Praising God Palm Sunday Style

Singing like no one is listening

There’s something great about being by yourself and really getting into a song. You might be listening along to a song on some sort of device, or sometimes the song might be playing along in your mind… but the great thing about being alone is you can sing as loudly as you want, and best of all, it doesn’t matter at all whether you’re in tune or out of tune.

It can happen in the car. It can happen in the shower. Or perhaps just when you’re home alone.

I wonder however, whether you’ve ever done this, but suddenly realised that someone can hear you. They give you a bit of a glance and then you’re volume goes right down.

Now of course, that might all depend on your personality. Some of you might be thinking - you know what, I don’t care who hears me or if I’m out of tune, if I want to sing, I will. If that’s you - good on you - you probably should have come to youth group on Friday night.

But I suspect for most people, assuming you’re the type to sing out loud in the first place, I’m guessing that once you know you’re being listened to, you’re going to change the way you sing.

We become self-conscious. Are they going to think I’m weird? Actually, you’re thinking is probably not that clear, you just don’t want to stick out, so you stop singing.

Little children don’t seem to worry about this as much. By little children I’m probably thinking children under, say, 7 or 8. If they want to sing, they sing. And there is something beautiful about that.

Link to Palm Sunday

Now, today is Palm Sunday, and in a moment we’ll explore what’s going on at this time. But as we explore it, the aspect that I particularly want to draw out is the way in which praise happens.

What we’re going to find is that praise just naturally happens. There is no praise team that is figuring out how to get people involved. They just do it. Now perhaps I’ll just quickly add here, this is not to suggest that having a praise and worship team today is a bad idea, I’m rather just going to highlighting this morning how natural the process should be.

But as we look at how naturally praise occurs, we’re also going to encounter something that blocks this praise from occuring as it should.

And I’m going to explore what it is that gets in the way, and how something very similar can get in the way for us too.

Jesus

So let’s get into the story.

Now in each of Matthew, Mark and Luke we see something similar happen in each.

Each of these Gospels, the early chapters see Jesus break into this world in a powerful way. He’s healing people. He’s showing people a better way. He’s showing his power over nature. In effect, he’s showing that he is the longed for Messiah, the one that will deliver God’s people from their oppression.

About half way through each of these gospels, we get this light bulb moment, which comes in the form of Peter declaring that Jesus is the messiah.

It’s the natural conclusion of the first half of each of the gospels.

Except that they’re still trying to figure out what that means.

Now something that is really clever about each of these three gospels, is that after this declaration is made, we then start of a movement towards Jerusalem.

The vast majority of Matthew, Mark and Luke is all up in northern regions around Galilee. Peter’s confession that Jesus is Lord is made up around Caesarea Philippi which is in the northern regions of Galilee. But now that the declaration is made, the focus of the gospels shift from, ‘who is Jesus?’ to ‘what does it mean to follow Jesus?’

And despite the fact that during this journey Jesus makes it pretty explicit… “I am going to die”… the disciples don’t really get it.

Now it’s during this journey that we actually get a lot of the parables that I’ve been exploring over the last month or two, because it’s largely through the parables that Jesus teaches his disciples how to live.

Blind men receive sight

Now, let me just narrow in on Matthew’s gospel, which is the gospel I’m going to consider today.

The event that is recalled immediately prior to Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, is not a parable, but rather a miracle. And in many ways, it is a rather fitting miracle.

Two blind men are sitting beside the road that Jesus and many others are taking to get to Jerusalem in time for the Passover. When they realise Jesus is walking by, they call out. Despite the crowds thinking they’re just a nuisance, Jesus heals them.

Now we can think - oh, isn’t that nice, another healing story. But there is actually something deeply significant about why Matthew has included this story.

Yes, it was a miracle that literally did happen, but it also serves as a metaphor for the spiritual eyes that are being opened.

At Bethphage

Well, after these men receive their sight, we now arrive at Bethphage which is on the Mount of Olives - and if you’re following along in your Bible, I’m not at the start of Matthew 21.

Now a little geography lesson. Jesus is coming in from the western side of Jerusalem.

Bethphage sits right alongside Bethany, which we’ll hear mentioned right at the end of today’s passage, and we’re talking just a few kilometers from Jerusalem - so not far.

