The Good King Who Sets Things Right

The King Who Sets Things Right: Why Jesus Is the Leader Worth Following

This is a post based on a sermon in Matthew 21:1-17, you can view our whole Matthew series here.

We live in a world desperately searching for leadership. We look to politicians to solve our problems, influencers to guide our choices, sports celebrities to inspire us, or partners to complete us. Every single one of us has a gap between where we are and where we’d like to be—whether that’s financially, relationally, professionally, or personally.

This gap creates a hunger for someone who can help us bridge that space. It’s why social media thrives, why the fashion industry exists, why we follow sports with such passion. We’re always seeking someone who can lead us toward something better.

But here’s the problem: Instagram influencers don’t have any real power to transform your life. Sports celebrities can’t change your everyday reality. And those who do have genuine power? They usually end up using it for themselves.

Jesus is different. He has all the power, and He uses all of it for our good. He’s a Leader worth following—a King worth surrendering to.

The Context: Matthew’s Grand Finale

We’re looking at one of the climactic moments in Matthew’s Gospel—Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Matthew has been building toward this moment throughout his entire biography of Jesus, leading us to these final chapters as Jesus approaches His death and resurrection.

From the very beginning, Matthew makes clear who Jesus is and what He’s come to do. He also makes clear what our response should be. In this passage, we see Jesus demonstrating His kingship in three powerful ways that reveal why He alone is worthy of our ultimate allegiance.

The Ride: A King Both Humble and Powerful

An Unusual Choice of Transportation

Jesus needs transportation for His royal entrance into Jerusalem, and He chooses something unexpected: a young donkey, a colt. Even this seemingly minor detail carries profound meaning that Matthew carefully highlights through Old Testament prophecy.

A colt is an interesting choice for a king. As the Old Testament reference in verse 5 describes, it’s “gentle.” A colt is humble, not imposing. It’s not a war horse that looks like a tank rolling into battle. This king is gentle.

But there’s more to this choice. Jerusalem is Israel’s capital city, and when kings would return from battle in the Old Testament, they would enter Jerusalem in exactly this manner—riding on a colt. The animal serves as a symbol of two things: humility and power. This is a king who is both gentle and strong.

The Perfect Combination

Usually, leaders come in one of two varieties: either humble or powerful. We get politicians who seem gentle but lack the strength to create real change, or we get strong leaders who crush others in their pursuit of power. Rarely do we find someone who perfectly combines both qualities.

Think about it: Bob Ross was incredibly humble and gentle as he taught painting on television, but he couldn’t change government policy. Darth Vader had immense power but used it for evil purposes. What if someone could combine the gentle heart of Bob Ross with genuine power to transform the world?

That person exists—it’s Jesus. He’s the kind of leader we actually want: humble enough to care genuinely about others, powerful enough to create lasting change. A king who doesn’t seek power for Himself but uses all His authority for our good.

This is exactly the kind of King we want to surrender to—one who isn’t primarily interested in what He can get from us, but in what He can give to us.

At our church in Manchester, we’ve discovered that following this kind of King transforms not just individual lives but entire communities. When we surrender to someone who perfectly combines gentleness and strength, we find the leadership our hearts have always been searching for.

The Recognition: When Worship Creates a Ruckus

A Royal Welcome

The people instinctively recognise what’s happening. They spread their coats on the ground, lay palm branches on the road, and even place coverings on the colt itself. This is how you honor a king—you demonstrate that He’s so worthy, so elevated, that you don’t want Him or even His transportation to touch the ordinary ground.

This scene mirrors how Israelites would welcome their kings returning to Jerusalem, yet something is different. This king appears plain, not dressed in military regalia or royal robes. He rides a young donkey rather than a war horse. He’s meek rather than boastful. This combination of power and glory with humility confuses people—and continues to confuse people today.

The Meaning of “Hosanna”

The crowds cry out “Hosanna!”—a word packed with meaning. It’s simultaneously a cry for salvation (“Save us!”) and an expression of worship (“You are worthy!”). In three syllables, they capture what it means to surrender to the King: recognising both His power to save us from what we most need saving from, and His worthiness of our worship and allegiance.

Incomplete but Compelling Worship

The people’s response is right but incomplete. While they act out aspects of Jesus being the Messiah, they don’t yet fully understand who He is. They call Him “a prophet from Galilee”—true but insufficient.

This makes me wonder: where are our own lives similarly incomplete? We might attend Missional Communities, serve in church ministries, but fail to use our words as boldly as we should. It’s easy to act Christian without being fully committed Christian.

Yet even this incomplete worship creates such a stir that Matthew says the whole city was stirred up. People want to know what the ruckus is about. If incomplete, short-term worship (these same people will demand Jesus’ crucifixion within days) can create such interest, imagine what complete, lasting devotion would accomplish!

This challenges us: Do we worship Jesus so plainly, openly, completely, and consistently that others ask us, “Who is this?” When they do, we’ll have a better answer than these crowds did. This is the King—the One worth following.

Let’s worship Jesus and create a ruckus in our families, on our streets, when we gather as a church in Manchester on Sundays, and when we scatter into our daily lives. We’re called to live beautiful lives that lead people to ask, “Who is this?”

Setting Things Right: Justice and Grace Combined

Cleaning House

Jesus doesn’t just symbolically claim kingship—He demonstrates it through action. He starts with His own house, the temple, and finds people there focused on personal gain rather than worship. They’re using God’s house as a platform for their own profit instead of crying out “Hosanna” in genuine surrender.

The King sets His house right. He decides what happens in His house, and He’s made it clear: “My house” is a house of prayer. Notice Jesus’ claim—He calls it “My house,” putting Himself in God’s place because Jesus is God.

