Cry Out! | Under Pressure

Holy Week, starting with Palm Sunday, we lead

into Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter Saturday,

or as many traditions call it, an Easter Vigil,

or Easter Vespers, going into Resurrection Sunday.

There are expectations to this week. The church

seems to get fuller for this week. Maybe not

so much today, but next Sunday, Easter, we tend

to see a higher percentage of people come. Maybe

for a week or two, and then usually two, three

weeks later, we're back to whatever normal numbers

are. But there are expectations. A lot of pastors

talk about this in church staffs. This is the

Super Bowl week of the church, right? Or you

have Super Bowl week A is Christmas, B is Easter,

or vice versa. I don't know about you, but I

don't fully understand it. I've said this before.

I have colleagues that fret over what their Easter

message is going to be. I don't look at it that

way. I think it's pretty easy. Read the text.

Tell the story. Don't try to gift wrap the greatest

gift ever given with my words. But give the story

of salvation. Because it's one thing. It's a

little pastor's secret. We don't have to make

this up. It's already written. My job is to just

talk about it. To try to dive a little deeper.

To maybe look at things a little differently.

You don't take away from it. You don't add to

it. It is the word of God. It will accomplish

what it sets out to accomplish. But what happens

when the expectations of something become real

loud in our minds? Let me ask a couple questions.

What are some areas or stages of life where we

tend to have higher expectations than others?

It's a little different question, so I'll give

you a minute to think about it. What is an area

of life or different areas of life where expectations

really start to climb pretty high? That we have

pretty high expectations of a certain season

of life or maybe an event of life? Anybody? When

do you expect a lot in life? Yeah. Motherhood.

Okay. That there's a lot of high expectations

of just the whole season of motherhood, however

long that goes. Absolutely. I thought you were

going to say Mother's Day, because that definitely

has its own expectations as well, right? Others?

Yeah. Standardized. I'm so glad you didn't say

professions of faith. But standardized testing,

sure. Expectations are high, right? You kind

of get that one shot, one opportunity. I cannot

believe I just quoted Eminem in a sermon, but

I, sorry, scratched that from the record. Yeah,

other expectations. If you didn't catch that,

don't worry about it. Other expectations. Yeah.

Why did you point to them when you said weddings?

Oh, very good. Okay, yeah. Make sure Nick and

Andy show up, right? It would have been a real

different wedding, right? If all of a sudden

one of them wasn't there. But good news, I can

report they both were and they both got married.

Other expectations. Yeah. Junior and senior year

of high school. You want to break that down for

us? Yeah, right there. Junior year, you're scoping

out colleges. Senior year, you've got to finish

strong. Right? According to Bethany, freshman,

sophomore year, doesn't matter. But junior, senior

year, absolutely. Others? Politicians. We're

going to leave that one. We're just going to

right turn. Okay? We could take that many different

places. Retirement. Who was that? Was that Elaine?

That's a good one. Retirement. The expectations.

I'm going to love not working. About four days

later, I really wish I had something to do. Right?

Yeah. Or the spouse is going, I really wish you

had something to do. Absolutely. Anyone else?

Vacations. Sure. Yeah. Especially when they don't

go the way you want it to go or they're just

flat out bad. Right? Yeah. I'll give you two

since it's your professional faith day. Your

first job. Absolutely. Much like a wedding. Show

up. Right? Your first job. Yep. You want to show

up. None of you, it's interesting, none of you

said Easter. None of you said Sunday mornings.

As your pastor, I can appreciate that you don't

come with expectations, even though I think you

do. You didn't say it out loud to really not

hurt my feelings, and I appreciate that. We have

expectations. So did the Israelites. There were

expectations all around this guy, Jesus. The

Gospel of Luke really gives us and shows us what

those expectations are. Jesus brought it upon

himself. He enters those pressures by saying

the things he said, doing the things he did,

healing the people he healed. But that expectation

becomes loud. There are moments when a crowd

gets something almost right, right? Where the

expectations really start to come. Think about

the gates of Jerusalem, right? This is Passover.

This is the biggest holiday of their calendar.

And their calendar had a wide berth of a lot

of celebrations that they would do. But Passover

was it, right? I liken that to my first year

and a half of college. I was out in Pella, Iowa

at Central College. Small little town of about,

I don't know, 15 ,000. Kind of the size of Munster

until you get to tulip time. And then all of

a sudden, 15 ,000 becomes 200 ,000 in a week.

