Palm Sunday Procession - Palmarum - 4-5-09

Holy Week – Palm Sunday Procession
Palmarum
Our Savior Lutheran Church, Midland, MI (April 5, 2009)
One Year Series

“Palms that Save”

Readings:

Psalm 118:19-29
Zechariah 9:9-12
Philippians 2:5-11
Matthew 26:1 – 27:66

Sermon Form: Deductive

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Grace, mercy and peace be to you from the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen

The text for today is as recorded in the book of Leviticus, from the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and from the book of Revelation.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

That was quite a list of scriptures I just read wasn’t it? Well quite frankly, it is quite a long story. And many of us here today I’m sure would know the significance of today’s celebration and where if could be found recorded in the Old Testament. But, today our minds would rather think of the New Testament represented by Christ, coming to God’s Jerusalem. But, quite frankly, both those stories are the same, God in Christ Jesus is not absent in the Old Testament nor does He just show up for the accolades thrown down before Him as He rode into Jerusalem so many years ago. The laying down of Palm’s in fact is more than a story, it is a reflection of all that God has done for us. It reminds us of those who stood in an ancient Jerusalem and what these people did when their promised king was before them. But, most importantly it represents the extent to which God would go to save His people, for these are...

“PALMS THAT SAVE”

I – The Palms of Promise

In the Old Testament it is recorded that the tabernacle, or tent of meeting, was a place where our holy God would meet in Holy Communion with a people cleansed from unholiness and hallowed for the promised reunion with Him. The book of Leviticus records that there were to be also various special days of “meetings” in that tabernacle. And the observance of these recurring weekly and annual days stressed Israel’s need of continuing efforts to maintain its status as a “holy nation.” Most of these festival days could be kept only after Israel had entered the Promised Land and a they had settled and established their way of life.

One of these festival days was the Feast of the Passover or unleavened bread. So, you may ask, what does this have to do with Palm Sunday? Well God said to Moses, “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: “When you enter the land I am going to give you and you reap its harvest, bring to the priest a sheaf of the first grain you harvest. He is to wave the sheaf before the Lord so it will be accepted on your behalf; the priest is to wave it on the day after the Sabbath.” (Levitcus 23:10) This was a celebration recognizing that God did just as He had promised. And the return of the firstfruits of the people also acknowledged that what they gave back was not accepted by merit of their own. They were commemorating their national beginnings, but more than that they were also reflecting their dependence on God who continued preserving their lives. The waving of the sheaves was in response to hearing God’s Word’s and recognizing that He kept His promise to them.

Christ was that promised grain of the harvest for us for, “He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.”(James 1:18) The Israelites were required to wave their offerings, today we wave our palms. In both cases the waving acknowledges that God’s promise is fulfilled, and it is real. He is before us, He provides for us, our hands would have nothing to wave except for that promise which God kept for us in giving His Son Jesus Christ for our salvation. Those grains and these palms, acknowledge God fulfillment of His promise.

II – The Palms of Praise

The Israelites were also told to celebrate the Feast of the Harvest. God said, “On the first day you are to take choice fruit from the trees, and palm fronds, leafy branches and poplars, and rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days.”(Lev 23:40) This feast was a time to acknowledge that all that they had been given and to praise all the gifts from God. And they praised God by rejoicing with palm fronds before Him.

But they did not live perfect lives of praise, rejoicing, or in a perfect faith. Even after they had seen the great plagues of Egypt, and their escape from Pharaoh, the still turned away from God. They even built a false god while they still could remember the waves crashing in behind them.

We are no different than they. We have seen great miracles in our lives. We have seen and experienced the miracle of baptism and of Gods presence with us. We have heard of infinite mercy in God’s Holy Word. We have waved palms praising Christ the King, yet we have also praised our own gods while miracles abound around us. We praise the gods of money, of things, and even of other peoples things. We have done things we should not, we have left undone things we should have done. We even retract our praise and rebel that God has not given us all that we think He should, or not the way we wanted it, or maybe not quickly enough.

Yet the Messiah still came and the crowds gathered near Jerusalem to heap their praise on Him. In fact, He rode into Jerusalem, “on a colt, the foal of donkey.”(Zech 9:9) just as God had promised through the words of the prophet Zechariah. Though we are not worthy to even lift those palms fronds to praise Him, those palms are still waved at the arrival of the promised one, the Messiah, Jesus Christ. The praise with palms does not point to us, rather they point to the promised Lord Jesus Christ.

III – The Palms of Salvation

For our Lord Jesus Christ did arrive according to the promise, with praise, to offer us eternal salvation. And what of those palms that the people waved in praise at His entrance to Jerusalem? In less that a week they would be forgotten. Yet He did not forget, He traveled on. He traveled on in majesty, then He traveled on in betrayal, then He traveled on in scorn, mockery, and deceit. Yet He did not stop, He did not turn, He went to the cross for the forgivenss of our sins. And there on the crosss there would be no palms waving in a chorus of accolades. Rather there was only the palms of Christ which would be pierced for our transgressions. The plams waved by men at the beginning of the week would soon rot and decay. But, the palms of Christ nailed to the cross would never rot and they would never see decay. For those palms could not wave they were nailed to the cross. Yet Christ’s palms pinned down by our sin were in fact palms of salvation. And God in Christ Jesus did not lift His hand to save Himself, rather He left His palm to bleed so that we may be saved. And that salvation which He won is given to you in your baptism. He gives you that salvation in Holy Communion in giving for us His true body and His true blood.

You have been made part of His palms of salvation and so you will one day be seen in, “a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands”(Rev. 7:9)

Rejoice in Christ, you wave palm branches this very day.

Rejoice in Christ you will one day wave palm branches for eternity. Amen.

The peace that passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
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