Palm Sunday, 2011

Text: St. Matthew 21:1-14

The Rev. Jerry Kistler

St. Stephen’s Reformed Episcopal Church

Montrose, Colorado

Lifting Up Our King"

September 11^th; It’s a date that will live in infamy for all of us. None of us will ever forget the horrific events of that terrible day. Those almost surreal images of the two planes knifing into the twin towers and the huge fireballs that erupted from the opposite sides will forever be etched in our memories. But I think we will also always remember how thousands of ordinary men, women, and children—not just the President of the United States, or the Mayor of New York, but people just like you and me—how they lifted up this nation out of the ash heap, so to speak, and demonstrated that we are still a great nation.

But how did they do it? Well, first they pressed into service whatever resources they had to help with the rescue and recovery efforts. Some like the hundreds of doctors and firemen and ironworkers, and all sorts of other people with specialized skills and training, offered their services free of charge. Some people even trucked out their specialized pieces of equipment—cranes and the like—to make them available for use in the dangerous work of clearing away those mounds of twisted steel and concrete.

And then, second, people all over this nation stepped up to the plate in a huge way in terms of their donations—financial or otherwise—to relieve the victims of the tragedy. I believe there was a record amount of blood taken in by the Red Cross, to the point that they couldn't take any more. People gave generously and sacrificially. Some people literally gave the shirts off their backs to those in need.

Third, the people of this country lifted up this nation in a powerful way through symbol and ceremony. Who can forget the image of the New York City firemen raising the flag over the rubble at ground zero like a modern-day version of the marines raising the flag on Ewo Jima (which itself was an incredibly powerful symbol that raised the hopes of the nation during World War II)? People raised their own flags. They held candlelight vigils. They went to special prayer services.

And then, fourth, they sang a song: "God bless America." You couldn't turn on the TV there for a while without hearing that song. It became something like a second national anthem.

So in these four very significant ways—by pressing into service their resources; by giving sacrificially; by offering their symbols and ceremonies; and by singing a hymn—ordinary American citizens lifted up this nation out of the ashes of September 11^th and proclaimed it still to be one of greatest nation in the world. And the other nations stood up and took notice.

But today is Palm Sunday, and we're reminded today that we belong to another even more glorious and enduring nation: the Kingdom of God. And as citizens of this nation we’re called to lift up our King, the Lord Jesus Christ, and to proclaim Him great before the nations of the world by also pressing our resources into His service, by our sacrificial giving, by our symbols and ceremonies, and by our hymns of praise. And if we do lift Him up in these four very important ways, people will take notice, and they will ask us, "Who is this? Who is this Man you hold up as King?” And many of them will come to lift Him up as their King as well.

Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, and it was Passover time. And so the whole region was thronged with people making their annual pilgrimage to the temple to celebrate the feast.

Passover was one of the three sacred feasts that all male Jews were required by the Law of God to go to Jerusalem to participate in. But the talk of the town wasn't about the Passover. The talk of the town was all about Jesus and the miracle he had performed just a few days ago in the little village of Bethany. Bethany was situated on the eastern slope of the Mt. of Olives only about two miles east of Jerusalem. And so the news had traveled quickly from Bethany to Jerusalem, and now it was being buzzed around the whole city: ''Have you heard about the prophet from Galilee? They say He raised a man from the dead who’d been in his tomb for four days, a man named Lazarus. And He's coming up to the feast. He's on His way right now. This must be the promised Deliverer. This must be the Messiah!” And so many of them left the city and went up over the Mt. of Olives to meet Jesus as He approached the little suburb of Bethphage.

At the same time many people had come with Jesus from Bethany, almost certainly including Lazarus himself among His disciples. John records that many of the people from Jerusalem went out not only for Jesus' sake, but because they wanted to see Lazarus. Wouldn’t you?

But now as the two crowds were about to converge, Jesus suddenly stops in the middle of the road and pulls aside two of his disciples and says to them, "Go into the village opposite you and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Loose them and bring them to Me. And if anyone says anything to you, you shall say, 'The Lord has need of them,' and immediately he will send them."

Jesus commanded His disciples to do this because it was His purpose to make a very powerful symbolic statement to the crowd that, "Yes, I am the Redeemer King of Israel. I am the LORD. But I am not riding in upon a white stallion, with sword in hand, to take the throne in Jerusalem as a Conqueror, but as one who will enter into His kingdom by way of humiliation and suffering." My professor in seminary, Meredith Kline, pointed out that actually the donkey was used in ancient Semitic cultures as a sacrificial animal. And so symbolically we're given to see Jesus the Redeemer-King riding on towards His enthronement on the back of an animal that represents His death.

Matthew says, "All this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet [Zechariah], saying, "Tell the daughter of Zion, 'Behold, your King is coming to you, lowly, and sitting on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey."

You see: Jesus was proclaiming Himself to be Messiah, the King. And the first way he demonstrates His kingship is by exercising the royal prerogative to requisition the resources of His loyal subjects. And so He sends two of His disciples to go and "loose" the donkey and her colt and to bring them to Him. And if anyone made any sort of fuss, all they were to say to him was, "The Lord has need of them."

