(March 22, 2024), Alan Higgins shares about Palm Sunday and encourages us to know, honour and follow the Prince of Peace.

Let me begin with a prayer…

‘Father God, as we look afresh in the Bible at the familiar story of Palm Sunday, please speak to us and give us a new insight into what Jesus our Saviour did for us. May we really know that Jesus is the King of Kings… in His name, I pray. Amen.’

Palm Sunday is one of my favourite days of the year.

Declaring Jesus!
When I led St Clement’s Parish Church we used to make it a fun day – we marched around the church with a donkey, me playing guitar and everyone singing – down neighbouring streets – in through the gates – into the church – worship the Lord – and then the clearing up had to begin!

Believe it or not we had to apply to the Parades Commission to allow us to parade around the church and police on motorcycles escorted us and stopped the traffic for us. It caused a bit of a stir and people came out of their homes to see what all the commotion was about – we certainly were making ourselves heard and letting people know in the area that Jesus is the King of Kings!

Palm Sunday – this Sunday – is the start of Holy Week, that most famous of all weeks leading up to the climax of the Easter story and the event which changed history forever – the resurrection of Jesus our Saviour!

Let’s delve into some verses from Mark’s gospel…

We learn from Mark 11:1-11 that in travelling towards Jerusalem, Jesus came to Bethphage and Bethany, two villages on the slopes of the Mount of Olives. These villages were only a few miles away from Jerusalem, and if you remember, Bethany was where Jesus’ friends Mary, Martha and Lazarus lived.

Odd Request
Mark 11:2-3 tells of Jesus’ odd request to two if His disciples: ‘Go into that village over there,’ he told them. ‘As soon as you enter it, you will see a young donkey tied there that no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 

If anyone asks, “What are you doing?” just say, ‘The Lord needs it and will return it soon.’ 

Now if you had been one of those disciples who had been asked to go and bring a donkey from the next village, what would your reaction have been?

I think I’d be asking questions such as, ‘What’s the house number?’ ‘What if they won’t let us take it?’ ‘Do we need to pay for it?’  ‘How will we know it’s the right one?’  And probably a thousand and one other questions!

But these guys just seem to have taken Jesus at His word and did as He told them. Oh that I would do what Jesus wants me to do without questioning – what a difference that would make in my life!

What about you, dear reader?

Spiritual Promptings
I remember one of those times when Jesus told me to do something and I did it without questioning. Going about pastoral work for Willowfield Parish Church, I suddenly got this feeling that I had to visit someone… a guy whom I knew would be at work, not at home! But I accepted Jesus’ prompting to call at this person’s house – and, yes, I found no one home. Ah well, I thought – at least I tried. So I left my calling card to let him know I’d called.

About half an hour later I had a call from that guy saying that his wife had just left him. When I was at his house he’d been down at the church looking for me as he was feeling suicidal and wanted to end his life!

Thankfully, we arranged to meet and though his marriage did end, he’s still alive and happily remarried. For quite some time he would text me every year on the anniversary of the day I had called at his home, thanking me for saving his life. But as I would remind him, it wasn’t me just going to his home that day, it was due to the Holy Spirit’s prompting me to do something that I’d thought of as silly which led to saving his life!

Obeying Jesus
Those two Mark 11:1 disciples did exactly as Jesus asked them… and went looking for and bringing the specified donkey to Jesus. Now we don’t know, but perhaps Jesus had arranged this with the owners of the donkey: it seems that the phrase ‘The Lord needs it’ was the special sign to the owner that the disciples were not stealing it.

• Let’s be people who do whatever we’re asked to do in Jesus’ name even though we might think it to be a strange request. And when we do then we’ll see great things happening for God’s kingdom.

The obedient disciples that brought the donkey back to Jesus then ‘threw their cloaks over it, He sat on it’(v7). And verse 8 tells us that many people spread their cloaks on the road, while others spread branches they had cut in the fields.’

Now it seems that the crowd who were now lining the way had been afraid that there was going to be trouble in Jerusalem (Mark 10:32). But when they saw Jesus on the donkey their fear turned to being very happy and they worshipped Jesus!

Pardoned Followers!
Whenever we are afraid let’s be people who turn to Jesus – there’s nothing with which He can’t deal. For example, and a great Easter thought, there’s no sin that we have committed that He can’t forgive. Accepting this, like that crowd we’ll change from frightened sinners to pardoned people praising and worshipping the King of Kings!

