trusts that God, in His goodness, gives us what we need rather than what we want. Jesus obeyed the Father to the point of death, refusing to become the conquering king the people demanded, and in doing so, became the Savior we truly needed. Our call is to follow Him, even when His path is different from the one we would have chosen for ourselves. [31:17]

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9 ESV)

Reflection: Can you identify a time when God gave you what you needed instead of what you wanted? How does that memory encourage you to trust His higher ways in a current situation where you are struggling to understand His plan?

Sermon Summary

Palm Sunday becomes a mirror that forces honest self-examination about who Jesus is and what people expect from him. Scripture comes alive as a public drama: prophecies unfold, a donkey marks messianic identity, cloaks and palms declare loyalty, and the crowd cries “Hosanna” with hopes pinned on political deliverance. That hopeful celebration collides with a deeper reality—Jesus’ mission centers on sacrifice, death, and resurrection, not earthly triumph. The contrast between the crowd’s earthly expectations and the kingdom’s cost exposes a tendency to tether faith to convenience, success, or nationalistic rescue rather than to the eternal work of redemption.

A recurring biblical question drives the teaching: who do people say Jesus is, and who does a person say he is? Peter’s confession that Jesus is the Christ flashes as genuine insight, then quickly meets the sobering moment when Jesus predicts suffering and death. Human instinct to redirect Jesus toward comfort and victory surfaces in Peter’s rebuke—and gets answered sharply: set sights on God’s agenda, not human desires. Walking on water and other moments of faith illustrate how easily human focus can drift from divine reality to fear, logic, or control.

The call of Palm Sunday becomes practical: deny self, take up the cross, and follow. Sacrifice and surrender define the way of discipleship; genuine following resists consumeristic Christianity that treats Jesus as a life enhancer or problem solver. Community emerges as the outworking of true surrender—sharing goods, absorbing one another’s burdens, and embodying a life in which individual wins and losses matter to the whole. Repentance and regular re-examination of faith posture prepare hearts to receive Easter’s gift with clarity: Jesus did not become what people demanded, and that obedience produced salvation for all.

Concrete stories—of global suffering, resilient faith amid crisis, and intimate trials—illustrate how a wider, kingdom-based perception sustains when circumstances collapse. The invitation is to move from a tethered, self-protecting faith to an anchored trust in the sovereign, obedient Lord whose path through death leads to life for creation. Palm Sunday initiates a week of facing self, repenting, and returning to a truer vision of who Jesus really is.

Key Takeaways

1. Who is Jesus to you? A daily, honest answer to this question reorders life. Belief that Jesus exists as a cultural or utilitarian add-on produces fickle loyalty; confessing Jesus as Lord reshapes desires, decisions, and endurance. This question exposes whether devotion or convenience drives daily living, and it demands continual reorientation toward the cruciform mission of God. [11:43]
2. Earthly expectations miss God’s work Expectations rooted in political deliverance, success, or comfort distort the gospel and demand a different Jesus than Scripture reveals. When salvation gets narrowed to temporal rescue, the cross and resurrection lose their central, costly meaning. Disciple-making requires expecting paradox: destruction of human pride through sacrificial love. [08:27]
3. Take up the cross daily True following means surrendering control, embracing sacrifice, and aligning actions with God’s redemptive agenda. Cross-bearing is not optional theater; it redefines identity and calls for persistent, tangible abandonment of self-interest. The discipline of denial creates the soil where resurrection fruit grows in communities. [26:45]
4. Repent and re-examine regularly Repentance functions as ongoing spiritual hygiene: it reorients vision away from consumerism and back toward God’s sovereignty. Honest confession clears the lenses through which suffering is interpreted and cultivates resilience in trials. Regular self-checks prevent faith from calcifying into expectation-management rather than transformative obedience. [34:15]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[00:46] - Opening observations
[01:12] - Palm Sunday as a mirror
[02:08] - Who is this man?
[04:26] - Public ministry and prophecy
[05:36] - Donkey and Zechariah fulfilled
[07:05] - Cloaks, palms, and loyalty
[08:27] - Misplaced expectations revealed
[09:08] - Earthly tether vs eternity
[15:10] - Peter’s confession examined
[19:13] - Jesus predicts suffering
[21:25] - Mindset: things of God
[26:45] - Deny self; take up cross
[28:56] - Sacrifice and community life
[33:41] - Faith tested; personal resolve
[35:10] - Palm Sunday: look in mirror

Bible Study Guide

Based on the sermon summary and transcript provided, here is a Bible study discussion guide.

