Anticipating Easter - Palm Sunday

Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you! He is just and having salvation, lowly and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey.  Zechariah 9:9

Four descriptions in this verse describe the Messiah's character:

(1) He is King, (2) He is just, (3) He brings salvation, and (4) He is humble.


When Christ rode that young donkey into Jerusalem at the beginning of that final Passover week, He was fulfilling specific prophecy, complete in detail that could not be mistaken or disregarded.

The next day the great crowd that had come to the Feast 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 upon it, as it is written,

     "O daughter of Zion; see, your king is coming, seated on a
     donkey's colt."  John 12:12-15


The Church refers to this event as Palm Sunday, or The Triumphal Entry.

It is recorded in all four gospels and marks a distinctive adjustment in Christ's ministry. Before this He seemed plagued with the problem of too much acclaim (His 'time had not yet come,' He often said).

Now, He even chided the Pharisees when they asked Jesus to quiet the tone of the crowd, "If they keep quiet, the stones will cry out." (Luke 19:40)

Who was in the crowd that day? A group from Bethany, still rejoicing at the miracle of Lazarus being brought back from the dead. Many pilgrims from all over the Empire arriving for Passover. Matthew talks about the lame, the blind and children being there. The text also refers to religious leaders.

And Roman legions were there to keep the crowds in check as the population of the city began to swell in advance of the Feast.

Crowd control in Jerusalem was always a security problem for the Romans, and for their puppet Jewish administrators who were jealous of their positions of authority within the structure of the Empire.

But about those Roman legions. I wonder what they thought. Were they secretly - or not so secretly -  making fun?

The typical Roman officer on duty in Jerusalem would have witnessed a number of important processions and 'Triumphal Entries.'

Probably even in Rome where the spectacle of the event would have dwarfed this small occasion in Jerusalem.

Might it have been like the Oscars being presented in Mississippi?

Jerusalem was an important city - a hub of the Empire. But not the place to honor a great King?

Did the Roman soldiers hang back and sneer at the procession of peasants from Galilee with the blind, the lame and children?

Did they perhaps laugh at all the provincial pomp and zeal? Thinking of how it would have been done in Rome, where they really "knew how to put on productions like this!"

Accustomed to honoring a triumphal king riding on a stallion or chariot, surrounded by the glitter of important adoring crowds, the object of this crowd's attention was a solitary figure, on a small donkey, with a borrowed coat draped across the backbone serving as his saddle.

And he was "weeping" (!) we are told in Luke 19 as He considered the fate of the city!

What kind of King was this?

Not the usual kind of King, that's for sure.

Anticipating Easter - What Else Happened on Good Friday?

                    What Else Happened on Good Friday?

"God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God."   (2  Corinthians 5:21)

This verse talks about two transactions: (1)  believers' sins are placed (imputed) on Christ, and He pays the total penalty due in full, and (2) then His righteousness is placed (imputed) on them and they are rewarded for it!

This process is sometimes called the "Great Exchange."

It's like I bundled up in a trash bag all my garbage - my sin and guilt, sadness, brokenness, disappointments and hurts and all the other negatives stuff I have accumulated and hoarded over the years  - and handed that bag to Christ.

He took that bag from my hands and presented me with a treasure chest - a chest full of priceless jewels: forgiveness, cleansing, hope and joy, meaning and purpose -  a limitless overflowing supply to last me for all eternity! - and a place in God's family where I could be with Him forever!

Exchanging my garbage for His treasure chest is the best deal in the universe! How could anyone ever turn that deal down?

Our Lord's prefect righteousness is like a glorious mantel that covers all our imperfections and gives us the right to be His children!

Isaiah said it this way: "He has clothed me with the garments of salvation. He has covered me with the robes of righteousness" (Isaiah 61:10).

In other words: God treated Christ as if He had sinned all my sins, so He could treat me as if I ever sinned at all!

Christ took all the abuse I deserved, so God could give me that royal treatment He deserved!

It is, any way you look at it, amazing grace!

(To 'impute' is a legal term. It means to legally transfer ownership of something from one person to another. The noun is 'imputation.')

Anticipating Easter - And Still We Call This Friday Good

When they came to the place called the Skull, there they crucified him, along with the criminals--one on his right, the other on his left.

Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.

The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, "He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Christ of God, the Chosen One."

The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar and said, "If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself."

There was a written notice above him, which read: This is the King of the Jews.

One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: "Aren't you the Christ? Save yourself and us!"

But the other criminal rebuked him, "Don't you fear God," he said, "since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong."

Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you
come into your kingdom."

Jesus answered him, "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise."

It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour, for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Jesus called out with a loud voice, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit."

When he said this, he breathed his last.

    Luke 23:33-46

Anticipating Easter - The Easter Gospel

How Paul explains the Easter Gospel.....

Now, brothers I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance.

     That Christ died for our sins according to the
          Scriptures,
     that he was buried,
     that he was raised on the third day
     according to the Scriptures,
     and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the  
         Twelve.

After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time.

But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?

If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.

And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.

But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man.

For as in Adam all died, so in Christ all will be made alive.

Thanks be to God!
He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.



    1 Corinthians 15:1, 3-6, 12-14, 20-22, 57

Anticipating Easter - Why Barabbas? Why not Jesus?

Pilate:

"But it is your custom for me to release to you one prisoner at the time of the Passover. Do you want me to release the 'King of the Jews'?"

The crowd:

They shouted back, "No, not him! Give us Barabbas!"
Now Barabbas had taken part in a rebellion.

(John 18:39-40)





The world will always choose a robber, insurrectionist, or murderer to the innocent Jesus.

Why? Because Barabbas is one of them, and however dangerous he may be, he is at least controllable.

They can handle him. 

But how do you handle Jesus?



Tom Skinner writes in Words of Revolution:

Barabbas is the guy who was going to destroy the system. Barabbas was going to burn them out. Barabbas was going to kill them. Why would they want Barabbas?

It's very simple.

If you let Barabbas go, and he starts another disturbance or another riot, you can always call out the National Guard, the federal troops or the Marines to put his thing down. All you have to do is push a few tanks into his neighborhood and you can squash whatever he's up to. You can find out where he's keeping his guns and raid his apartment. You can always stop Barabbas.

But the question is: How do you stop Jesus?

How do you stop a Man who has no guns, no tanks, no ammunition, but still is shaking the whole Roman empire?

How do you stop a Man, who -- without firing a shot -- is getting revolutionary results?

They figured there's only one answer -- get rid of Him.

They made the same mistake people have made down throughout the history of man.

They thought they could get rid of the idea by getting rid of the man from whom the idea comes.

So they said, "We can get rid of Jesus. We don't want him to rule over us."

Barabbas would never really ask to run your life.

Jesus would ask to run you life. Jesus would ask for the right to rule  over you!

And that's the problem.

Men would rather be enslaved to tyranny than let Jesus rule their lives. They would rather be exploited  than let Christ determine their lives.

So they said, "Give us Barabbas!"

So great was their opposition to Jesus, that they chose a convicted dangerous murderer over the mild Jesus.


Barabbas is an Aramaic word meaning "son of a father" - "Bar" means "son" and "abba" means "father."

So by his name we can consider him a representative type of all the sons of all the fathers who have ever been born into this world.

We, like Barabbas, are all of Adam's race. We are in rebellion against God. We are robbers of His glory. We are murderers of our souls and the souls of others. We are bound in the dark prison of our sin.

Like Barabbas, we all seek freedom.

And like in the case of Barabbas, Jesus gave His life to bring us that freedom!