Grace, mercy, and peace to you through Jesus Christ, who comes in the name of the Lord. Amen.

God our Father, we remember how Jesus, before his Passion, entered Jerusalem and was welcomed as king by those who shouted "Hosanna" and spread their clothing and palm branches in his path. Accept our words of praise and listen to our prayers as we rejoice in our triumphant King who came to save, Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord. Amen.

It's no secret that we treat special people specially. The 18-year-old will not normally wash his dad's car, until the day that he uses it to pick up his date for the first time. If your house is like mine, dusting and vacuuming take place most often when special guests are on the way. Neither is it a secret that we give special attention to special events. Who wants to eat leftovers on their birthday? Or wear jeans and a T-shirt to the prom?

Any extra-ordinary person or event provides a perfect opportunity for extra-ordinary treatment. Then what about our Savior Jesus? Today we join the crowd on the streets of Jerusalem to witness the most extraordinary parade of all times. We witness a pep rally of sorts, cheering on our extraordinary King Jesus before he begins the most extraordinary battle of history. Today we see that such an extraordinary King deserves extraordinary praise.

Luke tells us that Jesus went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. Jesus is at the front of his band of followers. Nowhere else do we find Jesus at the head. Not when he descended the mountain after his Sermon on the Mount. Not after he left Capernaum. Not as he entered the village of Nain. He usually chose to be surrounded by people rather than in front of them.

Not this time. Jesus is at the front. Only one man. A soldier marching into battle. A king leading his procession.

By journeying from Bethany into Jerusalem, Jesus is proving his extraordinary might. How? All kinds of ways. It wasn’t an accident that Jesus chose to enter Jerusalem on that particular Sunday. Forget any suggestion that Jesus was trapped by his enemies. Erase any theories that Jesus miscalculated his following. Ignore any speculation that the cross was a last-ditch attempt to salvage a dying mission.

Jesus was fulfilling Scripture. It was on that very day that faithful Jews were to select the Passover Lamb for slaughter. (Exodus 12:3) So on that very day, Jesus, the true Passover Lamb, came to Jerusalem to suffer and die.

Jesus journeyed to Jerusalem to die … on purpose. No surprise. No hesitation. No faltering.

Jesus also showed his extraordinary might because there were instances when others attempted to either dissuade him from his mission or to change his timing, which would have meant failure. Jesus is purposely and punctually setting in motion the events of his suffering and death to take place as planned. He had just informed his disciples, "We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled. He will be handed over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, insult him, spit on him, flog him and kill him. On the third day he will rise again." (Luke 18:31-33) No band of bounty hunters is bringing Jesus in. No angry mob drags him through the streets. Jesus mightily manages the events of his suffering as the Father had decreed them to be – all so that we might be saved.

A young boy had just gotten his driving permit. He asked his father who was a minister, if they could discuss the use of the car. His father took him to his study and said to him, "I'll make a deal with you. You bring your grades up, study your Bible a little and get your hair cut and we'll talk about it." After about a month the boy came back and again asked his father if they could discuss use of the car. They again went to the father's study where his father said, "Son, I've been real proud of you. You have brought your grades up, you've studied your Bible diligently, but you didn't get your hair cut!" The young man waited a moment and replied, "You know Dad, I've been thinking about that. You know, Samson had long hair, Moses had long hair, Noah had long hair, and even Jesus had long hair …" To which his father replied, "Yes, and they WALKED every where they went!"

Jesus may have walked everywhere he went – except into Jerusalem on that Palm Sunday. Jesus demonstrated his extraordinary might with his divine knowledge by providing the precise details of future events to two of his disciples. "Go to the village ahead of you, and as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, 'Why are you untying it?' tell him, 'The Lord needs it'." And it happened, just as Jesus said.

Jesus actually had the disciples bring both the colt and the mother donkey. If he has both of them there, why did Jesus choose to ride upon the colt? One reason is to fulfill prophecy: "See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey." (Zechariah 9:9) Luke also gives us another reason: "a colt which no one has ever ridden." Again, in the Old Testament, if animals were going to be used for sacred purposes, the animals selected were never to have been used before. (Numbers 19:2; Deuteronomy 21:3; 1 Samuel 6:7) What was a more sacred purpose than carrying the Son of God?

Jesus also displayed his extraordinary might by riding this untamed young donkey. I remember watching my sister get bucked off her new horse when she was a little girl. She went flying head over heels over the horse’s head. That is one of the reasons I really dislike horses. Jesus wasn’t concerned. He simply used his extraordinary might to hinder that animal from bucking him all the way back to Bethany. In addition to all this, remember that Jesus had previously proven his extraordinary might by healing the sick, casting out demons, calming storms and raising the dead.

No wonder the people in the crowd responded with extraordinary praise. "Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!" These extraordinary shouts of praise honor the extraordinary heavenly King who comes to conquer sin, death and the devil, who comes to do battle with evil and win, who comes to reign in the hearts of believers with his love, to rule, protect and defend his people and to control all things for our good.

