Today is the day before Palm Sunday when Jesus’ Triumphal Entry traditionally took place.  We can easily wonder, what is so special about Palm Sunday?  While Palm Sunday pales in significance when it is compared with other events that take place later on during Holy Week, including Maundy Thursday, and especially Good Friday and Easter, it still is not without its significance.

During His earthly life Jesus walked a fine line between giving people glimpses of His true identity, especially through the various miracles He performed, and deliberately hiding His true glory out of His concern not to fuel misconceptions of what it meant for Him to be the Messiah.  Many people had mistakenly come to believe that the Messiah would be simply a political deliverer and would defeat the power of the then-reigning Roman Empire.  But Jesus’ entrance into this sin-filled world as the perfect God-man had a very different agenda.

When Jesus “became flesh and dwelt among us,” John writes, “we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).  At the time of Jesus’ birth, angels appeared to a group of shepherds near Bethlehem with the startling announcement, “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11), and “wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, ‘Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him” (Matthew 2:1-2). 

Then when Jesus was first beginning His public ministry, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother and a future disciple himself. identified Jesus this way to “his own brother Simon and said to him, ‘We have found the Messiah’ (which means Christ)” (John. 1:40-41), and Nathanael, another early follower, recognized Jesus as “the Son of God!” and “the King of Israel!” (John 1:49).  Throughout history, God has always given individuals a glimpse of His true identity through His Spirit.

This theme of Christ as King is also reinforced by Jesus’ frequent references to the coming of the kingdom.  For example, Mark 1:15 serves as an introduction to Jesus’ entire public ministry in the Gospel of Mark and highlights the role of the kingdom in His preaching and teaching: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”  Then in dozens and dozens of references, Jesus’ ministry is directly related to the idea the kingdom in general, or often more specifically to the kingdom of God or the kingdom of heaven, or even occasionally as “My Father’s kingdom.”  This pattern of how Jesus describes His ministry in terms of a kingdom is especially true of the first three Gospels: Matthew, Mark, and Luke, but there are also occasional references to the kingdom in John as well.  One clear example in John is found in Jesus’ words to Pilate during His trial: “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world” (John 18:36).  The implication is clear and consistent: Jesus is King.

This same theme of Jesus as king is also found in His trial on Good Friday as one of the accusations directed against Him by both the Jewish leadership and the Roman government under Pontius Pilate.  See, for example, the charge the Jewish leadership used when they brought Jesus to Pilate: “We found this man misleading our nation and forbidding us to give tribute to Caesar, and saying that he himself is Christ, a king” (Luke 23:2), and Pilate’s response, “Now Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him, ‘Are you the King of the Jews?’ Jesus said, ‘You have said so’” (Matthew 27:11).  Even when Jesus was crucified, the official charge against Him was listed this way: “And over his head they put the charge against him, which read, ‘This is Jesus, the King of the Jews’” (Matthew 27:37).

But if we limit ourselves to Jesus’ public ministry leading up to the events related to His arrest and death, perhaps His identity as the true King of Israel is most clearly seen in the story of the first Palm Sunday when Jesus rode victoriously into the City of Jerusalem seated upon a young donkey, the traditional symbol of a king coming during a time of peace.  Jesus’ manner of entering Jerusalem that day both fulfilled Scripture (such as Zechariah 9:9), but it also captured the spirit of Jewish nationalism.  Matthew records the events of that day this way, “And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, ‘Who is this?’  And the crowds said, ‘This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.’”

Jesus, who foreknew His destiny and how “his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father” (John 13:1), orchestrated the events of that first Palm Sunday so that the crowds would have one last opportunity to see at least a part of His true identity as Messiah and King before they rejected Him.  Jesus knew ahead of time that before the week was out many of these same people would be among the crowds that would cry out, “Away with him, away with him, crucify him! “ and the “chief priests [would answer], ‘We have no king but Caesar.’” (John 19:15).

The Palm Sunday account is a story of grace and Jesus giving His earthly people one more opportunity to see Him for who He really is.  God’s Word is clear and consistent in proclaiming Jesus as King. 

This truth about Jesus as King is also used in Scripture to picture Jesus’ future return as King.  John describes Jesus’ identity this way: Revelation 19:16, “On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.”  This will be the time when there will be no question about Jesus’ identity as the true King: “so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth” (Philippians 2:10).  But we are not there yet.  We are still living in a period of time when Jesus’ role as King is still at least partly veiled.

When we pause and reflect, it is easy to see that there is no more important question in all of life than coming to a correct understanding of Jesus’ true identity.  It is the same issue for us today: Who is Jesus? and What does it mean for Him to be King?  Recently I have been asking myself, what does it mean for Jesus Christ to be my King, especially in all the little details of my life?