Houston Congregational Christian Church

Pastor James Manuel
4883 Russia-Houston Road
Houston, OH  45333
Phone:  937-295-3591
Email:  click here

Date:  April 5, 2009    Palm Sunday

Title:   The Reality of Palm Sunday

Call to Worship:    Zechariah 9:9

Scripture Reading:  Mark 11:1-11

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable unto You O Lord on this Your day.

Today is Palm Sunday.   As Jesus entered Jerusalem on this Palm Sunday it was something new and exciting.  A parade was forming.   Everyone started to run to see what was happening.  The people started to stretch necks to see over the person in front of them.       The young children crawled between the legs of the adults to see if they could gaze upon what was happening.       Then everyone saw it.       A man riding upon a donkey   and there were people racing in front of the man on the donkey.  Mark 11:8  tell us that they were,   ‘Throwing palm branches and clothes in the path of the man and the donkey.’

People started to shout  v9,   ‘Hosanna,  Hosanna,  blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.’  Now the crowd that had gathered along the road started to catch the excitement   and they began to shout and run along side of the parade.     And as they were running some in the crowd turned to another and asked,  Who is this Man?  Why are we shouting our Hosannas?  Is He a king?    And the other turned and said---Yes  we think He is a king,  the King of the Jews,  see He is riding on a donkey as it tells us in Scripture that the Messiah would come.    As Zechariah 9:9 says,  ‘Rejoice greatly O Daughter of Zion.  Shout Daughter of Jerusalem.   See your King come to you righteous and having salvation   gentle and riding on a donkey.’

When the people in Jesus’ day saw Him riding into Jerusalem that day   they knew that something exciting was happening.  They knew that Jesus was riding as the Messiah would    and they thought they knew what that meant.   They thought it meant they would be free from the Romans.  They thought it meant that Jesus was going to be their King.  So they got caught up in the excitement of the moment and celebrated,  rejoiced at the picture which was forming in their mind’s eye.   A picture of a king who would save them.  A picture of a nation reborn.  A picture of a people who would be free to be a mighty nation again.  So they celebrated down the street.   They shouted Hosannas.        And then just a few day later that same crowd shouted   Mark 15:13,  ‘Crucify Him,   Crucify Him.’    They learned that the picture which was developing in their mind’s eye was not the picture that Jesus was painting for them.    The dreams of that Palm Sunday were soon turned into the stark realities of the betrayal,  the trial   and the crucifixion.

The reality of the situation was Jesus was not the kind of hero they hoped He would be.  Jesus was not the kind of King to lead an earthly army.   Jesus would not deliver the Jews from the Romans.   Their dreams of who Jesus was turned into the reality of Jesus as a Heavenly Messiah which they could not understand.  

The crowds of Good Friday turned against Jesus for one reason,  because He didn’t fulfill the dreams they had of Him the Sunday before.  Jesus had them see the reality of who He was   not an earthy king   but a heavenly king.   He was not a warrior who would come to destroy the Romans.   But Jesus was a warrior who would come to destroy death.   He shattered the dreams of the people.   He gave them a taste of reality and for that the people turned against Him. 

Jesus was painting a picture of a suffering Messiah.  A Messiah who would suffer for the sins of all the people.   And the people cried crucify Him because Jesus did not fulfill their expectations.   They cried crucify Him because Jesus had let them down.   They cried crucify Him because they wanted a warrior king who would lead them into battle.

Jesus was the Lamb who was to be sacrificed as 1 Cor. 5:7 tells us that,  ‘Christ,  our Passover Lamb,  has been sacrificed.’   You see the people missed the point and they were angry.    What about us?  Do we get the point?    Do we understand that instead   we get a Messiah who gives us power,   but it’s a new kind of power.  It’s the power of suffering love.  It’s a power that looks me in the eye,   forgives my sins,  my fears,  my anger,  my resentment,  my prejudice.    It’s a power that didn’t assert itself over and against me   but died for me.    It’s a power that sets me free from all of that which is within me that hurts me and others.    It’s a power that loosens my grip on all of my expectations and even allows me to see Christ’s face in the least and most lowly of people.

Someone once said that God allows Himself to be edged out of the world and on to the cross    and that is the way,   the only way in which He can be with us and help us.    Only a suffering God can help.    The crowds on that first Palm Sunday wanted a Warrior King   but Jesus came as a suffering Messiah.    Jesus came as one who would die on a cross for the sake of human kind.   

Is Jesus the suffering Messiah for us?   Or are we looking for a Warrior King who will turn the world upside down?       My friends Jesus is the suffering Messiah who indeed did turn the world upside down for our sake   and continues to shape the world with His Love and grace.