Palm Sunday - 03/24/13 RWJ/Pottersville
UMC
Sermon: “The Suffering
King”
Scripture Lesson: Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29 (Palms)
Gospel Lesson: Luke 19:28-40 (Palms)
Good morning brothers and sisters! Welcome to the beginning of this sixth
and final week of this Lenten Season. I don’t know about you, but to me this
Lenten Season has seemed like that it has flown by! Nevertheless, here we are
on this Palm or Passion Sunday. The Sunday when Jesus came into Jerusalem riding
a donkey as a king, as “The Suffering King”. As he entered, he heard shouts of “Hosanna”
or what translates to something like “God save us,” or “Please Save”.
While Jesus entered the gates of
Jerusalem to shouts of Hosanna, and as people put palms and cloaks down before
him, soon after he would die for the sins of the world. As I have mentioned throughout
this Lenten Season, when John the Baptist first saw Jesus, he said, “Behold the
Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world!”
So,
Christ comes into Jerusalem on a donkey on this day. The real question though,
is why would he do this? Sure he would be praised by the people, but why like
this? Why on a donkey? In the scripture reading from this morning from Psalm
118, it said, “Open to me the gates of righteousness, that I may enter through
them and give thanks to the Lord. This is the gate of the Lord; the righteous shall
enter through it”.
The
only person who has ever been on this earth who was truly sinless though, who
was truly righteous though, was Jesus Christ. According to this prophecy from
this Psalm in the Old Testament then, the Messiah, or the “righteous one” had
to enter into Jerusalem. As he entered, the people gave thanks to him. They
gave thanks to the Lord. The Psalm from this morning’s reading went on to say “I
thank you that you have answered me and have become my salvation”. On this Palm
or Passion Sunday, the people of Jerusalem shouted “Hosanna!” They were saying,
“Save us”! They were saying we want to become part of your salvation!
Yet
amidst the great joy of Christ entering Jerusalem, and with all the people
looking upon him, or even Christ’s twelve disciples had no idea that Christ
would soon die for the sins of the world. As John the Baptist said, “Behold the
Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world”. During all of this
excitement then, I have wondered if Jesus had a brief moment grief. That in
that moment, if he maybe, if for at least an instant, thought of himself as “The
Suffering King”. Sure today he is a mighty and a beloved king, but soon, he
will be “The Suffering King”. While he enters Jerusalem as the beloved King and
the Messiah in accordance with the Old Testament prophecy, he will soon die for
us all. Soon though, the Roman Guards will put that crown of thorns on his
head, give him that staff, and that purple robe to mock him. I see this however,
as a coronation of the king. The king was crowned, robed, and given a staff.
Whether Jesus’ torturers and murders were trying to or not, they were preparing
a king for death and burial. Mary in our scripture last week anointed Jesus’
feet with the Nard used to bury a person. Now Jesus enters as a king in
accordance with the Old Testament prophecy, and soon our king will have his
coronation. Before he goes to die, and then will be raised to new life,
conquering sin, conquering death, and conquering fear itself.
So
while we celebrate this Palm or Passion Sunday, as our messiah, our king enters
into Jerusalem, he is soon to become “The Suffering King”. But today as the
Psalm from this morning says, “Save us, we beseech you, O Lord! O Lord, we
beseech you, give us success!” The Psalm from this morning also said, “Blessed
is the one who comes in the name of the Lord”. This king, this Messiah comes to
proclaim the Lord and HIS kingdom, but he is soon to be “The Suffering King”.
In
the Gospel of Luke reading from this morning, Jesus and the apostles were heading
to Jerusalem. When Christ had gotten “near Bethphage and Bethany, at the place
called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of the disciples, saying, “Go into the
village ahead of you, and as you enter it, you will find tied there a colt that
has never been ridden, Untie it and bring it here”. Well, I don’t know about
you, but first and foremost I can imagine that these two disciples were amazed
that Jesus knew that colt or donkey was there, as it surely was when they
arrived! So the colt is brought to Jesus, and cloaks were placed on, Jesus was
set on top of it, and he rode into Jerusalem. People spread cloaks on the road
before him, as he rode, and people were praising God joyfully. Many people said,
“Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and
glory in the highest heaven!” These statements were said by the people, in
accordance with the Old Testament prophecy read this morning from Psalm 118 .
