Matthew 21:1-11 (ESV)

“Who is this?”

¹  Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples,
²  saying to them, “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me.
³  If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will send them at once.”
⁴  This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying,
⁵  “Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’”
⁶  The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them.
⁷  They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them.
⁸  Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.
⁹  And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”
¹⁰  And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, “Who is this?”
¹¹  And the crowds said, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.”

In including my ministry here as Interim Pastor, this is the 10^th time that I have preached to you on a Palm Sunday. These verses, these events, and my thinking about them; are very familiar to you.

However, this coming Sunday is Palm Sunday. Somewhere on earth – wherever they keep such things – there must be a Baptist Pastor’s Rule Book that says, “on every Palm Sunday (forever and ever) all Baptist Pastors must preach on what happened on Palm Sunday.”

These events, like all other events, were decreed by God and HE shared many of these events with Old Testament Prophets hundreds of years before they took place.

Zechariah was a prophet in Israel following the Babylonian Captivity and the return to Jerusalem. He wrote in the middle of the 6^th Century BC (550-525 BC). He speaks of the promised Messiah and the certainty of HIS coming Kingdom. In Zechariah 9:9, he wrote,

“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”

There is a sad irony in our focal passage for today. This event took place to demonstrate again that, “God keeps HIS promises” even as the people of Israel were about to break theirs.

I have preached more than once from this passage that it is clear that these “happy and rejoicing religious people” did not really mean a thing they were saying. They wanted to be delivered from Roman Occupation; they did not care at all about having their God come to them to set up “HIS” Kingdom; they wanted someone to overthrow the Romans and set up “their” Kingdom.

The very next day, after all of this praise and pomp; Jesus will go into the Temple and throw everyone in the Temple out of the Temple.

Four days later, the people of Jerusalem will return the favor by crying out “Crucify HIM; crucify HIM; give us Barabbas; crucify HIM!”

Most religious people did not mean it then, and most religious people do not mean it now.

A couple of years ago I preached a Palm Sunday here that I titled, “The Pointless Praise of Pretending People.” It is clear in these eleven verses that their praise was indeed pointless; and, they were indeed “pretending people.”

This year – I want to focus on the last three words of verse 10, “Who is this?”

Here are some key questions I will attempt to answer in the message…

First, how does this event identify Jesus as the Promised and Prophesied Messiah of Israel?

Second, how was Jesus able to predict to his followers exactly what would take place after HE entered Jerusalem?

Third, how did God work things out so that the very thing that the OLD TESTAMENT prophets said would happen actually happened?

Fourth, Why was it OK for the people of Jerusalem to worship Jesus even though they later proved that they did not really mean it?

Fifth, why was Jesus so controversial then? Do you think HE is still that controversial today?

Finally, who do you think this passage teaches that Jesus is?

I hope you will read over and pray over and think through these eleven verses before next Sunday. Take some time to ponder the questions. Prepare your mind to hear the Word of God on Sunday!

As my friend Tom Rains loves to say, “I hope to see you Sunday with a smile on your face, your Bible in your hand, and your family and friends by your side!”