Part of the Lent 2021 Spiritual Disciplines Series
Today we are nearing the end of our Lenten series on the Spiritual Disciplines. Next week we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ, but today we will focus on the events that take place about one week prior to Jesus’ death and resurrection. Today we will be looking at the Triumphal Entry. What made this day so special? Was it just an impromptu parade? Did the disciples just get everyone all hyped up? Today we not only cover the event recorded in Mark 11:1-11, but we will discuss the topic of Worship.. What is it and why do we do it?
[If you’d like to listen to the audio recording from this message, CLICK HERE.]
As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples, 2 saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and just as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 3 If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it and will send it back here shortly.’”
4 They went and found a colt outside in the street, tied at a doorway. As they untied it, 5 some people standing there asked, “What are you doing, untying that colt?” 6 They answered as Jesus had told them to, and the people let them go. 7 When they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks over it, he sat on it. 8 Many people spread their cloaks on the road, while others spread branches they had cut in the fields. 9 Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted,
“Hosanna!”
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
10 “Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!”
“Hosanna in the highest heaven!”
11 Jesus entered Jerusalem and went into the temple courts. He looked around at everything, but since it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the Twelve.
Mark 11:1-11 NIV
If you look up “worship” in the Webster’s dictionary from 1828, you’ll find several definitions. As a Verb
“To adore; to pay divine honors to; to reverence with supreme respect and veneration.”
And as a noun
“Chiefly and eminently, the act of paying divine honors to the Supreme Being; or the reverence and homage paid to him in religious exercises, consisting in adoration, confession, prayer, thanksgiving and the like.”
In the end, no matter if a person worships God, fame or power, they are doing one thing in the act of worshipping: attributing worth to the receiver of the worship. In fact the word we say today, “worship” has its origins in old english. Where the word was “worth-ship” or attributing worth to someone or something.
Money
You might say “I don’t worship money,” and I believe you. However, have you ever been out for a walk and seen a coin on the ground? Or perchance a dollar bill on the floor? What do you do?
Step over it? Step on it and keep on walking?
No. We are conditioned to see those bits of metal and rectangular green pieces of paper as objects that are worth something.
Maybe we pick it up and put it into our pockets to spend later. Maybe we try to find out who’s money it was. Maybe we keep it for a special offering collection at church.
We attribute and recognize worth in those items. In a strange way, it is kind of like worshipping them. Now do we have a big parade for that money? Do we shout Hosanna! I found a quarter? No…or at least I hope not. I guess there is a line somewhere. You can recognize something’s worth without making a big deal about it.
Triumphal Entry
But with Jesus, the people couldn’t just stand by quietly. They couldn’t just look at him, say to their Neighbor in a calm tone “You know what, that guy’s going places. I think he might just be ushering in the Davidic Kingdom. I could see him taking over the leadership of Jerusalem. Yesiree.”
No calm response to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. One must WORSHIP and do so with all they have and all they are. Verse 8:
8 Many people spread their cloaks on the road, while others spread branches they had cut in the fields.
Think about that for just a moment. They took off their outer garments and laid them on the ground. Not for some prince or princess to walk across so their feet don’t get muddy. This was laid down like a red carpet at a Hollywood Premiere. Again, not so a human could walk on this very important, costly thing…but a donkey. A New colt.
I haven’t seen donkey’s pulling carts around Viroqua, but I have seen horses. They are a sight to see. I grew up in a small town like this, but we didn’t have horse buggies driving through the streets. That’s something I would only see in movies and TV shows. So a big animal like a horse grabs my attention, especially when it’s contrasted with motor vehicles.
As amazing and beautiful as these animals can be, they also leave messes around town, don’t they? So now, imagine choosing to lay down your outer garment, your cloak…so an animal can step on it. HUH?!
Exactly. Kind of a strange decision, right? Let’s move on to verse 9.
9 Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted,
“Hosanna![a]”
Hosanna? What’s that mean? I’m glad you asked! Hosanna is a
“A transliteration of the Hebrew phrase hoshi’ah na, which means ‘save us!’”
(Faithlife Study Bible (Mk 11:9). Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.)
Verse 9 continues…
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”[b]
10 “Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!”
It connects to Psalm 118:25-26
“Save us, we pray, O LORD!
O LORD, we pray, give us success!
26 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD!
We bless you from the house of the LORD.”
(Ps 118:25–26 ESV)
Back to Mark’s account of the Triumphal entry, they finish off with shouting:
“Hosanna in the highest heaven!”
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So clearly the people, beginning with the disciples, attributed worth to Jesus. The owners of the colt did not argue with the disciples when they retrieved the animal. “The Lord needs it. It’ll be back shortly.” I picture the owners, shrugging their shoulders and saying “Sounds good to me!”
As Jesus came riding on the donkey, the people SAW him and responded in Worship to him.
- Physically – they laid down their cloaks. Others laid palm branches.
- Verbally – They laid their reputations on the line to shout Old Testament proclamations. They attributed worth to Jesus.
Worship is the natural response when you or I are confronted with someone greater than ourselves. We stand up and take notice. We cheer and hollar!
Worship is the natural response when you or I are confronted with someone greater than ourselves.
Sports
Have you ever been at a sporting event where there was a fan who was just a bit too enthusiastic for your taste? They weren’t mean, jeering the ref or the other team. They just LOUDLY liked their team more than you thought possible. Maybe it was a bit embarrassing.
