WHAT DO WE HAVE TO LOSE?

Sermon for Palm Sunday

5 April, AD 2009

TEXT:  St. Matthew 21:1-13

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.  Amen.

“And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way; others cut down branches from the trees, and strawed them in the way.  And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David:  Blessed is he that cometh in the Name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest.’  And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the money-changers, and the seats of them that sold doves, and said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.” (St. Matthew 21:8-9, 12-13).

        Today the Church remembers and commemorates the triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem.  You can almost feel the electricity in the air!  He entered into that great city of God in a manner that, at once, signified His Messianic Kingship and His great humility.  For the people who went before and behind Him recalled to memory the words of the prophet Zechariah in chapter 9, verses 9 and 10 which prophesy the coming of Zion’s King with these words,

“Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion!  Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem!  Behold, your King comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.  I will take away the chariots from Ephraim and the war-horses from Jerusalem, and the battle bow will be broken.  He will proclaim peace to the nations.  And His rule will extend from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth!”

These words were spoken more than five hundred years before the event we celebrate today and they point directly to and were fulfilled when Jesus came into Jerusalem.  Jesus has finally removed all doubt about who He is and what He is.  Although what kind of King and Saviour He is has yet to be revealed.  For as the people proclaimed Him King, indeed, that was a very loaded symbol.  The multitude rejoiced in Jesus’ Kingship, while the religious authority of the Jews and the military authority of Rome felt very threatened.  It was one thing for this insurrectionist to be preaching, teaching, and healing in the countryside and environs around the great city, but it was quite another when He presumed to enter Jerusalem with this rabble who followed Him proclaiming Him King.  Something had to be done about it!  So while we rejoice on this Palm Sunday with the crowd and welcome Jesus into the midst of our own lives, we have to remember that this is just the beginning of the story.  Just as the crowds who, on this day rejoiced with Jesus and gladly proclaimed Him King, we have to remember that in just a few short days hence, they will bow to political pressure and desert him and deny even knowing Him when He is arrested on Thursday evening!  We, on the other hand, cannot afford to do this.  We are reminded of that fact within the tone of this service.  While it begins with rejoicing, it suddenly turns solemn at the reading of the Passion.  Because the Resurrection on Easter morning is meaningless if we jump from Palm Sunday to Easter without walking through the Garden of Gethsemane and on up to Calvary on Good Friday.  Sacrifice is meaningless unless it costs something!

        But thankfully right now, today, all of that is yet to be.  We rejoice with the multitude that Jesus has come into our lives as our King and Saviour; that He was obedient to God the Father and humbled Himself in that obedience to God’s will.  We remember, too, the ramifications of Advent Sunday when this Gospel is read as the Gospel of the day; and just as Jesus entered Jerusalem, He came into human history at His birth on Christmas and we immediately look forward to and can rely on the promise of His second coming, when He will bring all things into subjection unto Himself and the Kingdom of God will be fully revealed and manifested upon earth.  As our celebration of Our Lord’s Body and Blood reveals the eternal worship and Sacrifice to God that is offered continuously in Heaven, so today gives us a glimpse of God’s eternal plan for our Salvation as His people.  We cannot help but recall the words of the psalmist in Psalm 24, paraphrased in hymn 484 which acknowledges Our Lord’s coming to us on this day!

Lift up your heads, ye mighty gates;

Behold the King of Glory waits!

The King of kings is drawing near;

The Saviour of the world is here!

Fling wide the portals of your heart;

Make it a temple, set apart

From earthly use for heaven’s employ,

Adorned with prayer and love and joy.           

That’s the call.  Now comes our response;

Redeemer, come!  I open wide

My heart to thee:  here, Lord, abide!

Let me thy inner presence feel:

Thy grace and love in me reveal.

So come, my Sov’reign; enter in!

Let new and nobler life begin;

Thy Holy Spirit guide us on,

Until the glorious crown be won.

Who is the King of Glory?  Jesus Christ!  He is the King of Glory.  On this, the beginning of Holy Week, one of the holiest of all times of the year, examine yourselves and put all that has happened in our life together behind you, open the portals of your heart, let Jesus in, and walk with Him during this last week of His earthly life.  What do we have to lose?  What could possibly be more important than the reconciliation and salvation of our soul?

And now, unto God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost be ascribed all might, majesty, power, and dominion as is most justly due this day both now and forever; world without end.  Amen.                                             SOLI DEO GLORIA – JEU+