SERMON Palm Sunday April 17, 2011 Isaiah 50:4-9a Psalm 31:9-16 Philippians 2:5-11 Matthew 27:11-54 Brothers and sisters in Christ, grace to you and peace from God the Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus, who is the Christ. Amen. There was a little boy who was sick on Palm Sunday and so he stayed home from church with his mother. Later in the morning, his father returned from church holding a palm branch. The little boy was curious and asked, Why do you have that palm branch, dad? His dad replied, You see, when Jesus came into town, everyone waved palm branches to honor him. So today, we all got palm branches. The little boy replied, Awe shucks! The one Sunday I miss is the Sunday that Jesus shows up! As we began our worship, we heard in the Processional Gospel the familiar story of Jesus triumphal entry into Jerusalem riding on a donkey. The crowds were screaming and cheering waving palm branches. Perhaps on this day, Jesus also rides into our lives, triumphing over sin and sorrow, conquering evil and chasing away fear, dispelling darkness and shedding new light, healing hurts and bringing back dead hopes. Perhaps we are among the faces in the crowd. We have come to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. We are among the thousands of pilgrims flooding the Holy City. The numbers often reach as high as 2 to 3 million.
But this year as the faithful pilgrims arrive, we have more than the Passover on our minds. A Nazarene named Jesus is on the lips and in the thoughts of nearly everyone in Jerusalem. Words of his miracles have spread like a wild fire: the feeding of the 5,000, the healing of leprosy, the restoring of sight to the blind, the lame being made to walk, the forgiving of sins, and even the bringing the dead back to life. But controversy also follows him. Stories of him breaking the Sabbath, eating and drinking with sinners, condemning the rich and powerful while lifting up the poor and oppressed are also fresh in our minds. We are all looking with great intensity trying to find this Jesus. Maybe we could get close enough to him to shake his hand. Or better yet, get an autograph. Think about how much Jesus autograph would sell for today. Can you imagine that going to auction at Sotheby s? In January of 2000, we were living in Quincy, Illinois where I was serving as an Associate Pastor. Quincy is a Mississippi River town of about 42,000 people. In the center of town there is a park with a gazebo. The gazebo marked the place where one of the famous Lincoln-Douglas debates took place back on October 13, 1858. Since the year 2000 was an election year, then, President Clinton decided to come to Quincy for a campaign visit. I found out that a week before he arrived, secret service agents had took over an entire hotel and set up a phone system that would monitor all incoming and outgoing calls in the Quincy area. An orbiting satellite was focused exclusively on Quincy for three days prior to the visit. It monitored all traffic flow in and out of the area. Roads were blocked off; buildings were evacuated; sharpshooters were strategically positioned.
Then came the presidential motorcade with its numerous limousines equipped with bulletproof glass. It was unclear exactly which vehicle the President was actually riding in. I assume that was on purpose. In the middle of the motorcade, there was a mobile communications vehicle that looked like Fort Knox on wheels. It even had gun turrets mounted on its sides. I watched the motorcade as the president passed by traveling down Maine Street. Talk about a triumphal entry! All for a 20 minute speech. An hour later, he was back on Air Force One heading out of town. Our tax dollars at work. Now let s go back to Jerusalem 2000 years ago. Jesus rejects the white horse, which was the limousine of the day. His motorcade consisted of him riding on a donkey with a group of people walking alongside him. Now horses are beautiful animals with coats that shine in the sun. They have flowing manes that ripple in the breeze, and long graceful legs that gobble up the miles. They have soft eyes, and make the sound that radiates power and strength. But not the donkey. Their hair looks like ours when we first get up in the morning. Their tails are unkempt. Their mane is nothing beautiful to behold. Their ears are too big, and too floppy. And their braying sound causes us all to laugh. To this day, no one is taken seriously when they are riding atop a donkey. And yet, on the road to Jerusalem this little donkey hears the people shouting, Hosanna! He sees them spreading their cloaks on the road before him. And for a while, this donkey, that is not supposed to be in parades, is the center of attention. Why? Because he is carrying the King of Kings, and the Lord of Lords. Indeed, the Savior of the world. Tomorrow this poor little donkey will be forgotten. Tomorrow he will be back in the corral again. But today, TODAY, he is where the grandest of horses would usually be. Today he is the prancing stallion carrying the victor to his throne.
So, why a donkey? It was to fulfill the words of the Prophet Zechariah. Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey. Therefore, in response to this entry of Jesus into our lives, we rejoice today. We wave palms because we have long awaited God s deliverance and now it is here. We wave palms because we too have hope that God s will, will be done on earth as it is in heaven. We wave palms because Jesus enables us to experience the life-giving waters of God s love in the midst of the desert of our tired and weary souls. We shout Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. But because we have heard this story told before, we know what comes next. We know that the celebration will not last. These same people who cried out; Hosanna, Hosanna today, will in a few days be screaming; Crucify him! Crucify him! These same people would soon turn against him and would plead for his death. The disciples, who were hoping for greatness, would abandon Jesus in his hour of need. Once again, at the end of the day our hopes will be dashed and our joys will turn into sorrows. The prophet had made a promise that was not to be. Jesus was no King after all. But you see, the problem is, is that these people in the crowd are more celebrity-seekers than they are worshipers. They had heard of the miracles. They had heard of his great popularity. Therefore, as long as Jesus was in the news everyone wanted to be around him.
I think that a lot of us are like that. In school it s called; hanging with the popular crowd. In the work place it s called brown-nosing. We brag about getting back stage passes at a concert. We all like to be around the ones who have the power and influence. These are the kingdoms of this world. But Jesus says; my kingdom is not of this world. The kingdom that Jesus is talking about is based on love, not power and influence. You see, the disciples were looking for Jesus to march into Jerusalem and inspire his people to overthrow the Roman occupation. But occupying forces in that region had been overthrown time and time again. If the Romans were overthrown, it would only be a short time until another Empire came in and conquered Jerusalem. It is still happening today, 2000 years later. Instead, the kingdom that Jesus was ushering in, was a kingdom of the heart. And it was based on a self-giving love. It turned everything upside down. The poor were called blessed; the last were said to be first; the lowly were lifted up. How many times do we search in vain for the wrong kingdom? The kingdom that promises us power, popularity, money, fame, or entertainment. These are the kingdoms that will never satisfy our deepest desire the desire to be loved; the desire to be loved. Even if we don t realize it, our deepest desire as human beings is to be loved unconditionally. We yearn for people to love us with no strings attached, no matter what our social status is no matter what we look like no matter what kind of job we have, or what kind of degree is hung on our wall, or what our grades are in school. No matter if we sit on the bench the entire game or not. But this unconditional love is something we seem to lack in our society. There always seems to be a condition. I am loved IF If I act a certain way, if I look a certain way, if I perform a certain way, if I possess a certain amount of wealth or influence.
But you see, once love has a condition placed on it, it ceases to be the love that God has for each and every one of us. For God loves us no matter what we do; no matter what we say; no matter what we look like; no matter what. God loves us unconditionally. So much so, that he sent his only son to ride into Jerusalem atop a donkey, knowing full well that his journey would not end in a good way. So as we begin this Holy Week, may we remember that the kingdom Jesus came to establish was not of this world. Let us remember this as the cries of hosanna, hosanna turn into shouts of crucify him, crucify him. And let us remember that the events of this week will demonstrate a love like the world has never known. Amen. Now may the peace that passes all understanding be with you now and for life everlasting. Amen.