Palm Sunday 2023
April 1, 2023 / Brian T. Anderson / Vineyard Church North PhoenixPalm Sunday 2023
I. Introduction
A. Mark 10:32-34 (NLT) 32They were now on the way up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them. The disciples were filled with awe, and the people following behind were overwhelmed with fear. Taking the twelve disciples aside, Jesus once more began to describe everything that was about to happen to him. 33“Listen,” he said, “we’re going up to Jerusalem, where the Son of Man will be betrayed to the leading priests and the teachers of religious law. They will sentence him to die and hand him over to the Romans. 34They will mock him, spit on him, flog him with a whip, and kill him, but after three days he will rise again.”
B. Mark 10:35 (NAS) James and John, the two sons of Zebedee, came up to Jesus, saying, “Teacher, we want You to do for us whatever we ask of You.”
C. Mark 10:36-37 (NLT) 36“What is your request?” he asked. 37They replied, “When you sit on your glorious throne, we want to sit in places of honor next to you, one on your right and the other on your left.”
D. Mark 10:38 (NLT) But Jesus said to them, “You don’t know what you are asking! Are you able to drink from the bitter cup of suffering I am about to drink? Are you able to be baptized with the baptism of suffering I must be baptized with?”
E. Mark 10:39-45 (NLT) 39“Oh yes,” they replied, “we are able!” Then Jesus told them, “You will indeed drink from my bitter cup and be baptized with my baptism of suffering. 40But I have no right to say who will sit on my right or my left. God has prepared those places for the ones he has chosen.” 41When the ten other disciples heard what James and John had asked, they were indignant. 42So Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers in this world lord it over their people, and officials flaunt their authority over those under them. 43But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, 44and whoever wants to be first among you must be the slave of everyone else. 45For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
1. When you work out of a heart of love for people—like Jesus did—rewards for are never the things that motivate you!
F. Mark 11:8-10 (NLT) 8Many in the crowd spread their garments on the road ahead of him, and others spread leafy branches they had cut in the fields. 9Jesus was in the center of the procession, and the people all around him were shouting, “Hosanna! Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the LORD! 10Blessings on the coming Kingdom of our ancestor David! Hosanna in highest heaven!”
1. They were a crowd of people who had come to Jerusalem for the Feast of .
2. Antiochus Epiphanes
3. Judas Maccabeus
4. “Hosanna” means “ !” Or, “Save us now!”
5. What the crowds are saying is, “Jesus, be like Judas Maccabeus and deliver us! Deliver us the way he did by overthrowing the government. Jesus, come and give us !”
6. But usually, God’s paradigm is so from our expectations!
7. The Bible is full of people not understanding —not understanding what God is doing.
8. The word “Holy” means “.”
G. This week—the last week in Jesus’ life—is all about people who thought God was going in direction—and they found out that God’s paradigm was a direction all together!
H. What may seem like “”—or disconnect from God in your life—may simply be that the story isn’t over yet!
I. Our paradigms—our expectations—can us to the Presence of Jesus—and the “other way” of Jesus!
J. Maybe it’s time to try something “” than what you’re used to!
II. Conclusion