3.28.2021 Mark 11:1–10
1 As they approached Jerusalem, at Bethphage and Bethany, on the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples 2 and told them, “Go into the village ahead of you. As soon as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it here. 3 If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it, and he will send it back here without delay.’ ” 4 They left and found a colt on the street, tied at a door; and they untied it. 5 Some who were standing there asked them, “What are you doing, untying that colt?” 6 The disciples answered them just as Jesus had instructed them, and the men let them go. 7 They brought the colt to Jesus, threw their garments on it, and Jesus sat on it. 8 Many people spread their garments on the road. Others spread branches that they had cut from the fields. 9 Those who went in front and those who followed were crying out, Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! 10 Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest!
For those of you who are World War II fans, have you ever seen videos of people in Europe who were celebrating the entry of the armed forces when the Germans were defeated? The videos show people shouting and screaming in joy from their windows and on the side of the road. They were SO HAPPY to be free. The people in Europe were celebrating AFTER they were set free. Palm Sunday is before the fact. The people of Jerusalem celebrated Jesus for what they THOUGHT He would be and do. We celebrate Jesus for what we KNOW and BELIEVE Jesus did, giving us a pure and lasting type of freedom.
We’ve been looking at the theme “Hands of the Passion” throughout our Lent season. Usually the hands have been used to do sinful things, like Pilate’s washing of his hands prior to handing Jesus over. But today, people are using their hands to take off their coats and cut off branches, throwing them on the ground in praise of Jesus. Their mouths are filled with joy and their hearts are filled with excitement at the arrival of Jesus.
Hands of Praise for Jesus on Palm Sunday
There is great spontaneity here. They see Jesus coming into town, and they want to celebrate in whatever way they can with whatever they can find. They wanted to give Him the most royal red carpet treatment they could. Even though it wasn’t much, Jesus welcomed their praise. He didn’t scoff at it. God welcomes your praise as well. Sometimes it doesn’t have to be anything flashy. Just a few weeks ago I could clearly hear a couple kids saying the Lord’s Prayer loudly and clearly during a worship service. I loved it. It wasn’t quite in sync with the rest of the congregation, and it was beautiful. God loves it too when you give Him your praises.
Even BEFORE Jesus rides into town, the disciples use their hands to untie a colt and his mother and bring them to Jesus for him to ride on. The owners of the colt freely give their colt (and the mother) to the disciples for them to use when they find out it was for Jesus. No questions asked. Jesus had a need, so they gave to the need, even though the donkeys were more costly than a branch from a tree.
Why a donkey? I did a little bit of research on donkeys. They are usually around 500 pounds or so. They walk slowly at about the pace of a human. They are known to be stubborn, but they are actually reported to be very docile creatures and good pets, although they don’t like dogs and coyotes. They only appear stubborn because when they are scared they freeze in place instead of running away. They generally aren’t supposed to carry too much more than 200 pounds, but Jesus' ride was downhill and this was a young donkey. Donkeys don’t generally stand much taller than 4 feet. So they are small.
If you were to look at the aesthetics of it, there wasn’t much to look at. Jesus would have been riding slowly and methodically through town. It wasn’t a quick ride. There was no chariot or armed guards. Donkeys were more used for carrying stuff around, nothing flashy. But that was part of the reason for Jesus to ride into town on a donkey in the first place. The magnificence was not to be placed on the STYLE of His ride. The donkey is a simple and unassuming beast of burden. And Jesus was in some ways the same thing on earth. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to Him, the Bible says. He came here to lift our sins off of us, to bear our burden, and that is not an attractive thing.
So the focus was on the Man on the donkey. He was the reason they were excited. Jesus had healed a lot of people and chased out many demons by this point in His ministry. He had taught throughout the synagogues of Israel, and there were people in Jerusalem from all over the country. Also, Zechariah 9 had prophesied that the King of the Jews would come riding into Jerusalem on a donkey. It may not have been a well known prophecy, but those who knew their Scriptures well would understand the symbolism behind this gesture. It was a peaceful gesture and a majestic gesture. So the simple people, both young and old, praised Jesus. They were excited to see Him come because they had seen what He had done and heard what He had said. They were praising Jesus for being Jesus, not for the type of ride He was riding.
Isn’t that the same way that God still likes to approach us yet today? Keep it simple to a point. High church stuff scares me a bit when we try to get too flowery with gowns and robes and rites. A part of the robe is to cover us up, not to flower us up. There’s a simplicity to our worship and yet a beauty to it too, hidden behind the simplicity. A little bit of water poured on a child. No dances or flashing lights with big bands. Simple confession of sins and absolution. “I’m sorry. I forgive you.” But when the Word of God is behind the simple actions, it becomes powerful, heavenly and divine in its simplicity. God doesn’t need flash. I always find it interesting that we sing these same words, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD, Hosanna!” prior to receiving the Lord’s Supper. We too are excited for Jesus to come in the humble ways of bread and wine with His body and blood to save us from our sins. These means are the donkey, but the beauty is in the One who rides in ON the donkey, our Savior Jesus.
Palm Sunday is about praising Jesus. Let’s listen to their song today. Hosanna! Hosanna means, “Save now,” or “save please!” It’s kind of a stunning thing if you think about it. They’re asking a normal looking guy with a beard on a donkey to save them. Ronald Reagan once said, “The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help.” We’d prefer they just leave us alone and stop trying to help us do anything. There’s a pride within that says, “I can get by just fine. I don’t need your help. God helps those who help themselves.” But here one guy comes riding into town on a donkey and they’re all expecting Him to save them and they want them to save them.
