2011 04 17 From Palms to Passion
Matthew 21:1-11 (Palm), Psalm 118:1, 19-20, 22-27, 29, Matthew 27:27-54 (Passion)
A journey. You and I over the past few weeks have been on a journey. Back on Ash Wednesday, we decided from which things we would fast, and how we would deepen our relationship with Christ. Our journey is nearing its completion. We are only one week away from Easter, and then our lives and return to normal.
In reality, that’s not really the case. It is this week ahead of us that changes our lives forever. It is this week ahead of us that prevents us from ever returning to what we might have once called “normal”. It is Holy Week. If your journey through Lent has been non-eventful…if your time of fasting has not produced any spiritual fruit, then pay attention over these next seven days. Clear out your schedules. Get your noses out of your electronically dictated lives, and open your Bibles, pray, and focus your hearts on the final days of Christ.
For Jesus, this week started simply enough. It was almost time for the Passover, and Jesus wanted to be in Jerusalem. For some time, Jesus has been staying out of Jerusalem. His teachings attracted many followers, but they also created many enemies. Jesus was a wanted man, and should he come back to Jerusalem, there would definitely be people looking for him.
As Jesus and the disciples approached the city, he sent two disciples ahead of him to fetch a donkey upon which he would ride. There are a couple of reasons for this: 1.) He did so to fulfill the prophecy of Zechariah 9:9 “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, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” 2.) Jesus did so as a sign of his humility.
Pastor Doug Gildenmeister reminded us this past Wednesday at the Lenten Luncheon that there were many means by which Jesus could have arrived in Jerusalem. Obviously, he could have walked. Jesus could have arrived by chariot. He could have been carried on the shoulders of his faithful disciples. He could have ridden a white horse leading an army of men and angels. Jesus could have flown into Jerusalem on a flying carpet if he wanted. Instead, he entered the mighty city of God…on a young donkey.
His entrance into the city did not go unnoticed. Crowds gathered. People from all over Judah and Israel would be gathered together for the Passover celebration. Many would have witnessed his miracles first-hand. Others would have heard of his powerful teaching. Most of the people would be familiar with Zechariah’s prophecy. Without a doubt the crowds would have known who Jesus was, and they celebrated! They spread their cloaks on the road and placed palm branches in his path. "Hosanna to the Son of David!" "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" "Hosanna in the highest!" The crowds were celebrating more than just the arrival of a great prophet. They celebrated the coming of their king! Hosanna! Save us! Save us…but from what?
All throughout his ministry, there have been people following Jesus for all the wrong reasons. They came with their sick, but only because they wanted to save their loved ones…not to worship him. They followed him because he provided fish and bread to eat…not because he was the bread of life or that he offered them living water. They welcomed Jesus because they wanted to be saved from the Romans…not from their sins.
The people in the crowds just wanted to be part of the show. They wanted to be a part of the festivities. If Jesus went on to kick the Romans out and rule on the throne of Jerusalem, they could say, “Jesus…remember me? I was there when you first entered Jerusalem. Yeah…I was the one with the palm branches. Yep…that was me! I always believed in you Jesus! Hey…uh…can I have a job?” But…if things went south. If things turned sour, they could deny they ever knew him. “Jesus? Nope, never heard of him. You must have seen someone else.”
The crowds were a fickle bunch. They would love you…as long as they got what they wanted out of you. Just a few days after the crowds welcomed Jesus with palm branches and hosannas, they crowds, they now screamed with clenched fists…”CRUCIFY HIM!” The crowds wanted Jesus to save them, and that’s exactly what he came to do…just not the way they expected or wanted. They wanted a king, but Jesus came to be their savior…and the savior of all mankind.
The crowds did not understand this, and I suspect that many of us today have trouble as well. Jesus came in humility to be the sacrifice all humanity’s sin, and he came to give new life. I have three things I want to say about Jesus’ journey to the cross.
First off, there can be no humility without enduring humiliation. It is easy for anyone to talk a good game, but we want to see people walk the walk, especially when the walk is difficult. Jesus was humiliated physically as he we struck repeatedly and spit upon by the priests and elders. He was humiliated emotionally by the soldiers who dressed him in purple and placed a crown of thorns on his head. I believe that he was humiliated even spiritually, as his closest friends and followers abandoned him. Jesus at any time during his ordeal could have rejected the claims he made about being the messiah. Doing so would have shortened his punishment or quickened the suffering of his death. Most of the people expected Jesus to weaken under the pain, but he didn’t. Jesus could have called upon angels or his Father in heaven to take him away from that place. But always remember, Jesus was humble, and humility without humiliation is false humility. Jesus must endure is humiliation at the hands of men in order to be humble in the eyes of his father.
There can be no sacrifice without suffering. Jesus came to earth as the Messiah…the Christ, the anointed one who would save people from their sins. In the sacrificial system instituted back in the time of Moses, animals would be sacrificed. Their blood was spilled to cover sin. Nowadays, if a person mistreats a dog, cat, horse, cow, or even a mouse, someone calls the SPCA, and that person is brought up on charges and possibly even jailed. In our society, we cannot stand the thought of an animal suffering, and the idea of an animal sacrificed to god seems foreign and cruel. But maybe that is exactly the point. For God, it was better that an animal suffer pain and death, than for his people to suffer eternal death and separation from God.
But in going to the cross, the suffering of Jesus did not just cover the sins of a person or a family, it defeated sin in the world. Through the suffering of one man, all mankind could have the opportunity to suffer no more in the darkness of sin. No more would the blood of animals need to be spilled. 1 Peter 2:24 reminds us that by his stripes…by his wounds…by his suffering…by his blood, are we healed, and the right relationship between God and man has been restored. The Lamb of God went to the cross in order that the bloodshed could stop.
There can be no humility without humiliation. There can be no sacrifice without suffering. Finally, there can be no life, unless death has been tasted first. In the early Church, there were a number of heresies which claimed that Jesus did not die. Some claimed that Jesus did not have a real body, but that he was just a spirit or ghost. Without a physical body, Jesus only appeared to die. In another heresy, some believed that Jesus was a real human being, but that God could not allow him to die and at the last moment, substituted a physical or spiritual look alike on the cross.
What the Church of Jesus Christ knows in its mind and believes in its heart, is that Jesus Christ really was a man who died on the cross of Golgotha. He was no ghost, spirit, or apparition, he was the Son of God, the Word made flesh, God who became man. He did not only endure humiliation. He did not only suffer pain and misery. As Christians, we believe that this man died for our sins…because he had to.
John 12:24 I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. 25 The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.
Jesus’ death on the cross was absolutely necessary because it was only with his death that there could be a resurrection. Only in his death can we die to sin. Only through his death, can death be finally stripped of its power over the world. There can be no life, unless death has been tasted first. This is the power and the symbolism of baptism. We are lowered into death. We share in the death of Christ, so that as he is raised in the power of resurrection, we too are raised. There can be celebration of new life at Easter unless the pain of death is felt on Good Friday.
For Jesus, it was a short journey from palms to passion, from joy to sorrow, from life to death. This week…this Holy Week…remember why we are here. Remember the joy of Jesus’ victorious entry into Jerusalem, but especially on Friday remember the humiliation. Remember the pain and suffering. Remember the death of Jesus Christ. Then remember why he did it. And if you cannot remember why Jesus bore the cross and died, all you have to do is look in the mirror. Remember that he died for you, and God wanted you to have life..and have life to the fullest. Then come back next Sunday, and you’ll really have a reason to celebrate.
