Peter & the Palms
Mark 11:1-11
April 9, 2017 Palm Sunday, LFC
We have been looking at Peter and Jesus the past several weeks. We have seen them get acquainted and Jesus calls Peter to follow him. The fisherman is being groomed into being a fisher of men. We have watched Peter get out of the boat during the storm and walk to Jesus. We witnessed his faith and his doubt and we all have similar experiences.
Last week Peter got a little too big for his britches. He momentarily forgot that he was the disciple and that Jesus was the teacher. When Jesus stated that he would suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law and that he would be killed and on the third day be raised to life. Peter jumped in to tell Jesus that this was not the way things were going to go down.
This was deviating from how Peter saw that things were supposed to happen. How could Jesus establish a kingdom is he was dead? Peter didn’t seem to hear the last part where Jesus said he would be raised back to life on the third day.
Jesus rebuked Peter; in fact it was a pretty strong rebuke but saying, “get behind me Satan”. Jesus had to put Peter back into his proper place. We talked about how hard it is to see God’s plan. We often want to tell God what to do in our lives.
Today we are going to place Peter with Jesus as Jesus prepares and then enters into Jerusalem. Let’s take a look at Jesus entry into Jerusalem that marks the beginning of Holy Week. This account is found in all four gospels but today we are going to look at the account in the gospel of Mark.
Let’s read Mark 11:1-11.
I will admit right off the top today that this one might be a little bit of a stretch with Peter and Jesus. Nowhere in today’s passage is Peter mentioned by name. I don’t know if Peter was one of the disciples that Jesus told to go get the colt or not but for the sake of it fitting into our series we will just say that it could have been.
Today is more to prepare us for all that is going to go down in this week. There is no way that Peter and the disciples could have prepared themselves for all that was going to happen. They had to be approaching Jerusalem with a certain amount of anxiety.
Things were beginning to come to a head for Peter and the rest of the disciples. They had seen Jesus do all kinds of amazing things. Some of them like Peter had witnessed the beginning with Jesus getting baptized. All of them had been called by Jesus follow him. They had seen Jesus bring sight to the blind. They had witnessed Jesus tell the lame to get up and to walk. Jesus had just recently raised his friend Lazarus from the dead. He had even told people that their sins were forgiven!
Jesus had turned water into wine. He had fed enormous crowds with just a few fish and loaves of bread. He had calmed the winds, the rains and the waves. He had cast out evil spirits and demons. Jesus had gone head to head with the chief priests and the Pharisees. He had displayed his incredible knowledge of the scriptures and he taught like one that they had never witnessed before.
Peter had called him the Christ, the Son of God. They had surely discussed that same thing amongst themselves. Jesus had an incredible following and he seemed destined to be the Messiah, the liberator, the chosen one from God.
They also had to be troubled because Jesus had talked about being betrayed, arrested, beaten, condemned and put to death.
How did it all fit together? Was the biggest threat to Jesus Rome or was it actually the very people he was coming to liberate?
With all of that on their minds they are approaching Jerusalem. What happens in the next couple of hours and days are lived and observed by the disciples.
Jesus tells two of his disciples to go and get colt, one that has never been ridden. In Matthew it is a donkey and her colt. Regardless he tells his disciples to go ahead and to get this colt, untie it and bring it to Jesus.
You will notice that the disciples didn’t question him. I guess they might have but it isn’t recorded that they did and so I tend to think that they just simply obeyed and did what Jesus said. They had been with him long enough now they were learning that when Jesus asks you to do something no matter how outrageous it may seem you just go ahead and do it.
As a follower of Christ how willing are you to blindly follow his bidding? Jesus wanted these guys to go and take a colt that didn’t belong to them. It sounds kind of crazy. Now it isn’t quite as outlandish as you would think. Royalty could come by and demand use of most anything and you had to comply. They disciples just did it.
How do you react when Jesus asks you to do something that seems a little risky or doesn’t make a whole lot of sense? Do you stop and ask Jesus? “You want me to do what?” The disciples may have very well asked but then they go and do it without question.
As we draw closer to Easter and you draw closer Jesus are you willing to do what he asks of you? You may ask for clarification or ask just to make sure you heard him right butt when the command is clear can you trust in Jesus enough to just do it. It took a great amount of courage for them to do that and it takes a great amount of courage today to still follow what Jesus tells you.
Why is it so important to have courage in Christ? Because God might ask you to some really big things. Look at Jesus himself here. He was riding in the city to face his enemies, not Rome by the way but the chief priests. He would be betrayed by one of those closest to him. His followers would fail to stay awake while he prayed. He would be arrested, falsely accused and found be sentenced to death. He would be beaten, paraded out with a crown of thorns, mocked and crucified. Jesus displayed courage in doing the will of his father in heaven.
