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Palm Sunday is the day the Church
commemorates Jesus' entry into Jerusalem the week of his
crucifixion.
Isaiah 50:4-9a
The Lord’s Servant
Psalm 31:1-5, 9-16
Prayer for deliverance
Philippians 2:5-11
The Example of Christ
Matthew 27:11-54 (or 26:1-27:66)
Jesus' Trial, Conviction, Death
Isaiah:
The Lord has given his servant the knowledge and ability
to testify as one who has been formally educated, so that he can
encourage and sustain the weary people of God. Each day the Lord
provides the ability to hear with insight.
The
Lord opens the spiritual ears of his servant who is not
rebellious or unfaithful. The Lord’s servant submitted to
flogging and abuse, he didn’t resist shame and spitting.
Because God helps his servant, the servant has not been
defeated. His resolve is certain, confident that he will not be
put to shame, because God, who is able and faithful to vindicate
his servant is near.
If the Lord is near and
vindicates the servant, who will oppose him? Let him try. Who is
the servant’s adversary who will declare him guilty?
Psalm:
Those who take refuge in the Lord will never be put to shame.
Because God does what is right and true and good, God will
deliver them and rescue them quickly. The Lord is a refuge and
fortress to save them. Because they trust in the Lord for
protection and rescue, the Lord will lead and guide them for the
sake of the Lord’s name (his character and reputation). The
Lord is able and will deliver them from the hidden trap, because
they have sought refuge in him. God is faithful, and those who
entrust their spirit (their eternal soul) to him will be redeemed
(from eternal condemnation and destruction). When the Lord’s
servant is in distress, wasted in soul and body by grief, the
Lord will be gracious to him, even though his life and body is
wasted with grief and sorrow and his years with misery.
The Lord’s servant has become an object of scorn and horror
to his neighbors and enemies and a dread to his friends. People
go out of their way to avoid him in public. He has become like a
broken pot, and has passed from memory like the dead.
On every side his enemies plot to destroy him, scheming to
take his life. But the servant trusts in his Lord, who he
acknowledges as his God. He has committed his circumstances into
the Lord’s care, trusting that the Lord will deliver him from
his enemies. May the Lord’s favor be upon his servant and
deliver him from his enemies and persecutors.
Philippians:
Paul was “discipling” the Christians at
Phillipi, in Macedonia. He urged them to be united and unwavering
in their understanding of Jesus’ example. Although Jesus was
the fullness of God in human form (Colossians 2:8-9) he laid that
aside, not trying to be exalted by mankind, and instead became a
menial servant. Having been born in human flesh, he humbled
himself and submitted to physical death, even the excruciatingly
painful death on the cross.
Because of his
obedience to God’s will, even unto death, God has exalted him
and has given him a name (glory and fame) which is above every
name, “that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in
heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the Glory of God the Father”
(Philippians 2:10-11).
Mark:
Jesus had been
captured and brought before the Roman governor of Judea, Pontius
Pilate. The governor asked if Jesus was claiming to be king of
the Jews as the Jewish religious leaders had charged. Jesus
replied that they were the ones who had said so. Pilate asked
Jesus if he knew the many charges the Jews were bringing against
him, and Jesus did not reply, so Pilate wondered what was going
on.
The Roman governor was accustomed to releasing
a Jewish prisoner at the Passover festival, as an act of
political patronage. So Pilate gathered the Jews and asked them
if they wanted him to release Barabbas, a notorious criminal, or
Jesus. Pilate knew that the Jews had denounced Jesus out of
jealousy. Also, Pilate’s wife had a premonition about Jesus in
a dream, and had warned her husband not to become involved in
Jesus’ execution. But the crowd demanded Jesus’ execution and
asked for Barabbas’ release.
Pilate asked the
crowd what Jesus had done to deserve execution, but they just
kept demanding execution. So when Pilate saw that no compromise
was possible, and that a riot was beginning, he washed his hands
in a basin of water in the presence of the crowd and declared
himself innocent of Jesus’ blood. And all the people responded,
“His blood be upon us and on our children” (Matthew 27:25).
