Title: Celebration and Praise During Palm Sunday
Theme: To show how to praise, and people who praised on Palm Sunday
Text: Matthew 21:1-12
Read this Between Matthew 21:11 & 12
Luke 19:39 And some of the Pharisees called to Him from the crowd, "Teacher, rebuke Your disciples." 40 But He answered and said to them, "I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out."
Introduction
Would Jesus come to Jerusalem?
All week long, Jerusalem had been ablaze with rumors and questions. Would Jesus come this year for the Passover? One could hardly blame Him if He decided to stay up north in Galilee. There were threats against His life. The chief priests and the Pharisees had put out the word. Anyone who saw Jesus was ordered to report it, so that they could have Him arrested.
The day before, Jesus had been spotted in Bethany eating the Sabbath with His friends Mary and Martha and Lazarus, whom He had raised from the dead. Remember Mary she had anointed Jesus' head and feet with costly ointment. It was a preparation for His burial, Jesus said. Death was on his mind. A big crowd came out to see Him, and Lazarus, too. Lazarus had become something of a celebrity figure. It's not every day that you get to see someone who's been dead for four days. There even was a death threat out against him. Poor Lazarus, all he did was get up from the grave when Jesus called out his name, and for that the religious leaders were plotting to kill him too, because people were believing in Jesus on account of Lazarus.
He Came
He came as a king
He came as a King. A humble King. A victorious King. A King of peace. A beggar-king on a borrowed donkey. That is the Jesus of Palm Sunday. This King enters His capitol city, Jerusalem, for the Passover, the last Passover of the old covenant. In a few days, He would make the Passover something new - the Sacrament of His Body and Blood. In a few days He would give His life as God's Lamb, the Passover sacrifice. In a few days the King would claim His kingdom by dying and rising from the dead.
He came openly.
Once the word went out that Jesus was in town, there really was no way to stop the crowds and the attention. The media was out in force. So when Jesus went to Jerusalem the following day, which would have been the first day of the week, He did it openly and publicly. He had his disciples borrow a donkey from someone, and sitting atop the borrowed donkey, Jesus rode into Jerusalem like a king. John tells us that the people took palm branches and formed a welcome procession along the road. They waved their palm branches in the air and chanted verses from Psalm 118: "Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord! Blessed is the King of Israel." And so the stage was set. Holy Week had begun. Jesus, King David's promised Son, the messiah-King had come to His city, and His city welcomed Him.
This was more than a mere spontaneous show of support
To the casual onlooker, this may have looked more like a spontaneous show of support than a planned parade, but Jesus' ride on a donkey had been in the works for centuries. Some five hundred years before, the prophet Zechariah had prepared the people for a coming King: "Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey." The plans for this procession had been in the works for a long time. It was imbedded in Israel's history and in the reflexes of the people, just like saluting the flag and bowing to a cross. People knew the prophesy, and they knew psalm 118. They knew the liturgy and the rubrics for welcoming a king with palm branches and hosannas. All the big messianic buttons were being pushed. The religious leaders didn't miss a beat. A parade like this could get you nailed to a cross.
Every detail was important
Every detail of this parade was important - the donkey, the palms, the hosannas. The donkey was an animal of peace, humble compared to the horse, which was what you rode when going to war. David rode donkeys. It's a bit like the difference between a chief of state riding in a Humvee or a borrowed, open-top Volkswagen convertible. Jesus came in peace and humility. He was going to Jerusalem for war, not against the city but against death and the devil. This was not the kind of war fought with the standard issue weapons of this world. He would soon tell Peter to put his sword away. He was going to fight the devil, and our sin, and the Law that condemned us to hell. His only weapon was His humble obedience to His Father's will. "He humbled himself and became obedient to death, even death on a cross."
He came in humility.
This is the servant King who lays down His life for His subjects. Every other king sends soldiers out into battle to fight for him. Every earthly king expects his subjects to die for him. But this King lays down His life for His people. He enters the battlefield alone, riding an animal of peace. The battlefield is the city, Jerusalem, the place of sacrifice. He heads to the cross to die with the burden of the world's sin riding on his back. This perfect man, this perfect Jew, a son of Israel who had kept every point of the Law perfectly, who kept the entire Law of God down to its last little mark and point now rides into Jerusalem to take the punishments of the Law that a sinner deserves. The unblemished Lamb of God was entering Jerusalem for the Passover sacrifice to take away the sin of the world. The sinless One goes to die a sinner's death at the hands of sinful men. That is the rich humility of Jesus.
