Connection Group Questions 3.28.2021
Series: The King’s Gambit
Message: “Palm Sunday- Check…“
“Hosanna!”
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
“Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!”
“Hosanna in the highest heaven!”
~ Mark 11:9-10
Open
What disappointments are you dealing with this Easter? How might the hope of Easter and resurrection change your mood and outlook on your life, and on our world?
Discuss
Read Mark 11:1-11
Jesus rides into a powder keg of expectations and conflicting agendas:
- The pilgrims coming to celebrate the Passover.
- The religious leaders who have set out to kill Jesus.
- Rome and their desire to keep the peace while maintaining control.
On Palm Sunday Jesus appears to be very intentional in all he instructs and does. Feel free to explore some of the questions this text raises: did Jesus go ahead of his disciples and make arrangements? Was he predicting/prophesying what would happen?
While there are many unknowns in the story, there is much that we can know and learn. This arrival clearly demonstrates, among others things, these three revelations:
Jesus is King.
John puts it this way:
And Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, just as it is written, “Fear not, daughter of Zion; behold, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey’s colt!” His disciples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about him and had been done to him. ~ John 12:14-16
What does it mean that Jesus is king? How does this help us understand who he was and is, and how we worship him?
George recited part of the Apostles Creed. What does this declaration of faith tell us about the return of the king and what will happen in the future?
Jesus came to serve, or to be “a beast of burden.”
It is a striking difference: Pilot coming from the west on a stallion with a Roman legion in tow, heading to the palace. Jesus coming from the east on a colt, heading toward the temple.
How is Jesus our beast of burden? How did Jesus bear our burdens in his ministry, in his death, and how will Jesus bear our burden in the future?
Jesus came to die on a cross.
Read Mark 10:32-34. Just as the beast of burden must carry a yoke, Jesus revealed that he would carry a cross.
What is the connection between the cross and passover, the lamb and Jesus? Palm Sunday points us toward much that will happen during Holy Week. Is there anything else in the text, or that you have studied, that can help us to understand the meaning of Palm Sunday?
Apply
George commented that nobody got what they wanted from Palm Sunday-
- Rome was not able to keep the peace as the rise of Christianity marked the downfall of the empire.
- The religious leaders were not able to stop the Jesus movement despite having him crucified.
- The people did not get the kind of king they were looking for in Jesus.
While nobody got what they wanted, we all got what we needed: A king who carried our burden, paid the price for our sin, took the death we deserved, and won for us eternal life!
Jesus is telling us that our biggest problem in life is not someone else or some situation outside of ourselves (although Jesus is very compassionate and will bring justice ins return). But our biggest problem is ourselves. It’s your sin. Your greed. Your pride. Your lust. Your lies. Your hate. Your envy…
How does Jesus save us from ourselves?
In closing feel free to share how Jesus is helping, or might help, with the disappointments you are facing. How can the resurrection give us what we need more than anything else in this life?