That’s the kind of response we have when confronted with a HOLY God, with the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. When Jesus, the Messiah rolls into town…the only response is “Hossana! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
But what about Worship in our daily life. Are you ever confronted by God? Do you respond in worship?
And of course we don’t mean you breakout in song every time you think of him…(though you can do that and it’d be perfectly OK.) I mean worship. Respond in a way to his worthiness that reflects…”I acknowledge you are worthy of all praise!”
Giving
We can do this when we give of our resources. The financial and physical resources that God has given to us, we can give back to him. And it doesn’t just mean giving to an offering. In fact some of the best ways to give is helping someone that god puts on your heart…right then and there. When you give, you reflect the generosity of God. Something we talked about two weeks ago.
When you give right then and there…you reflect an attitude of obedience.
We can give of Ourselves in service to God. Teaching bible studies, bringing meals, sweeping or vacuuming floors. Volunteering locally, when we give of our time and energies to help others, we prove in our heart that they matter to us. Our district’s saying may be familiar to you, but I say it anyway.
“Lost and broken people matter to God, Therefore lost and broken people matter to us.”
We reflect how worthy we believe God is by treating his creation with care and respect. There is a lot of lost and brokenness in this world, in our community. Do we look on them with disgust or with compassion, love and prayer? The latter reflects a love and worship of God.
Words
Words can hurt…
“18But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them. 19For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.” (Matt 15:18-19 NIV)
Words can Heal…
“Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.” (1 Thess 5:11 NIV)
What are we going to hold in our hearts? Whatever we keep there, it will come out of our mouths. Over-critical people have criticism in their hearts. People who speak slander of other people have that in their heart. People who have been encouraged speak words of encouragement. People who speak words of compassion have compassionate hearts.
What’s in your heart? Is it a deep understanding of how amazing and holy and mighty Jesus is? If so, out of your mouth…out of my mouth…will spring words of WORSHIP.
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Discipline
“So Pastor, if Worship is a response…then how can it be a discipline?”
Hebrews 12:28 “Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe.”
Like with any “discipline,” we get better at it when we practice. When we intentionally put forth energy to engage it. When I was in Junior High, I decided I didn’t want to practice the piano anymore. I’m sure I was onto the next thing, but that wasn’t piano. Playing piano well took a lot of practice. I didn’t like messing up, I didn’t think my hands could do the things the songs told me to do, I didn’t think I could pay attention when the music was in a different key than C and I had to remember each flat or sharp as I played. Most of all, I didn’t think it was something boys did. So I stopped taking lessons.
In highschool, I regretted it. In college too. The popular folks knew how to play piano. They could help anyone practice for Solo and Ensemble competitions. I made a choice to not practice. And my piano skills never got any better.
The same can be said for you and I if we don’t intentionally Worship God. We can recognize “Yep! That was God. God’s Cool. He just protected me from getting in a car accident.” “Yup, he provided us with food and finances we need to keep going every day.” “God’s so good.” But where you really turn the corner is when you make a big deal about it!
Silently mumbling the greatness of God only impacts our own spiritual life.
Changing the things you do and the words you say to reflect your honest belief of his Greatness: That’s worship. That’s a spiritual discipline that doesn’t have to be hard to practice. It’s one that others will want to reflect as they see it pouring out of you.
Cleaning up after the parade
Mark’s account of the Triumphal Entry is an interesting one. The scene in verse 11 is very strange. Where Jesus usually had crowds of people hoarding in on him and asking for healings and help…Jesus…
“…entered Jerusalem and went into the temple courts. “
That’s pretty normal. But no record of a crowd or even a mob. The next part is just as uneventful.
“He looked around at everything, but since it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the Twelve.”
Have you ever been to a parade before? I’ve been to several, even one down the street just a couple years ago. Horse drawn buggies and big trucks pulling floats. It’s lots of fun, especially for kids who catch bags of candy and prizes from the parade participants.
But the part that the audience rarely joins in on is the clean up. All those animals, all the trash from candy Wrappers. All the mud and grime. The audience sees the last float, the last group comes around the corner and starts picking up their belongings to head home.
It’s lonely. The only people who stay to help clean up are the people who planned to do so in the first place.
I picture that kind of loneliness when I read this last part of verse 11.
“Jesus looked around at everything…” The temple, the temple mount, the various courtyards. All the things. Jesus saw things…and then he left the way he came.
It seemed cold. And sad. It was as if the life had gone out of the party. The Parade was over “See you next time.” No worshipers. Just things in the temple. It was time to head back to Bethany.
Worship
And here we sit. The event recorded As the Triumphal Entry in scripture, past down through Chrissendom, it started with shouting and the rolling out of the red carpet. It Ended with a sullen lack of worship.
Friends, in our life we can have HIGH points with Jesus. Things that look like parades! A couple of months ago, I mentioned that I prayed for my pet to be healed. We thought he was going to die. We took him for surgery and he didn’t need it. He was healed. It felt like a parade worshipping Jesus.
Two weeks ago, our pet got sick again and was closer to death than he has ever been. Also our car broke down. Also I got Covid. The combined stress did not help any of these situations.
I am fond of referencing Job a lot in my messages. Forgive me if I over do it. Something about his suffering is just so relatable. But at the end of chapter 1, Job has just heard all his children are dead. Verses 20-21:
20 At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship 21 and said:
“Naked I came from my mother’s womb,
and naked I will depart.
The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away;
may the name of the Lord be praised.”
In the midst of Pain. In the midst of celebration – Job knew the one who was worthy of all praise. His natural response was to attribute worth to Him who is worthy of all praise.
Viroqua Naz 