Sermon - Palmarum - John 12:12-19

2 ½ months ago, on the first Sunday of Advent, we read this same gospel account of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. 

At that time, we read it with the expectation of Christ’s birth, that our King is coming; Christmas is coming! Today, we read it on the last Sunday of Lent, just days before Good Friday and the crucifixion. So the joy with which we read this text is a little bit different, but there is still joy on this Palm Sunday. For today we recall that Jesus our King humbly entered Jerusalem to victoriously save us.

On that first Palm Sunday, Jerusalem must have been absolutely abuzz with the news of what Jesus had done! Jesus had “cried out with a loud voice “Lazarus, come out.” The man who had died (Lazarus) came out, his hands and his feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”” The crowd that was gathered around Jesus now on Palm Sunday “had been with Him when He called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead.”

The Jews that greeted Jesus on that Palm Sunday weren’t the wealthy and the rulers, they were the normal folks who lived in the surrounding country sides. God chose what is low and ordinary in the world to shame the wise. They were the farm people, like us, who went out to see Jesus.  The words and the actions of these farm people, were the words and the actions of scripture. “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!” They recounted the words of Psalm 118 and recognized this Jesus as their King of Israel who has come to save them.

Not only that, but by their actions they proclaim that Jesus has already been victorious, as they lay palm branches down in the street. They don’t lay just anything in the street, they don’t lay just any branches, they lay palm branches down before Jesus. Palm branches were the symbol of victory, when a victorious army came back from war, they were decorated in palm branches. Jesus is the King of Israel who is victorious! “Save us O Lord! Long live the King!” the crowds shouted. 

And Jesus’ disciples were dumbstruck. You gotta love the honesty of John the Evangelist, “His disciples did not understand these things at first.” They didn’t get it! Why were the crowds treating Jesus like royalty when He entered Jerusalem? What had He done and what was He going to do to mark Him as victorious? The disciples, who spent these past few years with Jesus, still didn’t get what the farm people so readily shouted. 

“Fear not, daughter of Zion; behold, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey’s colt!” Prior to this whenever Jesus travelled, He was always travelling on foot. He didn’t travel on an animal like the wealthy, but He travelled on foot like an ordinary, regular person, like a farm person. Even the manner by which Jesus travelled was chosen in humility. Jesus, “though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

So when Jesus enters into Jerusalem this final time, He chooses to enter in a manner altogether different: riding upon an animal. This entrance into Jerusalem is significant for He comes as a victor who triumphs over His enemy. In Revelation, Jesus comes seated upon a white horse, “and in righteousness He judges and makes war.” But in Jerusalem, He is “humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” Even Jesus’ triumphal entry is performed in humility, like a servant. 

So Jesus is your King who comes to you in great humility, like a servant. He doesn’t bring the chariot and the war horse, He leaves behind the battle bow, and instead “He shall speak peace to the nations.” If it had been necessary, He could have brought with Him legions of angel warriors to battle with Him against the wicked authorities of this earth as was done throughout the Old Testament; but it wasn’t necessary. The one thing needed of Jesus was to become obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

For in this poor, humble, humiliating, cursed death of the cross, Jesus’ obedience has been counted to us as righteousness. Where we have sinned and been disobedient, Jesus has obeyed the Father’s will by suffering our punishment on our behalf. Our disobedience earned us the cross and all of the punishments of hell, and Jesus’ obedience earned Him our cross. The jubilation and the celebration exhibited by the large crowd was offered up to Jesus who would become victorious by dying upon the cross. 

Though the Pharisees believed that these large crowds celebrating Jesus’ victory meant that the world had gone after Jesus, they were mistaken. For Jesus’ kingdom is not of this world, as Jesus told Pilate. But rather, Jesus came to this world in order to be the Savior of the world. Jesus came in order to rescue His people from the world, to free them to escape this world. The king of this world is the devil, and so the world has never gone after Jesus; Jesus is the one who has gone after His people who live in the world to save us from the devil’s might and domain. 

This morning (at St. Paul’s) little Brynlee, who from conception had been a prisoner of the devil, (will be / was) rescued from the waterless pit to be baptized into the river of life. Jesus, who is the king of heaven and is seated upon the throne, has gone after little Brynlee in order to save her. Likewise, we, my friends, had been held captive to the king of this world, the devil. Jesus humiliated Himself lower than us, taking the form of our servant, in order to suffer for us. The salvation and victory Christ won upon the cross are given to us in these waters of baptism. We, who are in the world, have not gone after Jesus, but Jesus has definitely gone after us. 

The disciples didn’t understand any of this, not until Jesus was glorified. Not until Jesus was lifted high upon the cross for all to see did the disciples understand that these things took place just as scripture so plainly revealed. For when Jesus was lifted high upon the cross, “God highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name that is above every name.” Upon the cross extended your Savior defeated the king of this world and rescued you from the domain of darkness into His kingdom of light.

That Jesus called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead right before Jesus went to Jerusalem during Holy Week was not a coincidence. This miracle was a sign that pointed to the effect Jesus would cause by going to the cross. His crucifixion is for the resurrection of the dead, not just Lazarus, but all people. For you, Jesus went to the cross. For your resurrection, Jesus rose from the dead.

Therefore, since Christ has been glorified by His death upon the cross, we the church gather together each year on Palm Sunday, and cry aloud anew “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!” For today we farm people know and believe that Jesus has gone to the cross for us. We trust and have faith that Jesus will come again as our King of heaven and bring us into His realm to live eternally.

This isn’t a pipe dream either. Though the social and intellectual elite may consider us foolish for our trust and faith in Jesus, we shall not waver. We shall rather wave our palms high in the air, with exuberance and peace in our hearts, knowing that we shall travel with Jesus through Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and into Easter. Since Jesus has clothed us in His robe of righteousness in baptism, so shall He clothe us in the robe of everlasting life in heaven. Because of the blood of Jesus’ last will and testament that He makes with us upon the cross, we know for certain that He will restore to us double for all of our sins against Him. We farm people stand before the world, not as prisoners of Satan, but as prisoners of hope in the resurrection.