Palm Sunday is a significant day in the Christian Church.
Any of us who have grown up in the church or who have been going to church for
a few years have inevitably been to a few Palm Sunday services. Do we know what
the big deal is about Palm Sunday?
John in his gospel does a great job of telling us the
meaning of Palm Sunday in his record of the triumphal entry. He uses a lot of
symbolism – not unlike Shakespeare in ‘Julius Caesar’. This week we are going
to pull out five pieces of that imagery and then put it back together for a
full picture of what Palm Sunday looks like in our life today. In this entry we
are going to look at Triumphal Entry and Jerusalem. First, let’s read John
12:12-19:
The next day the great crowd that had come for the
festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. They took palm branches
and went out to meet him, shouting,
“Hosanna!”
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
“Blessed is the king of Israel!”
Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, as it is written: “Do not be
afraid, Daughter Zion; see, your king is coming,
seated on a donkey’s colt.”
At first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was
glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and
that these things had been done to him.
Now the crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised
him from the dead continued to spread the word. Many people, because they had
heard that he had performed this sign, went out to meet him. So the Pharisees said to one
another, “See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone
after him!”
SONG 1: SING
HOSANNA
1. THE TRIUMPHAL ENTRY
Image number one: Palm Sunday is about the Triumphal
entry. What
is a triumph? It is victory. These days we have victory parades when teams win
championships. In Regina, they officially called part of one of their busiest
streets ‘the Green Mile’ for Roughrider fans paraded down there when they won
the championship. Many teams have official parades when they win championships.
What about Toronto? When the Argonauts or the Blue Jays won the championship,
did they have a parade, a triumphal return to the city after winning the
championship? Can you imagine if the Maple Leafs win? What kind of a
celebration would happen then? This is what is happening here. Jesus is riding
into the city and it is celebrated as a triumph. But it is before the game that
Jesus' triumph is being celebrated. It is in advance of the final; it is in
anticipation of the coming victory.
SONG 2: HOSANNA IN THE HIGHEST
2. JERUSALEM
This brings us to the second of our five images for today: What city is Jesus riding into? Jesus is entering Jerusalem. What is the significance of Jerusalem? Jerusalem is the historic capital of Judah and Israel? Susan the kids and I went to Ottawa for Canada's 150th anniversary. One would expect a lot of patriotism in any capital city on a day of national celebration. Now Jerusalem, in our text today, is part of the occupied territories. The Romans, the Superpower of the time, have troops in the city and they control the government. To some extent they even appoint the religious leaders in Jerusalem (cf. John 18). And like all superpowers they don’t tend to like rebellion and they know that if there is to be a rebellion by the Jewish people it would probably happen here in Jerusalem – their ancient capital city – and it would probably happen now during Passover, when the population of Jerusalem overflows with so many people descending upon the city. Jerusalem is the ancient capital city of a rebellion-prone people.
On Palm Sunday we celebrate Jesus riding into his nation's
occupied capital city and anticipating what is to come...
SONG 3: MERCY
IS FALLING
AT THIS TIME I
WOULD LIKE TO CALL THE USHERS FORWORD TO COLLECT THE OFFERING.
SONG: MAJESTY
3. ‘HOSANNA’, ‘KING OF THE JEWS’, ‘NAME
OF THE LORD’
Our third image to consider today is that of the crowds
shouting. Verse 13, John records, ‘They took palm branches and went out to meet
him, shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the Name of the Lord!
Blessed is the King of Israel!”
This is significant stuff. We sing ‘Hosanna’ in a lot of
songs. We always mention ‘Hosanna’ at Palm Sunday. ‘Hosanna’ is what they are
shouting as Jesus is riding into the capital of occupied Judea right under the
noses of the Romans even as their collaborators, the Jewish religious leaders,
have already put a plan into motion to kill Jesus. Do we know what Hosanna
means ? Hosanna means ‘O Save!’, ‘Salvation!’, ‘Save us!’
Jesus is triumphantly entering the historic capital
of Judah – which is occupied by the Romans and people are saying, ‘Jesus! You
are our king! You –like all kings are supposed to – you come here in the Name
of the Lord! Jesus, you – not Caesar, not the Romans, not the chief priests,
not the rich, not the powerful elite – Jesus, you are our King; save us from
Rome and save us from our present leaders!’Hosanna. Save us!
