Bible Commentaries

Palm Sunday and Its Lessons

Matthew 21:9

Palm Sunday ought to have something to say to us, if we can hear its voice and learn its lessons.

I. One thing we learn here is that the sympathies of the multitude are right. This great mass of people, untaught, ignorant, simple-minded, with no one to guide them, instinctively gave their honour and adoration to Christ. They had heard of His kindly works, His sympathy with all who were in sorrow, His uniform goodness and purity, and their hearts went out to Him. Their instincts, as we may call them, were right. But their opinions and judgments were weak and easily swayed. And when a few crafty priests and glib-tongued Pharisees had been in and out among them saying this and that false thing of Christ, slandering and reviling Him, and declaring that He sought not the people's good, but to subvert their customs and destroy the nation, that was quite enough to change the sentiments and voices of all who had greeted Him with Hosannas. You can get any sort of music from a crowd, if you know how to play skilfully enough. Everything depends upon those to whom they lend their ears—their guides and leaders.

II. The ideals of the multitude are often coarse and material, and sorely need to be purified and raised. On that Palm Sunday they were chanting praises, not to the real Christ as He was, but to the imaginary Christ which they thought He ought to be. When they spread those palm branches for Him to tread upon, they had no idea that He had come to save them from their sins and uncleanness, and to purify their hearts. They thought He was the Messiah whose purpose was to enrich them and the nation with wealth and bodily comfort, to relieve them of Rome's bondage and heavy taxation, and bring in a time of plenty and prosperity for the very poorest. That was what the shoutings and songs of Palm Sunday meant. And that sort of glorying and huzzaing could not last. It was soon to pass away, like so much empty breath, simply because it came out of a falsehood. They found out very soon that that coarse material work was not Christ's purpose at all, and then they turned against Him. There is no real worship of Christ save that which is founded on a true understanding of His character and mission. He comes not to change things without, but to make the world slowly new by a change of the heart within.

III. Palm Sunday bids you go steadily on. You are not to be elated by temporary triumphs, or cast down by the proved fickleness of those among whom you labour. If you are engaged in any sort of public work you will have the palm branches waved around you at one season, and ere long there will be no palm branches, but something not unlike the shadow of a cross. And you need to steady your heart's purpose by sitting at the feet of Christ.

—J. G. Greenhough, Christian Festivals and Anniversaries, p20.

Advent

Matthew 21:9

The Advent, or coming of Christ, in one sense or other is the message of all Scripture. This coming of Christ is manifold in its nature.

I. Christ came to visit us in great humility. At first men found no room for Him, and then they slew Him. There were occasions, however, when the power of His Divine majesty claimed their wonder and adoration even at this season. A great multitude spread their garments in the way as though He were some mighty king; others strewed palm branches before Him, as though He were some triumphant conqueror; and all cried to Him as unto their Saviour—Hosanna. And yet in one short week the King—the Conqueror—the Saviour—was forgotten; and men cried Away with Him—Crucify Him—and mocked Him as He hung upon the cross.

This advent of Christ into Jerusalem is but a figure and a pattern of His general reception in the world. We must not only be willing to confess a conquering King, but ready also to believe in a crucified Saviour.

II. Think of the Second Advent—of Christ's entrance into a new Zion not to die but to reign—when He shall "return in glorious majesty to judge both the quick and the dead ". Think then of the witness which our own conscience will bear against us when Christ shall judge the world; and so judge yourselves that ye be not judged. We know nothing perhaps so little or so badly as our own heart. It will not be so at that day. Then we shall see our sins as God sees them. No one speaks carelessly of death and the judgment after death but he who knows nothing of himself—nothing of God. The first lesson which we learn of our own nature, if we deal sincerely with ourselves, must be one of deep, inexpressibly deep humility. The first lesson which we learn from the Bible, if we truly realize its teaching, must be one of deep, inexpressibly deep gratitude.

III. But there is yet a third Advent full of joy and peace and hope and comfort to every troubled soul. Christ comes to each one of us who have been made His in especial manner—as He once came to His own, in love and tenderness.

If Christ be already with you, labour more and more earnestly that your whole life may be devoted to God through Him. If Christ be not found in you, pray faithfully for the presence which He has pledged to you. Pray faithfully, earnestly, ceaselessly, and be very sure that your prayer will be heard, and Christ will come to you, and make His dwelling with you.

But that Christ may thus come to us, we must cast out all that is hostile to Him. We must patiently wait for Him. We must be silent. We must pray to Him, as the multitude prayed, Hosanna. Save now, we beseech Thee.

—B. F. Westcott, Village Sermons, p1.

