The Last Supper - Palm Sunday

Jesus, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, wins our deepest battles.

Israel’s disappointment and doubt concerning the possibility of a king who will save her.

1 Samuel 8
When Samuel grew old, he appointed his sons as Israel’s leaders. The name of his firstborn was Joel and the name of his second was Abijah, and they served at Beersheba. But his sons did not follow his ways. They turned aside after dishonest gain and accepted bribes and perverted justice.

So all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah. They said to him, “You are old, and your sons do not follow your ways; now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have.”
But when they said, “Give us a king to lead us,” this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to the Lord. And the Lord told him:

“Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king. As they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you. Now listen to them; but warn them solemnly and let them know what the king who will reign over them will claim as his rights.”

Every king that’s come along has always left us longing.

1) Israel rejected God as king and instead desired a king that looked like those of other nations.

2) Israel wanted the peace that comes with the warring success and intimidating presence of a strong-man king.

People will only be disappointed in the kings that will come their way.

Every king that came along for Israel left her disappointed.
Every king that came along for Israel always left them longing.

Current Politics

Every king that’s come along has always left us longing. —Just as the bread of this world leaves our soul’s roaring, the kings of this world leave us longing.

“Every king that’s come along has always left us longing — except one.”

John 12:12-19
The next day the great crowd that had come for the festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting,
“Hosanna!”
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
“Blessed is the king of Israel!”
Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, as it is written:
“Do not be afraid, Daughter Zion; see, your king is coming,
seated on a donkey’s colt.”
At first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that these things had been done to him. Now the crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to spread the word. Many people, because they had heard that he had performed this sign, went out to meet him. So the Pharisees said to one another, “See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him!”

The significance of Jesus being atop a donkey (Deuteronomy 17:16 and 1 Kings 1).

Jesus, King of Kings and Lord of Lords, wins our deepest battles.

Zechariah 9:9 echoed the past actions of King David: on a donkey.

But now that they were “crowning” Jesus their messiah-king, what did the people expect from him and of him?

People would have been crushed by Jesus’s actions during Holy Week, and especially on Good Friday.

crushed by his…
-admonishment of the ways of the Temple
-copping to paying Roman taxes
-teachings that seem to put Israel on the defensive and speak of her judgment alongside the other nations
-unwillingness to band together with the religious authorities
-meek and mild presence before Roman authorities
-humiliating crucifixion
-death and burial

That’s (at least in part) why they turned against Jesus.

On the Saturday after that Palm Sunday — on that Saturday after the dark and devastating events of Friday — the people would have been crushed.

They would have been crushed and afraid.

Jesus is a king against whom all other kings pale in comparison.

Jesus laying down his life shatters the cycles.

Because the Enemy still needs to be taken care of. Death needs to be dealt with.

When the people cried “Hosanna!” on that first Palm Sunday —“Save us! Now!” — Jesus was going to answer their pleadings.

Jesus, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, wins our deepest battles.

If the king has come, our longing for other kings who will only leave us longing must end.

Keep our eyes — and hearts and minds — on Jesus as the king, are ways we can keep our eyes — and hearts and minds — on Jesus as Bread.

To pray on the daily the simple prayer of, “Hosanna!”

When all is said and done, perhaps the greatest and most impactful way to hold allegiance to Jesus as the king is to create space for deep worship of him as king.