Are You Missing Out On Your King? (Matthew 21:1-16)
GIST: Jesus came with a purpose (peace, salvation, cleansing, & compassion), but too many of us miss Him...on purpose.
I don’t typically pause our book studies, but after talking to the kiddos last week about Palm Sunday, I felt very strongly about camping out there today. It’s an event in the life of Jesus most of us have heard of before. In fact, though we’re going to look at Matthew’s account today, it is one of the few events recorded in all four of the gospels. Clearly, it’s showing us something we’re not supposed to miss.
Because it’s familiar, it’s easy to skim through. Please pray with me that that’s not what happens this morning. There is so much for us here, and I don’t want any of us to miss it. In fact, though we could look at this in so many different ways, what struck me early on this week was this truth of which Palm Sunday reminds us so clearly. Here’s our gist: Jesus came with a purpose (peace, salvation, cleansing, & compassion), but too many of us miss Him...on purpose.
Let’s pray, and then we’ll walk through the passage as we come to it.
I. Jesus Came With A Purpose (1-9, 12-14)
This is such a rich passage, and there are so many ways we could break this down. However, this morning I want to zero in on just a few aspects of His purpose clearly laid out in this passage.
First, He came with a→
Peace Purpose (1-7). Look at the first few verses here. “1 Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, 2 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. 3 If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, 'The Lord needs them,' and he will send them at once." 4 This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying, 5 "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.'" 6 The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. 7 They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them.”
We definitely see His sovereignty here as Jesus directs the disciples, who obey without question, to go and get the donkey colt...which was the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. Not only did Zechariah give the prophecy recorded above, but extensive time has been spent pointing out that this date exactly corresponded to when Daniel prophesied the Messiah would come to Jerusalem (Daniel 9).
Really, that is incredible! But, I called this point His “peace purpose”, so where did that come from ☺? Some of you might remember this from when we walked through the Gospel of Mark together several years ago. The fact that He came riding on a donkey instead of a war horse pointed to this because kings were known to ride into towns on donkeys in times of peace. The procession we’re about to see pointed unmistakably to Him being a King. But He wasn’t coming as a conquering King. Instead, He came to restore the relationship first broken by Adam and Eve.
When I typed up the heading for this point, my document wanted to correct it to “peaceful purpose”, but I used the word peace intentionally. Peaceful has a different connotation than what is being illustrated here. He didn’t just come like a calming breeze. He didn’t come just to make you feel calm and at ease. Our need is much greater than that. In fact, He came to flip the world upside down because we need flipped upside down! Right now, by nature, we’re at war with the God who made us and loves us unconditionally. We don’t need a calmer life. We need the King’s heart-transforming peace. Do you live like that?
Second, He came with a→
Saving Purpose (8-9). Let’s keep moving through the passage. “8 Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 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!"” This is the most memorable part of Palm Sunday because it’s where its name comes from. However, I want to focus more this morning on what they’re saying while they lay down these branches and garments. This crowd doesn’t just lay down garments and branches for Jesus; they’re singing while they do it! Specifically, they are singing from Psalm 118:25-26 which is one of the Hallel Psalms. These were psalms of praise which were sung during festivals like Passover and the Feast of Booths. It was traditional to sing them while approaching the city for these celebrations. Therefore, the fact that they were singing it during this time was not necessarily tied to Jesus’ presence. They would have been singing praises like this anyway. However, there are many Hallel Psalms, and the fact they chose to sing this one is very revealing. It is a very specific psalm of praise tied to God saving His people! “Save us, we pray, O Lord! O Lord, we pray, give us success! 26 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! We bless you from the house of the Lord.” Hosanna was a cry for salvation, and that is exactly why He came.
The peace He came to bring us is directly tied to our salvation. We need rescued by our true King who is our only Savior. This is further illustrated by what we see Him do after He arrives in town when He reveals His→
Cleansing Purpose (12-13). “12 And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. 13 He said to them, "It is written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer,' but you make it a den of robbers."” That might not seem very peaceful ☺, but it was the kind of peace He came to bring. See, this crowd was expecting a military peace. “Kick out our oppressors, the Romans!” He came to bring true peace—the peace they really needed—the peace we really need. He came to free them from spiritual bondage. They thought they were good in that area, that their problems were physical, not spiritual. He comes to show them...they were wrong. He comes into the temple of God. This was the one place in the world where God should have been most honored and clearly worshipped. It should have pointed the world to the truth that life was about more than them, that it was and is about our sovereign and loving God. It should have been a place eager to receive the long-prophesied Messiah. But it didn’t because it was so caught up in living for its own personal gain. Jesus came to clean hearts. Do you ever think about how much your heart needs cleaned? This might seem violent, but we cannot miss that this peace giving salvation of cleansing reflects His→
Compassionate Purpose (14). I want to point out two things here to wrap up this point. First, look at what He did after flipping tables. “14 And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them.” Compassion. Please never forget, Jesus came into this world because of His amazing love. He didn’t have to. He was under no obligation to take on Hell in our place. We walk down that path on our own. We run from Him and reject His grace even knowing that He’s poured out this love for us. Yet, that same love continues to pursue us.
Luke 19:41-44 records His reaction when He sees Jerusalem as He’s riding in during this triumphal entry. From what I’ve read, this would have been a magnificent sight. This city represented the Jewish people like nothing else with this vast temple as its centerpiece. The crowd would have cheered louder at its sight. What did Jesus do? He wept. “41 And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, 42 saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.” I don’t feel like I need to add much more to that. Their praise might have been circumstantial. His compassion was not.
Jesus came with this purpose→
II. Yet So Many Miss Out On Him… On Purpose (10-11, 15-16)
And here’s the sad reality. Jesus was clearly revealed as the Messiah on Palm Sunday 2000 years ago, but people missed it. I skipped verses 10-11 early, but they illustrated the limited perspective of many who were cheering His arrival. “10 And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, "Who is this?" 11 And the crowds said, "This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee."” He made quite the impression, but they didn’t really understand who He was. They thought well of Him and called Him a prophet. That was a designation of honor, much like many in the world today refer to Him as a great teacher. Yet, it misses the mark completely. He wasn’t just some wise man. He is the Savior your heart needs. That’s harder to accept. Acknowledging that He’s good is easy. Admitting that we need Him to come and change our lives is a completely different situation, so we stop short of experiencing His grace because we don’t want to give up control.
That is further illustrated in the selfishly closed hearts of the religious teachers. Look at verses 15-16. This is after the triumphal entry, the cleansing of the temple, and the healing of the weak. “15 But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying out in the temple, "Hosanna to the Son of David!" they were indignant, 16 and they said to him, "Do you hear what these are saying?" And Jesus said to them, "Yes; have you never read, "'Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise'?"” They were angry because people were praising Jesus. This was going to mess up everything they had going because if He was the Messiah, their self-righteous lives were going to need to change. They call Him on it, and He responds with: “Haven’t you read the Scriptures you claim to follow? They told you this would happen!” But their hearts were closed. They didn’t want to see the truth, and they missed Him.
TAKEAWAYS
Take a moment to let Jesus’ purpose sink in: Peace, Salvation, Cleansing, Compassion. Don’t you need those?
Take a moment to examine your heart to see if you’re missing this purpose. Why? What are we allowing to rob us of His grace?
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