References.—XXI:9.—H. J. Wilmot-Buxton, Sunday Sermonettes for a Year, p72. W. C. E. Newbolt, Church Times, vol. xlix1903 , p489. R. W. Church, Village Sermons (2Series), p1. M. G. Glazebrook, Prospice, p98. H. P. Liddon, Passion-Tide Sermons, p196. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxxvii. No2196. Parker, Inner Life of Christ, vol. iii. p91; and see his Homiletic Analysis of Matthew. Homiletic Quarterly, vol. iii. p136. Pulpit Analyst, vol. iii. p654. Dr. Arnold's Sermons (3Series), No. ix.

"Who Is This?"

Matthew 21:10

Who is this? The question was asked by some, no doubt, in idle curiosity; by some, perhaps, in doubting hesitation, for the days were evil, and the glory seemed to have departed from Israel; by some with eager hope that the answer would announce their King.

I. So is the question asked still in varying moods. Who is this? Who is the Leader of the great Christian procession of the ages? The Chief Figure in that procession is now as of old a Master of men. But who is He? Why do men go after Him?

It is a great question for every soul. You can hardly escape it. That great procession passes by your doors, incessant and unending. You must have an answer. It is answered in the text, you say. This is the Prophet, Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee. Yes, that was a true answer as far as it went; but we cannot forget that the men who gave it seem soon to have lost their faith in the Prophet.

II. Who is this? The question comes to us still, and meets, alas! at times with as poor an answer. Men and women still follow the great Christian procession. They join in the Confession, which declares that He on whom their eyes are fixed is the Christ, the Redeemer, "Very God, of Very God". But they have not really thought of what they are saying. And so when the question comes to them, as come it surely does one day, Who is this? they receive a shock. It is best left to theologians, they suppose; and so they take refuge in an answer which nobody can gainsay: This is Jesus, the Prophet. He was the world's greatest Teacher, who spake as man never spake, who brought men a message of holiness and peace. They do not see that they have given the lie to all their previous professions; they have robbed their halfhearted allegiance of the only element which justified its existence at all.

III. It is a real danger that we should acquiesce in this way of thinking about our Lord. The devotion of the Christian centuries is not devotion to the memory of a great Prophet of the past, but love to an ever-present Lord and King who still lives and reigns among men. We cannot replace the one conception by the other without disaster to our spiritual life, without a shipwreck of faith, without peril to our souls.

And thus the story of the text with its terrible sequel teaches us the miserable insufficiency of any such view of the Christ as that which regards Him only as a great Teacher, a great Prophet Such a belief as that will not nerve men and women with courage to trust Him in an hour of spiritual darkness, in days of perplexity and distress and pain.

—J. H. Bernard, Via Domini, p136.

References.—XXI:10.—J. Cameron Lees, Christian World Pulpit, vol. lviii1895 , p116. H. P. Liddon, Advent in St. Paul's, p1. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. li. No2939. XXI:10-16.—Selected Sermons of Schleiermacher, p103.

Matthew 21:12

As the good husbandman, when he sees the leaves grow yellow, and the branches unthriving, looks presently to the root; so didst Thou, O Holy Saviour, upon sight of the disorders spread over Judea and Jerusalem, address Thyself to the rectifying of the temple.

—Bishop Hall.

When nations are to perish in their sins,

"Tis in the Church that leprosy begins.

—Cowper.

References.—XXI:12-14.—V. R. Lennard, Passion-Tide and Easter, p33. XXI:13.—A. G. Mortimer, One Hundred Miniature Sermons, vol. i. p7. T. H. Ball, Persuasions, p1. R. F. Horton, Christian World Pulpit, vol. lviii1900 , p8. F. D. Huntington, Christian Believing and Living, p602. XXI:15.—W. H. Lyon, Christian World Pulpit, vol. lviii1900 , p269. XXI:15 , 16.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxx. No1785. XXI:17.—W. P. Balfern, Glimpses of Jesus, p167. XXI:17-20.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxxv. No2107. XXI:17-22.—J. Laidlaw, The Miracles of Our Lord, p125. Archbishop Trench, Notes on the Miracles of Our Lord, p357. XXI:18 , 19.—V. R. Lennard, Passion-Tide and Easter, p33. XXI:18-22.—W. M. Taylor, The Miracles of Our Saviour, p412.

Punishment

Matthew 21:19

"Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever;" and presently the fig-tree withered away. A stern sentence surely, and executed with dreadful swiftness, and for that very reason, worthy of our notice; since it concerns us very deeply to remember, that although the Lord our God is gracious and merciful, slow to-anger and of great kindness, He who is very Holiness cannot bear with wilful and unrepented sin. He Who is the Truth itself may not endure hypocrisy, and the pretence of righteousness in those that have it not. Consider carefully what the real forgiveness of sins Matthew 21:19

The whole thing is symbolical—only so is it intelligible.

I. Christ Seeking Fruit.—He comes to give, but also to require. He has a right to you. He is the Creator of you, as of the tree, and He is the Redeemer. He desires fruit from you. He not only demands, but desires, longs for and delights in it. The fruit He desires is yourself.