And that's not me exaggerating. The place gets

packed. Very similar to what Jerusalem was during

the Passover. Energy, high, real. Excitement,

high, real. Expectation, high, real. But their

understanding in this season was a little bit

off. Maybe you've been to a parade. Maybe you've

gone to some level of a championship game or

maybe the Super Bowl or something like that.

The moment when the crowd is loud, unified, confident,

yet they're not fully aware what's actually happening

behind the scenes. Palm Sunday fits that description.

Palm Sunday is one of those moments. It feels

like a victory parade, right? It was only a tenth

of what our kids were doing during that first

song. This was a massive, right down Broadway,

on the main street of Jerusalem. Jesus is entering,

crowds are gathering, cloaks are thrown on the

road, voices are raised and praised. And Luke

tells us, the whole multitude of his disciples

began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice.

Loud, joyful, hopeful. But if we're honest, Because

the crowd is crying out, but they don't fully

understand what kind of king is entering the

city. They all think they do, and their shouts,

Hosanna, right? Messianic verbiage, we'll get

there. They don't fully understand. Under the

pressure of this moment, something is revealed.

Not just who Jesus is, but what we expect him

to be. I also noticed that none of you, Said,

I have an expectation of Jesus in my life. We're

much like Sunday morning. I think you do. I think

if we're honest, we all have our expectations

of Jesus. So let's dive in. Luke chapter 19 with

Luke 19 · chapter mention

our first point. This moment was never an accident.

Moment never an accident. Luke 19, we'll start

in verse 28. Luke 19, starting with verse 28.

And when he had said these things, he went on

ahead going up to Jerusalem. When he drew near

to Bethpage and Bethany at the mount that is

called Olivet, he sent two of his disciples saying,

go into the village in front of you where on

entering you will find a colt tied on which no

one has ever sat. Untie and bring it here. If

anyone asks you, why are you untying it? You

shall say this, the Lord has need of it. So those

who were sent away, so those who were sent. Luke

gives us a lot of detail here. It's what I love

about the Gospel of Luke. A lot of details. Doctors,

details. Luke thinks that way. His writer wrote

that way. But he gives us a lot of details that

we can easily miss if we move too quickly. Especially

if you've been in church even longer than a year.

The Palm Sunday message is really the same message

every year. But if we pass by too quickly, we're

going to miss some things. Jesus doesn't just

ride into Jerusalem. It's not just happenstance.

Like, what are we going to do today? Jesus planned

this. Go into the village. You will find a colt

tied. Untie it, bring it here. If anyone asks,

say the Lord is in need of it. It's not spontaneous.

This isn't him rolling the dice. I hope the colt's

there. I hope that the owner's okay with it.

No, this is intentional. Carefully designed and

arranged. Much like creation. And that matters

because what Jesus is doing is not simply entering

a city. But he is staging a moment. of revelation

now we can't try to get on jesus's level the

bible says his ways are higher than our ways

and we shouldn't really try but if we really

can dive into the details luke is emphasizing

obedience and precision the cult is exactly where

jesus said it would be the question is asked

exactly the way jesus predicts and the response

is given exactly as instructed Because, let's

be honest, right? That this is, in some ways,

theft. That some of us, more on the pragmatic

or pessimistic side, we go, Jesus is an accomplice

to theft. He tells these disciples to go find

a cult that technically doesn't belong to him.

Our good Kuyperian theology would say it does

belong to him. Everything, every square inch

belongs to Christ. But he tells his disciples

to go do this. And the owner could have had a

very different response, right? Let's bring it

to 2026, right? And let's bring it to a car,

not a colt, okay? A car never been driven. I

know this is getting pretty thin, but you can

follow me, right? But let's say Jesus says, go

into this town, find this car, get into it. The

key will be in there because I don't think Jesus

would say hotwire it. I don't think that's okay.

But the key's in there. If the owner says, what

are you doing? Say, the Lord's in need of it.

Okay, take my car. That's kind of weird in 2026,

right? I've probably seen too many movies or

shows to where what usually happens in this scenario.

Anybody? What usually would happen in this scenario?

