Palm Sunday [Matthew 21:1-11] (25-Mar-2018)

This sermon was preached at St Matthew's Lutheran Church, Maryborough, 8.15am, and Grace Lutheran Church, Childers, 10.30am.

Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.

And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”

Prayer: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.

Today in the church year, we’re celebrating Palm Sunday, which is a particularly special day in the church calendar, where we remember the event where Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey.

If we follow the events in the Gospels carefully from Palm Sunday to Easter, particularly in Mark, it gives us the timing that Jesus entered into Jerusalem exactly one week before Easter Sunday. After Palm Sunday, it says: On the following day [which is Monday], they came to Bethany and Jesus cursed the fig tree, and drove out the traders from the temple. Then Mark writes: As they passed by in the morning [which is Tuesday morning], they saw that the fig tree that Jesus had cursed the day before was now withered. And we read that Jesus went into the temple and was teaching. After he was finished talking, we read that it was two days before the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. The Passover was held on Thursday, which was the day when Jesus was arrested and betrayed, and then follows Good Friday, when Jesus died, the Saturday when he was in the tomb, and then Easter Sunday when they found Jesus’ empty tomb. So altogether it is exactly a week, which is why we celebrate this event today. It is the beginning of a particularly holy week, when Jesus made atonement and sacrificed his life for the sin of the world.

We read in Matthew: Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will send them at once. All throughout the Gospels, we see many different glimpses that Jesus is not just any normal person. We see his supernatural power on every page, showing us that he is not just a man, but also true God.

Today we see Jesus’ special foresight, and his divine insight into the future. Jesus knows exactly what is going to happen, and how everything will work out. He tells his disciples exactly how things will be: where the donkey will be, what kind of donkey, that there will be a colt too, and what to say if someone asks them about it. Earlier this year, we read some other examples of this divine knowledge of Jesus. Remember when Jesus said that he saw Nathanael under the fig tree, even though Nathanael hadn’t seen him. From this Nathanael praises Jesus as the King of Israel. Also, a few weeks ago we read where Jesus says that in three days he would raise his body up again.

In Mark and Luke, we read this is a donkey, on which no one has ever sat. Isn’t this amazing, that Jesus didn’t only know that a donkey was there, but he even knew the life-history of this particular donkey. Jesus said: Not one [sparrow] will fall to the ground apart from your Father. Jesus, together with his Father, knows the life of each animal in the world, and who has sat on them. Just think that if Jesus cares so much for a donkey, how much more then for you? Also, Jesus will ride this donkey, without anyone having broken it in for him and trained it. This donkey knows that this Jesus is his Master and Creator.

Matthew writes: This took place to fulfil what was spoken by the prophet, saying, “Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’” It is amazing how this wonderful prophecy from the book of Zechariah is fulfilled in this reading today. But also, Jesus fulfils it with such a minimum of fuss. He goes about everything very quietly. The crowd makes the noise, not him. The prophecy says that your king is coming to you, humble. Jesus is coming in a humble way, with no pomp and flair and white horses and elephants. No – he just has a donkey.

Jesus is humble and gentle. Many times in history, people have put their trust in a revolution where all the good guys win and all the bad guys are crushed. People have wanted things to happen by force, and with dynamic leadership. Many year ago, Hitler entered Austria, and the people celebrated it. They welcomed the German army and Hitler as the passionate dynamic leader, who could give rousing speeches. But we know how that story ended. Jesus here does nothing of the sort. He doesn’t come with violence, with an army, with force, with tanks, with bombs, with machine guns, to sort Jerusalem’s problems out once and for all. No—he comes on a donkey, humble and gentle.

Jesus has nothing to prove here, and so there’s no need for a show. Often God does things in the humblest way. Think about Mary. When she was pregnant, she travelled to visit her relative Elizabeth, maybe for afternoon tea and a friendly holiday. And Elizabeth’s baby did a little backflip in honour of the unborn Jesus. Mary then said that God has look on the humble estate of his servant. The humble estate. What a humble affair it was! Think of the Roman Caesar and his legions and armies, and all the world’s kings and rulers. Yet the most important thing in the world at that moment was two pregnant women having afternoon tea. And with all the world’s gold and wealth, all the mighty stallions, all the elephants and the lions, the most important animal in the world on Palm Sunday was a humble donkey on which no one had ever sat.

In Mark and Luke, we also read in great detail how the disciples did exactly what Jesus said. Those who were sent went away and found it just as he had told them. And as they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, “Why are you untying the colt?” And they said, “The Lord has need of it.” There is no argument, no fight, no stealing. Jesus promises that the owners will give permission, and it happens exactly as he says.

Then we read: They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them. Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. John says: They took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him. When Jesus comes to a place, he is the one who makes the occasion wonderful. There is nothing special about the donkey, there is nothing special about these ordinary people, and their ordinary clothes, and their ordinary palm branches. Even in our church today, there is nothing particularly special about us, with all our sins and problems and worries. And yet, we come to meet Jesus, and he transforms everything.

