The King Arrives · Triumphal Entry
Jim Clements · Tidal Church Moncton · March 22, 2026 · For Our City series
Jim Clements looks at Matthew 21:1-11, Jesus' humble entry into Jerusalem on a donkey. He invites us to lay down our own cloaks, surrender all to Jesus as King and Savior, and not treat Him as a consultant or mascot.
More from Jim Clements · The For Our City series
Topics: Discipleship, Worship, Easter
Transcript
[0:01] Amen. So I'm gonna... I just, I don't know why I'm gonna do this, because the first service felt a little different, but I just wanna prepare you in case you came and you've never made a decision to follow Christ and you've never declared Him as your personal Lord and Savior. I'm gonna give you a chance to do that at the end of the service. So there now, I want you to be thinking about that, thinking about, as I share what God is hearing, saying to you and what you're hearing from Him as we go through this. I'm gonna be sharing about the triumphal entry of Jesus back into Jerusalem. We're very close to the Easter season, and so I wanted to share this with you. And many of us have seen great entries, right? If we're sports fans, you see great entries of pageantry done. There's all kinds of different sporting events or different events in the world where they have the great...
[0:50] Like, when the President of the United States walks in, the whole thing that they do, there's all this pageantry stuff. And so I try to think, what's something personal for me that was an entry that I'll never forget? And it took me back to my wedding day. And so, you know, it's a long time ago. It was, like, 35 years ago, but I still remember it. And then I was standing in the... We were in the back room, myself, the pastor, my best man, and we decided that this is gonna be the day I'm gonna remember forever, right? Like, this is gonna be so cool. Like, I'm so excited. I can't wait to see Gisèle come down that center aisle. Like, it just, whoo, can't wait. And we walk out, pastor walks out first. I walk out behind the pastor. Best man's with me. We stand out there, and I look at those doors, and I wait.
[1:36] Like, anytime now, any minute, like, right? And I wait. Twenty minutes go by. Nobody has come to tell me anything that's going on. So guys, if you're planning a wedding, be involved, because all I said was, "Let me know where and when." I had no idea what was going on. Gisèle had planned... When she was in high school, she wrote a song she wanted to sing on our wedding day, so she wanted to sing this before she came in. There was only one catch: the person in charge of bringing the guitar forgot to bring the guitar. So as I stood out front waiting for someone to make their entry, there was no entry until the guitar came, and then I'm like, "Okay, who's that singing now?"
[2:28] But we think of these entries and times in our life, and they kinda sear memories for us. And when we think of what is happening for Jesus coming back into Jerusalem, He's at the Mount of Olives. And I've stood there, and it's an incredible scene to see when you know Scripture, and you stand in spots of biblical happenings, and you look, and you picture it in your mind's eye. But in this moment, what is about to happen is the collision of two worlds with His entry. It's gonna be the kingdom that people want and the kingdom that the King wants, and those are two totally different wants.
[3:13] Matthew 21:1-11 says this: "As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, 'Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, say the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away.' This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet: 'Say to Daughter Zion, "See, your King comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey."' The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them. They brought the donkey and the colt and placed their cloaks on them for Jesus to sit on. A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of Him and those that followed shouted, 'Hosanna to the Son of David!
[4:11] Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!' When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, 'Who is this?' The crowds answered, 'This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.'" Pretty soon, in the next couple of weeks, we're gonna be standing on the edge of what we call Holy Week, when everyone in the world that is a believer celebrates and recognizes the time in history that changed the universe, that changed our world. And we think about God's mindset at that time was a rescue mission. He was sending His Son to be our rescue from all that we had. Even before the foundation of time that was laid, He was thinking this out. Now picture, if you've never been to Jerusalem or if you've seen the signs of it, pictures of it on Google, there's... And it's, at this time, there's about 50,000 people that pack into this place. But as they prepare for Passover, it swells to about 250,000. Like, the roadways and the pathways, they're crammed with people.
[5:28] The sides of the hills are covered with tents because the inns are all full. And maybe there's even spots where people are just sitting, and they got blankets laid out. It is full. And if you're used to having campfires or being outside and cooking, even the smell of wood burning is in the air, and the fresh smell of lamb being cooked on those wood fires are permeating through everywhere in this time. And then the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, is coming from the west, and he enters the city, on horses with armor on them, the biggest horses, strongest breed lines in them, and they've just got everything. He's got the shiniest armor on him.
