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This Palm Sunday, we behold the humble yet majestic entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem, the true King who comes not to conquer by force, but to redeem by sacrifice, fulfilling the ancient promise. Behold, your king is coming to you, gentle and riding on a donkey. Reverend Daniel brings us the word.

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Morning, brothers and sisters. This morning scripture reading will be taken from the Gospel of Mark. I'll be reading from uh Mark 11, verses 1 to 11. Verse 1. Now, when they drew near to Jerusalem to Bethlehem and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples and said to them, Go into the village in front of you, and immediately as you enter, if you will find a colt tied on which no one has ever sat, untie it and bring it. If anyone says to you, Why are you doing this? Say, The Lord has need of it and will send it back here immediately. And they ran away and found a colt tied at a door outside in the street, and they untied it. And some of these those standing there said to them, What are you doing, untying the colt? And they told them that what Jesus has said, and they let them go. And they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it, and he sat on it, and many spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut from the fields. And those who ran before, and those who followed, were shouting, Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David. Hosanna in the highest. And he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple. And when he had looked around and everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.

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Today is Palm Sunday, uh, and traditionally it marks the beginning of what we know as Holy Week, uh, the Passion of Christ, which will uh combinate on Good Friday and then Resurrection Sunday. So tonight today there are two aspects which I will look at from Mark chapter 11 uh in two parts. Firstly, verse 1 to 6, we'll look at Jesus' preparation for entry into Jerusalem. And verse 7 to 11, the last few verses, which records his actual entry into Jerusalem. We then draw implications of its significance for Mark's readers and for us today. Mark 11, verse 1 to 6 reads, Now when they drew near to Jerusalem, to Bethage and Bethany, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples and said to them, Go into the village in front of you, and immediately as you enter it, you will find a cord tied, on which no one has ever set on. Untie it and bring it. If anyone says to you, Why are you doing this? say the Lord has need of it and will send it back here immediately. And they went away and found a cord tied at a door outside in the street, and they untied it. And some of those standing there said to them, What? What are you doing, untying the cord? And they told them what Jesus had said, and they let them go. It's significant that it was at the Mount of Olives that Jesus made his entry into Jerusalem. At the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BC, the prophet Ezekiel had a vision of the glory of the Lord departing from Jerusalem and it settled actually on the Mount of Olives. Ezekiel 11, verse 23. And the Mount of Olives also has messianic overtones, alluding to Zechariah 14, verse 4, which reads, On that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives that lies before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west by a very wide valley, so that one half of the mount shall move northward and the other half southward. So in this text, Zechariah 14, it is actually a prophetic oracle which speaks of the site of the judgment on the coming day of the Lord, in which he will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle. And Josephus and early church historians have identified messianic overtones to this passage. And it's significant that in Mark chapter 11, verse 1, it is at the Mount of Olives, the place of judgment, that Jesus begins his ministry into Jerusalem. Jesus then sends two of his disciples to find a cord, which is actually a young donkey or young horse, to untie it and bring it to Jesus. The cord in the new in the Old Testament is identified as the mount of the Messiah. The mount of the Messiah basically refers to the beast of burden, which is the young donkey or young horse, in which the Messiah will be mounted on, right riding on the horse or the donkey, the mount of the Messiah as he enters into Jerusalem. So we see this being alluded to in Zechariah chapter 9, verse 9. It says, Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion, shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem. Behold, your king is coming to you, righteous, and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a cord, the fall of a donkey. Jesus instructed his disciples that if anyone were to ask why the cord is being untied and taken away, they are to say, the Lord has need of it and will send it back here immediately. The Lord has need of it. So there's an assumption that Jesus placed in the text of his divine authority. He is the Lord that has need of the donkey to ride on the donkey. Moreover, to command a court or a beast or burden was