Deo Gloria
March 29, 2026
Sermon for Palm Sunday
Pastor Martin Bentz
Text: Matthew 21:1-11
Theme: Who is This Guy on the Donkey?
- He is your King.
- He is your Savior.
On December 4, 1977 the world witnessed the coronation of his Imperial Majesty, Bokassa I, in Bangui, the capitol of the Central African Republic. The price tag for the event was a phenomenal $25 million. And remember that was almost 50 years ago. At 10:10 a.m. the blast of trumpets and the roll of drums announced the approach of his Majesty. The procession began with eight of his 29 official children as they processed down the royal carpet to their seats. They were followed by the heir to the throne, Jean Bedel Bokassa II, dressed in a white admiral’s uniform with gold braid. He was seated on a red pillow to the left of the throne. Catherine, the favorite of Bokassa’s 19 wives, came next, wearing a $73,000 gown, strewn with pearls. Then the emperor himself arrived in an imperial coach decked with golden eagles and drawn by six matching Anglo-Norman horses. As the Marine Band struck up the hymn “The Sacred March of His Majesty,” Emperor Bokassa strode in. He was cloaked in a 32 pound robe decorated with 785,000 pearls and gold embroidery. He wore white gloves and pearl slippers on his feet. On his head he wore a gold crown in the shape of a laurel-wreath, similar to those worn by the Roman emperors of old. As the “Sacred March” came to an end, Bokassa seated himself on his $2.5 million throne. He then took off his gold laurel wreath, and like Napoleon, he placed the $2.5 million crown, topped with an 80-carat diamond, on his own head. Here was the new king, the new emperor of the Central African Republic.
What a striking contrast we see in these verses from Matthew ch. 21! Here we see a king arriving too, a king named Jesus. No, he certainly was no Roman emperor, but he was very popular among the people. And he was coming to Jerusalem for a celebration—not to be crowned as king, but to celebrate the Passover. The thing that strikes us the most about Jesus, however, is the manner of his arrival. There is no glitz. There is no glamour. There is no fancy chariot or imperial coach. In fact, Jesus road into town on a donkey. Can you imagine something similar today? Can you imagine someone like President Trump paying a visit to Belle Plaine and arriving in a Ford Focus? It’s no wonder the people in Jerusalem asked the question they did: “Who in the world is this? Who is this guy on the donkey?”
Don’t be fooled by appearances, however. Though he may not look like it, this guy on the donkey is none other than your King and Savior. But don’t take my word for it. Let’s listen to what Matthew has to say. After all, he was one of Jesus’ disciples. He was there. (Read text.)
As Jesus rode down the Mount of Olives into the city of Jerusalem, Matthew tells us that the people gave him a royal welcome. They “spread their cloaks on the road,” he tells us, “while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Hosanna in the highest!” That’s the kind of treatment a king would have received back in Jesus’ day. People would spread their cloaks on the road or cut down branches and lay them on the road in order to make the king’s ride into town nice and smooth, instead of rough and bumpy. As the king rode by, the people would shower him with accolades of praise. “Hail to the king!” they might say or “Blessed be the king!” or “Long live the king!” Of course, those aren’t the words the people shouted as Jesus rode by, but I think you get the idea. The people obviously considered Jesus to be someone special. In fact, as we can see from v. 11, they considered Jesus to be a prophet, and not just any prophet either, a great prophet. Some compared Jesus to Elijah. Others compared him to John the Baptist. Fact is Jesus was a prophet, a truly great prophet, the greatest prophet this world has ever known.
And yet he was more than a prophet as well. Jesus was really their king. He was the long-awaited Messiah, the king God had promised to send who would sit on the throne of his forefather David. He is the one God was talking about when he said through the prophet Jeremiah:
“The days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will raise up to David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land. In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. This is the name by which he will be called: The LORD Our Righteousness”(23:5+6).
And yet that wasn’t the only clue to Jesus’ royal identity. There were also the many miracles he had performed, including his recent raising of Lazarus from the dead. Such miracles served as signs of Jesus’ divine power and authority. They indicated that he was a king, and not just any king, the King of kings, the King of heaven and earth. Here was the almighty Son of God come down to earth in human flesh.
When Jesus came riding into town, however, he didn’t quite look like a king. Kings normally rode on stallions or on the back of a chariot, not on a donkey. And yet even his riding into town on the back of a donkey was a clue to his true identity. As Matthew points out in verses 4+5, this is precisely what had been predicted by the prophet Zechariah: “See, your king comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey”(9:9). All the signs pointed in the same direction. They indicated that this guy on the donkey was nothing less than a king, the King of heaven.
