Lent: Palm Sunday

Well, good morning.

So we're finally here.

We've been journeying through Lent.

Lent is the season leading up to Easter, Resurrection Sunday.

And so today is the Sunday headed into Holy Week.

And Holy Week you have Monday, Thursday.

So Thursday is the Last Supper, Jesus with his disciples, and then you have Friday.

You have Good Friday when Jesus was crucified, and then Easter Sunday.

So we have today, we have Master Sunday, is what we have today, right?

I'm surprised any of you are here.

You're not at home preparing, preparing with your getting your couch ready and your Doritos and getting everything lined up.

But it is Palm Sunday, and so we're going to talk about Palm Sunday.

This is also important, uh, equally with the Masters, perhaps more, hopefully more.

And so let's talk about it.

Let's talk about what Palm Sunday is, means, what it has anything to do with your life.

And so at this point, Jesus was a rock star.

He was this poor rabbi from the north, and he had he had built a following uh through his teachings and his miracles, and he the the the crowds are coming around at this point.

I mean, this is this is big time, and he is coming into Jerusalem, and it is Passover.

So there are hundreds of thousands of people who have journeyed into Jerusalem for this huge festival, and then Jesus is coming in, and so he's outside, like in a little suburb town, and he's headed in and he sends two disciples ahead of him.

He says, Go ahead of me, you're gonna find a donkey, you're gonna find a cult, they're gonna be tied up, bring me those two.

And this is what we read in Matthew 21.

Christie read it in Matthew 21, 4 and 5, uh, when he brought they brought the donkey, and Jesus rides in on the donkey, and it says this in verse 4 this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying, Say to the daughter of Zion, Behold, your king is coming to you.

Humble, and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.

So this scene develops.

This rabbi, huge following, he's coming into Jerusalem.

Thousands and thousands and thousands of people are lining the streets in him coming in.

I mean, this is quite the scene.

It's a strange sight, though, because if you remember, a donkey is a symbol of humility.

It's not regality, it's not power, it's a symbol of humility, it's a symbol of peace.

Now, through another gate, the governor of Rome would have come in.

He would have arrived there, he would have arrived with cavalry, he would have arrived on a horse, a big regal horse, and there would have been chariots and soldiers and drums beating, quite a different scene.

Quite a different scene.

And all of it would have been to show power, and the crowds would have been shouting there, not Hosanna, they would have been shouting, hail to Pilate, hail to Caesar, and all of that was a show of force, raw power, power to get your allegiance, not humility and lowness and love to get your allegiance, power to force your allegiance.

Because it was one message.

You mess with Rome, if you mess with Rome, you're messing with power, and we will crush you.

So you'll you'll be you'll have allegiance towards us.

But Jesus, of which through whom all things were created, you're talking about real power, and enters on a donkey.

But he can be fierce too.

That's what's so interesting about this story, is not shortly after he enters, he goes and he flips tables.

He flips tables in Jerusalem at the Temple Mount, where these people are selling sacrifices, they're selling these animals, and so people then can go make the sacrifices up at the temple, and so these people have turned this spiritual, meaningful uh you know, system of sacrificing the Old Testament, turned it into money making, and he goes and he just sees that all this is just perverted and wrong, and he flips tables.

I mean, he is he is irate, he is fierce, he's fierce.

So he's no pushover.

So why is he entering this way?

Right?

If he's no pushover and he is powerful, why?

Why enter on a donkey?

You go, well, it's a fulfilled prophecy ahead of time.

Okay, I get that, but why?

Why even the prophecy for him to fulfill it later?

Why?

Why enter this way?

Well, the past couple of months, I started reading C.

S.

Lewis's Narnia books to my two oldest girls.

This is a series of books.

Maybe you've seen the movie, a series of five books, and Narnia is one of the books.

And the first book is called The Magician's Nephew.

And so we just read a few pages at a time.

And Diggory and Polly, these little kids in the story, they're hopping between different worlds, like different spheres.

Like they hop in these different ponds of water and they pop up in a different world.

And so eventually they pop up in this world that's just blank.

There's nothing in it except the sound.

There's this beautiful, beautiful sound.

And out of this sound, the sound is causing creation.

Like, like literally, as this song is being sung, and it's coming from somewhere.

They don't know where it's coming from.

