AVBC - Sunday 03/29/26 - “A Humble King and Savior” - “The Path to the Empty Tomb” Sermon Series (Part 6 of 7) - Matthew 21:1–11

Sunday 03/29/26 – Adams Village Baptist Church

Sermon Title: “A Humble King and Savior” - “The Path to the Empty Tomb” Sermon Series (Part 6 of 7) - Matthew 21:1–11                                      

 

(Welcome Picture)

"Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" Welcome once again this morning, on our Palm Sunday. This day, which marks the beginning of what many Christians have come to call “Holy Week.” You might have seen a picture in the pre-service slides on the television this morning, of the days of “Holy Week.” Just in case you did not see it though, here are the days of this week or Holy Week:

(Holy Week - Days Picture)

today, is Palm or Passion Sunday, the day that Jesus came into Jerusalem on a donkey, or foal or colt (young male donkey), to the shouts of “Hosanna” or save us. Tomorrow is Holy Monday, when Jesus will free the animals, flip the tables of the money changers, and cleanse the temple. On Holy Tuesday this week, Jesus will teach at the temple. On Holy Wednesday Judas Iscariot will betray Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. This Thursday is Maundy or Holy Thursday, as Jesus has the Last Supper with the disciples, washes the disciples’ feet, and gives us the “Maundy” or the mandate to love one another as He has loved us. This Friday is Good Friday, as we will remember the trial, torture, crucifixion, death, and burial of Jesus Christ. We will have the Ecumenical Good Friday service from 12:00 pm – 3:00 pm at the Emmanuel Episcopal Church, and the Good Friday Service here at 6:00 on Good Friday. This Saturday is Holy Saturday, as Jesus’ body will be in the tomb. Some churches have vigil and prayer service on Holy Saturday. Next Sunday is Easter or Resurrection Sunday. We have our sunrise service at 7:00 am at Adam’s Community Park on Wardwell Street behind the former Adams School building, to commemorate when the tomb was found empty. We then will have our Easter breakfast here at the church from 8:30 am – 10:00 am, followed by our Easter or Resurrection service at 10:30 AM. So, this is Holy Week.

          Given all of this, I have a question for us all to consider this morning. If you were the richest person in the whole world, or the most powerful king or queen in the whole world, how would you enter a large city for a celebration? Would you come in on a private jet? Would you come in a limousine? Would you come in with a fleet of fancy SUVs? Would this include music, fanfare, celebration, pomp, and splendor? Would you have fancy clothes and other things to mark your prominence, wealth, and importance? Sometimes when I think about this, I think of award shoes like the Oscars, or the Emmy’s, with the red carpet. Celebrities and famous people adorning the red carpet, dressed is expensive clothes and all making a big entrance.

For some people that I have asked these above questions though, for some reason they think of Junior or Senior Prom in high school. For example, how do most people want to show up to prom? When I was in high school many students wanted to make a statement on prom night. They wanted to show up in a limousine, with fancy clothes, and look top notch. It was almost competitive, as some wanted, it would seem, to outdo each other. Then there were some students, however, that could care less about how they looked arriving at prom.

This morning, on this Palm Sunday people from all over the known world, largely from the Roman Empire, are descending upon the city of Jerusalem.

(Roman Empire/Jerusalem Map)

These people are coming to celebrate the Jewish Passover holiday, which from the research I have read, generally runs 7-8 days, depending on where it is celebrated. This year, the Passover holiday runs from Sundown Wednesday April 1st until the night of April 9^th. The Seder dinner that many Jews celebrate is often held this Wednesday in Israel, while many will celebrate it on Thursday of this week. This Thursday, Jesus and His disciples will celebrate the Passover Seder dinner, and we have come to call this dinner, “The Last Supper.” We will talk about this more at our Maundy or Holy Thursday service this Thursday here at 6:00 PM.

