One morning in the spring of the year on the Sunday before Passover, a group of about a hundred people left the village of Bethany, the location of an inn and a poorhouse on the east side of the Mount of Olives and walked up the hill to the summit where the tiny village of Bethphage, the “house of unripened figs” lie.
For one of the party, this would be his last yearly trip coming up the hill from Bethany. For one of the party, this would be the last year he walked up that hill to stand at the top and look freshly down at the Lion Gate, the Eastern Gate of Jerusalem and the beautiful Temple of God that stood just beyond the walls of the city. For one of the party, today would be very special, a day that would be remembered forever. But most of the party didn’t realize this. It was just another trip to Jerusalem, something they did every year. They all stopped at the top of the Mount of Olives to take in the beauty and breathe in some air after the climb.
Jesus called Matthew and John aside and sent them into the tiny cluster of a half dozen homes that was Bethphage. “You’ll find a donkey and her colt tied there. Get them and bring them to me. If anyone stops you, say ‘the Lord needs them.’”.
The two men ran into the tiny little village. In front of the third house on the left, they saw the mother standing, eating some grain. And there he was, the cutest, sweetest looking donkey colt you’ve ever seen, tied up and standing there beside a water trough. They untied it and the colt squealed, which brought the owner around the corner. “The Lord needs them”, Matthew yelled. And the man said, “Fine! Just tie ‘em back up when you’re finished.”
As they moved off, Matthew asked the man, “What do you call this village?” “Bethphage,” the man answered. And the disciples and livestock were off, with the colt trotting behind Matthew as they went back to the road and the mother walking behind John.
A couple of minutes later, the two arrived back with Jesus with the colt and mother. The colt was young and skittish. It had never been ridden, but as Matthew held the colt’s head Jesus talked to the colt quietly. A couple of disciples placed a couple of cloaks on the donkey and then Jesus jumped up and swung a leg over and sat on the colt, who stood there as calmly as if it was a twenty-year-old experienced riding horse.
Matthew handed Jesus the rope and they began to walk down the hill. And as they walked, someone started to sing from Psalm 118:
“Hosanna to the Son of David!”
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
“Hosanna in the highest heaven!”
The volume increased as more and more people took up the cry and the song became a loud chant and then a chanted shout.
“Hosanna to the Son of David!”
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
“Hosanna in the highest heaven!”
People in the city looked up at the hill. Other people began running out of the city. A group of Temple priests looked up toward the hill in alarm. Off-duty Roman soldiers put their hands on their swords. And the little donkey’s colt carefully, calmly put one foot in front of the other as it carried its special burden down the hill, down the road, as if it knew this would never, ever happen again to it, as if it were a special time, a wonderful parade, a once-in-forever event that would never be repeated again, which, of course, it was.
Jerusalem’s rightful King, a Son of David, was about to enter the town for the first time since King Zedekiah had been taken to Babylon over 600 years earlier. And the people recognized that this man would be a good king, a wise king, a great spiritual leader first and a military leader second, for Jesus had shown through many miracles that He was sent by God.
Jesus had healed people, Jesus had taught ideas of justice to the people, and Jesus had even showed that He could feed people, for Jesus had fed 5000 people with just a handful of loaves of bread and fish. And Jesus was humble – after all, today he was riding on a donkey’s colt instead of a huge white stallion.
The crowd in the city began to realize who it was that was riding down from Bethphage and they really began pouring out of the city, for another rumor had reached them over the last week. It seems that a man most of the people knew, the young man who ran the inn in Bethany with his sisters had fallen ill and died a couple of weeks earlier, and Jesus had called him out of his grave and Lazarus might be in the crowd now, walking down the hill with Jesus!
And after fifteen minutes or so, the procession walked across the Kidron Brook and in through the gate. And women on the sides of the street asked one another and those walking with Him: “Who is that riding there?”
And the answer was “Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.” And they all smiled and cheered and waved and chanted.
“Hosanna to the Son of David!”
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
“Hosanna in the highest heaven!”
Less than a week later, he’d be dead, killed after the same crowd chanted, “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!”
...
