+ Palm Sunday – April 14th, 2019 +
Beautiful Savior Lutheran, Milton
Series C: Deuteronomy 32:36-39; Philippians 2:5-11; John 12:12-19; John 12:20-43
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
We spend a lot of time in life following. Children play “follow the leader” around the playground. As we grow up, we follow instructions at work, school, or home. We follow the latest news, sports scores, or binge-worthy show on Netflix.
Our Christian life is one of following too. We follow our Lord as he calls us his own in Baptism. We follow our Lord’s words as he shows us our sin in the Law and shows us our Savior in the Gospel. We follow where our Lord sends us, to our neighbor in need, to love as he has loved us. After all, the word disciple itself means “one who follows”.
Palm Sunday is a day of following too. Today we follow the crowds as Jesus enters into Jerusalem. Fear not, daughter of Zion; behold, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey's colt!”
Today we follow their song of praise with palm branches waving and voices singing: “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!”
Today we follow our King Jesus as he enters Jerusalem to be enthroned on the cross for us. If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also.
Palm Sunday is a day of following that leads us to a week of following, as Jesus leads us. To the upper room where Jesus gives us his body and blood in bread and wine for our forgiveness. To the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus is betrayed for us. To Golgotha where Jesus is crucified for us. To the empty tomb and the joyous good news that Christ is risen for us.
You see, to follow Jesus is to follow him to the cross. For there is no other way. No other path. Left on our own we wander. We go astray. We don’t follow where our Lord leads us. So in order to save us, he leads us to the cross. He leads us to our death with him. The death of our sin. The death of following our own ways. The death of our wandering and lostness. The death of death. The death of the devil’s grip on us.
This is what Jesus means when he says, “Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” To lose our self-righteous, self-important, selfish lives and find in him a righteousness, an identity, and a life that is not our own. To die to sin in repentance and rise with Jesus in newness of life. To drop dead to following our own will and ways, and to follow where Jesus leads us.
At long last, we follow Jesus where he has been leading his disciples. Throughout Judea and Samaria, from town to town, miracle after miracle, in teaching and parables, Jesus leads us and his disciples to his great hour. His glorification. His cross where he follows after us, chasing our sin and death into the grave forever, pursuing us with his grace and mercy, destroying the devil’s accusations against us.
“Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour…Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”
Palm Sunday is a day of following where Jesus leads us.Through the streets of Jerusalem with the crowds singing “Hosanna”, to a hill outside Jerusalem where Jesus cried out, “It is finished.”
Through the palm branches waving as Jesus rode atop a lowly donkey, to the crown of thorns that adorned his head as he humbled himself unto death for you.
Through the darkness of Good Friday and the grave, to the joy, light, and life of Jesus’ resurrection for you.
For you, Jesus followed the Father’s will…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.
For you, Jesus is the grain of wheat that falls into the earth and dies, and bears much fruit in you. The fruits of his life. Fruits of His Spirit. Fruits of faith in him and love for others around you. The fruit of sharing the Good News of Jesus’ and resurrection with your family, friends, and neighbors.
For you, Jesus enters Jerusalem on Palm Sunday that you may follow where he leads.
Jesus leads you to himself by the water and Word and Spirit in your Baptism, to the Scriptures where he speaks and teaches that we might follow where he leads us, to the altar where Jesus himself is present for us in bread and wine, humble yet glorious servants bearing Jesus for us, like the donkey of Palm Sunday.
Jesus also leads us to our neighbor with hands that bear his mercy. Lips that proclaim his love: Jesus crucified and risen for you. Ears and feet that follow where he leads us as we pray so often after communion, for faith in Christ and fervent love towards one another.
Blessed are you who come in the Name of the Lord. Blessed are you this Palm Sunday, following where our Lord leads us. To himself. His cross. And to his body and blood given for you.
Hosanna in the highest.
A blessed Palm Sunday to each of you…
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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