PALM SUNDAY
April 17/18, 2011
Pastor Timothy J. Spaude
Text: Zechariah 9:9-10

“KEEP WORKING!”
1. Your Palm Sunday King has come.
2. Your Palm Sunday King will come again.

Zechariah 9:9-10 (NIV) “Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. 10 I will take away the chariots from Ephraim and the war-horses from Jerusalem, and the battle bow will be broken. He will proclaim peace to the nations. His rule will extend from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth.”

When things don’t go well people can get discouraged. Even God’s people, who have the right , and the reasons, to be the happiest and most optimistic people on the planet, even they can get discouraged. And if you were one of God’s people who lived at the time of the prophet Zechariah you were discouraged. This is why. First you probably lived through the tail end of the Babylonian Captivity. You remember how the people living in the southern kingdom of Judah had been captured by the Babylonians and carried away. It was God’s chastening of the people because of their idol worship. You saw the improbable and, what must have seemed like the impossible, happen as the Jews were allowed to return to their homeland. They were provided safe passage and even money and provisions to begin rebuilding the Temple. That was the work God gave them to do. Rebuild the Temple. It must have seemed like a dream. Back in the Promised Land! We can rebuild the Temple and then maybe Messiah will come! How exciting!
But there were setbacks, obstacles, bumps in the road and misplaced priorities. The Samaritans didn’t like you coming back. They didn’t want you building the Temple. They schemed and connived and the Temple work was halted. Well, of course you had other work to do while you waited to get back to Temple building. There were your own homes to build. Fields to plant. Food to find. Eventually the Samaritan threat went away. You would think they would have gotten busy again with the work of rebuilding the Temple but they didn’t. Many of God’s people had become complacent. They didn’t want their average home they wanted a bigger nicer home. They weren’t content to have enough food to live on. They wanted bigger fields and crops. Some understood the importance of rebuilding the Temple. They became discouraged. God sent the prophet Zechariah. He rebuked the complacent for their messed up priorities of putting God’s work second. He encouraged the discouraged by pointing them to their Palm Sunday king. “Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you.”
Why? What was so great about that? Let’s see. “See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” The coming of the Palm Sunday King was a reason to rejoice and keep working because of the type of King He is. Gentle. Riding on a donkey. He is not ostentatious. He is not overbearing. He is gentle. Of course our thoughts jump to the Palm Sunday events described in Matthew’s Gospel. How ironic that the King of kings looks so lowly. How wonderful to know He is gentle. I’m sure you all know people that are not. Bullies in school. Bullies in the workplace. Bullies in families. They get their way by walking all over people, intimidating them to do what the bully wants, manipulating and scheming behind the scenes to get their way. Our Palm Sunday King is the opposite. He is gentle. Even though He is the all powerful King of Kings with thousands upon thousands of angels to do His bidding, even thought He has the right and power to force our obedience, look at how He motivates us to obey God’s commandments. He gives His life for us. He loves us. He sees our weakness and He comes to help us. When Jesus came the first time He was gentle.
He also brought salvation. On Palm Sunday I wonder if the people really knew what they were saying with their “Hosannas” and the “Son of Davids.” Whether or not they knew the Holy Spirit did. They were identifying Jesus as the Savior. These truths were motivation for the people at Zechariah’s time to keep working. They needed to get that Temple built for their king who would come.
That’s the perspective that makes sense for us who live after Palm Sunday. Jesus did come as foretold. Matthew carefully recorded the details and connected the dots of prophecy. Zechariah’s prophecy looks further than Palm Sunday though. It points to a Palm Sunday King who will come again. “I will take away the chariots from Ephraim and the war-horses from Jerusalem, and the battle bow will be broken. He will proclaim peace to the nations. His rule will extend from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth.” The Lord through Zechariah proclaims a time of peace and a world wide rule. This is not talking about physical peace between nations and an earthly kingdom ruled by Jesus. It is talking about a spiritual peace between God and men and the worldwide nature of Christ’s kingdom. He has His believers scattered throughout the world at this time.
But it’s not always going to be that way and the best is yet to come. When? When our Palm Sunday King comes again. And He will. On Judgment Day. Then He will not come riding on a donkey. He will not come in lowliness. He will come in glory with all His angels with Him. He will come to judge all people. Those who have rejected Him will be cast in the fires of Hell prepared for the Devil and his followers. Those who believe will be ushered into the glorious kingdom of peace that lasts forever. Our Palm Sunday King will come again.
Which is a good reason for us to keep working. Remember these words were given to God’s people to help them stay at the tasks the Lord had given them to do even though they were feeling discouraged. They serve us in the same way. Let’s think for a moment of the work God has given each of us to do. I want you to think personally for yourself first. Think or write down a description of the roles God has given to you. I’ll give some examples. You have family roles. Mother, father, wife, husband, child, grandparent, aunt or uncle, friend. You have vocational roles. You might then also be a stay at home mom, a working mom, a student, teacher, employee, boss, unemployed, retiree. These are all examples of roles God gives and each one has work to do—be faithful and serve as though the Lord is your boss or your child or your student. In each one you might get discouraged. There may be obstacles, roadblocks or ever opposition to the work the Lord wants you to do. For example, others don’t appreciate the work you are doing. The love you are showing is not returned. You’ve done your best parenting but your child is now straying. You work faithfully but are passed over for promotion. Someone at work is undermining your work or position. You give great Christian advice to a friend but they don’t take it. You work your hardest studying but still do poorly on the test. You see no results. You feel discouraged. What’s the use? Your Palm Sunday King has come and He will come again. Don’t let outward results or other people’s responses determine what you do. Let your Palm Sunday King. He loves you. Serve Him. Let what you do be done for Him. Simply ask what He would want you to do, look at the work He has given you to do and do it. He will not fail you.
He won’t fail us as a congregation either. When you think of the work the Lord gave the returning exiles, to rebuild the Temple, you can’t help but think of the work the Lord has given to us, to build His Church by being His witnesses. But just like with Israel we can let opposition, obstacles and misplaced priorities discourage us. For the times when we have let misplaced priorities, fun and games rank higher on our list financially and time wise than doing the Lord’s work, God rebukes us. Look at your Palm Sunday King! Is that really what He deserves? For the times when we work and don’t get the results we want or face opposition or obstacles, God encourages us. Look at your Palm Sunday King. He’s ruling right now and He will come again. So for Him, keep working, brothers and sisters, keep working for Him! Amen.