Rejoicing in the Humble King: Palm Sunday Reflections

"Some of us, meaning all of us, have a little bit of what's called gospel amnesia. We know it and we know it so well that we forget it. We forget pieces of it. We lose track of how awesome this account is because, oh, I know that piece and I know that. Well, whatever, I'm going to clock in, clock out because I know it. But there's a reason why God set up certain things in the Old Testament that he was to have his people do every year at the same time all the time, and that is because they're idiots and they forget." [00:03:01]

"Rejoice greatly, oh daughter of Zion. Shout, daughter of Jerusalem. See your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. He doesn't look like a king. Why daughter? Why daughter? Why daughter of Zion? Why daughter of Jerusalem? When kings went off to war, who did they take with them? The men. When kings went off to war, we saw a king. Who sometimes didn't die? But one for actually the men." [00:08:34]

"So you would rejoice because it means safety and security has been returned. It means victory for your people. It means your family members most likely are coming back, and if they are not, your king is victorious, which means he is going to protect and care for you. You will have safety. You will have security. You will have comfort. You will have peace. That's why it's to the daughters. Rejoice. Your king comes. But he doesn't come on a horse. He comes in righteousness." [00:10:02]

"People don't become king with no blood on their hands, especially if they're returning from war. But him being called innocent means he's not coming as one who has shed blood to get his power. Righteous means he is right with God, means he is innocent, he is holy. Your king who's coming is a holy one. And this next term I love, and I love all the different translations. I chose to use NIV 84 for this translation in your bulletin." [00:12:01]

"This is Jesus, who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death. This is the paradox within us, right? Every king comes with power and authority. The thing that happened in the garden with Adam and Eve and the snake, they wanted to be God." [00:13:10]

"And so Jesus did it perfectly for us. Your king comes to you. He comes to you. Does that happen often? How many of you have been met by the top governing official and they came to your house? They went and searched for you. No, it's the opposite, right? When those things happen, you go looking for them. This picture we have in our minds is I have to go find God and he says, you can't. You by nature are dead in your sin." [00:14:00]

"He says you are dead in your transgressions and your sins. Dead means dead. Dead means you don't get to go looking for him. Dead means you it isn't anything on you. It says but he made you alive with Christ. He comes to you and he came for you. You see there's this part where a lot of Christianity likes to talk about how Jesus came to us but they miss that he came forth every one of these things gentle humble compassionate he did it for us." [00:14:54]

"This is love, not that we have loved God, but he loved us and sent his son as the atoning sacrifice for us. I've heard it frequently. It's just to show us what to do. No, it's what he came to do for you. At one, if you want to write your note, atonement, at one with God. To make you at one with God. This is the big festival from the Old Testament where the sacrifice would be made, the one day a year where the high priest could go into the Holy of Holies and not die." [00:16:16]

"The word of his covenant brings peace to me. This is where we're going Thursday, so I'm not going to spend a whole ton of time on it. His covenant, briefly stated his covenant, this was that covenant with Abraham where Abraham, he cut the animal in half and then he made Abraham pass out because Abraham wasn't going to go through it because when you cut the animals in half, whoever passes through it and you make that covenant, if either of you break the vow, may it be to me as these animals are." [00:19:21]

"Return, O fortress, O prisoners of hope. Even now I announce that I will restore you twice as much. That is a phrase, O prisoners of hope. You're prisoners. You live in a world that is not your own, but yet you have hope. And he says, I set you free. O prisoners of hope. You may not fully experience it yet, but that hope is yours. And what is amazing is I announce that I will restore twice as much." [00:20:54]

"God says to you, you don't deserve my peace. You don't deserve my love. You don't deserve my forgiveness. But what I'm giving to you is not just restoration to life, but I'm giving you myself. I'm giving you my hope, and I'm giving you a new life based on me. And that is why he can say, rejoice, your king comes to you. Rejoice so greatly, oh daughter of Zion. Shout, daughter of Jerusalem. See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation." [00:22:16]

"Rejoice, your King comes to and for you. He says, see this. See it because right now we struggle with it. When we're going through life, we get struggled down. When we have those burdens, we're struggling to say, how is God in control? We struggle to say, where is God in this? And He says, see me. This whole week as we dig into these sections, they are at times when they are at moments of darkest despair that God gives these amazing messages of hope." [00:24:09]