Holding Up the Mirror: Finding Ourselves in the Easter Story
This message was preached at Sherwood Community Friends Church on Sunday, April 13, 2025. You can watch the video in full by clicking below.
In 2013, I read a book that changed my life. No, it wasn’t the Bible.
It was Crazy Love by Francis Chan. In it, he recounts the parable of the sower and the four different types of soil that Jesus references. There is the seed flung on the path and snatched away, the seed that falls on the rocks and cannot take root, the seed that falls among the thorns and is choked out by life, and the seed that falls on the good soil to produce a multitude fruit. After he recounts this famous parable of Jesus, Chan says this:
“My caution to you is this: Do not assume you are good soil.”
Call it immaturity or entitlement, but up until this point in my life, it hadn’t occurred to me that I might not be the good example in the story.
“Do not assume you are good soil.”
I think we have a tendency to read through the stories in the Bible, and we like to think that we play the role of the hero, the loyal, the good character. But we should not be so quick to imagine ourselves as the good guys.
When we read the familiar Easter story, there is this climactic drama that has been building over the course of the gospels. Today is Palm Sunday, and this is the pivotal moment when the plot thickens, and the tension ramps up as we head for the climax, what we call Good Friday, followed by Easter.
As we read this story, we are going to consider the four main players in this story outside of Jesus with a mirror in front of us today.
As we peer into the looking glass and consider which looks most like us, we must look with honest curiosity. James reminds us of our responsibility when we consider scripture.
“But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. Because if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like someone looking at his own face in a mirror. For he looks at himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of person he was. But the one who looks intently into the perfect law {read words} of freedom and perseveres in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer who works—this person will be blessed in what he does.” James 1:22-25, CSB
Too many of us read the words of Scripture and we walk away unchanged because we do not read them with the mirror in front of us. We come to God’s word disheveled, with food stuck in our teeth. We check off the box of reading God’s word, but we remain unchanged because we have forgotten to bring our mirror with us. We have left our eyes to see on our nightstand rather than bringing them with us as we read God’s word.
Before we look at each character in the Palm Sunday story and hold up our mirror, let’s first read the story as a whole. While I will be reading from the Gospel according to Luke, this story can be found in each of the four gospels.
“When he had said these things, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. As he approached Bethphage and Bethany, at the place called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of the disciples and said, “Go into the village ahead of you. As you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it. If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ say this: ‘The Lord needs it.’
So those who were sent left and found it just as he had told them. As they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, ‘Why are you untying the colt?’ ‘The Lord needs it,’ they said. Then they brought it to Jesus, and after throwing their clothes on the colt, they helped Jesus get on it. As he was going along, they were spreading their clothes on the road.
Now he came near the path down the Mount of Olives, and the whole crowd of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the miracles they had seen: ‘Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord. Peace in heaven and glory in the highest heaven!’
Some of the Pharisees from the crowd told him, ‘Teacher, rebuke your disciples.’ He answered, ‘I tell you, if they were to keep silent, the stones would cry out.’”
As he approached and saw the city, he wept for it, saying, “If you knew this day what would bring peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes.” Luke 19:28-42, CSB
The Disciple
The first character we will consider is the Disciple.
Now in our Palm Sunday story, the disciples seem to play a relatively small part.
“When he had said these things, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. As he approached Bethphage and Bethany, at the place called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of the disciples and said, “Go into the village ahead of you. As you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it. If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ say this: ‘The Lord needs it.’
So those who were sent left and found it just as he had told them. As they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, ‘Why are you untying the colt?’ ‘The Lord needs it,’ they said. Then they brought it to Jesus, and after throwing their clothes on the colt, they helped Jesus get on it. As he was going along, they were spreading their clothes on the road.”
A few of them go and collect a donkey and then they take their clothes and spread them on the road as they go along.
But as we read through the gospels, we know their story.
And I believe their story is relatable. Of all the disciples, Peter’s eagerness is most amusing. There’s the time when he insists Jesus doesn’t have to die. Or when he suggests they build a shrine on the mountain after the transfiguration. Or when he insists that Jesus wash the entirety of him, not just his feet. Later he would be the one who cut off the ear of the soldier as they came to arrest Jesus.
And of course, they all hold their own sort of immaturities along the way. James and John, the Sons of Thunder, were claiming they would be at the right and left hand of Jesus in the new kingdom. And the others argued the same.
