TIME WITH THE CHILDREN Psalm 118
At the beginning of worship today, we carried Palm Branches down the front. We heard words in our readings that said: “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” These are words from Psalm 118—the words the crowd on the first Palm Sunday shouted as Jesus rode in to Jerusalem. They waved branches and said: “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the King of Israel!”
They were praising Jesus for bringing God’s blessing to them. A lot of people heard how Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead. They came to Jesus and believed in him. But others wanted to stop Jesus. They wanted to do away with him. They thought that he was causing trouble. It would only be a few days later that they killed Jesus on a Cross.
When Jesus rode in to Jerusalem, the animal he rode in on was donkey. This is very important. Jesus didn’t ride in on a big, powerful warhorse, but on a donkey, an animal that was associated with peace.
To help us remember that Jesus is still the King who comes in the name of the Lord to bring blessing and peace, I am going to show you a picture of an animal. What kind of animal do you think will be in the picture? Does any one think it is a picture of an elephant? Right on! You might think it strange that, because Jesus rode in on a donkey, I would show you a picture of an elephant. But I have a picture of some elephants.
This picture is a special gift a pastor from Nepal who is visiting Australia gave me. Nepal is between China and India. The government there has passed a law that Christianity is not allowed, and in some cases, Christians are kicked out of their villages and from their own families. It is very difficult for them, and they are very poor. They have to walk hours just to get to church. To earn money to pay for the church to continue, the women in the villages paint these beautiful pictures for sale. Even though they are poor and bullied, Nepal is one of the fastest growing Christian countries in the world. There are hundreds of thousands of people believing in Jesus and going to church there each week.
It is good to know that Jesus still brings his blessing all over the world, and no one will be able to stop him building his church. Wherever his word is proclaimed he goes to work, blessing people to bring them to believe in him. That is the same reason all of you are here today and we can say together: “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the King of Israel!”
SERMON – Great Expectations
The crowd had gathered, waiting. So many had called out: “Lord, save us!” Now, A sense of great expectation was pulsing through their hearts and minds. They were waiting for God, the King, to come and bring freedom from their oppressors.
God’s people, crowded together, were waiting, watching, expecting…as sleek and powerful warhorses and chariots thundered towards them, with the crack of whips and shouts of the military commanders robbing the night of peace.
They had done what God had commanded. Each family had sacrificed a lamb and painted its blood over their doorframes. They had roasted the lamb over the fire, eating it with bitter herbs and bread made without yeast, dressed, ready to go at the drop of a hat. They had expected that God would do what he said: “When I see the blood, I will pass over you.” (Exodus 12:13). As God passed through Egypt to bring judgment on the Egyptians, he had indeed passed over them. Now, as they stand hemmed in by the Red Sea, doubt creeping in, the sea parts before their eyes, upright walls of water in suspension to reveal the path of escape. They couldn’t believe what they were seeing!
This was the mighty salvation event of old—the Passover—that God had commanded his people to commemorate throughout the generations, so they would never forget his saving help to them. This is why, in today’s Gospel Reading, a great crowd from all over Israel had come to Jerusalem. This is the festival the people are preparing to celebrate.
Expectation is again thick in the air. As God’s people prepare to again remember his mighty deeds of old, they are also waiting for a new deliverance. They were again under oppression from a mighty foreign power—this time the Romans. They longed to be a free nation again, returning to the glory days of old. They were expecting God to raise up their long-awaited Saviour.
Could Jesus be the one?
Jesus had never run for local office. He had no proven track record in politics. He had never served in the military, and his social speaking engagements always seemed to end in controversy. But his popularity had skyrocketed, and he had done some incredible things—most recently, raising Lazarus from the dead. That’s on par with God parting the Red Sea of old! Report of Jesus’ raising of Lazarus had spread everywhere, and a large crowd of Jews had come looking for Jesus, and also to see Lazarus for themselves. Many of them had believed in Jesus, much to the disgust of the Jewish religious authorities, who saw Jesus as a rival that had to be stopped. Now a great number of them were among this great crowd of pilgrims who had come from all over the land to Jerusalem for the Passover festival.
They had heard that Jesus was on his way there too. They had great expectations. So they took Palm branches and went to meet Jesus, jubilantly shouting verses of Psalm 118: “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
“Hosanna” means: “Lord, save now!” They cheer Jesus as the one who has come in the name of the Lord with saving help from heaven. There’s a sense of overwhelming expectation over the blessing and salvation Jesus will bring.
But what was that saving help? What did they see in Jesus? There was such a swirling storm of different ideas, views and expectations:
- The Jews who came to Jesus and believed in his promise of bringing eternal life, because they had seen and heard of what he had done, bringing life out of death by simply calling Lazarus forth from the tomb.
- Those who longed for a king who would make them a great and independent nation, politically and economically powerful—perhaps that’s why they add their own words to Psalm 118: “Blessed is the king of Israel!”
- The religious leaders who saw Jesus as a threat—a rival to their plans of controlling the religious framework they had established.
- And the inability of Jesus’ own disciples to understand all this. Only after he was glorified did they realize these things had been written about him and had been done to him.