So Pilate released Barabbas and had Jesus whipped and handed over
to the soldiers for crucifixion.
The Roman
soldiers took Jesus into the governor’s house and put a red
robe upon Jesus, a reed in his hand, and a woven crown of thorns
upon his head. They knelt down before Jesus and mocked him,
hailing him as the king of the Jews. They spat upon him and
struck him on the head with the reed. Then they reclothed Jesus
in his own garments and led him out to be crucified.
As they marched out they encountered Simon of Cyrene passing
by and compelled him to carry Jesus’ Cross. They came to a
place called Golgotha (meaning place of the skull; outside the
wall of Jerusalem in sight of the road into and out of the city),
they offered wine mixed with a bitter substance, but when Jesus
tasted it he would not drink it.
They nailed Jesus
to the cross, and then divided Jesus’ garments between them,
and his tunic, which was seamless, by casting lots (similar to
rolling dice). Then they sat down to watch. They also placed a
sign over him declaring Jesus to be the King of the Jews. Two
robbers were crucified with Jesus, on either side. Passers-by
mocked Jesus saying that Jesus had said that if the temple were
destroyed he could rebuild it in three day, and suggesting that
if he were the Son of God he should prove it by coming down from
the cross.
The Jewish leaders also mocked Jesus,
saying that Jesus had saved others but could not save himself.
They said that if Jesus was truly the Son of God that he should
prove it by coming down from the cross and then they would
believe in him. They suggested that since Jesus had trusted in
God, God should be able to save Jesus if God desired. The robbers
(at least one of them), also reviled Jesus.
From noon until
three o’clock, the sun was darkened (a solar eclipse), and at
three P.M. Jesus cried out with a loud voice, in Aramaic (Jesus’
native language), “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” which means
“My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?” Jesus was
quoting (Psalm 22:1) and fulfilling the prophecy of the psalm at
that moment. The bystanders thought Jesus was calling Elijah, who
was believed to return to herald the coming of Messiah (see
Matthew 17:10-13).
One of the bystanders attempted
to revive Jesus with vinegar on a sponge extended to Jesus on a
reed. The others waited to see if Elijah would come and save
Jesus. Then Jesus yielded his spirit with a loud cry.
At the moment of Jesus’ death, the curtain separating the
presence of God from the people in the temple was torn in two
from top to bottom. There was a great earthquake and the graves
were opened and the saints of God were raised and appeared to
many in Jerusalem. When the Centurion and the Roman soldiers saw
the disturbances of nature they were afraid and declared that
Jesus was the Son of God.
Commentary:
The
text from Isaiah dates around the time of Cyrus of Persia, 539
B.C.* while Judah, the remnant of Israel, was in exile in
Babylon. The Word of God is eternal, and is fulfilled over and
over as the conditions for its fulfillment are met. The Word
applied to the prophet as the Lord’s servant at the time it was
written, to Israel who was called to be the Lord’s servant, to
Jesus, who was the fulfillment of God’s Word as the suffering
servant of the Lord, and it applies to believers and the Church
today, who are the “New Israel.”
Jesus is the
fulfillment, embodiment and example of God’s Word lived in
human flesh in this world (John 1:1-3, 14). He teaches by word
and example how to be the servant of the Lord. Jesus was not
accepted by his own hometown and his own nation and religion,
because his knowledge and ability to proclaim God’s Word was
not by formal worldly education (Isaiah 50:4-5; compare Matthew
13:53-58; Mark 6:1-6a; Luke 4:16-30).
Jesus was
flogged and abused, mocked and spat upon, without resisting.
Jesus entrusted himself to God and was vindicated by resurrection
to eternal life from the dead. Those who oppose Jesus will not
succeed.
Jesus’ resurrection is the fulfillment
and proof of God’s Word that those who trust and obey God will
never be abandoned but will be protected and rescued from evil
and harm. Jesus’ enemies opposed him but were overcome by God;
they were plotting to destroy him, but God raised him to eternal
life (1 Corinthians 2:6-8).