the prerogative of a king in ancient times. This suggests Jesus' kingly rule, his coming to Jerusalem as the king. A court that has not been written, has not been ridden on, was regarded as sacred in the Old Testament, thus appropriate for a king to use. So in the first few verses, first six verses of Mark 11, in Jesus' preparation for entry into Jerusalem, we see his precise foreknowledge as Lord over what is needed to be done, the detailed instructions to the disciples on where to find the court, how to respond when questions arise in their undertaking, as well as his need of the court, alluding to his authority as king, mounted on the court. We then observe further in verse 7 to 11, Jesus' actual entry into Jerusalem. Verse 7 to verse 11, verse 7 says, And they brought the court to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it, and he sat on it. And many spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafly branches that they had cut from the fields. And those who went before, and those who followed, were shouting, Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David, Hosanna in the highest. And he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple. And when he looked at and when he had looked around at everything at as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the child. Here we observe that their usual ceremonious welcome of a king. So in the time of Jerusalem, the pilgrims were entered to Jerusalem for sacrifices. So they were there to welcome the king. Many spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafly branches that they had cut from the fields. The shout of Hosanna, which means in Hebrew literally safe, I pray. Hosanna, save, I pray. And blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. This is a quotation from Psalm 118, verse 25 to 26. According to a commentator, it's not really referring to Jesus as the Messiah, but uh words that pilgrims will say as they enter the sanctuary, implying that they are blessed in God's name. Moreover, the reference to blessed is the coming of the kingdom of our Father David, is not necessarily messianic in the Old Testament as Son of David would be. This perhaps reflects a confusion on the part of the pilgrims about Jesus' true identity and mission and is in line with the purpose of Mark's gospel, where the people, the disciples, the crowds do not really understand who this Jesus is and what he came to do. So Jesus as a son of David will be messianic because Jesus comes from the line of David. All the prophecies of the Old Testament point to a coming son of David. But the coming kingdom of our father David, we are probably not too clear whether it's alluding to Jesus. And as we compare this account in Mark 11, verse 7 to 11, as we contrast this with Matthew and John's account of the triumphal entry of Jesus, we realize that it's very much muted. You know, there isn't that great joyful celebration. There isn't even a quotation from the famous text from Zechariah 9 verse 9, which in both texts in Matthew 21, verse 5, and John 12 verse 15, which records the same account of the triumphal entry of Jesus, directly quotes from Zechariah 9, verse 9, implying the messianic significance of Jesus entering Jerusalem. So Matthew 21, verse 5 says, Say to the daughter of Zion, Behold, your king is coming to you, humble and mounted on a donkey, on the cot, the foe of a beast of burden. John chapter 12, verse 15, Fear not, daughter of Zion, behold, your king is coming, seated on the donkey's cord. What does Mark say? Mark doesn't quote or allude to this. So is Jesus really king? Do the crowds really recognize him as king? Probably not. When we look at it further, uh when we compare Mark chapter 11, verse 11 with the account, again the account of the triumphal entry with Matthew 21, verse 10 and Luke 19, verse 40, we see again a muted response in Mark compared with Matthew and Luke. In somewhat uh anticlimax, Mark reports that the hour was late, and Jesus departed with his disciples to Bethany. Mark 11, verse 11 reads, and and he, referring to Jesus, entered to entered Jerusalem and went into the temple. He looked around carefully at everything, and as he was late, he actually left, went up to Bethany with the church. In contrast to this, Matthew's account tells us when Jesus entered Jerusalem, uh Matthew 21, verse 10 reports, and when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up saying, Who is this? Right? There's great excitement, there's a great welcome of the king. But for Mark, it seems to be uh, yeah, Jesus comes, looks around, you know, and goes out to Bethany. So it's a muted uh response, a muted, uh not so triumphal entry that was being recorded. In Luke's account, on the way down the Mount of Olives, Jesus' disciples were rejoicing and praising God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen. In response to the Pharisees who were indignant, Jesus answered them, even if the disciples will not be praising God, the stones will even cry out, because the king, the messiah, is entering into Jerusalem. All creation cries out and welcomes their king, their messiah. Even if the disciples were to be quiet and muted and not respond to the presence of Jesus with loud praises. Luke tells us the stones that