Jesus is no every day, ordinary person. He's an extraordinary King, and he deserves extraordinary praise. But we haven't always given it to him, have we? We are much more comfortable giving ordinary praise and thanks and service and offerings – not extraordinary.

I wonder whether America has become complacent about the wars we are fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. Driving around you really don’t see a lot of flags on homes or flying from cars. The ratings for the cable news shows have dropped dramatically from the first days of the wars.

I think the same thing happens in our daily faith lives. We become complacent, apathetic, and lukewarm. We may make detailed plans for extraordinary expenses like homes, cars, education and vacation but our appreciation for these gifts from God is often nothing more than ordinary. It is much more natural for us to please our boss or pursue overtime pay with extraordinary efforts instead of making efforts to set aside Sunday as a sacred day for studying God's Word and worshipping. We find much greater enjoyment out of extraordinary extravagances spent on our personal pleasures and pursuits, than giving to the poor or providing extra support to the church. We can jump out of bed with extraordinary eagerness to start a new job or meet a special person or take a fun trip, but that same eagerness doesn't spark a workday or us on Sunday morning at the church or sharing our faith with our next-door neighbor.

In other words, we are willing to go the extra mile, but our sinful flesh would prefer that it be for us, not for God. We'll just do enough for God to get by. However, the Maker of heaven and earth doesn't just deserve our extraordinary praise, he demands it. Those not willing to give it, according to Jesus, cannot be disciples. Christianity has no room for mediocrity. Jesus would rather have extraordinary praise from the stones than lukewarm commitment from his followers.

Jesus also demonstrated his extraordinary humility as he entered the gates of Jerusalem. The people praised Jesus saying, "Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!" Think about what kind of king Jesus was and what kind of kingdom he ruled. Jesus didn’t have a castle or a palace. He had no congress or parliament deciding what laws there would be. He really had need of but two laws: Love God and love your neighbor as well.

Jesus the king did not have an army or navy, no air force or marines to guard his frontiers in order to keep out the unwanted strangers and maintain the enemy’s fears. He seemed to encourage immigration, even of the most disreputable, like fishermen, tax collectors, prostitutes and sinners.

Jesus the king had no revenue service or taxes to calculate. He surely could not run a kingdom on what we put into the plate! There was no currency with his picture, no coins engraved with his name. There were no posters and slogans proclaiming his power and fame. He wore no robes of velvet or fur, no crown or rings made of gold and diamonds. He had his twelve disciples accompanying him into the city, but he could have called twelve legions of angels to escort him triumphantly into Jerusalem.

Jesus was victorious while he seemed to surrender. It was his lowliness that led him to the cross. It was by his humiliation that Jesus subdued his enemies. He surrendered to death so that he could vanquish death. Jesus - King of Kings, Commander of the Heavenly Hosts, Eternal Son of God - had such extraordinary humility that he surrendered himself to the fiery wrath of God which we deserve. And the only way for him to take that wrath upon himself was through the streets of Jerusalem on that day, Palm Sunday. Unasked. Unforced. Unearned. King Jesus forsook his personal ambitions to rescue you and me from the punishment our sins deserve. Any ordinary king would have looked the other way, but King Jesus has extraordinary grace, extraordinary love, extraordinary humility. He humbled himself and now we are exalted. He rode right into the punishment of hell and now we receive the pleasures of heaven.

King Jesus humbly entered the realm of death to defeat death. But there will be a change in the end, when the cloak of humility is removed and the King’s glory will be as brilliant as the sun. Then he will sit, not upon a donkey, but upon the white horse befitting his kingship and he shall come forth as a Conqueror bent on conquest. (Revelation 6:2)

Jesus’ journey into Jerusalem didn’t begin in Jericho. It didn’t begin in Galilee where he ministered. It didn’t begin in Nazareth where he grew up. It didn’t even begin in Bethlehem where he was born. The journey to the cross began long before. As the echo of the crunching of the fruit was still sounding in the Garden of Eden, Jesus was leaving for Calvary. He is an extraordinary king who demonstrated extraordinary love for humanity.

The people who followed King Jesus on Palm Sunday laid down their personal possessions at his feet in extraordinary praise. They shouted extraordinary acclamations; so much that Jesus' enemies couldn't stand it! Today, this Palm Sunday is your chance to begin again in a life of extraordinary praise to your extraordinary King. Like the believers of old who gave the shirts off their backs, let your financial offerings surpass every day, normal, routine giving to be extraordinary; look for opportunities to be so spontaneous and generous you might wonder what you're doing and how you'll make it! Like the owner of the donkey, you have talents and resources that you might not consider very valuable to the kingdom, but Jesus has an extraordinary use for them; prayerfully explore your resources and be ready to give them up for his kingdom work! Like the crowd of followers joyfully praising their Savior, let your conversations with others not just be the typical, normal words but be filled with an extraordinary witness to an extraordinary King!

The Bible makes it clear that Jesus went out of his way to save us. As his followers, we can make it clear how much we appreciate and love our extraordinary King by going out of our way to serve him. Amen.

At the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Amen.