April 1, 2007--Palm Sunday

Lectionary Texts:
Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29;
Luke 19:28-40;
Psalm 31:9-16;
Isaiah 50:4-9a;
Luke 22: 14--23:56 or 23:1-49;
Philippians 2:5-11

Sermon Text: Luke 19:28-40

Stones

We are reaching the climax of our walk with Jesus toward the Cross. Before death, many of us have observed that the body seems to “rally” as the doctors call it. At this point in Jesus’ life and ministry, even though in some ways He has accumulated more enemies than ever and within a week He will be put to death, there seems to be a rallying here. We continue our walk in the footsteps of Jesus toward the Cross with Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem.

Jesus’ “walk,” His journey, began by walking away from the throngs that were amazed by the events of His baptism. His earthly journey will come to a climax by walking into throngs of people cheering for Him and welcoming Him as Messiah and King.

Commentators tell us that it is not unusual for someone to be welcomed into Jerusalem during such an important feast time like Passover with shouts and even the spreading of cloaks on the road as is described here1. However, the words that many in the crowd shout are out of the ordinary to say the least, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!” (19:38). Even more significantly: “Peace and glory in the highest heaven.” These sound Messianic, like proclamations of the arrival of the promised One. Robert Stein and others see significance in Jesus’ arrangement of the donkey colt as transportation. It is likely that this is Jesus’ way of announcing His role as Messiah through this event--one of the few events to be recorded in all four Gospels--since Jesus arrives not like most pilgrims coming into Jerusalem for the feast (on foot). Jesus enters riding to gathered crowds who sing out Messianic songs. This is a big moment in the Jesus walk, and those who are missing out on its significance (namely, the religious leaders who crave power and prestige) want it stopped.

That donkey might as well have been an out of control freight train as far as some of the Pharisees were concerned. They hoped that by squelching the shouts of the people they would break the momentum and somehow stop this significant moment of proclamation. They were not the first ones to try to stop the spread of the proclamation of Jesus as Messiah and King. But as Jesus did time and again He reminds them that nothing can stop this. Jesus uses the hyperbolic statement (a statement of exaggeration to prove a point) that the very stones would cry out if these people were silenced! In other words, there is nothing any mortal person can do to stop the truth of this Kingdom or its King. Tertullian, an early church historian, is one of many secular and Christian writers who tells of severe times of martyrdom in the Early Church. However, Tertullian writes: “The blood of the martyrs became the seed of the Church.” Not even death could stop what God was doing, as Jesus had promised in Matthew 16:18 in His words to Peter: “. . .the gates of Hades [a reference to the Hebrew sheol, meaning “realms of the dead”] will not prevail against [my Church].”

Certainly a shushing of excited people rightfully welcoming their long awaited Messiah will not stop the eternally significant moment taking place here. All creation, including inanimate objects, should know better. Even a dumb stone should know better than that, according to Jesus (I’m sure that did not register well with the Pharisees who complained).

So, here we are on this Palm Sunday commemoration, shouting and singing the same kinds of things they were on that day. This story and Jesus’ reference to the stones crying out can teach us something even now.

Since we cannot ultimately stop the work of God, why not join it?

Those Pharisees did not see the logic of this; however, what John Wesley described as prevenient grace has great significance here. One of the many things prevenient grace implies is that God is already at work in God’s world in order to bring about God’s redemptive purposes. Therefore, it seems to make sense for us not to impose our own view of what God should do or what Jesus should be like upon God’s world. For if we do, and we try to squelch God’s work and substitute it with our own preferences, maybe the very stones will cry out to condemn us! That means that we will be severely working against the flow of God’s Spirit, which ultimately leads us away from life and peace and joy. We ultimately cannot beat Him, but we have the privilege of joining Him!
Our joining of God’s work should be more than lip service.

More than one preacher has pointed out that some of the same people in the crowd that day who were calling Jesus Messiah were shouting “crucify Him” less than a week later. It is easy to be a fair weather Christian, but not always easy to be a devoted disciple. Jesus’ determination, seen from His wilderness time at the beginning of His ministry and throughout, to wholeheartedly commit to His mission calls forth in His true disciples this kind of commitment to Him! It goes beyond our words. It spills out of our lives. We are not inanimate objects like the rocks. We are living breathing instruments of God’s grace and purposes with a real choice in the matter. When we proclaim Jesus as King, we do so beyond words and with fully devoted lives.

In the movie, A River Runs Through It, Norm Maclean’s father, a Presbyterian minister, explains the mysteries of the beautiful creation in early 20th century Montana where his sons fish, run and play. He tells them at times to stoop down and listen to the river. He says that beneath the river is the rocks, and beneath the rocks are the words. These words, he says to them, are the words of all creation. The words these people are expressing as Jesus enters Jerusalem triumphantly are ancient words, celebrating the coming of the true King. They are deeply rooted in the Jewish tradition of then and now. They are words of relief that echo the strong peace that comes in knowing that God has not forgotten us. In fact, God has rescued us through One whom He has sent and anointed. The word “messiah” means one anointed and sent by God for His special purpose, the purpose of redemption and rescue. According to Jesus’ reply to the doubting Pharisees, even the rocks know this, but what these people are expressing are the words beneath the rocks, as it were. They are expressing what C.S. Lewis’ Aslan (modeled after Jesus) in The Lion, the Witch, and Wardrobe, calls “the deeper magic” that was spoken about before the dawn of all creation. It is the truth of God’s redemptive and unending love that is lived out before us in the coming of Christ the Son. It is more than a passing fancy or fad. It is the embodiment of the New and Lasting Kingdom that will never end. Our devotion to it is more than lip service. It is not about our power or fame. It is about following this King who is our Messiah and who brings about His eternal Kingdom in and through all who would follow Him in this “Jesus walk.”

1. Robert Stein, Jesus the Messiah: A Survey of the Life of Christ (Nottingham, United Kingdom: Inter-Varsity Press, 1996.).