are inanimate will cry out. But Mark doesn't record any of this, it recognizes, reveals a muted recognition of Jesus' power and authority as King and Messiah. Though I must say that it alludes to Jesus' inherent power and authority as Lord, because he says the Lord needs it, the Lord needs to be mounted on a court. And there's Jesus' authority in heavenly is revealed in his control, his sovereignty as he enters into Jerusalem. He knows what needs to be done for his entrance to Jerusalem. So he instructed his disciples to go and find a cord to untie and what to say and also he knows what to do. So in Mark, crucially, then the question is this what is Jesus' view of his power and authority in relation to who he is and what he came to do? How does Jesus see his power and authority in relation to who he is and what he came to do? Because he doesn't come as a strong, mighty king, at least Mark tells us it's a muted response. So how does Jesus see his power and authority? So in Mark crucially, the authority of Jesus comes from him being the Son of God. The term the Son of God appears crucially at the book ends of Mark's Gospel. It appears first at the opening of Mark's Gospel, Mark chapter 1, verse 1, the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. And towards the end, Mark 15, verse 39. When the centurion who stood facing Jesus saw that in this way, in this way that Jesus breathed his last and died, he said, truly, this man was the Son of God. So it's a book-ended reminder who is Jesus, what his identity, what did he come to do? So crucial to his identity is his authority in what the Son of God means, according to Mark. We also read as we went as we uh have been going through the gospel of Mark, there are many incidents in which Jesus commands demons, unclean spirits to be silenced, heal individuals, even his own disciple Peter to keep his true identity hidden. And we saw last week when uh Freud Wei preached on the transfiguration, such a wonderful theophany, such a wonderful appearance of Jesus in glory, in the presence of the law and the prophet, the the one who reveals the law, Moses, and the chief of the prophets Elijah. Uh and Jesus was clothed in dazzling white, transfigured. What a powerful vision and picture. And what happens after that? Jesus reminded his disciples, Peter, James, and John, who were with him on the high mountain in Mark chapter 9, verse 9. As they were coming down the mountain, he charged them, tell no one what they have seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. Why so? This is because in Mark, Jesus is not coming. In fact, he will distance himself from being a wonder worker, a miracle worker. As I said before, all the miracles in Mark, if you reread uh the miracle stories in Mark, was all a response of Jesus' compassion for the people as he saw the crowds, as he saw the people, this he saw their need. He uh broke bread, he multiplied the loaves, he did many things, he healed the sick out of compassion, and not because he wants to show himself to be a miracle worker or a superhero, otherwise, he will make his fame known. Right? So, in fact, after many healings, he said, go and do the sacrifice that's required, but hush, hush, don't go and spread it out, don't be too loud about it because he's not coming. Jesus is far from being a wonder worker, a miracle worker or a superhero with the aim of dazzling the crowds or overthrowing the Romans by force of will. But rather crucially, in Mark's gospel, Jesus' central identity is linked to his role as the suffering servant of God. Over and above every other image that Mark wants us to see, Jesus is the suffering servant of the Lord. As he moves towards the cross three times, Jesus reminded his disciples three times that he will be delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes. They will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles. They will mock him and spit on him and flock him and kill him. And after three days he will rise. Though they each time the disciples could not understand what he meant, but nevertheless, Jesus spoke those words to uh reveal to his inner circle this is what I came for. I came to be the suffering servant of the Lord, to give my life as a ransom for manning. So in fact, Jesus is not confessed in poem and circumstance, but in only at the cross. It's only at the death of Jesus that all is unveiled. So if you read Mark's gospel, you will not have a complete story until you read to the end from Mark 15, verse 39. The confession of a Gentile, a non Jew, a centurion, at the point of the death of Jesus, when Jesus breathed his last, he realized. Truly this man was the Son of God. So, what is the implication of all this for us this morning? I'd like to suggest to us that if Jesus' power and authority is defined in terms of his suffering and death, then it means that those of us who follow him must also consider whatever authority we receive from Jesus as that which is cruciform in nature. Cruciform in nature meaning that we need to be look at authority in the view of the cross, the crucifixion, carrying our cross, following Jesus. Whatever authority God has given us is cruciform in nature, according to Mark. Because the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life