Palm Sunday: Why Jesus Has Come

Palm Sunday, Year C

Luke 19:28-40

St. Matthias

April 14, 2019

Today is the only Sunday of the year when I tend to put the sermon before the Gospel reading.  This is because the Passion Gospel is uniquely its own sermon. 

I also think this is ONE of only 2 times when there are 2 Gospel readings in the same worship service.  You get extra points if you can remember the other time.  Both Gospels today come from Luke and they are parts of the same story.  This morning we begin the most sacred time in Christianity – Holy Week.  For the next 6 days, we will walk the path of Jesus through the last days leading up to the crucifixion.  On Maundy Thursday we will join Jesus and his disciples in the upper room as we remember the Last Supper.  On Good Friday, we will stand at the foot of the cross.  Then we will wait 3 days and on Sunday morning – Christians throughout the world will once again celebrate the Resurrection when life overcame death and love defeated evil.

This morning we began at the beginning with the story of Palm Sunday when Jesus comes to Jerusalem.  In Jesus’s day, parades were quite common - especially when someone important was coming to town.   People would line the streets and wave palm branches and the more people the better.  History tells us Pilate, the Roman Governor, had come to Jerusalem a few days earlier and his soldiers had probably forced the entire population of the city to be there for the grand entrance.  Pilate was not popular – particularly among the Jews.  The Roman soldiers would stand behind the crowds and beat anyone who did not cheer loud enough in their opinion.  The poor and working-class Jews suffered the most and they were hoping that Jesus would come soon and save them from the Romans.

So, when the word spread just days later that Jesus was at the city gates – many Jews hurried to welcome THEIR King.  They waved palm branches just as they had been FORCED to do days before when Pilate arrived.  The Gospel of John tells us that they even spread their coats along the path just as if it was a red carpet.  On this day, they cheered Jesus and yet just a few days later, these same people would yell – Crucify Him, Crucify Him.

So, what happened?  The Jews just didn’t understand why Jesus had come.  They wanted him to attack with a powerful army – defeat the Roman invaders just as King David had done centuries before – and make everyone rich and happy again.  When it didn’t happen – when Jesus spoke about love for your neighbor instead of killing your enemy – forgiveness instead of war – the people turned against him.  They did not know why Jesus had come.

Many today do NOT know WHY Jesus has come.  Oh, everyone knows Easter IS coming in a week.  It’s like a parade.   We’ve seen the advertisements for Easter clothes, Easter candy, Easter sales.  I am sure that there will be a big Easter blowout sale on 2019 cars.  It's not that the world doesn’t want hope and joy and love and new life.  They just don’t know why Christ has come.

. On this Palm Sunday – we stand at the entrance to Holy Week and Easter once more.  We are invited to walk the way of hope and life that leads from the gates of Jerusalem - to a table in an upper room – to a cross on a hill called Golgotha.  Our journey will end and begin again at an empty tomb where angels will proclaim – He is Risen.  Christ is Risen.  And we will know WHY Christ has come.  Carry these Palm branches with you today and throughout the week.  Offer your praises and recall the steps of Jesus.  Here the Passion Gospel this morning not just with your ears, but with the faith that resurrection is coming.  You may remain seated for the first part of the Gospel and then when you are invited, you may sit or stand as is best for you. 

The Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Luke…

NARRATOR:     The assembly of the elders of the people, both chief priests and scribes, gathered together, and they brought him to their council. They said,

ASSEMBLY:      "If you are the Messiah, tell us."

NARRATOR:     He replied,

JESUS:               "If I tell you, you will not believe; and if I question you, you will not answer. But from now on the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the power of God."

NARRATOR:     All of them asked,

ASSEMBLY:      "Are you, then, the Son of God?"

NARRATOR:     He said to them,

JESUS:               "You say that I am."

NARRATOR:     Then they said,

ASSEMBLY:      "What further testimony do we need? We have heard it ourselves from his own lips!"