He came in peace and brings peace
He comes in peace to break the bow and shatter the spear. The violence of this world, the hatred and the anger that rages within us and lashes out in the direction of others, was focused upon Him. The wrath of God against our rebellion was trained on Him. "By His stripes we are healed." His punishment brings us peace. His cross means that God is for us, on our side, on good terms with us. We are reconciled, at one, at peace. We have peace with God through Jesus Christ. And we have peace with one another. There is no reason to hold a grudge; no reason not to forgive. God holds nothing against us. He has laid it all on Jesus, our King of peace.
Notice what happens. The crowd reacted
Laying down their cloaks, cutting down palm branches
The palm branches
Of victory.
The palm branches speak of victory, triumph, celebration, joy. In the culture of Jesus' day, palm branches were the ticker tape and the confetti, the fireworks and the victory sign. Palm branches were for victorious kings coming home from battle. The enemy is defeated. The good guys have won. Let's throw a parade! "With boughs in hand, join in the festal procession up to the horns of the altar" (Psalm 118:27). But wait a minute! The celebration seems a bit premature here, doesn't it? The decisive battle hasn't yet been fought. The cross lies at the end of the road for Jesus. The victory party is supposed to be next Sunday, not this Sunday. And yet already here He is greeted at the conquering hero, the victor King in anticipation of his victory. Leave it to the Lord to celebrate His victory a week early.
That's also the way of faith in King Jesus. We celebrate the victory before the battle's over, because we already know who won the war. "Thanks be to God. He gives (done and over with) us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." We face uncertainty and death every day. Every day we draw closer to our last breath, and to the world's last day. Each day brings its own problems and challenges, its disasters and disappointments. Each day we are tempted to doubt the victory of King Jesus, to live as if Jesus had not conquered death, to live in denial of His life at work us.
Faith sees the end and the beginning
Each day brings a little bit of death our way. Yet in the foolishness of faith we are given to rejoice and shake our fist in the face of death. "The Lord's right hand has done mighty things! The Lord's right hand is lifted high; the Lord's right hand has done mighty things." We know how it all ends. It ends with the coming of Jesus, the One who was slain but lives, the One who died and rose again. It ends with our rising of the dead in the power of His resurrection. It ends with eternal life for all who trust in Jesus in this life. We wave palm branches today, knowing that Jesus' death is our death through holy Baptism, that His life is our life, that He is strong to save, that He has conquered all things for us, that whatever may happen to us we have eternal life in His name and that nothing can separate us from God's love in Christ.
Praise unto the Lord
9 Then the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out, saying: "Hosanna to the Son of David! 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!' Hosanna in the highest!" 10 And when He had come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, "Who is this?" 11 So the multitudes said, "This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee."
Ps 118:24 This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it. 25 Save now, I beseech you, O LORD: O LORD, I beseech thee, send now prosperity. 26 Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the LORD: we have blessed you out of the house of the LORD. 28 You are my God, and I will praise you: you are my God, I will exalt You. 29 O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endures for ever.
Hosanna – come and save us
Hosanna means “Lord save us”
The shouts of Hosanna! tell us that Jesus is our Savior King. "Hosanna" is a Hebrew word that has come into English untranslated. It means "Lord save." "Hosanna! O Lord, save us; O Lord, grant us success. Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord." (Psalm 118:25). The person who is drowning and about to go under cries out, "Help, save me!" The person whose life is in desperate danger dials 911 and says, "Save me." Hosanna! Save us now, Lord!
Save us from What?
