MARK 11:1-11a [Christian Standard Bible]
‘When they approached Jerusalem, at Bethpage and Bethany near the Mount of Olives, He sent two of His disciples and told them, “Go into the village ahead of you. As soon as you enter it, you will find a young donkey tied there, on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it.’
So they went and found a young donkey outside in the street, tied by a door. They untied it, and some of those standing there said to them, ‘What are you doing, untying the donkey?’ They answered them just as Jesus had said, so they let them go. Then they brought the donkey to Jesus and threw their robes on it, and He sat on it. Many people spread their robes on the road, and others spread leafy branches cut from the fields. Then those who went ahead and those who followed kept shouting,
“Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest heaven!’
And He went into Jerusalem and into the temple complex.’
As I said this morning, today is Palm Sunday. It is the day that the Christian church celebrates the beginning of Jesus’ last week on earth. We get the name "Palm” Sunday because some of the older translations said that as Jesus rode into Jerusalem, the disciples laid down palm fronds on the road ahead of the donkey. Some of the translations today that go back to the earliest Greek and Hebrew texts refer to them as “leafy branches cut from the fields.” Now, it is not as important what they laid down as it is the reason they laid them there.
In the culture of their day, a king would ride into town on a horse if he wanted the people to know that he was ready for war and that he was their warrior king. However, when a king rode into town on a donkey, that symbolized the time of peace was at hand. Jesus chose a donkey to show that the time for peace and love had come. The people were awaiting the king, but most of them thought the king would be an earthly king that would readily protect Jerusalem from all enemies. Jesus, however, came as a king of peace. And they threw the branches in from of Him as a symbol that they accepted Him and worshiped Him as their king.
I think preachers from all over the world have had some difficulty with today’s sermons, because today is also known as “Passion Sunday.” Do we preach on the palms, or do we preach on the passions? If I preach about “Palm Sunday”, I would have to mention about people traveling great distances just to hail Jesus as king of the Jews. I would have to talk about how they laid down branches in front of Jesus as he made His way to Jerusalem. I would have to tell you about how happy they were to see Him. How they were so excited they literally took the coats off their backs and laid them in front of Jesus, too.
If I preached about “Palm Sunday”, I would have to talk about how these events fulfilled the prophecies of long ago. The prophecies that Zechariah foretold about the king who would ride into Jerusalem on a borrowed donkey and how the people went crazy with hope that they would be saved from the cruel Roman Empire. And they sang. And, if I were to preach about “Palm Sunday”, I would have to tell you how this day was like none before. It was a day of great hope for people who had lived in hopelessness.
But on the other hand, if I preached about “Passion Sunday”, I would have to tell you a very different story. I would have to tell you that this parade was really a funeral procession. This day marked the beginning of the end; the week of betrayal; and the week that would end in suffering and death.
If I preached about “Passion Sunday”, I would tell you the stories of the last supper, and how Jesus shared with his disciples those things he wanted them to remember most. I would share with you the familiar stories of the arrest, the torture, and the crucifixion. If I were to preach on the passion, these would be the stories I would tell.
Once a young farm boy lived on the outskirts of town. He was coming home from school one day and saw some men putting up a poster on a fence. He hung around until they finished, and then he went over to read it. It told of a real live circus coming to town; one that had animals and everything!
The boy rushed home and told his father and asked if he could go. The father knew they didn’t have any money, but told the boy he could go anyway. Come the day of the circus, the boy hurriedly finished all his chores and then changed clothes. Then he went to his father and asked if he could go. His father smiled and handed him a dollar. That was money than the boy had ever seen before. His father told him to have a good time and to be careful. Off the boy ran.
When he got to town, he saw the whole town standing on either side of the road, and then he heard the noises. Here came the circus! His heart raced and his eyes got big as the band played their instruments as they walked past him on the road. Next, came some animals in cages. He was sacred, but he stood his ground. How exciting this was! Then, group after group, all kinds of neat people and things came by. This lasted for the longest time, and then, at the very end was a clown, all by himself. He had the traditional clown garb on, complete with painted face and big floppy shoes.
