Palm Sunday 2026

You are listening to a message from Thrive Community Church, a church located in Southwest Florida. For more info, visit us at thrive-fl.org. It's Palm Sunday, and I have confessed to all of you before that for those in full-time ministry, the holidays are not easy times, are they, John? especially if you're kind of by yourself and all the services fall on your shoulders, it can be a very exhausting time of year. So when John, I don't know, a month or so, six weeks ago, said, you know, Hey, when do you want to preach again? I said, How about Palm Sunday? He was like, Perfect. So that gives him a break, you know, a week before, you know, Good Friday and Easter, and then AJ fills in last week, Well done, AJ. And so So John's had two weeks off. I mean, you only get that on vacation. So anyway, so today, as we have sung about, as you've seen in the video, we remember Jesus' triumphant entrance into Jerusalem. And again, one of the challenges in being in full-time ministry is coming up with kind of something different and maybe new. for a story that gets told every year every year every year and so I hope that maybe today we'll I can show you a little different perspective maybe you've heard some of this before but maybe some of you haven't about what's really going on on this road to Jerusalem I had the opportunity almost 30 years ago to travel to Israel and so I've actually walked this road And it's a, I want to talk more about it, but I tell you, it is, once you see it and you've been there, it kind of brings it all together. Because this entrance into Jerusalem is actually, it's not very long. It's only about two miles. And I'll talk more about that. But he actually would have gone from Bethany, down this hill, through the Mount of Olives, through the Garden of Gethsemane and then back up the hill onto the eastern gate of Jerusalem. When you see that and you understand that, it takes on a whole new meaning. But here's the question that I want to ask this morning and hopefully answer. I don't know if this has ever bothered you or you've ever asked this question. How was it? that on Sunday, Palm Sunday, people gathered along the road and they threw, they waved their branches, they threw them at the ground, they put their coats on the ground, and they hail Jesus, Hosanna! Blessed is the King. And five days later, five days later, in Pilate's court, they are saying what? Crucify him. You ever wondered that? What in the world happened in those five days that all of that transfigured? So that's kind of what I want to talk about this morning. And we're going to start in John chapter 12. But before we get into that, I would like to pray with you first. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, it's a story that we probably, most of us know. If not, we're going to know it by the time we're done today. And Lord, I just pray that you allow each of us to hear with new ears an understanding of what you have to say to us today. Whether I say it or not, challenge us, stretch us, and allow us to see your plan, your agenda for all of us this morning. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. John chapter 12, we're going to start at verse 12, and we're just going to kind of go through this one bit at a time. John 12, verse 12, it says this, The next day, the great crowd that had come for the festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. Now, what's the festival? The festival that is about to happen is the festival of Passover, okay? the yearly commemoration of the children of Israel being delivered out of the hands of the Egyptians by Moses. So every year, throngs of people would make their way to Jerusalem for this kind of annual pilgrimage to celebrate and remember God's goodness in rescuing them from slavery. The story goes on. That's what's about to happen. Verse 13, They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting, 'Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Blessed is the king of Israel.' And Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it. As it is written, 'Do not be afraid, daughter of Zion. See, your king is coming seated on a donkey's colt.' At first, His disciples did not understand all of this. I think John's kind of saying, I didn't get it. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize, did he realize that these things had been written about him and that these things had been done to him. So throngs of people are coming out to greet Jesus, and then we have to ask the question, why has Jesus become so popular? What's going on that would cause these throngs of people to come out and greet him as he comes into the city? Well, John answers that question, verse 17. Now the crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb, and raised him from the dead, continue to spread the word. Many people, because they had heard that he had performed this sign, went out to meet him. That's why he's become so popular. But popularity with one group doesn't always mean popularity with all. Look at the next verse,...