Today is Palm Sunday, the day we are reminded of Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem, on the back of a donkey, as people waved Palm branches and carpeted the road with their coats and with the palm branches. Unfortunately, our Bible Reading series has changed the readings from the Palm Sunday reading to a Passion story reading, that is a reading of the suffering and dying of Jesus, so that next week we can hear the Easter texts of His resurrection. I would suppose this change has come about because we live in a world which no longer takes Jesus’ suffering and death seriously. Too many people no longer see the need to be in divine service on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday to hear the passion story, the accounts of the suffering of Jesus and without the suffering and death of Jesus, how could we celebrate His resurrection on Easter Sunday. So, our readings are now readings of Jesus passion on the Sunday prior to Easter Sunday.
I want to begin by talking about our text. The story, so far has been that Jesus did ride triumphant into Jerusalem as the crowds cheered Him on. He celebrated the Passover with His disciples in the upper room, that was Maundy Thursday. After the Passover He went out with His disciples to the Mount of Olives to pray. When He was done praying, Judas brought a gang of thugs, that is the synagogue soldiers to arrest Jesus. He was up all night being interrogated. He was interrogated all morning on Friday. He was beaten, whipped, mocked, spat upon, and so forth. Finally, here it was, Friday afternoon, He was nailed to the cross, yet the mocking did not cease but continued.
While Jesus hung on the cross, the Pharisees continued to mock Him and said, “Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!” These words reveal the visions that were in the eyes of the Pharisees, how they saw things, which was quite differently from the way God saw things. The Pharisees’ vision of the Messiah was that he would be an earthly king. To be an earthly king he must, no doubt, be strong and able to overcome all things. If Jesus would come down from the cross, then certainly His claims to be the Messiah might have some foundation and validity, at least as far as the Pharisees were concerned. Jesus must prove that He is the Messiah. He must prove it by passing the tests which the Pharisees have for Him. Obviously, the Pharisees have been missing the proofs all along. The Gospel writer John continually pointed out through the signs and wonders, the miracles, that Jesus performed as proof that He was the Messiah. For the Pharisees, these signs and wonders, these miracles, were only hassles as they tried to find some way to disprove or to cover up Jesus’ true identity.
The Pharisees’ vision of the Son of God was that he would be one of them. Certainly the Pharisees were among the most holy of the people, at least in their own eyes, so if God was going to send His Son He would send Him among the Pharisees. And this Son of God, this Savior would be on the side of the Pharisees. He would come and set them up as the leaders and rulers in the land, because that was their position already. Notice that theirs was a vision of grandeur which included power, greed and authority.
The Pharisees’ vision of the cross was that it was not the place for a king. As a matter of fact, anyone who would subject themselves to death on the cross shows that they are the exact opposite of what a Pharisee would see as a king. The cross was the sign of sin and a king would not be associated with sin. The sign of the cross was a sign of weakness and a king could not and would not be weak. The cross was a sign of the worst form of death, used only on those who, obviously, deserve the worst and cruelest form of punishment. A king would never be subject to such a death.
We can at least say that the Pharisees were right in some of their thinking. They were right in the fact that the cross was a punishment for the worst form of sin. What they missed was that they, and here we include ourselves, are the sinners for whom the cross was meant. It is our sins which have earned for us the eternal spiritual death penalty. It is our sins which truly deserve to be punished on the cross. Thankfully, with God’s help, we are able to recognize our sins and what our sins deserve, so that we are able to repent, that is, to put them on Jesus, who took our sins on Himself in order to pay the price for us, in our place. We are glad Jesus did not come down from the cross, but stayed and paid the price of our sins for us.
Getting back to the Pharisees, about Jesus, as He suffered on the cross, they went on to say, “He saved others, but He can’t save Himself!” The Pharisees did admit this one thing, maybe because there was no way to deny it. They admitted that Jesus saved others. Of course, they were not thinking in terms of eternal salvation, but in terms of healing, raising from the dead, casting out demons and the like.