for a ransom, for a ransom for many. So Mark 8, 34 to 35 reminds us, calling the crowds to him with his disciples, he said to them, If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it. But whoever loses his life for my sake and for the gospel will save it. Give me a moment. Realize I left. So the word of God today, applied to our hearts, is that Jesus is calling all of us, including myself, to a cross-bearing discipleship. A cross-bearing discipleship. So how does this cross-bearing discipleship work out in our lives? I think this will be expressed differently in our varying contexts and life circumstances. For some of us, cross-bearing discipleship may mean working under an unreasonable and demanding boss and submitting to them as working for God and not for man. 1 Peter 2, 18 to 19 reminds us, servants, this is also Peter writing, servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the unjust. For this is a gracious thing. When mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. Tough words, right? Right? When especially we live in a world where we have our rights, what we deserve. Peter, an eyewitness of the gospel and the life of Jesus, who had a hand in the writing of the gospel of Mark, says this. I repeat again, 1 Peter chapter 2, 18 to 19. If you need the reference, 1 Peter 2, 18 to 19. Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the unjust. For this is a gracious thing when mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. So there is a place in cross-bearing discipleship for enduring unjust suffering. Not that we will not get justice. Of course, we know God is a God of justice and he will met out justice. Otherwise, we we won't be able to call him a just God. But it's justice, justice in God's timing. In the meantime, to bear our cross means to even endure that for a time, I believe. Hopefully, not a lifetime, but for a time to go through that. For others, cross-bearing discipleship means putting aside our pride in sometimes the pride of life, especially when we grow older or when we get greater significance in our status in society. It's harder, I think, to be humble. It's easier to be prideful. I'm not sure whether it's a disease of men more than women, but I think it's a struggle of all humanity. Maybe particularly more for men. The pride of life, the pride of achievement, the pride of status, position. Often it means that sometimes God will call us to put aside our pride, to be reconciled with our brother or sister who have offended us or whom we have offended. So we are in the body of Christ, and we always say that when we uh have the Lord's Supper, Holy Communion, no, we always say we are the body of Christ. In the one spirit, we will all baptize into one body. Right? So, in fact, in the context of worship, when Jesus instructed the crowds in the Sermon of the Mount, in Matthew 5, 23 to 24, he reminded them of the priority of reconciliation in the context of worship and sacrifice in God's house. He said this, Matthew 5, verse 23. So if you are offering your gift at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother and then come and offer your gift. What Jesus meant is in the context of worship when we are worshiping God and then you sense there's a targeting from the Holy Spirit in your heart about someone, you know, uh that the Lord is moving you to seek reconciliation or to speak to, then we ought to do it. Right? And cross-bearing discipleship means we have to do it, even though it's uncomfortable, even though it means that no face, you know, I got to swallow my pride and uh talk to this person who have maybe mistreated me or said certain things that I remember after 40 years, still in my mind, you know. But if God so stirs to be a cross-bearing disciple of Jesus, it means that we have to do it because we want to follow Jesus. We want to deny ourselves, we want to take up our cross and follow Jesus. For some others, it means fleeing from sin rather than allowing ourselves to feed on sin. In 1 Corinthians 6 18, Paul reminds the believers in Corinth, which is uh uh a city in the time of Paul where fornication, sexual immorality is rampant, right? From the top of the society down to its bottom, you know, uh men may have a few wives and also it is a city soaked and bathed and bathed uh in fornication and sexual sins, right? And Paul reminds the believers in Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 6 18 flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. So the word the verb flee from sexual immorality is actually an imperative command in Greek. It means flee, means go. It's a command, go, don't stay around. Right? Reminds us of Joseph, you know, inner Sally when she was he was being tempted because Potiphar's wife came and made certain advances on him. He flee, right? He left the scene, only he forgot to bring his cloak along, right? And then he got implicated into that. But the whole idea is when we are caught in such a situation, if we are to bear our cross and to be a cross-bearing disciple of Jesus, uh, we need to flee. And this also applies to our struggle with uh pornography or any visual images for either men, for women, you know, uh don't enter the sites. Don't cause your mind to wander. And we all know, right, the algorithm