4/13 Palm Sunday "Passion of Christ"

Palm Sunday Sermon

Date: April 13, 2025

Title: Passion of Christ

Scripture: Matthew 21:1-11

1 When they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples,

2 saying to them, “Go into the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied, and her 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 their cloaks on them, 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.”

"Today is Palm Sunday.

As we just read, when Jesus entered Jerusalem, a great multitude spread their cloaks, their entire fortune, on the road to welcome the king’s procession, and waved palm branches, shouting praises.

'Hosanna, Hosanna!

Son of David!

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!

Hosanna in the highest!'

That’s why it’s called Palm Sunday."

"I didn’t grow up in a Christian household, so I wasn’t very familiar with Lent, Holy Week, Good Friday, or Easter.

In our evangelical Protestantism, every day is emphasized as the Lord’s Day, so observing these special days has been somewhat weakened.

Of course, it would be best to regard every day as the Lord’s Day and every Sunday as Easter, but is that really the case?

Isn’t it often the case that even Sunday, which means the Lord’s Day, is actually regarded as one’s own day?"

"Therefore, I feel it is necessary to appropriately emphasize important commemorative days.

In fact, for us Christians, Easter is more important than Christmas.

That’s why, before Christmas, we spend a special time for four weeks called Advent, and the period to prepare for Easter is designated as a full 40 days.

That’s why it’s called Lent."

"The Wednesday that marks the beginning of Lent is called Ash Wednesday, and not only in Roman Catholicism but also in the Anglican, Lutheran, and Methodist churches, a ritual of marking the forehead with ashes in the shape of a cross is performed that morning.

It is a time to remember that we are beings who deserve to become ash but have been saved by the grace of Jesus, and it is also an opportunity to express one’s faith by going around all day without washing it off.

I remember being surprised on my first Ash Wednesday in the United States."

"I was surprised by the sight of people walking around with a somewhat smudged black cross on their foreheads, but also by seeing friends from school and thinking, ‘Were you actually a Christian?’

In fact, on that day, the cross on the forehead is often seen as a sign that one is a child of God who has received salvation, so there are many families who have a tradition of visiting a church that morning to receive the mark, even if they don’t usually attend church.

And 40 days after that, excluding Sundays, is Easter Sunday."

"This year, Ash Wednesday was March 5th, and Easter Sunday, which is six weeks after that excluding Sundays, is April 20th.

(6x6 = 36 + 4 (Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat) = 40) So, you understand Ash Wednesday and Lent, right?

And the last week of Lent, starting today, is called ‘Holy Week.’"

"After entering Jerusalem, Jesus was arrested on Thursday night and crucified on Friday afternoon.

The Friday of that week is the evening when Jesus breathed his last on the cross, so we commemorate it as Holy Friday or Good Friday and hold a worship service.

Now!

Have the meanings of Ash Wednesday, Lent, and Good Friday become clear?"

"Let’s say you are scheduled to ascend to heaven next week.

If you only have four days left on earth, what would you do during that time?

That situation is what was happening to Jesus.

Therefore, the events of this last week—the approximately four days before being arrested by the chief priests—cannot help but have a very important meaning.

Today, I would like to organize them by day."

"On Palm Sunday, Jesus entered Jerusalem amidst the tremendous cheers of the crowd.

The reason there were so many people in Jerusalem at that time was that it was the time of the Passover, the greatest Jewish holiday.

In fact, Jesus and his disciples had come to Jerusalem to officially observe the Passover.

Jesus received the cheers of the people, but Luke records that he wept, rather than being pleased."

"[Luke 19:41-44] 41 And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, 42 saying, 'Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace!

But now they are hidden from your eyes.

43 For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up an obstacle wall around you and surround you and hem you in on every side 44 and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you, and they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.’"

"This was not because of the painful things that would happen to him.

It was because God showed him the terrible judgment that would soon take place in that city.

About 40 years after Jesus made this prophecy, in 70 AD, there was an event in which the Roman Empire’s army besieged and captured Jerusalem.

The Roman army, led by the Roman general Titus (who later became emperor), completely cut off escape routes and supply lines by building a siege wall, about 8 kilometers long, around Jerusalem."

"This precisely matches the part of the prophecy, 'will set up an obstacle wall around you and surround you and hem you in on every side.'

Josephus, a historian, recorded that an enormous number of Jews (estimated at about 1.1 million) were killed.

The Roman army destroyed the city of Jerusalem.

In particular, Herod’s Temple, which was the center of the Jewish faith, was burned down and completely destroyed."

"The Western Wall, known today as the ‘Wailing Wall,’ is part of the massive retaining wall surrounding the Temple Mount, not the main building of the Temple.

The Temple itself disappeared without a trace.

This was the terrible fulfillment of the prophecy, 'they will not leave one stone upon another in you.'

What made this week Holy Week was not only the persecution and physical suffering that Jesus endured from the religious leaders, but also the culmination of his sadness and anguish over the fate of Israel that would unfold afterward, and his deep sorrow for the people who stubbornly refused to turn back."

"The events of Jesus’ Holy Week are recorded in detail in the Gospels, but it is the Gospel of Mark that records them in chronological order.

First, on Palm Sunday, he enters the temple and looks around at everything, and then, as evening falls, he returns to Bethany.

On Monday, the next day, as Jesus was going to Jerusalem, he cursed a fig tree that had only leaves and no fruit.

It was a very difficult action to understand."

"At that time, a huge crowd was gathering in Jerusalem.

The reason they were gathering was to offer Passover sacrifices.

However, they had long lost the true meaning of the Passover.

Although many people gathered, there were very few who truly loved God, and there were only abundant leaves.

The fig tree that could not bear fruit symbolized the corruption of Israel."

"The evidence of this was the state of the temple.

Jesus had once cleansed the temple, which had become a marketplace filled with merchants, early in his ministry, but the temple had returned to its original state, crowded with money changers, merchants selling sacrifices, and people who came to buy things.

Also, the fact that it had only leaves and no fruit meant that it was lush only on the outside, and that was the state of the temple at that time.

The appearance of the temple, which was much larger in area and volume than Solomon’s Temple, completed according to God’s specific commands, and decorated much more splendidly, also made Jesus angry."

"[Mark 11:15-18] 15 And they came to Jerusalem.

And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the chairs of those who sold pigeons.

16 And he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple.

17 And he was teaching them and saying to them, 'Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’?

But you have made it a den of robbers.'

18 And the chief priests and the scribes heard it and were seeking a way to destroy him, for they feared him, because all the crowd was astonished at his teaching."

"Jesus again entered the temple, overturned the tables, and drove out the animals with a whip.

Considering that he did not often show such anger, it is clear that what made the Lord most angry, as in the case of withering the fig tree, was ‘hypocrisy’—losing the essence and being flashy only on the outside.

Tuesday was the day when Jesus taught the disciples an enormous number of things.

From Jesus’s point of view, it was the day when he felt he had to urgently tell them many things because there were not many days left to teach them directly."

"First, to the disciples who were amazed to see the fig tree withered from the roots, he taught about the power of prayer.

If you ask in faith, even a mountain can be lifted up and thrown into the sea.

When we see this part, it may feel like Jesus is giving an irrelevant answer.

We want more of an answer about why he caused such a strange thing to happen, but what the Lord was more urgent about was that the power of God would come upon the disciples who would be left behind after he left."

"Is the saying that if you ask with 100% certainty, even a mountain will be moved, mean that if you have 100% conviction, all your wishes will come true?

If you have 100% conviction, will even something that goes against God’s will happen?

Of course not.

Therefore, what Jesus urgently emphasized was that if you know God’s will and pray with the faith to believe it, there is nothing that cannot be accomplished with God!"

"He wanted them to have that power and faith so that they could live with that power in the persecutions and dangers that would soon come.

Also, seeing the poor widow’s offering, he praised her, saying that she gave the most, rather than the rich people who boasted and gave a lot of money.

He shows that in matters of finance, the ways of the world and the kingdom of God are completely different."

"Following this, Jesus teaches the way of God’s kingdom, which is different from the world, through three parables.

The first parable, the parable of the two sons, is about a father who asked his first son to do something, and the son said he didn’t want to, but later repented and went and did it.

But the second son said ‘yes’ in reply, but did not go.

At the end of this parable, he said that tax collectors and prostitutes would enter the kingdom of God before the religious people."

"In the end, this parable is saying that those who seem outwardly obedient but are actually passively resistant are worse off than the sinners who seem not to listen now but eventually completely turn around, repent, and return.

