Palm Sunday [John 12:12-19] (24 March 2013)

This sermon was preached at Trinity Lutheran Church, Tailem Bend at 9 am and St. John's Lutheran Church, Karoonda at 11 am.  

 One of my favorite stories is about a painting by a royal painter. The painting is nice, and there's a lot going on, but in the back of the scene is a mirror, and so the painter painted himself as he was painting the royal court. On his chest is a red cross, and it's said that the king himself painted it on after the painter died, out of respect. Sometimes the best stuff going on goes on in the background (or the worse stuff, like computer viruses or cancer). But the most enjoyable parts of today's Palm Sunday Gospel are what's going on in the background.

It's good that the crowd came and all, but the Scripture they fulfilled was better (as Christ's humiliating death was better too).

In some (arrogant) countries, the best sports players want to play in the biggest cities, the biggest stages to show their skill. Is that what the crowds showed up for on Palm Sunday? They may have come for merely surface/superficial reasons, but not Jesus. The crowd came, and they didn't understand. But not even Jesus' disciples understood what was happening. John wants to make that clear: “His disciples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about him and had been done to him.” We do hear why the crowd went, “The crowd that had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to bear witness. ¹⁸ The reason why the crowd went to meet him was that they heard he had done this sign.”, we just don't hear what they expected him to do in Jerusalem. Who would really think he would suffer death upon a cross?

So when they say their hosannas, they call him King. And they're there because they saw or heard about the raising of Lazarus. But they still didn't believe in him. John tells us that too, later in the chapter, in verse 37 “Though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him”. Just because they thought he was really nice didn't mean they were keeping the 1^st commandment by trusting in him, or the 2^nd commandment by confessing him rightly, or the 3^rd commandment in worshipping him. That's the Jesus they were a “fan” of, and when we're a “fan” of Jesus all we have to do is imagine that he approves of whatever sin we like as long as we're “good”. Then we can worship ourselves, teach our opinions, and trust in our works. That's the sin that goes on in the background. That helps us to see what's going on in the background in this reading.

But Jesus came for a deeper reason than to have “fans”, a deeper reason than a free donkey ride and a free parade. He came to fulfill the Scriptures which testify of him. John quotes from Zecharaiah because Zechariah described the type of King that Jesus would be: humble. John quotes verse 9 “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey”, but listen to 10 “I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the war horse from Jerusalem; and the battle bow shall be cut off, and he shall speak peace to the nations; his rule shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.”. Luther says so simply about the description of Jesus here: “Here there is no violence, no armor, no power, no anger, no wrath . . . Here there are only kindness, justice, salvation, mercy, and every good thing.”

There's something important about the Bible there. Just like Easter egg hunts are so enjoyable because on them you find Easter eggs (which is why special treats on DVD menus or the background of movies that you have to look around for and find are call Easter eggs), in that same way we look in the Scripture for Christ – Old and New Testaments. And it's an enjoyable search, because it's always fruitful, because the Scriptures always testify of Christ.

We can definitely say that Jesus didn't ride into Jerusalem on a donkey just to have a good time. And that means his glory wasn't having a parade, as if he expected the rest of the week in Jerusalem would be just more of the same. He expected, and said so, that he would be lifted up from the earth, meaning on the cross. The cross is his glory. That's one of the surprises of the Gospel of John, which mentions Jesus' glory so often. It's the cross. That's why without the cross and resurrection, no one understands Jesus (and you'd think if anyone would, it would be his disciples who were constantly with him, but John himself writes that they didn't understand these things on that Palm Sunday). Only after the cross and resurrection do they understand them.

Transition: This is about what was running in the background on Palm Sunday. This is about the “foolishness” of God, the “weakness” of God.

Jesus came to bear the humiliation of the cross to comfort the small and despised by getting himself a people. Palm Sunday wasn't the last stop for Jesus. He hadn't come to be the biggest person in the most popular place. Nor did he come to teach us a “good lesson” about who knows what. He came because he knew what his glory was, he knew he was fulfilling the promises that were made concerning him in the Old Testament, he knew his glory was the cross.

And the overlooked key to his fulfilling of Scripture is: “Fear not” for those whom sin condemns. “Fear not” is an odd message to happy people but a lifesaver to people under attack. The people who were crying hosanna on Palm Sunday didn't know that running in the background was the cross. But after Easter, that's when his disciples clung onto that word: “Fear not.” Jesus doesn't just say it, but he does it. When he says 'fear not', that's what he gives. When sins condemn and Christians are under attack, that cross is still running in the background – Christ's humiliating death is better than it seems, and your life under the cross in him is better than it seems when under the devil's attack.

And 'fear not' is for those who are condemned by being too big for God and find out they aren't. Just because we're rightly condemned by God because of our sins, doesn't mean that we should despair, only that we should despair of ourselves, but not of God's love in Christ. “Fear not” means that God's foolishness is wiser than man's wisdom, which sounds like something Paul would say, because he did.

And what's that thing about Jesus getting himself a people? The last stop was that Jesus got himself a people with the “foolishness” and “weakness” of God – a death by which he promises you his steadfast love by the forgiveness of sins. He came not to be admired but to get himself a people: a holy, Christian Church. On the cross he got himself a people. On the cross is the cornerstone of the Church. On the cross he got himself the Church (and that doesn't take anything away from the Ascension or Pentecost).

And in the Church he continues to have for himself a people. By our sin we're not strong enough to gather ourselves, just as the Palm Sunday crowd saw Jesus' signs and still didn't believe in him. It takes the cross. Still today the promises of the cross are handed out. That's the miracle of Christ's Church by the power of the Holy Spirit who works through the Word and the Sacraments.

This “foolish” God has a small and despised people who aren't big and strong. Just because we're small and weak doesn't mean that we should be big and strong. “Oh, we should be, but we're not.” It means that Jesus is big and strong, but he died a death that was foolish and weak-looking to the “strong”. And if he did that, then that means he wants to be strong for us, wants us to be weak enough to receive everlasting life because of what he did, and not by what we do. And the small life of love that comes from such salvation is despised by the world, but it is also needed by the world.

Conclusion: Yes it is good that the crowd greeted Jesus on Palm Sunday, but running in the background is the cross. Running in the background and up front in the Bible is Christ. The Church is run by the promises of Christ's cross for you, and lives by the forgiveness of sins. That makes a solid start to this Holy Week. Amen.