What the Pharisees failed to realize is that Jesus could have saved Himself. He could have come down from the cross. He could have called down legions of angels to destroy His enemies. He could have, He could have, He could have. Jesus is true God, He could have done anything He wanted to do. And He did do what He wanted to do, and what He came to do, He stayed on the cross and gave His life on the cross for our sins, so that we might be given forgiveness, and with forgiveness, life and salvation.
Jesus could have saved Himself, but in so doing He would not have saved others, He would not have saved us. The Pharisees had it backwards. They said they would believe Jesus was the Savior if He would save Himself. If Jesus saved Himself, He would not be the Savior, at least, not our Savior. Jesus was our Savior because He did not save Himself, but because He gave Himself up for us on the cross.
As I read this text for today a couple of questions came to mind. Where were the disciples? and where are we? Did you notice the absence of the disciples from our text. Their absence is quite a statement of their lack of faith, their lack of loyalty, their fear for their own lives and so on. They were no where to be found (except for John). I think their absence reflects on us when we are in the position of giving witness to the faith that is in our hearts. Do we give a good witness of faith, or do we give a witness of no faith. When we have the opportunity to give a good witness, do we distance ourselves from our Savior by our actions as well as our words.
When Jesus suffered on the cross, He suffered alone. His disciples left Him. He gave His mother to John. Even God the Father forsook Him as we hear Him cry, “My God, My God, why do You forsake me?” Not a pretty sight and one which we have a hard time talking about ourselves.
So, where are we when it comes time to show our faith? Do we let our faith shine or do we run and hide like the disciples? This is an important question because this is what our Christian life is all about, being priests and living our lives as living sacrifices, always being ready to give an answer for the hope that we have in Jesus as our Savior.
Many congregations carry on the tradition of Palm Sunday being confirmation Sunday, and that is our tradition here as St. Matthew. Unfortunately, this year we do not have any confirmands. With that said, I believe it is still appropriate that we take the time to review exactly what it was that we promised at our own confirmation. Do you remember what you promised at your confirmation? If you would like, refer to page 272 in the Lutheran Service Book, the questions are printed there, and while these questions are not exactly the same questions that are in The Lutheran Hymnal Agenda, which was used for the confirmation of some of you, they are very close. I will not rehearse these questions this morning, however, I will summarize what we all confessed and to what we all committed ourselves. We all confessed our faith in God; Father, Son and Holy Spirit; in our belief that the Bible is God’s Word, not merely contains the Word of God; that we believe the Small Catechism is not a replacement of the Bible, but is a true explanation of that Bible; that we promised with our life, to be faithful in our divine service and Bible Class attendance, in our Bible reading, in our partaking of the Lord’s Supper, in our remembering our Baptism; and that we would suffer all, even death, rather than fall away from it, meaning that we will remain a member of the Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod, even if it meant we would die, rather than join any other church denomination. These were not questions that were asked for the fun of it. We were not asked to make a frivolous oath to do these things. We were asked to think about the promise, the oath, the vow that we would take and then to take that vow seriously. You may not realize it, but every time you come to the Lord’s Supper you reiterate your confession of faith in all the doctrines of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod and re reaffirm you confirmation vow. God has made promises to us and He has not gone back on His promises.
You may remember that we answered several questions, “by the grace of God.” We cannot keep our promises, even the ones we make to God, by ourselves, in that way we are a lot like Jesus’ disciples at His crucifixion, absent. For this reason we do not depend on ourselves and that is why we make our vow, our promise by the grace of God. God is helping, God is being gracious, unfortunately we can resist God’s help and His grace. But God is persistent. He comes to us every time we read His Word, He brings us back here every week, to be reminded of His forgiveness. Confirmation is a beginning, not an end, not a graduation. It is the beginning of our taking responsibility for our own faith life.
We can either absent ourselves from the things of God, from church and Bible class, or we can take part in the things of God. Either way, absenting ourselves or taking part in and being given the things of God will show, more than what our words say, what our confirmation and the vows we made really mean to us. But please remember, as we made our vows, we made them with the help of God and by the grace of God. God is with us, until we tell Him we need Him no longer, which I pray we never do.
