03-29-2026 Palm Sunday – Misconceptions of Jesus

Text: Mark 11:1-10

                   Today is Palm Sunday and it’s the start of the most important week of our Christian faith.  We begin by commemorating the day that Jesus made His final trip into Jerusalem.  He wouldn’t return again until after He was crucified, buried and rose from the dead.  Our text this morning is found in Mark 11:1-10 where Mark wrote:  “ (1) And when they came near to Jerusalem unto Bethphage and Bethany, at the Mount of Olives, He sent forth two of His Disciples (2) and said unto them, Go your way into the village over against you, and as soon as you be entered into it, you shall find a colt tied, whereon never man sat.  (3) And if any man says unto you, why do you this? say you that the Lord has need of him; and straightway he will send him hither.  (4) And they went their way, and found the colt tied by the door without in a place where two ways met; and they loose him.  (5) And certain of them who stood there said unto them, why are you doing, loosing the colt?  (6) And they said unto them ever as Jesus had commanded and they let them go.  (7) And they brought the colt to Jesus and cast their garments on him; and He sat upon him.  (8) And many spread their garments in the way; and others cut down branches off the trees, and strawed them in the way.  (9) And they who went before, and they who followed cried saying, Hosanna; Blessed is He Who comes in the Name of the Lord!  (10) Blessed be the Kingdom of our father David, that comes in the Name of the Lord! Hosanna in the Highest!”

                   Tradition tells us that Peter and John were the two Disciples that Jesus sent to get a colt – a donkey – for Him to ride into Jerusalem that day.  They found the animal and were met with questions but also got permission to take the animal just as Jesus had explained it to them.  When they got back, they placed their tunics on the donkey to make a saddle.  Jesus got on the donkey and rode it into Jerusalem.  Let’s look further at why Jesus did this.

                   Five hundred years before this day, the prophet Zachariah told the Jewish people that the King would come to them riding a donkey.  Jesus was fulfilling this old prophecy about the Messiah.  The Jews of Jesus’ day would be familiar with the prophesy as it would have been taught to them through the years.  They also knew about Jesus:  His claims, the miracles He had done, and now He’s riding the donkey into Jerusalem.  They understood Jesus was saying that He is the Messiah.

                   The crowd went wild.  They laid their tunics on the road for Him to ride across, they took branches and spread them on the road and waved them in the air.  They started chanting Hosanna, which means praise God and they assumed He was going to set up a new Kingdom for them like that of King David.  But five days later they were calling for Him to be crucified because he didn’t fit their “Messiah box.”  And you know what?  People today are still dismissing Jesus because He doesn’t fit into their box.  They want Him to be who they think He should be. 

                   Just like the Jews of old, people today want Him to be our problem solver.  We get ourselves into a mess.  We try everything we can think of to get out of it which usually leads to a deeper mess with more messes often being created.  And then we cry out to Jesus to get us out of it.  We want Him to solve problems that we likely brought on ourselves.  We want our Messiah to clean up our messes.

                    We want Jesus to be our avenger.  Somebody has gotten on our bad side.  Maybe we don’t like the way they talk to us or they ignore us.  Still others may have done some really bad things to us and we want them to be paid back.  And isn’t that what Jesus does, payback those who hurt or bother us?  We want our Messiah to fight our fights.

                   We want Jesus to be our ATM.  Some of the messes we’ve created involve money, so we need a bailout.  Or perhaps we’ve got our eye on a new toy or something else that we can’t afford to pay for, so we beg Jesus to find us the money to get the stuff we want.  We want our Messiah to be a loan shark.

                   We want Jesus to turn back time.  When some of our messes can’t be easily cleaned up or perhaps, we’ve wronged someone in the past, we want our Messiah to wipe our actions out of people’s minds.

                   All too often, we want Jesus to look the other way.  We’ve got some temptations that are pulling at us.  Sometimes there are some things we’d like to do that aren’t altogether right.  We justify our actions by telling ourselves it isn’t that big of a deal if we go ahead and do a certain thing.  So, we want a Messiah who won’t hold us accountable for our actions.

                   Too much of the time we want our Messiah to be what we want Him to be and when He doesn’t live up to our expectations, we are deeply disappointed and may lose faith.  But just like the people on that first Palm Sunday we need to get a grip on exactly who Jesus is.  There are times when Jesus will step in and supernaturally intervene for us.  But those times aren’t just for our benefit.  They’re to show us who Jesus really is.  And when He decides not to intervene, that doesn’t change who He is.  Instead, we must understand who our Messiah is.

                   As our Messiah, Jesus is God incarnate.  He is God who came to walk among His creation.  He isn’t somebody at our disposal ready to be our genie in a bottle.  He is God – holy and magnificent.  When you want to know more about who God is and how He acts, all you need to do is look at Jesus and you will know God.

                   As our Messiah, Jesus is the true World Changer.  The entire universal history hinges on Him and has been transformed because the Messiah came.  The world marks time by separating it before and after He arrived.  We make time with BC meaning before Christ, and AD which is the Latin term Anno Domino meaning The Year of Our Lord and refers to the time after the birth of Jesus.

                   Our Messiah, Jesus didn’t come just to solve our problems, He came to save us from our problem.  That problem is that we have rebelled and sinned against the Holy, Magnificent God.  All our other problems stem from our rebellion against God.  And Jesus, our Messiah, came to save us from the consequences of our sin and rebellion.  When the people later cried for Him to be crucified, it was much more significant than wanting Him to go away because they were disappointed in Him.  They were fighting against God in their sinful state.  His death is the only thing that can make us right in the eyes our Holy, Magnificent God.  Jesus saves us from the primary problem we all have:  WE ARE ALL SINNERS.  By His death on the Cross, our Messiah has made a way for us to return to God.  But we can only go to God if we allow Jesus to be our true Messiah and rule our lives.

                   On this Palm Sunday, we should all reflect on our lives and the condition of our souls and allow Jesus to be our true Messiah.  We will still have problems, but we will have a new outlook on life that will minimize many of our problems.  And, we will have help and guidance with our problems when it’s truly needed.

                   Until we meet again, may God bless you and keep you, may He shine His light on you, show you grace, and give you peace in all the days ahead.