Iliff and Saltillo UM Churches
Palm Sunday,
March 24, 2002
“Come on In”
Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29
INTRODUCTION: Psalm 118 has long been associated with Palm Sunday. Verses 26-27 say, “Blessed is he who comes in the Name of the Lord...with boughs in hand, join in the festal procession.” It is a Messianic Prophecy which was fulfilled in Matthew 21:9. It unfolds on the day when great crowds of people shouted, “Hosanna to the Son of David. Blessed is he who comes in the Name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.”
(Matthew 21:9)
Psalm 118 is one of 6 Psalms (113-118) called the Egyptian Hallel Psalms which were sung at the Feast of the Tabernacles and during the Passover. They are songs of praise and thanksgiving for God’s great deliverance. The Feast of the Tabernacles was a 7 day feast commemorating the years of wandering in the wilderness by the Israelites before they eventually got to the Promised Land. It was sometimes called a feast of booths where they lived in temporary shelters. They praised God for delivering them from their enemies. Psalm 118 ends the Great Hallel which was sung at all the feasts and this would have been the hymn sung by Jesus and his disciples at the last passover in Matthew 26:30.
How can we relate to a Psalm that was written at least 500 or more years before Christ entered the scene? How can we identify with the Psalmist of Old? How can we relate to the people in the New Testament who waved palm branches and shouted “Blessed is he who comes in the Name of the Lord?” Does it say anything to us today? If so, what?
1. What the People Desired: The people we are reading about in Scripture all wanted something just as we do today. They had different priorities and were focused on something just as we are today.
Beginning in verse 19 the psalmist desires admission to the sanctuary of God when he begins by saying, “Open to me the gates of righteousness.”
The crowd wanted someone to bail them out of their problems. At passover time the Jews were looking for a Messiah. When Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey you might be surprised at how many gathered to lift up his praises. “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” By shouting this and waving the Palm Branches, a symbol of Jewish Nationalism, they were saying, “at long last here comes the one who will set up an earthly kingdom. They were ready to follow such a leader and ready for God’s mighty acts of salvation. The word HOSANNA meant, “SAVE, we pray”--originally it was a prayer for help. “O Grant us salvation!”
But Jesus never intended to set up an earthly kingdom to bail out the crowds. The crowds that cheered that day just as quickly joined the mocking and jeering crowd. They were a fickle group that turned their backs on Him as he continued on toward the cross. He KNEW what his mission was, but it never quite got through to them in spite of what he told them. The next day they were probably out looking for another popular hero who would save them from the Romans. Jesus was the one who came to save--but not in the way they expected.
Is it so different today? What do you want? As you sit here today on another Palm Sunday, how do you think of Jesus?
(1). Is He just someone to call upon when we have emergencies?
(2). Do our words of faith and commitment melt under the heat of difficult circumstances sounding as shallow as did the words of the crowd?
(3) Do we turn to the Lord for a bail out in our problems and want just a superficial religion with no thought of commitment?
Jesus had something entirely different in mind as he continued toward the cross. He was not going to be swayed by the whims of a cheering crowd. He had much more to offer them and much more to offer us. We, too, often miss it just as the crowd did on that day. We don’t always want what the Lord has made available to us and go on our way unaffected by all that he did for us on the cross. It just doesn’t sink in.
STORY: A local priest and pastor were fishing on the side of the road.
They thoughtfully made a sign saying, "The End is Near! Turn yourself around now before it’s too late!" and showed it to each passing car.
One driver that drove by didn’t appreciate the sign and shouted at them:
"Leave us alone you religious nuts!"
All of a sudden they heard a big splash, looked at each other, and the
priest said to the pastor .....
"You think we should just put up a sign that says ’bridge out’ instead?’"(source unknown)
2. ACCESS: Beginning in Verse 19 the Psalmist desired admission to the sanctuary of God when he began by saying, “Open to me the gates of righteousness,” but in the festal procession only the “righteous” were permitted entrance into the presence of the Lord, symbolically guarded by the “gates of righteousness.” Those who enter into the Lord’s presence had to meet this requirement of covenant loyalty and trust.
The sacrifices were offered on the day of Atonement the 10th of the 7th month which was five days before the feast of the Tabernacles. The Psalmist felt worthy to enter because he had made the proper preparation to enter. Verse 20, 21 says, “This is the gate of the Lord through which the righteous may enter...you have become my salvation.”
Access to God was opened up to him for which he praised God.
Have you ever had access denied?
ILLUSTRATION: I had typed all 333 pages of my new book into the computer and decided to save it on a CD. After I had it all transferred to the CD, I tried to open it up. In bold words on the screen it said ACCESS DENIED. Must have permission of the owner to open this file. I haven’t been able to open it up yet and I AM THE OWNER.
It would be sad if it were that way in our spiritual life. But what Jesus did for us opened up the way--for access to abundant life and the way to heaven. Because of Him becoming our salvation as prophesied many years before he came to earth, we don’t have to try to become worthy in ourselves and our own righteousness. Many times people say, “I have to get my life straightened out first before I can come to church. I have to earn my salvation. II Corinthians 5:21 tells us that we don’t have to do this because it is what Jesus came to do for us. It is not something that we can do for ourselves. We can’t make up our own rules for our salvation, and then try hard to live up to these rules.
“The [person] who trusts in Christ becomes the righteousness of God IN HIM.” (II Corinthians 5:21.) God made him who had no sin to be sin for us so that “in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
This is the gracious gift of God to people whereby all who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ are brought into a right relationship with God. This righteousness is unattainable by obedience to any law or by any merit of a person’s own doing or by any other condition than of faith in Christ.
ILLUSTRATION: We were at the airport and Walter had just left for San Francisco. When all the passengers had boarded the plane, the door was closed. Just then a man rushed into the area and discovered that he was too late. He could see the plane through the heavy plate glass window, and he waved his arms and beat on the glass shouting, “let me in. let me in.” But access was denied. The door was already locked and the plane was taking off.
There was nothing that he could do but to try to get another flight.
Jesus gave us access to God. He opened up the way for us. Sometimes we don’t realize what a great thing he did and we procrastinate, ignore him, don’t value his great gift of salvation to us. We treat it in such a ho hum manner. Sometimes we yawn in his face. Don’t need it and don’t want it. Yet, Hebrews 2:3 says, “How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation.”
The great crowds who shouted, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord” somehow missed out that day when they were so close to Jesus. They gave up something eternal for something temporal. They missed the point entirely of why Jesus came to earth.
STORY: After reading the crucifixion story, the chaplain was leaving the college assembly. The students were deeply moved by the reading. On his way back to his office, a student approached him and asked, "Did they ever get the point?" "Who?" asked the chaplain. "Those disciples. Did they ever finally figure out who Jesus was and what he was up to?"(source unknown)
We can just as easily miss it today. But we know that today access is not denied us. We still have time to make a decision because Today is the day of salvation. “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion” Hebrews 3:15 and II Corinthians 6:2 says “behold, NOW is the accepted time; behold, NOW is the day of salvation.”
CONCLUSION: Palm Sunday can bring us to a moment of decision. A decision to say yes in spite of all of the doubts we have. A decision to make Christ count in our life like he wants to count. A decision to stand apart from the crowd and make our own individual decision to respond to an invitation offered to us only by Jesus. As this Holy week begins, notice how the crowd disappears suddenly as Jesus moves on toward the agony of the cross. Will you disappear too or will you make the decision to come to Him and receive the salvation that he made available. Will you be his follower today? Come on in.
Shall we pray:
