Theme: Good News to Share
Theme Verse: "I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." John 10:10b NIV
Readings: Luke 19:28-44, John 12:12-19
Optional: Luke 18:31-34, (Mark 11:1)
Memory Verse: "They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting, 'Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the King of Israel!' Then Jesus found a young donkey and sat upon it, as it is written, 'Do not be afraid, O Daughter of Zion; see, your king is coming seated on a donkey's colt'." John 12:13-15
See NOTE on Geography at end of lesson. This lesson is about the beginning of the last week of Jesus' life before his crucifixion. We call it Holy Week. All these things that took place on Palm Sunday were to fulfill prophecy, God's word to previous generations.
Jesus is "going on ahead" (Luke 19:28) of his disciples as he traveled toward Jerusalem. He knew what was going to happen, that the authorities were trying to kill him, but he "set his face" as he went toward Jerusalem. Jesus knew it was part of the Father's plan of salvation for him to die there but he chose the when and where. In Luke 18:31-34 Jesus tries again to tell his disciples what is going to happen and that it is according to prophecy. "But they understood none of these things." (Luke 8:34, John 12:16). Jesus went to Jerusalem willingly. No one made him go. He was a willing sacrifice. Word received: Are you willing? I was willing to lay down my life for others. Are you willing to stand with Me? Are we willing to follow Jesus even when we don't like the direction and are afraid? Do we trust him? Are we willing to lay down our own agendas?
Jesus was rejected by many leaders of Judah and they sought to kill him but Jesus was in charge of when this would happen so that God's purposes and prophecies would be fulfilled. Jesus said, "I lay down my life. No one takes it from Me." (John 10:11) Jesus comes back to Jerusalem with his disciples but carefully leaves the city at night (Matthew 21:17) until the first Passover night which he celebrated with his disciples and remade it into the sacrament of his death for our salvation. He then went out to Gethsemane where he knew the officials and Judas would find him. Jesus chose to come riding into Jerusalem on a donkey as a king of peace, announcing by his actions that he was the Messiah King.
The action starts at the top of the Mt. of Olives (a long high ridge east of Jerusalem and famous in prophecy). Read Luke 19:30-31 and imagine going to someone's house in another village and just taking their donkey colt or car and saying "The Lord needs it"!!! This is the first miracle of the day! Probably the people knew who Jesus was and who his disciples were (small country) and they had been there before, but!!!!! It happened just as Jesus said it would! Word received: Take this passage as an invitation to join in my work of being servants. Will you be willing to do what may embarrass you for my sake at my word of command? The second miracle is about the colt, "on which no one has ever yet sat". One would expect such a colt to become a bucking bronco but it cooperated completely!
This was to fulfill the prophecy from Zechariah 9:9-10, read it. This is an acted out proclamation that Jesus is coming as the King to Jerusalem and revealing himself as the Messiah. He is not riding a war horse but a donkey as a humble king of peace. "who shall command peace to the nations." (NOTE: Hebrew poetry often says the same thing twice in slightly different ways, "riding on a donkey and a colt, the foal of a donkey." Jesus didn't straddle two donkeys!)
The people and the disciples threw their outer garments on the colt and had Jesus sit on them. Then they spread out their garment on the road ahead. A word received: What are you willing to lay down so that I may receive honor? The great crowd that had come to the feast heard Jesus was coming to Jerusalem (John 12;12-13) and went out to meet him waving palm branches. (This was a way to greet kings. See 2 Kings 9:12-13). It was the practice in rural Liberia to wave palm branches and put up palm arches when the President came.)
What the people are shouting are verses from Psalm 118 and they are acting them out. Psalm 118:25 says, "O Lord, save us. (Hosanna means 'Save Now') (Halleluiah means "Praise Yahweh"=Praise God.) (vs.26) "Blessed is he who comes in the Name of the Lord." ("In the Name of" means with the authority of God himself.) Verse 27 says, "Bind the festal procession with branches" (Palm branches were associated with the processions for feast and especially the Feast of Booths, see Leviticus23:40.)
Jesus is fulfilling prophecy and announcing who he is BUT the people and his disciples didn't understand. They were hailing Jesus as King, but he was not what they expected (a military leader who would free them from Rome.) What kind of king do you think Jesus is? Some other wrong answers are -- a figurehead (who will let us continue as we are), a deep pocket (indulgent and lavish "do whatever you want dear"), an absentee landlord, like the 18th century idea of a "watchmaker God" who made everything and they backed off to let it run itself. What are the false pictures of God in our culture?
