I have the honor of speaking to you today on Palm Sunday, which is the beginning of Holy Week. If you're new to Christianity, Holy Week is the week leading up to and including Easter. This week we'll be taking a deep look at the events that took place about 2,000 years ago in Judea, events that changed everything for humanity. Through Jesus Christ's love, sacrifice, and resurrection, we're able to know God. And those who receive him, who believe in his name, can rest, knowing that we're secure in him.
and we can call ourselves children of God. The next week will consist of retelling, remembering, and reliving the gospel, the good news, as it played out for all of us so long ago. Everything that came before was leading up to this moment in time, and everything that has come since has been shaped by the events of Jerusalem and by the person of Jesus Christ. Our sin had separated us from the one who made us, and now, some 2,000 years ago in the city of Jerusalem, he was about to make a way to bring us back. This week is the story of that redemption. This week is the story of our hope. This week is the remembrance of the greatest truth ever revealed.
It's the story of Jesus, the light of the world, whom all the Bible points to and whom all humanity desperately needs. Now, typically on Palm Sunday, we'd focus on the event of Jesus' arrival into Jerusalem and what happened leading up to his crucifixion and resurrection. But today, I'm going to shift the focus just slightly to the people that were there and how they saw and experienced the presence and humility of the Messiah on the way to Jerusalem. We're going to read through a fairly large passage of scripture and unpack the characters we came across that Jesus interacted with. And then, towards the end, we're going to do something a little different.
in order to help us step back in time, or rather bring history to the present. And we're going to attempt to see Jesus the way that the people around him did at the time of his entry to Jerusalem so long ago. What follows is a very stark contrast we see in the hearts of the different men that Mark documents for us in his gospel. And while we're looking at the following conversations and interactions, I'd like you to each try and see the hearts of the people involved. Do you recognize yourself in any of the people that we meet today? Think about which character seems familiar to you. Who do you relate to?
who best reflects your heart and how you see Jesus. We're going to begin with the book of Mark, where we find Jesus and his disciples on the road. Now, for those of you who don't know how to look things up in the Bible, you might be new. It's not as easy as you might think. So the easiest way is to go to the table of contents at the beginning. And it's in the second section of the Bible, which is called the New Testament. We're going to go to the second book, which is called Mark. And so you look up Mark, you go to Mark, you go to chapter 10, and we're going to pick up in verse 32. And we're just going to start with a couple of verses, 32 through 34. It says, and they were on the road to Jerusalem and Jesus was walking ahead of them.
And they were amazed, and those who followed were afraid. And taking the twelve again, he began to tell them what was going to happen to him, saying, See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they'll condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles. And they will mock him and spit on him and flog him and kill him. And after three days, he'll rise. Jesus explains in clear detail that this visit to Jerusalem will be different and terrible things are going to happen to him. His disciples hear what he says, but they don't understand.
We're going to pick up reading, and we'll see that two of them, for sure, have completely missed the point. Now, they do acknowledge what Jesus has been saying, that he will be taking his place in glory as king, but they focus on the wrong thing. They focus on themselves. Their hearts are in the wrong place. So we're going to pick up in Mark 10, verses 35 through 45. We're going to read about James and John. And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came up to him and said to him, Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you. And he said to them, What do you want me to do for you? And they said to him, Grant us to sit, one at your right hand, and one at your left, in your glory.
And Jesus said to them, you do not know what you're asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink or to be baptized with the baptism with which I'm baptized? And they said to him, we're able. And Jesus said to them, the cup that I drink, you will drink. And with the baptism with which I'm baptized, you will be baptized. But to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant. It is for those for whom it has been prepared. And when the 10 heard it, they began to be indignant at James and John. And Jesus called them to him and said to them,
You know that those who are considered rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. So Jesus has just finished telling them what's going to happen to him, and that he is about to be tortured and killed.
And they have the audacity to kind of skip right over that and just go straight to asking him for position and prestige. And they demand Jesus do for them what they want. It's not like they asked him nicely. They said, hey, we want you to do this thing for us. Now, the question is, how many of us do this? For being honest, how many of us are so complacent in our faith when we approach Jesus that we pray like this? We pray like this in the form of demands instead of approaching God, acknowledging who he is, and then asking for something that's aligned with his will. Nonetheless, Jesus asked them, what do you want me to do for you?
their hearts are in the wrong place. There's no sorrow. There's no empathy. It's just what's in it for me. And the 10, the other disciples, they hear this and they start arguing either out of jealousy that they didn't think to ask themselves or out of dismay at the blindness of their two buddies. We don't really know, but it starts a fight. And Jesus feels the need to have a group huddle and he calls everybody in. He reminds them all that they're to seek to serve and to do for others, not to seek to rule and do for themselves. In his commentary on the gospel of Mark, James Edwards says a couple of things that I think are really important.
