Hope is Here / 07. Hope Is Here // 6 The Triumphant Entry - Tobi Ford-Western // Matthew 21:1-11
07. Hope Is Here // 6 The Triumphant Entry - Tobi Ford-Western // Matthew 21:1-11
Summary
This week’s passage tells the story of Palm Sunday and Jesus’ return to Jerusalem. We know that it is an important story because it is written about in all four gospels.
In Matthew 16, Jesus asks Peter, "Who do you say I am?" and he replied saying,"You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." This confession from Peter seems to set things in motion for Jesus and from that time on He started to make His way back to Jerusalem.
When Jesus enters Jerusalem there is a lot going on. It was at the time of Passover, the most important event in the Jewish calendar, and so there would be many people who had congregated there to celebrate.
At the time, the people were living under Roman occupation, meaning that they weren’t slaves but they also weren’t free and they longed for their messiah to come and free them. When they saw Jesus coming they shouted “Hosanna”, which means ‘save us now’, and they laid down palm branches, which were symbolic of national independence. They hoped that this would be the moment that Jesus freed them from Roman oppression.
This would have been a tense moment between Jesus, who would have arrived bringing with Him His followers, and the Romans monitoring the passover celebrations. The Jewish people would have expected Jesus to lead them against the Romans.
There would have been a riot if not for one thing. Jesus did not enter, riding on a horse but on a donkey. Unlike a horse, which symbolises war, a donkey symbolises humility and peaceful rule. Jesus makes a statement here, that His kingdom will not take things by force.
The crowd wanted Jesus to bring violence but instead He came to receive violence. If you are a Christian, you are called to imitate and follow Christ. We can do this by going into every situation bringing peace and showing humility rather than force and pride. However this doesn’t mean that we need to be passive, we can still be full of zeal for the Lord, just like Jesus when He drove the people out of the temple because they had turned it into ‘a den of robbers’.
It is possible to follow Jesus and ride a horse but in the end He will knock you off. We need to change our posture to one of humility. He is not afraid of bringing corrections and this will hurt. But if we show a lack of pride He will not withhold His delight.
Jesus rides His donkey in front of a fickle crowd. They received Him on Friday saying, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” but on Sunday they rejected Him, calling for Him to be crucified. He had disappointed them. They didn’t want Jesus, they wanted a messiah to save them immediately and so they quickly gave up on Him when this didn’t happen.
Similarly, we want Jesus to break into our situations and save us right now and when He doesn’t there is a temptation to give up on Him and stop coming to Him. He taught us to pray ‘give us THIS DAY our daily bread’ and so to pray hosanna, save us now, is not a bad way to pray. But, it requires maturity to not decrease your expectations when your answers to prayer are delayed. Really we should increase our expectations because He is doing more than we are able to see or ask for.
Jesus knew that if He died and was resurrected He would defeat the ultimate enemy of sin and death to give eternal life to His people. This was much more important than the Romans but the people could not see this at the time. In our lives, Jesus saves us from the enemies that we don’t see, at donkey’s pace through our sanctification.
Finally, we can look at the donkey that was tied up and left. Jesus set it free and was not ashamed of it. This is a good illustration for how He treats us. He remembers us and calls us to Him. He is not ashamed of us but wants to be with us and wants us to lift Him up. We are needed by Him to display His strength, we all have a purpose and a place within God’s family.
Jesus now rides on a white horse and when He comes back He will deal with all of sin.
Applications
Humble yourself like Jesus did, not fighting to take what you want and make yourself look good but bringing peace and gentleness in every situation that you walk into.
Don’t give up when answers to prayer are delayed, but trust God that He is doing something bigger and He sees what you can’t see.
Believe that you are important and you have a place within God’s family. You have your own unique giftings and God can and will use you to help build His kingdom.
This week’s passage tells the story of Palm Sunday and Jesus’ return to Jerusalem. We know that it is an important story because it is written about in all four gospels.
In Matthew 16, Jesus asks Peter, "Who do you say I am?" and he replied saying,"You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." This confession from Peter seems to set things in motion for Jesus and from that time on He started to make His way back to Jerusalem.
When Jesus enters Jerusalem there is a lot going on. It was at the time of Passover, the most important event in the Jewish calendar, and so there would be many people who had congregated there to celebrate.
At the time, the people were living under Roman occupation, meaning that they weren’t slaves but they also weren’t free and they longed for their messiah to come and free them. When they saw Jesus coming they shouted “Hosanna”, which means ‘save us now’, and they laid down palm branches, which were symbolic of national independence. They hoped that this would be the moment that Jesus freed them from Roman oppression.
This would have been a tense moment between Jesus, who would have arrived bringing with Him His followers, and the Romans monitoring the passover celebrations. The Jewish people would have expected Jesus to lead them against the Romans.
There would have been a riot if not for one thing. Jesus did not enter, riding on a horse but on a donkey. Unlike a horse, which symbolises war, a donkey symbolises humility and peaceful rule. Jesus makes a statement here, that His kingdom will not take things by force.
The crowd wanted Jesus to bring violence but instead He came to receive violence. If you are a Christian, you are called to imitate and follow Christ. We can do this by going into every situation bringing peace and showing humility rather than force and pride. However this doesn’t mean that we need to be passive, we can still be full of zeal for the Lord, just like Jesus when He drove the people out of the temple because they had turned it into ‘a den of robbers’.
It is possible to follow Jesus and ride a horse but in the end He will knock you off. We need to change our posture to one of humility. He is not afraid of bringing corrections and this will hurt. But if we show a lack of pride He will not withhold His delight.
Jesus rides His donkey in front of a fickle crowd. They received Him on Friday saying, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” but on Sunday they rejected Him, calling for Him to be crucified. He had disappointed them. They didn’t want Jesus, they wanted a messiah to save them immediately and so they quickly gave up on Him when this didn’t happen.
Similarly, we want Jesus to break into our situations and save us right now and when He doesn’t there is a temptation to give up on Him and stop coming to Him. He taught us to pray ‘give us THIS DAY our daily bread’ and so to pray hosanna, save us now, is not a bad way to pray. But, it requires maturity to not decrease your expectations when your answers to prayer are delayed. Really we should increase our expectations because He is doing more than we are able to see or ask for.
Jesus knew that if He died and was resurrected He would defeat the ultimate enemy of sin and death to give eternal life to His people. This was much more important than the Romans but the people could not see this at the time. In our lives, Jesus saves us from the enemies that we don’t see, at donkey’s pace through our sanctification.
Finally, we can look at the donkey that was tied up and left. Jesus set it free and was not ashamed of it. This is a good illustration for how He treats us. He remembers us and calls us to Him. He is not ashamed of us but wants to be with us and wants us to lift Him up. We are needed by Him to display His strength, we all have a purpose and a place within God’s family.
Jesus now rides on a white horse and when He comes back He will deal with all of sin.
Applications
Humble yourself like Jesus did, not fighting to take what you want and make yourself look good but bringing peace and gentleness in every situation that you walk into.
Don’t give up when answers to prayer are delayed, but trust God that He is doing something bigger and He sees what you can’t see.
Believe that you are important and you have a place within God’s family. You have your own unique giftings and God can and will use you to help build His kingdom.
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