Palm Sunday - April 17, 2011

Holy Week – Palm Sunday Procession - Palmarum
Our Savior Lutheran Church, Midland, MI (April 17, 2011)
One Year Series

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

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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 from the Gospel lesson from St. Matthew the 26th chapter.

‘Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’ ” 6 The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. 7 They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them. 8 Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 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!”

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

It’s Palm Sunday how wonderful to wave those Palms again!  How great to see the cross process into the church how wonderful to think of that crowd so happy to see Christ the Messiah come into Jerusalem.  “Hosanna”, they shouted meaning, “Save us please!.” Hosanna is an exclamation aimed toward a ruler who has the power to save.  And of that day of Christ’s triumphant entry it has been said, “from Galilee and Capernaum Jesus traversed the land up to Jerusalem, and on this day rode into the city on a donkey.  Jesus wanted to be in Jerusalem for the Passover, and there take over His kingdom, even as kings and princes make their entries so that the whole country may pay them homage and swear allegiance.” 

The thoughts of kingdoms, allegiances, Kings and princes are all but foreign to our ears except from our hazy memories of our history classes reminding us of our British forefathers.  But, of course, more recently we have begun to entertain the thought of a royal wedding as we watch the celebration unfold on T.V.  But, all the prim and proper eloquence, the bowing and allegiance to a queen or king is no longer part of any special event for us here in America.  Yet with the memories of kingdoms slowly fading away like the dew on the morning grass, we still gladly every day still pray, “For Thine is the Kingdom.” 

Over and over we say those words, so much so that at times it comes off our lips without even engaging our minds as to what we are saying.  “For Thine is the Kingdom.”  What exactly are praying for or do we even know what we mean by what we say?  But today is different, times have changed, while the word “thine” is mostly only used in the “Lord’s Prayer” we still know internally that means “yours is the kingdom”. 

But enough grammar, today is Palm Sunday.  This day of celebration does indeed resound with our history, tradition, and our memories from the past.  Some of you, many of you, will remember the waving of the Palms from the time when you were little children.  And you’ll also remember that after the service those palms made their way home, some to be laid upon a dresser, or laid across a top of a picture, or on the mantle all as a reminder, that Palm Sunday was the day of Christ’s arrival into Jerusalem.  And to Christ we say, “Yours is the Kingdom.”

Yes, so many years ago, Christ did lead that procession into Jerusalem to the shouts of “Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest, blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord, Hosanna in the highest.”  That day it did look, sound, and feel like the Kingdom was Christ’s.  The crowd was already assembled for the Passover feast, the palm branches in their hands and shouts of praise on their lips.  But, where does this journey go?  Where will the Messiah lead us?  Is Your kingdom through those gates leading into the streets of Jerusalem?

Looking back, it was foretold by Zechariah of this triumphant parade, “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”(Zech. 9:9)

Oh but what a difference there is in that kingdom of Christ from the ones our eyes see today.  Rather than pomp and circumstance, banners, and royal chariots surrounded by guards with tall hats, this Christ-King is quite different.  For in the Christ-king we see a humble servant, riding on a donkey.  We see a “ruler who does not rule a realm where men gather wealth and property, nor conducts wars, nor does this ruler become rich and powerful in this world.  and  All those things are the marks of worldly kings”(Luther Palm Sunday 1534) But is this the kingdom of Christ?

Well, we know, “Worldly kings are concerned with people managing their house and home, governing lands and subjects, acquiring money and property, becoming rich and powerful, and all of this is for the present time.  But, the Christ-king, on the other hand, wants us to know how to inherit the kingdom of heaven, how to be saved and become eternally rich, so that we may finally enter a better life.”  This king who comes to us, lowly and riding on a donkey gives us greater riches than can ever be found in the world.  Our bodies will be beautifully restored, there will be no sadness, nor weakness, nor sickness, but only everlasting health and happiness.