Now I just want you to focus your thoughts for a moment on the man who actually owned the donkeys. We're not given a single detail about this man's life in the Biblical record, but I think we wouldn’t be too far off to surmise that he probably wasn't a wealthy man. He lived right off the main road into Jerusalem, so perhaps he ran a donkey shuttle service up and over the mountain into Jerusalem. Or perhaps he was a donkey salesman, and the new model was just about ready for its first test-drive. In other words, it’s possible that these donkeys provided the man with his livelihood. But then this man sees two other men untie his donkeys and start to walk off with them. So, like any of us would do, he runs and stops them and asks them, "Where do you think you're going with my donkeys? If you want a couple of donkeys you'll have to pay for them." But the two men simply respond, "The Lord has need of them."

Think about what your response would have been. I don't know whether Jesus miraculously put it into this man's heart to give up his donkeys, or whether he had heard about Jesus' miracle and saw Him standing out in the road with the crowd around Him and instantly became a believer himself, but somehow he was able to discern that the Lord did in fact have need of his resources. And so without further question or complaint he pressed them into the service of the King.

You see as His faithful subjects, we're called to discern how Christ may have need of our own resources, and how we may use them to exalt Him as the Savior-King, whatever they might be. Whether they are special talents and abilities, or time, or labor, or property or whatever else. But we're called to discern how we may best press them into service, that our King might be lifted up in the sight of everyone around us, that they may take notice that a King is present in our lives.

But then look at how else the people lifted up Christ as King on His approach to Jerusalem. Matthew records that when His disciples brought the donkey and her colt to Jesus they stripped off portions of their clothes and laid them upon the donkeys and lifted Jesus up to sit upon them. We use the saying, "giving someone the shirt off your back" as a metaphor for giving them your all. It means you hold nothing back, but you offer everything you have, everything you are. A man gives a woman his coat as a gesture of sacrificial love. Jesus said, "If anyone wants your tunic, give him you cloak as well," as a sign that you more highly regard the other, than you do yourself. We lift up Jesus as King when we give sacrificially to His kingdom. We prove that He is our King, and that He is worthy to be the King of our friends and neighbors and family members, when we're willing to hold nothing back: not even the shirts off our backs, to see him exalted.

Well then what's the third way we see the people lift up Christ as King? They performed symbolic and ceremonial acts, recognizable by all, as those that announced the presence of a King. In verse 8 Matthew writes, "And a very great multitude spread their clothes on the road; others cut down branches from the trees and spread them on the road." We'd say today, they gave Him the "red-carpet-treatment."

Back in the Old Testament book of 2^nd Kings, we read of another man who was hailed as king by almost exactly the same ceremony. The man's name was Jehu. And we read in that passage that when Elisha the prophet had anointed Jehu in the presence of all his men, "then each man hastened to take his garment and put it under [his feet] on the top of the steps; and they blew the trumpets, saying, "Jehu is king!" You see, this was the known ceremonial act of submission to Jehu as the new king of Israel. So now when the people cast down their cloaks on the road before Jesus, what they’re doing is same thing. They hailing Him as the King of Israel, and they’re offering a symbol of their submission to Him.

In the same way the crowd cut down branches from the trees and spread them in the way, while others waved them in their hands. It's only St. John who tells us that they were palm branches. But why palms? Again, this was another highly recognizable symbol from back in Israel's history, especially from the time of the Maccabees, for hailing one as the rightful ruler of Israel.

You see, symbols and ceremonies are important. When we worship Christ with symbols and ceremonies that are recognizable as those befitting royalty, we lift Him up as our rightful King. So we lift high His standard; we lift High the cross in the procession. We bow at the invocation of His Name, the Name which is above every name. We kneel in His presence. We speak the language of the royal court in the liturgy. And in this way we make it known that a king—The King of kings and Lord of lords—is truly present in our midst, and that He reigns among us, His loyal subjects.

Well finally, the crowds, who have now converged around Jesus, lift Him up with their voices. They sing a song. "Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!" This is the high point of their celebration of the coming of the King.

In the festal celebration of Holy Communion—in other words, during the white seasons—the "Hosanna" immediately follows the Sanctus: "Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Host; Heaven and Earth are full of Thy glory; glory be to thee, O Lord Most High. Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord. Hosanna in the Highest!" Why? Because the "Hosanna" was a part of the Passover liturgy. “Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us, therefore let us keep the feast.” The word “Hosanna” means, “Save now, O Lord.”

There is no higher praise we can offer Christ as the Lord Most High than to hail Him as the Lamb of God who came to take away the sins of the world. Christ was glorified through His sacrifice. John actually sees his crucifixion as His coronation. And we lift Him up through our hymns of praise that magnify the great gospel truth He came from the glory He had from all eternity with His Father, and humbled Himself to the point of death—even death upon a cross—for which His Father has highly exalted and given Him the Name that is above every Name. We lift up Him up as our Redeemer King, when we magnify His sacrifice with our hymns and songs of praise.

These are the four basic ways we lift Him up. And Christ is pleased to be lifted up upon our humble means. He does not disdain to ride upon our lowly resources, our offerings, our ceremonies, our voices. For this is how He has chosen to be exalted in the world. He has chosen to ride upon us, His Church, into the glory of His kingdom.

So let us lift up our King, today and always, by pressing our resources into His service, by giving sacrificially to His kingdom, by magnifying Him with our symbols and ceremonies, and by offer our hymns of praise befitting His majesty. +