Luke 19:36 “As he went along, people spread their cloaks on the road.”

I have never seen or heard anything quite like this Palm Sunday scene in my lifetime. Perhaps the closest thing I can compare are pictures of chivalrous men from a century or two ago laying their coats over a puddle or muddy spot so that a lady could walk across without getting her shoes dirty. But I think we understand the sentiment behind the actions of those who carpeted the road with their own clothing.

This gesture was more than bowing or kneeling as the king went by. It confessed that Jesus was so exalted, so high above those celebrating his arrival, that not just Jesus, but the animal on which he was riding should not have to come into contact with the same ground, the same pavement, on which the common sinners who followed him stood. It was better that their own clothing get trampled, soiled, maybe even torn by a lowly beast of burden than that the animal carrying the King be soiled by the road. And remember, this was at a time when people didn’t have huge closets full of clothes like we do, or easy ways to clean them. Most of these people were travelers without Samsonite luggage full of fashionable choices to wear tomorrow.

It was a little like Moses at the burning bush in reverse. You remember that God told Moses to take his shoes off in his presence at Mount Sinai. God’s presence made the ground holy, and it was not appropriate for Moses to be dragging whatever his sandals had picked up chasing the sheep across that holy ground. That would dishonor God’s presence. Here the ground was polluted, desecrated by the many people traipsing on it, and it shouldn’t be allowed to contaminate the Holy Champion arriving in Jerusalem to fight for their salvation.

We don’t have the opportunity to do what they did. Jesus has returned to heaven. Even if he were here, we have no command obligating us to honor him in exactly this way. So what can we take from the actions of those praising Jesus like this?

In a broader way, it demonstrates a deep and sincere humility and submission, doesn’t it? It acknowledges, “Jesus is better than me. Jesus is more important than me.” That is not a lesson we learn easily. Since the founding of our nation, we have had the idea “All men are created equal” pounded into our brains. We don’t have nobility. We don’t like aristocrats. You watch the movie Titanic, and you hate all the rich snobs teaming up against poor Jack the underdog, thinking they are better than he is.

Though Jesus came and made himself our servant, we have never been even his equals. He has always been our superior. He is better than we are. He is more important, infinitely so. Do our lives reflect that kind of humility?

Jesus has made our bodies his home. In a mystical and spiritual way he lives in our hearts. Do we lay down a barrier between his presence in there, and the dirt, pollution, and corruption of the world in which we live? Or do we let the filth and corruption stream through our ears and our eyes–vulgar language, vulgar humor, vulgar entertainment, vulgar lifestyles?

Will we let him be King over us, and conduct our lives his way? Sometimes people have come to me for counsel. Something is making their lives miserable. Listening to their complaint, it becomes clear that a big source of the problem is a sinful pattern or lifestyle they have adopted. I don’t mean to suggest I am better than they are, because I have my own sinful hangups. But before I can start to give them any help, I have to ask, “Are you ready to stop doing things your way and start doing things Jesus’ way? Because if you are not, I’m afraid I don’t have much to offer. I’m a pastor, and my counsel comes from Jesus’ word, and I don’t have ways to make sin work better for you.”

The people welcoming Jesus were welcoming him as a king, but they weren’t really cheering for more law enforcement. “Yay! Now we can pay more fines and penalties!” No, they are cheering for a protector, a deliverer, a liberator. Few if any on the first Palm Sunday were thinking beyond a King to fight for Jewish independence and a free Israel.

But Jesus comes for a spiritual battle. He fights for our freedom from death and hell. He liberates us from our slavery to sin. He protects us from the consequences of our own foolishness. This king was worth praising. He still is.