How wonderful the thought of a king who would rule in justice and righteousness, not serving himself but rather serving His servants.  But this is not the kind of king that the people wanted to process through the gates of the old Jerusalem.  Those cheers would soon fade, the Hosannas and the palm branches once cheerful, fresh and green would become dry and fade.  The Christ-king before them was not like they thought he should be.  No, this was not the worldly king that they had created in their minds.  No handsome stead, no golden saddle, no flags, no trumpets sounding, nor entourage to make way for the king.  And the sad truth of the matter for this crowd is that the flashy king for whom they wait will never come.  Some in that crowd died waiting for their political savior, and even sadder still is that some today still wait for that kind of Messiah.  At the gates of Jerusalem the words in Proverbs are left forgotten, words which advise, “Blessed is the one who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting beside my doors. For whoever finds me finds life and obtains favor from the Lord, but he who fails to find me injures himself; all who hate me love death.” (Pvb. 8:34-36)  The Kingdom of the Christ-King does not appear to the eyes of the world as a strategic military maneuver, rather this Kingdom is established in stark contrast of the one who rides into Jerusalem to praise and adulation this one is willing to be crucified.  Christ’s Kingdom is His only as the one who dies, who is raised from the dead, and then He ascends to occupy His kingdom. 

Repent, for this Christ-king overcame sin, death, and the devil for you.  And by His body and His blood, He sweeps us clean of all our filth, so that all who believe in Him are made righteous and blessed.  All of us are but lowly dregs and beggars of the world, we are all sinners who defile ourselves and all those around us with our words, our actions, and our deeds whether done or undone.  It is for these, it is for us, that God’s Kingdom is established.  This Christ who came for you is not like worldly rulers.  He did not come to amass treasure and property to flaunt before the world.  He did not come to make public appearances, nor to flaunt treasure troves of silver and gold.  No, Christ came as our beggar-King, riding on a donkey, just as foretold by the prophets just as promised by God to Adam and Eve.  And His Kingdom is won for you at the high cost of God’s only Son, who died for your sin.

And His kingdom, Christ’s Kingdom is not of this world, His treasures and riches won for you are not here on this earth.  But what He gives you here does bring you to eternal life.  By the power of His Holy Word, by the Sacraments, by faith, His kingdom has come for you, yesterday, today, and forever.  And to reach that kingdom one does not look within themselves, rather they look to Christ to see that they are baptized into His Name and through Him they have attained eternal life.  In your baptism you may proclaim in the face of all that faces you, “I am a baptized Christian.  I am blessed with the riches of eternal life by my King who serves me, even unto His own death.”

We pray those words over and over, “for Thine is the Kingdom,” but unlike the palms of last year or yesteryear this kingdom never fades nor crumbles.  Christ told the disciples how to pray, to say, “Our Father who art in heaven.  Christ also told us as we meet to receive His blessings to “do this.”   Meaning receive the Lords true body and blood each time you gather.  You must never grow weary of praying the “Our Father” every day.  You must never grow weary of often receiving the forgiveness of sins in Holy Communion.  For if we see that prayer, or if we see God’s gift of His body and blood as something to be done as a matter of rote ceremony.  Then indeed we have joined the crowd in that Jerusalem of old, who at best just came out for a parade, and at worst came for a ruler who would conquer the troublesome governments of this world.  That kind of kingdom would have all the pomp but fails in every circumstance.

Rather rejoice in your prayer, “for Thine is the Kingdom.”  For in that Christ-king we may reach forward, palms in hand, and be lifted upward into Christ’s everlasting kingdom.  It is for that future for which you were baptized, it is for that future for which you receive His forgiveness, it is for that future for which you receive His Word, it is for that future for which you receive His body and blood.  It is for that future that we pray  “for Thine is the kingdom” for we pray that we may stand on the streets of the new Jerusalem, with new restored bodies, rejoicing and waving palm branches, and evermore shouting for the true Christ-king, “Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest, blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord, Hosanna in the highest.” Amen. 

The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

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