Stage 1: Sunday

Jesus’ popularity is sky-high because He has just raised His friend Lazarus back from the dead after being in the grave for four days. News about what has happened has spread like wildfire. Jesus knows that He is heading for Jerusalem. Luke 19 tells us that Jesus " ...sent two of His disciples to bring a donkey to Him.” Jesus is going to use this donkey to ride into Jerusalem.

There is a good reason for this. About 500 years before this day, there was a prophet named Zechariah, who foretold that the Messiah would one day ride into Jerusalem on a donkey. The Bible says,

When Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a donkey, He is proclaiming that He is, in fact, the Messiah, but He isn't the kind of Messiah they are hoping for.

Jesus is going into Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. Passover was a huge deal for the Jewish people. The Old Testament book of Exodus tells us the children of Israel were slaves to the Egyptian people. God sent plague upon plague against the Egyptians because their Pharaoh refused to let the children of Israel out of slavery. The last plague God sent was the plague of the death angel. Every firstborn child was going to die that night, but God made a provision for the children of Israel. They were to sacrifice a lamb and take the blood of the lamb and pour it on the doorframe of their homes. When the death angel came by, he would pass over the house where the doorframe was painted with blood. The blood of the lamb protected the people inside from death.

The Sunday Jesus rides into town is known as Lamb Selection Day. People were selecting a lamb to sacrifice on behalf of the sins of their entire family. The lamb would be killed later that week, and the person's sins would be forgiven.

Remember, when Jesus started His public ministry, John the Baptist saw Jesus coming and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” John 1:29

John was proclaiming that Jesus’ mission was to die in our place and pay the price for our sin debt that we owed a holy God. It was on "Lamb Selection Sunday" that Jesus rides into Jerusalem because He is the Lamb that God has chosen that will be sacrificed for our sins.

Now, when people thought about the Passover, they thought about the day that God had defeated their oppressors, the Egyptians, and they longed for the day that God would do it again. This week was the best week for a Messiah to come and start a revolution. During the Passover, the Romans would bring in extra security just to make sure that nothing got out of control.

Picture the scene. The streets are filled with people, when, suddenly, the people begin to part, and there is Jesus riding on a donkey. They all know the prophecy. They know what this moment means, and so does the Roman government. The tension is immense. Suddenly, the people begin to cheer and shout. They grab palm branches and say, "Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna." Luke 19: 37-38

A riot is getting ready to break out. That is why the Pharisees shout out:

"Teacher, rebuke Your disciples!" Calm these people down. But Jesus looks at them and says, "I tell you," He replied, if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out." Luke 19: 39-40

But the people who were cheering didn't understand what was going on. They wanted a lion of war, but Jesus was the Lamb of God who came to die for our sins.

Take a look at what Jesus does next. The people are cheering Him on. All He has to do to get things going is get off His donkey and give a speech, and the revolution will begin. But Jesus doesn't give a speech because He didn't come to set up an earthly kingdom. He came to set up a heavenly kingdom that would never end.

Jesus was not the Messiah the people hoped for. He started no rebellion on this day, but He walked away. He did not come to take on the Romans. No, He came to take on sin and the grave. He was not the Messiah they hoped for, but Jesus was and is the Messiah they needed. That we all need. Let's pray.

“Thank you, Lord, for coming as the Lamb of God the ultimate sacrifice for our sin and rebellion against you. Thank you for seeing something in us that was worth dying for. In Jesus’ name. Amen.”