Imperfect Adoration

Two Crowds

Today is Palm Sunday, the Sunday before Easter where we remember and celebrate Jesus’ triumphant entry into the city of Jerusalem. You can almost picture the scene, a city filled with old buildings and bustling with people suddenly has a whole different kind of energy. People from all over start making their way to the entrance to the city to see someone who was approaching the city. It is a man, nothing special to look at, riding on a donkey. The people who have grown up in the city, hearing its stories take special notice. King David rode into Jerusalem on a donkey. But it isn’t just a man on a donkey, there’s a huge crowd of people around him and people going ahead of him. But it isn’t an angry crowd or a violent crowd, they’re peaceful, just like the man riding on a humble donkey is. News of this man had already made it to the city, this is the man who had been teaching all over the country - an incredible teacher who taught with genuine understanding and authority. This is the man who had done miracles and who had healed so many people - some of whom were in the city and testified to how incredible He was. They had even heard that just a few days ago, this man raised someone from the dead. He had called into a dead man’s tomb and the man walked out, very much alive. There were even rumors that this man was going to become king, that He was going to save Israel. So the people from the city rushed out to meet Jesus, waving palm branches and covering the ground so that His donkey wouldn’t have to step in the dust. They rushed out, yelling in excitement and celebration.

But five days later, those people weren’t rushing to celebrate Jesus anymore. They were at home or at work or maybe even a part of a new crowd - a crowd yelling “Crucify Him!” Those people, that crowd with so much hope and excitement for who Jesus was, for who He could be, turned away from Him when things were looking bad.

And I can’t help but compare this crowd to the disciples later, at Pentecost. Peter leads the disciples out into the city and the start preaching. The start proclaiming everything that Jesus taught and everything that He accomplished with His death and resurrection. Peter and John are led to the council to stand trial and they stand by their testimony about Jesus. Paul goes out into the world and plants churches in Ephesus, Corinth, Rome, Galatia, and a handful of other places - even though people are trying to kill or imprison him in most of those places. Stephen unashamedly tells people about Jesus, and when they put him to death for it asks God to forgive them. Of the eleven disciples left after Judas dies, only one of them lives to see old age. These early Christians cannot be silenced, telling anyone and everyone about what Jesus accomplished for them and standing by His name, even when things were looking bad, even when it meant they would sacrifice everything.

I can’t help but compare these two crowds. Both of them were excited about Jesus, both of them were passionate about who He was, both of them wanted to celebrate His work. So why did one turn their backs when He was on trial while the other ones went to their deaths proclaiming His name?

Two Reasons

And I think the key to this drastic difference is why they came to Jesus in the first place.

I don’t know if you caught this when I was reading earlier, but it says “the reason why the crowd went to meet him was that they heard he had done this sign.” The crowd that was there on Palm Sunday because they were waiting for something amazing to happen. Maybe they were hoping Jesus would feed everybody like He did when He fed the five thousand, maybe they were hoping He would heal their sick, maybe they were hoping He would turn water into wine, maybe they were hoping He would kick out the Roman authorities and get rid of their tax collectors, or maybe they just wanted to see the show. They weren’t there because they had faith in Jesus or because they trusted in His promises - they were there hoping to get something for their here and now.

But what reason did all of the people have after Easter to follow Jesus so faithfully? What reason did the people have that kept them proclaiming Jesus’ name even as they were being persecuted for it? They didn’t do it because they hoped that Jesus would do something for them, they did it because they knew He already did. They knew that Jesus died for all of their sins. They knew that He promised them everlasting life. They knew that they had to let everyone know about His love and forgiveness and everything else He taught them. And because that was their motivation, there was nothing anyone could do to stop them.

One Reception

And do you want to hear the craziest part of comparing these two groups? On one hand you have a crowd who is excited for Jesus for shallow reasons, a crowd who turns on Him when the times get hard. On the other hand you have a crowd who deeply, genuinely believes in Jesus’ promises, a crowd who trusts in the work He did for them, and a crowd that stayed faithful until the very end. And the craziest part? Jesus accepts both of them! Jesus takes their imperfect adoration and Jesus receives them - even if they’re coming to Him for the wrong reasons! When the crowd comes to Him on Palm Sunday hoping to get something, looking for a show - He doesn’t say “you’re here for all the wrong reasons, get away from me.” No! He even stands up for them when the Pharisees try and calm the crowd. Because no matter what brings people to Jesus, He receives us all as broken sinners with love and the forgiveness won on the cross. God graciously accepts our imperfect adoration.

Even today, you might be in church, you might be in this room for less than perfect reasons. You might be here just because we promised gift cards, you might be here just to set an example for your kids, you might be here just because going to church once a week makes you feel better about yourself, you might be here because you feel some sort of social pressure to do so, or you might be here because you have a genuine desire to grow as a disciple and to receive God’s gifts for you - and no matter what brought you here, God receives us all. God forgives us all. God gives His Word to us all. God gives His gifts to us all. God promises salvation and eternal life to us all.

Consider Your Motivation

But that isn’t to say there isn’t a difference that makes it worth considering our motivations and maybe working to change them. Because if we look at these two crowds, the ones who only came to Jesus because He could maybe do something for them in the here-and-now were scattered when life got harder - they fell away from God in the time when they needed Him most. The ones who came to Jesus because of what He had already done, to thank and praise and give witness to Him, they kept their faith until the end of their lives. If this faith that we share is something worth clinging to, it’s worth shifting how we think about why we hold that faith to a motivation that can help us cling to it no matter what, to shift the reason why we come to the cross from what He can do for us now to what He already did for us there. Amen.