What Palm Sunday Tells Us About Ourselves

Apr 8

Upon Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, the crowds praised Him for who they wanted Him to be, not who He truly was. From misplaced expectations to the power of truth, this Palm Sunday message challenges us to love what is true, walk in light, and follow Christ not for our benefit but for His glory.

The Triumphal Entry
21 Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, 2 saying to them, “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. 3 If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will send them at once.” 4 This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying,
5 “Say to the daughter of Zion,
‘Behold, your king is coming to you,
humble, and mounted on a donkey,
on a colt,[a] the foal of a beast of burden.’”
6 The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. 7 They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them. 8 Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” 10 And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, “Who is this?” 11 And the crowds said, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.”

A False King: The People's Expectations

Let’s set up the Palm Sunday scene: Jesus, having recently performed one of His most miraculous acts—raising Lazarus from the dead—arrives in Jerusalem to a raucous welcome. The eager and expectant crowds lay palm branches before Him, declaring, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.”

This scene appears as the ultimate moment of triumph. The King enters His kingdom. But as the crowds cheer, more is happening beneath the surface. The truth of this moment is veiled in their misinterpretation. While the people were celebrating a King, they were missing the truth about who Jesus truly was—and more importantly, the kind of kingdom He was bringing.

The people of Jerusalem, desperate for freedom from Roman oppression, saw in Jesus the potential to fulfill their long-held hopes of a political revolution. The raising of Lazarus confirmed for them that Jesus was no ordinary man; He was a miracle worker capable of overthrowing their oppressors. Their expectation was clear: Jesus would enter Jerusalem, defeat the Romans, and usher in a new earthly kingdom. They were ready to crown Him, but not for the right reasons.

The crowd's shouts of "Hosanna!" were not for the Savior who had come to redeem them spiritually, but for a ruler who would liberate them politically. They were praising Him not for who He was but for who they wanted Him to be. The truth of the moment was lost because they were too focused on their desires.

The clarity that Jesus had repeatedly foretold His purpose makes this moment even more poignant. Time and time again, Jesus explained to His followers that His mission was not to overthrow earthly powers but to suffer and die for the sins of the world.

"From that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things...and be killed, and on the third day be raised to life.” Matthew 16:21

This wasn’t just a one-time declaration, though. Jesus spoke of His impending death on multiple occasions in the Gospels (including Mark 9:30-32 and Luke 9:22). In Matthew 20:18-19, He even detailed the method of His death—by crucifixion.

"We are going to Jerusalem and the Son of Man will be betrayed...and they will turn Him over to the Gentiles to be mocked, flogged, and crucified."

Despite these clear statements, the disciples and the crowds failed to understand the magnitude of what He was saying. They heard Him, but they didn’t truly hear. They heard His words, but they twisted them to fit their own hopes and dreams for a political Messiah. The truth of His coming death was not the story they wanted to embrace, so they rejected it.

To illustrate this, consider a co-worker who mentions they’re going to a nearby town to purchase a new vehicle. That’s not difficult to understand. However, now imagine that same co-worker said, “I’m going to a nearby town to purchase a car, and the local ministerial association is going to murder me.” When a person makes a statement like that, it raises a few eyebrows.

Yet, it’s not difficult to miss what Jesus was saying. Jesus said He was going to Jerusalem to die multiple times, but people refused to believe it. Even the disciples didn’t embrace it. The people believed that Jesus was going to Jerusalem to overthrow Rome and rule on their behalf. The question becomes: Even with something so clearly stated, how do people still believe a lie of such proportions?

The author Os Guinness once shared, "The Bible points out that we are not only truth seekers, but that we are truth twisters." It's easy to take parts of the truth that fit our narrative and discard the rest.

Let’s consider an illustration. Imagine walking into a massive 300,000 square foot warehouse in total darkness. You have two options for light: a small 40-watt lamp or a master switch that lights up the entire space with a million watts. What would you choose? The choice is obvious—we would choose the million-watt light.

But in our culture, many of us have settled for 40-watt versions of the truth. We take partial truths and try to make them work for our lives when what we really need is the full radiance of God’s light. When Jesus said, "You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free" (John 8:32), He wasn’t speaking about a shallow understanding of truth. He was calling us to live in the full, unfiltered light of His revelation.

Called to God’s Truth

The people of Jerusalem weren’t the only ones who missed the truth of who Jesus was. Today, we, too, can miss Him. Unless we're committed to a million watts of the full radiance of God's glory and truth, we will live low-octane Christian lives.

Throughout the New Testament, we see the preeminence of our required attention to what’s true:

JESUS: “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.” John 17:1
JESUS: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6
“Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ…” Ephesians 4:15
JESUS: “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.” John 16:33
“The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.” Psalm 145:18
“Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness…” Ephesians 6:14
“Love rejoices with the truth.” 1 Corinthians 13:6
“Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.” 2 Timothy 2:15

Repeatedly, we hear stories about the emptiness that comes with a hedonistic lifestyle. There’s a meaninglessness to chasing our fleshly desires. Yet, the Christian faith is not true because it works. It works because it's true.

Oswald Chambers once said, “When men depart from the Bible, when men depart from the truth, God is simply the name given to the general tendencies which further men's interest.” This is precisely what happened when Jesus entered Jerusalem. Instead of embracing the truth of who He was, the people projected their own desires onto Him. They wanted a king who would defeat their earthly enemies, but they missed the deeper truth—Jesus was not coming to wage a political battle; He was coming to offer salvation.