And so we read in Luke: As he was drawing near—already on the way down from the Mount of Olives—the whole multitude of his disciples began the rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, saying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” We read in Matthew: The crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”

Today we remember this wonderful occasion where the people join together in praising Jesus. It is a regular part of our church services to sing praise and thanks to Jesus, and to welcome him with singing and with our voices. Every Sunday is a kind of Palm Sunday. In Ephesians, Paul encourages Christians to be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart. We see a wonderful example of that in today’s reading. What a joy and a privilege it is to praise Jesus, and what a mighty weapon against the evil one, who can’t stand to hear our songs and our praises!

The word, “Hosanna” is a Hebrew word meaning “Please save us” This word comes from Psalm 118, where it says: Save us, O Lord! Give us success! Actually, the name Jesus is related to this word. The name of Jesus means: Saviour, or he saves. The angel says to Joseph in his dream: You shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. So singing Hosanna to Jesus is a way of acknowledging our own sin and our weaknesses and failures, and welcoming him as our Saviour and our Redeemer.

The people call on Jesus in the reading as the Son of David. Right at the beginning of Matthew’s Gospel, it says: The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Then it gives Jesus’ family tree, tracing his descendants from Abraham and through David. Many times in the Gospels Jesus is called the Son of David, not just because he was descended from David, but because he is the rightful king. Even Pontius Pilate recognised this when he wrote above the cross: Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews. Jesus is a king, and people had been waiting for him to come right back from the time of King David.

The people also sing: Hosanna in the highest. Peace in heaven and glory in the highest. Our songs of praise don’t simply remain on earth, but they rise and stretch all the way to the heights of heaven, so that we join in with the angels. These words are just like the songs of the angels at Christmas time who sang: Glory to God in the highest and peace on earth! Here on Palm Sunday, the people sing: Hosanna in the highest! Peace in heaven!

The people also shout out the words: Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Jesus comes into Jerusalem in complete agreement with his Father’s will. God the Father allowed it, and sent him. Jesus comes in the name of the Lord, and he is the source of all blessing, and so the people say: Blessed is he.

These words of praise are the basis of our praise that we sing together today. The people sing, Hosanna in the highest! meaning that in singing Hosanna they are joining in with the angels. Every Sunday, when we celebrate the communion service, we often sing the words: Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased. With these words, we acknowledge that we are joining in with the angels. When we prepare to enter into the sanctuary to taste Jesus’ own body and blood in the Lord’s Supper, given and shed for us for the forgiveness of sins, we sing just like the crowd did on Palm Sunday: Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest! We even make a special point of this by saying: Therefore with angels and archangels and all the company of heaven, we adore and magnify your glorious name. In our church service, we join in with the angels and the angels join in with us. Heaven and earth overlap and Jesus comes right into our midst and speaks to us and feeds us.

Now there’s a couple of little warnings in the Gospels about this event on Palm Sunday. First, we read in Luke: And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.” He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.” The Pharisees recognise the weight and the depth of what the crowd are saying to Jesus. But they think: Jesus is not a Saviour, or a Messiah, or a King. They think that the crowd are completely wrong. But Jesus says: If these were silent, the very stones would cry out. The whole of creation recognises Jesus—it’s the whole reason for your existence—it’s a real shame if you don’t join in!

In John it says that even his disciples did not understand these things at first. Isn’t this strange? The disciples praised Jesus, and yet they didn’t understand what was fully going on. Sometimes this is the same for us. We can come to church Sunday after Sunday and we sometimes don’t know entirely what’s going on. People can get bored and fall away. Sometimes Christians start to think if we want more people in church we have to entertain them. But the real problem is that people often think they know everything there is to know. And they refuse to learn anything new. As we learn more and more about Jesus, and who he is, and just what it means to come into his presence and hear his word and receive his gifts, the more we begin to realise how much before we didn’t understand. And then there will be so much more to praise Jesus for!

Today there are some churches that put a great emphasis on praise. And sometimes there are songs that say very little, and just repeat and repeat praise to God. But this by itself is not enough. Many churches like this can have very large numbers, but also large numbers of people who fall away. Today we see a very large crowd. On Good Friday, we also see a very large crowd, but this time they are calling for Jesus’ blood and his crucifixion.

John tells us that many of the people who were there on Palm Sunday had heard about how Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. They were impressed with Jesus. But on Good Friday, there were many people who hated him and despised him. We must also be careful that we are not simply impressed with Jesus, but that we also stay with him and remain with him when we don’t understand what’s going on. Otherwise, we can so easily fall away. At one time, many disciples walked away from Jesus, and there were only a few remaining. And Jesus said to them, Do you want to go away as well?” Peter answered: Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.

So, let’s welcome our Jesus also today. He has the words of eternal life, and we have believed and have come to know that he is the Holy One of God. He comes to Jerusalem at the beginning of this week to suffer and die for the sin of the world and to rise again from the dead. Even today, and every time we join together with our fellow Christians, he comes to meet us as our gentle and humble king. We welcome him as sinners, with all our weaknesses and troubles and problems. Many times we don’t even fully understand why we are coming to him and what a wonderful Saviour he is! But he comes to us, not to punish us, but comes gently and humbly, with words of forgiveness and grace and rest and refreshment. And so we sing to him: Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest! Amen.

Dear Lord Jesus, we welcome you today as our king and our Saviour. Save us and forgive us and bless us with your Holy Spirit, and lead us as citizens of your kingdom. Amen.