They had their failings for sure along the way, but if nothing else, the disciples were eager and zealous. They went out boldly when Jesus sent them with not even an extra pair of shoes or a spare meal. So many of us want to be one of these disciples who left everything behind to follow Jesus, even their very lives were taken from them for this.
In fact, starting with James in Acts 12:2 as the first apostle to be martyred, executed by sword under Herod Agrippa I around AD 44, all of the apostles were martyred for their bold declaration of faith, with the exception of John. John, although it is believed he died of natural causes, was exiled to Patmos, where he wrote the final book of the Bible: Revelation.
And as they walk alongside Jesus as he rides into Jerusalem, they walk alongside of him even into death, although the gravitas of this has not been fully realized by them yet.
I ask you today…
Are you a disciple, one of those who walks in with Jesus as he rides in on the donkey? Are you, even in your zealous immaturity, eagerly declaring “I’m in” with your very life?
The Crowd
Our next character we will consider is the Crowd.
“Now he came near the path down the Mount of Olives, and the whole crowd of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the miracles they had seen: ‘Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord. Peace in heaven and glory in the highest heaven!’”
Now, this particular reading is from the Gospel of Luke, which was written to a Gentile, or non-Jewish audience, meaning that the specific word we are familiar with today - Hosanna - was communicated differently. But as you were watching the video, you may have heard them shouting “Hosanna!”
And when we read from the other three gospels, this is what we see:
“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 heaven!’” Matthew 21:9, CSB
Hosanna means save us, liberate us, and give us favor. Its Hebraic origin, “Yasha,” means to "liberate us" or "save us from battle." We see this in the Psalms.
“Lord, save us! Lord, please grant us success!” Psalm 118:25
Hosanna.
The plea from the crowds is a call to God to bring a king to save His people. At this time, they were living under the oppressive rule of the Roman Empire, and similar to their ancestors in Egypt, they were looking for freedom. In fact, when we look at the disciples, they, too, believed the freedom Jesus came to bring was freedom from Rome.
But when we look at Christ's triumphal entry, we see a crowd of people who ALMOST get it right. They are right to celebrate Jesus as king. He is indeed going to liberate them.
They would absolutely know this as the truth when they see him riding into town on a donkey:
“Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout in triumph, Daughter Jerusalem! Look, your King is coming to you; he is righteous and victorious, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” Zechariah 9:9, CSB
But God’s plan has always been bigger than the government systems of this world. The crowd has just fallen short in their understanding of truly how victorious this ride is.
And as Jesus gazed upon Jerusalem, Luke tells us this:
“As he approached and saw the city, he wept for it, saying, “‘If you knew this day what would bring peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes.’” Luke 19:41–42
He knows that in less than a week, most of these people will turn on him. He knows that the victory of war will come, but only after what seems like defeat to everyone else.
Does he weep for himself? No. That is not what the scriptures tell us. It says, “He wept over it.” That is, he wept over Jerusalem. The capital city of God’s people. He weeps because, collectively, they do not know what will bring them peace. He weeps because they are confused as to what is about to happen and the critical role of betrayal they are about to play.
A few days after Jesus’ entry, he finds himself standing before Pontius Pilate, the governor of the land. And as Jesus stands trial, the same crowds waving palm branches and crying out “HOSANA” will shout “CRUCIFY HIM.”
Are you the people in the crowds, waving palm branches one moment and a few days later shouting to crucify? Are you easily swayed by the power and influence of the day?
The Pharisee
Now we come to the character that I don’t think any of us want to be, what we would consider as “the bad guys.”
“Some of the Pharisees from the crowd told him, ‘Teacher, rebuke your disciples.’ He answered, ‘I tell you, if they were to keep silent, the stones would cry out.’”
The truth is the Pharisees, which are the New Testament Israelites, were predisposed to a hardened heart towards the new things of God.
We have just gotten done with a 4-part Sabbath series, and last week, we read the story of when Sabbath was first introduced. What I didn’t read was the first part of that story.
“The entire Israelite community grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in the land of Egypt, when we sat by pots of meat and ate all the bread we wanted. Instead, you brought us into this wilderness to make this whole assembly die of hunger!” Exodus 16:2-3, CSB
If only we had died in Egypt??? Really?!
In Exodus 3, we see that the Lord freed them because he heard their cries!