Bible Reading
Matthew 21:1-11 (ESV)
Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will send them at once.” 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 colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’”
The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them. Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, “Who is this?” And the crowds said, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.”

Matthew 16:13-16, 21-23 (ESV)
Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”...
From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”

Observation questions

What specific actions did the crowd take as Jesus entered Jerusalem (Matthew 21:7-9), and what was the symbolic meaning behind spreading cloaks and palm branches? [07:05]
What was the crowd shouting in Matthew 21:9, and what does the word "Hosanna" literally mean? [08:04]
In the exchange between Jesus and Peter in Matthew 16, what two starkly different declarations does Peter make about Jesus in a very short span of time?
According to Jesus in Matthew 16:23, what is the fundamental difference between setting your mind on "the things of God" versus "the things of man"?

Interpretation questions

The crowd's expectations for Jesus were rooted in political deliverance from Rome. [08:27] Why is it so natural for people, then and now, to tether their hope in God to immediate, earthly solutions rather than His eternal, redemptive plan?
Peter correctly identified Jesus as the Messiah but then immediately rejected the idea of a suffering Messiah. [19:13] What does this reveal about how our own preconceived notions and cultural expectations can blind us to God's true character and mission, even when we know the right answers?
Jesus' response to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan," seems incredibly harsh. How does understanding that Peter was acting as a "hindrance" to God's redemptive mission help us see the seriousness of trying to redirect Jesus toward our own desires? [21:05]
The story illustrates a shift from celebration to crucifixion in just a few days. What does this rapid turn in public opinion reveal about the fickle nature of faith that is based on Jesus meeting our expectations rather than us submitting to His lordship? [12:00]

Application questions

The central question of Palm Sunday is, "Who is Jesus to you?" [11:43] How would you answer that question today? Is he a life-enhancer, a problem-solver, or the Lord of your life to whom you surrender everything?
Where in your life are you currently looking down at your circumstances—like gas prices, news, or personal struggles—instead of looking at Jesus? [23:15] What is one practical step you can take this week to reorient your focus onto Him and His sovereignty?
Jesus calls his followers to deny themselves, take up their cross daily, and follow him. [26:45] What does "taking up your cross" look like in your current season of life? Where is God inviting you to embrace sacrifice and surrender control for the sake of following Him?
Peter tried to redirect Jesus away from suffering and toward a path of comfort and victory. [19:38] In what areas of your life are you tempted to rebuke God for not meeting your expectations? How can you move from a mindset of demanding what you want to trusting in what He knows you need?
The early church in Acts lived a life of radical community and sacrifice, where individual wins and losses mattered to the whole. [29:25] What would it look like for your small group to embody this more fully? Is there a practical burden you can help absorb for someone else this week?
Repentance is described as ongoing spiritual hygiene that reorients our vision. [34:15] What is one expectation of God or misconception about Jesus that you need to confess and turn away from this week to see Him more clearly?
The invitation is to move from a self-protecting faith to an anchored trust in the sovereign Lord. [35:10] What does trusting God's obedience "unto death" for your salvation free you to let go of or walk through this week without fear? [35:42]

Sermon Clips

42s

#FollowingJesusReality

“You're supposed to make my life better. Like if I make a commitment to follow Jesus, I shouldn't have to go through anything hard. It's kind of smooth sailing. And almost every time I preach here, I say, if somebody gave you that brochure, they lied to you. If you got a brochure that said, following Jesus is easy street, they lied to you, lied. What they should have told you is what Jesus is. In this world, you're gonna suffer. But who will sign up to follow Jesus? If we don't understand this about being a Christian, we don't understand Christ. That's his life.”

30s

#WorshipOrDemand

“And here's what I see is that in one moment we celebrate him and in another moment, we curse him. When he doesn't become for us what we want him to become, when he doesn't do for us what we think he should be doing for us, we shake our fist to the heavens. You must not be doing or fulfilling your part. This is the central question of Palm Sunday. This is the central question of your life.”

