These are sermons on the Triumphant Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem.
An Easter sermon…
As Jesus entered into Jerusalem for the last time people showered him with shouts of praise. They cried out “Blessed is the king of Israel!” This declaration was true, but not complete. In Revelation 19 we see a greater, fuller, declaration. Jesus is the “king of kings and lord of lords.” This Palm Sunday sermon, on Revelation 19:11-21, calls people to serve Jesus as king of kings.
Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem was a weird event. He entered the city knowing that he was going to die there. Yet, he entered the city to shouts of royalty and cries for salvation from the throng of people who gathered. Those with Jesus didn’t understand it, at least not until after he died and rose. This sermon tells the Palm Sunday sermon and how his death and resurrection make it make sense.
There’s a moment from the life of Jesus that is celebrated every year. Jesus entered Jerusalem while throngs of people shouted praise and placed palm branches in his path. What isn’t celebrated is the events of the following morning. The celebration was over, Jesus had driven greedy people from the temple, and the religious leaders were mad. In this moment, there was no crowd, but three groups of people still came to him. This is a Palm Sunday sermon about Jesus and those people: The Blind, The Lame, and The Children.
How we answer certain questions will determine the direction of our lives. Who am I? What is my purpose? What happens when I die? But perhaps most life affecting is how you answer a single question about Jesus: Who is this?
Five days before Jesus was murdered he entered into Jerusalem. The records of this event contain strange details: chants of “Hosanna,” stones having the potential to praise, palm leaves, coats, and a previously unridden donkey. This event, and the details surrounding it, matter because they teach us about Jesus – the humble king and savior.
The opposite is easy to find. Discord, turmoil, distress, fighting, frustration, and most other antonyms of peace, are all around us. Peace though, it is often illusive. This Palm Sunday sermon, about a group of people seeking peace, explains where we can find it and how we can keep it.
This is the Holy Week sermons (Palm Sunday, Good Friday, and Easter) from 2016.
The Palm Sunday story is well known: Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a donkey as thousands of people lay their coats and palm branches at his feet while shouting, “Hosanna. Hosanna.” What is sometimes forgotten is the miracle that proceeded this event, a miracles that contributed greatly to the size of the crowd – Jesus raised a man named Lazarus from the dead. The miracle of resurrection has alluring power and the source of resurrection ought not be ignored.
This sermon paints a realistic picture of the events surrounding “The Triumphal Entry” and shows that Jesus didn’t come to give us all that we want, instead to offer the salvation we need.