We love Palm Sunday, don’t we? We love the children waving palm branches, the chanting of Hosanna, the excitement. It’s almost as though we are there once more as Jesus comes into Jerusalem, a parade! It takes us back to times standing downtown as the marching band comes down Main Street and men and women ride by on horseback and there are floats and candy is thrown and another band marches by and you never know what will happen next. We love parades, we love the excitement of a group of people marching – maybe it is a circus parade and there will be elephants! Jesus is here, God is here, the Holy Spirit is working!
And you know, from up here it’s even better, for I get to yell and holler and egg on the children, and watch you all smile and laugh. I get to remind you of the excitement of that day and how much God loves us. And I’m talking of ordinary Sundays which are exciting enough because I never know, I never know when the Holy Spirit is going to break through to one of you and I’ll watch you run to the altar with tears flowing and then I know that God is here and your heart is melting and the world will never be the same because Jesus got your attention today. For me, every day is Palm Sunday because I’m involved, I’m praying for the Spirit to come upon us all, I’m working as hard as I can to listen to that Spirit and say the words that will allow that Spirit to break through to you and change your lives forever. And Palm Sunday is even better because you’re already up and ready for something unexpected to happen and that’s grand.
On Sunday afternoons, I get back home a bit before 1 o’clock. I walk into my house and eat a bit of lunch and put my feet up for a bit. And then, after an hour or so, I walk back out. Sometimes I have a class to teach – like now when we have a confirmation class going on at 2 pm. Other Sunday afternoons, I drive to the hospitals, for there are people who missed the parade, people who missed Jesus visiting the city today, people who need to hear the story second hand because they couldn’t be there at the parade in person. There are people who need my visit – and your visits.
And Monday or Tuesday, Rick, our custodian, will come in here, plug in his radio and listen to Christian radio. He’ll clean up crumbs left over from Communion, pick up some papers with a 6-year-old’s artwork, and he’ll bend over and pick up that Kleenex you left after you wiped your eyes, the program you forgot, and he’ll put that hymnal back into the pew and then he’ll run the vacuum so next week everything looks clean and perfect for you and the next time Jesus walks in here. For it is quiet on Mondays and Tuesdays around here. You are at school, at work, at home. But here behind the scenes, Rick is cleaning and I’m preparing for the next Sunday, reading the next scriptures and studying God’s Word and praying desperately that God will put together the next sermon.
And after the parade on Palm Sunday goes past, someone has to clean up the effects of the parade. There are palm branches that have sacrificed themselves for our enjoyment and now lay on the ground. There are hyped up children who even now are driving a few harrowed adults crazy in the basement. There are even people who can’t sing the next hymn because they wore out their throats yelling Hosanna!.
And you know, from up here it’s even better, for I get to yell and holler and egg on the children, and watch you all smile and laugh. I get to remind you of the excitement of that day and how much God loves us. And I’m talking of ordinary Sundays which are exciting enough because I never know, I never know when the Holy Spirit is going to break through to one of you and I’ll watch you run to the altar with tears flowing and then I know that God is here and your heart is melting and the world will never be the same because Jesus got your attention today. For me, every day is Palm Sunday because I’m involved, I’m praying for the Spirit to come upon us all, I’m working as hard as I can to listen to that Spirit and say the words that will allow that Spirit to break through to you and change your lives forever. And Palm Sunday is even better because you’re already up and ready for something unexpected to happen and that’s grand.
On Sunday afternoons, I get back home a bit before 1 o’clock. I walk into my house and eat a bit of lunch and put my feet up for a bit. And then, after an hour or so, I walk back out. Sometimes I have a class to teach – like now when we have a confirmation class going on at 2 pm. Other Sunday afternoons, I drive to the hospitals, for there are people who missed the parade, people who missed Jesus visiting the city today, people who need to hear the story second hand because they couldn’t be there at the parade in person. There are people who need my visit – and your visits.
And Monday or Tuesday, Rick, our custodian, will come in here, plug in his radio and listen to Christian radio. He’ll clean up crumbs left over from Communion, pick up some papers with a 6-year-old’s artwork, and he’ll bend over and pick up that Kleenex you left after you wiped your eyes, the program you forgot, and he’ll put that hymnal back into the pew and then he’ll run the vacuum so next week everything looks clean and perfect for you and the next time Jesus walks in here. For it is quiet on Mondays and Tuesdays around here. You are at school, at work, at home. But here behind the scenes, Rick is cleaning and I’m preparing for the next Sunday, reading the next scriptures and studying God’s Word and praying desperately that God will put together the next sermon.