Yeah, yeah. The disciples get shot, okay, depending

on what kind of town they're in when they do

this carjacking or this cultjacking, okay? And

so, but everything seems to go, or not seems,

it goes exactly the way Jesus says. And what's

funny is Jesus isn't reacting to the moment,

isn't he? Or he's not. He's just walking into

it. He's going, this is a, yeah. That's what

you get when you're the savior of the world,

when you are the omnipotent God, what you say.

For some of us, we don't like that. It binds

us a bit. We're like, well, I want that power.

Well, you don't want to be God, believe me. You

do not want that job. But he is controlling the

moment, and here's where it gets really interesting.

During Passover, Jerusalem would already be on

edge. Historically speaking, thousands of pilgrims

are arriving, national identity is heightened,

and Roman authorities were on alert for what?

For lunch and a conversation with Pastor Jim.

What are the Romans worried about? A revolt,

right? Oh, uprising, revolt. Okay, you and Max

fight it out who gets the lot. She just got married,

okay? So she just got a ton of money. I'll take

you out. Okay, so understand that, yeah, they're

worried about rebellion. They're worried about

revolt. Absolutely. Historically, Roman governors

like Pontius Pilate, who we're going to see this

week, would offer enter Jerusalem during major

festivals, not on a donkey. That the high elite

leaders would actually do exactly what Jesus

does, but do it in a very different way. This

would be like the Macy's Day Parade, the Rose

Bowl Parade, and the Munster Fourth of July Parade,

all mixed together. And they would come in on

the most glorious war horse ever, not to be praised

by the pilgrimage Israelites of Passover, but

to say, we own... Very different kind of parade,

right? He would come, war horse, soldiers, banners,

visible power, a show of dominance reminding

Rome is in control. But that's not what happens.

Now we hold next to this image of Jesus. Likely

at the same time, another procession could be

happening, right? No soldiers, no weapons, no

banners, no empire, just a cloak, just dust,

a borrowed colt. And a crowd shouting scripture.

This is not just a humble entrance. This is a

counter procession. This is a deliberate contrast.

This is the pressure of the moment. Pontius Pilate,

all of the other high elites, they would have

gone this way with it. Jesus comes in this way

with it. Two kingdoms entering the city. One

built on power. One built on peace. But here's

Luke's deeper point. Jesus is not hiding his

identity. He is forcing the question. This is

the moment where everything becomes public. Because

up until now, what has Luke showed us? Especially

if you've been following along in the gospel

and reading through it over these last couple

weeks. Jesus is withdrawn from crowds. He has

told people to keep quiet. He has avoided premature

confrontation. But now he steps into the center

stage of it. Why? Because his time has come.

This is the beginning of the final movement toward

the cross. The Heidelberg Catechism, Lord's Day

12, reminds us Christ is our king who governs

us by word and spirit and defends and preserves

us. But here's the key. He doesn't establish

this kingship by force. There's no war horse.

There's no pomp and circumstance in a militaristic

or political way. He reveals it, and he's going

to let it be rejected. Because the king rules

not by coercion, but by sacrifice. And this is

where this presses on us. This is where in 2026

we should feel this. Because we often want Jesus

to react to us. We want him to fit our plans.

We want him to respond to our needs in a very

specific way. But Luke is showing us something

different. Jesus is not reacting. He's leading.

He's not adjusting to the moment. He's fulfilling

his mission. And that means following him is

not always comfortable because this kingdom does

not move in the direction we expect. Jesus does

not always move in the way we want him to move.

But pastor, I pray about it. I fast about it.

I talk to other people about it. I post prayer

hand emojis just for that reason. Sorry, friends,

that's not how it works. When you submit, we

should cry out like that kid's doing. In all

of the understanding of who we are, your will

be done. But, pastor, I don't like that. Well,

guess what? In a couple days, that Good Friday

service, Crown Point, 909 East Greenwood Avenue,

7 o 'clock, Crown Point, we're going to hear

the same thing come out of Jesus' mouth. Not

my will. but your will be done. And that's not

about a promotion at a job. That's not about

trying to get new brakes on your car. That has

to do with whether or not he was going to go

to the cross. And guess what he does? The king

enters, not quietly, not accidentally, but intentionally.

