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Sunday, March 25, 2018

All the City Stirred (Matthew 21.1-11)


Sermon by: Robert Austell; March 25, 2018 - Matthew 21:1-11

:: Sermon Audio (link) :: Click link to open and play in browser; right-click to save. Sermon audio is also accessible as a free podcast in iTunes. Search for "Good Shepherd Sermons" or "Robert Austell." 



::: Scripture and Music ::
Hosanna, Loud Hosanna (ELLACOMBE)
Hosanna - Praise is Rising (Brown, Baloche)
Hosanna (Andrew Peterson) - Mike Slade, soloist
All Glory, Laud, and Honor/Hosanna (arr. and refrain, Austell)

:: Sermon Manuscript (pdf) ::
This "manuscript" represents an early draft of the sermon. Some weeks the spoken version varies more than others from the early manuscript. Nevertheless, if you'd prefer to read than to listen, this is provided  for that purpose.

Today is Palm Sunday! Each year on this day we remember Jesus’ “Triumphal Entry” into Jerusalem with the crowds waving palm branches and shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!” Not only is this event important in its own right, it marks the beginning of Holy Week, which includes the plot against Jesus, his last meal with his disciples, his betrayal, arrest, and crucifixion, and then on Easter Sunday, his resurrection.

I want to pick up from where we left off last Sunday. We looked at the text immediately preceding this one in the Gospel of Matthew. Jesus, the disciples, and a crowd were leaving Jericho to travel to Jerusalem. On the way out two blind men called out to Jesus and he stopped, against the wishes of the crowd, to heal the blind me. Not only were their eyes opened physically, but they followed after Jesus, presumably in this same group coming into Jerusalem, which is where our text picks up this morning in Matthew 21. I mention that because I am struck by the role that spiritual blindness or partial-blindness plays in the Palm Sunday story.

Last Sunday, and then again for those who came out to dinner church on Wednesday night, I asked what you see. What has God opened your eyes to this past week? We will again be challenged with that question as we hear about Jesus revealing himself and a crowd that saw more of what they wanted to see than what Jesus was revealing to them. I pray that we will see more clearly and with open hearts.

Signaling Greatness

As the chapter opens, Jesus and the disciples – and possibly the crowd from Jericho – arrive at the Mount of Olives on the hilltop next to Jerusalem. From there the road dips down into a valley and then rises back up to the gates of Jerusalem. I have walked that path myself, perhaps a 30-45 minute walk. Jesus pauses there at the Mount of Olives and sends two disciples into the village of Bethphage to find a donkey and colt. While that seems very strange to us, the reason becomes quickly clear to the disciples and would have been clear to whomever owned the animals. There was a prophecy from Zechariah (9:9) about the Messiah that specifically said he would ride into Jerusalem on a donkey. The word had already spread that Jesus might be the Messiah. There had been several instances of the crowd wanting to declare him King. And the expectation at that time among the Jewish people was that the Messiah would be a King to take on the Roman occupation of their country.

So Jesus sending the disciples to get the donkey was a signal. It was him publicly making the claim to be the Messiah. And it set up the reception he was about to get when he entered Jerusalem. And indeed, when the crowd following him saw the donkey, the signal, they went crazy. On the way into the city they cut the palm branches and spread them in the road. They threw their coats down before him, as people would do with royalty. Many ran ahead and everyone began shouting news of the arrival of the Messiah, “Hosanna to the Son of David; blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest!” The signal had been given and everyone responded.

But here’s the thing: they saw what they wanted to see, but were blind to the truth. Ironic, since the last miracle had been healing blindness and rebuking a crowd for not having the patience for the Son of David to fulfill his calling. I wonder if the two healed blind men who had followed Jesus from Jericho really saw Jesus for the Messiah he was or if they were swept along with the crowd.

For Those With Eyes to See

There was much more to see for those with eyes to see. It had been there all along, of course, from the Messianic prophecies of a suffering servant to Jesus own teaching about the Kingdom that was not like an earthly kingdom. Most of his parables were “the Kingdom of God is like” parables, but that did not seem to keep the crowds from expecting him to fight the Roman Empire. All that is present right here in the Palm Sunday text as well.