He says the brothers hope to honor Jesus while honoring themselves. How easily worship and discipleship are blended with self-interest. Or worse, self-interest is masked as worship and discipleship. In response to their exclusive request, Jesus instructs the 12 that the economy of God's kingdom is not based on power and control, but on service and giving. For the latter are not only the ethics of the kingdom, but the means of redemption. James and John, like us, sometimes need the reminder of what being a follower of Jesus is all about.
Now we're going to move on to the next encounter we see on the road to Jerusalem. We're going to see something very different play out. We're going to go to Mark chapter 10, and we're going to read through verse 46 through 52 about a man named Bartimaeus. It's a very different outcome. It's a very different mindset. His heart is in a very different place. So picking up at verse 46, And they came to Jericho. And as he was leaving Jericho with his disciples in a great crowd, Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, the son of Timaeus, was sitting by the roadside. And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out, Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me.
And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent. But he cried out all the more, Son of David, have mercy on me. And Jesus stopped and said, Call him. And they called the blind man, saying to him, Take heart, get up, he's calling you. And throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. And Jesus said to him, What do you want me to do for you? And the blind man said to him, Rabbi, let me recover my sight. And Jesus said to him, Go your way. Your faith has made you well. And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him on the way.
This blind beggar is sitting on the side of the road with nothing, no hope, no future. It would be hard to be in that situation nowadays, but back then there was no social programs, there was no government help for people like this. He was on his own. And then all of a sudden, there's hope right in front of him. Jesus is his hope. And he cries out for mercy, recognizing that only Jesus can bestow it. He has no concern for how he looks to others in that moment. He shakes off all timidity and embarrassment and just yells for deliverance. And he's told to shut up, but he will not be dissuaded.
This is the plea of a desperate man crying out for God. And Jesus hears him. And Jesus stops in his tracks. And he instructs the followers to call the man to him. Now, the rebukes that the crowd had directed toward Bartimaeus turn to excitement and encouragement. See, the crowd, they know what's next. They're excited to see a miracle. They're going to see something awesome. And they're going to be able to tell all their friends, we were there when Jesus healed this man. But Bartimaeus, he hasn't been asking for a miracle. He's just started out just asking for mercy. And Bartimaeus casts off what is likely the only thing that he has, his cloak. And he just lets it fall in the dirt.
He comes to Christ empty-handed in faith. He is solely focused on the chance to meet Jesus and nothing else matters. Jesus asked the same question that he asked James and John, exactly the same question. What do you want me to do for you? But Bartimaeus answered it very different. Rabbi, he says, teacher, let me recover my sight. Now, in some translations, it goes even further and he says, which means master. He acknowledges in this moment his absolute trust that Jesus is the one who can do this for him. And he submits and he calls Jesus master.
This poor blind man sees more clearly than James and John or the crowd. And Jesus says, go your way. Your faith has made you well. Jesus heals him. But Bartimaeus' way is now with Jesus. He knows where his place is. He's now a follower of Christ. He shows us humility, faith, understanding, fidelity to Christ, and also a boldness to cry out and a desperation that shows his understanding of his need for that which only Jesus can give. And that Jesus is the one to follow come what may. In Bartimaeus, we see the journey that every disciple must take, even to this day.
He puts his faith in Christ, he submits to Christ, and he follows Christ. As they approach Jerusalem, there's this feeling of optimism and joy and triumph in the air. And now we're going to read the part, the entry into Jerusalem, that you'll typically hear on Palm Sunday. So we're not going to skip that. We're going to go right to it. And it's going to be in Mark 11, verses 1 through 10. Now when they drew near to Jerusalem, to Bethphage and Bethany, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples and said to them, Go into the village in front of you, and immediately as you enter it, you'll find a colt tied, on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it.