Save us from what? Sin, death, and devil - to name the big unholy three. Hosanna! Jesus saves us from our sin by becoming sin for us. He saves us from death and hell by dying for us. He saves us from the devil by doing battle with the devil for us. Hosanna! It is our hymn of praise on the highway, in the home, in the hospital. Hosanna! We shout it in our neighborhoods and our nation. Hosanna! We sing it in our churches into the deepest recesses of our lives. Save us, Lord. Save us from the sin that weighs us down and keeps us from reflecting your love in our lives. Save us from the death that dogs us to the grave, that causes us to fear, to doubt your victory and your goodness. Save us from the devil who prowls around like a lion trying to devour us. Save us most of all from ourselves, because left to ourselves, we would be lost forever.
Hosanna means do something “He did on the cross”
Hosanna is a prayer of the penitent, the cry of someone who has nothing, whose hands are empty, whose heart is crushed, whose spirit is broken and in despair. And this humble King who rides into Jerusalem hears our Palm Sunday Hosannas and He turns them into Easter alleluias. He takes our Hosannas with Him to His cross and nails them there. Hosanna! means "Do something." Jesus did. He died and rose again.
"Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem. Sing and raise your palm branches high, O Church of Christ. Behold your King comes to you."
The Rocks will Cry Out
Luk 19:39 And some of the Pharisees called to Him from the crowd, "Teacher, rebuke Your disciples." 40 But He answered and said to them, "I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out."
No One Can take our Praise
Note if you will that the Lukan writer say that "some of the Pharisees" from among the multitude suggest to Jesus that he quiet the crowd because they are making too much noise. Now don’t miss this, those who attempt to silence the saints are not a group of casual observers who stationed off to the side somewhere watching in a somewhat detached way.
The Bible says that they were part of the multitude. The same multitude that the Bible says "the whole multitude of disciples" began to rejoice. Ah, this means that just a few minutes earlier the same people who are asking that the crowd be quiet were part the crowd that was making the noise. Isn’t it funny how you can be sitting next to somebody who is praising the Lord with you one minute and the next minute they have sour on their face and nothing can make them move.
Everybody who comes to church does not come to get their praise on. Some people do just enough praise so that they can get close enough to:
* Stop your praise,
* Stifle your joy,
* Sour your spirit,
* Sabotage your smile,
* Stiffen your overflow
* Soften your volume.
When I look at these Pharisees that were mixed in the multitudes I cannot help but to nickname them praise police. A Self appointed spiritual Gestapo who feel that it is their job to monitor and measure just how much praise should go forth.
Let me hasten to add that all of the praise police are not confined to the year and day of this text. Listen, You have some praise police that may be sitting next to you right now:
Some praise police may have ridden to church in your car with you this morning,
Some praise police who are trying to make eye contact with you right now,
Some praise police who are trying to get your attention,
Some praise police can’t sit still and are moving as a distraction.
But if by chance you find yourself sitting next to a praise police let them know with your smile and your amen’s that this joy that I have the world didn’t give it to me and the world, nor you, can’t take it away.
What was it that could have caused a sudden change of heart? What was it that caused these Pharisees to do a sudden about face? What happen that those who were saying amen one minute were saying be quiet the next minute.
I. They Had Not Given Permission
Well let me offer you just a few possibilities. It could be that when these Pharisees saw all of this praising going on it occurred to them that the people were praising the Lord and nobody had asked them for permission to praise him. Have you ever seen people sit staunch and stiff in church?
I mean the choir can be singing the pastor can be preaching the people can be having a good time but they just sit there untouched by anything that is going on. And have you noticed that those kinds of people are always looking around to see whose attention they can get almost as if to say, " If I am not praising the Lord then you should not be praising him either".
But let me be real clear on this. Can’t nobody do you like Jesus.
* Did that person wake you up this
morning?
* Did that bump on a log put food on your
table?
* Did that killjoy bring you to church this
morning safe and sound and free from all
hurt, harm and danger?
Well, if that person didn’t do any of those things then that person does not have the right or the authority to keep you from giving your God some praise.
II. They Did not Start Them so They Could not Stop Them
Well, let’s see, maybe they were upset because nobody had asked their permission. But the other reason that they could have been upset was because they did not start the praise; therefore they had to ask Jesus to intervene because they could not stop the praise.
Look closely at the text and it is clear when Jesus appeared, the Bible says that the multitude began to praise him. Now notice, the multitude did not start to praise the Lord when these Pharisees said to praise him, and since they did not start them they could not stop them.