And why were those people happy and praising and worshipping Jesus? Well, they saw Him coming to them on a donkey and that was very significant. You see, a king in ancient biblical dayswould ride a horse if he were going into war… but a king would ride on a donkey if he were coming in peace. This was Jesus showing that He is indeed King and that He is the Prince of Peace.

Actually, this act was prophesied a long time before this event took place. If we look back to Zechariah 9:9, which was written some 500 years before Jesus was alive, we read: ‘Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout, Daughter Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’ 

Ultimate Sacrifice
Another point about this donkey is that it had never carried anyone. You see this too is significant in this story. Because it had never carried anyone it was then deemed suitable for a holy purpose. It was like what was said about a heifer back in Numbers 19:2, ‘This is a requirement of the law that the Lord has commanded: Tell the Israelites to bring you a red heifer without defect or blemish and that has never been under a yoke.’  In other words this young donkey was like the cow from the old covenant which had to be perfect for a sacrifice.

This unridden perfect donkey was carrying the ultimate sacrifice – the Saviour of not only God’s own people, but the whole world (John 3:16-17)!

Thankfully no more sacrifices are required as Jesus was the one and only sacrifice acceptable to God! He’s our Saviour, Prince of Peace, Messiah, High Priest (Hebrews 4:14-16) and our King! Yes He’s our King… but a king back then would have been expected to not only ride a large horse but also be surrounded by a vast army of soldiers. And he would also be expected to wear ceremonial clothes. Jesus didn’t have any of these – He was and is a different king to all the kings before and after Him.

• We can rejoice! One day He will be seen riding again, not on a donkey but on a white horse, His robe dipped in blood, with the armies of heaven dressed in fine linen, white and clean (Revelation 19:11-16).

King Jesus
Jesus is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords – how good it is to know that we can freely worship Him. Let’s be people who put Him first in our lives and who worship Jesus as King, Lord and Saviour.

But here we’ll continue the Palm Sunday incident. The crowd did a couple of things which are also significant in this story…

(i) Hosanna!
They called out ‘Hosanna’ – ho-san-nah’ which basically means ‘Please save us now’ and comes from Psalm 118:25-26a, ‘Lord, save us! Lord, grant us success! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’

The good news for everyone is that Jesus has come in the name of the Lord as Saviour of all humanity, just not Israel! Hallelujah!

(ii) Palm branches
Then they spread their clothes and, as John tells us in John 12:13, also spread palm branches on the ground.

And this is where we get the name Palm Sunday. Israel was abundant with palm trees and God had directed the Israelites who had been freed from Egypt’s slavery to include palm (and other) branches when they yearly celebrated this freedom with the Feasts of Tabernacles (Leviticus 23:40).

This fact of the history of palm branches makes a perfect connection to the true identity of Jesus as the King of Kings who has set us free from our sins!

Palm branches point to Jesus being King but there was something else that was laid before Jesus that day that carries great meaning as well… those cloaks, or garments as other interpretations say, that were laid down in respect of Jesus on the road of His triumphal entry into Jerusalem.

• Let’s be people whose lives are continually laid down before Him and that our response is continually a life of worship before our Saviour, our great king!

Eastertime Challenge
What does Palm Sunday mean to you? And especially Easter itself – Good Friday and all that happened to Jesus on the cross and above all Resurrection Sunday – the day the world changed forever – when Jesus rose from the dead and is alive for evermore.

In summing up, as Christians let’s be people who –

• Do whatever asked by Jesus – even though we might think it a strange request.
• Turn to Jesus whenever we’re afraid – after all, there’s nothing with which He can’t deal!
• Put Him first in our lives – always.
• Worship Jesus as – King, Lord and Saviour.
• Continually lay down our lives before Him – that our response is continually a life of worship of Jesus.

I started with a prayer; I close with another –

‘Father God, thank you for Jesus. Thank you that He came riding on that donkey all those years ago to show us that He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Help us this Holy Week and this Easter to put Him first in everything we do and not be afraid to step out and step up for whatever you need us to do so that we can see lives won for your kingdom. And… we pray it in Jesus’ name. Amen.’

• Let’s worship our risen King of Kings and Lord of Lord and Prince of Peace!

                                                                  
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Alan Higgins served at Willowfield Parish Church, East Belfast, Northern Ireland, for 18 years. Although retired, he ministers around as God leads, including interim pastoring, blessing many. Link: OnlinerConnect@gmail.com
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