NARRATOR:     Then the assembly rose as a body and brought Jesus before Pilate. They began to accuse him, saying,

ASSEMBLY:      "We found this man perverting our nation, forbidding us to pay taxes to the emperor, and saying that he himself is the Messiah, a king."

NARRATOR:     Then Pilate asked him,

PILATE:             "Are you the king of the Jews?"

NARRATOR:     He answered,

JESUS:               "You say so."

NARRATOR:     Then Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowds,

PILATE:             "I find no basis for an accusation against this man."

NARRATOR:     But they were insistent and said,

ASSEMBLY:      "He stirs up the people by teaching throughout all Judea, from Galilee where he began even to this place."

NARRATOR:     When Pilate heard this, he asked whether the man was a Galilean. And when he learned that he was under Herod's jurisdiction, he sent him off to Herod, who was himself in Jerusalem at that time. When Herod saw Jesus, he was very glad, for he had been wanting to see him for a long time, because he had heard about him and was hoping to see him perform some sign. He questioned him at some length, but Jesus gave him no answer. The chief priests and the scribes stood by, vehemently accusing him. Even Herod with his soldiers treated him with contempt and mocked him; then he put an elegant robe on him and sent him back to Pilate. That same day Herod and Pilate became friends with each other; before this, they had been enemies.  Pilate then called together the chief priests, the leaders, and the people, and said to them,

PILATE:             "You brought me this man as one who was perverting the people, and here I have examined him in your presence and have not found this man guilty of any of your charges against him. Neither has Herod, for he sent him back to us. Indeed, he has done nothing to deserve death. I will, therefore, have him flogged and release him."

NARRATOR:     Then they all shouted out together,

ASSEMBLY:      "Away with this fellow! Release Barabbas for us!"

NARRATOR:     (This was a man who had been put in prison for an insurrection that had taken place in the city, and for murder.) Pilate, wanting to release Jesus, addressed them again; but they kept shouting,

ASSEMBLY:      "Crucify, crucify him!"

NARRATOR:     A third time he said to them,

PILATE:             "Why what evil has he done? I have found in him no ground for the sentence of death; I will, therefore, have him flogged and then release him."

NARRATOR:     But they kept urgently demanding with loud shouts that he should be crucified, and their voices prevailed. So Pilate gave his verdict that their demand should be granted. He released the man they asked for, the one who had been put in prison for insurrection and murder, and he handed Jesus over as they wished.

As they led him away, they seized a man, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming from the country, and they laid the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus. A great number of the people followed him, and among them were women who were beating their breasts and wailing for him. But Jesus turned to them and said,

JESUS:               "Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For the days are surely coming when they will say, 'Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never nursed.' Then they will begin to say to the mountains, 'Fall on us'; and to the hills, 'Cover us.' For if they do this when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?"

NARRATOR:     Two others also, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with him. When they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified Jesus there with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. Then Jesus said,

JESUS:               "Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing."

NARRATOR:     And they cast lots to divide his clothing. And the people stood by, watching; but the leaders scoffed at him, saying,

ASSEMBLY:      "He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!"

NARRATOR:     The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine, and saying,

SOLDIERS:        "If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!"

NARRATOR:     There was also an inscription over him, "This is the King of the Jews."

                           One of the criminals who was hanged there kept deriding him and saying,

CRIMINAL 1:     "Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!"

NARRATOR:     But the other rebuked him, saying,

CRIMINAL 2:     "Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong."

NARRATOR:     Then he said,

CRIMINAL 2:     "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom."

NARRATOR:     He replied,

JESUS:               "Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise."

NARRATOR:     It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, while the sun's light failed; and the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Then Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said,

JESUS:               "Father, into your hands I commend my spirit."

NARRATOR:     Having said this, he breathed his last. When the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God and said,

CENTURION:    "Certainly this man was innocent."

NARRATOR:     And when all the crowds who had gathered there for this spectacle saw what had taken place, they returned home, beating their breasts. But all his acquaintances, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things.