Title: Celebration Sunday
Theme: Celebration of Christ
Text: John 12:12-19
Opening Scripture: John 12:12-15
Zechariah 9:9-10 O, your king comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on an ass, on a colt the foal of an ass.
Philippians 2:8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross. (Philippians 2:8)
John 12:13 Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel.
Introduction
Would Jesus come to Jerusalem?
All week long, Jerusalem had been ablaze with rumors and questions. Would Jesus come this year for the Passover? One could hardly blame Him if He decided to stay up north in Galilee. There were threats against His life. The chief priests and the Pharisees had put out the word. Anyone who saw Jesus was ordered to report it, so that they could have Him arrested.
The day before, Jesus had been spotted in Bethany eating the Sabbath with His friends Mary and Martha and Lazarus, whom He had raised from the dead. Remember Mary she had anointed Jesus’ head and feet with costly ointment. It was a preparation for His burial, Jesus said. Death was on his mind. A big crowd came out to see Him, and Lazarus, too. Lazarus had become something of a celebrity figure. It’s not every day that you get to see someone who’s been dead for four days. There even was a death threat out against him. Poor Lazarus, all he did was get up from the grave when Jesus called out his name, and for that the religious leaders were plotting to kill him too, because people were believing in Jesus on account of Lazarus.
He Came
He came as a king
He came as a King. A humble King. A victorious King. A King of peace. A beggar-king on a borrowed donkey. That is the Jesus of Palm Sunday. This King enters His capitol city, Jerusalem, for the Passover, the last Passover of the old covenant. In a few days, He would make the Passover something new - the Sacrament of His Body and Blood. In a few days He would give His life as God’s Lamb, the Passover sacrifice. In a few days the King would claim His kingdom by dying and rising from the dead.
He came openly.
Once the word went out that Jesus was in town, there really was no way to stop the crowds and the attention. The media was out in force. So when Jesus went to Jerusalem the following day, which would have been the first day of the week, He did it openly and publicly. He had his disciples borrow a donkey from someone, and sitting atop the borrowed donkey, Jesus rode into Jerusalem like a king. John tells us that the people took palm branches and formed a welcome procession along the road. They waved their palm branches in the air and chanted verses from Psalm 118: "Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord! Blessed is the King of Israel." And so the stage was set. Holy Week had begun. Jesus, King David’s promised Son, the messiah-King had come to His city, and His city welcomed Him.
This was more than a mere spontaneous show of support
To the casual onlooker, this may have looked more like a spontaneous show of support than a planned parade, but Jesus’ ride on a donkey had been in the works for centuries. Some five hundred years before, the prophet Zechariah had prepared the people for a coming King: "Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey." The plans for this procession had been in the works for a long time. It was imbedded in Israel’s history and in the reflexes of the people, just like saluting the flag and bowing to a cross. People knew the prophesy, and they knew psalm 118. They knew the liturgy and the rubrics for welcoming a king with palm branches and hosannas. All the big messianic buttons were being pushed. The religious leaders didn’t miss a beat. A parade like this could get you nailed to a cross.
Every detail was important
Every detail of this parade was important - the donkey, the palms, the hosannas. The donkey was an animal of peace, humble compared to the horse, which was what you rode when going to war. David rode donkeys. It’s a bit like the difference between a chief of state riding in a Humvee or a borrowed, open-top Volkswagen convertible. Jesus came in peace and humility. He was going to Jerusalem for war, not against the city but against death and the devil. This was not the kind of war fought with the standard issue weapons of this world. He would soon tell Peter to put his sword away. He was going to fight the devil, and our sin, and the Law that condemned us to hell. His only weapon was His humble obedience to His Father’s will. "He humbled himself and became obedient to death, even death on a cross."
He came in humility.
