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Sermons

“Under the Palms—Up on the Cross”
Gospel Scripture Texts:
Matthew 21:6-11; 27:15-23
Dave Ring, Pastor
Los Alamos 1st United Methodist Church
Palm/Passion Sunday
8:30 AM, April 5, 2009

SCRIPTURE TEXTS:  Matthew 21:6-11 --  6The disciples went and did just as Jesus had instructed them, 7and brought the donkey and the colt, and laid their coats on them; and He sat on the coats. 8Most of the crowd spread their coats in the road, and others were cutting branches from the trees and spreading them in the road. 9The crowds going ahead of Him, and those who followed, were shouting, "Hosanna to the Son of David; blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD; Hosanna in the highest!" 10When He had entered Jerusalem, all the city was stirred, saying, "Who is this?" 11And the crowds were saying, "This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth in Galilee."  Matthew 27:15-23 -- 15Now at the feast the governor was accustomed to release for the people any one prisoner whom they wanted. 16At that time they were holding a notorious prisoner, called Barabbas. 17So when the people gathered together, Pilate said to them, "Whom do you want me to release for you? Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?" 18For he knew that because of envy they had handed Him over. 19While he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent him a message, saying, "Have nothing to do with that righteous Man; for last night I suffered greatly in a dream because of Him." 20But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowds to ask for Barabbas and to put Jesus to death. 21But the governor said to them, "Which of the two do you want me to release for you?" And they said, "Barabbas." 22Pilate said to them, "Then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?" They all said, "Crucify Him!" 23And he said, "Why, what evil has He done?" But they kept shouting all the more, saying, "Crucify Him!"  (NASB)
PRAYER:  (Let us pause to seek God’s anointing of our message prior to its delivery.) “Father, as always, I ask that You fill me with Your Spirit in such a way that Your people hear and receive not mere human thoughts and words in the sermon to follow, but Godly wisdom. Amen”

MESSAGE:  On Palm Sunday morning, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna!” Five days later, “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!” Triumphal entry on Sunday. Nailed to a cross on Friday. Could it be the same Man—the same city—the same crowd—the same God in charge of such starkly contrasting events? From hero to zero in just 120 hours—it’s hard to believe. How? Why? What?

As we enter, on this Palm Sunday, the anniversary week of Jesus Christ’s final week on earth prior to His death, let’s review the events that transpired during that amazing five day period. The Gospel of Matthew records these events most plainly. First, having gathered a large following as a result of his three year ministry of healing, teaching, and miracles, Jesus enters the city of Jerusalem in triumph. The whole city is behind him, believing that He is their hope for release from bondage to the Roman yoke of oppression. But between the beginning of chapter 21 and the middle of chapter 27 in Matthew’s gospel, a lot happens.

Shortly after entering the city, Jesus headed for a very important place. Not to the seats of government—the palace of Herod or the administrative chambers of Pilate. Not to the Roman garrison. Jesus went, instead, to the temple of the Jews, the highly regarded cultural center of His people, and created a disturbance. He drove out the money changers and sellers of animals for sacrifice. Instead of challenging the worldly powers which were hated by the Jews, Jesus railed against the religious observances of His own people. Instead of dealing with issues of political and military significance, which the crowd of Jews obviously thought were of first priority to be straightened out, Jesus chose to first deal with the spiritual aspects of their lives. It made no sense to them—He was a Jew Himself. He knew how bad things were. Yet here He was, putting down the only facet of His own race and culture that hadn’t yet been totally suppressed by the Romans. Suffice to say that Jesus’ first major action, just after entering Jerusalem in triumph, was viewed as strange—unexpected—and not particularly popular.

The rest of Jesus’ Palm Sunday in the temple was less riotous. He occupied himself mainly with a ministry of healing, and the crowd began to regain at least some of its shaken confidence in Him. Again, praises and “hosanna’s” began to be spoken about Him. But then He made His second mistake. The chief priests and elders of the temple came and asked Him to silence his followers—maintaining that such praise offered to a man bordered on blasphemy. But Jesus replied by affirming the praise of the crowd and by applying a Messianic prophecy to Himself. The crowd was back on His side, at least for a while—but the rulers of the Jews were made to feel foolish in front of the common people. And although they were relatively few in number compared to the size of the overall crowd, they would prove to be the wrong kind of folks to offend.