When the boy saw the clown, he ran to him and gave him the dollar. Then the boy went home satisfied. He only saw the parade and thought it was the circus. And that is how many Christians view the Easter week. They see the celebration in the first part, and they see the miracle of ascension in the last part, but they miss the passion of the cross in the middle; yet they think they have seen it all, and they think they are satisfied.
I knew people in school who would read only the first and last chapters in a book and then try and give a book report on it. Oh, we know full well everything that happened in the beginning and the end, but we miss out on all the important information in the middle.
So these were my thoughts as I wrestled with what to preach on this morning - as I deliberated about what to say. The glory of the palms or the gloom of the passion? The celebration of the parade into Jerusalem, or the passion found at the cross? So I decided to let Mark speak for himself. This is one of the very few stories that all four Gospel writers tell.
In John’s tellingof the story, there is triumph, and palm branches, and many people come out to celebrate the Lord Jesus. In Luke’s Gospel, multitudes of people sing praises hailing Jesus as King. And in Mathew’s account, there are huge crowds and lots of pomp and circumstance. And as much as we all love these accounts of the story, this year we’ve included the words of Mark. And Mark tells us about a different kind of story.
When you read his version of the story, the ride into Jerusalem is not a mini- Easter celebration, like it is for the others. There’s not a lot of hoopla. It’s more like a rag tag parade than a grand processional. In Mark’s gospel, it is Palm Sunday, but there is a strong backdrop of fear and somberness.
The disciples have reluctantly followed Jesus to Jerusalem. They feared because Jesus had told them several times that Jerusalem would be the place of his death. And then when the prediction about the donkey is foretold and comes true, their anxiety and fear only deepens because they realize that the predictions Jesus makes seem to be right on.
Mark’s account is both “Palm Sunday” and “Passion Sunday”. And if we are to do justice to the events of long ago, we’ve got to celebrate this day as such. But even as I say this, I am aware of our tendency to dwell on the palms over the passion. As humans, we always tend to think about the uplifting things in life instead of those things that are somber – even if the latter has the message we need to hear.
To more fully understand everything that surrounded Jesus, and to figure out what to make of all the events, we need to think about the parades but we also need to think about the crosses. One does us no good if we don’t also understand the other.
We know from all accounts that Good Friday was anything but a peaceful lazy day in the sunshine. Crowds swarmed over the entire area, shouting in loud and sometimes angry voices. If there was any hint of a flower’s fragrance, it was well hidden in the odor of darkness that hung in the air. I think that for Jesus and his disciples it was anything but a Good Friday. Yes, we need to look at the good and the bad, so that we can better understand that Jesus Christ deliberately chose to endure the suffering and the death just for us. And to understand that He did so because of His great love for us.
Jesus didn’t remain aloof to us because of our sin. Actually, rather than keep Himself at a safe distance, He stroke right up to us and fellowshipped with us and witnessed to us. He closed the gap and offered His loving salvation.
This week as we walk through those events that happened long ago we remember the road Jesus traveled for us and we rejoice that love for us is what led him to do it. And in response to this love, God calls us to consider our own lives. And to respond by also walking the path of love. Going places or doing things that may be uncomfortable, just so that we can let someone else know how much they are loved, too.
For example, we are all called to evangelize to others. For different reasons some of cannot do so at this time, and some others might be severely limited in where they might go. God knew there would be restrictions, so He afforded us many ways in which to evangelize. One way to do it is using those cards we got. Again, let me show you them and give you a couple suggestions on usage.
(We had business cards made with the church name, directions, phone number, etc. on the front and a message on the back that simply reads, “I would be blessed to have you as my personal guest next Sunday at 10:00 am. I thank you.”)
(We hand these out to those we meet at stores, restaurants, beauty shops, etc. We do not get into a lengthy discussion, we just had them a card and say, “I would like for you to read this when you have the time. God bless. Bye.”)
Of course, there are many ways to evangelize, and we encourage whatever works. And remember, it would be fantastic if you could get more people to come to this church, but what is important is that you introduce people any way you can to Jesus Christ.
