Sunday
04/05/20 - Sidney UMC
Sermon Title: “Jesus
Will Present Himself!”
(“The
New Life of Easter” Series: Part 3 of 4)
Old Testament
Scripture: Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29
New Testament
Scripture: Philippians 2:5-11
Gospel Lesson: Matthew
21:1-11
“Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the
one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna
in the highest heaven!” (Mt. 21:9b, NRSV).
According to our gospel of Matthew lesson for this morning,
once again, this is what people shouted as Jesus entered the holy city of Jerusalem
on this day, riding a donkey. Palms were waved, and many felt that this man,
this Jesus Christ who was entering Jerusalem, was coming to save them. Since
Israel has a climate that supports Palm Trees, many people cut palm branches,
waved them as Jesus entered Jerusalem, and laid them on the road with their
cloaks, along the path that Jesus rode in on.
In my life, I have been to and have pastored many Palm or
Passion Sunday services. What is different this morning, however, is that all
of you aren’t physically with us. We have a small group leading worship this
morning, and we miss all of you being here. I don’t think that ever before in
the history of our United States of America, has there been no church, so vastly,
on Palm Sunday. Maybe in some isolated places, but never like this. Churches
are shut down for public in person worship, and as a result, we worship for now,
like this.
On this Palm/Passion Sunday in many churches around the world,
people often wave Palm Branches, or just the individual palms. Some churches have
processionals with palms, bless the palms, and many churches say, what I said
at the beginning of this service:
“Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the
one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna
in the highest heaven!” (Mt. 21:9b, NRSV).
In part then, this Sunday is us retelling the story of the
events of this day that happened long ago. This story of when Jesus triumphantly
entered Jerusalem to the shouts of Hosanna! Yet in Jesus entering the holy city
of Jerusalem, he does so in the humblest of ways. Jesus is not in a chariot, or
on a grand horse, does not have an army with him, does not have great financial
wealth, and is not wearing fine armor. Jesus is on a donkey, and the common
people lay palm branches and their cloaks before him, as the savior of the
world enters the holy city like a humble commoner. Jesus enters the holy city,
like one of us, as on earth he became like one of us.
This Palm or Passion Sunday celebration in the life of many
churches then, developed through the tradition of the Christian Church. This
celebration comes out of our desire to retell this story, and to even attempt
to act it out and understand it better. On Palm or Passion Sunday, many
churches attempt to recreate what might have happened on this day when Jesus
entered the holy city of Jerusalem on a donkey. So, out of a desire to know
Christ more, and out of a desire to understand the events of his life and ministry
more, many churches celebrate this day and try to get into the story to
understand this day and Christ more.
The reason that this is
also called Passion Sunday, is that some churches read a much longer gospel of
Matthew narrative that involves Jesus’ betrayal, Jesus’ night praying in the
Garden of Gethsemane, his trial, crucifixion, entombment in the tomb of Joseph
of Arimathea, and Pilate putting guards in front of Jesus’s tomb to guard it (Mt.
26:14-27:66 (27:11-54), NRSV).
The Passion of Christ narrative in the gospel of Matthew, which
is in part where we get the movie title “The Passion of Christ” from, is a
great, yet very long scripture. I have tended to not read the passion narrative
on Palm Sunday, because we retell most of this story on Good Friday. For me, I
have always found that it made more sense to go through this Holy Week sequentially,
as the Passion narrative from the gospel of Matthew gives you everything
through Jesus’ crucifixion and burial on Palm Sunday. Instead of doing this, myself,
and many churches focus this day just on the entrance of Christ into Jerusalem,
or this Palm Sunday.
To
provide a little more insight on what Palm Sunday is, I want to share this
source with you that says:
“Palm
Sunday is a Christian moveable feast that falls on the Sunday before Easter. The feast commemorates Jesus' triumphal entry into
Jerusalem, an event mentioned in each of the four canonical Gospels. In most liturgical churches Palm Sunday is
celebrated by the blessing and distribution of palm branches or the branches of
other native trees representing the palm branches the crowd scattered in front
of Christ as he rode into Jerusalem. The difficulty of
procuring palms in unfavorable
climates led to their substitution with branches of native trees,
including box, olive, willow, and yew. The Sunday was often named after
these substitute trees, as in Yew Sunday, or by the general term Branch
Sunday”
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palm_Sunday).
So,
on this Sunday we celebrate the humble, lowly, and yet triumphant entry of our
Lord and king, Jesus Christ into the holy city of Jerusalem. From this point,
Jesus will stay in Jerusalem. On Thursday, or Holy or Maundy Thursday, Jesus
will have his “Last Supper” with his friends. On Friday, or Good Friday, Jesus
will be tried, tortured, and crucified for the sins of the world. Next Sunday
on Easter Sunday, Jesus will rise gloriously from his tomb to new and abundant
life.
