Palm Sunday for Every Troubled Heart

All over the world this week, churches of every kind are celebrating Palm Sunday. There are pageants, palm branches, special music, and crowds larger than any ordinary Sunday. Jerusalem was the same way. The whole city was excited about the coming Passover.

Tens of thousands of pilgrims were flooding into Jerusalem, and the big news was, this is the man who raised Lazarus from the dead.

The crowd went out to meet Jesus, waving palm branches, shouting and praising God: "Praise God! Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hail to the King of Israel!” (John 12:13 NLT)

It appeared to be a great moment for Jesus. The crowd, singing, praising, and yet, right in the middle of all of that, Jesus said something that shows us his heart at that time. 

"Now my soul is deeply troubled. Should I pray, 'Father, save me from this hour'? But this is the very reason I came!” (John 12:27 NLT)

Have you ever been in a celebratory crowd and felt completely alone inside? The music is playing, and everyone around you seems fine, but something inside you is very heavy.

Maybe that's you today. You made it to church, and you're going through the motions, but you're carrying something no one in the room can see. Maybe it's the price of gas?  My granddaughter drives a Mini Cooper, and she told us that it costs her $80 to fill the tank. Maybe it's groceries or rent. I took two guests to Denny's for breakfast recently and walked out $80 lighter. Maybe it's a health report. A relationship that's fracturing. Fear that doesn't have a name but won't go away.

I want you to know something: You are not alone. And Jesus understands more than you know.

​

Jesus Was Troubled in the Middle of the Celebration

​

Look at what was happening around Jesus on that day. The crowd was singing and praising God. Palm branches everywhere. People shouting, “Hosana, blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hail to the King of Israel!. It was a celebration, and yet he was carrying a weight no one around him could see or feel.

He knew something they didn't know. He knew this week didn't end with him on a Throne the way the crowd was hoping. They wanted victory over Rome. What Jesus knew was that this week ended with a cross.

He knew that Israel was making its final rejection of their own Messiah. He knew that the disciples celebrating right beside Him would scatter and hide before the week was out. And Luke tells us that when Jesus came over the hill and saw Jerusalem spread out below Him, He wept:

"Now when Jesus approached and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, 'If you had only known on this day, even you, the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.’" (Luke 19:41–42 NET)

The palm branches were prophetic. The crowd was shouting the right words. But they had absolutely no idea what was really happening. Jesus alone already carried the cross inside, while everyone around Him celebrated.

That fits today more than we might like to admit. Multitudes heading to churches this Palm Sunday, singing the right songs, saying the correct words, while Jesus weeps because so many still don't truly know Him. Don't know His peace. Don't know what this day really means.

Here is your first word of comfort: Jesus knows exactly what it is to carry something that no one around you can see.

​

No One Understood What God Was Doing

​

"Jesus found a young donkey and rode on it, fulfilling the prophecy that said: 'Don't be afraid, people of Jerusalem. Look, your King is coming, riding on a donkey's colt.' His disciples didn't understand at the time that this was a fulfillment of prophecy. But after Jesus entered into his glory, they remembered what had happened and realized that these things had been written about him.” (John 12:14–16 NLT)

Not the crowd. Not the Pharisees. Not even the twelve disciples who had walked with Jesus for three years. Every single person on that road was interpreting what was happening through the lens of what they wanted, what they expected, what they could see with their own eyes.

And isn't that exactly where we find ourselves when God doesn't answer prayer the way we planned?

We prayed for healing, but the diagnosis didn't change. 

We prayed for that door to open, yet it stayed shut. 

We prayed for that relationship to be restored, but it wasn't. 
 

Then in that silence, we start to wonder: Has God forgotten me? Is he even listening? Did I do something wrong? Right then, the enemy is more than happy to plant seeds in your mind: It's your fault. You don't have enough faith. God is disappointed in you.

But look at the disciples. On Palm Sunday, they were standing right next to Jesus, totally confused. It wasn't until after the resurrection that, as verse 16 says, "they remembered and understood." The dots only connected looking back.

Faith has to walk forward before it can understand. We want the understanding first. God asks for trust first.

​

This Is Where Your Faith Must Activate

"Now my soul is deeply troubled. Should I pray, 'Father, save me from this hour'? But this is the very reason I came! Father, bring glory to your name." Then a voice spoke from heaven, saying, "I have already brought glory to my name, and I will do so again.” (John 12:27–28 NLT)

Jesus doesn't deny the trouble. He doesn't put on a performance of peace; he doesn't feel it. He brings it honestly right to the Father. And later, in the garden, we see the same honest, surrendered prayer:

​

"He knelt down and prayed, saying, 'Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.’" (Luke 22:41–42 NKJV)

Not My will, but Yours. That is faith. Not the absence of trouble. Trouble is not going away until Jesus returns. Faith is saying, I trust the One who can see what I cannot see.

Let me share something personal. As I look back over my years of walking with God, I am genuinely grateful for some of the prayers he did not answer the way I wanted. 

Sometimes we beg God to save a relationship that would have ultimately destroyed us. We plead for a job, a door, a situation to go our way, and he says no. And years later, we can see it. God's "no" was never punishment. It was wisdom and love we simply couldn't yet see or understand.

And notice how the Father responded to Jesus' prayer of total surrender, immediately, from heaven: "I have already brought glory to my name, and I will do so again."

God always responds to the prayer of total surrender.

Jesus Is the Answer for Every Troubled Soul

​

He was troubled, so that you would never have to face trouble alone. 

He entered fully into human suffering so he could meet you in yours. 

He prayed in the garden so he could intercede for you in your garden, whatever that looks like today. 

He went to the cross so that nothing in your life, not the suffering, not the diagnosis, not the loneliness, not the fear, has the final word.

"Casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.” (1 Peter 5:7 NKJV)

He cares for you. God cares for you today. Not because everything will be fixed exactly the way you want. But because He is trustworthy with what you cannot control.

​

"You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You."(Isaiah 26:3 NKJV)

​

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, we must get rid of every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and run with endurance the race set out for us, keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy set out for him he endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God. Think of him who endured such opposition against himself by sinners, so that you may not grow weary in your souls and give up.” ((Hebrews 12:1–3 NET)

Palm Sunday says this: Go ahead, get on that donkey and ride it. Take up your cross and follow Jesus.

Janet shared something with me this morning from Anne Graham's devotional. It was about Simon of Cyrene, the man pulled from the crowd to carry Jesus' cross on the road to Golgotha. But when they arrived, Jesus took the cross back. I will carry it from here. He was nailed to it. Not Simon. Not you.

Your troubled heart, this cross you are carrying, it is only temporary. Jesus has already gone ahead. He has already carried what you cannot carry. He is seated at the right hand of the Father right now, interceding for you by name. 

Don't grow weary. 

Don't give up. 

Keep your eyes fixed on Him.

Blessings, 

Larry Neville