John 19:16b-22 on March 29th, 2026
Above is audio of the sermon pulled from the video and amplified.
Below is transcript pulled from the video and formatted by artificial intelligence. There may be inconsistencies or errors.
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Today is the day that it all begins. We've been waiting for this day for a while now, and the crowds who have gathered have been waiting for a while to. Ever since Jesus started his public ministry that the people have wanted him to be king, the one who can feed thousands of people with five loaves and two fish, the one who can make the blind see the one who can even raise Lazarus from the dead. This is the prophet, the king that is to come. And several times already the crowds have tried to crown Jesus, but somehow, some way, he always got away before that happened. It seems that Jesus wanted no part of it.
And today is different. Today is the day that it all begins. Jesus is coming to take his throne. It is the festival of Passover and Jerusalem. So a lot of people are already there coming from all over to celebrate. And Jesus is coming to. Today is the day. Jesus is going to be king.
Now of course the chief priests and the Pharisees know this too. They've been watching and it's no secret that they aren't big fans of Jesus. Sure he draws crowds, but in their eyes it's for all the wrong reasons. They've tried in the past to trap him and plot against him. They even want to kill him. But for Jesus to show up in their city on this holiday would be a direct in your face challenge to their authority. His arrival is exactly what all of this buzz is about.
The crowds gather and they wave their palm branches to greet their king. They've come from miles and miles from this historic event. It is a victory parade. The triumphant saw him. 118 is boisterously yelled. Hosanna, blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord, the king of Israel. The crowd has their king, their long, expected national messianic king. And now is the time for the showdown, the time for revolution, the time to overthrow the status quo. And we participate with the crowd. We wave our palms. We give our Hosanna a shout. We have grand expectations. We wouldn't be celebrating for a loser. We're here for a king.
With each branch that is waved with each Hosanna that is lifted with each step towards Jerusalem, our expectations get higher and higher. Because Jesus isn't backing down this time. He isn't stepping away anymore. He's heading right in. His hour has come to be crowned, to be lifted up to take his throne. Today is the day that it all begins. But the donkey stands out. This isn't a horse of war, but it's been an animal of humility, of peace. There's no chariot, no armor. Jesus falls short of the crowd's expectations and hours. Jesus comes humbling, not doling out miracles or intimidating his opponents.
The branches start to lower. Jesus's entrance makes it clear that he is indeed a king, but he will have no part in meeting our expectations. Jesus is not interested in being our kind of king. Jesus is committed to being God's kind of king. You can almost see the crowd's disbelief. The excitement turns to confusion that their praise begins to tail off. The branches go even lower. Some probably even dropped to the ground. What Jesus is doing here is this really going to lead to victory. Is this truly a triumphal entry?
Jesus isn't our kind of king. And that's the good news. And Jesus isn't our type of king. He's God's type of king. And how quickly we reject that. Here is your king. Hail, king of the Jews. Crucify him. Crucify him. Kill him. So they took Jesus and carrying the cross by himself went out to the place called the skull. And there they crucified him along with two others. Above his head a sign. Jesus of Nazareth, the king of the Jews. And whether Pilate was mocking Jesus or antagonizing the religious authorities, he proclaims Jesus as king in all three languages of the day. And all the world, all the world can witness Jesus' coronation.
Our king has come. Throne upon the cross nailed to a cross being lifted up. Today is the day. Today is the day that it all starts to end. The good news today isn't as good as it usually is. It's hard when our expectations aren't fulfilled. Today we don't get what we want, what we hope for. And instead of an uplifting message, today we leave with a bit of disappointment, which is understandable, giving the context of how we start. Some people just don't live up to our expectations. We don't get the good news that we are hoping for. Instead of our king, we get God's king.
This week we again get the opportunity to hear the story of God's king. We will celebrate on Thursday, Jesus's last words, the last supper, the stripping of the altar. On Friday we will relive the events of Jesus' final day through Scripture, through song, through darkness, and then, and then our king has come. Amen.