But getting back to our going places we normally do not feel comfortable in going, let me share a personal experience with you. Within five short years, I lost my mother, my father, and my oldest brother. We were a tight-knit family, and that was a devastating time for me. It was during this time of what I call “non-joy” that a pastor friend of mine asked me if I wanted to go to a nursing home to do visitation. Yeah! Right! This was right after losing three of my family in hospitals.
But I went. I don’t know why, really. I think maybe I did it because I couldn’t find a way to say no that didn’t make me look like I was hiding from it. We went into a lady’s room that was dying. She was down to skin and bones and she was not very aware of what was going on. When I walked over to her bed, her eyes popped open and she stared right at me. My first instinct was to run out of the room and hide in my car.
She reached out for my hand and I let her take it. She squeezed harder than I thought she would have been able to, and she called me by another man’s name. She stunned me. She smiled the warm loving smile that only a mother could smile, and said that I had come back from the war just for her. She thought I was her son returning from World War II. What I did next surprised not only me, but the pastor with me. I knelt down beside her and let her talk to me as if I were her son. Without realizing it, I was giving her the chance she had never had. I was giving her the chance to say all those things in her heart to her son – who never came back because he was killed in France.
This lady died a short time later, but she died having had the opportunity to do two things. She was able to talk to her son and tell him how much she loved him, and she was able to then have a word of prayer where she asked Jesus to love her all the way home.
All too often, we encounter another who is going through a very rough time and we just don’t know what to say to them – so we don’t say anything or we avoid them altogether. For the individual going through the storm, this causes some very deep hurts. When they need their Christian friends the most, they find themselves deserted with nobody to help them. Christ didn’t avoid those uncomfortable places. Those places were the first places He went. And He went there to serve others; just like we are supposed to do.
We all have problems, don’t we? So why should we invite more suffering into our lives by dealing with somebody else’s suffering? Why invite more heartache into our lives when we already have so much ourselves? Last week, I spoke about Jesus healing Malchus’s ear when Peter took his sword and cut it off. I would think that if anybody had troubles on His mind, it would have been Jesus. Yet He took the time to help somebody else who needed it. Just like we are supposed to do.
Anywhere you go that is not perceived by you as being 100% pleasant is going to be uncomfortable and is going to look like one of those dark places we all tend to avoid. It takes courage to walk down that road, but because of the love of Christ that is in your heart, you must continue. It may take you from the good time and direct your attention on the bad time, but because of love, you must do it.
Perhaps the reason Mark downplays the jubilance of Palm Sunday is because we need to be focused on the passion as well as the palm; the future as well as the present; and we need to see Jesus as God rather than to see Him as just an earthly king. It will only be by looking ahead to the cross, that we can realize just what kind of sacrifice Jesus made for us out of His love for us.
So, as we go forth into Palm Sunday, let us do so by remembering the celebration of the Lord’s great and wonderful entrance into Jerusalem, riding the back of a donkey to show that He was the king of peace.
And, as we go forth into Passion Sunday, let us do so remembering what horrible things that were done to Jesus, and why He allowed them to happen. Remembering that He loves us so much He willingly took our punishment and our death upon Himself – to save us from having to go through it ourselves.
Many of us tend to jump from the celebration of the parade, to the open tomb without giving the cross much focus. I understand that looking upon the brutal torture and killing of a loved one is very hard to do, but do it we must. For the things leading up to the cross tell a story, but they don’t by themselves, show the love. The things that occurred after the cross tell a story of what love caused. But to tie the two together, we must have the cross. The cross tells us what happened out of love, and it tells us that prophecy had been fulfilled so that the events after the cross could take place – all for you and me.
As we go forth into this Holy Week, let us remember most of all that the One who came to take our place, has already made a place for us in Heaven. He who died for us is still living today, and He is still loving us today. And he still wants that personal relationship with each one of us.
Every beginning should have an ending. Every ending needs a beginning. But every beginning and every ending needs a story in between to tie them together as one. The celebration of the palms led to the passion of the cross and the passion of the cross led to the ascension into Heaven. The beginning and the end … complete with the perfect middle.
Today is your day of decision. Are you up to it? Or, are you going to run away from it, hoping it will disappear and you won’t be called on to make that decision? If that is what you are thinking, you are mistaken. God has already called you. Did you hear Him?
INVITATION
