Good morning Green Hills!  Happy Palm Sunday!  If we have not met yet, my name is Steve Muncherian.  I am one of the Elders here at Green Hills and it is my privilege to share God’s word with us this morning.  If you would like to tap, slide, or turn with me to Mark 11 – and let me read for us verses 1 to 11 – to get us all up to speed with what is the familiar account of Palm Sunday.

Now when they drew near to Jerusalem, to Bethphage and Bethany, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of His disciples and said to them, “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately as you enter it you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever sat.  Untie it and bring it.  If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord has need of it and will send it back here immediately.’”

And they went away and found a colt tied at a door outside in the street, and they untied it.  And some of those standing there said to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?”  And they told them what Jesus had said, and they let them go.

And they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it, and He sat on it.  And many spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut from the fields.  And those who went before and those who followed were shouting,

“Hosanna!  Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!  Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!  Hosanna in the highest!”

And He entered Jerusalem and went into the Temple.  And when He had looked around at everything, as it was already late, He went out to Bethany with the twelve.

Have you heard this?  Life is a rat race.  And the rats are winning.

Looking at the community and the country and the world we live in have you noticed that things are really messed up – the economics and harshness and suffering and just pure garbage of what’s around us. 

And is it not true that sometimes we can look at all of what we’re going through inside us and what’s around us – and we have trouble seeing where God is in any of that.

As Christians in our heads we know the answer.  That He is.  In the midst of that.  But – honestly – there are times when we’d like a little more visibility in that answer.  Are we tracking?

So, as we’re looking at Palm Sunday – this passage from Mark that we just read – hang onto that. 

Question:  Where is God in all this?  Answer:  God is.

Hang on to that.  Where is God in all this?  Answer:  God is.

Maybe not always in the ways we’d like Him to be.  But God is.

Palm Sunday is Day One of the week of ministry that points to forward to Resurrection Sunday.

All of Jesus’ ministry – what Jesus said and did – this one week of ministry is core – essential – to understanding what it means that God is – all in with what we’re into and going through.  Palm Sunday is day one – the introduction – crucial to understanding all of that. 

There are three significant parts to Mark’s account of Jesus entering Jerusalem that we want to unpack as we’re looking to see where God is this morning.

The first significant part of Mark’s account focuses on The Colt.

Mark begins in verse 1 by telling us that Jesus and the disciples drew near to Jerusalem, to Bethphage and Bethany.

Some brief backfill:

Jesus has been purposefully moving from Galilee – up in the north – to Jerusalem and to the cross.  The last stop was Jericho – just west of the Jordan River. 

At Jericho there were hundreds – if not thousands – of others who are also traveling to Jerusalem because it is almost the high holy feasts of Passover, Unleavened Bread, First Fruits – and 50 days after Passover, the end of harvest festival Shavuot – or what we know as... Pentecost. 

Jericho was the last stop on that Pilgrimage.  The place where people stopped and prepared for the final 20 mile ascent up to Jerusalem.  What would normally take someone about 1 day to walk – walking up hill.

Here in chapter 11 Mark picks up that journey and tells us that Jesus and the disciples have now ascended those 20 miles to the outskirts of Jerusalem.  It’s probably on Friday or Saturday they’ve arrived at the town of Bethany – which is about 2 miles east of Jerusalem.

Between Bethany and Jerusalem – on the eastern slope of the Mount of Olives is the little village of Bethphage.  And on Sunday morning Jesus sends His disciples into Bethphage with some very specific instructions for how to get the colt that Jesus is going to ride on into Jerusalem.

And – just as Jesus suggested would happen – as they’re untying the colt they get asked “What are you doing with the colt?”  Which seems like a logical question.  Most of us would ask.  Yes?

The disciples respond with Jesus’ really thin explanation.  But, surprisingly the people standing there buy the explanation and let the disciples take the colt.

All of which prompts the question – hopefully – “What’s up with the colt?” 

