corey trevathan

Your King is Coming

Corey Trevathan

We Know How to Celebrate

Think about the last time your favorite sports team won a championship. Maybe it was a parade through downtown, hundreds of thousands of fans lining the streets, climbing trees, and standing on rooftops just to catch a glimpse of the players as they passed by.

There’s something special about days like that. We know how to celebrate. We know what to do when heroes come to town. We know how to sing and clap and cheer and shout.

In moments like this, there’s no risk of disappointment. The team has already won. There’s something real to celebrate. We already know what happened. We know who won.

But have you ever celebrated early, only to have things not go like you expected?

Frank Robinson’s Lesson in Premature Celebration

Frank Robinson was one of the greatest baseball players of all time. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1982, hit 586 home runs, was named an All-Star 14 times, and won MVP in both the National League and the American League. He even has a World Series MVP to his name. He’s one of the all-time greats.

One day, in a regular season game, Robinson was playing for the Orioles against the Red Sox in Boston. He hit what he thought was an easy home run and started jogging toward first base, in no hurry at all. Then he heard it—the ball had hit the top of the Green Monster, the towering wall in left field at Fenway Park. It wasn’t a home run.

Suddenly he had to run. He turned on the jets, but it was too late. If he had been running hard the whole time, he could have easily made it to third base—maybe even scored an inside-the-park home run. Instead, he barely made it to second.

The Orioles won big that day. It didn’t change the outcome of the game. But afterward, Frank Robinson walked into the manager’s office and slammed $200 on the desk. “I’m fining myself,” he said. “You and I both know I wasn’t running as fast as I should have been.”

Robinson’s work ethic and character were never in question—his achievements speak for themselves. But in that moment, he felt like he had let his team down. He had started celebrating a little too early, and things didn’t go the way he expected.

A Different Kind of Celebration in Jerusalem

Something similar—yet entirely different in its significance—happened roughly 2,000 years ago, not to Jesus exactly, but to the people who welcomed Him as He entered the city of Jerusalem.

We call this day Palm Sunday because it was on this day that Jesus entered Jerusalem riding on a donkey, and the people sang, shouted, and celebrated as they laid palm branches before Him.

Who Matthew Says Jesus Is

Throughout the Gospel of Matthew, the identity of Jesus is being revealed piece by piece. Matthew opens with a genealogy—not the most thrilling way to start a story, but an intentional one. Matthew wants readers to know from the very beginning that Jesus comes from the line of David, the Messianic King who had been promised and prophesied.

Matthew tells us Jesus was born of the virgin Mary and called Immanuel (God with us) and Jesus (Yahweh Saves). He’s worshiped by travelers from the East, escapes to Egypt, and settles in Nazareth—each step fulfilling what the prophets had said about Him. When Jesus is baptized by John the Baptist, a voice from heaven declares:

“This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy.” (Matthew 3:17, NLT)

Jesus enters the wilderness, resists the devil’s temptation, and begins His ministry in Galilee with this message:

“Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near.” (Matthew 4:17, NLT)

He calls His first disciples, heals the sick, preaches the Sermon on the Mount, and demonstrates power over creation itself by calming a storm on the Sea of Galilee.

Even John the Baptist—Jesus’ own cousin, the one who had prepared the way for Him, who had recognized Him while still in the womb—begins to wonder if things are unfolding the way he expected. John sends messengers to ask Jesus directly:

“Are you the Messiah we’ve been expecting, or should we keep looking for someone else?” (Matthew 11:3, NLT)

Jesus’ identity is in question, even by the one person who should have had no doubts at all.

Jesus continues healing, teaching in parables, and revealing the Kingdom of Heaven. He’s rejected in His hometown of Nazareth, where people see Him only as a carpenter’s son. That was true—but He was so much more. He walks on water and feeds thousands with a few loaves and fish, proving He is more than a carpenter’s son. He is the Son of God.

When Jesus asks His disciples who they believe He is, Peter answers with words that still echo through history:

“You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” (Matthew 16:16, NLT)

That confession is confirmed shortly after, when Jesus is transfigured before Peter, James, and John—shining as bright as the sun, with a voice from heaven declaring:

“This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy. Listen to him.” (Matthew 17:5, NLT)

Jesus continues teaching, healing the blind, and pointing again and again to His true identity as the Messianic King. And then this happens.

The King Enters on a Donkey

As Jesus and the disciples approached Jerusalem, they came to the town of Bethphage on the Mount of Olives. Jesus sent two of them on ahead. “Go into the village over there,” he said. “As soon as you enter it, you will see a donkey tied there, with its colt beside it. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone asks what you are doing, just say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will immediately let you take them.” (Matthew 21:1-3, NLT)

Reading this, you might wonder: What is Jesus doing? A donkey? Why a donkey? Does this have anything to do with His true identity?

It does. The prophet Zechariah foretold this moment 500 years earlier:

Rejoice, O people of Zion! Shout in triumph, O people of Jerusalem! Look, your king is coming to you. He is righteous and victorious, yet he is humble, riding on a donkey—riding on a donkey’s colt. (Zechariah 9:9, NLT)

Matthew makes sure readers don’t miss the connection:

This took place to fulfill the prophecy that said, “Tell the people of Jerusalem, ‘Look, your King is coming to you. He is humble, riding on a donkey—riding on a donkey’s colt.'” (Matthew 21:4-5, NLT)

This echoes the way Solomon entered Jerusalem nearly 1,000 years earlier, when David had him anointed king by Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet (1 Kings 1:34, NLT).