If anyone says to you, why are you doing this? Say the Lord has need of it and we'll send it back here immediately. And they went away and found a colt tied at a door outside in the street and they untied it. And some of those standing there said to them, what are you doing untying the colt? And they told them what Jesus had said and they let him go. And they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it and he sat on it. And many spread their cloaks on the road and others spread leafy branches that they had cut from the fields. And those who went before and those who followed were shouting, Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David. Hosanna in the highest. So Jesus sends two of his disciples into this village to get a donkey, but it's a very specific donkey. He's chosen this donkey ahead of time. And he tells them exactly where to find it. And it's one that has never been ridden before. He's chosen this donkey for this moment. And even the villagers understand the significance of the day and they gladly allow them to take the creature. People are getting pretty excited. They spread their cloaks and palm branches on the road before him like a red carpet today. And they begin to shout and declare, Hosanna!
which means save now or please save, save us. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father, David. Hosanna in the highest. Long ago, God had promised that the line of David would produce a great king. David has long been revered by the Jewish people as a hero. He was their favorite king. He's the king in history that they most look up to. They don't understand the full picture though. And they see Jesus as a pointer back to David, but rather David was simply a pointer to Jesus. David was a glimpse of who a true hero would be. And Jesus is more than David ever was.
David was a man after God's own heart. Jesus is God's heart, personified. The people may not entirely understand, but they're excited nonetheless, and there is a party going on. But there's one more group of people that's present at this, and Mark doesn't write about it, so we've got to jump to Luke. We're just going to read one verse in Luke. That group of people is the Pharisees, and their attitude is quite different. So we're going to go to Luke chapter 19, verse 39. And all it says is, And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, Teacher, rebuke your disciples.
Everybody's going bonkers. There's this party going on. The Messiah is here and the Pharisees. They're not at all pleased about this. See, they don't recognize Jesus as the coming king. They have all the prophecies. They don't recognize that Jesus is the guy. And so all of this talk about Jesus being the Messiah and the son of David, to them, it's heresy. To them, it's completely wrong. And so they're telling Jesus, hey, get your people to shut up. They're saying things that they shouldn't be saying, but Jesus doesn't do that.
See, the Pharisees' attitude is something like, hey, we're in charge here. We're the ones who get to judge these things. We do things a certain way and you guys are ruining it. They don't want disruption to their existing structure and order. The religious order that they've set in place for Passover is more of a concern for them than the recognition of the coming of the Lamb of God, which is super ironic given that Passover was to remember a time in their history when the people of Israel spilled a lamb's blood so that they might be spared God's judgment. Now, the ultimate Lamb of God is here to allow his own blood to be spilled for them.
that they might be spared God's judgment. I mean, this is the expression of God's love and mercy is here and they want nothing to do with them. They're stuck in the past and blind to the reality of the present. These that we've talked about today are just some of the groups and the individuals that we see mentioned in the Bible in the lead up to Jesus' time in Jerusalem. So take a second. Have any of them sounded kind of familiar? Have their attitudes resonated with you? Can we see something of ourselves in them? Now, to make this more relatable or perhaps accessible to someone sitting here today, two millennia removed from the events of Holy Week, I want to take a few minutes and imagine if this was going on today.
See, we love our press coverage. We love our interviews. We love our media. And whether it's on the news or social media or podcast, if this were happening today, there would be people clamoring everywhere for exclusive interviews and hot takes from those that were there. There'd be a ton of press coverage. And so as sort of an illustration or thought experiment, I wanted to kind of try and imagine what that would sound like. So take what happened then, put it into today's context.
The following is how I think that would play out. Now, the focus in the following interviews should not be the people themselves. Spoiler alert, it's just me in different clothes. And it should not be the clothing. I've just used that as a tool to differentiate the people from each other in your minds. But what you really should be focused on, what I'm really digging at here, is these people's hearts and who Jesus is to them. So, James, you were asking Jesus for special treatment and your buddies didn't like that. What was that all about? Yeah, that wasn't our proudest moment.
You know, we've been with Jesus for a long time. We've been with him since the beginning. I think we just got a little complacent. Sometimes we take him for granted. We forget who Jesus is. And I think all of us who've been following him for some time now, we all do this from time to time, but this time, this time was really bad. We forget what a joy and an honor it is to just even to know him. We missed being, we missed all the things he's taught us about serving others. And we got focused on ourselves and kind of securing our own spot instead of trusting that he'll look after us and he knows what's best for us. But the thing about Jesus is,
He didn't turn away from us. He brought us all together. He showed us what we did wrong, taught us the correct way to see things, and continues to love us no matter how dumb we are in the moment. Based on your experience, how would you describe Jesus in one word for us? He's faithful.