II. The Barrenness which is a Crime.—What a lively image of human nature this is—plenty of leaves, that is professions, talk, etc, but no fruit! Now observe that naturally we ought to bring forth fruit. Human nature is made for God, to blossom in goodness just as does the tree. He comes requiring, for the demands of God's law cannot drop down to our impotence. What we ought to be remains always the same, however much we may vary.

III. The Close of the Time of Seeking.—This points to the great law of the limitation of the period of probation. The whole analogy of God's dealings seems to teach that the time of probation is limited. Christ comes seeking fruit for the last time, then there is:—

IV. The Punishment of Fruitlessness by Perpetual Fruitlessness.—Sin punished by continual sinfulness. A natural process which God allows to take effect. And this is the most awful idea of hell, that the bottomless pit is an endless descent; that the fire which shall never be quenched is the fire of burning passions; that the chains of darkness are "the cords of his sins". Every sin tends thitherwards.

—A. Maclaren.

The Barren Fig-tree

Matthew 21:19

This tree was a symbol of that which, in Matthew 21:28-30

I. Let us consider how this parable applies to the classes our Lord was especially addressing at that time. You will find on looking at the context that our Lord was addressing the elders and chief priests in the Temple. The chief priests and elders and Pharisees whose outward deportment seemed to make them correspond with the one who said, "I go, Matthew 21:28-30

So very difficult is obedience, so hardly won is every step in our Christian course, so sluggish and inert our corrupt nature, that I would have a man disbelieve he can do one jot or tittle beyond what he has already done; refrain from borrowing aught on the hope of the future, however good a security for it he seems to be able to show; and never take his good feelings and wishes in pledge for one single untried deed. Nothing but past acts are the vouchers for future. Past sacrifices, past labours, past victories over yourselves—these, my brethren, are the tokens of the like in store, and doubtless of greater in store; for the path of the just is as the shining, growing light. But trust nothing short of these. "Deeds, not words and wishes," this must be the watchword of your warfare and the ground of your assurance But if you have done nothing firm and manly hitherto, if you are as yet the coward slave of Satan, and the poor creature of your lusts and passions, never suppose you will one day rouse yourselves from your indolence.

—J. H. Newman.

References.—XXI:28-30.—J. H. Newman, Parochial and Plain Sermons, vol. i. p165. H. Scott Holland, Christian World Pulpit, vol. lviii1895 , p145. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xlvii. No2747. XXI:28-31.—Stopford A. Brooke, Short Sermons, p287. T. Sadler, Sermons for Children, p30. C. J. Vaughan, Last Words in the Parish Church of Doncaster, p293. XXI:28-32.—B. W. Maturin, Practical Studies on the Parables of Our Lord, p110. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xiii. No742. Trench, Parables, p191. Calderwood, ibid. p163. Marcus Dods, ibid. p171. XXI:28-32; 33-43.—R. Winterbotham, The Kingdom of Heaven, p129.

Matthew 21:29

That doing of the right thing, after a term of paralysis, cowardice—any evil name—is one of the mighty reliefs, equal to happiness, of longer duration.

—George Meredith, One of Our Conquerors, chap. xxv.

References.—XXI:30.—H. Ward Beecher, Sermons (1Series), p414. XXI:31.—C. H. Parkhurst, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xlvi1894 , p388.

Matthew 21:32

I have often observed how incongruous and irrational the common temper of mankind is, especially of youth, in that they are not ashamed to sin, and yet are ashamed to repent; not ashamed of the action for which they ought justly to be esteemed fools, but are ashamed of the returning, which only can make them be esteemed wise men.

—Defoe, Robinson Crusoe, chap. I.

References.—XXI:33-46.—A. Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture—St. Matthew XVIII-XXVIII. p107. XXI:37.—R. D. B. Rawnsley, Village Sermons (3Series), p12. XXI:39.—H. Hensley Henson, Christian World Pulpit, vol. lxviii1905 , p296. XXI:40 , 41.—H. Scott Holland, Christian World Pulpit, vol. lviii1900 , p153. XXI:44.—J. Smith, The Integrity of Scripture, p109. A. Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture—St. Matthew XVIII-XXVIII. p116; see also Sermons Preached in Manchester, p1; Creed and Conduct, p348. XXII.—G. Tyrrell, Oil and Wine, p103. XXII:1.—B. Wilberforce, Sanctification by the Truth, p40. XXII:1-4.—A. Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture—St. Matthew XVIII-XXVIII. p126. XXII:1-14.—B. W. Maturin, Practical Studies on the Parables of Our Lord, p124. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xlviii. No2809. XXII:2.—J. Vaughan, Fifty Sermons (9th Series), p193. XXII:2-4.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xvii. No975. XXII:3.—F. E. Paget, Helps and Hindrances to the Christian Life, vol. ii. p108.