Palm Sunday is a day of paradox, a day of contrast. The King of Israel, our Lord Jesus Christ, enters the holy city not in a chariot or on a war horse but on the back of a borrowed donkey. It is a day of festive celebration as the crowds wave palms, traditional symbols of victory as they shout their jubilant "Hosannas," acclaiming Jesus the Blessed One, the King who comes in the name of the Lord. Yet the excitement and energy of Palm Sunday is a prelude to Jesus' Passion. The One who is confessed as Israel's King will be mocked, crowned with thorns, and crucified under a sign which reads "King of the Jews" before this week is over. This man who rides the donkey is God, yet, in humility, He takes on the form of a servant and comes to suffer and die. This man who is the center of so much attention because He had raised Lazarus from the dead will Himself be crucified, dead, and buried in the space of a few short days. Indeed Palm Sunday is a day of paradox.

Palm Sunday's parade will culminate on Calvary. Jesus enters the holy city in the midst of joyful psalms of praise but when He leaves on Good Friday morning, His ears will not be filled with sounds of psalms but of the cries for His crucifixion. Remember how the hymn puts it?

"Sometimes they strew his way
   And his sweet praises sing;
Resounding all the day Hosannas to their King.
   Then 'Crucify!' is all their breath,
And for his death they thirst and cry." (91:3 LW)

For the Lord Jesus, Palm Sunday is not a distraction. He does not allow Himself to be lured away from the cross, by whatever faulty notions of kingship may have occupied the minds of those who chanted their hosannas and honored Him with palm branches on that day of His triumphal entry. When He had fed the five thousand in the wilderness, there were those who wanted to take Him by force and make Him king (John 6:15). In truth, Jesus is King, but His "kingship is not of this world" and He will not conform Himself to this world's definition of kingship.

Jesus fed the multitudes in the wilderness with bread and fish, but that did not make Him a "bread king" who was there simply to keep people's bellies full. Jesus rode in triumph into Jerusalem, but that did not make Him a king who would liberate Jerusalem from Roman rule. He is a king of an altogether different type. He is the King promised by the Prophet Zechariah: "Fear not, daughter of Zion; Behold, your King is coming, sitting on a donkey's colt."

This King comes to meet our greatest need. He looks on us in our need, our need for reconciliation with God through the forgiveness of our sins, and He comes to meet that need. That is why Zechariah says, "Fear not." Without this King we would have every reason to be afraid of both life and death. For without Him life would be worse than pointless. Life would be, in the words of Martin Franzmann's hymn, "a deathward drift from futile birth." Without the sacrifice of our King, death would be the door to everlasting condemnation in hell. Our King comes to rescue us from the futility of our sins and the condemnation that sin brings.

Fear is out of place where Jesus Christ is King! Fear is out of place because nothing can separate us from the love of God which is given us in Jesus Christ our Lord. Our King has defeated death by dying and by His rising from the grave, He gives us a life that death cannot touch.

Notice that this proclamation of Jesus' victory is made just days before He goes to the cross. He still must face the betrayal by Judas, the agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, the false accusations, the sham trial, the mockery, the beatings, and death on the cross. But in the face of all that is to come in Passion Week, Palm Sunday anticipates the victory of our Savior. Even as Jesus humbles Himself and goes to Jerusalem to die as our Savior, Palm Sunday gives us a preview of the outcome of His saving work. He "became obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and those on earth, and of those under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

Palm Sunday was for the praise and glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is honored as the Lord. He is praised as the King who comes to save His people. Palm branches and chants of "hosanna" acclaim Him as the Redeemer. But Palm Sunday points beyond itself to the triumph of our Lord. Palm Sunday anticipates the heavenly kingdom which our Lord opens to all believers by His blood. In the Book of Revelation, John describes the fulfillment of Palm Sunday as he gives us a glimpse of the celestial liturgy: "I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues standing before the Lamb clothed with white robes with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, saying, 'Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!' All the angels stood around the throne and the elders and the four living creatures, and fell on their faces before the throne and worshipped God, saying: 'Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom, Thanksgiving and honor and power and might, Be to our God forever and ever. Amen.'"

That is the victory of Jesus' cross and resurrection. Angels and saints praise the Lamb of our salvation. And on this Palm Sunday we join them in their heavenly anthem for the Lord whom they adore is the Lord Jesus Christ who comes to us in His body and blood to give us forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. He came to Jerusalem on a lowly donkey to win the world's salvation by His death on the cross. He comes to us under these lowly forms of bread and wine to distribute the gifts which He purchased for us in His passion and death. So we anticipate heaven as we sing "Holy, Holy, Holy Lord, God of power and might: Heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna. Hosanna. Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest." Amen.

The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus to life everlasting. Amen.