Ironically, many of the Jewish people were looking for a king, but not the kind of king Jesus was. What they wanted was an earthly king, someone like King David or King Solomon, someone who could rally the Jewish people together and drive out the Roman legions and make them a free and independent nation once again. They wanted someone who could keep the peace and administer justice and restore the prosperity of the Jewish nation.
Not surprisingly, there are still people like that today, people who are looking for Jesus to be an earthly king. Such people are eagerly waiting for the day when Jesus will come back and rule on this earth as king for a thousand years. They say that during that time Jesus will solve all of the world’s problems. He will bring peace to the Middle East and other turbulent places around the world. He will bring an end to poverty and homelessness, an end to starvation and war. He will establish laws that will be good and right for everyone.
I hate to disappoint such people, but it isn’t gonna happen. Yes, Jesus will rule on the earth some day, that much is true, but only after Judgment Day. It is then that the kingdom of this world will become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ. (Rev 11:15) It is then and only then that Christ will again live here on this earth and rule over his people as king.
Until then, however, Jesus is not nor will he be an earthly king. His kingdom is a heavenly kingdom, a spiritual kingdom. That’s what he told Pilate, right? “My kingdom is not of this world”(John 18:36). That was also very apparent in the way Jesus entered the city of Jerusalem. He didn’t come to lay claim to the throne of Judah. He didn’t come to drive the Roman governor from power. He came for a very different purpose.
The reason Jesus came in such a humble manner is that he came to be their Savior–not their Savior from the ruthless Romans, but their Savior from a much more terrible enemy. Jesus came to be their Savior from Satan. He came to be their Savior from sin. He came to be their Savior from death. And in order to be that Savior, Jesus would have to die, because that’s the penalty for sin. “The soul that sins is the soul that will die,” God tells us. (Ezekiel 18:20) That is the punishment they deserved. And that is the punishment you and I deserve, because we too have sinned.
We haven’t always given Jesus the worship and honor and praise he deserves. Like the people of Jerusalem we have often been more concerned about our own agenda than God’s agenda. We too have been rather fickle in our devotion to Jesus and even turned against him at times when he didn’t turn out to be who we wanted him to be or do what we wanted him to do. We too have praised God one day only to curse him the next. We too rightfully deserve God’s punishment. If Jesus was going to be their Savior, if he was going to be our Savior, if he was going to rescue us all from our sins and the punishment that goes along with them, if Jesus was going to break Satan’s power over us, then he would have to die. And Jesus knew that.
That’s why he said what he did to his disciples before they ever went up to Jerusalem. In the previous chapter Matthew tells us exactly what Jesus told them:
“We are going up to Jerusalem,” he said, “and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will turn him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified”(vv. 18+19).
There it is, as plain as day. Jesus told them that he would be condemned to death and crucified. And yet the disciples still didn’t get it. They just didn’t understand that as the Messiah, as their Savior, Jesus would have to die.
But the disciples weren’t the only ones who didn’t get it. The people didn’t understand either. As I mentioned before, most of them were looking for an earthly Messiah. And that’s one of the reasons many of them turned against him later on. And yet, in spite of their misunderstanding, what the people shouted as Jesus rode by into town was certainly no mistake. “Hosanna,” they exclaimed. “Hosanna to the Son of David!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Hosanna in the highest!” The word hosanna is a word of praise, just like the word hallelujah. Do you know what the word hosanna means? It means “save now.” “Save now”–that is what the people shouted as the Jesus went riding by on his way into Jerusalem. “Save now, O Son of David! Save now!” I doubt whether many of them caught the significance of what they were saying, but Jesus did, because that’s exactly what he had come to do. He had come to offer his life as a sacrifice for their sins. He had come to save their souls from death and hell.
As we today stand on the threshold of another Holy Week and watch Jesus, our Lord, ride into the city of Jerusalem, our hearts and mouths are filled with those very same words of praise. For you see, unlike the people of Jerusalem, you and I don’t have to ask, “Who is this guy on the donkey?” We know who he is. We know he is our King, our gentle and humble King. And we also know why he has come. He has come to save us, to rescue our souls from sin and death. Can we help but join the people in their chorus of praise? “Hosanna,” we say. And we mean it. “Save now!” “Hosanna to the Son of David!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Hosanna in the highest!” Amen.