Sermon for Palm/Passion Sunday
Text: Philippians
2:7-8 (NRSV) He emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death— even death on a cross. |
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Hidden beauty
Leroy was about the ugliest dog
you could imagine. His coat was
straggly and wiry; he had the strangest ears; his tail was crooked and he
drooled.
You might give Leroy a first glance and think, “What a strange mistake of
creation” but you wouldn’t give Leroy a second glance.
You would wonder how anyone could love a thing like that.
But there was more to Leroy than
his looks. He was bursting with
personality and had loads of love to share.
This was evident when he was taken to the local aged care nursing home.
He didn’t care that the people there were frail, wrinkled, disabled,
sometimes poked him a bit too hard, or got him in the eye when they meant to pat
his head.
Neither did the people care that
Leroy wasn’t the most beautiful dog in the world.
In their eyes, he was fantastic as he sat beside their chairs, rested his
chin in their laps, accepted bits of their morning tea and shared his
unconditional love with even those who couldn’t respond any longer.
You see, there was more to Leroy than his scruffy exterior, there was an inner
beauty that warmed the hearts and filled the long days of those nursing home
residents.
A visitor to the nursing home
might have easily dismissed Leroy as a misfit because of his external
appearance. They would miss getting
to know the true Leroy.
Of course, you have already
picked up that this little story about Leroy is about another misfit – a man
named Jesus who rode into Jerusalem on a donkey.
Not even his disciples could look past the man even though they had seen
him heal the sick, raise the dead to life, cast out demons, stop storms, forgive
the worst sinners, and speak about God with such authority.
They stumbled every time Jesus
spoke of God’s plan to save all humanity. They didn’t get how the Messiah could
fall into the hands of evil people and suffer and die.
That was all so wrong and Peter wasn’t backward in coming forward on
behalf of the rest of the disciples to tell Jesus that he was talking like a
crazy person.
Matthew tells us that whenever
Jesus spoke of the things that were going to happen in the near future, the
disciples “were filled with grief”. In other words, it deeply disturbed them,
it upset them that Jesus would talk like this.
This is not what they had in mind for their future and for the future of
the Messiah.
Finally, when Jesus and the
disciples approached Jerusalem on what we know today as Palm Sunday, the
disciples must have quietly rejoiced that Jesus had finally come to his senses.
“Now at last we are going to see the Messiah swing into action”, they
must have thought”.
This thinking must have been
bolstered when Jesus takes charge and sends two disciples ahead to find a
donkey. He gives them instructions
where to find it and what to do if anyone thinks they are stealing their donkey.
Jesus could have commandeered any of the donkeys along the road to
Jerusalem but he sends disciples to look for an ordinary everyday beast of
burden in some grubby stable at a moment when they expected to be part of a
glorious moment. Maybe this is a
reminder that those who are truly great in the Kingdom of God are those who
humbly serve others.
Well, we know well how the story
continues. Cloaks are thrown across
the donkeys back to make a saddle and Jesus rides the donkey into Jerusalem as
people throw their coats and tree branches on the road.
The people excitedly cheer, “Hosanna
to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in
the highest!”
This was the long expected king the prophet
had spoken about.
“Say to the Daughter of Zion,
'See, your king comes to you,
gentle and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.'”
There can be no doubt about it.
Jesus is a king. He is the
creator of the universe. He rules
with power and majesty. There can be
doubt about his royal credentials.
When it was announced to Mary that she would soon be pregnant, she was
told by the angel Gabriel, “He will be
great and will be called the Son of the Most High God.
The Lord will make him a king as his ancestor David was, and he will be
king of the descendants of Jacob forever.”
However, looking at Jesus on the cross, he
appears to be anything but a king.
He is bloody, beaten, treated as a criminal, mocked and dies a shameful death.
To the on-looker there is nothing great about this man on the cross.
This is not the way the King of kings and
Lord of lords is supposed to be treated. If we think of Jesus as a king in human
terms you are right.
Jesus is a king but a different kind of king
– he is a servant king. He has come
to serve, to help, to give relief and support humbly and selflessly.
Whether we talk about the bowl of water and towel at the Last Supper,
or his suffering at the hands of evil people
or his dying the shameful death of a criminal on a cross,
or riding on a humble donkey on Palm Sunday,
they are all powerful symbols of the way Jesus saw the task his Father had given
him.
