In the name of Christ Jesus, dear fellow redeemed people of God,

On Wednesday morning, televisions were broadcasting the crowd in the streets of Baghdad. People were jumping up and down. And some of them were holding up and waving palm branches. How interesting that the custom of palm branches has continued for at least 2000 years in the Middle East. Waving palm branches symbolizes victory and celebration. And people were celebrating as Jesus rode into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. They were praising Jesus as the Messiah. We have good reason to praise Jesus too. So, then, let us praise him, saying:

1. OUR LORD

In verse three, Jesus refers to Himself as "the Lord" for the first time in this Gospel. Jesus is "the Lord." He is our Lord. He is the Lord of Creation, the Lord of heaven and earth, the Lord of the Old and New Testaments, the Lord who will come again as the Judge on the Last Day.

He acts as Lord here too. He sends His disciples on a mission. It may seem like a mission of small importance, but it is a mission of the Lord nonetheless. Their mission was to go and get the donkey. This was no ordinary donkey. This was a donkey that had never been ridden. This was a special donkey, for the Lord had chosen it for Himself. He would ride this donkey into Jerusalem, the very city where He would pay for all sin. Jesus knew that he was going to the cross. He is omniscient. That means that He knows everything. He knew exactly what the disciples would find. He told them in advance what they would see and what they should do. He said, (2-3) "Go to the village ahead of you, and just as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, 'Why are you doing this?' tell him, 'The Lord needs it and will send it back here shortly.'"

Jesus told them to say, "The Lord needs it." If the Lord says that He needs something, He gets it. He owns everything. He created the whole world and everyone in it. He can take whatever He wants, whenever He wants it. That is lesson one of stewardship: God owns everything. What we claim as our own is merely on loan from God. He can take it back whenever He wants it. Any day, the Lord could say: "The Lord needs it" and that's it. Our lease runs out. Everything that we have is merely on loan from God. God owns it.

He owns us too. He sent his disciples on a mission to obtain that donkey. As they went, they must have been amazed at how everything happened exactly as Jesus said it would. They found the donkey colt, they answered the question, and they were on their way. The disciples obeyed their Lord. If our Lord sends us on a mission, we'd better get going. He sent them to get a colt. They went. That's what it means to have Jesus be Lord of your life. If you know what God says, and yet say, "I don't care what God's Word says; I'm going to do what I want," then you are saying that Jesus is not your Lord. You are saying that you are your own Lord. If we are commanded by God's Word to do something that our sinful flesh would rather not do, and yet we do it, we confess that Jesus is our Lord. The disciples showed that Jesus was their Lord. Let us show that Jesus is our Lord by praising him today and serving him in the future. Sing Hosanna! And praise Jesus Christ! After all, he is not only our Lord, he is...

2. OUR KING

These people did all sorts of things that seem rather unusual to us today. These people were celebrating and saying, "This is our King!" First, they put their cloaks on the colt for Jesus to sit on. This is an act of service to the King. Next, they spread their cloaks and some branches on the road. They did not want the donkey that carried their King to touch the dirt. This was an act of deep respect. Then, they waved palm branches. This is where we get the name, "Palm Sunday." Then they marched in a procession. It was kind of like a parade. There was quite a crowd of people. Since this was the Passover time, there were all kinds of pilgrims in town from all over the land of Israel. This whole procession was a way of saying, "This is our King. The Messiah has arrived." The people knew it. Jesus knew it. The disciples knew it. And the Jewish leaders knew it. There was no confusion here as to what was going on. They people were making a statement. Here is our King! He is the Messiah! They made it very clear that Jesus was the most important person there. And that was right, because he is the King, the long-promised Messiah.

Today, do we make it that clear that Jesus is the most important person at church? Do we make it clear that Jesus is our King, not only here, but in every day life? Or do we sometimes pretend that the service is to entertain the people in the pews? Or do we sometimes act as though we are the kings of our own life? God's kingdom is not a democracy! God's kingdom is not ruled by people. God's kingdom is ruled by Jesus Christ, and he rules through his Word. Let us look for ways, here at church, and in every day life, that we can make it even clearer that Jesus is our King, and that we are his servants. That means that we will want to actually sing the hymns, and pay attention to his Word. That means that we will view these meetings as most important on our schedules. The people made it very clear on Palm Sunday that Jesus was the most important person.

They claimed Jesus as their king! They said, {9-10} "Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted, '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!'" In 2 Samuel chapter 7, God promised that a special Son of David would reign forever as an eternal King. Jesus is that Eternal King, the Son of David. And these people claimed Jesus as that King!

Unfortunately, they must have misunderstood what Jesus came to do. Apparently, they were hoping that He would throw off the oppression of the Roman government. But that is not why he came. He did not come to be a political king. His kingdom is not of this world. He had a bigger problem to deal with than the oppressive Romans. Jesus had come to throw off the eternal oppression of sin. The Old Testament lesson from Zechariah foretold that this King would ride into Jerusalem, "righteous and having salvation." That gives us yet another reason to sing Hosanna and praise Jesus Christ because he is...

3. OUR REDEEMER

The people may not have realized the full meaning of those words on that day, but needed a Savior from sin. And we needed a Savior from sin too. We have not always obeyed and served our Lord and King. We have sinned against him. We deserve to have him reject us. But instead of rejecting us, Jesus came to redeem us. He rode into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday knowing that he was going to die on the cross. This week, let us once again walk in our Savior's footsteps. On Thursday, he would celebrate the Passover, and institute the Lord's Supper. Then he would be betrayed. He would be tried, and tried again in Jewish and Roman courts. The crowd would become heavily involved. Could it be that many of the very same people who were shouting such good things on Palm Sunday would later shout, "Crucify him"? That's what the crowd would shout on Good Friday. Our Redeemer would be mocked and flogged and finally crucified. There, on the cross, our Lord and King took our place. There, our Lord and King would die for us. There, our Lord and King redeemed us from sin. On Easter Sunday, our Redeemer rose from death. Believe in the Lord Jesus!

And then worship him. There is no better week to really get serious about worshiping our Redeemer. If it was not too inconvenient for our Savior to go all the way to the cross, it should not be too inconvenient for genuine, authentic believers to worship their Redeemer. Our Savior did not overlook our problem of sin, so we dare not overlook these opportunities to worship him. One way to serve our Lord and King and Redeemer is to follow the meaning of the Third Commandment. We should fear and love God that we do not despise preaching and his Word, but regard it as holy and gladly hear and learn it. This day we begin "holy week." Let us set out to hear God's holy Word, and to praise our Redeemer. Praise him today, singing, "Hosanna!" He is our Redeemer!

This week is the best time to get serious about hearing God's Word. Follow along. Walk with your Savior. See him in the upper room, in the courts, on the cross, in the tomb, and out of the tomb. Follow along, and you will have a much better grasp of what our Redeemer did for us. And it matters! It matters more than the Super Bowl, the Championships and the war. This war had eternity at stake, your eternity. Would you be in hell forever, or would you be set free? Join us for our special worship services, and God will work through his Word and strengthen your faith. This is the best time to learn what it cost our Redeemer to open the door to heaven for us. This is the best time to learn how we were redeemed. This is the best time to learn what Christianity is really all about. So then, let us begin.

Jesus rode into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday long ago with the crowd of people praising him. Let us praise him too. He is our Lord. He is our King. He is our Redeemer. Amen.