And now the question is no longer hidden. It

is out in the open, which takes us to verse 36

with our point two. Praise can be loud without

being deep. Hang in there. The umbrella, this

is going to hurt, guys. Okay? This one's going

to hurt. I'm going to start with me, and then

we're all going to get it. Starting with verse

36. And as he rode along, they spread their cloaks

on the road. As he was drawing near, already

on the way to the Mount of Olives, the whole

multitude of his disciples began to 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. Love that,

right? Blessed be the king in the name of the

Lord. Blessed is he. They're messianic psalms.

They are quoting Psalm 119. True praise, right?

But it's not with understanding. Because within

days, some of these same voices will fall silent

or maybe even turn. To say that the same crowd

that's saying Hosanna is the same crowd that

crucifies actually can be kind of debunked. Some

are probably the same. But understanding that

Palm Sunday reminds us that it is possible to

praise Jesus without truly surrendering to him.

And guess what, friends? How many Sundays in

a year? 52? We do a Thanksgiving service. We

do a Maundy Thursday service. Let's throw the

candlelight service in there. Maybe just for

fun, two more services. So 57 services a year

we do here at Munster Church. And we can do it

in the wrong way. We can do praise and worship

without submitting our lives to Christ, without

giving that over, and that is not how it's supposed

to be. Palm Sunday is calling all of us out.

We can sing loudly. We can show up faithfully.

We can celebrate emotionally, but still misunderstand

what Jesus came to do in your life, in my life,

in the life of the church. The catechism reminds

us that true faith is not just knowledge. But

what else? It's a knowledge and a trust. That

gut feeling, that trust. Under pressure, shallow

praise in this moment is exposed. Yet what we're

going to see is that Jesus is the king who will

not be silenced. Verse 39. 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. Don't

you love this scene? The Pharisees are like,

this is too much. I kind of see them going, la,

la, la, la, la, like they don't like it. This

is not what they would want. Jesus is getting

all the hype. They're probably worried on the

Jesus side, but they're also worried because

of the rebellion there, potentially in their

minds, and the Rome side. Like, keep it quiet

over here. This other guy's doing something over

here. In other words, they're telling Jesus to

make it stop. This is too much, they think. This

is too bold. This is too dangerous. But Jesus

responds, if this creation isn't going to cry

out, this creation will cry out. And guess what?

He can't. He can say those things. And what we

don't even realize is how staggering of a statement

that is. So he has said he is the son of man.

He has said he is the Messiah. He is now saying

he is the creator. Creation itself will always

recognize the creator. In our lives, part of

our job as believers is to recognize the creator.

Guess what? It's not us. That we are creation.

We recognize our king, our creator. If people

refuse to praise, creation will take their place.

Why? Because this moment's not optional. This

is the arrival of the king. This is the turning

point of history. This is the moment that everything

had been moving toward this moment. All of the

Torah, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy,

all of the historical books, all of the prophets,

major, minor, all the wisdom literature, all

of it is pointing toward this week. The king

will be recognized. And the question is not if

there will be praise. The question is, who is

going to give it? And let's be honest, we miss

it. And Jesus' response should really strike

our heart. He weeps over missed peace. Little

rabbit trail. One of the hardest things in the

church is conflict between congregation members,

right? When you have sheep, it's sheep versus

sheep, for whatever reason. They took your normal

parking spot, they took your seat you normally

get, they got the last cup of coffee, whatever

it was, or stuff deeper, because none of that

really matters. But understanding that we can

hurt one another. Sheep can bite other sheep.

Shepherds try to do our best, but even shepherds

can hurt sheep, sheep can hurt shepherds. It

can happen. That's why Jesus spends so much time

talking about conflict resolution and bringing

peace, restoration, those kind of things. When

we miss an opportunity to bring peace to a fellow

brother or sister, or to receive that peace,

whether a disagreement, right? We're going to

go through a next week, week and a half, where

a potential huge decision about this church is

going to get made. And there are going to be

some people that do not like it. There are going

to be some people that look at it in a completely

different way. Okay. That is part of this. And

we may do this. I hope we don't war over that.