And after the parade on Palm Sunday goes past, someone has to clean up the effects of the parade. There are palm branches that have sacrificed themselves for our enjoyment and now lay on the ground. There are hyped up children who even now are driving a few harrowed adults crazy in the basement. There are even people who can’t sing the next hymn because they wore out their throats yelling Hosanna!.
We couldn’t take Palm Sunday every day or even every week. The Spirit is exciting and exhausting at the same time. We need time to think about what the Spirit has told us, time to make the changes the Spirit is urging us to make, time to recover our strength and share what we’ve learned with others who weren’t here watching the parade, for each of us is also called to share God’s Word with other people to help them move closer to God. For most people see Christ outside of the Temple as people tell other people about what He has done for us. They aren't in the Temple listening to His teaching - they ask other people what He said.
In Jerusalem that day, Jesus entered the town and went to the Temple for a while.
After the Jesus parade went past, I’m sure the crowd did like all crowds do. Some people followed Jesus into the city to the Temple to learn from His teaching, yes. But most people simply went back to their business, going to get lunch, buying groceries, getting their homes ready for family guests. Others talked about Jesus for a while with each other. We know a group of leaders from the Temple held a meeting where they discussed what to do about Jesus. The Roman garrison commanders probably did the same.
Did anyone stop to pick up the palm branches lying on the ground? Did anyone take them home with them to remember that on this day, a Son of David entered Jerusalem for the first time in over 600 years? Did anyone take the muddy, dusty cloaks off the ground and shake the donkey dung off of them? Did anyone just sit down and ponder what it all meant, how the world was changed because one man had ridden a donkey’s colt down the hill from little Bethphage?
There are two ways of looking at events in our lives:
Most people look at their lives as a series of unconnected events. They drive to work. They work. They have lunch. They work. They drive home. They maybe watch some television. Once a year, they have Thanksgiving dinner. Once a year, they celebrate Christmas. Once a year, they experience Palm Sunday. Once a year, they celebrate Easter. One day they are born. One day they die.
But a few people, a very few people see their lives as a journey with events that look repetitive but are different each time. This Christmas was not the same as Christmas 2010, it will not be the same as Christmas 2020. This Holy Week is different, for there will never be another Holy Week like this one. Even if we’ve experienced 95 Palm Sundays, this one is different. Even if we’ve seen 150 parades, this one is different. Every day is special and different and given to us by God for a special purpose that only that day was meant for. To live life abundantly means that we break out of the sameness of life to see the special gifts that God gives us today that He won’t give us tomorrow and He didn’t give us yesterday. An abundant life is abundant because we are able to see the daily gifts God gives us and experience them in joy and wonder. To a child, every day is full of wonder! Will you live this day full of wonder at God’s gifts He is giving you just for this special day, the day called “today”? Will you take time to notice them and be blessed? Each day? Will you take time before you go to sleep to remember your blessings, thank God for them individually, and feel the joy that God loves you? Each day?
Today is the day, for example, when you might actually realize that you’ve only got so many days left in your life and God has called you to a higher purpose in life than what you’ve been doing. Today is the day, for example, when you might realize that you need to talk deeply to your children or grandchildren about what Easter is all about, about how Easter is so tightly tied to them seeing you again – and you seeing them again - after you pass onto the next life. Today is the day, for example, when you realize that you don’t really need to hold so much money and things in reserve for the future, for it would make a tremendous difference to all those people served by the mission projects and it would show you that you really do trust in God and not in your bank account.
Today might be the day you moved Jesus from being the co-pilot in your life to being pilot, while you moved into the back seat and just hung on for the ride. Today might be the day when you decided to get baptized after all these years. Today might be the day when you decided that you really need to understand all of this talk about righteousness and justification and salvation, for you’ve understood it might be much more than cotton candy ideas with little practical meaning, but might be deeply important. Sometimes, you see, you just have to stop going to school and start putting into action what you’ve learned.
