Sermon Matthew 21:1-11 – The Humble King

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard

Sermon Matthew 21:1-11 – The Humble King

Eagle Rock Presbyterian Church

March 16, 2008

A great crowd has assembled on the Mount of Olives. People from Galilee who had been healed, freed from demons, and fed when hungry followed Jesus as disciples. Others had witnessed the signs during the journey, the healings of blind men and the teachings of a great rabbi. The crowd grew larger and larger as it approached Jerusalem. Something big was about to happen.

In Jerusalem another crowd had assembled. It was the great feast of Passover. Pilgrims had come from all over to worship God as they and their ancestors had done for thousands of years. They gathered to remember the defining events of their nation when Moses parted the Red Sea, freed them from slavery in Egypt and led them to the Promised Land. Something big was about to happen.

The Roman Legions, stationed just outside of town, were also worried that something big was about to happen.

Jesus sent two of his disciples to a nearby village to find and bring back a donkey and its colt. Jesus had decided that his hour had come. There was no long any need to hide who he really was and what he had come to do. By sitting on the donkey Jesus proclaimed to the crowd the he was the Messiah, the Christ. The prophecy of Zechariah was fulfilled. Something big was about to happen.

The crowd saw what Jesus had done. He was sitting on donkey. The King, the son of David, had come and was entering triumphantly into Jerusalem. So they broke branches off the olive trees and placed them on the ground in front of Jesus. Others covered the branches with their cloaks and prepared the way for the King to enter his city. And they cried out: “Hosanna”, Save Us, to the son of David.

Jesus had come as the savior. Something big was about to happen. The blessed one was coming the name of the Lord. O Save Us! Hosanna.

As the great crowd with Jesus approach Jerusalem the whole city was shaken. The confusion, the excitement, the fear, the turmoil registered 7.0 on the Richter scale. Something really big was happening. They asked who is this? And the crowd responded this is a prophet like Moses with his miraculous signs, and a king like David who will throw off the oppressors. The Messiah of God had arrived, Jesus of Nazareth.

But within a few days all of the excitement had faded as the Messiah, the son of David, the great prophet like Moses was arrested, tried and executed on a cross like a common criminal. Something big had happened, but what was it?

Today is Palm Sunday. It is the beginning of Holy Week. Today a great prophet and king has come into Jerusalem. By the end of this week our savior will be nailed to a cross to die. So this week is one of contrasts, a tragedy starting with a coronation and ending with humiliation and death. How do we make sense of all of this? What is the meaning of the cross?

Will you pray with me? Father in Heaven we come to church today with great hope. Although we may be disappointed with the events of this keep in us faith that will sustain us through whatever happens. We pray this in the name of our crucified Lord, Amen.

During our Lenten Vespers we have been looking at different perspectives on the meaning of the cross. A variety of voices have been heard attempting make sense of the cross and death of Jesus. We have read from an early Christian hymn that Jesus died as an example for us so that we who are powerful will humble ourselves, as Jesus did, to serve the powerless. We have seen that the death of Jesus was a ransom paid to redeem us from slavery to sin. And we have seen that Jesus was sacrificed on a cross in payment for our sins. All of these things are true. But there is another way of thinking about the meaning of the cross. Listen to these words of Paul in the book of Romans?

Romans 5:10-11 ¹⁰ For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more surely, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life. ¹¹ But more than that, we even boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

The reason Jesus went to the cross was to reconcile us to God. We now have a new relationship with God. No longer are we enemies, but through Christ we now enjoy fellowship with God. Our new relationship with God is central to our understanding of what Jesus has done for us.

The death of Jesus on the cross was the cost to God of repairing his relationship with us. It requires from us a response. Jesus’ death is of no value to us unless we respond in faith. Our anger, stubbornness and disobedience must stop for us to receive the benefits of God who desires to be reconciled with us.

Through this self-giving act Jesus did away with anything that would limit our ability to do God’s will in this world. Guilt cannot any long bar us from participating in God. We are no longer bound by sin. The devil no longer has any authority over us. Not even the consequences of fear and death separate from the love of God. The pain of broken relationships is born on Christ’s body. Through Christ’s death we are guided to a new way of life. We become friends with God and friends with each other.

But, on the cross, Jesus did far more than just renewing our relationship with God. Listen to the words of the Apostle Paul in the book of Colossians.

Colossians 1:19-20 ¹⁹ For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, ²⁰ and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.

Jesus’ death on the cross results not only with our reconciliation with God but also our reconciliation with each other. The reason God desires reconciliation with us and desires for us to be reconciled with each other is that God wants us to be in a community of believers. Just as God forms a holy community of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, so too are the faithful to be formed by Jesus into churches. The cross symbolizes that God wants our participation in communities of faith. This participation is to be sacrificial. We are to give our lives for the fullness of our communities. So the meaning of the cross is that Jesus by dying was instituting a sacrificial community of the faithful called church.

The church is called by the cross to be a ministry of reconciliation. We are sent into the world to heal the enmities that separate people from each other and from God. Our ministry is to work for the end suffering and need and the well being of all people. The suffering of Jesus makes us sensitive to the sufferings of women and men all over the world. The cross is a symbol of God’s judgment our complicity in the violence and injustice which humanity inflicts on each other. So we are guided by the Spirit and humbled by our sin to discern God’s will for our own lives and for our community and church. God wants us to reconcile humanity by working to break down the walls of race and ethnicity and work for reconciliation in employment, housing, education, family, community and church. God wants us to be grounded in the peace, justice and freedom of Jesus Christ. We are to be a people of forgiveness searching for peaceful ways to settle our differences. God wants us to work for the end of enslaving poverty around the world. Jesus himself identified with the needy and exploited. The cause of the world’s poor is the Church’s cause as well. And God wants the church work to end the anarchy in relationships by promoting marriage, commitment and good parenting.

So the meaning of the cross is that through the death of Jesus Christ we are reconciled with God and with each other. The church is called to be reconciling community with a mission to reconcile all of humanity with God and with each other in the name of the Prince of Peace.

We will from time to time be discouraged from fulfilling the mission God has given us. It will seem from time to time that we are all alone and that God has forsaken us. We may experience persecution or even death as we do our work of reconciling the world to God. All of our hopes may be buried in a tomb. We may wander away saddened by the way things turned out. If all we had was Christ’s death then the church and its mission of reconciliation would have ended a long time ago. But no matter the depth of our pain we must remember that we are not a crucified people. We are not a people of death. Rather we are a people of life and because we are filled by the Spirit with an Easter hope of new life.

The disciples of Jesus watched his suffering and death not knowing what was happening. Their fear caused them to abandon Jesus when Jesus needed them most. All of Jesus’ teachings, trying to prepare them for the events of this week, were forgotten in the midst of their grief and sorrow. As we approach this final week of Jesus’ life we are blessed with the sure knowledge and hope in the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. So be sustained in that hope as we gather together Thursday evening to participate with Jesus in his passions and Friday evening as we join with many churches to listen to the last seven words Jesus said from the cross. And next Sunday, everyone who has experience a broken relationship with God and broken relationships with other may come right here to experience reconciliation hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

Lord Jesus, we will be with you in the coming week. We will be with you that last night as you broke the bread and poured the wine. We will be with you when you are arrested and tried. And we will be there at the foot of the cross. We will never abandon you in you time of need because of our gratitude for your gift of forgiveness and eternal life, Amen