Because that peace is there. That peace is for

us to give and for us to receive. And Jesus sees

this missed opportunity in verse 41 and he weeps

over it. 41 to 44. Then he drew near and saw

the city. He wept over it saying, would that

you, even you, had known on this day the things

that make for peace. But now they are hidden

from your eyes. For the days will come upon you

when your enemies will set up a barricade around

you and surround you and hem you in on every

side and tear you down to the ground, you and

your children within you, and they will not leave

one stone upon another in you because you did

not know the time of your visitation. What in

the world is Luke talking about here? He's weeping.

No other gospel points this part out. Luke does,

though. This weeping. It's not a quiet sadness.

This is a deep, visible grief. Why? Would you

that have known the things that would make for

peace. But Jesus, the crowds are celebrating.

Yet Jesus is weeping. Because they missed it.

They wanted a political king. They wanted someone

to overshadow the other people going through

the gates of Jerusalem on the other sides. But

what Jesus is bringing is spiritual peace. We

want the immediate victory, the immediate change.

But he's bringing eternal salvation. They want

control. He is offering surrender. And because

they reject him, Jesus foretells destruction.

This isn't just what's going to happen at the

end of this week. He's talking about Jerusalem

as a whole historically. And guess what? Jerusalem

fell. 70 AD, the temple destroyed, the city overrun.

Why? Because you did not know the time of your

visitation. Friends, they missed the moment.

They had it. It was served up on a beautiful

platter. All the little intricacies of this Palm

Sunday mean something. But they miss it. So what

does that look like in our life? When the king

comes close. When the king sometimes comes right

here, right in your face. And yet we still miss

him. And here's where the passage presses in

on us. Because Palm Sunday is not just about

them, it's about us. Jesus still comes near,

doesn't he? Through his word, through his spirit,

through worship, through those moments of conviction.

And the answer is, do you recognize him? Or do

we reshape him to fit what we're comfortable

with? One thing we've seen through this entire

sermon series is Jesus is going to enter that

uncomfortability. Yet sometimes we want him just

to be the comfortable Jesus. And so we resist

him as our king. But the one thing that Heart

of Our Catechism Lord's Day 1 reminds us is that

we belong, body and soul, to Jesus Christ. Not

partially, but completely. We can't say, Jesus,

I give you my 99 .9%. I'm just going to keep

that 0 .1 % here. I'm going to keep it in my

pocket. I'm just going to keep it with me. You

can't see it. Stay away. We can't do that. But

we belong, body and soul, in life and in death,

to our faithful Savior, Jesus Christ. Why? Because

he's paid for your sins. How? With his precious

blood. And that means his authority is not something

we admire. Oh, Jesus, you're great. Way to go,

Jesus. No, we submit our lives to it. As hard

as it is, as much as we want that control, we

submit our lives. So don't let this week just

come and go, friends. The crowds cried out today.

Their voices filled the road, filled the streets.

Praise echoed through the city. Expectations

were high. But they did not understand. They

didn't know where the road was leading this week.

Because the road does not stop at this celebration.

It moves forward. It moves forward to a table.

A table where bread will be broken, a cup will

be lifted, and Jesus will say, this is my body

given for you. From the table we will move to

a garden, a place of prayer where the weight

of sin presses so on the Son of Man, but we will

hear those faithful words, not my will, but your

will be done. And then we'll be invited to watch

there. To see obedience under pressure. To see

surrender that saves. Why? Because from the garden,

it will move through the lies and the beatings

and the floggings and the mockery to the cross.

Where the shouting will change. The praise will

turn to accusation. Where the king will be lifted

up, high and lifted up, not in triumph of in

praise, but in a bloody... sacrifice. And then

we'll be invited to stand there, to face the

reality of my sin, the reality of your sin, to

see the depth of his love, to sit in the darkness

and not rush away from the moment. Because friends,

then, only then, the cross moves to a tomb. A

silence, a waiting, a stillness where everything

seems unresolved and chaos seems to fill the

conversation. Chaos, confusion. But then we move

to the morning where the stone is rolled away,

where death itself is undone, where the king

is revealed, not just as savior, but as risen

Lord. So today we cry out, but in this week we

follow. To the table, to the garden, to the cross.

Don't turn away. Lean in. Because only those

who walk with him through the darkness will fully

understand the light of Easter morning. So this

week, my friends, come. Come to the table. Come

to the cross. Come to the empty tomb. And follow

your king. Let's pray.