Once they’ve arrived, Matthew explains how Jesus gets his donkey that he’ll use to ride into Jerusalem.

Now what I love about this part of the story, is that when you are doing things that are part of God’s plan - things just work.

It’s always a great feeling when doors just open… opportunities present themselves… everything starts to align… and you just know that God is making it happen.

On this occasion, Jesus tells two of his disciples to go into the next village, which I presume is Bethany, and when they see a donkey and it’s colt, they are to untie them and bring them to Jesus. Who do they belong to? Well, we don’t really know - and in some ways, this is part of the point - we don’t fully know God’s plan, we just have to trust that what he says is right.

Zechariah prophecy

Now, let me just really quickly touch on the Zechariah prophecy that is used here.

Now there is a lot of back ground information here which I’m only going to just touch on, but if its something your interested in, I love talking about this stuff, so ask me afterwards.

So, Zechariah is writing following the return of Israel to the promised land following 70 odd years in exile. More specifically its at the time of the rebuilding of the temple, and God is telling the people through the prophet Zechariah that his kingdom is going to be re-established.

In many ways, the prophecy is a little cryptic, but in it, it describes this king coming in to his city on a donkey - the very thing that is about to take place.

The entrance

Okay, well, we could spend a lot more time exploring that link with the prophecy - something which is very interesting indeed. But for today, I want to focus more on the aspect of the praise that we are going to see come.

So those two disciples did as Jesus said, and now we have Jesus sitting on top of the colt.

His journey would start somewhere on top of the Mount of Olives. A place that would have a marvellous view of the Jerusalem and its temple!

There were plenty of people on the road as Jews from all around were making this special journey for one of the three major Jewish feasts of the year.

And as Jesus approached, the most remarkable thing happened. People started laying their cloaks on the road.

Others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.

What is going on here is some good ol’ spontaneous praise. The people were just naturally praising this man on the donkey.

Why the praise?

So why was that?

I don’t think it was because they had a really well formed Christology - a term that I’m pretty confident wouldn’t have existed. But what I mean, is they wouldn’t have understood Jesus in the way that we understand Jesus. In particular, they wouldn’t have had a good understanding of his divinity.

I’m also not convinced that they would have made that strong connection that Matthew has made for us, linking what is happening here now to the prophecy in Zechariah. Now maybe I’m wrong… maybe some of them would have made that connection, but I’m not convinced.

Perhaps more likely, the crowds started recognising Jesus as the miracle worker. Certainly we know he had a reputation - the fact that the two blind men knew about Jesus shows that this must have been the case.

So perhaps it was just the excitement of seeing the miracle worker for themselves. However, even this, it seems strange that this is what happens now, when previously, they hadn’t done this sort of worship, they had just flocked to him to try and get healed themselves.

But maybe it was the mix of excitement of travelling to Jerusalem with seeing the miracle worker that brought on the sudden praise.

I think there might be some truth to that, however, my feeling is that the real answer has a lot more to do with the Holy Spirit.

Remember how I mentioned that the event recalled immediately prior to this one was the blind men receiving sight. Well, I think in a supernatural way, the crowd has had sight restored, not a physical restoration, but a spiritual one.

I don’t think they would have been able to articulate it, but I think they could see that there was something different about this man. He was bringing shalom to a world that so desperately needs it.

And for this moment in time, it is clear what they should do. They need to give this man the honour that he deserves.

There spirit is telling them that they need to praise this man.

And so they start crying out “Hosanna to the Son of David!”

That word “hosanna” means ‘to save’. It was a cry that just seemed natural.

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! - words taken from Psalm 118, but again, words that just come naturally at this point.

Hosanna in the highest heaven!

This was not some pre-arranged worship service, this was the result of the spirit opening their eyes and people resonding.

Our praise response

And if I pause here a moment, it’s worthwhile thinking how we respond to Jesus.

Unfortunately, there are many things that block our praise, and I’ll give some thought to this in just a moment, but at times we can just become overawed at the majesty of the one who has saved us.

So how do we praise Jesus?

Well, according to this passage, we should go, cut some branches and lay down our cloaks. Of course, that’s not the response for us - that’s just what was natural for them at that particular point in time. And the reality for us, is we should do whatever comes naturally for us.