[6:17] His soldiers are marching in time, and the bang, bang as they come with their armor and the helmets with the puffy thing, whatever that's called, their swords and shields, and they're walking in because they're coming and they're saying, we're keeping the peace. There's nothing going to get out of hand here. Caesar is king, and we're going to make sure that things stay the way they need to be. But on the other side of the city from the east comes a different kind of king riding on a donkey, cloaks that people have put on it. He doesn't have a cavalry that matches in with Him. He's got a borrowed donkey at that. He's got no budget to buy any fancy stuff.
[7:04] And in walks with Him is a bunch of misfit fishermen. I'm from Newfoundland. I know what it looks like when you're misfit. You got the gum boots on and the jacket, the fishing pole. It's not very intimidating when they're coming in. Matthew 21 tells us this isn't a parade. This is actually a declaration of war. This is not against Rome or its rulers. This is against sin and death. Matthew begins with a curious detail that Jesus doesn't just stumble in. As you read, He just doesn't happen to stumble into Jerusalem or go, hey, we're just going to saunter in. He actually stops when He gets to the edge.
[7:52] Because what's about to happen is a choreographed movement of prophecy. And He knows that. And He sends them to a village to find the donkey, the colt for Him to ride in on. Think about that. If you went to your neighbor down the street, said, hey, I need to borrow your car. The Lord told me. So, hey, where's the keys? Chances of them giving you the keys to their car, pretty slim. But the people knew what was about to happen. See, there's no king in history who demands your life for his glory. The King that we serve gave His life for your sake. That is the difference. The Lord has need of them is what they said when they went out.
[8:41] And we may think at times like that's just like stealing or taking, but it's not. It's a declaration. When Jesus says this, the Lord needs them. It's because He's declaring the Creator of the universe, all who's made the oceans, the seas, the forests, the animals, is the owner of all things. He is declaring ownership of all the creation that God has done. And the donkey is part of that. He chooses this common, borrowed, unclean animal to bring the glory of the world before everyone. And what we hold on to today that we try to make sure that it's ours and we don't want to give up to the Lord, it may be your gifts, it may be your time, it may be your talent, it may be other things that you just need to give over to Him, you're holding so tight to.
[9:34] Maybe it's even your brokenness that you're holding to because it's part of your identity and He's asking you to give that up and you won't. See, for the modern ear today when we hear a story like this, we just think that's just silly. But if He would have came in on a stallion that they had, everybody would have looked at the stallion. Everybody would have asked questions about the horse and the bloodlines and where did he get it and who let him borrow it. But this focus, this was totally on Jesus. And for the Jews in that century, it would have meant, here comes somebody that is coming in peace versus when Pontius Pilate came in, it's somebody who's coming in with a war mindset to keep people in order.
[10:21] Jesus didn't come to trample the city with iron hooves. He was carrying the weight of the city and all of the people on His shoulders as He entered in. But as I said, there's a deeper layer to this because He's fulfilling Zechariah 9:9, which says, "Rejoice greatly, daughter Zion! Shout, daughter Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a colt." He's saying, "I'm the one you've been looking for for 500 years. And gently and humbly I come." See, a lot of times when we think of leaders today or kings or rulers, it's about force. It's about violence. It's about power.
[11:09] It's about dominance. But here came the person who changed the world, gently and humbly. Jesus redefines royalty as a gentleness and humbleness. The disciples, they take their cloaks off and they lay it on the donkey for Jesus to sit on. They begin to lay them on the roadway for the donkey to walk from the Mount of Olives down through the crowd. The crowd's going nuts like they just won a championship in some sports, and they're screaming and yelling and waving everything. They remove their outer garments, their cloaks, and they're laying them down on this dusty, dusty road. It's not a polite gesture that they're doing. They're laying their garments before the king.
[11:57] It's an act of total submission because, you see, back in those days, the cloak that somebody had, it was their identity. You could see the pattern or the colors that are and you knew pretty well who it was that had it on even if you saw them from a little bit of a distance. So they were giving that up. It's also their protection. So in the cold nights, this is what kept them warm and they're laying that down to say, "I know this king's going to take care of me." It's also the thing that they probably spent the most money on that they owned. And they take that and lay it down. All of who I am, my identity, all that keeps me the way that I need to be warm and cared for, all my finances, I lay it down before the king and a donkey walks over it. People place their status, their security at the feet of Jesus, and it's easy for us in this culture today to forget that because we come in and on Sundays and everything are great and people know us, and we walk in and we're comfortable and we're in a beautiful place like this, and we don't have to lay our cloak down necessarily.