On Monday Jesus returned to the temple area and again taught the crowds which gathered to hear Him. There was a consistent theme to His teaching, despite the fact that He spoke in parables. He spoke of a man who had two sons, one who began to be obedient to his father and later strayed; the other who began in disobedience but later did what his father asked. He told of a landlord whose evil tenants were about to be evicted in favor of others. Then his story was of a king who gave a feast for his son’s wedding but, upon discovering that his intended guests would not take the time to come to the feast, invited others in their place. Those who heard Him could not miss the repeated point of His message. God’s chosen people, the Jews—and particularly the leaders of the Jews—were about to be replaced by others. The priests, scribes, and other Jewish leaders understood quite well what He was saying to them. Their dislike of Jesus deepened with each new example He gave of their failures. So they decided to challenge Him on His own turf. If He was a man of words, they would confound Him with His own sayings.

Since it was the Jews’ contention that their problems might all be solved if there was a change in the governmental system which controlled them, the Jewish leaders asked a question designed to move Jesus away from religion—and back to politics. Beginning with some soft-sell praise of Jesus’ honesty, forthrightness, and integrity, they advanced what was, to them, the toughest question they knew to ask: “Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar?” To Jesus, this was simple and did not distract Him. He continued to focus upon godly matters. “Render to Caesar that which is Caesar’s—and to God what is God’s!” was His reply. And now it was His turn. “What do you think about the Christ?” He asked. “Whose son is He?” The Jewish leaders were dumbfounded. He had dodged their best shot—and parried with something they could not answer, because they had not studied the Word of God sufficiently. By now, they were really angry. Jesus had become their enemy. Twice He had publicly humiliated them with His words. No longer would they fight a war of words with one who could best them every time. Stronger measures were called for.

On Tuesday, Jesus stepped up His public rhetoric. Now His criticisms of the scribes, Pharisees, and other Jewish leaders were no longer parabolic and indirect. He openly castigated them. “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees—hypocrites.” “You claim to be leaders of religion, but your real interests are elsewhere. Blind guides. Whitewashed tombs. Murderers! Vipers!” The crowd listened, but they were unsure. These were their appointed leaders—men they had always been taught to taught to respect. Sure, Jesus was something special. He healed folks, performed miracles. His words were exciting—but disquieting, too.  And, as He left Jerusalem that day, He made a fateful remark—primarily for His disciples, but overheard by the crowd—that would later prove the specific cause of His undoing. He prophesied the destruction of the temple itself. The Jews could stomach His criticisms of them—barely—for despite their hard hearts, they knew their imperfections as humans. But to speak against the temple—their great idol which reminded them of a glorious past as a once powerful nation, was to incur the wrath of all.

Jesus did not again speak publicly during what we now call Holy Week. The next day, Wednesday, is something of a puzzle to the scholars who attempt to reconstruct the chronology of Jesus’ final week on earth. It is a missing day in the records of all four gospels. Most scholars guess that Jesus used this day to remain alone, outside Jerusalem—praying, resting, and preparing for the ordeal which He knew lay only hours ahead.

Thursday was Jesus’ day of farewell to His disciples. He taught only them that day, privately, on the Mount of Olives. The major theme of His words was unsettling, even for those who had followed and come to know Him more intimately than any others on earth. Jesus spoke, directly as well as in His usual parabolic style, of judgment—of the great and terrible time of God’s wrath against all forms of sin and evil. And He implied that that time was not far away. Repeatedly, He admonished them to readiness. “Watch! Pray! You must be ready, for the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect Him.”

