Palm Sunday 

Mark 11:1–11

Intro

Colossians 1:17 ESV

And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

Christ is Victorious through Every Broken thing Because He holds all things together

Mark 11:9–10 ESV

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!”

They are enacting a roman triumphal procession.

This parade would have been normal when the Roman emperor or a high ranking official would have entered into a city. They would enter through the main gates, sitting on the most regal horse, with their army and their plunder behind them.

A funny and odd victory

Jesus tells the disciples to go and find a colt (a donkey that has never been ridden) and bring it to him. He gives instructions that they are going to go into town, find a colt tied up and then if anyone asks them what they are doing, they are just supposed to say, “the Lord needs it. He will give it back.”

Mark 11:2–6 ESV

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.

A donkey represented the humility of the king who would bring salvation. An emperor or a Caesar would find the best horse, one that towered above everyone else.

Christ sustains all things, all power is His, and yet He rode a donkey to declare that He would win.

All of creation is in agreement with this moment. Even donkeys are listening. Even stones are crying out.

We look at our lives and the absurdity or folly of it, our circumstances or otherwise and think, God couldn’t possibly.

But when we do that, when we ask that and when that crosses our minds or even our lips, we have to go back to this moment, when we recognize that Christ doesn’t bring victory through our means, in fact He uses the simplistic things, He uses folly to accomplish His victory.

But it is right in those moments, when we are gifted with the opportunity to not lean on our own understanding and to, in the middle of the folly, or confusion, or donkeys or palms or stones crying out, to cry victory in Christ. To proclaim that against every odd, He beat sin and death and is doing that very work in our lives this morning.

2 Corinthians 4:16–18 ESV

So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

Remember Leonard Cohen’s lyrics in the song, Anthem

Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack, a crack in everything
That’s how the light gets in.

Christ brings victory through every broken thing. We will see that this morning in communion and on our way to the Cross.