What God had spoken from heaven, what Jesus had revealed through His teaching and miracles, what Peter had confessed at Caesarea Philippi—all of it was about to be demonstrated again, fulfilling prophecy spoken generations earlier.

The two disciples did as Jesus commanded. They brought the donkey and the colt to him and threw their garments over the colt, and he sat on it. Most of the crowd spread their garments on the road ahead of him, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. Jesus was in the center of the procession, and the people all around him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!” (Matthew 21:6-9, NRSVUE)

The entire city of Jerusalem was in an uproar as he entered. “Who is this?” they asked. (Matthew 21:10, NLT)

“Who Is This?”

As Jesus enters Jerusalem, the question on everyone’s lips is, “Who is this?” It’s the question Matthew has been answering all along. It’s the question everyone has to ask and answer for themselves. It’s the question we still need to ask and answer today.

The last miracle Jesus performed before riding into Jerusalem was healing two blind men outside Jericho. As Jesus passed by, they cried out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!” (Matthew 20:30, NLT). They knew who Jesus was even before their eyes were opened. Calling Him “Lord, Son of David” wasn’t a random title—it identified Jesus as the Messianic King, descended from David, both King and Lord. After He healed them, they followed Him—likely among the crowd as He rode into Jerusalem.

The Lamb of God, Set Aside

There’s more happening in this moment than a royal entrance. Some scholars believe this day falls on the tenth of Nisan on the Jewish calendar—the day the Passover lamb was to be set aside (Exodus 12:3-6, NLT). Once set aside, the lamb would be tested over several days to confirm it was spotless and without blemish.

This is the very day Jesus enters Jerusalem. When John the Baptist first saw Jesus, he pointed to Him and said, “Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29, NLT). Over the days that follow, Jesus is thoroughly tested:

Jesus is tested at every turn and found without fault or blemish. He was, and is, the perfect, sinless, spotless Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

The Crowd’s Answer

“Who is this?” That’s the question on everyone’s mind as palm branches are laid before Him—a gesture historically reserved for a victorious military leader entering the city. People were hoping, even expecting, that Jesus would establish His kingdom, expel the Romans, and begin His reign as King. Jesus was indeed entering the city with a plan to fulfill every prophecy about Him as Messiah and King—but it wasn’t going to look like anything anyone expected.

And the crowds replied, “It’s Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.” (Matthew 21:11, NLT)

He certainly was Jesus—a name that means “Yahweh Saves.” He was from Nazareth in Galilee. He was a prophet. He was also our great High Priest. He was the Lamb of God who would become our Passover Lamb, sacrificing His life to take away the sins of the world. And He was most certainly a King.

The crowd gave their answer that day. The question remains for each of us: What answer will you give? Who is this? Who is Jesus?

Laying Down Our Expectations

To answer that question honestly, we may need to do what the crowd needed to do that day—let go of our preconceived ideas about who we think Jesus should be. Like the palm branches laid down before Him, we may need to lay down our expectations.

Maybe the struggles you’ve faced in your faith all trace back to this one problem: unmet expectations when it comes to Jesus. Things haven’t gone the way you expected. You’ve wondered:

Here’s what we’re really asking: If Jesus is who He says He is, why did He have to die? Why did she get cancer? Why did that happen to them? Why did this happen to me?

We’ve got questions. And to all of them, Jesus doesn’t point us to the triumphal entry—not to the parade, the celebration, the crowds crying out His name. Jesus points us to a different place when we come to Him with our questions about pain and suffering, heartache and heartbreak. Jesus points us to the cross.

For every question, every pain, every problem, every thing that’s gone wrong, Jesus can say—because He endured the cross—two of the most powerful words in the English language: “I understand” (Hebrews 4:15).

Because He endured the cross, Jesus can say: “You are not alone.”

Because He was tested and tried in every way, nailed to a criminal’s cross for sins He did not commit—for our sins—because He was sacrificed as the Lamb of God for you and for me, He can say: “I am with you.”

Is He Your King?

“Who is this?” The sign above His head on the cross would read: “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews” (Matthew 27:37).

The question for you is simply this: Is He your King, too?

Two thousand years ago, the King rode into a city desperate for a King. And the people received Him—though He wasn’t the kind of King anyone expected.

Jesus is the King of kings. He is the Lamb of God, Savior, Messiah, and Lord. The question worth sitting with is whether you’ll receive the King of kings into your own heart and life.

Jesus entered Jerusalem that day on a mission. He went to the cross willingly because of our sin. Every one of us has sinned; we have all fallen short of the glory of God. But here’s the good news: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Hope in the Word “Hosanna”

And because of that good news, here’s more good news: our God has already won. God defeated sin and death at the cross.

When we cry out, “Hosanna”—”save us”—we say that word with hope.

The crowd in Jerusalem didn’t fully know it that day, but Jesus was entering the city to save them, deliver them, and rescue them—and us. They cried, “Hosanna!” Truer words had never been spoken. Save us now. Jesus was entering Jerusalem, but He wasn’t headed for an earthly throne. He was headed to the cross.

Maybe today you find yourself crying out the same thing: Hosanna—save us, save me.

Jesus is the Savior. If you need saving—and we all do—cry out to Him today. He is mighty, and He is faithful to save.

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