Recapturing the Truth in Our Methodist Heritage

Reflecting on Methodist tradition, the early Methodists understood the power of truth. One of their core beliefs was scriptural holiness, the idea that holiness is not just personal but is meant to be lived out in community. John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, taught that social holiness—caring for one another in deep, accountable relationships—is essential to growing in Christlikeness. This wasn’t an individual pursuit; it was a community endeavor. We must ask ourselves: Do we still live this out today?

Another significant value within Methodism was caring for the poor. The early Methodists were committed to social justice, not just in theory but in action. They fought for education reform and prison reform and even played a role in the abolition of slavery. The gospel calls us to care for the marginalized, and that mandate is as relevant today as it was in Wesley’s time.

However, there are areas where we, as the Church, can still improve. Just as the early Methodists planted churches and reached unreached people groups (UPGs), we, too, are called to share the gospel far and wide, making disciples of all nations. Sometimes, we only think Jesus said to make disciples among all ethnic groups once during the Great Commission. However, He actually said it five times (Matthew 28:16-20, Mark 16:14–18, Luke 24:44–49, John 20:19-23, Acts 1:4–8).

It should be noted that there’s a name for these Scripturally-based ideas: Normal.

For Methodists in general, abnormal has become normal, whereby when we see normal, we label it as abnormal. We’ve been abnormal for so long that normal feels abnormal, and we got here two degrees at a time. Slowly, over time, we’ve moved from normal to abnormal.

Jesus’ church doesn’t operate on our preferences, instead His church operates on God’s purposes, which always brings blessings. The early church was called to be a people who bore the light of Christ into the world, and so are we. When we consider the church’s mission today, we must recognize the choice: Do we live with a dim light or with the full radiance of God’s truth?

Christ’s Triumphal Procession*

As we move forward, we’re reminded of the words from 2 Corinthians 2:14-17, where the Apostle Paul wrote, “But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads in every place the fragrance that comes from knowing Him.”

The Greek word translated “triumphal” in that phrase is thriambeuo, which only occurs twice in the New Testament. We’ve traditionally assumed that the phrase depicts a Roman general returning from his conquests, triumphantly riding in his chariot into the city, dragging his captives behind him in their chains.

But scholars say the word thriambeuo has a distinctly different origin. It began as an Etruscan word, and their triumphal procession went in reverse order from those of Rome. When the conquering Etruscan general or king returned from war, he tried to bring back the enemy king alive to show him off. The conquered enemy king led the procession in chains so that the crowds could ridicule and spit on him. The captured soldiers followed their king, and at the end of the Etruscan victory parade came the conquering hero, who received the cheers and garlands of the adoring crowd.

Why is this significant? After the Etruscan triumphal procession, the prisoner king became a human sacrifice on an altar that commemorated the victory. Therefore, when 2 Corinthians 2:14-17 shares that Jesus leads the triumphal procession, it means that he is marching to his own execution, and we are following Him.

[Read More: Led in Christ’s Victory]

With that dramatic image of our relationship with Christ adapting our understanding, read that verse again:

“But thanks be to God, who in Christ always lead in triumphal procession, and through us spreads in every place the fragrance that comes from knowing Him.” 2 Corinthians 2:14

The fragrance of Christ, which we bear into the world, is perfume from a broken vial, just as we saw the precious nard that a woman dispensed on Jesus in John 12. Until the vessel is broken, His fragrance cannot be released. Not even God can save, except by self-sacrifice. If that was true for Jesus, why should it not be true for you and me?

While the people in Jesus’ day projected a falsehood upon Him when He entered Jerusalem, be reminded and cautioned that if it can happen to them, it can happen to us. As God’s people, there are Scripturally-based things that we need to recapture, including Scriptural holiness, a passion for persons who don't know Christ among the nations, and church planting.

However, we can either function with a 40-watt bulb, or we can flip the switch with a radiance of God's light. We can aspire into what we have declared that by the power of the Holy Spirit, we will be a gospel-centered community who magnifies Jesus Christ as we worship passionately, love extravagantly, witness boldly, doing bold things for the sake of the kingdom while serving the poor, the oppressed, and the marginalized, spreading scriptural holiness in our city and to the nations for the spiritual awakening of all.

*This section is credited to Dr. Dennis F. Kinlaw.

TL;DR

Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday was filled with shouts of praise—but the crowd expected a political liberator, not a suffering Savior.
Despite Jesus clearly stating His purpose (to die and rise again), people twisted the truth to fit their desires—highlighting our human tendency to do the same.
Scripture is filled with calls to truth—from Jesus’ own words to the writings of Paul—and this blog explores why partial truth is dangerous.
Methodist heritage reminds us to return to scriptural holiness, care for the poor, and boldly witness in truth and mission.
2 Corinthians 2:14 reframes victory through the image of a “triumphal procession”—a parade led not by a conquering general but by Jesus marching toward His own sacrifice.
We’re invited to flip on the full radiance of God’s truth, reject cultural dimness, and follow Christ into self-sacrificial, Spirit-empowered living.

Separating Truth from Perspective

Led in Christ’s Victory