Second, the parable of the vineyard is about a owner who entrusted a vineyard to tenants and kept sending people to receive some of the produce, but the tenants instead drove them out and killed them.

Finally, the owner sent his son, thinking, ‘They will respect my son,’ but the tenants said, ‘This is the heir; let us kill him and take his inheritance,’ and killed him and threw him out of the vineyard."

"It was a terrible story of God’s fearsome judgment on the owner who was furious about it and destroyed them all.

This parable shows how God feels as he watches Israel, who has consistently ignored the pleas to repent from God’s people like John the Baptist and has even killed them, and now does not welcome his son, Jesus Christ.

And the third parable is the parable of the wedding feast, which is recorded in Matthew 22."

"A king invited people to the grand wedding feast of his son, but the people who were initially invited did not respond to the invitation, saying they had other important things to do.

So the king sent his servants again, telling them to announce again how much he had prepared for the feast, but they now mistreated and drove away the king’s servants.

Then the king was furious and told his servants to invite anyone they found on the streets, and only then was the feast filled."

"What is the common point of these three parables?

First of all, we can see that they are somewhat frightening warnings.

Through these many parables, we can see that what the Lord is trying to do is to wake people up with a jolt.

Because he loves them, he wants to wake them up, open their eyes, and see the truth.

He wants them to see what truly has eternal value, and to see the truth that they are actually wasting their lives in a way that they will only regret for eternity, even though they think they are living diligently."

"Isn’t it true that leaving those who are running at full speed towards a cliff, telling them that everything is fine, is not love?

That’s why he warns them so frighteningly and wakes them up.

In particular, this last parable of the wedding feast ends with a frightening conclusion, with the appearance of a strange character who is eventually kicked out because he is not wearing wedding clothes among those who came to the feast.

There are several interpretations of this person’s problem, and if it is a biblical interpretation, all of them are correct."

"However, looking at the king’s great anger towards him, it is possible that he was the one who had repeatedly refused the invitations at first and had mistreated and driven away the servants.

So, he came to the feast after changing his mind, but he did not have the wedding clothes that were sent with the invitation.

In conclusion, the message of this parable is that the opportunity to be invited by God is not forever.

It is a warning not to miss the opportunity when it comes."

"I have given you a very brief summary, but this Tuesday was a day with many debates and teachings.

It was a day when the urgent cry of the good shepherd, who wanted to open the eyes of even one soul and find even one lost sheep, was evident.

On Wednesday, there was an event in which a woman poured expensive perfume on Jesus.

Everyone was furious."

"Even Jesus’s disciples rebuked the woman, saying it was a waste that could have been used for better purposes.

However, Jesus said that this good deed of the woman would be told wherever the gospel was preached, and he praised her greatly.

This was a declaration that, contrary to common sense and realistic standards, whatever is given to Jesus with a heart of love can never be a waste."

"Now it is Thursday.

Thursday is the day for Jews to have the Passover meal before the Passover.

So, Jesus and his disciples had the ‘Last Supper’ in a place known as the Upper Room.

The only Christian ritual that Jesus commanded is the Eucharist.

The Lord said, 'Do this in remembrance of me.'"

"What is it that we commemorate?

The bread and wine, symbolizing his flesh and blood, are to remember the sacrifice of Jesus Christ who died for us.

And Paul told us what to do with the power of the Eucharist, which is to proclaim ‘his sacrifice’ and the hope that comes from it until the day the Lord comes again, every time we partake in the Eucharist.

Is the church of this era doing this well?"

"Could the loss of power of Christianity in this era be unrelated to this?

And when we eat and drink the Eucharist, we experience union with the Lord, which is the really important purpose of the Eucharist.

It is to experience love with the Lord as one.

What was importantly emphasized here is that the leadership of the world and the church must be different."

"A person called a leader in the church must be the most humble servant, not someone who dominates.

Washing each other’s feet was described as an act of showing forgiveness to one another.

We are people who have been forgiven.

We are people who have been pardoned from eternal punishment.

Therefore, there can be no one who has committed a greater sin against us than what we have been forgiven."

"Forgiving someone is not only a duty but also a privilege.

When we forgive, God is most pleased, and it becomes a great gift for both the one who is forgiven and the one who forgives.

Another thing is that Judas Iscariot was included among those whose feet Jesus washed.

It was said that washing feet is forgiveness.

Jesus forgave him once again."

"Jesus also prophesied about Peter’s denial of him.

Looking at the situation in detail, it was not a warning because he knew that Peter had no possibility of making a different choice.

Rather, it showed Jesus’s concern to comfort Peter, who would be so discouraged afterward, in advance.

And he gave a new commandment."

"That night was the last night of his ministry with the disciples.

Jesus preached to them and prayed for them.

To summarize all of that, he emphasized and commanded, even calling it a new commandment, 'Just as I have loved you, you also love one another.'

As I organize this, I feel that Jesus really poured everything out during these few days of Holy Week."

"It feels like he was shaking them violently, as if to say, 'If you fall asleep, you will die!'

He gave opportunities, even forgiving the person who had already betrayed him.

How much he wanted the power of God, which can move mountains, to come upon them and upon us!

He imprinted that shocking scene by withering a tree from its roots.

Especially, he kept emphasizing until the end that brothers and sisters should continue to forgive each other as if washing each other’s feet, and to admit their faults and ask for forgiveness as if entrusting their feet to each other, and to love one another as much as they love God."

"He even emphasized that this was a new commandment after the Ten Commandments.

Since Jesus himself defined the Ten Commandments as those two things, this is a re-emphasis!

Even if you don’t know anything else, you must follow my will on this one thing!

Love one another.

And the last event of Thursday night was the Garden of Gethsemane."

"The last lesson Jesus taught his disciples, showing them an example himself, was prayer.

It is recorded that he prayed so earnestly and with all his strength that drops of blood fell to the ground.

It reminds me of the scene where Jacob wrestled with the angel of the Lord all night at the Jabbok River.

However, when you look at how Jesus went to his disciples three times in the middle of such pouring out of prayer, you can see that Jesus wanted to show us that scene."

"The Bible records Jesus’s prayer at that time as follows: [Matthew 26:39] And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, 'My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.'

And, as we all know, that mountain was not moved.

The Gospel mainly records the major events of Jesus’s life, and this scene of prayer in Gethsemane does not seem to be of great help to the overall flow."

"In this scene, Jesus has a different will from God, and it even says that he was afraid to the point of death.

However, the fact that it is recorded in such detail means that the Lord definitely wanted to show us something through this.

We can gain practical wisdom that if even Jesus’s prayer was not answered, our prayers may also be like that, but as I look at this entire Holy Week in connection for the first time, the most strong resonance that came to my heart was Jesus’s sincerity."

"Weren’t all the targets that Jesus so strongly criticized and rebuked all hypocrisy—ultimately, about falsehood?

How strongly did he rebuke and cry out to strip off that ring of falsehood, which was deceiving even himself?

Because nothing can happen if you don’t see the truth, your own miserable spiritual reality.

There is no way to fix it if you are not okay but think you are okay."

"That’s why he showed it.

Even his own weakest self without any pretense… How much did he want the disciples to live like that?

Truly sincerely… freely in the truth… How much did he want them to live without falsehood or hypocrisy?

Therefore, when we look at ourselves in this mirror called Jesus, we will face our own miserable selves that we cannot lift our heads up."

"But we must face it.

We must offer our shameful hearts to the Lord.

The journey of a Christian’s faith is, in fact, the continuous repetition of that process.

Then, we will become humble enough to show ourselves completely even to the people we need to help.

And they will see Jesus in someone like me.

If you love the Lord, and you begin to look at your brothers and sisters with that love, that day will surely come."

"Holy Week begins today… Jesus’s suffering was to make us truly free.

During this year’s Holy Week, let us reflect on ourselves in the mirror of Jesus… Although it cannot be compared to Jesus’s suffering, it may be a bit painful to face the reality.

But as a result, we will become more free."

"This coming Friday is Good Friday.

Good Friday is the climax of Holy Week, and it is the day when Jesus, who even wanted to avoid the cross, finally faced it and opened the way of hope and salvation to countless hopeless sinners.

Until the Friday worship service commemorating that day, let us encounter Jesus’s zeal.

Let Monday be the day to purify our hearts, Tuesday to meditate on the many teachings, Wednesday to find things to waste for Jesus, and Thursday to face the mirror of Jesus, who wanted us to be truthful in our weakest status."

"Let us pray."