[13:05] But what is it we do from Monday to Saturday? Where are the spots we're laying our cloak down? I know when I grew up, my mom used to say, you know, stories about, oh, if you see, like, an elderly person crossing a road, there's a puddle there, like, you take your coat off and you lay it down across the puddle so, like, they can go. Like, how many of you actually did that? I mean, I've never done it, but the story comes from something like this. It's a respect. It's a sacrifice. You're putting someone ahead of yourself. But some of us, we like Jesus just to be a consultant and not our king. And there's a difference between a consultant and a king. See, a consultant, they, like, give you advice, and you can choose whether you want it or not. And I've been in plenty of places where we've had a consultant come in and we go, "Oh, that's nice and pretty," and they put it in a binder and you put it on the shelf and it collects dust and no one ever does anything with it.
[13:58] And all the employees go, "Oh, that one was close. I thought they were gonna implement something." Right? But when you have a king, He commands us to do the things that are in His Word. And we do those as surrender, not because we're under, like, a knuckle or under someone's hoof. We do it because of the love and the sacrifice that He makes. See, and it's... and the entry when it comes, it's for us now to ask in modern times, we look at that, "What is it that I own? What is it that I need to lay down? What's my cloak that I would lay if Jesus came before me, that I would just say, 'This is it?'" You've heard me say many times, the answer is yes. Now what's the question?
[14:46] But if we're living a life that lives out that way every time for us, then the answer's always yes. "Yes, I'll lay that down. Yes, I'll give that up. Yes, I'll do..." But what about if we took it a step further and we went, "Yes, and what else do you want? Yes, how else can I help? Yes, where else do you need me to step? Yes, yes, and... yes, and... yes, and..." and lived a life that wasn't all about us. They're not only laying down cloaks. They're cutting branches down, and they're signaling that they believe there's about a revolution about to happen. See, they wanted political liberation. They wanted out from under the Romans.
[15:32] They were laying the groundwork for a king who would come and drive out the Romans and make the politicians leave, someone that would just change the way their life was. But they didn't want a king who was coming to love the Romans too. They wanted them gone. The air is thick in these moments as Jesus is coming. "Hosanna. Hosanna!" And this is often a word we sing in praise songs too, "Hosanna. Hosanna." And when you look at the literal Hebrew meaning of this, it's a desperate plea, which is, "Save us, we pray," or just, "Save us now." They even cry out, acknowledging that He's this... that He comes from David's lineage, the Son of David, acknowledging His lineage.
[16:17] But the tragic irony is this story is about to take a tragic, sharp, and painful turn because the crowd and Jesus have two different definitions of "save us." See, they shout, "Save us. Save us from the Romans. Save us from the high taxes. Make Israel back to its rightful place again. Give us political power." That's what they're crying "save us" for. Jesus heard, "Save us," and He thought of sin, death, fixing the separation between God and man. That's what He was thinking when He heard, "Save us." And He also knew the hosannas would quickly switch as the days went by to Friday, when they go, "Crucify Him. Crucify Him," and it quickly switches 'cause Jesus didn't come to overthrow the people they despised.
[17:16] He came to sacrifice His life for the people they despised and for each of them. They weren't happy because He didn't come and sit on a throne that they had made and they had in their minds for Him to be on this earthly throne. He came going to a cross so that each one of us could be free from our sins and free from death, the cross that He knew was coming for each one of us and that sacrifice. That's why He came. And there's a danger even to us in life today when we think about our faith and we say we're Christians, we're followers of Jesus, He's our Lord and Savior, I follow His teachings. And sometimes we put it out front and we make, like, Jesus, like, a mascot. Like you're at a sporting event. Whoo, and everyone whipping everybody up and everything. And Jesus is not a mascot.
[18:05] And so in our lives, it's not about our lives and celebrating what it is. It's celebrating Him. And putting Him out in front of us as if He's a mascot is not what He's looking for, and do our bidding. "Oh, this is what I need, and I need help with this. I need help with that." He's our Savior. Matthew 21:10 says that when Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred. The Greek word that's used in that time, when it's translated, it means seismic shift or earthquake. I'll guarantee you, when Jesus enters your life, it's going to be a seismic shift and an earthquake within your spirit, and you'll move from the spot of where you've been.