Present were the crowds that had come to Passover and the disciples. Some had seen Lazarus raised from the dead. The shouting increased as Jesus came closer "at the descent of the Mt. of Olives" (Luke 19:37). The Pharisees and some authorities in the crowd protested to Jesus and wanted him to silence the crowds. (Not only did many of the leaders reject Jesus but they were afraid the Romans would think it was a rebellion and crack down on them.) Jesus replied, "I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out." (Luke 19:40) A word received: Are you willing to shout my praise when the leaders of your day disapprove that? Word received: That is how much I want you to share My love and My Word. Don't stay quiet. Share and even shout if necessary -- if you don't the stones will.
(Stones are used as metaphors a number of times in scripture. What was happening here also echoes Ps.118:22-24 about "the stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner. This is the Lord's doing." In the epistles of Paul Jesus' followers are called "living stones" who are built together into a temple for God to dwell in. Habakkuk 2:11 talks about the stone in the buildings protesting the builders who built their towns with evil.)
This was Jerusalem's last chance to respond to who Jesus was but they didn't get it. As Jesus drew near to the city he saw it and wept over it (Luke 19:11) He loved his people and he saw what the consequences were of their rejection of him and the "time of his visitation". He longed to gather them like a mother hen gathers and protects her chicks from a hawk or danger. What would Jesus weep over in our lives, in our church? We have to be careful not to spend all our time confessing other people's sins. What are we blind to? We need to ask for His Holy Spirit to reveal that to us. A word received: Weep for my sinful people!
This event is part of Jesus' passion which leads up to his death and resurrection. All this was done to point to Jesus as the Messiah and confront people with a choice. Also after Jesus rose from the dead, his disciples could look back and see all the ways prophecy was fulfilled.
"Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; he is just and having salvation, lowly and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey. (Zechariah 9:9)
Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. (Philippians 2:5-8)
A word received: You are to take these two passages to heart if you are going to understand my passion and suffering. I chose to lay down my life so that you can live. I lay down my life so that you can live with me and my father forever.
God has many times of visitation, large and small. Are we listening to the Lord so that we will recognize those times in our lifetimes? (Liberia had a time of visitation while we were there. It lasted two years and then the leaders rejected it and went back to the old corrupt ways -- and it led to coups and then to civil war. God even sent warnings to the leaders and they rejected them.)
NOTE on geography: Jesus was coming to Jerusalem via Jericho and climbing up the ridge to Bethany and Bethphage. When he went down the road of the Mt. of Olives side he went down across from the Gate Beautiful which faces the mountain,. so at a certain point you could see through the gate into the temple courts. That gate was closest to the court of the Gentiles. Tradition has a spot where Jesus stopped and wept when he could see through the gate into the temple.
Bethany is a village on the eastern slopes of the Mt. of Olives, approximately two miles east of Jerusalem. This is where Jesus stayed during Passover week (John 11:18).
Bethphage, the village near the top of the ridge where Jesus sent two disciples to fetch the donkey for the Triumphal Entry. In Luke 19:29 and Mark 11:1 Bethphage is mentioned before Bethany which suggests that Jesus approached from the East. (Erdman's Bible Dict. p.139 and 144 and comments from Mark and Darlene Chesnut who were there.
NOTE on Mt. of Olives: Source: Eerdman's Bible Dictionary, page 779. It is a high ridge about 2 ½ miles long and is part of the central N-S mountain range that runs through Palestine. It not only provides a windbreak from E and N winds but causes moisture laden air from the Mediterranean to condense as it rises so provides abundant water for Jerusalem.
David fled from Absalom up the Mt of Olives (2 Samuel 15:25). It is also closely related to the Feast of Booths. "Zechariah mentions the mount as the site of the coming of the Messiah on the Day of the Lord." (Zechariah 14). He said it would split in two North and South. All the remaining nations would go to Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Booths.
It appears in Ezekiel 11:23 as where "the glory of the Lord" rested when it departed from the temple in Ezekiel's vision.
There is an extensive Jewish cemetery there in anticipation of the final judgment. Joel 3:12 may refer to it as the "valley of Jehoshaphat" meaning "the Lord judges" and the "valley of decision" in Joel 3: 14, 16-17 because of the many references to Jerusalem.
How to teach word for teachers: Come, follow Me. That is My Word to My disciples today.
Teaching Ideas for Lesson 26
Please read the Study Guide first. Go over Memory Verse to make sure the children understand it and then if they have memorized it.
Remind them their parents need to sign a report slip monthly if they have read the lessons, so they will get credit at the end of the year.
Make sure they know what happened in the story. Get them to tell you.
Basic points of the lesson for little ones:
1. Jesus was willing to do what God the Father asked him to do -- to die so that our sins can be forgiven. He paid the penalty for our sins. That is how much he loves us.
2. Jesus wants us to be willing to obey him, when He asks us to follow Him. Are we willing to obey Jesus even if it is embarrassing or if no one else comes with us? Ask for God's Holy Spirit to help you follow and obey Jesus.
3. The people praised Jesus on Palm Sunday. God wants us to share about Jesus and praise His name also, and not be afraid.
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