Once again, this morning Jesus comes to the Jerusalem, where many Jews and perhaps others from throughout the known world and Roman Empire are descending for the Passover holiday. Likely prominent people and leaders entered Jerusalem for this holiday in fancy and powerful ways. Jesus being fully God and fully human, the savior of the world, the only sinless person who has ever crossed the horizon of the world, comes in on a foal, the colt of the donkey. Not only this a borrow donkey, and a colt. Now the gospel reading says In Matthew 21:6 this of the donkey and the colt, once again:

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   (Mt. 21:6-7, NRSV).

 

(Donkey and Colt – Picture)

          So, did Jesus ride into the Jerusalem this day on the donkey, the donkey’s young male colt, or son, or did he ride in on both? Well, I do not think Jesus sat on the donkey and the colt, I do think though that He sat on both cloaks though. In fact, from the research that I have done, Jesus rode in on the colt, the young male donkey that had never been ridden before, which is also in scripture. In the version of the entrance of Jesus on Palm Sunday in Mark 11:1-11 for example, there is no donkey, just the colt, the young male donkey that had never been ridden. In the version of the entrance of Jesus on Palm Sunday in Luke 19:28-44 there is no donkey, just the colt, or the unridden young male offspring of a donkey. In the version of the entrance of Jesus on Palm Sunday in John 12:12-19 Jesus enters Jerusalem on a young male donkey, a colt.

          While all four gospels speak of Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem on the Passover, only in the gospel of John and our reading from Matthew 21:1-11 for this morning, does the scripture discuss Jesus doing this in order to fulfill the prophecy of the Messiah from Zechariah 9:9. The actual prophecy that I am talking about comes from the Book or Prophet of Zechariah 9:9 in the Old Testament or Hebrew Bible. This is what full verse says:

The Coming Ruler of God’s People

⁹ Rejoice greatly, O daughter Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter Jerusalem!
Lo, your king comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey (Zech. 9:9, NRSV).

          So, once again did Jesus ride the donkey and the colt simultaneously to fulfill this scripture? Our reading this morning from the gospel of Matthew said that donkey and her young male colt where both there, but most scholars think that Jesus rode on the colt and the mother of the colt came along.

(Jesus on a Colt – Entering Jerusalem Picture)

           I have never seen a depiction of Jesus riding into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday riding both the donkey and the colt. Have you? In addition to this, the four gospels also discuss the prophecy of the Messiah, which comes from Psalm 118:25-26, which says:

²⁵ Save us, we beseech you, O Lord! O Lord, we beseech you, give us success! ²⁶ Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord. We bless you from the house of the Lord (Ps. 118:25-26, NRSV).

 

(Hosanna – Picture)

          You see, Jesus, the King of Kings and Lord or Lords is “A Humble King and Savior.” As such, He comes into the holy city of Jerusalem on this day for the Passover holiday, of death passing over the first born while the Israelites were still in slavery in Egypt, until the Egyptian Pharoah finally let them go. Then the Israelites led by Moses, went through the parted Red Sea and wandered in the wilderness for forty-years, before getting to the land of “Milk and Honey” or Israel. Death passed over the first born of the Israelites on that first Passover while they were slaves in Egypt, as they were instructed to take a pure and spotless lamb and spread the blood of the lamb over their doorposts and lintels. As a result, the death that passed over the Israelites in Egypt on that first Passover saved there first born. There first born were saved by the blood of the lamb. They also ate the first Passover dinner together on that night in Egypt. This Thursday, when we celebrate Maundy or Holy Thursday, Jesus will institute the Lord’s Supper or Communion. He will give us a new covenant, which is His blood that will save all who believe in Him. As a result, Jesus is the new Passover Lamb, as His blood will not just save the first born for a night, but His blood covers our hearts and our souls. His blood covers us for eternity, and Jesus is the new Passover Lamb.

          Since this all is true, as we walk “The Path to the Empty Tomb” to next Sunday on Easter, this morning, Jesus Christ our Lord, enters Jerusalem, the Holy City on the Passover, as “A Humble King and Savior.”

