Stand or Fold?
Holy Week - Palm Sunday • Sermon • Submitted
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Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations 2635 Pharaoh’s Ignorance
In the museum in Cairo there is a stone about ten feet high by six feet wide … Of black granite, it has an inscription on one side. It was made in the days of the son of Rameses the Second. That carries us back about fourteen hundred years B.C. On the stone Pharaoh, in a very proud way, and in poetical phrases, relates his victories. The inscription ends with these words. “Israel is annihilated; Israel will have no posterity.” But that proud Pharaoh did not know Jehovah, and did not know that the everlasting command of Jehovah was that His people were to remain and to be His witnesses throughout the ages.
Blessed Lord, You have caused all Holy Scriptures to be written for our learning. Grant that we may so hear them, read, mark, learn, and take them to heart that, by the patience and comfort of Your holy Word, we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life. … through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
The next day the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!” And Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, just as it is written, “Fear not, daughter of Zion; behold, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey’s colt!”
The throne of David. Three years earlier, Satan had offered it in exchange for Jesus’ bowing down to worship him. On Palm Sunday, the people of Jerusalem declare it as a token of their enthusiastic support of Jesus’ Messianic status. The two possibilities had one thing in common: both gave Jesus a path to the throne that would enable Him to bypass the Cross.
For those who believe that “the ends justify the means,” sometimes one makes moral compromises in order to accomplish what are thought to be necessary objectives. People who argue that it’s “ok” to select the “lesser of two evils” in hopes of achieving the “greater good” will argue that, “since we live in an imperfect world, we can’t allow the best to be the enemy of the good.”
The difference between Jesus and other men - the key difference - is that the Son of God cannot sin. He can be tempted, but He cannot sin. Concerning us, the revelation of Scripture contains a nugget that should keep us humble and repentant:
For we know in part and we prophesy in part,
We are as likely to err by doing too much as we are to err by not doing enough. We need grace and patience as well as holy boldness, or as author of the Epistle to the Hebrews wrote,
For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised.
Jesus knew what God the Father wanted Him to do, and the accolades, as tempting as they might have been, would not lead Him to forget His purpose. The shouts of “Hosanna;” the crowd that engulfed Him, could not pull Him away from the Mission. And that is so good, so gracious. So powerful and majestic.
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We need that kind of Savior - the kind who doesn’t shy away from sin or sinners, but one who welcomes sinners and becomes sin for them, so that they can be made the righteousness of God through Him.
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
We aren’t “looking unto Jesus” in order to figure out how to do what He did. He is, was, and always will be, “the only-begotten Son.” WE are Looking unto Jesus because He is the Vine to Whom we must be joined. He is the Good Shepherd whom we must follow, trusting in His ability to keep us safe as He leads us beside still waters, trusting in the power of His healing Word to restore our soul.
His humility of Spirit should encourage us to embrace our cross with humility. For those who follow Jesus, we know, based upon his Word,
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
The riches of Jesus’ love kept Him from riding on a majestic Arabian, choosing instead to be seated on a donkey. Those riches now flow through each one of us as we are grafted into the True Vine, which enables us to bless others in His name without fear.
Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks. So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” Philip went and told Andrew; Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. And Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.
Where is Jesus today? For one thing, He is in the midst of His people as the Gospel is preached. We know this because He promised to do so:
The Book of Concord Article 4: Concerning the Gospel
We now want to return to the gospel, which gives guidance and help against sin in more than one way, because God is extravagantly rich in his grace: first, through the spoken word, in which the forgiveness of sins is preached to the whole world (which is the proper function of the gospel); second, through baptism; third, through the holy Sacrament of the Altar; fourth, through the power of the keys and also through the mutual conversation and consolation of brothers and sisters.
The Book of Concord Article 4: Concerning the Gospel
[4:] Concerning the Gospel
We now want to return to the gospel, which gives guidance and help against sin in more than one way, because God is extravagantly rich in his grace: first, through the spoken word, in which the forgiveness of sins is preached to the whole world (which is the proper function of the gospel); second, through baptism; third, through the holy Sacrament of the Altar; fourth, through the power of the keys and also through the mutual conversation and consolation of brothers and sisters. Matthew 18[:20*]: “Where two or three are gathered …”129
For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”
It is the pure Gospel that gives the Church of Jesus Christ its power. Not our finances, our influence, or our goodness. These other things are good, but they are not the source of our strength. Like Samson, we have led the World astray when we join them in focusing on these things to the neglect of that one thing. It’s so easy to do, just like taking that crowd to Herod’s palace or Pilate’s Judgment Seat would have been for Jesus. Easy to avoid your vocation of being His witnesses, in order to do good deeds that get you the praise of men. Easy to point others away from Christ and to your programs, your finances, and your connections. Easy, so easy, to avoid joining Jesus at the Cross, this place where sin is actually destroyed, to go to the scenes where you were on display before the people, where they gave you the glory, and you soaked it all up.
Therefore they could not believe. For again Isaiah said, “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, lest they see with their eyes, and understand with their heart, and turn, and I would heal them.” Isaiah said these things because he saw his glory and spoke of him. Nevertheless, many even of the authorities believed in him, but for fear of the Pharisees they did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God.
Seeing is not believing. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing from the Word of Christ. It is His Message that we are called to proclaim, not ours. God is watching over His Word to perform it, not our word.
Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.
Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.
So let the peace of God, that passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Robert Kolb, Timothy J. Wengert, and Charles P. Arand, The Book of Concord: The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2000), 319.
Robert Kolb, Timothy J. Wengert, and Charles P. Arand, The Book of Concord: The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2000), 319.z
Robert Kolb, Timothy J. Wengert, and Charles P. Arand, The Book of Concord: The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2000), 319.