We
will be a recording Maundy or Holy Thursday service this Thursday, to hopefully
be ready to view at 7:00 pm, and likewise we will be recording a Good Friday service
this Friday to hopefully be ready to view at 7:00 pm. I say hopefully, because
I will try to get everything loaded by 7:00 pm, if the technology cooperates.
So be on the lookout for those!
While today is Palm Sunday, we are of course still in the season
of Lent. As I have said for the past two Sundays, some of us might have a
tradition of giving up or giving away something for Lent. Some of us might
fast, pray, and or do other things to bring us closer to God. This Lent
however, we have all given up so much, and for some of us, more than we have
ever given up before.
With this said, this morning, I am continuing in my sermon
series called the “The New Life of Easter,” and I will conclude this sermon
series next Sunday, on Easter Sunday.
So
far in this sermon series I have discussed that Jesus is, “The Light of the
World,” as Jesus himself said in the gospel of John 9:5:
“As long as I am in the
world, I am the light of the world” (Jn. 9:5, NRSV).
Last Sunday, we had the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from
the dead and we discussed that Jesus has come to give us “New Life: Literally!”
Jesus did not raise Lazarus from the dead when everyone expected him to, but he
showed up. Jesus came through.
Through this time of Lent and soon to be Easter, I pray
that we feel and trust Jesus, who is the light the world, and I pray that we will
soon be physically together. We can have new spiritual life right now, even
through this Coronavirus Pandemic, knowing that new physical new life will
occur when the pandemic ends. Like Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead, it is
coming soon, but we just don’t know exactly when. This pandemic will end
though.
Today, for the people of the holy city of Jerusalem, “Jesus
presents himself” physically. As Jesus arrives, the lives of many of the people
in Jerusalem and Judea are ones of hardship. They live under the power of Roman
rule, and they yearn to be free. Jesus arrives this day and gives them hope. I
have hope in Jesus Christ, do you?
In our reading for this morning from the Apostle Paul’s
letter to the Philippians, Paul tell us this:
“Let
the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was
in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited,
but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And
being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point
of death—even death on a cross”
(Phil. 2:5-8, NRSV).
Not only will
Jesus make himself known and be present when the pandemic ends, he can be with
us spiritually through it all. It you’re home alone, I would submit to you that
if you know Jesus Christ, then you are not alone. Jesus, God in the flesh is
with. He came for us, he loves us, and this Friday he will die for us.
If you asked me a
month ago about this Global Coronavirus Pandemic though, I would have never
guessed we would be here in this present situation. In a way then, it seems
that we are living holy week in reverse. I say this because, it’s as if we are
living through the pain and the reality of Good Friday right now, knowing that
Jesus is with us, and that soon he “Will Present Himself,” when we are physically
all together again.
Even though we
don’t know exactly when this will end, and even though I have lived through 38
Palm Sundays, and this is the first one that we haven’t had church in person, I
know this will end.
During all this
however, I have seen Jesus “Present Himself” in others. I haven’t seen Jesus
being presented in the celebratory way of ending this pandemic, but I have seen
him within this pandemic. I have seen companies change their production to make
masks, ventilators, and other needed products. I have seen alcohol manufacturers
stop making hard liquor and begin making hand sanitizer. I have seen church men
and women pull together to make masks, donate and deliver food and other
things, and to show in credible love of Jesus Christ through this whole time!
Yes, my friends,
even though this Coronavirus Pandemic I have seen Jesus Christ. While I await
his triumphant entry into the city, signaling the end of this pandemic, I see
him all around us.
The continued
courage that has been displayed by men and women in uniform and our medical workers
in uniform, has been as such, that I have seen Christ. People risking their own
lives, so that others might live. People sacrificing, taking layoffs from work,
so that others that need the money more can work. People checking on the
elderly, loving their neighbors even more. People being told that if they are
short of money right now for certain things, then that will be ok for now.
People of great financial wealth giving millions of dollars to help. Countries sending
supplies and health care workers to other countries. People that don’t have
much, saying “I have some extra food, who can I give it to?” People calling
each other, and people reaching out in amazing ways! Yes, brothers and sister,
I have and continue to see the glory of God in Jesus Christ present, and I hope
that you do to! I pray through this that and we might turn closer to Christ and
to each other.
Today, Palm
Sunday, is a day of celebration, and yet many of us are not here this morning.
The next time we are all physically here on Sunday morning though, won’t it be
like Jesus entering into the holy city to shouts of Hosanna? Won’t it be like
that empty tomb on Easter morning? Friends, “Jesus Will Present Himself,” and I
hope that it is soon through ending this pandemic. May we trust in Christ, and
on this day may we say once again:
“Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the
one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna
in the highest heaven!” (Mt. 21:9b, NRSV).
Happy Palm Sunday, and Amen.
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