What is so significant about this colt that Jesus sends the disciples into O little town of Bethphage with these cryptic instructions and a weak explanation to get this colt. 

What’s up with this colt?  Good question.  Glad you asked.

To answer the question we need to look back at the prophecy that God gave through Zechariah.

Zechariah chapter 9.  Would you read with me verse 9:  Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!  Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem!  Behold, your King is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is He, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

Hang on to something.  We need to dive into some history.  How Zechariah 9:9, Mark, Jesus, Jerusalem, and the colt all connect. 

In the beginning of the 6th century BC – Nebuchadnezzar – remember him?  Book of Daniel.  Same king.

Nebuchadnezzar had sacked the smaller towns of Judah.  Finally, Nebuchadnezzar laid siege to Jerusalem – destroyed the city – burned the temple that Solomon had built – left it a burned-out shell of its former glory – hauled God’s people off into exile – mostly to Babylon.

Which looking back made 586 B.C. a sad – depressing – year for God’s people.  They were beaten up and beaten down and wondering, “Where God is God in all of this?”  Sound familiar?

Fast forward 50 years to 536 BC – and Cyrus who’d conquered Babylon – God uses Cyrus to issue a decree that allowed the Jews to go back to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple. 

Which happened exactly when and how God had used the prophet Jeremiah to tell God’s people that God would send them back to Jerusalem to restore the Temple and to go back to worshiping God. 

Point being – that in the midst of really hard stuff happening to God’s people – while they’re are asking … where is God?  God is.

So next, under the leadership of Zerubbabel and Joshua – Joshua who’s a different Joshua than THE conquered the Promised Land Joshua – Zerubbabel and different Joshua – a small group of diehard Jews goes back to Jerusalem and starts working on rebuilding the Temple.

But as they’re building the cost in materials keeps going higher.  And, the opposition from the people around them grew stronger.  So, the reality of the task of rebuilding begins to overwhelm them.

Meaning that economically – politically – spiritually – as things started to get more difficult – more messed up – harder – their initial enthusiasm begins do die off.  As they’re getting discouraged they’re thinking… where is God in all this? 

And as time goes by God’s people shift their focus from building the Temple to upgrading their homes – filling their lives with stuff and doing what’s easier for them and more immediately gratifying.

So now they’re discouraged and distracted and thinking where is God in all this – and maybe He’s not – so I’m just gonna go on building my house.

Coming to Zechariah and Zechariah 9:9 – God’s message through Zechariah to God’s people is to get back to work.  Why?  Because God has a glorious future ahead for His people.  Don’t be discouraged.  Keep trusting God.  Keep focused on God and what God is about to do.  Where is God in all this?  God is.

Kinda together?

Fast forward to God’s people on that Palm Sunday – what that huge and growing crowd of pilgrims moving with Jesus into Jerusalem – what they all would have understood about what’s up with the colt. 

Zechariah 9:9:  Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!  Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem!

“Shout aloud” translates a Hebrew word that means “Shout for joy!”  “Shout in triumph – in joy!”  Make some noise.  Why? 

“Behold” - the word in Hebrew that has the idea of “Wake up and smell the coffee!  Something really really significant is happening here.”

Behold, your King is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is He, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

Jesus isn’t walking into Jerusalem like a pilgrim.  Jesus making the choice to ride a colt into Jerusalem.  Day one – He’s making a statement as to why He’s come.

The Old Testament – in various ways and through various prophets – the Old Testament talks about the coming Kingdom of God – Jesus’ Kingdom.  In the New Testament there are parts of Jesus’ Kingdom that the New Testament speaks of that we haven’t seen yet. 

But here in First Century Jerusalem what we’re seeing here is the incarnate Lord of creation using this colt to symbolize that He is the fulfillment of Zechariah’s prophecy. 

Jesus using the colt to assert His messianic claims – to take His rightful place on the throne of Israel.  To take control of the Temple as high priest.  Jesus is there to reestablish Israel as a theocracy under God’s rule.