And so that day, Jesus rode into town—in the midst of all of those who had put their hope in him; those who were confused and misunderstanding; those who were cheering and praising but who had their own human expectations of who Jesus was and what he had come to do…and even those who rejected Jesus and wanted him done away with. Jesus rode in, not on a mighty warhorse like those that pursued God’s people to the Red Sea of old, but as Zechariah prophesied:
“Do not be afraid, Daughter Zion;
see, your king is coming,
seated on a donkey’s colt.”
By riding in on a humble donkey rather than a military steed, Jesus demonstrated that he was coming in peace and humility. He would win the victory—he would triumph mightily—but it would not be over an earthly kingdom, and it would not be by using force or political means. His victory and triumphant entry into Jerusalem was to liberate the whole world from the most oppressive slavery—one which, like Israel of old, we had no resources within ourselves to effect such a great escape: slavery to sin, death and Satan. Jesus’ triumph would be accomplished by actually doing nothing—other than humbling himself in obedience to his Father’s will unto to death, even death on a Cross.
John’s Palm Sunday account is located within the narrative of the new life that Jesus gives to Lazarus. In chapter 11 we have the incredible scene of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead, and bringing him out of the tomb, merely by speaking the word. At the beginning of chapter 12 Jesus reclines at the table with Lazarus, feasting together at a meal given in Jesus’ honour. Following the Palm Sunday account, the crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to spread the word about Jesus, and many who heard went to meet Jesus. The Pharisees lament: “Look how the whole world has gone after him!” We hear how some Greeks who came to the Passover request to see Jesus too. (John 12:17-20).
John shows us that the kind of King Jesus is—the King from heaven. Only God can raise someone who has been dead four days, and at the tomb of Lazarus, Jesus points ahead to what he would ride into Jerusalem to accomplish: to bring life out of death for all people with God. He rode in to the city that stoned God’s messengers, to bring peace between the world and God; to win the forgiveness of sins by being the perfect sacrifice once-for-all, by shedding his precious blood.
As we gather together, like the first Palm Sunday crowd, what are your expectations of Jesus? What are your expectations of your time here this morning? What picture do you have in mind, of the kind of King Jesus is? Do we expect that Jesus will still bring life and blessing according to his word? Do we expect that God will show us mercy? Do we expect him to ride a military horse, not a donkey of peace, making those pay who have offended us and hurt our pride? Do we view Jesus as the king from heaven to rule over us, both in season and out of season…or do we seek to fit Jesus into our own expectations; shaping Jesus into our kind of King to fulfil our own will, demands and desires: ‘Lord save us, come now, give us this, do that…”? Do we expect that Jesus can be trusted to lead his church into the future, or does he need our wisdom?
What do you expect from Jesus? What do you expect from your time here this morning?
The salvation Jesus won is no longer just for the nation of Israel, but for people from the ends of the earth. And so we too joined that first Palm Sunday crowd in acclaiming that in the Person of Christ, God still comes to his people to bring blessing today: “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” Although we cannot see him like the crowd saw God’s powerful presence of old, parting the Red Sea and going before them in a pillar of fire, and although we cannot see Jesus like the first Palm Sunday saw him as rode on the streets they lined, Jesus is truly here, for you.
Close your eyes and picture that for a moment…Jesus is really here, for you. Not as a concept, or a memory, or a spiritual presence, but our crucified, risen Lord is with us, personally, bodily present. He is here to bring all of his Father’s blessing from heaven for you. Let’s replay the episodes in Lent we have been viewing for the past five weeks. We heard how Jesus triumphed over Satan in the wilderness, taught Nicodemus that he needed to be born again by water and the Spirit, welcomed a woman who was a social outcast, promising to give living water. He gave a man born blind his sight, and blessed him with spiritual sight, so that he had a place in the Kingdom of God. Jesus raised Lazarus from the grave, pointing ahead to his own triumph over the grave for the life of the world.
What do you expect from this hour this morning? What are your expectations of Jesus? Are they the same as God’s expectations of us?
Our triumphant King still comes to us. He is here again for you today. But he is not here to rule harshly with political coercion and force. He comes to reign in humility; in peace, bringing you all the blessing of heaven simply by speaking words of forgiveness and grace. His expectation is to change us so that our old sinful nature is done away with, and our expectations align ever more closely with his, for those whom he has given us new birth by water and the Spirit.
As his kingdom comes to rule over us, even without our asking it, God continually comes to give spiritual sight, living water, grace and mercy, life out of death, forgiveness and salvation. God desires that we experience his own resurrection at work in us, seeing the world and the church through his eyes, quenched with the life he gives, humbling ourselves like Jesus, pouring out his life and compassion to others. He does this every time we meet him through his holy word. For those remaining faithful to his word to the end, he will take you to share in his glory in heaven when he comes again to judge the living and the dead. On that day there will be unending rejoicing with the crowd of angels and all the other saints of all times and places, as we sing and shout together with them: “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the king of Israel!” Amen.
Pastor Tim Ebbs
St Paul’s Lutheran Church, Glenelg
Palm Sunday, 2023