Today, we are reminded once again, as we are every Sunday, that Jesus came to save us. He saved us because He did not save Himself, because He did not come down from the cross. He saved us because of His great love for us. He saved us by giving up the glory of heaven that was His, by taking on human flesh and blood, and by giving His life to be crucified, suffering the worst of deaths, death on the cross. He has made His vow to be with us, to protect us, to strengthen and keep us in our faith, and finally to bring us to His home in heaven. And we praise His name because we know that He will keep His promises to us, for Jesus sake. To Him be the glory. Amen.
I want to begin by talking about our text. The story, so far has been that Jesus did ride triumphant into Jerusalem as the crowds cheered Him on. He celebrated the Passover with His disciples in the upper room, that was Maundy Thursday. After the Passover He went out with His disciples to the Mount of Olives to pray. When He was done praying, Judas brought a gang of thugs, that is the synagogue soldiers to arrest Jesus. He was up all night being interrogated. He was interrogated all morning on Friday. He was beaten, whipped, mocked, spat upon, and so forth. Finally, here it was, Friday afternoon, He was nailed to the cross, yet the mocking did not cease but continued.
While Jesus hung on the cross, the Pharisees continued to mock Him and said, “Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!” These words reveal the visions that were in the eyes of the Pharisees, how they saw things, which was quite differently from the way God saw things. The Pharisees’ vision of the Messiah was that he would be an earthly king. To be an earthly king he must, no doubt, be strong and able to overcome all things. If Jesus would come down from the cross, then certainly His claims to be the Messiah might have some foundation and validity, at least as far as the Pharisees were concerned. Jesus must prove that He is the Messiah. He must prove it by passing the tests which the Pharisees have for Him. Obviously, the Pharisees have been missing the proofs all along. The Gospel writer John continually pointed out through the signs and wonders, the miracles, that Jesus performed as proof that He was the Messiah. For the Pharisees, these signs and wonders, these miracles, were only hassles as they tried to find some way to disprove or to cover up Jesus’ true identity.
The Pharisees’ vision of the Son of God was that he would be one of them. Certainly the Pharisees were among the most holy of the people, at least in their own eyes, so if God was going to send His Son He would send Him among the Pharisees. And this Son of God, this Savior would be on the side of the Pharisees. He would come and set them up as the leaders and rulers in the land, because that was their position already. Notice that theirs was a vision of grandeur which included power, greed and authority.
The Pharisees’ vision of the cross was that it was not the place for a king. As a matter of fact, anyone who would subject themselves to death on the cross shows that they are the exact opposite of what a Pharisee would see as a king. The cross was the sign of sin and a king would not be associated with sin. The sign of the cross was a sign of weakness and a king could not and would not be weak. The cross was a sign of the worst form of death, used only on those who, obviously, deserve the worst and cruelest form of punishment. A king would never be subject to such a death.
We can at least say that the Pharisees were right in some of their thinking. They were right in the fact that the cross was a punishment for the worst form of sin. What they missed was that they, and here we include ourselves, are the sinners for whom the cross was meant. It is our sins which have earned for us the eternal spiritual death penalty. It is our sins which truly deserve to be punished on the cross. Thankfully, with God’s help, we are able to recognize our sins and what our sins deserve, so that we are able to repent, that is, to put them on Jesus, who took our sins on Himself in order to pay the price for us, in our place. We are glad Jesus did not come down from the cross, but stayed and paid the price of our sins for us.
Getting back to the Pharisees, about Jesus, as He suffered on the cross, they went on to say, “He saved others, but He can’t save Himself!” The Pharisees did admit this one thing, maybe because there was no way to deny it. They admitted that Jesus saved others. Of course, they were not thinking in terms of eternal salvation, but in terms of healing, raising from the dead, casting out demons and the like.
What the Pharisees failed to realize is that Jesus could have saved Himself. He could have come down from the cross. He could have called down legions of angels to destroy His enemies. He could have, He could have, He could have. Jesus is true God, He could have done anything He wanted to do. And He did do what He wanted to do, and what He came to do, He stayed on the cross and gave His life on the cross for our sins, so that we might be given forgiveness, and with forgiveness, life and salvation.