49s

#WhoIsJesus

“Because what's so great about Matthew's gospel is he brings out this little phrase, who is this? The people proclaim. Who is this? This is the central question of every single one of our lives. It will bring for you the greatest clarity and guidance or it will condemn you. Who is Jesus to you? This is what the Jews are intention about. This is why just five days later, they murder him. They yell, crucify him because they have not come to truly understand who this is.”

29s

#TetheredToEarth

“See, they're saying save us but they have a very earthly perception of save us. And Jesus is unpacking this all throughout his narrative, all throughout his story is that we are tethered to earth. And here's what I wanna say, I'm tethered to earth. So are you. So are the Jews in this moment. This beautiful moment where everything seems to be moving in the direction that everybody's been hoping for and yet the perception is wrong. It's tethered to earth.”

43s

#SacrificialCommunity

“Sacrifice is at the core of the Christ life. If you're not sacrificing, you're not living the Christ life. If it's not you know, I was reflecting on acts two and four. And you know what I find really interesting? They had 5,000 people come to faith in a very short period of time. They're not running around going, what do we do? We gotta create a strategy. What did they do? They just took care of one another. They just loved one another. Literally it says there was nothing that they had of their own. They just went all of it's for all of us. There was no need among them. Why? Because they went, do you know what he's done for us? This is just stuff.”

46s

#NeedsNotWants

“It is your place to follow me in the way I choose, not to try to lead me in the way you would like me to go. And if we're honest, sometimes we just really want Jesus to do what we want him to do. And then we'll be happy. Right? Wrong. Wrong. I always say the best thing about my wife is she gives me what I need, not what I want. Because if she gave me what I want I would be that would be awful. It really Now it's what I want. Let's just be honest. But it's it's not creating intimacy. It's not creating trust. It's just Santa Claus. And I I want something so much more with my wife than Santa Claus.”

49s

#LetJesusSteer

“I had this image the other day, maybe this will be helpful for you, it was for me, is that I'm like in a canoe and I'm paddling and I believe I know where I'm going. And then I look back and Jesus is in the back of a canoe with another paddle and he's just going and he's just tilting it just a little bit. I believe I'm in control, I'm moving forward and Jesus is like, you have no idea what I'm doing. Let you see, this is why the Jews say crucify him, is because he didn't become for them. What can you imagine just for a moment with me, if Jesus does what the Jews want him to do? All of humanity, past, present and future is condemned to hell.”

57s

#FulfillingProphecy

“At this point in Jesus' ministry, it's become very, very public. He's healed Lazarus. I don't know. When dead people raise, it kinda creates a commotion. And so they're starting to talk about Jesus. Jesus enters into Jerusalem at the high time in Jerusalem. Two and a half million people are are coming in. They're dispersed Jews from around the country. They're coming to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover. And it's in this moment that Jesus is entering into the city. And then as you see him enter into the city, it's as if Jesus is participating in a divine drama because every step he's taking as he's moving to death and resurrection is fulfilling prophecies that are five to 700 years old.”

42s

#LayDownYourCloak

“And so they're getting excited, they laid down their cloaks, they only had one cloak. How many of you have a cloak? Right? I don't know what a cloak is, but it's like a jacket. Right? And they had it and they took it off and threw it on the ground. That's what disciples would do. They would say like essentially saying, I'm all in. Whatever's happening here, I'm following you. It's showing a sign of loyalty. I'm on your team. I'm going with you. So he's coming in on a donkey. They're throwing down their cloaks and then some people are grabbing palm tree. Literally, they're going up to palm trees and ripping these things off and throwing them on the ground because it was emblematic of victory.”

39s

#GiveKingJesusPraise

“But Palm Sunday for me is a moment to stop and look in the mirror because we're going through this week of holy week which is just this moment of going, look who Jesus is. Look what Jesus did. Look how much he loves. Not because we deserved it, because it's a free gift from him. And I wanna receive that and live in light of that. And I pray that for this church and for the church globally who is moving through this week together that we would give king Jesus his due praise.”

34s

#SalvationNotConvenience

“And it's so convicting because I wanna believe I have it all figured out. But Palm Sunday for me a lot of times is I'm in the crowd and I'm going save me from all the stuff that is hurtful, is hard, is inconvenient for me instead of going, I want you to be who God called you to be Jesus. I want you to be obedient unto death because that means salvation for me and all of the world, all of creation, past, present, and future.”