Well, what is the feeling in the village today with all this commotion? Oh, man. Today was crazy. I'm just happy to be a part of things, honestly. Everybody got caught up in the moment, and who wouldn't? I mean, the Messiah is here. He chose our village. He came to our village. He's been around a few times, but now we know who he is. And Jesus, he needed a donkey, and I got to help Jesus myself. It was a proud moment for our village. And what a celebration. Here is the Messiah, our Savior King, the Son of David, who we've been waiting for for centuries. He's here. What I can't believe...
is that he chose a donkey that has not been broke yet. This is not something you do, right? You've got to teach a donkey to let you ride, but this beast just let him ride. It was a miracle. My entire lifetime, I've never seen anything like it. And now, it's party time around here. Based on your experience, how would you describe Jesus in one word for us? One word. He's amazing. This is amazing. What a time to be alive. Well, sir, how do you feel about the Messiah coming to town?
This guy, every time he shows up to Jerusalem, he's got to mess everything up. Every time he comes, it's a bigger disturbance. We know what we're doing here. We have been doing this for a long time. Our traditions deserve respect. Based on your experience, how would you describe this Jesus in one word for us? He's changing everything. Well, you received an amazing gift from Jesus. Tell us all about what happened for you today. And I've been hearing about this Jesus, how he's been healing people, that he's the promised son of David, the Messiah. When I already was near, I knew I needed him.
I've lived as an outcast my whole life, just begging for scraps, since I lost my sight. And I have no value to any. But I heard that he loves people like me. And I knew I needed him. And his mercy. Everyone was telling me to be quiet, dismissing me as if I didn't matter. But he heard my cry. And he stopped. And he called me. He asked me what I wanted. The Messiah cared about my needs. And healed me. And then he said, go your way. Your faith has made you well. Well, I knew my way was with him.
Where else could I possibly go after the king, the Christ, stopped what he was doing to show his love to me? It is forever. Long live the king. Based on your experience, how would you describe Jesus for us in one word? He's merciful. So I don't know what you thought of that. It was interesting. It was kind of fun to do. I hope that it showed you where people's hearts were and how they saw Jesus. There's one more character that is a part of this story that often gets overlooked. Honestly, out of everyone, when I really looked at myself, I looked at the story of Palm Sunday.
This one character might be the one that I most relate to on my own journey, Jesus. Do you know who it is? It's the young donkey. See, there's so much that this donkey doesn't understand, much like us. But let's just imagine for a second that he could grasp what was happening here. I know it's kind of crazy, but imagine if he was asked, what happened today? What do you think he would say? I think it would sound something like this. I don't really get what's happening, but here's what I know. I can't tell you why, but Jesus chose me.
and called me specifically to come and be of service to him. I was scared, but he sent others who knew him already to guide me to him. When I got there, I was amazed at how joyful everyone was, just how much they loved this man, Jesus. He asked me to do something that I've never done before. He asked me to step way out of my comfort zone. And if it were anyone else, I never could or would have done what he was asking. But there's something about him. I knew that I was safe and I trusted him. I had no idea where the road ahead went. I had no idea what the road ahead even looked like. There's people everywhere. There's noise and distractions everywhere, but...
he was in control. And somehow, I just knew that he would make sure that I was going the right way. I didn't know how long the journey was going to be. And I didn't know when my part to play in it would end. But I knew that he did. And that was enough. I just needed to show up and be willing to serve. And when we got to the end of the road, when my part in the story was over, I'd done what he asked. I had brought the Christ, the Savior, the hope of the world, to people that needed him. And when my journey on this road was over,
He kept his promise and I got to go home. Think about this for a minute. Doesn't this sound like every Christian's journey? We don't know what's going on, but all of a sudden we know that we're called and we're brought to Christ by people that already know him. And we get there and we meet him. We meet Jesus and we know we can trust him. We know that we're safe with him. And he is going to ask you to do stuff that you've never done before. He's going to ask you to step out of your comfort zone.
but it's okay because he's in control. And you don't know where this road is going. You don't know where the end of the road is for you. You don't know what this journey is going to look like. There's distractions everywhere, but you know that he knows and that's enough. And so you travel this road with Jesus. And when you get to the end, when your part is played, when you've served in the way that you were made to serve, when your time is up, he keeps his promise and you get to go home. That's why I relate to the donkey. This week, we're going to speak about all the different aspects of Jesus and what he did for us. But for today,
I just want you to look at your heart and who Jesus is and where the two meet. Do you sometimes get complacent and start demanding things of Jesus like James and John? Do you humbly approach him seeking his mercy like Bartimaeus? Do you celebrate him and make sure that everybody knows that you see him as king? Do you cling to tradition and the way that you do things and refuse to be teachable like the Pharisees? Or do you find with that young donkey that you often have no idea what is happening, but you just trust that Jesus does?
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