SAVE NOW!

A Sermon for Palm Sunday
March 16, 2008
Pastor Laura Gentry

Matthew 21:1-11
When they had come near Jerusalem and had reached Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, "Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, just say this, 'The Lord needs them.' And he will send them immediately." This took place to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet, saying, "Tell the daughter of Zion, Look, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey." The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them; they brought the donkey and the colt, and put their cloaks on them, and he sat on them. A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of him and that followed were shouting, "Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!" When he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in turmoil, asking, "Who is this?" The crowds were saying, "This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee." (NRSV)

Grace and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

“Hosanna!” they shout at Jesus as he enters the great city of Jerusalem. “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” They welcome Jesus into the city with open arms. They show great enthusiasm, waving branches as he comes. It must have been a marvelous parade! How exciting to see Jesus riding in upon a colt and being heralded as the prophet from Nazareth.

But wait a minute! Aren’t these the same people who make up the crowd who will turn on him by the end of the week and throw their angry fists in the air? Aren’t they the same ones that will soon beg Pilate to “Crucify Him!” Aren’t they the bloodthirsty crowd who would rather see a convicted felon, Barabas, released than allow Jesus to live? From “Hosanna” to “Crucify him!” Quite a change in public opinion in one week’s time. What’s going on here?

This story begins with the explanation of how Jesus' disciples obtain the colt upon which Jesus will ride into Jerusalem. Matthew makes it clear that Jesus’ entrance into the Holy City upon this young donkey is another fulfillment of Zechariah’s prophesy about him: “Tell the daughter of Zion, look , your king is coming to you, humble and mounted on a donkey, and on a cold, the foal of a donkey.”(Zech. 9:9) So the disciples go and do as Jesus commands them and they retrieve the colt for him without incident. Jesus is intentional about his use of a colt—even though he has to borrow one for this purpose—because in fulfilling the prophesy, he is claiming to be Messiah.

Not only that, but Jesus' use of a donkey shows that he is coming in peace. In biblical times, if a king was going to war, he would ride into the city on a horse as a sign that he intended to wage war. But when a king came in peace, he would ride in on a donkey. We can see that Jesus chooses the animal of peace. He comes as the king not of war, but of peace.

But the crowd doesn’t seem to want peace! They want a military leader to reign over Israel. They want a king who ride in triumphantly on a horse—who will wage war and win the victory for them. A leader who will overthrow their Roman oppressors, that’s what they prefer. Jesus' desire for peace truly the hopes of the energetic crowd. They don't even seem to notice that he’s not on a horse. They still think he’s going to lead them to war so they give him a conqueror's welcome, a military hero's welcome.

They shout: “Hosanna!” This cry is used today as a praise word. We sing it in our communion liturgy, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, Hosanna in the highest.” Yet, in Hebrew, it literally means “Save now!” It is an expression ancient Israelites used to beg for help and protection from their king. When the people cry “Hosanna!” it is not a shout of praise, it is a cry for help. They want God to intervene in their human affairs through the gift of this Messiah. They want so badly to be saved.

They toss their garments on the ground—another expression of respect for a king. For many, this cloak is all they own, yet they willingly cast it before Jesus, their king. “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” they say. The phrase “He who comes,” was a common expression for Messiah. They had always spoken of the coming Messiah as “the one who is coming.” So they do recognize that Jesus is the Savior, but they don't know what kind of savior he intends to be.

And this expression the people use, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” is from Psalm 118 (verse 32), which we heard at the start of today’s service. In 167 B.C. there was an extraordinary king in Syria called Antiocheius. He was a zealot of Greek religion who, for a time, conquered Palestine. He made it against the law to possess a copy of the Jewish law or to circumcise a child. These were crimes punishable by death. He desecrated the Temple courts and made it a worship place for Zeus instead of God. With deliberate insult, he offered swine's flesh at the great altar of the temple. You must understand this was most blasphemous act imaginable. He did everything he could to wipe out the Jewish faith. It was then that the hero Judas Maccabaeus arose. He drove Antiocheius out and repurified and reconsecrated the temple, an event which is now celebrated as the feast of Hanukkah. Scholars believe Psalm 118 was written to commemorate that great day of purification and the battle, which Maccabaeus won. Therefore, is a conqueror's psalm.

And it is the same phrase used in this Palm Sunday scene. Jesus does not claim to be a military leader—instead he comes in peace. He is riding on a colt. Later in the week, when they see he is not the man of war they thought he was, when they see that he is no Judas Maccabaeus, they turn on him.

Intentionally, Jesus begins his journey—humbly marching headlong into suffering and death. God has a bigger plan to save all of humanity through this Messiah, not just Israel. God has a plan to answer those “Hosanna” cries for salvation, even though the crowd can’t understand that now.

I remember reading about an actress who spent a summer of her college years doing a low-budget, outdoor Easter pageant. The quality of theatrical resources was dismal. It was poorly organized and the cast ended up playing all sorts of practical jokes on each other just to keep up their moral. In the rain and the mud, the actor portraying Jesus tried to get the donkey to cooperate in the Palm Sunday scene. The donkey (named Jack) always refused to cooperate. So Jesus, who was supposed to be riding the donkey, many times ended up trying to lead him and often slipped in the mud and fell on his behind (so you can imagine the jokes it sparked about Jesus arriving into Jerusalem on his you-know-what). The whole miserable thing suddenly took on a new meaning for this actress who was struck by the extremely vulnerable position of Jesus in front of the crowd. She wrote: “I realized God sent a savior not as a powerful conqueror but as one with an extremely vulnerable heart of compassion. Suddenly, I can see that I don't want a powerful conqueror. No, I want this vulnerable one. He's the one I can give my own vulnerable heart to. He's the only one who can save me.”

Jesus is not the military leader come to vanquish our earthly enemies and instantly make life easy for us according to earthly standards. He is the vulnerable king who has come to wage war, not on enemy people, but on sin and death. We may not understand him. We may wish he'd come to save us some other way. But we do know that he has come to answer our “Hosanna!” cries. “Save now!” we cry, “Save now!” From our troubled breasts, our cry goes up to God and because of what Jesus has done for us on the cross, we know that that cry will not go unheard.

As we enter into Holy Week, may we have the courage to follow this vulnerable one to the cross that we may rise victoriously with him on Easter morning.

Now, may the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.

© 2008 Laura E. Gentry