A;ril 9, 2017, Palm Sunday, Page 1
APRIL 9, 2017
PALM SUNDAY
ILC, WICHITA, KS
SERIES A
MATTHEW 21: 1-9; “JOY… OR… SORROW!”
Grace, mercy and peace be unto you from God our Father and from our Lord and
Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
The text which forms the basis for my message today is the Gospel account of
the Triumphal Entry of Christ into Jerusalem that first Palm Sunday. I would like
to reread from Matthew 21:
Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the
Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, 2 saying to them, “Go into the
village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a
colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. 3 If anyone says anything
to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will send them at
once.” 4 This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying,
5
“Say to the daughter of Zion,
‘Behold, your king is coming to you,
humble, and mounted on a donkey,
on a colt,[a] the foal of a beast of burden.’”
6
The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. 7 They brought the
donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them.
8
Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut
branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 And the crowds
that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to
the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!
Hosanna in the highest!”
Here ends our text.
My good friends in Christ.
Today we celebrate Palm Sunday. Palm Sunday is one of those wonderful,
majestic holidays in the church year. Palm Sunday has another celebration here
at Immanuel. Immanuel traditionally Confirms her Youth on Palm Sunday. And
so today we also celebrate the Confirmation of Alexis.
Because of all of these celebrations… if you take your bulletin in hand… and turn
to the back page…the third line down you will notice the word… Sermonette.
A;ril 9, 2017, Palm Sunday, Page 2
Whenever the letters … E
or more brief….
T
T E are added to a word it means … shorter…
So… my sermon today is going to be shorter than usual.
Getting back to the Gospel readings today… because of the events that occurred
on Palm Sunday and during Holy Week… this is a holiday in the church year that
can send out mixed signals.
Palm Sunday is one of the festivals in the Christian Church that can either be
viewed from celebration …or sadness
... with that background…
There are two points that I would like to center my message around. That is,
when it comes to viewing the events of Palm Sunday
… will you view Palm Sunday from:
-a sense of joy; or
-a sense of sorrow.
I.
On the one hand….Palm Sunday is a day of great celebration and joy.
A.
There was great music… the Gospels tell us that as Jesus entered
the city of Jerusalem the crowds lined the road praising Jesus and saying:
“Hosanna to the Son of David!” And, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the
Lord!”
B.
Also…the crowds were huge in number. There were as large in
number as the crowds viewing our recently ended… March madness Basketball
tournaments. The city of Jerusalem was overflowing with people. For it was only
a couple of days until the Festival of Passover. And every good Jew would make
the pilgrimage to Jerusalem at least once in their life to celebrate the festival of
Passover. It is felt there were over 1 million pilgrims in Jerusalem for Passover.
So…the streets were lined with people.
C.
Plus… many people were excited about the prospects for the
future. Even if they didn’t understand that this Jesus was the Messiah they
thought He was… a great prophet. Surely he would unite the people of Israel to
overthrow the hated Roman government. Great things were about to come to
the people of Israel.
And so….there was great joy!
But on the other hand… you and I can view Palm Sunday with also a bit of
sorrow… a bit of sadness.
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II.
At the same time…. as our Lord celebrates his triumphal entry into
Jerusalem… the Lord.. .and you and I …..know what is ahead in the week to
come.
1.
Judas was already making his plans. Even though Judas sings his
praises on Palm Sunday…. He is scheming with the opposition to betray Jesus.
2.
We read in the Gospels that all but one of our Lord’s disciples desert
him on Good Friday with even the stalwart Peter denying his relationship with
Christ.
3.
The Sanhedrin had made their plans with Caiaphas the high priest
deciding that it was better for one man to die than the whole nation of Israel to
perish.
4.
We know the cost….In the midst of all that occurs in the Scriptures… in
our hearts you and I know why Christ came to our world. Christ came to redeem
us from our sins. We know what it cost Christ to redeem us from our sins… it
cost our Lord his life.
So…how will you view this Palm Sunday?
Each one of us shows the world how we view Palm Sunday. We show the world
by the way in which we live out our lives during this Holy Week.
-Will we journey with Christ to the Last Supper and the Garden of
Gethsemane on Maundy Thursday
-Will we spend time in prayer here in church during the Good Friday Noon
Service;
--
will we be present at the Tenebrae Service here at church on Good Friday
… we tell others around us how we view Palm Sunday by the way in which we
walk with our Lord during the days of Holy Week.
I would invite you to live out the appropriate sense of sadness and sorrow and be
a part of our worship services during Holy Week… and then I would invite you to
join us next Sunday as we celebrate the magnificent festival of Easter.
Joy or Sorrow… how will you view Palm Sunday.
I pray that God the Holy Spirit will anoint your heart with His presence… so that
your presence will be felt in worship during the days of this Holy Week.
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God bless us as we come to show honor and respect to our Savior, for He is our
Triumphal King. Amen.
Now may the peace of God which surpasses all understanding keep your hearts
and minds through Christ Jesus. Amen.