[18:56] The religious leaders at the time, they felt threatened. Here came someone that was against their whole system they had set up. They were threatened. Then there was people who were curious and they were just like, "Who is this?" And many of the crowd responds, "This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth." They knew His name. They knew His hometown, but they didn't know His purpose for what He was coming. See, if your Jesus never shakes your life, you might be worshiping other idols. If your Jesus never challenges your comfort, you just might be living a leisurely faith. If your Jesus never questions your prejudices, you might be focused too much inward.
[19:44] If your Jesus never disrupts your schedule, it's probably because you got Him blocked. And if you don't have a Jesus like the Jesus that's described in Matthew 21, then you've never met the King that's described in Matthew 21 because you've got to give it all up for Him. Some people ask, "Who is this?" Even today, we talk about it. People say, "Well, you know, is there a prophet from Nazareth, a good teacher? Is this all a moral example?" I'll tell you who this is. This is a person who died, who had pain, who bled, who gave His life so that we may be free from sin and death and know that freedom every day. That's the Jesus that's in Matthew 21 that I know.
[20:33] Is He these things, or is He Kyrios, the Lord of the universe? When we look at the entry and we ask ourselves, which crowd do we fit into when we think about Him coming? What's the crowd that fits us? Are we the enthusiastic crowd who's cheering for Him and calling out His name and "Hosanna," but we want Him to fix our finances. We want Him to heal us and our bodies. We want Him to support our political views. I'm just telling you, check your expectations on that, because that's not what Jesus is for. If you're following Him for what He can do for you or for what He can do for you on earthly terms, you need to ask yourself what He can do for you in spiritual and eternal terms. Then there's the disturbed city. We have the enthusiastic crowd.
[21:21] We have the disturbed city. Those who find Jesus' claim of lordship to be disruptive to their comfort and lifestyle because of what they've become used to, He is now going to destroy it all before them. So what's it look like in our lives? Do we rather keep, like, a distance and we don't want to be disturbed? We don't want to be discomforted. We're just going to keep a distance from Him. We'll keep our cloaks. Maybe the cloak you have is your reputation. It's how people see you. Maybe it's control, like you don't want to give up control. And so you're holding on to that cloak really tight also. But maybe it's something you're struggling with, your anger. And because you're so used to holding on to all these cloaks that you won't give anything up from, you won't even give up the things that are causing you to not follow Him.
[22:10] And then there's the obedient disciples, those like the two that were sent for the donkey. They just simply obeyed the Master. We give our lives up. We're going to experience an earthquake. When you say that Jesus is your Lord and Savior and you decide to follow Him all the days of your life, He'll disturb your peace a little. He's going to shake everything that you thought you knew to the spot where you need to know. And you've got to be willing to do that as obedient disciples, because He will give you His peace and not the peace that you've discovered. He will give you His freedom and not the freedom that you've discovered.
[23:00] We take a look at the path that Jesus is on through this scripture. He's knowingly riding towards the temple. He's knowingly riding towards the Last Supper. And He's knowingly riding towards the cross. And all that time, palms are waving, people are cheering, and He knows that by Friday they will all wither. And they will all begin to shout, "Crucify Him." But He doesn't turn back. He keeps riding. He doesn't turn the donkey around. He doesn't say to the disciples, "Let's go back." He sets His face towards a cross, towards a place of pain, towards a place of discomfort, that He will take the weight of the world for all who call Him Lord and Savior.
[24:03] He doesn't worry about His desire for comfort. He literally rides into the city to die for each one of us. He accepts the praise as it's given, not because He's a celebrity or not because He wants to be famous. He takes it as an acceptance of the sacrifice that He's about to make, acknowledging that. He didn't come to change the government. He didn't come to change the taxes. He didn't come to establish any great earthly institution. He came to change hearts of people. People that have turned away from Him, people that have turned to their own ways, people that are suffering, people that are hurting, people that are confused, people that are lost. That's why He came.
