The past three weeks, we learned about some significant burdens of ours that Jesus took on Himself; physical sickness & disease, mental pain & suffering, and all of our sin including the punishment, transgressions, and iniquities.

This week, we celebrate the tradition of Palm Sunday.  This marks the day when Jesus went into Jerusalem knowing that He was about to take on the weight of all of these burdens.

Unfortunately, all of the palm trees that I've ever planted failed to grow and I suspect this might be the case for you as well.  Whether or not you have a palm branch or leaf with you this morning, we're still going to celebrate Palm Sunday together.

Have you ever experienced a time when you were hurting badly inside, weighed down so heavily, but those around you were not feeling the same way?  Everyone around you seems to be joyfully laughing and celebrating while you feel like you are dying inside?

I suspect that Jesus felt that way on this day that we now celebrate.  He knew exactly what lay before Him because He had warned His disciples about it several times beforehand.  He knew the agony and horror that He was about to experience in order to pay the price of our sin.

However, the people around Him were rejoicing.  They were celebrating and honoring Him as their king, their long-awaited savior! 

It was a time of great joy, hope, and eager expectation of what Jesus was about to do.  Both the crowds and Jesus were looking forward to the fulfillment of our salvation prophesied so long ago. 

However, their perspectives and expectations of what this salvation would look like were radically different.  Jesus was aware of this and tried to help everyone to better understand what was about to take place.

This moment in history, this fulfillment of the prophecy found in Zechariah 9, was so significant that all four gospel accounts were sure to record it.  The diversity of their expectations and emotions is revealed most clearly in Luke's account:

Luke 19

10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.

11 While they were listening to this, he went on to tell them a parable, because he was near Jerusalem and the people thought that the kingdom of God was going to appear at once. 12 He said: “A man of noble birth went to a distant country to have himself appointed king and then to return. 13 So he called ten of his servants and gave them ten minas. ‘Put this money to work,’ he said, ‘until I come back.’

14 “But his subjects hated him and sent a delegation after him to say, ‘We don’t want this man to be our king.’

15 “He was made king, however, and returned home. Then he sent for the servants to whom he had given the money, in order to find out what they had gained with it.

In this parable, Jesus goes on to explain the timing and the way in which the Kingdom of God was going to be established.

Many of those with Him believed that Jesus was about to ride into Jerusalem, overthrow the Roman government and be their physical king.  They limited their expectations of the salvation of God to their worldly experience.

As we know full well now, Jesus was about to save His people and that He is certainly a victorious king.  However, His kingdom is not of this world. 

He was not going to meet the expectations of many Jews and the same crowd who was soon going to praise Him as their king would also, days later, shout to reject Him entirely and have Him crucified.

28 After Jesus had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem.