Triumphant Entry

A lot of people came when they heard that Jesus was there.  They also wanted to see Lazarus, because Jesus had raised him from the dead.  The next day a large crowd was in Jerusalem for Passover  When they heard that Jesus was coming for the festival, they took palm branches and went out to greet him.  They shouted, “Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.  God bless the king of Israel.”

                                                                                          

The news of Lazarus being raised from the dead was pretty incredible and people were intrigued to get a look, both at the man who once was dead, and at the man who made it happen. 

​            Can you imagine meeting a man, who was walking around and eating with his friends, after being dead for 4 days?  Even his sisters were worried he was going to stink...can you imagine the curiosities of strangers?  What would he look like? What would he smell like?  Would he be healthy or sick? Look like life or look like death warmed over?  I'm pretty sure folks would have been lining up to see him.  And there was Jesus too....he'd be pretty cool to meet...after all he could bring people back from the dead.  

                As folks gathered for the Passover, I’m sure this story about Lazarus​ was then mixed and shared with the other stories…the ones of the other miracles…miracles of food, of healing, and of forgiveness. And it seems that people started to take hold of the hope and possibility of Jesus.  They wanted to believe. They wanted him to be something special and if others were behind

​ him​, maybe they should be too.  

So they ran to the streets, they picked up their palm branches, and they welcomed Jesus into the city. They celebrated him as a king. The​y​ shouted the ancient words of scripture: “Hosanna! Save us! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Holy is the one who is like David, who comes from his line, so that we might be led and saved from the Romans.  Hosanna! Save us Jesus!”  The people were excited and they were ready.  

Now, when we hear the story of the people on Palm Sunday, we often focus on them…what they did, and then how their tune changed later in the week. But today I want us to look at Jesus.  What was he experiencing that day?  Do you wonder if Jesus thought that maybe his story wouldn’t have to be what he believed would come to pass—that maybe the people did get it?  After all they were in the streets shouting Hosanna! And blessed be the one who comes in theme of the Lord.  Maybe they did see him for who he was—for what he’d come to do among them—for what God was doing.  I would think with celebration and acclamation Jesus probably enjoyed the moment—hopeful and joyful for the way people were responding to God’s work among them.  

But we know things didn’t stay so exuberant—not everyone was so joyful.  At the end of the day, the celebration ​of the palms ​was more hype and mob mentality than it was faithfulness and trust in God. 

 ​           That’s the bitter truth about people—we can be so flippant. We do what sounds good, what feels good, what’s popular. But we don’t always invest ourselves first. the crowds weren’t dedicated to Jesus.  Maybe they’d heard a story or two or maybe they came to use him—to see what he could do for them—but those were just surface things.  They didn’t know him. They didn’t get his work, his life, his ministry.  ​ The people did want God to do something....they wanted God to do what God had done before...to send a victor, a king, a conquerer who could take the Romans head on and kick them out of the promised land.  They wanted someone to restore what was, to bring back the past. 

​

But God doesn't go back to fix the past, God redeems it in the present and breathes new life into the future.  If we want to encounter God, we have to let go of what was, maybe with celebration or maybe with lament, but release our grip on the past so that we can move freely into the future God has designed.  ​

​                But the people weren't ready to let go.  They knew what they wanted from the past.  They knew what God had done before and so they looked for that.  Maybe Jesus could be like the former prophets...maybe he would restore Israel.  But Jesus wasn't there for the past, he was there for the present and the future.  He was focused on redeeming the present to free people to move into the future.  He was God at work among the people...just not like they anticipated, not like they remembered.  And so it was a challenge to see Jesus for who he really was, for what his ministry was for.  And the people didn't know him, they were committed​ and 

 so they were easily turned against him.

But ​Jesus  didn’t turn with them.  That’s the part that’s divine—even though the people were selfish, myopic, and uncommitted—Jesus wasn’t.  Jesus was loyal, invested, and dedicated to the bitter end—not for his sake but for theirs. He really did want the story to be different. He wanted people to invest in God, to see God at work among them, and to have hope when the world was against them.  And so he continued on…he pressed forward into the worst days of his life so he could change the worst days of our lives with hope, joy, and mercy.  

Entry of Triumph

Luke 19. Triumphal entry Sermon notes

3/24/13                    

·         History and value of Passover. 

·         People desperate to be saved [from Rome], celebrating God’s saving work in Egypt, asking God to do it again.

·         Jesus enters the scene

o   Hailed as king

o   Honored as king

o   Prophesied details

§  Green colt

§  Didn’t follow the social norms for a king, should have been a stallion

·         Celebrated by people as king (like Jehu from OT)

o   Threw their cloaks on the ground for him to walk on

·         Lauded by the disciples (a lot of them) with what is considered a “normal Passover greeting” OR a greeting for a king

o   “Blessed is the KING who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest heaven.”

