Journey to the Cross & Beyond: What Did Jesus Come to Do

Sermon Quick Summary

Jesus, Hosanna, is at the center of it all. Imagine you are there on Palm Sunday in the crowd excited about Jesus. The Tension and Disconnect of Palm Sunday is that the crowd was right to call Jesus King, but they were wrong about what kind of King Jesus came to be. There are many Messianic Prophecies included throughout the Old Testament scriptures passed down from generation to generation. Many who waved palm branches in praise that day would later shout “Crucify Him” because Jesus didn’t play the part they wanted Him to play. The truth of Palm Sunday asks each of us a hard question: Are we worshiping Jesus for the King Jesus comes to be as declared in Luke 4:18-19? Or the King we want Jesus to be? The mission of Jesus (review Luke 4:19) was literally and figuratively. 1) To bring good news to the poor. 2) To proclaim freedom for the captives. 3) To give sight to the blind. 4) To set the oppressed free. Jesus came to establish the reign of God. It is a Kingdom marked by justice, mercy, healing, hope and love that embodied the Kingdom of God in what Jesus did. The crowd missed that Jesus wasn’t doing signs to impress them; Jesus was revealing the very essence of the Kingdom of God. When Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey that day, Jesus was moving forward with the revolution He had already begun that would find its fulfillment at the cross and its power in the resurrection. Jesus came to save them not just from Rome, but also from sin, from brokenness within and without, from eternal death. Jesus came to save not just a nation, but to save all people from the inside out. The people shouted “Hosanna,” believing they were welcoming a king who would change the world. Jesus, their King, does change the world, but not in the way they imagined. Today, those who truly understand who Jesus is and what Jesus came to do still shout, “Hosanna.” Our shout in our lives today should also be “Hosanna in the highest.” Living in Jesus’ Kingdom is a call to surrender our expectations. Jesus invites us to live as citizens of that Kingdom. (1) To speak truth, even when it’s costly. (2) To love our neighbor, even when it’s inconvenient. (3) To let go of control, even when we’re afraid (4) Trusting in the safety of being in the center of Jesus’ love, because Jesus will never fail or forsake us. We are invited to a spiritual exercise, to shout Hosanna, and pray for Jesus to reign and be the center of our life.