Sermon Tone Analysis

Call to Worship

L: Hosanna!

Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! \\ P: Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David! \\ All: Hosanna in the highest heaven!

— Mark 11:9-10.

\\ Hymn               Majesty, Worship His Majesty   # 98

INVOCATION ~/LORD’S PRAYER   Merciful Lord, our hearts are overwhelmed with thanksgiving for your enduring the barbs of sinful and foolish humans and for going all the way to the cross in order to save us.

May our lives be filled with faith and love and so prove that your suffering sacrifice for us was not in vain.

In the name of Christ

GREETINGS  

PRAISE SONGS    Glorify your Name # 10,  I’m so Happy,

Prayer Holy God, Judas sold your Son for thirty pieces of silver.

We often sell him for even less:  a way to save ourselves embarrassment;  a little incorrect change we decide not to return;  a grudge we hold far too long;  a fling with someone to whom we are not married; an edge over someone else at work; a little lie that keeps us out of trouble; and on and on we go, selling our Savior day after day.

God have mercy on us.

Forgive us and transform us.

Let Jesus' sacrifice melt our stony hearts, and turn us into the faithful disciples that Jesus showed us we could become.

We pray in the name of the One whom we betrayed, but who has never betrayed us.

(Continue in silent prayer.)

Because of his sin, Judas destroyed himself.

Peter sinned no less than Judas, but he went on to become the rock upon which Jesus built the Church.

The difference is that Peter found forgiveness from a risen Savior, and stayed the course.

our sins cost Jesus his life, but Jesus is not defeated by death.

He rises from the grave, and proclaims the forgiveness of all our sins and the beginning of new life for each one of us! Thanks be to God, and thanks be to the Son of God, now and forever more!

We already know the ending to this story.

Though we participate in Christ’s betrayal, our salvation is sure because God raised Jesus from the dead.

Hear and believe this incredible good news: In Jesus Christ we are forgiven.

Amen!

praise

troops

ill

mourn

new pastor

SPECIAL MUSIC      Melanie Clark  

Scripture Reading         Philippians 2:5-11

Offering

Hymn                           The Old Rugged Cross    # 484

Scripture text                Matthew 26:14-27:66  choose what to read or the Message \\ Sermon                        Where Is God When I Need Him?

"Truly, this man was God's Son!" (Matthew 27:54 NRSV).

"This man really was God's Son!" (Ibid, CEV) said the  soldier, at the foot of the cross, as Jesus died.

So where in heaven was God while his Son hung there between  heaven and hell; between life and death?

Between the hosannas and the hallelujahs - the triumphal entry on Palm Sunday, the not so triumphal exit come Friday - and Jesus' triumphant return to life on Easter -  where was God?

The simple, straightforward, orthodox answer is this:  Right there in front of everyone.

Right there; riding on a donkey, receiving the  adulation of an expectant crowd.

That's where God was.

Standing before the Roman Governor receiving the third  degree.

Rejected by rabble-rousers who called for the release of a man called Jesus Barrabas, instead of Jesus called the  Messiah.

Scorned by the powers that be, for whom his activities meant a change in the status quo and in the equation of political  power.

Beaten barbarically by soldiers who were "just  following orders."

Paraded through the streets of the City a second time,  this time not on the back of a donkey, but with a big piece of  wood on his back.

Put upon, spat upon, and finally hung upon a cross.

Not a decorative cross like ours in the sanctuary, but a deadly  cross, the only purpose of which was to kill as deliberately and  demonically as you or I could imagine.

That's where God was that week.

That week we call "holy,"  because of what happened - but a week more ghastly than good.

That week that begins hopefully today, descends to the depths of hopelessness by Friday, and ends with a new beginning and new  hope as the first day of a new week became the eighth day of this "Holy Week," with the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

God was there.

For everyone to see.

Hanging on for dear life on the back of a donkey.

Hanging onto life itself in a politically charged situation that finally demanded his death.

Hanging on a cross.

That's where God was.

We need to pay attention to that before we get to next Sunday with its emphasis on where Jesus wasn't.

He wasn't in his  grave.

Come next Sunday.

But that's next Sunday.

This Sunday, called "Palm Sunday"  because they waved palm branches as he came into Jerusalem; and  "Passion Sunday," because people waving palms quickly gave way to soldiers wielding whips; this Sunday we need to ask where God  was while Jesus was "descending into hell."

Where is God when my  life is hell?

Where is God when I need him?

We need to ask that, and pay attention to that, because otherwise we end up with what I call "pogo stick" theology.

Boinging down on Palm Sunday long enough to enjoy the parade, and then bouncing over to Easter long enough to enjoy the flowers and the fun; without ever coming down to that other reality in between.

But miss the middle and you miss the point.

Miss the mess in  which Jesus quickly found himself, and you miss the meaning of  Easter.

Just about everyone missed it the first time around.

And we still do.

The crowd missed it that Palm Sunday.

They celebrated the way we celebrate: in anticipation of getting what they wanted - in their case, a "messiah."

One who would take up the role of  king and lead them to freedom from the rule of the Roman Empire.

Here was someone they would follow into battle, to fight the "evil empire" of the Roman government, to free themselves from  tyranny.

If Jesus had gotten off the donkey and yelled, "Charge,"  many of them would have.

They'd have charged the governor's  headquarters with its cohort of Roman soldiers, and died for the  right to be free of Roman rule.

From time to time during the  history of the Jewish people, they did just that.

And many in the crowd that first "Palm Sunday" were itching to do it again.

They were remembering, perhaps, as only the Jews can  remember, events of just 150 years before when a revolt had been  led by one "Judas Maccabeus."

The story is in that part of the  Bible we call the "apocrypha," the books that lie between Old  Testament and New Testament times.

My study Bible describes "... Judas Maccabeus as the ideal Jewish warrior - one who prays  before battles and gives thanks afterward, always careful to observe the Sabbath and other Jewish rituals."1

The crowd was curious.

Could Jesus be like him?

The crowd  was hopeful.

Maybe he will be like him.

When it became clear that  he wasn't like him, the crowd deserted Jesus for someone else,  asking, instead of mercy for Jesus who had healed their sick and  held out hope of a new way of living with friends and enemies,  for the freedom of one called Jesus Barrabas.

It is the same name, according to the best manuscripts.

Our word "Jesus" is really Joshua in anglicized Hebrew.

Yeshua.

A name that means "Yahweh is salvation."

"God saves."

The answer to the cries of "hosanna," meaning "save us," is the name of the one on the donkey, "Jesus," which means "God saves."

God was there, from donkey to death, but few could see it.

What they would soon see clearly was that the Jesus on the donkey  would not "save them" the way they wanted to be saved - would  not lead a military revolt, or a mob-based uprising against Rome.

So given the choice, they chose one, perhaps, who would; who his own name, would give them what they wanted.

I've always wondered about the seemingly arbitrary choice of  "Jesus Barrabas" as the people's choice.

Why a criminal?

Perhaps,  because to them he wasn't a criminal!