This Palm Sunday I think of Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem.
“Say to the Daughter of Zion, ‘See, your king comes to you,
gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.'”
Matthew 21:5 – from Zechariah 9:9
I think of the spontaneous outpouring of praise to Jesus, the absolute buzz that must have followed his raising Lazarus from the dead. I imagine the crowd noise as branches were laid in front of the donkey’s colt, the coats that came off earnestly to be laid as a highway for the Son of David. Any news brief we have seen from the Middle East of crowds gathering can give us an idea of what it was like to be there on that day as Christ approached Jerusalem; crowds chanting, shouting “Hosanna!”and an absolute wall of hands reaching out to touch Him as He passed. It would have been almost impossible to get close as men and women pressed in around the skittish, yet obedient donkey. As He approached the crowd barely parted and then closed behind Him once again, shouting with fervency, “Hosanna to the Son of David, Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!” with such urgency and abandon that it seemed alarming and excessive to some of the Pharisees. The ESV reading from Luke 19:36-40 says it this way,
36 And as he rode along, they spread their cloaks on the road. 37 As he was drawing near—already on the way down the Mount of Olives—the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, 38 saying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” 39 And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.” 40 He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.”
Likely, there were thousands of people in the crushing crowd, so many that the Pharisees in John 12:19 said, “Look, the world has gone after him.” The recent protests in Cairo’s Tahrir Square give us an idea of the melee of people that surrounded Jesus’ approach to Jerusalem. Why? Why the uproar and religiously offensive adulation?
Consider who was there on that day. Were not some those that Jesus pointed out to John previously as evidence of His messianic legitimacy, Matthew 11:4-6
“Go back and report to John what you hear and see: 5 The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. 6 Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me.” NIV
The formerly dead were there! The recently but no longer blind, lame, leprous and deaf! Those who were poor heard the good news that God loved them and they were not outcast! They were there to celebrate the Passover as never before. No wonder they shouted! No wonder they raised their praise in such frenzy that it was alarming to the Pharisees.
During our Sunday morning services we encounter a little of the same type of fervency. When we sing particular choruses or hymns that contain phrases like, “He breaks the power of cancelled sin, He sets the prisoner free,” (O, For A Thousand Tongues To Sing) an actual shout will go up from many in the congregation. This is a little unsettling at times for visitors to experience this kind of fervency or liberty but it helps them to know, as I often explain later, that many of these have been delivered by Jesus from addiction to drugs and alcohol. Many have been set free from lifestyles of adultery and healed from wounds of abuse. Why wouldn’t they shout, why wouldn’t they raise their hands in worship? They/we owe Jesus everything!
What of all of us? Don’t we all owe Jesus this same abandon in worship, this same complete adoration? If we could see what He has delivered us from certainly we would lift our voices and hands in worship without thought of what others think of us. Think, Believer, don’t we owe Jesus everything? He who gives us our very breath along with eternal life, doesn’t He deserve our warm and joyful praise? This week, Christian, as we gather in our various houses of worship to celebrate our Saviors resurrection, let’s not withhold an ounce of love as we sing of His mercy, goodness and triumph. Instead, ingnoring the cynical accusations of excess leveled by the Pharisees, lets join the crowd of the delivered, the healed, the freed, the resurrected and the forgiven and give our King the praise He so richly deserves!