“He emptied himself … being found in human form, he humbled himself and
became obedient to the point of death – even death on a cross”.
If serving meant laying down his own life, then that’s what the Palm
Sunday king would do.
What does all this mean for you and me today?
Palm Sunday and Good Friday happened a long time ago – what do they mean
for us today?
In a Peanuts cartoon, Charlie Brown and Linus are standing next to each
other, staring at a star-filled sky. “Would you like to see a falling star?”
Charlie Brown asks Linus.
“Sure...” Linus responds. “Then again, I don’t know,” he adds, after some
thought. “I’d hate to have a star fall just on my account.”
The first point I want to make in talking about the meaning of Palm Sunday
and Good Friday for us today is this – a star did fall on our account. A star
did give up its brilliance, its lofty position on high for us.
That star was the Son of God.
He came down to earth for us: like a lamb led to slaughter.
He died for us. I hope that
this fact will hit us again this Good Friday as we remember his cruel and
horrible death.
Grasp the magnitude and the love behind Good Friday.
Here is the King of the universe, the perfect Son of the Most High God emptying
himself of all power and glory and enduring such suffering for us at the hands
of evil people.
Here is the God whose incredible love for us can hardly be described in human
words, jeered at with so much hatred and nailed to a cross of wood as if he were
the worst criminal.
What humility!
What love and,
oh, what he accomplished there for us. “He
emptied himself … humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death –
even death on a cross”.
He died for us. Those words are music to our ears.
He died for us.
He came to offer up his life as the perfect sacrifice, laying down his
life for every single person who has lived, is living and will live in the
future.
He came to release forgiveness into the world.
He came to take away our fear and give us peace – a peace that surpasses all
understanding, a peace that calms us when we are terrorised and horrified at
what our sin does in our lives.
He takes all our failure and guilt on to the cross with him and for us he dies
there on The Place of the Skull.
For us he came and made the way open to enter eternal life.
It is humbling to be loved like
this – to be loved to death by God.
It bows the head. It bends the knee.
It is the end of all trying to justify ourselves.
To be loved like this gives us a new sense of our own worth, of who we really
are in eyes of God. The Son of the
Most High God has died for us!
My second point about the relevance of the events of Holy Week for us
today takes me back to Leroy the dog.
As Jesus rode into Jerusalem there were those who cheered and those who
jeered. Those who shouted “Hosanna”
and those who called out “Blasphemer”, in fact it wouldn’t be long when the
cries of “Je-sus, Je-sus”, will turn
to “Crucify him, crucify him!”
You see, when people saw Leroy they saw how scruffy and untidy he was,
they missed seeing his warmth and love.
It’s just as easy for people today as it was for the people of Jerusalem
to dismiss Jesus as irrelevant and unimportant.
It’s for this reason that Jesus trained his disciples to follow his
example of servanthood and humility and to be pointers to the incredible love
that God has for all people.
The task is no different for his 21st century disciples and is
just as difficult, some might argue that it’s more difficult.
Times have changed but the needs of humanity haven’t changed one iota.
Whether they realise it or not they need the love, comfort, hope,
forgiveness, eternal life, strength for the present and joy of a future – all
this is given freely by the one who gave himself unconditionally on a cross for
us.
The elderly people in my opening story could see the true beauty behind
Leroy’s scruffy exterior. They
didn’t see his untidy fur or funny ears; they only saw his love and generosity
for them.
As we travel with Jesus to the cross again this week and then rejoice together
in his resurrection from dead, may we again see the true beauty of Jesus – his
love, his obedience and commitment, his willingness to die even for sinners, his
victory over sin, death and Satan.
As we journey with Jesus may we also keep in mind those who only see Jesus as
another Leroy – maybe you can find a moment to encourage them in their faith,
talk to them about your faith in Jesus and what Jesus means to you,
encourage them to go to an Easter service – be genuine, be gentle, be patient.
Let’s encourage one another and celebrate the wonderful Good news – Jesus
died for us.
© Pastor Vince
Gerhardy
9th April 2017
E-mail:
sermonsonthenet@outlook.com