You see, after the parade passes by, we all need to take time and think about what it all meant. We need to think about what it means for each of us, personally. We need to think and ponder and let the Holy Spirit and the Word of God have some quiet time to change us. And we can do this, for Christ, the Son of God has come to our village and so our village will never be the same, and we will never be the same. You and I will never be the same and we will never look at our lives in the same disconnected way, because we have been changed forever – if we will listen to the Holy Spirit and the Word of God. And we will change every day if we will listen. We will change for the better. Like tiny Bethphage, our names will be known forever by God and Christ. Like the little donkey colt, we will be known forever for our service to Christ by Him.
Matthew understood. Three years earlier, Jesus’ parade had met him at his toll booth where he collected taxes for the Romans. Matthew had not been a very good man – he collected taxes for the occupying Romans. He was probably allowed to keep 10 percent of the revenue he collected, but he probably always collected an extra 10 percent, which doubled his take-home pay. He may have thought of it as good business. Jesus asked Matthew to follow Him that day as His parade was passing, and Matthew did just that. Jesus never accused Matthew of anything, but now Matthew saw what he had done as thievery and being a traitor to the Jewish people. Matthew had thought about the Jesus parade and what it meant for him a lot over the last three years. He planned to write a book someday about Jesus and how the scriptures of the Hebrew Bible had predicted everything Jesus did.
When the parade reached the Temple, Matthew took the colt’s rope and held the young donkey as Jesus dismounted. “Are you coming in with us?” Jesus may have asked. “No, I’ll take this donkey and colt back home,” Matthew may have replied.
As he walked through the crowd, a man offered to buy the colt from Matthew for a dinarius, a day's pay! Matthew just kept walking. Another man, loaded down with goods, offered two shekels of silver, two weeks pay! Matthew just kept walking with the donkey and colt behind him.
An hour or two later, up on the top of the Mount of Olives in tiny little Bethphage village, Matthew walked back to that little hut where the water trough was and he tied up that spunky little donkey’s colt. The colt’s owner wasn’t anywhere around. The older donkey simply walked over to the grain and began eating. But Matthew returned the colt, made sure it could get into the shade and get water and food, and then petted it on its neck. He took some time. Matthew’s time with Jesus had changed him. He was no longer in a hurry, He was no longer a thief. He was no longer a traitor.
The colt looked at Matthew nervously, for it was still very young. And for just a minute, they stared into each other’s eyes, as if to say, “I’ll always remember you and what happened today, this special day.”
And then, Matthew walked down the hill from Bethphage past the olive trees of the Garden of Gethsemane once again into the holy city. He knew he’d mention the little colt and the tiny village in his book. It was noon and that particular special morning was over in Bethphage.
In Jerusalem that day, Jesus entered the town and went to the Temple for a while.
After the Jesus parade went past, I’m sure the crowd did like all crowds do. Some people followed Jesus into the city to the Temple to learn from His teaching, yes. But most people simply went back to their business, going to get lunch, buying groceries, getting their homes ready for family guests. Others talked about Jesus for a while with each other. We know a group of leaders from the Temple held a meeting where they discussed what to do about Jesus. The Roman garrison commanders probably did the same.
Did anyone stop to pick up the palm branches lying on the ground? Did anyone take them home with them to remember that on this day, a Son of David entered Jerusalem for the first time in over 600 years? Did anyone take the muddy, dusty cloaks off the ground and shake the donkey dung off of them? Did anyone just sit down and ponder what it all meant, how the world was changed because one man had ridden a donkey’s colt down the hill from little Bethphage?
There are two ways of looking at events in our lives:
Most people look at their lives as a series of unconnected events. They drive to work. They work. They have lunch. They work. They drive home. They maybe watch some television. Once a year, they have Thanksgiving dinner. Once a year, they celebrate Christmas. Once a year, they experience Palm Sunday. Once a year, they celebrate Easter. One day they are born. One day they die.