'Then the Lord said, “I have observed the misery of my people in Egypt, and have heard them crying out because of their oppressors. I know about their sufferings, and I have come down to rescue them from the power of the Egyptians and to bring them from that land to a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey…So because the Israelites’ cry for help has come to me, and I have also seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them, therefore, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh so that you may lead my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.’” Exodus 3:7-10, CSB
Yet, just a few short weeks after fleeing Egypt they are wishing they would have been left there to die. They had no imagination of what God could do. But you might be wondering… I mean, they were in slavery for hundreds of years. I can imagine their capacity for what all God could do might have been limited right?
Well, after they endured the wilderness for 40 years, with God’s presence guiding them by day in a pillar of clouds and by night in a pillar of fire, and after experiencing miracles and great acts by God’s hand, and after entering into the Promised Land, conquering trained military forces and fortified walls. After all this, we see their vision was still so limited. They wanted to be like all the other nations around them.
This is why in 1 Samuel 8, they went to Samuel and demanded that God give them a king to rule over them.
They wanted what they wanted. They didn’t want what God wanted. What did God want? Let’s go back to the Abrahamic Covenant, the promise between God and Abraham.
“When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him, saying, ‘I am God Almighty. Live in my presence and be blameless. I will set up my covenant between me and you, and I will multiply you greatly.’ Then Abram fell facedown and God spoke with him: ‘As for me, here is my covenant with you: You will become the father of many nations. Your name will no longer be Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I will make you the father of many nations. I will make you extremely fruitful and will make nations and kings come from you. I will confirm my covenant that is between me and you and your future offspring throughout their generations. It is a permanent covenant to be your God and the God of your offspring after you. And to you and your future offspring , I will give the land where you are residing — all the land of Canaan — as a permanent possession, and I will be their God.’” Genesis 17:1-8, CSB
They will be my people, and I will be their God.
All God wanted was to be their only God and for them to be his people. But repeatedly, they chose what was right in their own eyes rather than following the Way of the Father.
By the time we meet the Pharisees, they had twisted and distorted the Torah to be a heavy burden. They had developed their ideas of what was right and wrong over time, based on the oral tradition of those laws (or words) of God.
This was the great offense of Jesus. He was not afraid to call out the hypocrisy of the religious leaders at the time. Now, were they all hypocrites? No, I don’t believe so. I believe that some of them genuinely loved God and wanted only to do what they believed as “right.”
But they did fall onto the wrong side of the story because they could not embrace that the Messiah was coming in, seated on a donkey, to bring freedom to the captives, healing for the sick, and hope for the hopeless.
Are you a Pharisee, unable to see what new thing God is doing? Are you stuck in the past that it informs your future rather than God? Do you add to what God has put in place rather than trusting his words, his Spirit, and his guidance?
The Donkey
There is one more character in our story: the donkey.
“When he had said these things, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. As he approached Bethphage and Bethany, at the place called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of the disciples and said, ‘Go into the village ahead of you. As you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it. If anyone asks you, “Why are you untying it?” say this: “The Lord needs it.”’
So those who were sent left and found it just as he had told them. As they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, “Why are you untying the colt?” “The Lord needs it,” they said. Then they brought it to Jesus, and after throwing their clothes on the colt, they helped Jesus get on it.”
To be honest, I had never considered the donkey as a player in this story to consider. But this week, I read this:
"Corrie ten Boom, Holocaust survivor, was once asked if it was difficult for her to remain humble. She replied, “When Jesus rode into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday on the back of a donkey, and everyone was waving palm branches and throwing garments on the road and singing praises, do you think that for one moment it ever entered the head of the donkey that any of that was for him?” She continued, “If I can be the donkey on which Jesus Christ rides in his glory, I give Him the praise and all the honor.”
Are you the donkey? Do you know it isn’t about you? Do you submit to doing your humble part to usher in the King in his glory?
Conclusion
Much of the writings of the Bible are not directly prescriptive. This book isn’t just a set of dos and don’ts. It’s full of stories of real people with real turmoil that is given to us to consider and visualize ourselves in the story. It’s often intended to leave us pondering what we would do if we were in their shoes. It’s a mirror for our souls.
As we enter into this most holy of weeks, a week that is set apart for intentional reflection and preparation for the coming celebration of resurrection day, take time to read through the EFM devotional, or we’ve also put together a one-page set of readings for this week. When we set apart anything for God, it means that we treat it differently. And we reflect differently. Let us live out our intention this week.