This scene reveals the King setting things right through justice. Empty religion contaminates His house, so He cleanses it. This is our only hope for transformation—our hearts are full of “money changers” too. We want to use God for our own ends, use His church for what we can get from it. We need the King to cleanse our hearts of that selfishness and keep us pure as we follow His way rather than our own.

If we want our church to be a house of prayer, we must become people of prayer. It starts in individual hearts before it transforms communities. This is something we explore deeply in our prayer course—learning what it means to surrender ourselves to God with that same “Hosanna” spirit.

Healing the Broken

After driving out the self-focused money changers, Jesus attracts a different crowd: “The blind and the lame came to him at the temple, and he healed them” (Matthew 21:14).

The contrast is striking. The people Jesus drives away are those using His church for their own platform. The people He draws in are those who know they need healing. Blind people can’t fake seeing; lame people can’t pretend to walk normally. In their honest need, they come to Jesus, and what does this good and powerful King do? He heals them. He sets them right.

Our King is full of grace—undeserved gifts that He can’t stop giving. When the house is clean, those in genuine need come in, and they come directly to Jesus.

How often do we act like blind people who claim to see? We need to be set right, healed, transformed. We need to come not to an ideology, program, or set of beliefs, but to a Person—Jesus Christ, the King.

The Religious Leaders’ Response

When the religious leaders witness this healing and restoration, they become indignant. They should be worshiping, celebrating that people are being healed and the temple is becoming what it was meant to be! But if you follow empty religion, you won’t appreciate Jesus very much.

In the face of grace, empty religion creates indignation instead of worship. This serves as a warning: are we as open and generous with grace as Jesus is? Or do we feel indignant when others receive good things they don’t deserve?

Jesus as the Divine Doctor

Jesus, the King, sets things right through perfect justice and grace—not one or the other, but both at 100%. He came into a broken world and treats it like a doctor treats a broken bone. It needs to be set, not just in any way, but set right. Until then, it will remain broken.

If you have a broken bone, you go to a doctor skilled at setting bones right. It won’t always be comfortable—it will hurt. But a broken bone hurts anyway, and over time, if it’s not set properly, it will remain broken forever.

Jesus sees us in our broken spiritual state. Our connection to our heavenly Father is fractured and will stay that way unless Jesus sets us right. The pain we sometimes feel when He works in our lives is part of the loving healing process our King walks us through.

This isn’t just historical—it’s happening now. In Revelation 21, we see Jesus on His throne declaring, “Behold, I am making all things new!” Present tense. Right now, He is the King who is setting all things right.

Surrendering To This King

For Seekers

Maybe you’re still investigating Christianity. Isn’t this the kind of person you’re looking for? Isn’t this the kind of leader our world desperately needs? What’s holding you back from experiencing the healing this King offers? Stay curious about those questions and bring them directly to Jesus. I dare you to pray about these things, to tell God exactly what you’re thinking!

If you’re wondering what God looks like, this is it—it’s Jesus.

For New Believers

If you’re newly convinced, think about the parts of your heart that don’t yet cry out “Hosanna”—the areas where you want to do your own thing, where you resist Jesus clearing out what doesn’t belong. The big three areas are usually time, money, and sexual ethics—our schedules, our wallets, and our relationships.

For Mature Christians

If you’ve been following Jesus for a long time, maybe you’re even a church leader, take note: the religious leaders in this story aren’t mature at all, and they don’t really know Jesus. They warn us to examine whether we’re as open and generous with grace as Jesus is, or whether we feel indignant when others receive good they don’t deserve.

Each of us can take one step closer toward this King, and He will set us right.

The Cross: Where Justice and Grace Meet

The triumphal entry connects to an ancient Jewish celebration—the Feast of Tabernacles. During this feast, people would go to the temple carrying palm branches, shouting “Hosanna” during a procession around the burnt offering on the altar.

In Matthew 21, we see all the same elements: palm branches, “Hosanna,” and sacrifice. But the sacrifice isn’t in the temple—it’s on a colt, entering the city. The way this King sets things right isn’t by making us an offering, but by making Himself the offering.

Jesus’ sacrifice bridges the gap between where we are and where God is. God is perfect, holy, completely good and beyond us. We aren’t perfect—we know it—and we need healing. We need to be set right to be brought into God’s presence.

Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross is where God’s justice and grace meet, enabling us to be with Him. We don’t try to reach up to God—we could never do enough. Instead, God reaches down to us.

This is the setting-right process: Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. On the cross, He takes our sin—our self-centered ideas about how to live, our desire to make life all about us, our lack of “Hosanna.” He takes that sin to death so it can be forever destroyed. In exchange, we receive all of Jesus’ goodness—His righteousness. Now we can come to God with full-throated praise: “Hosanna!”

The King Worth Following

In a world full of failed leaders and broken promises, Jesus stands alone as the King who perfectly combines humility and power. He’s gentle enough to care for the broken and strong enough to set all things right. He’s the leader we’ve been searching for—one who uses all His power not for Himself but for our good.

The question isn’t whether Jesus is worthy of our worship—the question is whether we’ll respond like the crowds who cried “Hosanna!” or like the religious leaders who were indignant at His grace.

This King is still setting things right. He’s still healing the broken. He’s still worthy of our complete surrender. And He’s still the only leader who can bridge the gap between where we are and where we need to be.

The crowds were right to spread their coats and shout “Hosanna!” The only tragedy is that their worship was incomplete and temporary.

Let’s create a lasting ruckus of worship for the King who sets all things right.

You can see how we live this out as a gospel formed family on mission, each Sunday in Manchester.