The prophecy points the way: “Behold your King is coming to you, gentle, and mounted on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.” It’s like all the people heard was “Your King is coming!” But an earthly king, a warrior, one to take on Rome would be on a warhorse, right? Not this King! He rode a lowly creature, a beast of burden, one who carried the burdens of others. And did you hear the whole prophecy? “Your King is coming, GENTLE and mounted on a donkey.” That sure seems out of place in describing a warrior. Yes, the Messiah is a King, but like the Kingdom of God, it is not of this world. This King is gentle and comes to serve others.

That should sound familiar: it is what Jesus has been teaching in the previous chapters. We talked about it here. The disciples were arguing about who was the greatest, the mother of two of them asking for special seats for her two sons. Jesus responded that greatness in the Kingdom of God meant loving and serving God and others. He was the gentle and serving King, but with their great expectations and hopes the crowd seemed to miss that entirely.

Hosanna, Save Us Now!

They know all the right scripture, shouting out one of the great Messianic texts from Psalm 118: “Hosanna, blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!” Literally ‘hosanna’ means “save us now!” It is a cry for help and salvation, exactly the right words (salvation) spoken to exactly the right person (God’s Messiah) but not understanding. The salvation they imagined was freedom from Roman rule of Israel. No more Roman taxes, no more Roman soldiers, and restoration to the glory days when King David sat strong on the throne of an independent kingdom.

The next verse in Psalm 118 speaks of God’s light or illumination. It speaks of a sacrifice on the altar. The salvation was not political, but was spiritual and existential… atonement for sin and reconciliation with God. Jesus was indeed the right person at the right time offering the right thing. He was God’s Messiah, bringing news of God’s Kingdom, and about to accomplish God’s salvation to claim humanity back from the clutches of sin and death. But everyone’s eyes were fixed elsewhere even though all that was in plain sight.

The good news is that they didn’t have to understand fully for Jesus to love and serve them with his life and his death. That’s the gift of his love for humanity. He died and offered forgiveness even for those who “know not what they do.” His disciples and others and Jesus himself would help unpack the meaning of his death and resurrection afterwards.

All the City Was Stirred

But the crowd and the city also didn’t miss him altogether. We read in verse 10 that “all the city was stirred.” And they were asking, “Who is this?” So somewhere between no knowledge and full knowledge, a whole city recognized that God was doing something.

I am always thankful when someone is aware of God stirring in their life. The hardest person to deal with spiritually is the person who is indifferent to God. But someone who notices spiritual things or even one who is antagonistic to God is at least partially tuned in. The Palm Sunday crowd was looking for God to work and to work mightily. They just missed. But note that Jesus pressed forward amidst the passionate, the misdirected, the confused, and even those who would betray him.

As I consider what we might take away from today’s text, there are two things that come to my mind.

First, are you stirred? I asked last week if you could see God at work and what you have seen. Do you have any sense that there is a God who is at work in the world and stirring you to think about spiritual things? If not, but you’d like to know more, I encourage you to pay attention to those stirrings. Use the prayer of the two blind men, who simply cried out, “Jesus, have mercy on me.”

Secondly, if you are looking for where God is and what God is doing, examine your focus… examine your lenses. It is easy, like the Palm Sunday crowd, to look for our version of God and our version of God’s rescue. But the declaration of prophets, apostles, and Jesus himself – this Word of God – is that we do not create God, He created us. God is not validated only when our dreams or wishes or prayers come true. God IS and has come among us announcing His Kingdom – His rule and reign. King Jesus is gentle and serves us, but it is not as a waiter taking our order, but as a Shepherd caring lovingly for His flock. It is as a parent caring for a beloved child. It is as one who would lay down his life for you. Indeed, Hosanna – save us, now! But save us, Lord, as you would, not as we would.

So I’ll ask again: Can you see? What do you see?

Look closely, listen intently. God not only gives sight, but invites us to fix our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith. (Hebrews 12:2)  Amen!

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