Luke 19:29-44
(sermon note:
When he had come near Bethphage and Bethany, at the place called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of the disciples, saying, ‘Go into the village ahead of you, and as you enter it you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, “Why are you untying it?” just say this: “The Lord needs it.” ’ So those who were sent departed and found it as he had told them. As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, ‘Why are you untying the colt?’ They said, ‘The Lord needs it.’ Then they brought it to Jesus; and after throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. As he rode along, people kept spreading their cloaks on the road. As he was now approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power 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 heaven!’
Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, ‘Teacher, order your disciples to stop.’ He answered, ‘I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.’
As he came near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, ‘If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. Indeed, the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up ramparts around you and surround you, and hem you in on every side. They will crush you to the ground, you and your children within you, and they will not leave within you one stone upon another; because you did not recognize the time of your visitation from God.’
This morning’s reading reminds me of the one about a little boy named Johnny who was sick on Palm Sunday and stayed home from church with his mother. Later the morning, his father returned from church holding a palm branch. Johnny was curious and asked, “Why do you have that palm branch, Dad?” “You see, when Jesus came into town, everyone waved palm branches to honor him, so we got palm branches today.” Johnny grumbled, “Oh sure, the only Sunday I miss is the Sunday that Jesus shows up!”
I don’t know what is sadder: that Johnny missed out on celebrating Jesus’ triumphal entry or that Johnny felt that Jesus wasn’t at his church the other 51 Sundays of the year?? Of course, we know he simply misinterpreted what his father told him, that it’s an annual celebration to remember Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem at the start of his last week before being crucified so long ago. Every year for several centuries now, the church has set apart this Sunday as a commemorative Sunday of the joy that the people of Jerusalem felt when Jesus and his disciples came into their city. If we think about it, it’s kind of an odd celebration. It wasn’t the first time that Jesus had been to Jerusalem. Every year he had gone to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover festival, even during the three years of his public ministry. This was the third year that he had returned to Jerusalem for the festival and never before had he received such a fanfare of shouting and palm branches. I suppose he needed those three years to build a solid reputation of healing and teaching to warrant such praise and adoration from the people of Jerusalem. But still, it’s odd that the church decided at some point in the last 2,000 years to annually recreate the celebration. We know his visit to Jerusalem didn’t end well for Jesus. How can we celebrate alongside the people of Jerusalem knowing full well that they will crucify Jesus him by the end of the week? Well, they didn’t know they were going to crucify him. They were hopeful that Jesus would somehow save them from the oppressive forces around them, namely the Romans and religious leaders. We can celebrate alongside them in their hopefulness. We, too, can hope that Jesus will somehow save us from the oppressive forces around us. We might not have an oppressive government or church like they did but sin and death are very much a part of our world too. And sometimes I question the oppressiveness of our economy. A capitalist economy is good for physically and mentally strong people. I wonder how good it is for physically and mentally weak people. Or those who, through no fault of their own, slip through the cracks. Or those who don’t have any help from anyone. Our economy can be pretty unfair and oppressive which is all to say that the salvation Jesus has to offer is just as relevant and important as it was 2,000 years ago. Friends, Jesus saves all the oppressed people of this world! No one and nothing can claim to do all that Jesus does! In Jesus there is true salvation and that’s what we’re celebrating today.
The people of Jerusalem had a hunch of the salvation that Jesus offers but they didn’t know the full extent of it. They wanted to be saved from the Roman and religious leaders, but they weren’t their true problems. No, the leaders were just extensions of broken systems. The Roman and Jewish institutions were broken institutions. They needed someone like Jesus to come along and overturn them. And boy, did Jesus overturn them! And he was relentless in overturning them! Jesus understands that beneath all broken systems and institutions there is the root cause of sin and death. Now then, how do we get rid of sin and death? Well, we can’t get rid of death, nor do we necessarily want to get rid of death. Recall from last week that death certainly has a purpose and use in this world. Some things need to die for birth and rebirth to happen. Sin, on the other hand, serves no purpose or use in this world other than simply leading us to death. Jesus understands this all so what does he do? He takes the sin of the world into death! He overpowers sin and shows us that sin is only as strong as we allow it to be. We have power over sin through Christ! But maybe we’re getting a little ahead of ourselves…
This week we are celebrating Jesus’ mighty powers of salvation. Like the joyful people of Jerusalem, we ought to take this day to give praise to our God. Our God is an awesome God and can do wonderful things in our lives…even save us! We ought to praise our God as David praised him over and over again in his psalms. In psalm 95, he boldly sings, “O come, let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise! For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods. In his hand are the depths of the earth; the heights of the mountains are his also. The sea is his, for he made it, and the dry land, which his hands have formed. O come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker! For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. O that today you would listen to his voice.” (vs. 1-7) And in psalm 150, David reminds us, “let everything that breathes praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!” (vs. 6)
It is a joyful day because Jesus saved not only the people of Jerusalem but us as well. Jesus will again go to the cross for us and our salvation. Why? Because he deeply loves us and wants us set free from our bondage to sin and death. He wants us to live without fear and full of joy. Let us praise him as David praised him and give thanks for the sacrifice he made on our behalf. Thanks be to God!
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