The
Pharisees very angered that Jesus challenged there power, their stature, and
their authority, said to Jesus, “Teacher, order your disciples to stop.” He
answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.” You
see as Christ enters Jerusalem as king, as he is greeted with shouts of
Hosanna, and as he is greeted as the Lord and the Messiah, he is soon to be “The
Suffering King”. These Pharisees then, just didn’t get it. Christ coming to earth
wasn’t just about power, wasn’t just about challenging the social order, it was
about teaching us all a new way of being. It was about salvation. For faith in
Christ is good if we want to have that basic level of salvation, but if we
really want the richness of Christ, the fullness of faith, we need to live in
the ways he taught us to live. We need to love our neighbors, we need to greet
each other in peace, and we need to seek to make this world in his image. We
need to do more than just believe, we need to seek to build the Kingdom of
Jesus Christ here on earth. This I believe is the totality of the fullness, of
why “The Suffering King” came. Sure the core reason that Christ came to earth was
to die for our sins, and accepting Christ is our ticket to heaven, but Jesus I
wonder if Jesus was looking at the Pharisees when he rode into Jerusalem,
thinking “they just don’t get it”. “There missing the boat”.
You
see many of us go through life and we struggle with our faiths, our lives, and many
other things. Did this suffering king come though, just so that we go to heaven?
Yes he did, but why stop here? Why not be part of the “Corpus” or the body? Why
not live the fullness of Christ’s gospel, so that here on earth we may live the
closest that we can to the Kingdom of God? To me then, when I consider our soon
to be “Suffering King,” I don’t want to stop at just salvation. It is the same
to me as going to Disney World and never leaving your hotel the whole week. Sure
your there, but you’re missing the fullness of everything.
Why
should we just stop at accepting Christ? In this Lenten Season we should seek to
embody the fullness of our faith, and be all that Jesus has called us to be. We
should seek to be salt and light, to be kindness in a world of pain. To be love
in a world of hatred. For this “Suffering King” taught us a new way of being
and living. Jesus frees us from sin, and then beacons that we go out and
transform the world in his name. To make disciples everywhere, and to make our town
and the whole world better.
I would like to close
today with a story. This story is called “The Stone Cutter”. Here is how it goes:
There was once a stone cutter who was dissatisfied with himself and with his
position in life.
One day he passed a
wealthy merchant’s house. Through the open gateway, he saw many fine
possessions and important visitors. “How powerful that merchant must be!”
thought the stone cutter. He became very envious and wished that he could be
like the merchant.
To his great surprise, he
suddenly became the merchant, enjoying more luxuries and power than he had ever
imagined, but was then envied and detested by those less wealthy than himself.
Soon a high official passed by, carried in a sedan chair, accompanied by
attendants and escorted by soldiers beating gongs. Everyone, no matter how
wealthy, had to bow lowly before the procession. “How powerful that official
is!” he thought. “I wish that I could be a high official!”
Then he became the high
official, carried everywhere in his embroidered sedan chair, feared and hated
by the people all around. It was a hot summer day, so the official felt very
uncomfortable in the sticky sedan chair. He looked up at the sun. It shone
proudly in the sky, unaffected by his presence. “How powerful the sun is!” he
thought. “I wish that I could be the sun!”
Then he became the sun,
shining fiercely down on everyone, scorching the fields, cursed by the farmers
and laborers. But a huge black cloud moved between him and the earth, so that
his light could no longer shine on everything below. “How powerful that storm
cloud is!” he thought. “I wish that I could be a cloud!”
Then he became the cloud,
flooding the fields and villages, shouted at by everyone. But soon he found
that he was being pushed away by some great force, and realized that it was the
wind. “How powerful it is!” he thought. “I wish that I could be the wind!”
Then he became the wind,
blowing tiles off the roofs of houses, uprooting trees, feared and hated by all
below him. But after a while, he ran up against something that would not move,
no matter how forcefully he blew against it – a huge, towering rock. “How
powerful that rock is!” he thought. “I wish that I could be a rock!”
Then he became the rock,
more powerful than anything else on earth. But as he stood there, he heard the
sound of a hammer pounding a chisel into the hard surface, and felt himself
being changed. “What could be more powerful than I, the rock?” he thought. He
looked down and saw far below him the figure of a stone cutter. The stone
cutter, who is the Lord. The one who cut and formed us all.
You see while on this
day, while we proudly and boldly proclaim “Hosanna,” will any of this change us?
Jesus looked at those scowling Pharisees, and I think that he might have
realized “they just don’t get it”. Perhaps they wanted to be the sun, the
cloud, or the wind. While Jesus enters on this day as a powerful and mighty
king, he will soon become “The Suffering King,” as this week, “Holy Week,” we
follow Christ to the cross. So today we may glory in our king, but what about
tomorrow? What about next week? What will it take for people to truly believe
and to truly live the Gospel of Jesus Christ, for the transformation of the
world? Or do we wish to be the sun, the wind, the cloud, the merchant, or the
official? Or do we allow the master stone cutter to form and shape us? “Hosanna,”
and Amen!
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