Holy Week – Palm Sunday - Palmarum
Our Savior Lutheran Church, Midland, MI March 16, 2008
“Your King Comes to you”
Readings: Zechariah 9:9-12
Psalm 31:9-16
Philippians 2:5-11
Matthew 21:1-9
+INI+
Grace, mercy and peace be to you from the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen
The text for today’s message is as recorded in the Gospel lesson from the 21st chapter of Matthew, especially the following verses,
Matthew 21:1-9 (NIV)
Jesus said to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me. 3 If anyone says anything to you, tell him that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away.” 4 This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet: 5 “Say to the Daughter of Zion, ‘See, your king comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’”
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
The words of the prophet Zechariah are fulfilled in Christ’s entry into Jerusalem. The palm branches were being spread on the road, people were taking off their cloaks and throwing them before the Lord. Jesus the Christ, the Messiah, the promised one of Israel had arrived and the crowd went on ahead of Him. What a glorious celebration, a triumphant welcome fit for a King. It has been said that everyone loves a parade and on this day it was no different. However, the tone and tenor of the celebration would all change during this week. Yet all that was to happen was known by Christ even as He rode into Jerusalem. Indeed the crowds gathered around and went ahead of Him, but only Christ knew at this very moment just how far the crowd ahead of him would go. While today is a gathering of celebration marked by the throwing down the palms. A few days later, on the day we call Good Friday, there would a gathering of rebellion marked by throwing Christ’s palms down on the cross. But let us not get ahead of ourselves in this opening service of Holy Week. Let us rejoice as the Lord comes into Jerusalem. Let us rejoice that...
Your King still comes to you
Can you imagine the excitement that must have been stirring about that day as Jesus rode into Jerusalem? After all the Messiah had been promised for many, many years. In fact, the promise was made to Adam and Eve after the fall, yet before they were cast out of the Garden of Eden. It is hard for us to imagine waiting that long for just about anything. Our society just doesn’t have it in us to wait a couple of thousand years. You know the people in our times get impatient if the popcorn isn't ready in the microwave in four minutes, or less. But for this crowd the prophecy of all the prophets were coming true. “Your king comes to you.”
The words of all the great prophets seemed to be alive in this one man Jesus Christ. "The crowd had to be thinking about the words they had heard from the prophet Zechariah while their eyes saw before them the fulfillment of all that he had said. And too the prophetic message of Isaiah, combined with the Palm Sunday event. Isaiah’s prophecy was so real and detailed that it struck home so hard that his words were matched with music and combined into verses which we still sing in our services to this very day. Words we know of as Sanctus...
Holy, holy, holy Lord God of Sabaoth adored;
heav’n and earth with full acclaim
shout the glory of Your Name.
Sing Hosanna in the highest, sing hosanna to the Lord;
Truly blest is He who comes in the Name of the Lord!
Or to some maybe more familiar...
Blessed is He, Blessed He,
Blessed He who cometh in the Name of Lord
Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna in the Highest
How great those words are, how great it is to be in a crowd that is fired up and focused upon one event, one person who gave them so much promise. Yet as these people in the crowd gazed at Christ, it turns out that they were gazing at something much different than what was a few feet in front of them.
Some years ago there was a movie in which one of the characters held up four fingers and asked the other, “How many fingers am I holding up?” The obvious answer is four, but that was not the correct answer, the correct answer was eight. But in order to see eight fingers, your eyes must be caused to focus not upon the fingers, but upon what’s beyond and in the distance behind those fingers.
The challenge with this Jerusalem crowd is that they neither saw four nor eight fingers, they saw something completely different. They saw what they wanted to see, the answer to their beauty queen prayer for peace and prosperity in their earthly world. Yes, they wanted a king who came to them, but at the same time they wanted Him to come and do what they wanted Him to do. And even though they came out for the parade with joy and celebration, it is also true that the popcorn, cotton candy, and palm branches of the day of the parade are soon turned to garbage and debris, a sticky mess which someone is obligated to come in and clean up. Our world has been made into much more than just a sticky mess, all by the effects of sin. And the One who was obligated to come in and clean it all up for our sake is Jesus Christ, “Your king comes to you.”
It is not my intent to say that all our prayers for peace, and comfort for our fellow man is silly. Martin Luther probably said it in a much better way when he said, “Therefore if we want to describe our prayers, they are really nothing else than the stammering of children who ask for bread or a morsel before meals. For we do not know what we should ask for. The things we ask for are beyond our comprehension, and He who bestows them is greater; and the things are also too great for our narrow hearts to be able to understand."(AELW3:159)
Truthfully we can only speculate and wonder what that first Palm Sunday crowd in Jerusalem had been praying for and what they thought they saw before them. But at the same time we should keep in mind what their actions would be later in the week. Many in the crowd were no doubt prattling about like children asking for a morsel of bread. Many must have been praying for a military minded conquering Messiah who would give them their kingdom of this world. And you know, even that prayer for a misdirected morsel was heard. But they were given so much more than all of that. More than a morsel for just today, they and we are given the very bread of life. For their King came to them and “Your King comes to you.”
We too very much want to see and to have a Palm Sunday Jesus. Not wishing to gaze beyond that triumphant King riding upon a donkey with the palm branches waving and crowds cheering. Not wishing to focus upon what beyond that day and what happens to Christ just a few days later. In fact, we are quite in effect a lot like the apostles James and John, who are so inwardly focused that we stew about and argue over the thoughts and challenges of today. All that worry and distraction is real to us, but it is just like asking who will sit at the right or left hand of Christ. And remember Christ’s response to that petition was, “You do not know what you are asking.”(Mt. 20:22) And as Luther said, “Our hearts are too feeble for us to be able to grasp the importance of the matter; we trouble ourselves with questions about when, where, and by what means God is willing to hear us. These matters we picture to ourselves beforehand within such narrow bounds that we wrestle constantly with unbelief.”(AELW3:158)
Repent. For life is more than a parade, and Christ brings more than respite for just today. Your king comes to you and He brings you a peace which surpasses all understanding. There is a hymn whose lyrics are as follows...
“Christ be my Leader by night as by day;
Safe through the darkness, for He is the way,
Gladly I follow, my future His care,
Darkness is daylight when Jesus is there.” (LSB 861:1)
Jesus is there on that Palm Sunday, He is there as darkness overcomes the earth on the day He was crucified. And your King comes to you on Easter Sunday, in His resurrected body showing that He has conquered a lot more than what we have ever prayed for. Your king comes to you as He conquers your sin, your death, and the devil who would beguile us all.
Your king comes to you, He did on that first Palm Sunday and His still does to this very day. For He is with us in His body this very day. Your king comes to you in His Holy Word. Your King comes to you, in the Holy Supper of our Lord as He gives of Himself, the bread and the wine are truly His body and blood. Your King comes to you in your baptism, where water and His word are combined to give you more than you could ever perceive with your own eye. Human eyes which want to draw their focus on things like bread, wine, and water. Yet the real substance is what is given when these things are combined with the Word of God. Your king comes to you this Palm Sunday of Holy Week, Your king comes to you in His Holy supper on Maundy Thursday, He comes to you on the cross of Good Friday and in His resurrection on Easter Sunday. Your king comes to you. Sing Hosanna in the Highest, for He freely gives you the forgiveness of sins and the promise of everlasting life, “Your King comes to you,” from this day forth and for forevermore.
AMEN
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
No comments:
Post a Comment