Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the Highest. All Glory Laud and Honor to You Redeemer King. Palm Sunday is a different kind of day especially in the midst of Lent! This whole time, we have spoken of penitence and what our sin has brought, the sin that lies so closely with each one of us and what our Lord did in suffering for that sin and redeeming us from it.
Yet, Now on Palm Sunday, we celebrate! We bring out our Palm branches, We march into the Sanctuary. We Praise God in loud voices. Maybe we forget just for a moment that we are still in Lent. Or we forget what will happen at the end of the week. But I would have you see this morning that this Sunday, doesn’t cause us to forget Lent and the suffering of Good Friday. Rather it intensifies what those days mean for us. Palm Sunday intensifies and redirects us with an even sharper vision of who our Lord is.
For that we need to go back to the day that we commemorate today. We have been talking through Luke continually about how after chapter 9, Jesus set His face toward Jerusalem. He set his sights on that Holy City and the redemption that He was about to accomplish there. But that is what we see looking back with the words of the apostles. What the people saw at that time was quite different. As John says in chapter 12, even the disciples didn’t understand what that first day of palms meant while it was happening. The interesting thing about this all is that Jesus has just been doing some amazing things and He has a group of people who are all excited over Him. He has been healing people, casting our demons, and the biggest thing of all to this point, he just raised Lazarus from the dead! So he has a crowd that is just enthralled with Him. They want to follow him wherever he is going.
And on Palm Sunday, He enters into the city of Jerusalem for the Passover. Like a king’s triumphal entry into his city, to celebrate his victories, all the people gather around and they stretch out their Palm branches to welcome this King. Hosanna in the highest. Which means “Please, save us!” Blessed Is He who comes in the name of the Lord! They Palm branches signify his great conquests and all the great things that He was doing and no doubt what the people thought that He was about to do. But they didn’t simply wave palm branches, they took the cloaks off of their backs so his colt could walk upon them. A glorious celebration!
The Greeks are even interested in Jesus! They want to see Him! They are people who seek wisdom and understanding. They are interested in this man who is causing quite a stir.
What does Jesus do? Does he care about his popularity and say, “bring on the interested peeople!” Bring on all these people who are excited about me?” No. He speaks enigmatically, “My hour has come. Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone, but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.”
You have to think that everyone thought Jesus was a real downer. Here everyone is celebrating Him and is excited about his entry into the city, and Jesus is talking about dying. Then it comes out at the end of our reading this morning. Jesus did many signs in front of the people, but they did not believe in Him. Jesus is doing amazing things, healing infirmities, casting out demons, and even raising the dead. But people are not believing in Him! As Isaiah says, their eyes are blinded and their hearts are hardened.
This is what makes Palm Sunday and ironic day. It is the day that this one who comes into the city with a blessed reception, would soon be the one for whom the crowds will soon turn sour. There are a lot of theories that this crowd in our text this morning is a different crowd. We don’t know that. It is very well possible that some of the same people who were crying out with palm branches in their hands, “Hosanna, Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord,” were the same people who were crying out with clinched fists, “Crucify Him, Crucify Him!” But one thing is for sure. Jesus was welcomed with celebration, and soon He was rejected.
Everybody loves the Jesus who does signs and great things. Everybody loves the Jesus who makes you feel good like a therapist. Everybody loves the Jesus of prosperity preaching.
But who loves the Jesus, who goes to the cross? Who has His eyes set on the cross? Who loves the Jesus that tells us that we are to follow him to the place where He is going? Who says, “Sign me up for that!” Our old nature is repulsed. We don’t want anything to do with dying. We don’t want anything to do with becoming a servant to all people. Our old nature doesn’t want anything to do with things that might be embarrassing. We would much rather have the Jesus that makes us feel comfortable than this Jesus who speaks of dying when we want to celebrate. We would much rather hold on to our pride and blame others for the misgivings of our past than die to self and seek reconciliation with those that have harmed us. We would much rather only reach out to people who are just like us, than love the outcasts of the world. Brothers and sisters in Christ, if we war against Jesus’ cross, that is our old nature speaking. It needs to die again today, just like everyday. It needs to die right now. …
Because if it dies with Christ, it brings life. Just as Christ has first died to bring you life. Death in Jesus means life. By the grace of God, we stand today on the receiving end of the apostles’ word. John is writing as one who saw the Lord glorified. John is writing as one who saw Jesus lifted up on the cross dead, and raised on the third day. He has delivered that to you and to me. So that by the power of the Holy Spirit you might believe in this one who has been crucified for you. “These words have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God!” You don’t believe in him because he was a moral teacher. You don’t believe in Him because He was a nice guy. You don’t even believe in Him simply because he does great signs. You don’t believe in Him because he makes you feel good about yourself. Belief in Jesus is a gift. It comes by the way of the cross through the Word of God proclaimed into your ears. It is a Word that shows us our sin before God calling us to repent and giving to us the sure hope of God’s forgiveness, even forgiveness for misguided praise. It’s all gift. As Luther says in the small Catechism, “I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith.”
Jesus says, that when he is lifted up, he will draw all people to Himself. Indeed, He has done this and the Holy Spirit calls us by the preaching of the Gospel into this faith. This all is delivered to you, by the waters of your Baptism. It will be delivered to you once again today in the meal of the Lord’s Supper. Jesus is draws you to Himself once again today.
The crowds didn’t understand what their palm branches of victory really meant at the time. They didn’t understand that the victory and praise and throwing coats on the street were to find their greatest significance in Jesus victory over sin, death, and the devil. They didn’t understand that Jesus high point of glory, is on a cross where He is not just about doing a few signs here and there but taking care of the root problem of the world. So our palm branches do not simply adorn a popular miracle worker of the first Century. Our Palm branches are not about great moral teacher who gives behavior adjustments. By the undeserved gift of faith, our Palm branches find their true meaning as they adorn the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
