As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, "Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, tell him that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away." This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet: "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.'" The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them. They brought the donkey and the colt, placed their cloaks on them, and Jesus sat on them. A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted, "Hosanna to the Son of David!" "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" "Hosanna in the highest!" [NIV]

I ask each of you this question: Do you consider yourself to be perceptive? To put it another way: Do you see yourself having the ability to catch things that most other people miss? Of course, we are all perceptive to a degree. Some of us are able to immediately notice the picture that is hanging just a bit off balance. Some of us are able to notice quality workmanship in a home without too much sweat. Some of us may be able to read body language real well, whether a person is feeling down, feeling up, feeling worried. On the other hand we all have our blind spots. The person who can quickly notice the work of a good carpenter may spend a morning cracking jokes with someone who looks like they just lost their best friend. To be perceptive, one must be able to look beneath the surface to the finer details.

Today is Palm Sunday, the day Jesus road into Jerusalem on a donkey. It is a day that requires spiritual perception to appreciate it. The prophet Zechariah brought attention to the coming of this day five hundred years before it happened, saying: “BEHOLD, your king comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey.” The word “Behold” tells us there is something remarkable happening. It is God’s way of saying to us: “BE PERCEPTIVE!”

Of course, we are apt to pat ourselves on the back and say: “Hey, God, look at me! I AM perceptive! The donkey, Jesus’ humble steed, symbolizes how He came to save me in a unique way. He did not come to save me in power and glory, but with gentleness in His sacrifice for my sins!” Certainly, it is essential to see this meaning in Jesus’ humble entrance into his city. But we must watch out for any self- congratulatory pride we may feel over our spiritual perceptiveness. We had nothing to do with it. It was God who gave us faith to be spiritually perceptive. Without His gift of faith to us, we would have remained blind to the meaning of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem on the donkey— blind like most of the crowd that actually had witnessed it.

As the crowd gathered around Jesus as He rode in, it may seem that they understood the significance of His entry. Didn’t they show him honor when they laid down their cloaks and branches from the trees? Don’t they honor Him when they cry out: “Hosanna to the Son of David!” “Hosanna” means “God saves!” To call Him the Son of David refers to Scripture’s prophecy that the Divine Messiah would be born as a descendant— a son— of King David! They do seem to honor him.

But how soon many from this “adoring” crowd would turn against Jesus, their King. This did so because they misunderstood what He had come to do. They were expecting Him to expel the Romans from their homeland to restore it to the glory it enjoyed under King David one thousand years before. But when He stood silently before the Roman governor Pontius Pilate, making no move to defend himself, it became obvious that Jesus had no intention of defeating the Romans. Their religion leaders, who hated Jesus, moved the crowd to wash their hands of Him. “Let His blood be on us and our children!” they shouted. Pontius Pilate then washed his hands of Jesus too. He gave them their desire: Jesus’ blood. But in this, Zechariah’s prophecy about the GENTLE king riding into his city found fulfillment: The world’s Messiah came, not in glory and power, but as a beast of burden to bear all their sin away by his blood.

Again, there is no room to congratulate ourselves as if we figured this out on our own. On that day, our sins blindly followed the rioting crowd in their chant, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” We were there, with all the rest. Therefore, this gentle king was bearing our sins away on that day too. Therefore, we need him today because our sins crucify Him still in the surface attention we pay to His work each day of our lives. Yes, we need Christ today and we need to see Him as He really is: The GREAT GOD coming as a gentle beast of burden to rescue us from sin and hell.

The fact that we do recognize Christ as our spiritual beast of burden is the testimony of God’s powerful message of the Gospel. The Gospel— God’s message of forgiveness and salvation through faith in Jesus— shatters our blindness like Jesus healed the blind man Bartimaeus (Mark 10: 46- 52), also breaking our hatred of Him as it did for St. Paul, converting him from church persecutor to God’s ambassador (Galatians 1: 13- 16)! Salvation has come to our bodies and souls as it did to Bartimaeus and Paul!

This Palm Sunday begins what we call Holy Week. During this week we remember the final week of Jesus’ ministry to save us, the culmination of all that He had come to do to save us. On that Sunday He rode into Jerusalem on the donkey but had no plans of riding out again. On Thursday of that week, He would institute His Last Supper for His church to receive His body and blood for the forgiveness of sins. On Friday of that week, Jesus would go on trial before Pilate, and suffer hell’s punishment on the cross as He bore our sins, that we might be spared. On Sunday, He would rise from the dead. We celebrate these events, beginning today on this Palm Sunday. We continue our holy week preparations on Maundy Thursday, remembering the Lord’s institution of His Supper. On Good Friday we remember His suffering and death for us. On Easter Sunday we celebrate His resurrection— the capstone day of all we celebrate as Christians. He rose to bring us eternal life!

During this week, then, let us not throw down mere palm branches and clothing before him as the crowd did long ago; let us throw ourselves down before Him in repentance and true faith! From the heart let us cry out in true faith: “Hosanna to the Son of David!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Hosanna in the highest!” Hosanna! God comes to save us! Our Gentle King comes to sacrifice Himself for me, for you! SOLI DEO GLORIA

DEAR LORD JESUS, THANK YOU FOR BEING MY GENTLE KING WHO TOOK AWAY MY SINS AT THE CROSS AND WON MY SALVATION. AS YOU RODE INTO JERUSALEM ON THAT DAY LONG AGO, RIDE INTO MY HEART TODAY THROUGH YOUR WORD THAT I MAY LAY MYSELF DOWN BEFORE YOU IN THANKS FOR ALL YOU HAVE DONE TO SAVE ME. AMEN.

[NIV] New International Version used throughout.