But this is the way they were taught. Within the Jewish mindset, they were taught from early on to look for help from God, especially from a Messiah who would come to overthrow the Roman government and bring back their autonomy and their country as it used to be, re-establishing Israel the way it used to be in its glory days. (It’s kind of interesting because you wonder how bad they actually had it under Roman government. They still were able to have a temple. I assume they were able to make their sacrifices, since animals were being sold right in the temple. So how “bad” was it for them?) Nonetheless, they wanted Jesus to set them free. They thought their biggest oppressor was the government. They were mistaken.
It seems that we in America have the same mind set. Think about the things that are oppressing us, that we are so worked up over. We are more worried about government regulations over Covid than we are about the effects of sin and death. In an age of Covid we’re more worried about germs than we are about temptations. How is Covid leading you to treat your spouse? How is it keeping you from loving your parents or others in need? What is it doing to your listening of the Word and receiving the sacrament? Are you more afraid of what might be on the bread of the Lord’s Supper than you crave what is IN the bread? If we were only as concerned about resisting and keeping away from temptation as we were about staying away from Covid. If we only desired the Word and sacrament as much as we did a vaccine. We pray and pray that God would save us from a disease and provide a cure. But do we pray and pray that God would save us from His wrath and from our sins? Hosanna! Save us from our earthly priorities!
Hosanna should be a spiritual prayer about my need for ETERNAL salvation. I’m a sinner. I deserve your punishment. I’ve broken your law. I’ve been locked up in a sinful and dying body. I’ve been locked up in a world of darkness and fear. Save me from your wrath. Save me from the devil and his temptations. Save me from giving up my faith. Save me from death. Save me from hell. How? Not by keeping me from dying! Not by extending my life for five or ten years. Not by a miracle cure for a sickness, but by forgiving my sins! By raising me from the dead. By filling me with your Holy Spirit and with His words of hope. That’s what Jesus was riding into Jerusalem to do by going to the cross! Jesus is the bread of life. He gives us His life and salvation in the Lord’s Supper. Hosanna should be a prayer to save me from this world, from this sinful body, from the devil. That’s why we sing it before the Lord’s Supper. That’s why we still want you to crave the Supper. Don’t focus so much on the donkey. It’s just a sinful pastor. It’s just bread and wine. Focus on what is in and with the bread and wine. The body and blood of your Lord for the forgiveness of your sins, being placed in your hands! Use your hands to take him, eat Him, and drink Him.
After the Hosanna, they continue with a song of praise. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Think about what they are saying. What does it mean to come in the NAME of the LORD? It means to come with God’s authority. It means to come with the LORD’s reputation, as Moses described to be a COMPASSIONATE and GRACIOUS God. This is where the blessings flow from. Jesus’ name means, “the LORD saves.” Jesus was blessed with patience and strength. He was blessed with knowledge and wisdom. He was blessed with courage. He was blessed with power over diseases and sickness. He could chase out demons! He could raise the dead! He was blessed with the Holy Spirit. All that He did was a perfect representation of who God is and what God does. Jesus was and is blessed as God in the flesh.
But all of these blessings only made Him a threat to the Jewish aristocracy and ruling class. They felt threatened by Him and decided to crucify Him. So on that cross, Jesus, the blessed One, came to take on the curse of God’s wrath, and Jesus didn’t run! He courageously faced suffering and death. His blessings made Him cursed. Ironically, it was Jesus’ curse that made Him the greatest blessing to the world. But this is how Jesus lived up to His name, the name of the LORD. Jesus came to be cursed in order to give us blessings. So the praise of the people of Jerusalem was true and false at the same time. Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD. He was blessed, but that is why He was cursed!
It’s this blessed Jesus that brings the kingdom then! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! It’s much more than freedom from a Roman authority. The Romans aren’t here anymore. Now you have the Russians, the Chinese, the Democrats and the Republicans. In the midst of whatever kingdom we live under, this kingdom comes to those who look to Jesus for forgiveness, mercy and grace. It is a kingdom that gives peace and strength in the midst of war, sickness and death. This kingdom comes to rich and poor in every corner of the world, regardless of who is ruling over them. And it seems that where the government tries hardest to shut down this kingdom, the more it grows! What a blessed kingdom it is! It comes from heaven itself. Hosanna in the highest! Save us now, from the heavens.
This is the song we need on our lips, to sing it with its truest meaning. Forget about being saved from a sickness or a disease for a moment. Forget about being saved from the American government or China. Forget about your relationships on earth. Think about your relationship with God. This is what you need. This is what Jesus came to bring the world on Palm Sunday, all on the back of a donkey.
An elderly person falls down. He needs help getting up. So you call 9-11. It’s the universal number in America. It used to be S.O.S. on a telegram. Mayday. Help! The police come, then the ambulance, then the fire truck. “Whoa! We just needed a hand up. The rest of you can go home.”
And maybe that’s how people view the Gospel too. Hosanna! “Get rid of my cold. Get me out of this mess. Give me money to pay my bills. Make sure the right politician is elected.” You’re thinking too small. Save me from dying? Jesus did that. Save me from Satan? Jesus did that too! Overthrow the government? Wait until Judgment Day! Overthrow sin, death and hell? That’s what I’m talking about! Hosanna! That’s what Jesus came to town to do. Yep, this seemingly harmless guy on a donkey, in the name of the LORD. So He’s earned our Hosanna today on Palm Sunday and always with hands and hearts of praise. Amen.