This is the servant King who lays down His life for His subjects. Every other king sends soldiers out into battle to fight for him. Every earthly king expects his subjects to die for him. But this King lays down His life for His people. He enters the battlefield alone, riding an animal of peace. The battlefield is the city, Jerusalem, the place of sacrifice. He heads to the cross to die with the burden of the world’s sin riding on his back. This perfect man, this perfect Jew, a son of Israel who had kept every point of the Law perfectly, who kept the entire Law of God down to its last little mark and point now rides into Jerusalem to take the punishments of the Law that a sinner deserves. The unblemished Lamb of God was entering Jerusalem for the Passover sacrifice to take away the sin of the world. The sinless One goes to die a sinner’s death at the hands of sinful men. That is the rich humility of Jesus.
He came in peace and brings peace
He comes in peace to break the bow and shatter the spear. The violence of this world, the hatred and the anger that rages within us and lashes out in the direction of others, was focused upon Him. The wrath of God against our rebellion was trained on Him. "By His stripes we are healed." His punishment brings us peace. His cross means that God is for us, on our side, on good terms with us. We are reconciled, at one, at peace. We have peace with God through Jesus Christ. And we have peace with one another. There is no reason to hold a grudge; no reason not to forgive. God holds nothing against us. He has laid it all on Jesus, our King of peace.
He came on a borrowed donkey.
The donkey is borrowed. His disciples found it, untied it, and told the owner, "The Lord has need of it," they said when the owner came running after them. Imagine someone finding your car with the keys in the ignition, opening the door, starting it, and as you run out screaming and yelling, he says to you, "The Lord has need of it." And you let him drive off in your car. In the kingdom of heaven I will want to meet the owner of that donkey, this man whose simple trust in the Word of God played a behind the scenes role in the triumphal procession of Jesus into Jerusalem. He took God at His Word, and was honored by having the Lord use His donkey. I wonder if they returned the donkey, or if it mattered.
The Lord of heaven and earth, the Creator of the universe, has to bum a ride. While the kings of this world ride around in chauffeur-driven splendor, here is a beggar-King in a borrowed Buick. The One who had no place to lay His head, also has no horse to ride, no beast to carry him in dignity and honor. The One who was rich became poor for our sakes, so that through His poverty we might become rich in the kingdom of God. It is not the profile you and I expect of greatness. We look for signs of success and trappings of power in our leaders. But greatness in God’s kingdom is not defined in terms of surplus but sacrifice, not power but poverty, not haughtiness but humility. Jesus is the king of the least, the lost, the lowly - a beggar King in a kingdom of beggars.
The palm branches
Of victory.
The palm branches speak of victory, triumph, celebration, joy. In the culture of Jesus’ day, palm branches were the ticker tape and the confetti, the fireworks and the victory sign. Palm branches were for victorious kings coming home from battle. The enemy is defeated. The good guys have won. Let’s throw a parade! "With boughs in hand, join in the festal procession up to the horns of the altar" (Psalm 118:27). But wait a minute! The celebration seems a bit premature here, doesn’t it? The decisive battle hasn’t yet been fought. The cross lies at the end of the road for Jesus. The victory party is supposed to be next Sunday, not this Sunday. And yet already here He is greeted at the conquering hero, the victor King in anticipation of his victory. Leave it to the Lord to celebrate His victory a week early.
That’s also the way of faith in King Jesus. We celebrate the victory before the battle’s over, because we already know who won the war. "Thanks be to God. He gives (done and over with) us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." We face uncertainty and death every day. Every day we draw closer to our last breath, and to the world’s last day. Each day brings its own problems and challenges, its disasters and disappointments. Each day we are tempted to doubt the victory of King Jesus, to live as if Jesus had not conquered death, to live in denial of His life at work us.
Faith sees the end and the beginning
Each day brings a little bit of death our way. Yet in the foolishness of faith we are given to rejoice and shake our fist in the face of death. "The Lord’s right hand has done mighty things! The Lord’s right hand is lifted high; the Lord’s right hand has done mighty things." We know how it all ends. It ends with the coming of Jesus, the One who was slain but lives, the One who died and rose again. It ends with our rising of the dead in the power of His resurrection. It ends with eternal life for all who trust in Jesus in this life. We wave palm branches today, knowing that Jesus’ death is our death through holy Baptism, that His life is our life, that He is strong to save, that He has conquered all things for us, that whatever may happen to us we have eternal life in His name and that nothing can separate us from God’s love in Christ.
