From Hosanna to Crucify Him · Resources

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Summary

On Palm Sunday, Kent Keller sets the week of the cross against every other week that ever changed the world. The same crowd that shouted Hosanna on Sunday shouted crucify him on Friday. His question is simple: what would you lay at Jesus' feet — your praises, your questions, your pain, your rejection?

Sermon Outline

1. 1

   Weeks That Changed the World ▶ 0:00

   Twenty-four Palm Sundays in, Kent goes looking for a new angle and finds it in history — Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the moon landing, the Berlin Wall, and the six days of Genesis 1.

2. 2

   The Week That Changed It Most ▶ 3:32

   In his estimation the most momentous week of all runs from Sunday, March 29 to Sunday, April 5, in the year we call 33 AD.

3. 3

   Reading: Matthew 21:1-11 ▶ 4:11

   The triumphal entry — the colt, the cloaks spread on the road, and a whole city stirred up asking who this is.

4. 4

   Passover, and a City Filling Up ▶ 8:13

   Jews from across the Roman Empire were streaming into Jerusalem for Passover, and a second crowd was coming down from Bethany, where Lazarus had just walked out of a grave.

5. 5

   Go Get the Colt ▶ 10:17

   Imagine being sent to fetch a brand-new pickup truck out of a parking lot and told to say the pastor needs it. And notice what Jesus picks: a colt, not a war horse.

6. 6

   If Calle Ocho Joined Ultra ▶ 11:27

   Picture two Miami crowds merging and marching down Bayshore to city hall, chanting a new leader's name — and ask whether the people inside would notice.

7. 7

   What Would You Lay at His Feet? ▶ 12:51

   The question the whole sermon turns on. Some would lay down praise and adoration, joining what Revelation 5 says the hosts around the throne already sing.

8. 8

   Some Would Bring Questions ▶ 15:48

   Skeptics and sincere questioners are welcome here. Kent calls himself a recovering skeptic, and points to Job, who asked for 35 chapters and got a different kind of answer.

9. 9

   Doubts as a Smoke Screen ▶ 18:50

   A blunt word for anyone using intellectual doubt to avoid doing business with God, and Hebrews 9:27 on the appointment none of us misses.

10. 10

    Some Would Bring Pain ▶ 20:53

    Chronic pain God has not taken away, brought to a God who took on flesh — the same nerve endings and tendons that would be abused five days later.

11. 11

    Some Would Bring Rejection ▶ 24:01

    "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me" — and Isaiah 53 on the one despised and rejected, who has been where you have been.

12. 12

    It's Sunday, but Friday's Coming ▶ 26:01

    Borrowing and inverting S.M. Lockridge's famous sermon: cheering turns to jeering, palm branches give way to a cross — and then another Sunday comes.

Key Points

• The week from Palm Sunday to Easter changed the world more than any other week in history.
• Jesus chose a colt rather than a war horse. He came into the city as the Prince of Peace, not as a warring king.
• The crowd was right to shout Hosanna. They were a warm-up act for the praise of the Lamb that goes on forever.
• Honest questions belong in church. God may not answer all of them in this life, but he can be trusted with the ones he leaves open.
• Doubt used as a smoke screen is not the same thing as honest doubt, and the clock eventually runs out on that game.
• When you cry out in pain, you are not crying out to a God who does not understand. He made the nerve endings that were abused on Friday.
• Jesus' suffering was unique in history: the wrath of God poured out on a man, and the wrath of men poured out on God.

Quotable Moments