If you are not careful you will find yourself around some people who feel that they have the keys to your praise and if they do not start you ought not to start. But the problem with that is if they can start you then they can stop you:
* If they can turn you on then they can turn
you off.
* If they can light your fire, then they can
blow your fire out.
* If they can ignite your engine then they
can kill your engine.
* If they can get you up then they can bring
you down.
But listen, I don’t know about you but I don’t want anyone with that much spiritual control over me that they can turn me up and down like a thermometer in their living room.
Listen, God has been too good to me for anybody to be able to raise a stop sign in front of me and expect me to settle down just because they say so. When I think of the goodness of Jesus and all that he’s done for me, my soul cries out Hallelujah, I thank God for saving me and nobody is going to push my buttons for me but the Holy Spirit.
III. They Were Praising Him and Not Praising Them
Finally, let me suggest to you that perhaps the final reason that these Pharisees were upset was because the people were praising Him and not praising Them. The text says that when Jesus appeared, nobody else, when Jesus appeared, praises went forth. The people were praising Him, not them.
Now I know this does not happen around here but I have been in some places where some people; while somebody else is up praising the Lord will just sit there like that person is getting on their nerves. No expression, no joy, no excitement, no enthusiasm nothing. But let them get up and go to the microphone. They want everybody to stand on their feet, Jump up and down,
Do cartwheels, Lift up holy hands, Run around the church, Jump over benches, Hang from the chandeliers.
They want people to praise them but not Him. But I refuse to be that small and self-centered. I refuse to be that egocentric and narcisstic. When you are up praising the Lord I want to cheer you on because the same God that has done whatever you are talking about is able to do the same thing in my life. And if he has done something for you I know that he is on my street, in my neighborhood, on my side of town. And if I praise him I know that I am scheduled for a blessing. So I can praise God with you because I just may be next on his list.
Let me close with this observation. What I really take home from this text is what is found in the latter clause of verse 37. The Bible says that the real reason the people were shouting and praising Jesus was because of the mighty works that they had seen him do. They were praising God because of what they had seen. You see the Pharisees blew it because they were preoccupied with themselves. But the people were not paying them any mind the people were praising Him because what they had seen him do.
Listen when you have seen God do some things it will cause you to make some noise.
When you have seen God do some things, people around you can’t make you be quiet.
When you have seen God do some things in your life no self appointed praise police can make you sit down.
You will stand up and say you don’t know like I know what the Lord has done for me.
I believe that there are some people in this church here today who can say amen because they have seen God do some things.
There are some people here today who can shout Hallelujah because they have seen God do some things.
There are some people here today who can cry Hosanna because they have seen God do some things.
There are some people who can scream Shabach, because they have seen God do some things.
There are some people who can declare Thank You Jesus, because they have seen God do some things.
There are some people who can say Glory be to God, because they have seen God do some things. Some people have seen God:
* Make a way out of no way
* Unlock locked doors
* Be a doctor in the sick room
* Be a lawyer in the court room
* Be a bridge over troubled water
* Be as shelter in the time of a storm
* Be a light in dark places
* Balm in Gilead
* Water in dry places
* Make children behave
* Bring husband back home
Luke 19:39 And some of the Pharisees called to Him from the crowd, "Teacher, rebuke Your disciples." 40 But He answered and said to them, "I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out."
Who were there:
* The blind that could see
* The lame that could walk
* The deaf that could hear
* The lady with the issue of blood (for 40
years) who was healed
* The widow lady who had her son raised
from the dead
* The leper who was clean
* The royal official who had his son healed
* The demonic who was delivered
* The centurion who’s servant was healed
* The man with the withered hand who was
healed
* Jarius and his daughter that was raised
form the dead
* The mute man who could now speak
* Lazarus who was raised from the dead
* Bartimeaus who was healed from
blindness
* The man and his son who was healed from
the demons who through him in the fire
* The woman caught in adultery who Jesus
forgave her sins
* Mary Magdalene who Jesus delivered out
of prostitution
* The woman at the well
* The people who were over 5000 that Jesus
fed
* The people who were over 4000 that Jesus
fed
