By chapter 11 of the Gospel according to Mark, the truth being told is drawing to an end. Jesus began his ministry by being baptized by John the Baptizer in the Jordan. The Spirit forces Jesus into the wilderness for forty days to be tempted in every way by the Satan. He returns victorious to the people proclaiming that the kingdom of God is here. This central idea is the core of his ministry, and the kingdom pours out of his life both in word and deed. He heals the sick and the leper and the lame and the blind. He teaches with power and authority. And what was once whispered about him is now taking center stage: the crowds have come to think, could it possibly be, that this Jesus is the Messiah

It’s Passover, the celebration by the Jewish people of their freedom from captivity to the Egyptians. A call to memory of their brutal enslavement and the miraculous freedom provided by God. Now, the Jews of Jesus day fid themselves under the occupation of another superpower, the Romans. And the Jews have been actively seeking the Messiah, who they believe will raise up Israel to defeat the Romans and make Israel a David-like nation once again. Jesus enter Jerusalem, and the people have been ready to crown themselves a new king.

The Jewish people have been pouring over the prophetic texts, and one group of texts in Ezekiel would have been familiar to them. Ezekiel 10:18-19 tells of the departure of the presence of God from the temple, exiting to the east. The presence of the Lord means everything. To have the presence of God is to find favor and success and victory. To lose the [presence of God is to live a hellish existence.

But God promised that the presence of God would return in 43:1-2, saying that his presence would return from the east where he once had left.

Here Jesus comes, from the east and the Mount of Olives, not just as teacher or prophet but as the presence of God in flesh. The Shekinah glory of God has returned in the person of Jesus Christ!

But this Jesus, the Messiah, God in flesh, does not come as one may expect. Surely, the King of kings should enter on a war horse ready to raise an army to destroy the Roman oppressors. He would be armed and dangerous.

No, this Jesus would fulfill the prophecy of Zechariah 9:9 “Rejoice, your king comes righteous and victorious riding on a lowly donkey”. Jesus chose the opposite of expectation. He chose an animal of peace, humbly, and service.

They thought the Messiah would come and compel others to serve him, but Jesus came to serve. They thought the Messiah would come to kill his adversaries, but instead he died for them and offered forgiveness for their sins. They thought the Messiah would claim the throne, but Jesus instead offered to impart his righteousness and glory onto the those who would trust in him.

They laid out palm branches to celebrate his coming, a sign of victory and triumph. A sign of joy and God’s provision. Little did they understand, that this victory was over sin and death!

“Hosanna” they cried. It means “Save us now!” “Save us we pray!” They are crying out the ancient prayer of Psalm 118:25-26 asking for the Messiah to bring about their salvation. But they were seeking salvation from Rome, whereas Jesus was bringing about a freedom that was much better, salvation from the clutches of sin and death.

Jesus makes it to the temple and the hour is late. Not just that the sun was setting. But the old-system was about to be made new. The old wineskins replace with new ones. Old wine with new wine.

Do you remember what Jesus said about the temple? “Tear down this temple, and I will raise it up again in three days”. Those who heard thought he spoke of the building. But the new temple was not another building, but his own body.

On Palm Sunday, the True Temple walked into the old temple. The building constructed by human hands its about to be replaced by an incorruptible and eternal temple. The old ways of kingdoms with their rise and falls were about to be replaced by an unstoppable and eternal kingdom, with a king not on a throne made by human hands but a heavenly throne at the right hand of the Father.

This Holy Week, the people who cried out “Hosanna” and acted as if this Jesus were Messiah would turn and call for Jesus’ crucifixion. Jesus is going to the cross on Good Friday. But on the third day, Easter morning, Jesus will raise from the dead, fulfilling in himself the promise of God that those who trust in him will not be put to shame and will live for all eternity with him.

But Palm Sunday is not just a day of remembering what happened then, but also what is happening in the here and now. Paul tells us this great mystery, that the church is the body of Christ, that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit and just as the presence of God once existed in stone temples the presence of God now lives in us!

The king has come! The kingdom of God has been instituted and his rule and reign is enacted in our living. The glory of God is here and it shines in our living and being and doing.

We can cry “Hosanna” “Save us now” and know without a doubt that God hears us and has done an amazing work already to bring about our salvation and that he is in the future working out all things for the good of those who trust in him. So trust in Him.

If you are here this morning caught up in addiction, call on Jesus to save you. If you are struggling to find hope, call on Jesus to save you. If you are anxious for tomorrow, call on Jesus to save you. He is offering you a new life. That if you choose to call on him he will save you. That if you follow him you will have your life radically changed in a way that gives you hope and a future, mission and meaning.

Don’t you feel the chains the world has placed on you? The slavery you find yourself in? Jesus is offering freedom like nothing the world has on offer!

My friends, sin entangles us, whispers temptation in our ears, distracts us from a fulfilling life. The systems of death and oppression are literally bombing entire regions of our world. Death is coming for us all. Remember your grave, my friend. And remember this Jesus who conquered. Who entered into the belly of death willingly then cut his way out of it. And this Jesus is able to pull you from death to live, from your tomb into the dazzling promise of eternal life, the fruits of which we can see and taste now in this life. This is your chance to call on the King of the cosmos, who is ruling and reigning now and forevermore.

He wants to hear from you this morning. He wants to hear your allegiance. Come to the altar and declare “Hosanna in the highest!”

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