Maybe the masses didn’t understand all of that.   But to some degree they got enough of it.  The big picture of what was going on.  God is in this.  Prophecy is being fulfilled.  Do not be discouraged or distracted.  God is all in and God is doing what God said He would do.  Where is God in all this?  God is.

Significant part number two – verses 7 to 10 – focus on The Crowd.

As Jesus is riding into Jerusalem the crowd is spreading their cloaks and leafy branches on the road.  It was common practice back then to welcome home a king or war hero by laying out a path of branches for him to walk or ride on.  Like giving him the red-carpet treatment.

John’s Gospel tells us that they were waving palm branches.  Palm branches were a sign of prosperity and victory.  The Romans honored their victorious commanders with lavish parades which included waving palm branches.

For their entire history God’s people have been on this little teeny tiny piece of land that everybody else wants to control.  It’s like Palestine has this sign on the gate that says, “Conquer here.”

After God spoke through Zechariah the Greeks marched through conquering – with their years of subjugation – hard years of oppression.

Then the Romans came through – more subjugation – more oppression.  God’s people being beaten down and beaten up. 

To God’s people under the oppression of Rome – this is more than just a week of religious celebration.  This is a celebration of nationalism – stirring up the people’s passions – their desires for national – political – and social deliverance.

On Palm Sunday – with the people’s passion revved to the max – as Jesus enters Jerusalem riding on a colt it just revs the crowd up to a fever pitch.

God’s bringing prosperity to the righteous – to God’s people – not the despised – dreaded – we don’t touch those Gentile – Romans. 

And victory – the victory of God’s people – over their oppressors – the dreaded – we don’t touch those Gentile – Romans.

The people are shouting: “Hosanna!  Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!  Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!  Hosanna in the highest!”

Hosanna means…   “save” - as in “Save us from the Romans!” 

“Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!” is a quote from Psalm 118:26.

Psalm 118 was used during the Passover.  It was sung during times of great national celebration.  Psalm 118 is full of thanksgiving to God Who comes to the aid of His people.  Who provides for them in difficulty and brings relief in their distress and comforts them in suffering.  God Who is with His people.

“Blessed is He who comes bringing God’s relief - God’s help - into these wearying circumstances of our lives.”  

The crowd adds to Psalm 118:  Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!     

The other Gospel writers – as they record this account – also record other exclamations the crowd added to Psalm 118:

Matthew 19:9: “Hosanna to the Son of David!”

Luke 19:38: “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord.”

John 12:13: “Even the King of Israel.”

“It’s Passover.  Moses saved us from Pharaoh.  Jesus will save us from the Romans.  Save us Jesus.  Be our King.  Restore David’s kingdom.  Hail King Jesus!”

And we know – because this is a really familiar account – and because we’ve read Mark and the other Gospel accounts – we know that this crowd – which may have been getting that God is in this and Jesus is bringing it – while they may have been getting all that – we know that the crowd turned against Jesus – had Him crucified on Good Friday – because they saw what they expected to see and somehow, they weren’t getting the “how” of what it was that God is doing about their lives and circumstances.

Somehow, as they were shouting the words of Psalm 118:26 they’d missed the earlier verse of Psalm 118 – verse 22: “The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief corner stone.”

“The stone” – Jesus – is rejected – crucified in our place – offering us salvation from our sins. 

Jesus becomes “the chief corner stone” – laid as the foundation of the church – the beginning of what God desires to do in our lives.

Point being – as Jesus enters Jerusalem God is moving in history – but His movement is not focused on just the declaration of Who Jesus is.

Jesus is riding a colt – fulfilling prophecy – and symbolizing humility.  Which is a very different perspective of how God is – how He – God – is in all this.

Question:  Where is God in all this?  Answer:  God is.  But God is, in His way, not ours.

Which brings us to the third significant part of what Mark records for us – in verse 11:  The Temple. 

