In the Name of Christ the Crucified +
That first Palm Sunday, it would have
been a sight to see, wouldn’t it? The
crowds all singing and hailing Jesus, the roadway covered with cloaks and coats
so that even the donkey Christ was on wouldn’t have to get her feet dirty. The Palm Branches waving, the cheers, the
acclamation – it would have been something to see. But what would we have been looking at? What would we be marveling at? The massive crowds? Would we have been glorying in the throng of
voices raised high – or seeing the waving palm branches and caught up in
that? John records for us “His disciples did not understand these
things at first.” Chances
are we might have gotten caught up in the moment, not recognized what we were
seeing either. The triumphal entry was a
time of excitement and joy – but what so few of those people there knew, in
fact, what perhaps only Jesus realized, is that the procession of Palm Sunday
leads directly to our Lord’s Passion, which we just heard. The road into Jerusalem
is the road unto the cross – and as He enters Jerusalem, that is where Christ’s focus is –
upon the Cross and the salvation He will win there.
The crowds, they didn’t see the
cross. They saw a miracle worker – who
knew what else Jesus might do when He was in Jerusalem!
The miracle worker who had been working the small towns was making his
way to the big time! This fellow can
even raise the dead – let’s make Him feel welcome and see what He can do. The Pharisees, their thoughts were on their
own authority and pull. “Look, the whole world has gone after
Him.” We’re finished – no one is
going to listen to us anymore! We won’t
be the high and mighty of Israelite society anymore, what are we going to
do? Roman soldiers, they probably got a
little nervous about a riot, things like that happen in Jerusalem.
And the Disciples – they still don’t get it. Maybe they think that it’s just about time
that their Lord gets the recognition that He deserves.
All of these, all these people focused
on worldly things. What cool trick is
Jesus going to pull out of His hat? What
is this going to do to the social order?
We’ll it’s about time that people get a clue and start praising this
Jesus that WE’VE been following all along.
Miracles, power, respect – but none of these are what’s on Jesus’ mind
as He enters Jerusalem. He sees not a throng that boosts His ego, He
sees not conspirators or even clueless followers. He sees sinful men, lost sheep, people
trapped and bound in sin – people who will be lost to Him for all eternity
unless He strides to the Cross and pays the penalty for sin in their
place. And so He does. Christ strides to the Cross, ready to win
salvation for His people. His thoughts
are not on Himself, but rather He desires to show love to others, show love to
us, whatever the cost.
With this in mind, dear friends, and
especially you two, Weston and Maverick, with your confirmation and profession
of the Christian faith just a few minutes away, listen again to what our
Epistle lesson says. Have this mind among yourselves, which
is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though He was in the form of God, did not
consider equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made Himself nothing,
taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, He humbled
Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. This dear friends, is to be our minds,
this is to be how we are to think, how we are to strive to think, who we are to
try to be. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus. In the waters of Holy Baptism God claimed as
His own, washed away all your sins. We
know that, but not only that, He claimed you as His own, made you His own
dwelling place, made you the temple
of His Holy Spirit. Christ dwells in you, and because of this, He
desires to train you and teach you to be more like He is. And what is Jesus like, what is this mind
that we are to have, how are we to approach things?
Though
He was in the form of God, [He] did not consider equality with God a thing to
be grasped. Jesus didn’t try and
take all that was by rights His. Jesus
wasn’t concerned first and foremost about getting His due. He’s God, He created the World, by Him all
things were made. And He’s supposed to
suffer and die? Yet Jesus never
protests, never says “I’m God, after all, why should this happen to Me?” He doesn’t grasp on to rights or power or
control. Likewise with us – as Christians
our first concern is not to be what we can get, not what is in it for us. Our rights aren’t things to be grasped either
– we turn the cheek, if 1 is demanded of us, we freely give 2 – because like
Christ we don’t cling to what we think we deserve. No, like Christ our focus is to be elsewhere.
But
[He] made Himself nothing, taking the form of a servant. Jesus didn’t seek to be a big deal – but
rather He made Himself nothing – He served.
He was content to have His focus be on the other guy. What can I do to serve, what can I do to show
love? This too is what our mind is to be
like – this is what it means to be an adult, mature Christian – to seek not to
please yourself, but to show love and care to your neighbor. Think on Christ’s entry into Jerusalem – even as the crowds were lauding
Him – on He goes, right to the Cross for the sake of those very people. And it is hard for us to do this. Our minds like to be self centered – we like
to put ourselves first.
Confirmands – in a few moments you
will publicly confess the Christian faith.
The other adult members of this Congregation, they’ve done the
same. When you do so, you are swearing
that you will strive to be like Jesus, that you will seek to put your neighbor
first, that your first priority will be to show love to your neighbor. That you will try to be the person God made
you to be in the waters of Baptism when He claimed you as His own. That, dear friends, is what we all swore at
our own Confirmation. We promised to
strive and struggle, to always try to show love, to hold on to the Christian
faith as we learned it from Scripture and the Small Catechism. And yet we do know what happens. You have learned the Ten Commandments, you
know what they say about you – that you have failed. That’s what we come here, why we start our
service Confessing our sin, admitting to God “We haven’t done like we
ought.” But we also know what God has
done for us. And being found in Human form, He humbled Himself by becoming
obedient to the point of death, even death on a Cross. That which we struggle to do, Christ does
perfectly for us. And indeed, He goes to
the Cross for us, pays the penalty for our sin – even shouts from the Cross
“Father, forgive them.”
And so, that is why we gather
here. We know that God will forgive us,
that He will cleanse us from all unrighteousness. We know that there is no condemnation for
those who are in Christ Jesus. God will
with His forgiveness preserve and nurture the life He gave you at your
Baptism. His focus is upon serving you,
giving you what you need for life. In
fact, as we will see and study especially this upcoming Thursday night, He does
so through His Holy Supper, where He not only gives you forgiveness for what
you have done wrong, but He blesses you with His own strength and life so that
you can be more like Him, that your mind can conform and be more and more like
His mind – so that you can look and be more and more like Jesus. Indeed, as you grow, you will see more and
more that it is not you who live, but Christ who lives within you. This is what He desires for you, this is what
He gave you at your Baptism, and this is what He will bring about in you with
His Word and with His Supper.
Paul tells us in Philippians what our
reaction to this is. Therefore God has highly exalted Him and
bestowed on Him the Name that is above every Name, so that at the Name of Jesus
every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every
tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. We just confessed this a few moments ago
in the Nicene Creed. It’s what the
Church does – we receive God’s gifts of forgiveness and salvation, and then we
confess, we proclaim what Christ has done.
Weston and Maverick – when are confirmed, you are publicly adding your
voice to this congregation’s – you are saying that what we confess here about
Christ is your confession, what you believe as well. And that is good and God pleasing – and know
that God will support and sustain you in that confession through the Word of
life and forgiveness that He brings to you.
May God keep you steadfast in His Word, and may God keep all of us who
like have made this confession as well, may God keep us all steadfast and
united and forgiven in His Word – so that in all things and trials, we see
Christ the Crucified as our Lord, and learn to show love to our neighbor. In the Name of Christ the Crucified + Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment