Palm Sunday

John 12:12-19 - Palm Sunday - April 1, 2012 

Praising our King

Every election cycle we witness it all over again – although this year it has seemed to last especially long – politicians running for public office trying to sell themselves as public servants who have your best interests in mind.  It’s an interesting thing to watch if you don’t let it depress you too much.  But while they all try to court your trust and win your vote with affected displays of meekness, it becomes painfully clear every year that it is not always your peace and prosperity that drives these men and women to aspire for public office.  It is raw power.

Now, I know this sounds pretty cynical of me.  And I know there are some politicians out there who have good intentions to rule wisely and fairly.  But true statesmen are few and far between.  Power corrupts.  The very taste of it turns seemingly harmless ideologues into oppressive tyrants.  When we go to the polls, we often resign ourselves to choose the lesser of two evils.  We’re not looking for a political messiah; we don’t expect one; we’re just looking to get the best we can.  Of course, it’s good to pray for, and even campaign for, good rulers.  But this doesn’t mean we have much confidence in the things they can accomplish for us.  It is as it says in Psalm 118:

“It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man; it is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes” (Psalm 118:8-9). 

The Palm Sunday crowd knew this.  They knew that they needed to trust in the Lord, because they knew that they needed what only the Lord could give.  Earthly rulers promise earthly benefits, but these earthly benefits never last.  Jesus promised life and salvation that lasts forever.  And that is why the crowds sang those words that they had learned from the same Psalm 118 that taught them not to trust in rulers, “Hosanna—Oh, save us now!  Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord—the King of Israel!” 

This Psalm could not be sung to any other king.  Jesus was a man, but He was not just a man.  Jesus was a prince.  But more than that; He was the Prince of Peace who had come in the name of the Lord.  Jesus could be trusted.  The crowds hailed Him, not because He had promoted better policies than Pontius Pilate or Caesar.  They laid their clothing and palm branches upon His royal path, not because He had shown Himself to be more personable than Herod.  No, they worshipped their King, because Jesus came in the name of the Lord.   He who by the power of the Lord had raised up Lazarus came to bring salvation over sin and death just as the prophet had foretold:

Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!  Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem!  Behold, your king is coming to you; He is righteous and having salvation, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. 

These words from the prophet Zechariah Jesus fulfilled as He rode humbly into Jerusalem to bear the sin of the world.  Only Jesus can save us from our sin.  He is the Lord God of Israel who took on human flesh and blood.  Only this Man comes in the name of the Lord. 

Humbly.  Lowly.  Riding on a donkey.  Jesus was different than earthly kings in every way.  Earthly rulers come with pomp in order to dictate.  Jesus comes in humility in order to serve.  Earthly rulers defend and retain their power by threatening punishment to all who transgress their commands — and they should! God tells them to.  But what did the Father tell Jesus? — To earn His right to rule sinners by laying aside His glory – to endure what no man willingly endures.  Earthly rulers, if they are wise, reward good behavior with wealth and opportunity.  But in the wisdom of God, Jesus freely gives to disobedient sinners the eternal wealth and reward that He alone earned when He was rejected by man and forsaken by God. 

No, Jesus certainly wasn’t like other kings.  The victory that He set out to win was different from any other victory, because the foe was different than any other foe.  Victory over sin, death, and the devil required what no king could fulfill.  It required what no man can render because man is neither willing nor able.  It required the perfect life of obedience to God and of service to the neighbor.  It required humility.  Sinners cannot raise themselves to God no matter how much power and might they have.  In fact it is their power and might that gets in the way.  Sinners must learn to bow before God in humble repentance; they must learn to lay aside themselves and their own selfish desires; they must despair of their own righteousness, their own power, their own glory.  Sinners must find it only in Him who is righteous, who is selfless, whose power and glory is found in weakness and lowliness. 

God lowered Himself to man because the victory that God set out to win required that Man be humble and lowly.  It required that, though Jesus was in the form of God, that He not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, although this equality belonged to Him from eternity.  Instead it required that He make Himself nothing, taking the form of a servant and humbling Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 

Jesus did not come in His own name, flying His own flag like earthly rulers, doing good for his own good, and winning hearts for his own sake.  No, He came in the name of the Lord – in order to do good for the sake of His neighbor, and to win hearts for the kingdom of God.  The authority by which He came to earth demanded from Him that He suffer and die to take away the sin of the world.  And so in humble obedience to His Father, our King responded:

Yea, Father, yea, most willingly
I'll bear what Thou commandest;
My will conforms to Thy decree,
I do what Thou demandest.

Jesus came obeying His Father.  His Father required that He submit to the death that man would impose.  What injustice.  It’s an injustice that we by nature shirk off and resist.  But it is an injustice that repentant sinners rejoice in.  By humbly riding into Jerusalem on a donkey, by hiding His divine glory which would destroy us all, Jesus teaches us that the manner by which He saves us is one of humble obedience to God.  He does this by rendering humble service to sinners – by doing the exact opposite of what sinners do.  The crowd of sinners cried out “Hosanna! Oh, save us now!”  They needed a savior.  But Jesus could not have answered this prayer of that first Palm Sunday crowd that extolled Him as their King without first enduring what the Good Friday crowd demanded, the crowd that cried out, “We have no king, but Caesar!” 

But Jesus did not give in to the demand of the Good Friday mob like some weak, defeated king.  No, He answered the prayer of the Palm Sunday worshippers as the glorious King that He is.  It was not the cry of bloodlust that put Jesus on the cross.  It was God’s love for sinners that put Jesus on the cross.  And so it is with our cry for mercy, for forgiveness, for salvation, for life.  We find the answer to our prayer of “Hosanna” on the cross of Jesus, because there we see the love of God for us:

O wondrous Love, what hast Thou done!
The Father offers up His Son!
The Son, content, descendeth!
O Love, how strong Thou art to save!
Thou beddest Him within the grave
Whose word the mountains rendeth.

There in Jerusalem some 2000 years ago, the Lamb of God went uncomplaining forth to save us from the fear of death.  Days later, that same Lamb of God did the actual saving.  He bore the sin and guilt of the whole world in His holy body upon the cross.  There He suffered and died in our place bearing all of our sins away forever.  There on the cross 2000 years ago our salvation was won. 

But here, today, this same salvation is distributed to each one of us.  We can expect it to come to us in no more glorious a way than when it rode into Jerusalem on a donkey.  But it most certainly does come.  Jesus continues to bring the salvation He won for us to us in a likewise humble manner.  Plain and common water, included in God’s command and combined with God’s promise washes away your sin, makes you God’s child, and gives you eternal life.  When sinful lips forgive your sins right here this morning, God assures you that you are forgiven before His throne in heaven. 

Humbly.  Lowly.  This is the manner in which Jesus brings us salvation.  And so this is the manner in which we receive it.  We cry for mercy from our loving God who has demonstrated in the humble obedience of His Son how He truly desires to be merciful to us.  And so with all our sins that we need our God to graciously cover, we come to Him with confidence, singing what that first crowd sang: “Hosanna!  Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna, oh Lord, save us now!”  And He does.  That is why we Christians have been singing these words for nearly 2000 years as we rejoice in the fact that Christ so humbly comes to us in the Lord’s Supper, giving to us His body and blood for us to eat and to drink.  It is here that we receive the forgiveness of all of our sins.  And where there is the forgiveness of sins, there is also life and salvation.  It comes in a humble manner.  But look at what it accomplishes for you! 

The prophet Zechariah tells us to rejoice.  “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!” The daughter of Zion is the Christian Church.  “Behold, your king is coming to you.”  By the hand of St. John the Evangelist, the Holy Spirit has rendered this same prophecy with these words: “Fear not, daughter of Zion; Behold, your King is coming.”  One tells us to rejoice; the other tells us not to be afraid.  Is this an inconsistency?  No.  It’s the same thing.  This’s what God teaches us. 

To rejoice in what God has done for us is not the same as when we rejoice in what an earthly hero can do.  Powerful rulers can win victories and establish peace, but the impending fear that this peace will not last is always there.  One day we rejoice; the next day it is our enemies’ turn to taste the sweet joy of victory over us.   And so it is with our heart and conscience as well, as we fight the battle against our own sinful flesh.  Every time we have conquered a temptation to sin, and we think we have found a reason to rejoice, we find ourselves falling prey to another sin, and another, and we return right back to the old familiar fear that accompanies our guilt.  But because we cannot place our confidence in what sinners can do, we must place all our trust in Christ our King who comes in the name of the Lord.  This is what Jesus has taught us. 

When God forgives us all our sins for Jesus’ sake, He bids us to have confidence in that forgiveness.  He bids us to have no fear that our victory over death and hell can ever be taken away.  It cannot.  Earthly joy is often mixed with such fear, but it is not so with the joy that we have in our God’s salvation. 

In Jesus’ name, Amen.