And He – Jesus – entered Jerusalem and went into the Temple.  And when He had looked around at everything, as it was already late, He went out to Bethany with the twelve.

After the victory parade – with all the crowds and branch waving and shouting and celebration – what is a de facto coronation – after all the hoopla Jesus went into the Temple.

Mark tells us that it was late.  Meaning it was in the evening. 

Anyone ever been in a large auditorium or stadium when not many people were there?  Not that the Temple was closed.  But something like that. 

Mark alone – of all the Gospel writers – Mark draws us into the absence of activity and the emptiness of the vast Temple complex.  Within those grand and spacious courts – except perhaps for the sound of some distant conversations – some end of the day activities – for the most part Jesus and the disciples are alone.

There is no conversation recorded.  No questions.  No teaching.  No debriefing on the parade.  Even Peter – who’s usually not at loss for words – even Peter is silent.

And in the stillness of that late hour – Mark alone tells us that Jesus looked around at everything… everything.

The Greek verb “to look around” means more than just glancing around at things.  “To look around” has the idea of observation and contemplation.

What the “everything” was that Jesus was observing and contemplating we don’t know.  We can only speculate.  But it is hugely valuable to pause – as Mark encourages us to do – and to ponder what that “everything” might have been. 

Maybe Jesus was remembering when – as a child – He’d seen that Temple.  Maybe He was thinking about Joseph.

Perhaps Jesus is thinking about the people that had passed through those courts for all of the different reasons they had passed through those courts. 

The Psalms that had been sung.  The prayers that had been offered.  The sacrifices and the offerings.  So much of the life of God’s people that had been lived out in that place.

Perhaps Jesus was thinking about how God had made Himself known there.  And how different it could have been for God’s people if they’d remained faithful. 

Perhaps He was looking at the money changers and sellers of animals packing up after a day’s business.  Perhaps perceiving the absence of true worship – pondering the sacrilege and hypocrisy.

Or maybe Jesus was contemplating what lay ahead for Him. The ministry of the coming week beginning with tomorrow’s driving out the money changers and the buyers and sellers.

Perhaps pondering ahead to His trial.  His crucifixion.  His resurrection.  And maybe even to us.

We don’t know what was going through Jesus’ mind as He was observing and contemplating everything.  Maybe some of that.  Maybe none of that.  Probably a whole lot more than we could ever speculate about. 

But Mark alone – of all the Gospel writers – Mark alone intentionally draws us into that dramatic contrast between the triumphant entry and the silence – Jesus looking around at… everything. 

The hour is late for God’s people.  It’s the evening calm of day one.  The storm is coming.

Jesus gets it.  Jesus alone sees everything that’s going on with God’s people.  Behind the parade and politics – He sees the heart of the people – the emptiness and longing – the fear. 

And Jesus alone is aware of what God is doing – what God will do – and why.  Where God is in – and will be in – in the midst of all that.  And the tremendous cost of… everything.

The will and working of the Father.  God Who – in the midst of all of that – is, and is working His will in His way and timing.

And then Jesus purposely – strategically – chooses to leave – to return with His disciples to Bethany.  Probably back to the home of Mary, Martha, and their recently back from the dead brother, Lazarus. 

Back to Jesus’ base of operations to prepare Himself and His followers for the ordeal to come – the essential week of ministry – to follow the Father into day two.

Where is God in all of this?  God is.

Processing all that…  Two words…

First:  HUMILITY 

Do you remember Job?

In the beginning of Job, Job is crushing it.  He’s blameless – upright – fearing God – blessed with sons and daughters and servants – sheep – camels – oxen – donkeys.  He’s wealthy.  He’s respected.

And God – in bringing glory to Himself – God allows Satan – within limits – God allows Satan to test Job.

So within a very short period of time it’s all gone.  Job’s kids are dead – his wealth is gone – his friends and Mrs. Job turn against him with some really bad counsel.  Job is sitting in the street – his health gone – using pieces of broken pottery to scrape sores on his skin.