Jesus could have saved Himself, but in so doing He would not have saved others, He would not have saved us. The Pharisees had it backwards. They said they would believe Jesus was the Savior if He would save Himself. If Jesus saved Himself, He would not be the Savior, at least, not our Savior. Jesus was our Savior because He did not save Himself, but because He gave Himself up for us on the cross.
As I read this text for today a couple of questions came to mind. Where were the disciples? and where are we? Did you notice the absence of the disciples from our text. Their absence is quite a statement of their lack of faith, their lack of loyalty, their fear for their own lives and so on. They were no where to be found (except for John). I think their absence reflects on us when we are in the position of giving witness to the faith that is in our hearts. Do we give a good witness of faith, or do we give a witness of no faith. When we have the opportunity to give a good witness, do we distance ourselves from our Savior by our actions as well as our words.
When Jesus suffered on the cross, He suffered alone. His disciples left Him. He gave His mother to John. Even God the Father forsook Him as we hear Him cry, “My God, My God, why do You forsake me?” Not a pretty sight and one which we have a hard time talking about ourselves.
So, where are we when it comes time to show our faith? Do we let our faith shine or do we run and hide like the disciples? This is an important question because this is what our Christian life is all about, being priests and living our lives as living sacrifices, always being ready to give an answer for the hope that we have in Jesus as our Savior.
Many congregations carry on the tradition of Palm Sunday being confirmation Sunday, and that is our tradition here as St. Matthew. Unfortunately, this year we do not have any confirmands. With that said, I believe it is still appropriate that we take the time to review exactly what it was that we promised at our own confirmation. Do you remember what you promised at your confirmation? If you would like, refer to page 272 in the Lutheran Service Book, the questions are printed there, and while these questions are not exactly the same questions that are in The Lutheran Hymnal Agenda, which was used for the confirmation of some of you, they are very close. I will not rehearse these questions this morning, however, I will summarize what we all confessed and to what we all committed ourselves. We all confessed our faith in God; Father, Son and Holy Spirit; in our belief that the Bible is God’s Word, not merely contains the Word of God; that we believe the Small Catechism is not a replacement of the Bible, but is a true explanation of that Bible; that we promised with our life, to be faithful in our divine service and Bible Class attendance, in our Bible reading, in our partaking of the Lord’s Supper, in our remembering our Baptism; and that we would suffer all, even death, rather than fall away from it, meaning that we will remain a member of the Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod, even if it meant we would die, rather than join any other church denomination. These were not questions that were asked for the fun of it. We were not asked to make a frivolous oath to do these things. We were asked to think about the promise, the oath, the vow that we would take and then to take that vow seriously. You may not realize it, but every time you come to the Lord’s Supper you reiterate your confession of faith in all the doctrines of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod and re reaffirm you confirmation vow. God has made promises to us and He has not gone back on His promises.
You may remember that we answered several questions, “by the grace of God.” We cannot keep our promises, even the ones we make to God, by ourselves, in that way we are a lot like Jesus’ disciples at His crucifixion, absent. For this reason we do not depend on ourselves and that is why we make our vow, our promise by the grace of God. God is helping, God is being gracious, unfortunately we can resist God’s help and His grace. But God is persistent. He comes to us every time we read His Word, He brings us back here every week, to be reminded of His forgiveness. Confirmation is a beginning, not an end, not a graduation. It is the beginning of our taking responsibility for our own faith life.
We can either absent ourselves from the things of God, from church and Bible class, or we can take part in the things of God. Either way, absenting ourselves or taking part in and being given the things of God will show, more than what our words say, what our confirmation and the vows we made really mean to us. But please remember, as we made our vows, we made them with the help of God and by the grace of God. God is with us, until we tell Him we need Him no longer, which I pray we never do.
Today, we are reminded once again, as we are every Sunday, that Jesus came to save us. He saved us because He did not save Himself, because He did not come down from the cross. He saved us because of His great love for us. He saved us by giving up the glory of heaven that was His, by taking on human flesh and blood, and by giving His life to be crucified, suffering the worst of deaths, death on the cross. He has made His vow to be with us, to protect us, to strengthen and keep us in our faith, and finally to bring us to His home in heaven. And we praise His name because we know that He will keep His promises to us, for Jesus sake. To Him be the glory. Amen.
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