on social media or Facebook, you know, once we have that feed, that feed into the um into our uh the interface, then we will always get that feeds, right? Because it it uh that's how it works. So don't feed on it. Because the more you feed on pornography or sexual sins, it's the worst form of sins because it will just pull you further down and further down. So uh so we got to flee. So to bear our cross, following Jesus, we live in a very uh tempting world out there, not just out in the world, but right in front of our face on the in the screens, on the screens, uh, in the phones that we look at day and night, right? All kinds of temptation, right? Sexual temptation is real for many men and women too. So while cross-bearing discipleship may work out differently for each of us, what is common to all of us, and I believe so, is this we cannot follow Jesus fully without denying ourselves and experiencing some kind of suffering in the process. Let me repeat again we cannot follow Jesus fully without denying ourselves and experiencing some kind of suffering in the process. So in the time of Jesus, the cross is an instrument of death. Right? I mean, the picture you see is just uh a picture of an electric chair. Uh um so it is for capital punishment. This looks like a picture from the US, one of the prison uh cells. Um so yeah, so the cross, uh the former Archbishop Roman Williams tells us in one of his books that uh if you look at the cross, what do you see? He says he sees an electric chair because it's an instrument of death, you know, where anyone that is striped, uh strapped to the chair, uh strapped down, is linked to uh I'm not sure what's the charge, probably it's a very high charge enough to run uh currents through your body that will kill you uh instantly. Right? So, yeah, so the cross is really an instrument of death. And taking up our cross calls for a willingness, not for us to die literally, but to give up, sacrifice and give up what we hold dear, or even what we experience as the trials and sufferings of life, in the pursuit of Jesus, who is of greater worth than all we can have, own or become. Paul reminds us in Philippians 3, 8 to 11, he says this, and this is his secret for living the Christian life, this is his posture. He says in other texts, uh, I've learned the secret of being content in and through every circumstance, whether it's very whether it's having plenty or being in one, because his focus is on Christ. And now here in Philippians 3, 8 to 11, he says, indeed, I count everything as loss, because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him. Not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith, that I may know him in the power of his resurrection and may share in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. Just a few days down from today, Palm Sunday, we will experience, we will revisit, we will go through again Jesus' death and resurrection. His death on Good Friday. I pray that we may be willing to share in the sufferings of Christ, becoming like him in his death, which we will be reminded of on Good Friday. But that we may also know the power of his resurrection on Easter Day. The death and resurrection of Jesus. But the bottom line is this no matter what we experience and go through in life, the crosses we have to carry, the sufferings we endure, and the sins we fight within cannot be compared to Jesus, to knowing Jesus. And that for a Christian is the ultimate, uh, we want to say bottom line. Because we know all that we go through in life, all the trials, the sufferings, uh, the unjust suffering, cannot be compared to who Jesus is in our lives, to knowing him, to experiencing him, to gaining the life of God in our lives, because that surpasses all other things. Lesser God, so to speak, or lesser glories. So everything peels in comparison to knowing Jesus Christ as our Lord. And Paul says everything else is not is second place compared to knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord. And I pray on this Palm Sunday, this may be also our resolve to seek to know Jesus more fully as we enter into his passion in a few days. As our response before God together as a church, I like to suggest that uh I mean it's nothing wrong to wave the the palm branches, and we want to thank uh the team for Kaylin and the volunteers who came on Saturday morning and painstakingly actually prepared this for us. Actually, there's a lot of work uh required, right? So they have done this and we want to honor and appreciate uh the whole process of making this possible for us to worship God visually, right? So, but instead of waving uh Hosanna Save, I pray, no, why don't we take the palm cross we have to place this uh palm cross on our hearts, right? And to commit ourselves, to deny ourselves, to take up our cross and to follow Jesus, all because he is of greater worth than anything else, because knowing Christ Jesus and knowing and truly knowing him is of greater worth than any anything you'll experience or go through in life.

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We pray that you've been ministered to by the Word of God today. If you'd like to know more about each Christian church, please visit our website at yccanglican.com. Have a blessed day.