Save Now: The Triumphal Entry

In one paragraph

Palm Sunday this year began with baptisms and a look back at the week leading up to Jesus's entry into Jerusalem. Pastor Mark walked through the political, economic, cultural, and religious world of first-century Judea before reading the Palm Sunday account from John's Gospel. The whole message kept circling back to one question: who is this man, and do you believe in him? Before getting to the...

Read together

1. John 1:14 quoted to introduce Jesus as the Word made flesh, full of grace and truth
2. Job 42:2 paraphrased in prayer: 'I know you can do all things and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted'
3. John 11:1-4 Lazarus of Bethany is sick; Jesus says the sickness is not to end in death but for the glory of God
4. John 11:32-35 Mary falls at Jesus's feet, Jesus is moved and weeps at the tomb of Lazarus
5. John 11:38-44 Jesus commands the stone removed, prays to the Father, and calls Lazarus forth from the tomb
6. John 11:45-54 many believe; chief priests and Pharisees convene the council; Caiaphas prophesies one man must die for the nation; Jesus withdraws to Ephraim
7. John 12:1 six days before Passover Jesus comes to Bethany where Lazarus was raised
8. John 12:12-15 crowd takes palm branches to meet Jesus; he rides a donkey's colt as it is written
9. John 12:16 disciples did not understand these things at first but remembered after Jesus was glorified
10. John 12:20-23 Greeks come to Philip asking to see Jesus; Jesus declares the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified
11. Luke 19:41-42 Jesus approaches Jerusalem, sees the city and weeps, saying they did not know the things that make for peace
12. Zechariah 9:9 quoted as the prophecy fulfilled by Jesus riding on a donkey's colt: 'Rejoice greatly, oh daughter of Zion'
13. Psalm 118:25-26 crowd shouts Hosanna, 'blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord'; explained as 'Oh Lord I beseech you, save now'
14. Revelation 7:9-10 vast crowd from every nation holding palm branches shouting 'Salvation comes from our God who sits on the throne and from the Lamb'

Talk about it

1. The pastor walked through the political, economic, cultural, and religious pressures facing first-century Jews under Roman rule. How do those pressures compare to pressures you feel today, and how does that context change the way you read the Palm Sunday story?
2. When Jesus heard Lazarus was sick, he stayed two extra days before going to him. What does that deliberate waiting tell you about how God works, and can you think of a time when God's timing felt frustratingly slow but turned out to be purposeful?
3. Martha said 'Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died,' expressing faith but also a sense that it was too late. Have you ever believed in Jesus but still felt like a situation was beyond rescue? How did you work through that?
4. The pastor read from D.A. Carson that the church is 'a collection of natural enemies' held together not by common background or politics but by a common allegiance to Jesus. Where do you find that hardest to live out, and what would it look like to love those natural enemies well?
5. The Greeks at the feast simply said 'we want to see Jesus,' and that request is what prompted Jesus to say 'the hour has now come.' What does it mean to you personally to seek Jesus rather than seeking what Jesus can do for you, and what gets in the way of that?