Jesus fulfilled and
demonstrated the truth and faithfulness of God’s Word. Jesus
showed us how to trust and obey God’s Word and receive God’s
promises. The same Word calls us to become the Lord’s servants
and promises God’s support and vindication to us as we trust
and obey his Word.
The Jewish religious leaders
claimed to know God and God’s Word, yet they didn’t see that
Jesus was the long promised Messiah, the Son of God and son of
David. Pilate, the Roman governor, a Gentile, was smart enough,
without any formal training in the Bible, to recognize that Jesus
was innocent. Even Pilate’s wife advised him not to participate
in Jesus’ execution, but the Jewish people, misguided by their
leaders, invited the guilt for Jesus’ execution upon themselves
and on their children. When given the choice, they chose to
receive Barabbas, a notorious criminal, and chose to reject and
execute their innocent Savior and eternal king.
Everything written about Jesus in the Old Testament, at least
five hundred to a thousand years before (for example, Psalms
attributed to David), was fulfilled. The crucifixion method of
execution was foretold in prophecy (for example Psalm 22:7-8,
14-18), although stoning was the Jewish form of execution.
Crucifixion was a Roman form of execution, which was unknown in
Israel until Judea became a Roman province around 63 B.C.**.
Jesus was mocked, spat upon and beaten (Matthew 27:27-30;
Isaiah 50:5b-6). They nailed his hands and feet to the cross
(Psalm 22:16). They divided Jesus’ garments and cast lots
(Psalm 22:18). Jesus made no claim to be a political king (John
6:15; 18:36); it was the charge brought by the Jews against him
which they hoped would justify Jesus’ execution to the Roman
governor. He died between two criminals (Matthew 27:38, and was
buried in the tomb of a rich man (Matthew 27:57-60; compare
Isaiah 53:9).
The (Gentile) Roman soldiers who
witnessed the crucifixion saw the disturbances of nature and were
convinced that Jesus was the Son of God Matthew 27:54) but the
Jewish religious leaders, who claimed to know God and be experts
in the Bible, who claimed that they would believe if Jesus came
down from the cross (Matthew 27:42), and who posted guards and
sealed the tomb to make sure his disciples didn’t fake a
resurrection (Mathew 27:62-66), still didn’t believe when Jesus
arose from the grave.
The Jews took responsibility
upon themselves and their children for Jesus’ crucifixion. When
they rejected their Messiah, God lifted his favor and protection
from them. The Romans destroyed Jerusalem and the temple in 70
A.D., within the lifetime of those who were adults at Jesus’
crucifixion. The Jews were scattered throughout the world and
Israel ceased to exist as a nation, until it was reestablished
following World War II. The temple, with the sacrificial system
on which the Old Covenant of Law was dependent, has never been
reestablished.
Where was God during the Holocaust?
Where were the Jews when Jesus was crucified? I don’t believe
that the Jews are irrevocably lost, but I am convinced that the
only way that they will be saved is by accepting Jesus as Messiah
and Lord (Romans 11:13-31; Matthew 23:37-39).
In a
sense, we have all crucified Jesus, because we are all sinners
(Romans 3:23, 1 John 1:8-10) and have made Jesus’ sacrifice on
the cross necessary for our forgiveness and salvation from
eternal death which is the penalty for sin (Romans 6:23; see
God’s Plan of Salvation, sidebar, top right). Are we, as
individuals and as the Church, any more knowledgeable about the
Bible and any more prepared for Jesus’ Second Coming than the
Jews and Judaism were for his first coming?
Is
Jesus your Lord? Are you Jesus’ disciple? Are you trusting and
obeying Jesus? Have you received the indwelling Holy Spirit since
you first truly believed (Acts 19:2)? Are you making disciples of
Jesus Christ and teaching them to obey all that Jesus commands
(Matthew 28:18-20)? Do you know with certainty where you will
spend eternity (1 John 5:11-13; Ephesians 1:13-14)?
*The Oxford Annotated Bible, Revised Standard Version, Ed. by
Herbert G. May and Bruce M. Metzger, Introduction to Isaiah, p.
822, New York, Oxford University Press, 1962.
**http://www.answers.com/topic/63-B.C.
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