Sunday's Early Service Sermon: Palm Sunday

Matthew 21
When they had come near Jerusalem and had reached Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, 2 saying to them, "Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to me. 3 If anyone says anything to you, just say this, ‘The Lord needs them.’ And he will send them immediately." 4 This took place to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet, saying, 5 "Tell the daughter of Zion, Look, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey." 6 The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them; 7 they brought the donkey and the colt, and put their cloaks on them, and he sat on them. 8 A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 The crowds that went ahead of him and that followed were shouting, "Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!" 10 When he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in turmoil, asking, "Who is this?" 11 The crowds were saying, "This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee."

How did it Turn?

Have you ever had the experience of starting a project that you were very excited about? Have you ever leapt in with both feet, grinning ear to ear because you knew that you would have a ton of fun before it was all over? Have you then experienced how that same project suddenly started taking much more time and energy than you thought? As time dragged on, so did the project, so did your patience, and then you became frustrated with what you started with such enthusiasm. Have you ever had this experience? For me, it’s doing counted cross-stitch. I will find a beautiful pattern, something that I think is great, and I’ll jump into it. I’ll go out and buy all the thread. I’ll sit down and begin stitching, but after a few days, my enthusiasm is gone. No longer am I content to stitch and stitch and stitch. I get frustrated. Soon, I’ve put down my project, and I’ve moved onto other things, never to pick up the old one again. Sometimes it causes me to wonder how I can begin something with such enthusiasm and then have it turn so quickly into frustration and disenchantment. How do things turn so quickly?

Today we gather for a huge celebration in the church. We celebrate Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. We read of how he entered into the city, riding on a donkey–in the Hebrew scripture, this is the sign of a King entering. We read of how a great crowd has gathered to welcome him, laying before him palm branches and robes. We read of them yelling out, "Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!" Today we join in this celebration as well, raising palm branches, singing "All Glory, Laud, and Honor!", and having a little donkey among us. Our service is a little bit different as we do this as we too gather to honor the King as he comes among us.
But I can’t help but think about what happens in the coming week. Things go from this high-point; from crowds crying aloud and celebrating, to an absolute low-point when these same crowds gather to shout "Crucify Him!" at the same one they were celebrating just a few days earlier. How does this happen? How does it turn?

Scholars have debated much about how Jesus could ride into Jerusalem one day to cheers and leave a week later carrying a cross and hearing jeers, and for many of these learned individuals, it all comes down to expectations. Speculation goes that many of those who had gathered to welcome Jesus to Jerusalem were there expecting him to ride in and conquer the city. As most of you know, the Jewish people were subjugated by the Roman empire at this time. They were hoping for a King to come and rally around who would overthrow these Roman oppressors and establish Israel as a world power to be reckoned with. They wanted someone of power and prestige. They had heard of all the things that Jesus had done. They had heard about his miraculous healings. They had heard of how he cast out demons. They had heard about his feeding 5000 people from five loaves and two fish. They had heard about how he calmed storms. They saw that Jesus had power. They believed that he came from God. They believed that he would lead them to victory to defeat those who oppressed them. No longer would they have to pay taxes to Rome. No longer did they have to worry about Roman soldiers taking their possessions and taking Jewish women. No longer would they have to worry about Romans forcing Jews to do things that they did not wish. Jesus would help them over throw these occupiers! Can you imagine the excitement that these folks would have had?

Alas, though, they were wrong. Jesus had a much larger purpose in mind, one that did not simply mean freedom for the Jews, but freedom for the entire world. Jesus was not going to come in and start a revolution from Rome; he was going to start a revolution against all evil, darkness, and death. Rome was the least of Jesus’ worries, but the people didn’t know this. They couldn’t or wouldn’t hear what he had to say. Their excitement turned into frustration. That frustration turned into anger, and they turned against Jesus all because he refused to meet their expectations.

And expectations seem like such a trivial thing, but the more and more we study and understand them, the more and more we see how they govern how we react to others. We all have expectations of how others should treat us. We all have expectations of how certain people should function, and when others don’t live up to those expectations, we tend to get upset.

Ask yourself this: do you expect people to treat you with common courtesy and respect? If you really hadn’t thought of this, how do you react whenever someone talks really loudly on their cell phone when you are trying to have a pleasant conversation with one of your friends or family over lunch? If you get angry, chances are, you have an expectation that people treat you with respect and courtesy, and that person talking on the cell phone isn’t meeting your expectations. What if you are driving in Houston and someone cuts you off in traffic? Does that make you angry? If it does, chances are, you have the expectation that others will drive safely and not endanger you or anyone else. I think it’s safe to say that whenever our expectations are not met, we get angry and upset, so I have to follow this train of thought for a moment.

What are your expectations of God? What are your expectations of Jesus Christ? Do you think that there are ways in which God should act in the world? Do you believe that there are certain things that God is supposed to do, and do you get angry when you believe that God did carry out what you thought should happen? Did you believe that because you are a Christian that everything in life would work out just like you wanted it to? Did you believe that because you believe in God, that God would bless you with unlimited wealth? Did you believe that because you follow Jesus Christ, you would never experience any suffering and pain? Did you believe that if you prayed with just the right words that God would answer every single prayer with yes?

If you had expectations like these, and they fell through, did you find yourself getting angry with God? Did you find yourself turning to another place? Did you find yourself turning from saying, "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord." to "Crucify Him!"?

If you did, I invite you to think about this. What do you believe God’s expectations of us are? How do you think God believes we should act? How do you think God expects us to think? Do you think that we meet God’s expectations of us? When God started creation and then created humankind, did he have the same excitement that we do whenever we start a project? Do you think when he breathed breath into Adam’s nostrils that he rejoiced much like the people rejoiced when Jesus came into Jerusalem? How do you think God reacted to us when humankind did not meet up with His expectations? How do you think God reacts whenever we still fall short of His expectations? In this Holy Week, I invite you to reflect upon these questions, and then ponder this last one: How is it possible that God did not turn on us? Amen.