In 1997 I traveled to Pittsburgh to attend a Promise Keepers Meeting at Three Rivers Stadium. Men from the Ashland Area Churches rented a bus and traveled there together. Promise Keepers was created to issue a calling to men to live up to their biblical responsibilities to be good Husbands, Fathers, Churchmen, and citizens.
As we traveled to the event, we stopped about halfway to have lunch. As we sat in the restaurant, someone noticed three well-dressed men talking with the manager. They also noticed them showing their badges and overheard them say that they were police escorts for “The Great American Hero, Bill Jenson.”(Fictional name) The news spread through the restaurant like wildfire. Everyone was a-buzz with excitement. People were talking from table to table and booth to booth. Who is this ‘Bill Jenson’ and how did he become the Great American Hero? After about 10 minutes the door swung open and the policemen made way for the Great American Hero. Everyone’s eyes turned to the door….. the feeling of excitement was overwhelming, and you could hear a pin drop.
And then, and then, he stepped in. The Great American Hero. But something must have gone wrong. The man standing there did not look like a Hero at all. He looked more like Otis Campbell, the town drunk. There stood a very short, balding, overweight, middle-aged man who didn’t look like he could save anything. Some people keep looking around him, thinking he was still outside. Surely, this was not him!
But as the officers cleared his path asking people to step aside, you could tell that he was no ordinary man. The way he carried himself, the look of confidence on his face and the aire of mystery that surrounded him made you think…. He Really is “The Great American Hero”.
People were saluting him…. and thanking him for his service…. and shaking his hand and applauding. But then someone in our group said, HE IS NOT THE GREAT AMERICAN HERO, He is Bill Jenson a policeman from Ashland. He was traveling with some policemen separately to the same venue as we. He also said that they had played this trick several times at different places before.
We were fooled and they had fun and a great laugh.
When Jesus entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. There too was much excitement and even a parade….. only Jesus was not the Great American Hero, propped up with a lot of lies. He was the Great I Am, the Hero of all heroes and the Savior of the world, who was bringing salvation to all.
Brothers and Sisters, here we are again, at another Palm Sunday Service. We come singing the same songs and reading the same scriptures waving our palms singing Hosanna, just as we always do. But, today, I want to switch things up a bit by asking, Why is Palm Sunday important?
Well, Palm Sunday is important because it is the jumping off place for Jesus, the point of no return. We too must realize that we also are at the same place. For Jesus, this was the last week in his earthly ministry, ending in his horrific crucifixion on Good Friday and his resurrection on Easter Sunday, the most holy day of them all. And I think it is important for us to revisit the last week of our Lord’s life for not anything else but as a reminder of How much God loves us. So let us look and see what we can find out about this week.