Pastor Morgan led us through a message in honor of Palm Sunday from Matthew 21:1-17 and we had the chance to hear the Redeemer kids perform a few songs to celebrate! We love it when our kids get to lead us in worship!
This week Morgan’s messaged focused on the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem that began what many in church history refer to as Holy Week. To begin the message, Morgan identified how anger can reveal what we treasure in life, and specifically, at the root of most of our anger can be missed expectations.
So what happens if we have missed expectations with God? This idea isn’t very far off in the story of Jesus’ triumphal entry to Jerusalem. When Jesus entered the city, many people were shouting “Hosanna!” What many may not know and what Pastor Morgan shared is that shouts of Hosanna can literally mean, “save us!” The people of God were under the rule of the Roman Empire and they thought Jesus would be their deliverance so they were crying out to him to deliver them.
The manner in which Jesus entered the city matters. Jesus, through whom all things are created, road in to Jerusalem on a donkey - the unintelligent animal typically associated with the poor. He didn’t enter on a big war horse or on a chariot. We can take a few lessons from Jesus in this text.
- Jesus reframes power for us. He is approachable! God often chooses the weak and despised of the world to usher in his kingdom
- Jesus is accessible.
- Jesus is the fulfillment of the Old Testament (Zechariah 9:9-10, Psalm 72:8,17)
However, as Pastor Morgan pointed out, even though Jesus entered the city with shouts and hopes of “save us,” he will soon be abandoned due to unmet expectations. We can be prone to try and control what salvation looks like for us, just like the people of God did of Jesus when he entered the city - but Jesus had a more radical and complete deliverance on the way for his people, one they could have never imagined.