And Job is asking – as most of us would – he’s asking, why?  What’s up?  This was not what I was expecting from God?  Why doesn’t God answer me?  God owes me an explanation.  Where is God in all this?

And we know – because we’ve read the end of the book – that God does show up and God graciously chooses to answer Job – and Job’s friends – God testifying of Who He is – that God is God and we’re not.  Job is blessed and God is glorified. 

Point being:  What God does and why God does what God does for our benefit – ultimately is for God’s purposes and God’s glory alone.  The how and why of which – even if God explained it to us we still wouldn’t fully understand it.

Each of us probably has stuff going on in our marriages – our family and with our kids and grand-kids and parents and siblings or at work or school – our own health issues – money issues – and what we experience around us or in us – we all got stuff.  And some of it is hard stuff.  And understandably we can feel alone and anxious and hopeless and overwhelmed and fearful.

But, too often we get hung up by all that – we start to get distracted from following God and God’s plan for us – we default to trusting ourselves rather than God and expecting God to explain it to us and to work all that out in the when and way we think He should.  And when He doesn’t we’re asking, “Where is God?”

Jesus takes on the flesh and blood of our humanity.  He’s born into a common family in a Rome conquered nation – facing life as we face life. 

He comes into Jerusalem not as a king or conquering hero – but in the humility of a guy riding a little colt – maybe even with His feet dragging on the ground.  Ultimately going to the cross – giving His blood to save us.  Fulfilling prophecy – humbly following God’s plan – for us.

Which of us explained to God how to do that?  Which of us fully gets the depth of what all that means?

How does the eternal Creator God take on His creation’s humanity and die for us?  Only God knows. 

But grab the bottom line:  He did.  Praise God.  Your King and Savior has come to you – to me – just as He said He would.

Maybe – we – like Jesus – also need humility to follow God’s plan – and trust that in the midst of the really hard stuff of our lives that He calls us to follow Him through – that He is there with us. 100%  Even if we don’t always understand how or why.  God is.

Second word:  SILENCE

Because God has a track record.

Which is recorded here in the Bible.

God’s track record of choosing His people and delivering and instructing and establishing and disciplining and restoring them.  And Jesus – His incarnation – and this crucial week that begins with Palm Sunday – His death and resurrection.  And the coming of the Holy Spirit and the outward spread of the Gospel and the Church.  And what leads to us.

And God has a track record in our lives.

Jesus in the Temple is an example for us.  Jesus in the foreboding silence of that place contemplating God and God’s people.  What God has done.  What God is doing.  What God will do.

In the midst of our loud – attention demanding – accelerating – media driven world – in the midst of what we caught up in and what presses down on us – when we get stressed and depressed – sometimes – maybe a lot of times – we need to intentionally just stop and go silent and consider and contemplate the presence of God – His track record – in our lives.

Years ago I started writing down where – over the years – I’d seen God at work in my life.  Some of those times were really painful times.  Not a lot of hope.  Some of those times were when I was just whining at God.  Not that anybody else here would ever do that.

But times, when often in the midst of what I was going through I had no clue where God was or what God was doing.  But looking back He was always there – always faithful – always lovingly working. 

And for me – in my present time stuff – it is hugely helpful to look back – to be reminded of God’s track record in my life.

Maybe you might want to do that for yourself.

So that when you’re wondering where God is you can be reminded that God has been there – even before we even trusted Jesus as our Savior – God has been working – maybe not in the ways you were expecting – but He has been faithful – and is faithful and will be faithful.  God is.

And God has given us each other.

2 Sunday ago – as a congregation – we celebrated 60 years of God’s track record in this congregation.  And we have circles – Life Groups – brothers and sisters in Christ – for when we get stuck in hard stuff – to remind us of God’s track record.

This week in our Life Groups we’ll have the opportunity to do that for each other.  To help us keep trusting that the God Who was with us is with us now.

Where is God in all this?  God is.

_______________

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®  (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.  Used by permission.  All rights reserved.