Palm
Sunday
March
20,
2016
Matthew
21:1-17
The
Lamb Rides Forth Quietly on a Donkey
In
the name of the Father and of the ☩
Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus
is the Lamb of God who went forth to die for our sins and today He is
riding on a donkey.
And
He didn't say anything.
This
might seem strange to us because this would seem like the perfect
time to pause and preach and teach to the crowds. You can't buy
publicity like this. And if this had been anyone else, we might have
said that He had wasted an opportunity to preach the Gospel.
But
this is Jesus, the Lamb. He never misses anything.
The
purpose of this procession was to show the world that
He is the King of Kings and the Son of David. He is the One who comes
in the name of the Lord. This royal Son of David was the Lord's
chosen One who would be sacrificed to make atonement for all sinners.
The prophet Isaiah predicted about Jesus:
He
was oppressed and He was afflicted,
Yet
He did not open His mouth;
Like
a lamb that is led to slaughter,
And
like a sheep that is silent before its shearers,
So
He did not open His mouth. (Isaiah 53:7 NASB)
And
John the Forerunner, 700 years after Isaiah's prophecy, pointed right
at Jesus and said:
Behold,
the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! (John 1:29)
For
three years God's Lamb had traveled all across the Holy Land. He
spoke and taught publicly for all three years. The only times He had
to hide Himself when the mob wanted to grab Him bodily
and shove Him onto a royal throne or when they tried to throw big
rocks at His face to kill Him.
But
now the Lamb of God wanted the crowds in Jerusalem to lay their eyes
on Him. He wanted them to know exactly who they were going to nail to
a tree in few days' time. He wantd them to see the Lamb quietly
riding on a donkey.
But
in a way He didn't need to speak; the crowds spoke for Him. They
provided the commentary for the parade as they shouted the sermon:
Hosanna
to the Son of David;
Blessed
is He who comes in the name of the Lord;
Hosanna
in the highest! (Matthew 21:9)
Angels
had sung to the shepherds who tending their sheep in the fields
nearby to Jesus' birth, and now the crowds were bookending that hymn
of praise. Even though many in the chorus that Sunday did not grasp
what they were saying, their shouts are still true.
This
is the Lamb who rides on a donkey. He is our merciful King who laid
down His life for us.
God
made Him who had no sin to be sin for us,
so
that in Him we might become the righteousness of God! Amen!
2
Corinthians 5:21
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