It's coming from somewhere, from someone, or they're not quite sure where it's coming from.

They're overwhelmed by it.

And so I'm reading this, and at the same time, my girls, like, they're on the floor and they're in blankets, and I'm I'm like, are they paying attention?

And you know, you start to get mad if you have kids, you know what I'm talking about, because you're reading and you're like, hey, I could move on to Survivor if you're asleep.

Because I still like Survivor.

I know it's been 15 years, but I'm still there.

I am still watching it.

I don't know what you want to move on to, but you know the feeling.

You're like, I'm doing this for you, you're not paying attention, and now I'm getting mad.

And I'm hitting the point where I'm starting to get mad, and I'm just gonna send them off, like you're gone.

And then I read this paragraph.

Now read this paragraph.

They made you feel excited.

This is talking about seeing all this creation.

They made you feel excited until you saw the singer himself, and then you forgot everything else.

It was a lion, huge, shaggy, and bright.

It stood facing the rising sun.

Its mouth was wide, open in song, and it was about 300 yards away.

And I read that, and literally, two little kids down there, my two little kids who aren't, I didn't think they were paying attention, they literally just turned to me and their eyes are wide open.

It's a lion.

I mean, it's all of a sudden, I mean, all of a sudden they are in.

They are in, they are they are scared.

They are into this and they are scared, and we're in our den and they're like, what?

What is what's going on?

What do you all of a sudden, just a couple chapters later, listen to this paragraph?

And this is Diggory gets up the courage, that character gets up the courage to talk to the lion.

And there's been a lot of buildup, like talking to this fierce lion.

A lot of buildup because he's not the type of creature you bargain with.

A lot of buildup.

But please, please, won't you?

Can't you give me something that will cure mother because his mom's sick?

Up till then he had been looking at the lion's great feet and the huge claws on them.

Now, in his despair, he looked at his face.

What he saw surprised him as much as anything in his whole life.

For the tawny face was bent down near his own, and wonder of wonders, great shining tears stood in the lion's eyes.

They were such big, bright tears compared to Diggory's own, that for a moment he felt as if the lion must really be sorrier about his mother than he was himself.

And I can just see my little girl's brain just blowing up.

Like, how do you how do you process this?

Big, fierce power with tears.

Okay, then this is Jesus.

All things are created through him.

Flips tables, but he's on a donkey.

And Lewis's point in this story is that God is not tame, but he is good.

And so here on a donkey, God is speaking two truths into the world for us, two truths that I at least that I'm seeing in the story, at least this year, next year we'll have a different couple truths.

Point number one: God approaches you in humility.

God approaches you in humility, in lowness.

Right?

That phrase was in that verse we've read, your king is coming.

This is an intimidating, fear-filled thought.

Your king is coming.

I mean, am I gonna respond well to that?

You ever had your boss over for dinner?

How do you feel about that?

Get a little overwhelmed with that.

Is everything lined up?

Is everything fixed?

Am I gonna be okay?

Am I gonna perform well?

Am I gonna say everything right?

Do you remember when you used to have to call a girl to ask her out?

You had to talk to her mom or dad first, right?

And you're thinking that through.

And then you talk to her and you ask her out, and then you get off the phone and say you get the date.

Say you get it.

And you just replay everything.

Oh, you replay everything you said with her mom, and were you cordial, and were you not, and then with her, and then say you go on the date.

Say you go on the date.

You finish the date, and you replay all of that.

Or it's a big meeting, or you meet somebody, like somebody you really respect.

Somebody say you meet somebody who has power, who has power over your life, who has power to change the trajectory of your career or your family or of your economics.

Imagine you meet that person and imagine the thoughts and the fear you would have to perform well in that situation.

Okay?

Your king is coming, is a thought that puts us into a lot of anxiety.

But this king's on a donkey.

See, that changes everything.

His approach toward you changes everything for you.

Because he's on a mission not to force allegiance on a regal horse and soldiers and raw power.

He's on a mission to create in you gracious, abiding, loving unity with him.

A couple of months ago, our family, the five of us, were packed in our car, headed to Florida for winter break.

You know the scene.

Family all packed in a big SUV, bikes on the back.

It's clear we are headed out.

And so we have been going for about seven hours at this point, and I'm zooming along down in Florida, just headed along, having a great time because all the girls have their headphones on.