The establishment have their people in position: governors
in place of recent kings, rotating high priests, soldiers to keep order but
Jesus (who is from Galilee which is a particularly rebellious region of a
rebellious people) is triumphantly entering the town and the crowds are running
out to meet him, calling, ‘save us’, save us! Hosanna, o save us.’ The crowds
know he is the Messiah.
They want him to save them from the occupation and they are
willing to serve him as king. This is no small thing. Think of what superpowers
do when crowds of people gather in opposition. Think of Guantanamo Bay. Think
of Abu Gharib. Think of Afghanistan. Think of Iraq. Rome, her sympathizers and
the establishment don’t want rivals there and then any more than today's powers
and their establishment want rivals here and now. These people, the great
crowds are risking their lives shouting ‘Salvation, King of the Jews, save us!’
SONG 4: KING OF
KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS
4. PALM BRANCHES
And this brings us to the fourth of our five images for
today, the palm branches: John tells us also that the people lining the streets
aren’t just yelling, ‘save us king’. This is important. They are waving
palm branches. Today is Palm Sunday. Can anyone tell me the significance of
palm leaves at this time and place? The palm branches are important.[6]
What do the Palm branches represent?
They didn’t just pick up palm branches because palm
branches happen to be near-by; they pick up the palm branches because palm
branches are a nationalistic symbol. It would be like if Canada was going to
seek independence from the US or someone else and we were waving maple leaves
or flags with the maple leaf on it – everyone recognises that as a symbol of
Canada. This moment probably would have had an even greater effect on the
authorities of Jesus’ day than a similar one did on Canadian authorities in
1967 (Canada's Centennial) when France’s President Charles de Gualle cried out,
‘Vive le Quebec Libre!” while visiting Quebec. The palm branch is a national symbol
being raised in the traditional capital of an occupied territory. This is where
John drives home that Jesus isn’t just a metaphorical or a spiritual king,
Jesus is a political king as well. He is the King of Kings and His Kingdom, the
Kingdom of God, is at hand. (And John’s placing of vv.14-15 after v.13 further
conveys Jesus’ and John’s approval of this claim.)
SONG 5: JUMPING
UP AND DOWN
5. DONKEY
This brings us to our fifth and final image for today: the
donkey. Verse 14: ‘Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, as it is written:
15 “Do not be afraid, Daughter Zion; see, your king is coming, seated on a
donkey’s colt.” John quotes Zechariah’s well known prophesy about the king who
will save and rule Israel as he comes into his kingdom on a donkey (Zec 9:9).
And here and now comes Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey. There is more
to this too because a donkey is not a war horse a donkey is an ambassador’s
mount. It is an animal of peace! The Romans claimed that their wars brought the
‘Pax Romana’, the Roman Peace, but John here is pointing out that Jesus – not
Caesar – is the Prince of Peace. Jesus is King of the Jews and more than that Jesus
is King of the World!
These are exciting times. Jesus’ riding into Jerusalem at
this time and place in history is his crossing the Rubicon. There is no turning
back. And this is what Palm Sunday is: Palm Sunday is the point of no turning
back. Jesus is marching into the capital to great fanfare and we who are
gathered here today, we can celebrate this moment. We can cast ourselves
alongside the men, women and children watching the parade and cheering as our
King rides into town. This is a bigger deal than anything that has ever
happened to this or any community to that point in time. This moment in our
text today is a moment when the world recognizes the arrival of the one whom as
Isaiah 9:6-7 declares, “The government will be on his shoulders. And he will be
called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign
on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with
justice and righteousness from that time on and forever! The zeal of the LORD
Almighty will accomplish this!” Praise the Lord. Today is Palm Sunday and Palm
Sunday is a day of celebration. Jesus is King! Do you believe that? Do you
serve Him?
Today if there are any of us here who don’t yet serve Him
and haven’t laid our palm branches in front of the king of heaven and earth –
now is our chance to accept His salvation from the pain of suffering through
all the evils of this world alone. Jesus is King and He will – Hosanna - save
us. He will be with us in the very midst of all our difficulties and challenges
in our world today. And some tomorrow soon we will all be raised with Him to be
in paradise where there is no more pain and no more suffering! Do you believe
that? Do you serve Him?
Jesus rode into Jerusalem 2000 years ago but even now it is
not too late; so why don’t you join us now in celebrating his arrival and in
anticipating triumphant return – pledging our loyalty to the King of Kings by
laying our palm branches before the King.
On this Palm Sunday, as the people waved their branches
before their King, I invite us all to come forward and let us pledge our
allegiance to King Jesus; Let us all lay our branches before the King…
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