[24:59] He came for the human heart. The King has arrived, and we'll celebrate that in a few weeks. And the Spirit of the Holy Spirit is looming over each one of us, asking us if our answer is still yes. Or maybe it's looming over you for the first time. And it's not judgment, it's love, it's gentleness. It's a humble Spirit that wants to bring you peace that only King Jesus can bring to you. He's inviting you today, if you know Him, to continue to follow in the procession that He leads for people to find their way.
[25:48] If you don't know Him, you can do that today. The gates of the city were open. Are the gates of our hearts open to receive the King as He rides by? Or do we turn away and just stand on the sidelines and watch? Do we take off the cloaks that we've been holding on to and lay down for Him to walk through our lives and remove the things that have been holding us back? Are we willing to give our lives? Are we willing to give our comfort? Are we willing to give our finances? Are we willing to give our schedules? Are we willing to give all that for Him? Are we willing to give the things that we struggle with and just say them out loud? Are we willing to accept Him?
[26:36] See, because the thing is, we can all keep coming here and we can keep singing, but I don't want our hosannas to turn to "Crucify Him, crucify Him" in other settings. He is the Lord of Lords and He's the King of Kings. My dad once shared with me two simple words: "in," I-N, and "to," T-O. And he said, "If you want to go to the hockey game, it doesn't require much of you. You buy a ticket, you show up, find a way there, and you go to the hockey game. If you want to be in the hockey game, that's a whole nother level of sacrifice, of time, learning the skill, not only going to practice, but the games and traveling and buying the equipment and getting other people to teach you and learn and have mentors and continually do that day in, day out if you want to be in the game."
[27:37] So the question is, do you want to come to church or do you want to be in church? Do you want Jesus to come to you or do you want Jesus to be in you? There's a big difference with those two little words. Will you lay your cloak before Him today? Not just your praise, but your life in every way. I'm going to ask us to stand as we pray. And I know we all understand, and maybe it's the children's pastor in me, but if everyone could bow their heads and close their eyes, just out of respect for others that are around.
[28:23] And I just want to pray a simple prayer first, and I'll continue, and I'll pray before we continue to worship through music. But if you've not made the decision to follow Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior, or you've been holding on to the cloaks that you haven't laid down before Him and given up to Him, and it's just been a struggle for you, or you've been wanting the King to come and fix all this stuff versus the King that you give your life to completely, then you can pray this prayer after me. And you just pray it in your own heart in silence and gentleness to Him. Say, "King Jesus, I come today. I give my life to You. I give all that I would earthly cling to for You. I surrender. I sacrifice all that defines who I am.
[29:15] I ask You to forgive me of my sin. I ask You to make me complete in the way that You want me to be. Jesus, I say yes to You today. For this day and the days to come, may You lead me. May You guide me. May You show me the ways that You want me to live. And may I live with You for eternity as a result of my decision." Father, we just thank You for those that may have prayed this prayer. And I'd ask that, if they have, and everybody is praying right now and heads bowed and eyes closed, if you've prayed that prayer, you don't have to do anything.
[30:05] All heads bowed, all eyes closed. Other than I just want you to just put your hand up just so I can see it. Just put your hands up. There's hands all over the room. Okay, you can put your hand down. Father, I pray for the hands that were raised all through the room, in the lower level, the balcony, Father, that You know the prayer that's been prayed and You know the life that they live and You know what they've given up to You today. And Father, there is nobody that's going to lead them other than You. And so whatever that takes, whatever that needs to move, that Father, You will do that. That You will give them the peace. You will give them the strength. You will show them the way, but it's going to be the way of You, not the way of this world. This way of this world just never completes it. It never finishes it. It takes us so far and drops us, but You carry us all the way. And when those times are tough, You pick us up.
[30:57] And so Father, for all those hands, may they experience an incredible movement of You in their lives. May people around them who call You Lord and Savior encircle them, pray for them, care for them, nurture them, mentor them. Father, we want to shake our city. We want to shake our community. We want to make a difference in the lives of those that we come in contact with. So we now offer ourselves. All that call You the King, may You be honored with our lives every day of the week, not just on Sundays, every day. May the cloaks that we pick up, we lay down before You. May the things that hinder us, we throw down.
[31:43] May we just seek You in all the things that we do. It's in the mighty name of our King, of our Lord. His name is Jesus that we ask this. And everybody said, "Amen." I'm going to invite our prayer team to come down. If you've prayed that prayer and you want someone to pray with you, they'll come down and pray with you. Let's finish with some worship.