48s

#SacrificeNotSword

“And see, she's missing this is happening all throughout the gospels where we are missing completely who Jesus is and what he is doing. And there are two parallel stories that are happening here and I think they happen in our own lives and it's this. The people believe as they see Jesus coming into Jerusalem, they think success Finally, res finally, success. We are now going to be reestablished as the people of God. We're gonna destroy the Romans, bring the sword, let's strike down some people. Our dude is here. And Jesus' story is sacrifice.”

37s

#WhoAmIInTheCrowd

“Palm Sunday is an interesting one. It is very, like, at least on a church calendar, exciting. Right? We're heading into holy week. And it's a really here's what I think about Palm Sunday though. Palm Sunday really is a mirror. Palm Sunday is an inviting you into both a really beautiful thing, but also something that's gonna be pretty confrontational. It's gonna invite you into this moment. In fact, you should be in the crowd. You should really be trying to say, who am I in the crowd? What do I really believe about Jesus?”

53s

#ChooseSacrifice

“And it's a community going, but we follow after Jesus and we live a life of sacrifice. What's that look like for you right now? Because here's what I am finding in this American culture right now. Everyone's like this, mine. Mine. That's not gospel. You go, it's yours. What do you want me to do? That's sacrifice. Do you ever notice that this right here and this right here is a big difference? You're no more vulnerable than like this. Like this, you can kinda bring it in. If you're in a like this, this is what Jesus did. This is why they said crucify him. Because they didn't want that. They wanted this.”

36s

#WhoDoYouBelieve

“What do I do when it doesn't work out? What do I do when everything's hard and it doesn't make sense? Who do I believe Jesus to be? It's the question Jesus asked the disciples. It's the question the people are asking of Jesus and it's the question that you and I should be wrestling with every day of our lives and repenting. Repentance is such the beautiful byproduct of Easter Sunday. But Paul's son is bringing you to this moment and saying, can we talk? Can you actually face this part of yourself?”

27s

#MessiahNotMascot

“I got Jesus, he's got me, has this little moment with Jesus. Like, Jesus come here come here come on. You and me are pals now. Come on. Let's have a little talk. You can't go telling people you're gonna die. It's freaking everybody out. You know, because come on Jesus, like you and me, right? You're the Christ, you're the Messiah, ah, right? I get it, you get it, right? So come here. You can't go tell them people are gonna die. Why? Because Peter's perception is so much like the Jews.”

44s

#KeepYourEyesOnJesus

“And do you remember as all the storm was around you, you kept going and you kept looking at me in faith believing that whatever human logic can conjure up to say this should not be happening, you looked at me and then all of a sudden your humanity clicked in and you went, wait a second, this is crazy and you looked down. Where are you looking down? Where are you looking down? Where have you taken your eyes off of Jesus? When you look at gas prices, when you read the news, where are you tethered?”

43s

#MirrorMoment

“And you ever had this moment in your life where the Holy Spirit takes something like that and then just goes boom and blows it up in your life? And I saw myself. I saw that I'd been using people, didn't mean to, been using people my whole life to accomplish tasks because accomplishing tasks for me is life. That's how I find value in life by accomplishing and I realized I'd been using people and I'm like, oh my gosh, my wife. Oh my gosh, my kids. Oh my gosh, the teens that I've led over the years and it was this moment at which I got to look into a mirror and go, that's me. That's really what's going on. And I didn't even mean to. I think most of us are unaware of ourselves.”

47s

#GodForTheBroken

“Maybe he serves a king of kings and a lord of lords who actually cares about the brokenhearted, who is near to those who are wounded in heart. Maybe he's got a greater perception of who God is over all of creation in the midst of the most miserable time that he's experienced. And I think we really struggle with this. It starts to reveal our humanity for us because I think sometimes if we're honest, the greatest pain in our life is understanding who Jesus is and what he's actually doing and how it runs so often in conflict of what we want, when we want it, how we want it, which is very human.”

34s

#NotJustSunday

“This is the story of Palm Sunday, it's being invited into your humanity. It's making you ask the question, who is Jesus in your life? Is he the king of kings and the lord of lords in your life or is he just like a really cool thing to do on Sunday? Is he just a really, like something habitual that makes your life better? Or is he the lord of your life, lord of every part of your life? And look, it's human for us to struggle.”

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