Eternity of Palm Sunday’s
There will be palm branches in the kingdom of God. We have an eternity of Palm Sundays ahead of us. In the Revelation, St. John saw a great crowd standing before the throne of God and in front of Christ the Lamb, wearing white robes that were cleansed in the blood of the Lamb. They were waving palm branches, singing the eternal song of salvation: "Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb."
Preach “The victory belongs to Jesus”
The victory belongs to Jesus. That’s what the palm branches preach. Here is a king you can count on, when all other would-be kings fail you. Here on the donkey is the One who healed the sick and cast out demons and made the blind to see, the deaf to hear, the mute to speak, who raised the dead. Here is the One who hung dead on a cross for you so that you might live under Him in His kingdom. There is no other king like Jesus.
Hosanna means “Lord save us”
The shouts of Hosanna! tell us that Jesus is our Savior King. "Hosanna" is a Hebrew word that has come into English untranslated. It means "Lord save." "Hosanna! O Lord, save us; O Lord, grant us success. Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord." (Psalm 118:25). The person who is drowning and about to go under cries out, "Help, save me!" The person whose life is in desperate danger dials 911 and says, "Save me." Hosanna! Save us now, Lord!
Save us from What?
Save us from what? Sin, death, and devil - to name the big unholy three. Hosanna! Jesus saves us from our sin by becoming sin for us. He saves us from death and hell by dying for us. He saves us from the devil by doing battle with the devil for us. Hosanna! It is our hymn of praise on the highway, in the home, in the hospital. Hosanna! We shout it in our neighborhoods and our nation. Hosanna! We sing it in our churches into the deepest recesses of our lives. Save us, Lord. Save us from the sin that weighs us down and keeps us from reflecting your love in our lives. Save us from the death that dogs us to the grave, that causes us to fear, to doubt your victory and your goodness. Save us from the devil who prowls around like a lion trying to devour us. Save us most of all from ourselves, because left to ourselves, we would be lost forever.
Hosanna means do something “He did on the cross”
Hosanna is a prayer of the penitent, the cry of someone who has nothing, whose hands are empty, whose heart is crushed, whose spirit is broken and in despair. And this humble King who rides into Jerusalem hears our Palm Sunday Hosannas and He turns them into Easter alleluias. He takes our Hosannas with Him to His cross and nails them there. Hosanna! means "Do something." Jesus did. He died and rose again.
"Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem. Sing and raise your palm branches high, O Church of Christ. Behold your King comes to you."
Communion
He comes to us still, here and now, in the way of Palm Sunday. His city is the Church, the daughter of Zion. His donkey is the humble bread and wine, borrowed from us for His use. They are the vehicles that bring Him to us to save us. One difference - He does not come to die again. That He did once for all, nearly two thousand years ago. He comes now to bless, to feed us with the fruits of His saving death - His Body broken for us, His Blood shed for us. These gifts He gives as our victorious King of peace, to reign over us with His death and resurrection. Until He comes in glory, we proclaim His death to each other and to the world in which we live, by eating the bread that is His Body and drinking the wine that is His Blood.
Let us look at it this way.
In the liturgy, we are Jerusalem that greeted him. We too chant Hosanna! It is the song of the Church welcoming her King who comes in His Supper. We sing the very same thing every Sunday that the people sang in Jerusalem the Sunday Jesus came riding on a donkey. Our Hosannas confess our belief that Christ really does come to us, that He is really present in His Supper with His Body and His Blood to save us. Today let us we sing Hosanna! to the King who comes. With hearts raised chant Hosannas, welcome your humble, beggar, Savior, victor King who comes to save you.
"Hosanna! Hosanna! Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest."