(Behold Your King – Picture)

To bring this home a little more, let us look once again at our gospel of Matthew 21:1-11 reading for this morning. Picking up in 21:1 it says:

Jesus’ Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem

 

21 When they had come near Jerusalem and had reached Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, ² saying to them, ‘Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to me. ³ If anyone says anything to you, just say this, “The Lord needs them.” And he will send them immediately.’ ⁴ This took place to fulfil what had been spoken through the prophet, saying, ⁵ ‘Tell the daughter of Zion, Look, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’ 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 (Mt. 21:1-6, NRSV). 

          Jesus Christ, our Lord, comes into Jerusalem this day for the Passover holiday, not only a colt, or the foal of a donkey, but He comes with a borrowed donkey and colt. They are not even His! This is humility. This is a “Humble King and Savior” indeed!

          As Jesus rides into the city, this what Matthew 21:8-11 says happens:

⁸ A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. ⁹ The crowds that went ahead of him and that followed were shouting, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!’ ¹⁰ When he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in turmoil, asking, ‘Who is this?’ ¹¹ The crowds were saying, ‘This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee’ (Mt. 21:8-11, NRSV).

          This once again fulfills the prophecy of the Messiah from Psalm 118:25-26, which says once again:

²⁵ Save us, we beseech you, O Lord! O Lord, we beseech you, give us success! ²⁶ Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord. We bless you from the house of the Lord (Ps. 118:25-26, NRSV).

 

          Unfortunately, though my friends, this celebration will be short lived. By this Thursday, Jesus will be celebrating the Passover Seder or “The Last Supper” with His disciples. The Palms have been trampled, and the crowds dispersed. Those palms in some church traditions get burned, and the ashes are then imposed on people’s foreheads on “Ash Wednesday,” the first day of the season of Lent. Further, some were disappointed that Jesus was not a military conquering king. That he was not King David 2.0. Yet, Jesus Christ will change the world with His love. The largest Christian denomination in the world today is the Roman Catholic Church, who have about 1.4 billion adherents, and Christianity in total has about 2.6 billion adherents. This is about one-third of the world’s population.

The Roman Empire persecuted Christians for almost three hundred years. They tortured them, mocked them, and killed them. Today, the seat of power of the largest Christian denomination in the world is in the city that was capital of the Empire that tried to destroy Christianity, and who ordered through Pontius Pilate the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. This “Humble King and Savior” enters Jerusalem this day in the humblest of ways, and His gospel and His love reigns today. The empire that enslaved countless people, and tried to destroy Christianity has fallen, and in its place the largest Christian denomination in the world sits. Pretty impressive for a borrow donkey and colt!

Here are some application points, so that on this Palm Sunday 2026, this sermon can walk out of this church with you into Adams and the world.

Palm Sunday commemorates Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, marking the beginning of Holy Week and the final week of his earthly ministry. It signifies Jesus as the humble King and Prince of Peace, fulfilling prophecy by riding on a donkey rather than a war horse, and initiates the final journey to his crucifixion and resurrection.

Key Aspects and Significance:

·       Triumphal Entry: Celebrates Jesus being welcomed into Jerusalem by a cheering crowd that laid down cloaks and palm branches—symbols of victory—before him.

·       Fulfilled Prophecy: Fulfills the prophecy of Zechariah 9:9, where the Messiah enters riding a donkey, symbolizing peace, and love. 

Bible Study Tools:

·       Passion Week Start: Marks the start of Holy Week, transitioning from this celebration to the recollection of his suffering, Passion, and death on Good Friday.

·       "Hosanna" (Save Us): The crowd’s shouts of "Hosanna" indicate they were calling upon Jesus to save them, recognizing him as the promised King and Savior.

·       Symbolism of Palms: Palms represent triumph and are used in church services to symbolize Christ's victory over sin, death, and the devil.

·       Sacrificial Lamb: It serves as a reminder that Jesus came to die, acting as the sacrificial Passover lamb. 

    Today friends, on “The Path to the Empty Tomb” on Easter Sunday, Jesus enters Jerusalem as “A Humble King and Savior,” reminding us that He is for us, and that we can relate to Him and His gospel. For He came to earth for us all! Amen.