Headphones are on, we're happy.

Christy and I are happy.

No judgment on screen time on traveling.

Just play another movie.

It doesn't matter.

Just keep it going, keep it going until we get there, and then we'll have some screen time ideals at that point.

But this point, it's just headphones are on, and we are happy.

We're zooming along, and then there's some blue lights behind us.

And so just immediately, you know the feeling, just stomach drops, you know, and you just fear, talk about your king is coming, right?

I mean, just fear.

Let's go ahead.

What have I done?

Or, you know, where am I?

All of a sudden you're let me know where you're at.

You're immediately from cruising.

How fast are you going?

I'm not sure, I'm not sure.

We pull over, you can pull over, now you can pull over on pull over here, pull over there.

The girls, all of a sudden, you know, because you pull off on the side of the road, and so all their headphones come off.

What's going on?

But you know, one turns around, there's a cop and you go, are you going to jail?

Are you going to jail?

You know, what's going on?

What's going on?

You know, it's like power.

Real power has shown up and is behind us.

And they know it, and I know it, and I'm looking in that side mirror.

I know how this works.

So we get the license out, get everything ready beforehand.

I'm not reaching for anything, okay?

Not reaching, not reaching down or for anything when cop is next to me, okay?

I'm watching the news, not reaching, hands are up high entire time.

Hands are up high, yes, sir, no, sir, no problem.

I grew up in a small town.

That's all you say.

Yes, sir, no, sir, no problem.

That's how you that's how that's how you do it, okay?

Hands on the so I'm looking, big, burly, six-year-old policeman gets out of the car, raw power coming at me.

I roll down, pre-roll down my window, roll down my window, and I roll down my little girl's window behind me.

You know I did this, right?

Because he's gonna look in that window, and the first thing he's gonna see is a cute little four-year-old with her headphones on, Chick-fil-A cup in her lap.

And then he's gonna see, I have two other girls.

He's gonna start doing the math.

Three colleges, three weddings.

And I'm playing that card.

How dare you give me a ticket once you see the back of my car?

So that window is down, my window's down, he comes up, I am so nervous.

Your king is coming, I'm so nervous because it is power, it is raw power, and I hand over the license, and just nervous, and it and it ends up my we had the bikes and the license plates behind the bikes, and you can't see the license plate.

And so in Florida, you have to get the license plate on the on the far side of the bike so it can be visible.

And he says, you know, I just I just you know, I didn't want you to, I didn't want you to uh get a ticket for that if you get pulled over for speeding later on, they add that on, and I'm just gonna give you a warning.

And I'm like, hey, no, no problem, I'm fixing that as soon as I get there.

This is no problem.

And then and then he begins to tell me about his grandkids in North Carolina and how he goes and visits them and he drives up to North Carolina.

I'm sort of wondering how long do I need to be pastoral and nice to get the warning?

I want the warning, but I've also been in the car for seven hours and we're on the side of the expressway.

But I'm being nice, tell me all about your grandkids, that's great.

How often you f you fish?

What do you fish for?

And I'm sort of going, you know, hurry it up, head on back to the car because I know you got to go back there and do all that paperwork.

So eventually he goes back.

He goes back.

We build a good friendship, and then he returns to his car and he writes it up.

Now, I'm looking in the side mirror again.

He gets out of his car.

Remember the first time I saw him get out of his car?

I I I was I was fearful.

It was raw power coming at me.

Now, this time it was totally different.

I saw him completely different this time.

Same guy, same walk, but now I know his intent toward me.

And because I know his intent toward me, it changes everything.

See, we we all know God's approaching us.

And it may be better put, God's at the core of our beings.

And we know this, but do we understand his intent toward us?

Is it that first walk?

Right?

Is it that first walk and you're a little scared?

All that power, you know, is gonna force us, you know, is he disappointed us?

Is he gonna condemn us?

He's gonna put us to work, is he gonna make us pay something back?

Is that this God?

Or is it all the same authority?

All the same authority, all the same power, the same guy.

Is it all the same, but low and loving and for you, right?

I mean, that's that's what Lewis was saying in the Narnia books.

He is strong and mighty, but he is good, and he is for you.

