Sermon Tone Analysis

You know, in all of the craziness and busy-ness of the past few weeks, I realized yesterday that I had totally missed what was, at one point, a very important day of the year for both Sharon and myself.

Because this past Thursday, it turns out, was Opening Day for the American baseball season.

I know that baseball just doesn’t make sense to folks in the UK, and to be honest it doesn’t always make sense to those of us who grew up with it, but when I was growing up the opening of baseball season was a really big deal.

It’s really an unofficial holiday.

In the city of Cincinnati, where I first fell in love with baseball, they kick off the baseball season with a big parade that is now nearly a hundred-year-old tradition.

On that day people do whatever it takes to be part of the festivities.

The local paper wrote a few years ago: ““Kids skip school.

Adults call in sick.

Lame excuses flourish.

[There are more fictional funerals] on opening day than on any other day of the year.”

It's a huge deal—marching bands, floats, celebrities...you name it.

All for a team that has yet to play its first match.

Normally, the parade comes at the end of the season, doesn't it?

When the champion is crowned, and the winner's home city welcomes the victors with a huge celebration as they travel through the streets to the delight and adoration of the crowd.

Parades are a great way to welcome people of accomplishment to your city.

Not just in sports, but all walks of life.

Think of parades to welcome back heroes of war, or space exploration, or to celebrate the accomplishments of national leaders…

…welcomed by hundreds or even thousands of cheering people, straining above the crowd to catch a glimpse of the heroes while flags wave and multitudes cheer.

How many of you have ever been to a parade?

There’s energy and excitement that’s really unlike anything else.

Now here’s what I’d like you to do as we prepare for this morning’s sermon:

Imagine there’s a parade coming right here, right now…at Gilfillan Memorial Church.

It’s a parade to welcome Jesus into our midst.

Just like that first Palm Sunday.

He’s just out in the city centre…making his way here.

Imagine for just a moment it was true.

Jesus is on his way here.

And ask yourself this question: what do you want him to do once he arrives?

If Jesus were to show up right here, right now…what would you like him to do?

What would you expect him to do?

Let’s spend some time thinking about that question as we prepare to hear and respond to God’s word.

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Earlier I asked you to imagine a parade welcoming Jesus into our midst.

In some ways, it’s really hard to imagine, because Dundee in 2022 is quite different from Jerusalem on that first Palm Sunday.

Especially this time on a Sunday morning.

Jerusalem on that first Palm Sunday would have been absolutely swarmed with people.

Scholars estimate that during the Passover feast, the city would swell to somewhere between two and a half and 3 million people.

Passover was the highest and the holiest of all Jewish holidays, and people came from all over Israel to celebrate it.

It was the celebration of God's deliverance when he brought the Hebrew people out of bondage into freedom under the guidance of the great deliverer, Moses.

And that imagery was especially relevant, because at this point in history the Jewish people were under the thumb of Roman oppression and tyranny.

And somewhere in the midst of it all, lurking just below the surface of the celebration, was a hope.

A promise.

That one day God would send a new deliverer, a promised Messiah who would lead the people out of bondage once again.

Words of ancient prophecies would linger in the minds of leaders and lay people alike as they pondered this one God would send:

Words like those we heard in Jeremiah:

“For the time is coming, says the Lord, when I will place a righteous Branch upon King David's throne.

He shall be a King who shall rule with wisdom and justice and cause righteousness to prevail everywhere throughout the earth.

And this is his name: The Lord Our Righteousness.

At that time Judah will be saved and Israel will live in peace.”

Everywhere the Jewish people looked, they saw signs of their oppression.

Yet in their hearts they believed God had a plan for them, that God had a unique place for them in history as his chosen people.

If that was going to happen, the Romans had to go.

That's the context that surrounds this event called Palm Sunday.

The Jewish people are looking for a Messiah, a king sent from God.

And they've been hearing about this prophet from Galilee named Jesus, who proclaims the coming kingdom of God, who makes the blind see and the lame walk, who just days before raised a man named Lazarus from the dead.

You can imagine the buzz about this person called Jesus.

Could he be the Messiah?

Is he the king, the deliverer we've been waiting for?

And here’s the thing—Jesus actually plays into their expectation by fulfilling another prophecy about the coming Messiah.

Matthew quotes it in our New Testament reading.

The prophecy comes from Zechariah, who wrote these words 500 years before Jesus was born:

“Rejoice greatly, O people of Zion! Shout in triumph, O people of Jerusalem!

Look, your king is coming to you.

He is righteous and victorious, yet he is humble, riding on a donkey--even on a donkey's colt.”

Everything about Jesus' actions here in Matthew 21 show a very deliberate plan.

He's already prepared his way into Jerusalem for Passover, this isn't just mere chance.

Prophecy is being fulfilled in a very purposed and intentional way.

Even the cloaks and palm branches are significant.

In the Old Testament we see crowds waving palm branches to celebrate deliverance from foreign powers,

And we also see crowds laying down cloaks to welcome…a king.

So here's Jesus, humble and riding on a donkey, entering Jerusalem to the laying down of cloaks and the display of palm branches...

And the shouts of the crowd, “Hosanna to the Son of David!”

Hosanna…a word which literally means, “Save us!”

And calling Jesus the Son of David…they clearly see him as a king.

And so they greet him, “Hosanna to the Son of David, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, Hosanna in the highest!”

There’s no denying the sense of expectation and excitement, the hope that maybe, just maybe, the chosen king had finally come.

Let me ask you a question to ponder for a moment: what comes to mind when you think of a king?

I wonder what images from history…or books…or movies…or tv shows resonate with your idea of a king?

One that comes to my mind…is from the “Lord of the Rings” films.

In the first film we meet a shady character called Strider, a so-called Ranger from the north who seems cloaked in mystery and dubious connections.

But we soon learn that he is, in fact, Aragorn, the heir to the throne of men, the rightful king of all humanity.

But it takes him a while to embrace his call.

In fact, he resists it.

It isn't until humanity stands on the brink of destruction that Aragorn embraces his role, taking the sword of the king into his hands as his friend Elrond encourages him...

“Put aside the Ranger.

Become who you were born to be.”

By the end of the third film, Aragorn is crowned king and takes his place as the leader of the human kingdom, a commanding presence that just oozes power and authority.

And when his journey is complete, he looks like a king, he talks like a king, he carries himself like a king.

Despite the fact that the first time we met him…he seemed nothing like a king at all.

Let's face it...we have expectations of what a king should be.

The people of Jerusalem that first Palm Sunday had an idea of what their king would be like as well.

Despite the prophecy playing out before their eyes, the humble king on the foal of a donkey...

Despite the Old Testament promise of a “Prince of Peace,”

Despite Jesus' own words: “I did not come to be served, but to serve, and to lay down my life as a ransom for many.”

The people couldn't fathom a king in any other way than a conquering hero, a military leader who would overthrow the worldly powers that ruled them.

But Jesus didn't meet their expectations.

Jesus rarely meets our expectations.

In the classic Holy Week story, The Robe, by Lloyd C. Douglas, a slave named Demetrius is in the crowd on that first Palm Sunday.

He pushes his way through the multitude to see who is the center of attention.

He gets close enough to look squarely into the face of Jesus.

Later another slave asks him: "Did you see Him up close?"