Palm Sunday Sermon
Grace mercy and peace to you from God our Father, Jesus the Christ who came to save us. Amen.
Please Pray with me…
Almighty God, heavenly Father, open our eyes and ears through Your Holy Word by the power of Your Spirit today. Open our hearts and minds to receive and trust in that great news that through Christ we have salvation. In Jesus name we pray. Amen
Hosanna! Palm Sunday is a day of Hosannas. Do any of you know what this word means? (Save now!) It is a cry for deliverance. But it has come to be a shout of acclaim and praise. It has come to mean “Salvation is here.” In it’s original context it a cry for help. But it came to be a proclamation of the arrival of deliverance.
On the first Palm Sunday the people yelled out loud hosannas to Jesus. They said, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” meaning, “Salvation has come through the Son of David.” (through the promised Messiah; through the Christ). Salvation is here! This transformation from a cry for mercy and salvation, to a shout of ecstatic relief and freedom is our story. Amen.
Hosanna sums up in one word all that we are in Christ. We need salvation and mercy. And so we cry out to God, “Save us Now!” Save us from our troubles! Save us from our pain! Save us from our fears! Save us! Save everybody and everything! Save us from all the things that seem to have it out for us! Save us from overwhelming situations that come at us more and more each day in this pandemic! Save us from all our stupid decisions and mistakes! Save us God! Save us from ourselves! Save us from our sins! Save us from death! Save us from hell! Save us now!
But in Christ our hosannas are also filled with a sure hope. When we lift our eyes up and see the Cross – when we see Jesus, our Savior – we cry out, “Hosanna! God has saved us! Salvation is here! He is bigger than our troubles! He is bigger than our pain! He is bigger than our fears! He is bigger than everything that has it out for us. He is love, and His power, and His salvation overwhelms all our situations. His wisdom, and grace, and mercy takes care of all our stupidity and sin. He is stronger than death! He delivers from hell! God is with us. Nothing can stand against us! Amen?
But Salvation doesn’t look like we might think it does. Salvation doesn’t come through strength of might. Salvation doesn’t come through self-promotion. Salvation doesn’t come through grace and honor and respect.
Our salvation came through Jesus. He delivered our salvation through His quiet, painful, humility. He didn’t resist. He didn’t seek recognition and He didn’t defend Himself. Our Salvation came through His disgrace and dishonor and the ultimate disrespect that He endured. He was obedient unto death; even death upon a cross.
If we take a moment to think all the way back to the beginning of our Lenten journey (back before the impact of the Corona Virus on all our lives), we’ll remember that in the devil’s final temptation of Christ in the wilderness, Satan offers Jesus the whole world if the Lord would simply bow down and worship him. Jesus knew the road He was on would lead Him to the agony of the cross. Satan offered Jesus the easy way out. But Jesus stays faithful…and the journey to the cross begins. It says that Satan left Him until an opportune time. Well, listen again to the words from St. John Gospel in chapter 12, beginning at verse 27. Listen to these Words as Christ’s journey to the cross was coming to an end:
"Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? 'Father, save me from this hour'? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name." Then a voice came from heaven: "I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again." The crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, "An angel has spoken to him." Jesus answered, "This voice has come for your sake, not mine. Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself." He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die.
(Joh 12:27-33)
In a few days as Christ hung upon the cross He would hear people exclaiming, “Save Yourself! Come down from the cross, if You are the Son of God!...He saved others, but He can’t save himself! He’s the King of Israel! Let Him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in Him!”
In the voices of the crowds we here the voice of Satan accusing Christ, trying to get Jesus to prove Himself just as he did during His first temptations in the wilderness when He said, “If you are the Son of God…”
We here more of Satan in the crowd again. We hear the second temptation, a second accusation. Just like Satan tried to make Jesus prove His trust in God by throwing Himself off the top of the temple, the voices in the crowd say, “Let God rescue Him now if He wants Him, for He said, ‘I am the Son of God.’”
And then again in the final temptation comes. Satan had offered Jesus the world. He offered Him the easy way out. But Jesus didn’t take it, and now here He is…suffering; taking it all for you and me.
All along we here people mocking Jesus telling Him to “Save Himself.” Asking Him why He wouldn’t save Himself. Wondering why God wasn’t saving Him…why God wasn’t sending Elijah to save Him. Well, why not. Why didn’t He save Himself? The answer is simple. It is one word.
Hosanna! … Hosanna! Hosanna, in the Highest! Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the LORD. Hosanna in the Highest!
Jesus didn’t come to show His power. He came to show His love. He didn’t come to show His authority. He came to show His faithfulness. Jesus didn’t come to save Himself. He came to save us. Amen!
Please pray with me:
Heavenly Father, we thank and praise You that You love us and that hear our Hosannas; our cries for salvation. We thank You that You promised us forgiveness and deliverance from sin and death and that You delivered on that Promise through Jesus Christ, Your eternal Son, who is risen from the dead and now lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.