Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.
Text (John 12:12-19):
So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the king of Israel!”
Kä cukɛ kar nöör ka̱n, kä cukɛ jɛ wä lor, rɔalkɛ i̱, "Liakɛ Kuoth! A puɔ̱th tekɛ ram in bëë kɛ ciöt Kua̱r, min la Kuäär I-thɛ-rɛl!"
Prayer: Lord God, our heavenly Father, enlighten our darkness with the light of your Holy Spirit, so that I may preach well and we all may hear well, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
In the Apostles’ Creed, it’s amazing how little it says about the earthly life and ministry of Jesus: “He was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried.”
The Nicene Creed doesn’t say too much more: “For us [that is, the whole world] and for our salvation he came down from heaven, was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and became truly human. For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered death and was buried.”
One minute we’re talking about his birth, and then in the next breath we’re talking about his suffering and death. What about all the other stuff in between? What about his miracles and his preaching? What about all the different things that he did – How he walked on the water, fed the 5000 people, healing the blind, the lepers, raising the dead? Aren’t these things important?
Of course they are important. But all these things point back to his birth and show to the world, who Jesus is – that he is true man and true God – or they show what he is going to do for the world – that he is going to suffer and die and rise again.
What about today? What about Palm Sunday? What does this have to do with anything? Well, listen to these words that the crowd say today: “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
Blessed is he who comes – where does he come from? He comes conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. That’s where he comes from.
And what’s he coming for? He’s coming to suffer under Pontius Pilate, to be crucified, to die, and to be buried. That’s why he’s coming.
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
In our reading we read: The next day the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!”… The crowd that had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to bear witness. The reason why the crowd went to meet him was that they heard he had done this sign.
In the Gospel of John, the reading about when Jesus rode into Jerusalem, which we celebrate today, occurs in chapter 12. In chapter 11, the chapter which comes just before it, Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead. And this is an amazing thing! Lazarus had been dead for four days, and Jesus went to the tomb and said, “Lazarus come out!” And we read that the man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”
What an amazing event!
In ancient times, palm branches were symbols of victory. You give palms to someone who is a winner: maybe someone who has won a war, or maybe an athlete who has won a race. Maybe palm branches are a bit like medals for us – you give a medal to someone who was brave in a war, and also to someone who wins a sports competition.
And so the crowd welcome Jesus as he enters into Jerusalem with palm branches, because he has won a victory over death. He has conquered death! He has raised a man, Lazarus, from the dead. And so in the reading, we read: “The crowd that had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to bear witness. The reason why the crowd went to meet him was that they heard he had done this sign.”
And so they say to Jesus: “Hosanna!” “Save us, now, Lord!”, it means. You raised Lazarus from the dead, now save us!
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” Blessed is the one who has defeated death, who has the power to raise people from the dead.
They also call him, “The king of Israel.”
On Palm Sunday, the people say, “Hosanna! Save us!” At the end of the week, people say, “He saved others, but he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel – let him come down now from the cross and we will believe in him.”
On Palm Sunday, the people say, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” At the end of the week, Pilate says to the crowd, “What shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?” They all said, “Let him be crucified!” And he said, “Why, what evil has he done?” But they shouted all the more, “Let him be crucified!”
On Palm Sunday, the people say, “He is the king of Israel!” At the end of the week Pilate wrote an inscription and put it on the cross, which read: “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” And the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not write ‘The King of the Jews’, but rather, ‘This man said, I am the King of the Jews’.”
Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel.
When the crowd welcomes Jesus into Jerusalem, they want him to be an earthly king. If he can raise a man from death, he can also crush the Romans! They want him to be a political figure – someone who can sit on a throne and restore Israel.
But Jesus didn’t come to crush the Romans, he came to crush the devil. He came to crush the serpent’s head! He came to redeem you, a lost and condemned person. He came to purchase and win you from all sins, death and the power of the devil, not with silver or gold, but with his holy and precious blood and with his innocent suffering and death, so that you may be his own, and live under him in his kingdom and serve him in everlasting righteousness, innocence and blessedness, just as he is risen from the dead and lives and reigns to all eternity.