That's why Jesus is on a donkey and making his way into Jerusalem, and those streets are lined and they're packed, and people are laying down their cloaks on the street, and others are lying down, they're laying down these palms and they're singing Hosanna, Hosanna on the highest, Hosanna to the son of David, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, Hosanna on the highest, and like David was saying, comes from Psalms.

This is a song they would have all known.

It's like a soccer game in Europe, right?

And they all know the same songs and they're all chanting it, they're singing it.

That's what's going on here.

All these people know this song, and they're all singing it.

But it's sort of bizarre also because these palm branches are a nationalistic symbol.

It was on their coin.

And so part of these people, not all of them, but part of these people had this idea of like he's coming to free us from Rome.

They don't get that it's deeper, that it's bigger than politics.

And so some of these people are saying, Hosanna, save us from Rome, free us, save us because we are weak.

But this is about more than that.

This is about who we are as people, whether, no matter what form of government you are under, no matter what race you're in, no matter where you live.

And so point number two is this this last point, just two points.

Last point.

Point number two God is strong, yet chooses to be made weak, so you can be weak as you are, which makes you strong.

I'll say that again.

God is strong, yet chooses to be made weak, so you can be weak as you are, which makes you strong.

Right?

You can finally admit the thing you've been avoiding your whole life.

I'm not perfect.

I'm not as strong as I pretend to be.

I don't always have it together.

My thoughts and my motives and my behaviors are inward bent.

I love to justify my existence, not by God's centrality in my life, but by my production and how I look and what I do and who I know.

I think I'm a good person by how righteous I am, or just by comparing myself to you, and so I'll just do a little bit better than you, or just degrade you a little bit, and then I'll think I'm righteous, or you know what?

I'll escape from it all.

I'll call it all rubbish and do whatever I want, make myself my own God.

And all of it is sin.

All of that is sin.

That's what sin is.

It's self-saving.

And it's exhaustion trying to redeem yourself.

That's why we say Hosanna.

We say, deliver me from this way of existing and living and being.

And Jesus, God incarnate, shows up in our weakness, taking it on at the cross, deeming us righteous and strong in God's sight by the work on his cross.

So while we are still weak and sinful, we're wonderfully deemed righteous in his work for us, and we're being made new and being made strong by his word.

For two weeks, I've just been thinking about this passage.

I think for a lot of us it's just for us to realize it's what we talk, we talk about over and over and over again here at our church, is that we don't have to wake up each morning into that town of Shaneville or Merrittville.

Like those, you know what I'm talking about waking up in those villages.

You walk into your bathroom and you look into the mirror, and the first thing you think is, I need to lose 10 pounds.

First thought.

Good morning.

Good morning, you.

I need to lose 10 pounds.

I wish I'd done more than my life.

I wish I was a little bit better.

I wish I hadn't got that wrong.

If only I had gotten her, if only I'd gotten him.

If I could only achieve that goal, right?

I mean, meritville, shameville, and all of that is sacrificing.

It's making, it's sacrificing yourself over and over and over again to a God of shame or a God of merit that will never fulfill your satisfying.

You can't redeem you, only condemn you.

And that's that lining up, sacrifice after sacrifice after sacrifice, day after day after day.

And this Palm Sunday march into Good Friday at the cross, into Easter Resurrection Sunday, is about all of that being over.

That's what this is about.

That Jesus is the final sacrifice, which means you no longer have to keep sacrificing yourself.

He who is strong was made weak at the cross.

So we who are weak are perfectly loved in him while we're weak, which makes us strong.

So, my brothers and sisters, may you find your faithfulness.

May you find your faithfulness and your strength and his good, loving regard toward you.

Let's pray together.

God, thank you for this week of remembrance that we come into that begins with your humility.

That you hold all the power in the world to sustain the world.

And yet you are riding on a donkey into a town of people filled with fittleness toward you.

And you will go to the cross.

And even on the cross, say forgive them, they don't know what they're doing.

Thank you for your humility and lowliness that brings to us redemption.

For you have taken on our weakness, you have taken on our sin, and you have given to us our righteousness, and we are your forever beloved.

Because of your good word for us.

Help us when we feel weak to live in that weakness to confess it, and not ignore it or run from it or pretend.

In our sin to confess it.

And to turn our eyes back on Jesus' great word for us.

Which makes us strong.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.