§  Not just words. Not just a greeting. Part of a Psalm. Psalm 118.  For the Jews the Psalms were like songs, to know them is like knowing our hymns.  If I sing part of a hymn, you can sing the rest of it. In a similar way, if a Jew quoted part of a Psalm, the rest of it would start to come to mind for the other people.  So in using this phrase from Psalm 118, it’s not just these words that are important, it’s also the rest of the Psalm.

·         Pharisees come in and tell Jesus, “Tell your people to stop!”

·         Jesus: If it weren’t them, it’d be the rocks.

o   The rocks would shout

o   The rocks would cry out

o   The most lifeless part of creation would come alive to make this proclamation

o   “HIS LOVE ENDURES FOREVER”

o   GOD IS COMING TO SAVE US!

o   GOD IS HERE!                              

·         And the response that comes: “Oh Shut Up!”

·         And it breaks Christ’s heart. 

o   “Good grief, you just don’t get it. I am the answer. You’re gathered here remembering who God was and what God did and praying or God to please save you, to release you from the grip of the Romans and yet when that answer comes, when that prayer is finally heard, you REFUSE to see God at work. The disciples are proclaiming healing and forgiveness and new life and acceptance and inclusion—the TRUE works of God—our lie source, the true peace makers of our world, and you’re so blinded, you’re so lost all you can think to say is, “Oh just make it stop!”

·         GOD IS HERE. HIS LOVE ENDURES FOREVER.

o   God has sent an answer. His love endures forever. I am here to bring peace. I have been bringing peace—to people, to bodies, to relationships, to communities, and yet you refuse to even stop to look. FINE!

o   If you want to keep your head in the sand, then stay there. See what happens. But remember this—I gave  you the path. God showed you where to go. We offered you the chance and you, in this moment, are refusing to go.  I hurt for you. My heart breaks or you.

o   I may sound angry or harsh, but it’s because I wanted something better for you. We want what’s best for you and I hate to see you suffer.  But you are free to make your own choices. That path, the one away from God, it leads only to destruction: famine, death, fear, hopelessness, war, bitterness, resentment.  Thos aren’t what God wants for you.  But that’s what’s down that road.  I hate to see you go that way. That’s why I came, to convince you to come back over here, to remind you what God has promised, but you’re so set in your ways. 

·         For most of us, I imagine this part of scripture is really dissatisfying. It is for me.  I imagine many of us are clamoring or their second chance.  We want to cry out on the Pharisees’ behalf. 

o   “But wait! God’s love ENDURES FOREVER! You can’t do this to them. Save them! Help them! The story can’t end this way.”

o   But it does. At last today. But let’s be clear—it’s not because Jesus forsakes them.  It’s not because God is all of the sudden indifferent.  THEY CHOSE THIS! THEY PICKED THIS PATH. THEY WALKED AWAY.

o   If we look at the story as a whole, the Old Testament and the New, God has offered 100s of second chances, so many that that’s what we now bank on.  We tell ourselves that this sin or that lie or this injustice or that prejudice is ok because God’s a God of love and there’s always a second chance. 

o   We flippantly say to God, “Yeah, not this time, I’ll catch ya next time. I promise next time it will be different. “

§  It’s as if what God offers us, and in turn asks of us, is worthless.  Not in our heads.  Of course not. We don’t actually think that grace and mercy and forgiveness are worthless. No. Of course not. And yet, often, when presented the opportunity, we just walk away from the path God has for us.  And by choosing away from God, or burying our heads in the sand and refusing to even look at righteousness, or peace, or justice, we have undervalued God’s gift for us.  We’ve counted it as worthless. Because honestly, if we really wanted it, wouldn’t we go after it with all we have and all we are?

·         Jesus was there with the Jews, the disciples, the Pharisees, all of them.  The face of God staring them in the face; the TRUE answer for peace knocking at their door and yet he didn’t fit their mold. He wasn’t the answer they anticipated, wasn’t what they wanted, or what they thought they needed. And so they pushed him away. The best of what God had to offer—deemed worthless--expendable.

·         The point for us is not “oh man they were clueless” or “how dare they?”  Our point should always lead us to self reflection—how closely does this resemble me?  Am I pleading and praying and waiting for God to answer and then refusing to follow when God tries to lead me?  Am I choosing my own path or have I chosen God’s? 

·         Do I value peace and justice and mercy and forgiveness and reconciliation and inclusion as invaluable or do I only use them when they come in handy?  Do I seek them when it’s hard, when it goes against the grain? Or only when they have the popular vote? 

o   We like to demonize the Pharisees as the bad guys. But the reality is they were faithful people stuck in the old views and expectations of God.  They were unwilling or unable to see the new things God was doing in Christ.  We can become like them when we refuse to veer from the path we’ve deemed as God’s and instead choose the path God deemed as God’s.