If it’s to sing - then sing. If it’s to dance - then dance. If it’s to write something on Facebook - then write something on Facebook. There’s no single answer to this question - it’s just a matter of what is a natural response for you.

The resistance

Unfortunately, as natural as this praise came for many in the crowd, there were some that did not participate in the praise.

And it’s worth while looking at what is stopping them, because unfortunately, while our circumstances are different, we can fall down similar traps.

Money

The first blocker I’m going to look at is money and greed.

Let’s first just follow the account.

So after Jesus’ entry to Jerusalem with the crowds praising him, he makes his way to the temple.

Now the temple is where you would expect the praise to really occur. The temple is at the heart of the Jewish worship.

Unfortunately he doesn’t find praise. He finds people who are far more interested in making a profit.

Actually, Jesus shows some righteous indignation. He drives these greedy people out of the temple and overturns the tables of the money-changers.

In the place where there should be praise - we find greed.

It’s a big trap for churches.

It can be so easy for churches to get into business mode. We need more seats filled so we can get more money in the offering otherwise we won’t be viable.

Now perhaps there is a pragmatic truth there, but there is a really big problem when money becomes the focus, and not praising God.

Giving glory to Jesus must come first - money issues should always come after this.

It is a real problem. Greed can blind us. It was interesting how many of the parables Jesus taught contained an element reminding us of the proper use of money.

So ask yourself this question… do you spend more time worrying about money or in praising God?

Perhaps that’s not an easy question to answer honestly, but if we’re spending more time worrying about money then we are in praising God, something needs to change.

Religiousity

But there is a second blocker to our praise, and it’s probably not something you would immediately think about.

It’s religiousity.

Now, let me get this straight. Religion, in and of itself is not a bad thing.

When we talk about religion, we’re usually talking about the system and structures surrounding our beliefs. These systems and structures should actually bring us to a point of praise. Going to church, for example, could be described as being religious - but it is usually a good thing.

But, unfortunately, being religious can take a bad turn.

Let’s look at the story.

In verse 14, Jesus continues to heal the blind and lame - but along comes the religious people.

It’s interesting isn’t it… that when we hear religious people, we should be thinking of the people who are closer to God and understand what is going on better - but unfortunately this is not the case.

You see, in verse 15 we find that there are still children in the temple courts who are singing “Hosanna to the Son of David” - but the chief priests and the teachers of the law became indignant at this.

And so they confront Jesus.

The very people who should be leading the praise, are actually trying to stop it.

Now, how did we get here?

More to the point, however, when are we guilty of this?

When do we become more worried about the proper way of doing things rather than just being happy when the name of Jesus is being praised?

This can sometimes be evident with different styles of worship music.

Unfortunately I’ve heard people infer that certain types of songs are not real worship.

One church looks at another church and say - they’re not doing it right.

Be very careful in judging others in how they praise God.

Sometimes I think if we were to spend less time judging others, and more time praising God, we would be in such a better place.

Our religious structures should point us to God, but when we get more concerned with the structures rather than what they meant to be point us to, we’ve really made a mess of it.

The point is not to become less religious. The point is to make sure our religion is pointing us to God.

The children

It’s interesting how this comes to a head with the children.

It is the children that the religious people are concerned with.

But it is the children that Jesus says - actually, they’ve got it right.

You see, here’s the thing about children. For the most part, they have not become encumbered with all those things that block us from praising Jesus.

They haven’t developed that love of money. They haven’t become preoccupied with the structures that govern. They just do what is natural.

And this is where we started when I started talking about singing to ourselves.

I spoke about how we become so worried about what other people think - but children - they just sing their heart out, whether anyone listening or not.

There is a lot that children can teach us.

They do what is natural.

Conclusion

As we come to this time of year, our response should be one of praise.

But that praise can become muted because we’re worried about what people might think.

What if we were able to praise God more adequately in front of our non-Christian friends and family? What if we didn’t worry if they thought we were a bit weird?

Easter time is a great time to invite people to church. So don’t let the concerns of this world distract you from singing the praise of Jesus in front of others.

Money and religiousity can be big blockers to true praise. But rather, be like the crowd around Jesus who had their spiritual eyes opened - and just praise God like the little children.

Let me pray...