Palm Sunday - Matt 21.1-17 Sermon Outline

Matthew 21.1-17 Outline

Context

• B and I spent most of yesterday in a hospital waiting room. She said I at least ought to get a sermon illustration out of it. So here it is – Jerusalem was a bit like a hospital waiting room at the time Jesus entered on what we call Palm Sunday.
• Hopes, aspirations, fears. Waiting for Messiah, for liberation, healing etc.
• Previous chapter of Matt – Who’s in and who’s out? What’s the pecking order amongst J’s followers? J predicts his rejection, death and resurrection.
• He knows now is the time and that he only has a one way ticket.

Timing and Fulfilment
• Conscious fulfilment of Zech 9.9 messianic prophecy-
• Matt knows that J knew what he was doing
• The crowd knew the prophecy too – people were biblically literate
• Hosanna (Save us!), Son of David, Blessed is he (Psalm 118)

Contrast – the other procession
• Pilate and Roman army entering opposite, west gate, with display of might
• A contrast of style and substance
• But a clear claim to be the King

A new kind of king
• A HUMBLE King. Radical concept! Very different from other kings then and now
• A new way of exercising leadership and authority
• See Zech 9.10-11. More clues of what kind of King to expect
• Radically different and what the world needs. Be challenged by this.

Cleansing the Temple
• What the Temple was meant to be compared to what it had become
• J quotes Isaiah 56.7, but look at whole of Isaiah 56.1-8
• Temple to be place of healing and reconciliation for all kinds of broken and hurting people, foreigners, maimed, sick and outcast people etc
• J not afraid to confront wrong, even though he knew the consequences. Shouldn’t we do this too – but with a sense of timing, led by God?

Irony of Indignance
• Following on from that Isaiah 56 image, Jesus now heals the lame and blind in the Temple
• The priests, who should have rejoiced at this were indignant
• Easy trap for religious people – take care!
• The exact person they were praying for walked past their door but they failed to recognise and then rejected him
• They knew the word of God inside out but didn’t recognise the Word of God when he was standing right in front of them.
Understood by chiildren
• Acceptance of Jesus and rejoicing at his coming by children and ignorant people contrasts with his treatment by most of the religious.
• J calls us to a simple, childlike faith
• How tragic when religious people miss their moment, even end up working against the God they are trying to worship and represent. But God will not be thwarted and can use others.

Conclusion
• Passover is about liberation. Not just liberation of a few from one kind of slavery, but liberation of all from all kinds of slavery.
• That’s God’s agenda in Christ and so it should be our agenda.
• We need to follow the humble king, not the empire.
• We need to have courage to confront injustice
• Don’t miss your moment. See what God is doing here in Barcelona or wherever you go and play your part, joining in wholeheartedly, in the power of the Holy Spirit.