We have established that we will not be able to get out of the way of all of the storms that come into our lives. Jesus couldn’t stop Judas, stop the trial, stop Pilate or stop the crowds calling out for his death or stop his crucifixion. He could and did call out on the name of his father. Call out to God and receive his strength and courage. He didn’t leave Jesus and he won’t leave you. God will lead you to victory just as he led Jesus to victory.
What about the willingness of the owner of the donkey to just let Jesus have it. In Luke the owners of the donkey question the disciples and the disciples answer with, “The Lord needs it.” It appears that they just let them take it. They said that they would bring it back but that was no guarantee.
When the church comes asking and says, “Hey we need this” how willing are you to just say, “Here, take it.” We hold our stuff pretty close to us including our time and talents.
Not only did the owner give his donkey for Jesus to use but the people took off their cloaks and spread them before Jesus. I don’t think we give this much thought. We hear about them waving palm branches but the cloaks tell a story as well.
Remember the context and time of this. For many people of that day some of the most valuable assets that they had were the very clothes that they wore. A man’s cloak was very valuable. It not only served as an outer garment but would also serve as a covering at night. In fact the cloak is so valuable that you could take someone’s cloak as payment for something but you were not allowed to keep it overnight as they would need it for a pillow or covering.
So these people are taking this valuable piece of clothing and throwing it down on the ground so that a donkey could walk on it. Granted this donkey was carrying Jesus. What things are you willing to lay before the Lord?
I’ll say it again we hold our stuff, our time and talents pretty close to us. For some of these people they were literally laying all they had at Jesus feet just to worship him. What things are you holding back from laying down at the feet of Jesus?
We have such an incredibly talented, diverse and gifted church. Lynnville Friends is a great place. We had friends here from Indiana last week and they were very complementary. They commented on how friendly and welcoming we are as a church. A+, good job on welcoming strangers. Make sure we extend that same welcome to those we know. Those that might feel uncomfortable coming into a church. Those that have been hurt by the church. Those that have maybe made some wrong choices in life and feel judged by the church.
On this Palm Sunday though are you so enamored with Jesus that you are willing to lay all you have at Jesus feet and say here! Are you willing to put aside your plans submit to Jesus. Again we are sitting in the midst of a powder keg of potential. There is so much talent and passion in this room. Throw them down at the feet of Jesus.
We are a committee driven church. We rely upon the church to make this church run. A committee of people, the Nominating Committee, is tasked with the job of filling vacancies on committees. Wouldn’t it be amazing instead of them searching out people to serve that they had people coming to them saying how can I serve? Are we truly giving our best effort before God?
The people shouted Hosanna and proclaimed Jesus as the coming king. They waved their palm branches and threw down their cloaks. They could have been arrested and crucified that very day themselves for this.
I discovered that at the same time there was another processional going on across town. One that displayed the might of Rome. One that Pilate was involved in. As the population of Jerusalem would swell with those coming to celebrate the Passover, Rome would send more troops and the parade of force and might was a reminder who was in charge.
While we don’t face a government that will imprison us for our faith and worship of Jesus we do face a culture that at times will ridicule and condemn us for our belief and worship of Jesus Christ. Are you willing to let others know about your faith in Jesus Christ? Are you okay with taking the risk of being unpopular because of your faith in Jesus?
Rome wanted to make sure that the Jewish faith was kept under control. Culture is trying to do the same thing to us today! You can’t talk about Jesus in school; you can’t talk about Jesus at work. Don’t share your faith in Jesus with others, its offensive. Church isn’t that important. If you have a chance to go out and play…..do it. Teach your kids how to play baseball, softball and other sports that’s more important----you can always go to church; you only have a short time with your kids. But if I do that we might be outcast…..my kids might not get the opportunity to play….we might lose friends. Which parade are you at.
One of my biggest fears in life is that someday I am going to stand in front of my Lord on the Day of Judgment. I think I will be appalled at the amount of times that I got it wrong. The number of opportunities that I missed to lay it all before the Lord because I chickened out and went with what was popular.
Peter was there witnessing all of this. It was a great day! It was all coming together. The people were getting it! The people were ready to follow Jesus. He was ready too. The anxiety for a moment fades and is replaced with excitement.
Peter will witness these same people be swayed and the chants of Hosanna will be replaced with “Crucify Him!” His own faith and dedication to Jesus will be rocked.
And yet Jesus still dies for them, for Peter, for you and for me. Prepare your hearts for the most amazing event in history. The event that give us hope. The event that gives us life! The event that should keep us shouting Hosanna in the highest in our hearts each and every day. Prepare yourself to celebrate your risen king, your savior, Jesus Christ.
Amen