But a few people, a very few people see their lives as a journey with events that look repetitive but are different each time. This Christmas was not the same as Christmas 2010, it will not be the same as Christmas 2020. This Holy Week is different, for there will never be another Holy Week like this one. Even if we’ve experienced 95 Palm Sundays, this one is different. Even if we’ve seen 150 parades, this one is different. Every day is special and different and given to us by God for a special purpose that only that day was meant for. To live life abundantly means that we break out of the sameness of life to see the special gifts that God gives us today that He won’t give us tomorrow and He didn’t give us yesterday. An abundant life is abundant because we are able to see the daily gifts God gives us and experience them in joy and wonder. To a child, every day is full of wonder! Will you live this day full of wonder at God’s gifts He is giving you just for this special day, the day called “today”? Will you take time to notice them and be blessed? Each day? Will you take time before you go to sleep to remember your blessings, thank God for them individually, and feel the joy that God loves you? Each day?
Today is the day, for example, when you might actually realize that you’ve only got so many days left in your life and God has called you to a higher purpose in life than what you’ve been doing. Today is the day, for example, when you might realize that you need to talk deeply to your children or grandchildren about what Easter is all about, about how Easter is so tightly tied to them seeing you again – and you seeing them again - after you pass onto the next life. Today is the day, for example, when you realize that you don’t really need to hold so much money and things in reserve for the future, for it would make a tremendous difference to all those people served by the mission projects and it would show you that you really do trust in God and not in your bank account.
Today might be the day you moved Jesus from being the co-pilot in your life to being pilot, while you moved into the back seat and just hung on for the ride. Today might be the day when you decided to get baptized after all these years. Today might be the day when you decided that you really need to understand all of this talk about righteousness and justification and salvation, for you’ve understood it might be much more than cotton candy ideas with little practical meaning, but might be deeply important. Sometimes, you see, you just have to stop going to school and start putting into action what you’ve learned.
You see, after the parade passes by, we all need to take time and think about what it all meant. We need to think about what it means for each of us, personally. We need to think and ponder and let the Holy Spirit and the Word of God have some quiet time to change us. And we can do this, for Christ, the Son of God has come to our village and so our village will never be the same, and we will never be the same. You and I will never be the same and we will never look at our lives in the same disconnected way, because we have been changed forever – if we will listen to the Holy Spirit and the Word of God. And we will change every day if we will listen. We will change for the better. Like tiny Bethphage, our names will be known forever by God and Christ. Like the little donkey colt, we will be known forever for our service to Christ by Him.
Matthew understood. Three years earlier, Jesus’ parade had met him at his toll booth where he collected taxes for the Romans. Matthew had not been a very good man – he collected taxes for the occupying Romans. He was probably allowed to keep 10 percent of the revenue he collected, but he probably always collected an extra 10 percent, which doubled his take-home pay. He may have thought of it as good business. Jesus asked Matthew to follow Him that day as His parade was passing, and Matthew did just that. Jesus never accused Matthew of anything, but now Matthew saw what he had done as thievery and being a traitor to the Jewish people. Matthew had thought about the Jesus parade and what it meant for him a lot over the last three years. He planned to write a book someday about Jesus and how the scriptures of the Hebrew Bible had predicted everything Jesus did.
When the parade reached the Temple, Matthew took the colt’s rope and held the young donkey as Jesus dismounted. “Are you coming in with us?” Jesus may have asked. “No, I’ll take this donkey and colt back home,” Matthew may have replied.
As he walked through the crowd, a man offered to buy the colt from Matthew for a dinarius, a day's pay! Matthew just kept walking. Another man, loaded down with goods, offered two shekels of silver, two weeks pay! Matthew just kept walking with the donkey and colt behind him.
An hour or two later, up on the top of the Mount of Olives in tiny little Bethphage village, Matthew walked back to that little hut where the water trough was and he tied up that spunky little donkey’s colt. The colt’s owner wasn’t anywhere around. The older donkey simply walked over to the grain and began eating. But Matthew returned the colt, made sure it could get into the shade and get water and food, and then petted it on its neck. He took some time. Matthew’s time with Jesus had changed him. He was no longer in a hurry, He was no longer a thief. He was no longer a traitor.
The colt looked at Matthew nervously, for it was still very young. And for just a minute, they stared into each other’s eyes, as if to say, “I’ll always remember you and what happened today, this special day.”
And then, Matthew walked down the hill from Bethphage past the olive trees of the Garden of Gethsemane once again into the holy city. He knew he’d mention the little colt and the tiny village in his book. It was noon and that particular special morning was over in Bethphage.
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