The disciples were confused. Although He had spoken of leaving them before, this idea of their teacher, Jesus, returning to lead God’s final judgment upon the earth made little sense. He wasn’t even gone yet! Knowing their ignorance, Jesus repeated Himself. Over and over He hammered the same point, using parable after parable, warning after warning. “There were ten virgins who took their lamps to await the arrival of the bridegroom. Five were wise, and took extra oil. Five were foolish, and missed his coming.” “A man went on a journey, entrusting various amounts of money, called talents, to his servants for investment. When he returned unexpectedly, two of those who had received talents had used them wisely. One had not, and was cast into darkness.” Finally, realizing that He was not getting through to them, Jesus finished His words thus: “As you know, the Passover is two days away—and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified.”

That night, Thursday night by our reckoning—but the beginning of a new day according to the Jewish way of counting time, Jesus completed His farewell to those He loved most deeply. In a large second-story room somewhere in Jerusalem, He celebrated the Passover Feast with His disciples. It was yet one day too early for Passover on the Jewish calendar, but Jesus knew He did not have the luxury of waiting for the official celebration. Besides, He had a different kind of Passover to celebrate, with Himself the Passover lamb, about to be sacrificed for the sin of a world which completely misunderstood His every act.

Most of you know the details of the Last Supper, so I’ll not repeat them here. If you want to learn of that event in more detail, come to Holy Communion Thursday night. All too soon the supper was over. Judas had completed his betrayal, and Jesus’ ordeal was about to begin. Three hours of lonely prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane remained to Him—for His disciples, although they were still bodily present, had already abandoned Him spiritually. Then the guards arrived for the arrest, sent by the Jewish leaders whom He had castigated and humiliated. There was a mock trial, or two or three, depending upon which gospel you read. His words prophesying the destruction of the temple were the primary accusation against Him, but any pretext might have been used. The momentum had shifted, and it was all downhill to the end for Jesus. The disciples scattered, Peter the so-called “rock” denied Him, and He was handed over to the worldly power of that day—the Roman government—to be disposed of.

Jesus had one chance left, however. The dispassionate secular ruler, Pilate, bore Him neither favor nor enmity. And so Pilate allowed that the crowd—the very crowd which had heralded His entry into Jerusalem, four and a half days previously, with “Hosanna!”—should decide His fate. But much had happened in those intervening short days. Jesus had made, in their eyes, too many mistakes. The hero of yesterday was the villain of that day. “Crucify Him!” they cried. “Why? What crime has He committed?” asked Pilate.

Why? What had He done? No one spoke up, but they all knew exactly what His crime was. He had disappointed them. He had not lived up to their expectations. He had not done what they really wanted Him to do. They wanted salvation—salvation from a particular form of government they found oppressive. Salvation from an economic system that seemed unfair; a political situation that was intolerable. They were concerned with this world—right here—right now. What shall we have to eat? Where shall we find something to drink? How shall we buy clothes? Jesus could have provided those things—they knew it. They had seen some of His supernatural power in the healings and miracles he had performed. He could have overthrown the Romans, restored prosperity and prowess to His people. But He insisted on just talking—endlessly talking about trivialities—ethereal subjects like God, and worship, and sin, and sacrifice. A worthless, useless Messiah! No earthly good to anybody! One big disappointment, that’s all. “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!”

On Palm Sunday 2009 the crowd still believes that the important realities of life are to be found in this world. In the U.S. we’ve got a new president and we’re all looking for him to be the “Messiah” chief executive who can unravel our many problems and make us all rich and powerful. We’re still looking to politics, and economics, and governmental systems for our salvation. But somehow, we’re always disappointed. No one ever meets those expectations.

Jesus taught that the true realities of life are found beyond governments, and politics, and economic systems. To Him, God was first priority. Worship was essential; prayer a constant preoccupation. Concepts like love, and faith, and sacrifice were, to Him, more real commodities than bricks, or shoes, or even gold coins. In Jesus’ time, the world—the crowd—although it found Him a diversion for a while, soon tired of His silliness. It rejected Him, then disposed of Him. (Pause) The world of 2009 is exactly the same in its estimation of Jesus. But God proved, as we will celebrate next Sunday, that Jesus’ priorities were right. Amen.

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