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
Jesus says: “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
I have won the victory!
The people came to meet Jesus with palms because he had won a victory of death, he had raised Lazarus from the dead. But did they expect that he would then die himself? Did they expect that he would win the victory over not just one death, the death of Lazarus, but over every death, over all death? Did they expect his weapons to be his willingness, his humility, his obedience, his silence before his accusers, his endurance of many tortures, his wounded and weak body, his blood spilt out, and his last breath breathed out? Did they expect this to be the way in which he would win the victory? Where are the palm branches then? Where are the people waving palm branches as he carries his own cross? Where the palm branches as he walks his way to mount Golgotha? Where are the palm branches as he gasps his last breath? Where are the palm branches when they carry his body and lay it in the tomb?
Jesus has power over death. He had the power to raise Lazarus from the dead. But he also has the power to lay down his own life, and he has the power to take it up again. Jesus says, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep… I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again.”
And so we say, “Hosanna!” Save us! Save us, as you go to die for the sin of the world! Jesus, remember me, when you come into your kingdom! Save us, as you take away the sin of the world!
We say, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” Blessed is the one who came victorious from the tomb of Lazarus, and who will also come out of his own tomb victorious! Blessed is the one who comes conceived of the Holy Spirit, and born of the Virgin Mary. Blessed is the one who is coming to suffer under Pontius Pilate. Blessed is the one who is coming to be crucified, to die and to be buried.
We say, “You are the king of Israel!” You are the King of Kings and Lord of Lords – you are our king, crowned with thorns, covered in the royal robes of red blood, and of human flesh. You are the king of the world, commanding darkness over the whole earth even when you are breathing out your last breath. You are our king, pouring out water and blood from your side, to wash us in holy baptism and to refresh us in the Lord’s Supper.
Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel.
Palm Sunday is always a day when we welcome Jesus as the one who has conquered death. We praise him as the one who has won great victories! We praise him as the one who has done great things! We say, “You have done all things well”, just as when you created the world, you looked at everything you had created, and behold, it was very good!
We welcome Jesus as the one who has done great miracles. We welcome him as the one who had raised Lazarus from the dead. But we also welcome him as the one who is going to suffer and die for the sin of the whole world. We welcome him as the one who is going to lay down his own life, as the one who is going to say, “It is finished” and give up his own last breath, to yield up his own spirit into the hands of his Father.
And so we say, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
We look back to the past at what he has done and we also look ahead to the future at what he is going to do.
And also, as we come to the Lord’s Supper today, we will also welcome our Lord Jesus Christ with the same words: Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!
Blessed is the one who came out of the tomb, and who promises to come wherever two or three are gathered in his name!
Blessed is the one who won the victory over death, and now comes to give us his own body and blood, to give us the victory over death. He gives us his body and blood to strengthen and preserve us in body and in soul until life eternal.
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
Blessed is the one who came to take away the sin of the world, and blessed is the one who now comes to give us his own body given for us, and his own blood shed for us for the forgiveness of sins.
Blessed is the one who comes, true God and true man, who doesn’t just leave us with the history of his suffering and death, but comes to make history with us, now, and comes and feeds us, now, and brings the same body that died on the cross, and the same blood which was shed on the cross to us, now.
And so we say, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest!
We look back to the time when Jesus suffered and died on the cross for us. But we also look forward to the times again and again when he comes to give us his own body and blood in the Lord’s Supper. And we look forward to the time when we will see the things for ourselves which St John writes about: “I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and people and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”
But we are already joining in with all that, because we are singing together with angels and archangels and all the company of heaven.
The future is not when these things will happen in heaven. They already happen. The future will be when we see what we now believe by faith.
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest!
Amen.
Lord Jesus Christ, we welcome you as our king, who suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried. Hosanna! Save us, Lord. Come to us, as you have promised, in the name of the Lord, holding life and death in your hands, and feeding us with your own body and blood. Hosanna in the highest. Amen.
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