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Palm Sunday
Light of Christ Anglican Church
The Rev. Michael Moffitt, April 9, 2017


Not What They Were Expecting

Text: Matthew 21:1–11

I’m one of those quirky people who believe that words matter and should convey what it is you are trying to say. I feel that we should be able to know the truth about something by the words that are used to describe it. I am always fascinated by print and media advertising and how they try to use words to lead us to believe that what they are selling is actually well worth buying. There is a popular food product whose moniker is “we use real ingredients” which of course I would have assumed. How can you sell anything with pretend ingredients? Two of my favorite advertisements in magazines are for “genuine faux pearls” or “Tell her you love her with a 1 carat cubic zirconia”. I have to assume that these ads actually work because they are very common. That tells me that there are those who want genuine fake pearls and imitation diamonds. Now I have to consider that for some it would possibly be better to have the imitation as opposed to nothing. I mean I have been known to enjoy imitation crab meat which around here is most likely unforgivable. Of course for those who pay attention to descriptions of items, it can be fun to point out the attempt at deception in advertising. However, those who purchase these items have no right to come back and complain that they were not the same quality as the real items that they were imitating, after all the ads admitted that they were not the real thing.

On the other hand, it would be even more absurd if the ads spoke of a genuine cultured pearl or a 1 carat flawless diamond for free and someone came asking if they could get a free genuine faux pearl or a 1 carat cubic zirconia instead. In this case the ad was truthful but the expectation of the person was needlessly low, after all both of these treasures were free for the asking. To be shown the value of what is offered and to turn it down for something of no value is foolish.

Today is Palm Sunday, the remembrance of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem at the beginning of “Holy Week”. The Jews had been anticipating the coming of the Messiah the prophet like Moses since their wilderness wandering over 1400 years earlier. Deuteronomy 18:15,

The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen.

When we think about the coming of the Messiah we think of anticipating the return of the Messiah and our hope is based on the fact that he already came once as promised and we believe that he will return as promised. However, to Israel God had spoken of the promise of the Messiah as far back as Genesis 3 in the Garden of Eden and in Genesis 12 in the promise to Abraham and his seed. The prophets foretold the Messiah’s coming in ways that were clear and instructive. Our Old Testament reading this morning from Isaiah 50:4–11 is one of those prophecies. Let’s briefly consider the message of this passage as it relates to our gospel passage.

Isaiah 50:4–11 is the third of four servant songs in Isaiah. In this section the attention is focused on the Servant himself and how he ministers to the people of God. Isaiah 5:4–5,

The Lord God has given me the tongue of those who are taught, that I may know how to sustain with a word him who is weary. Morning by morning he awakens; he awakens my ear to hear as those who are taught. 5 The Lord God has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious; I turned not backward.

The Servant has been given the ability to sustain and encourage the weary because he has been taught by the Lord and shares His heart. He is a disciple before he is anything else and he is always attentive to God. Morning by morning God speaks to him and he listens to his instruction and learns. He takes what he learns and acts in loving obedience. According to chapter 48 of Isaiah this is exactly what Israel had failed to do. Isaiah 48:8,

You have neither heard nor understood; from of old your ears have not been open. Well do I know how treacherous you are; you were called a rebel from birth.

Unlike Israel the Servant is not rebellious but responds to the instruction of the Lord with faithfulness. His desire is to be obedient even when the cost produces suffering. When confronted with suffering he does not run away but faces it. Isaiah 50:6,

I gave my back to those who strike, and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard; I hid not my face from disgrace and spitting.

Most importantly, his confidence is not in his own strength but in the faithfulness and help of God. In verses 7–8 the Servant testifies that God is the one who gives him the strength to follow in the face of opposition and so he will, “set my face like flint, and know that I shall not be put to shame. He who vindicates me is near.” The fulfillment of this prophecy is best seen in Luke 9:51 where Jesus knows that it is time to go to Jerusalem to face all that is to happen to him for our salvation and the Fathers glory. Luke records, “When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.” Jesus shows that as the Servant of his Father he will set his face like flint to accomplish all that the Father has shown him. Like the Servant from Isaiah 50 he knows that his obedience will lead to victory and ultimately he will be vindicated as we see in Isaiah 50:9,

Behold, the Lord God helps me; who will declare me guilty? Behold, all of them will wear out like a garment; the moth will eat them up.

It will be those who persecute him and oppose his mission that will perish. In verse 10 the servant is to be the model for those who would follow the Lord.

Who among you fears the Lord and obeys the voice of his servant? Let him who walks in darkness and has no light trust in the name of the Lord and rely on his God.

The Servant is not to simply be seen as the model or admired but he is to be obeyed. In describing his own discipleship the Servant is teaching what God requires of all his people, not empty lip service, but wholehearted, costly obedience. This leads to a very direct challenge to those who claimed to be the people of God, “Who among you…?” Some fear the Lord as the Servant does but others do not and some who walk in darkness rely on the Lord to light their path while others choose other lights instead pointing to men’s rebellion in worshipping other gods. Isaiah 50:11,

But now, all you who light fires and provide yourselves with flaming torches, go, walk in the light of your fires and of the torches you have set ablaze. This is what you shall receive from my hand: You will lie down in torment.

The challenge to Israel from the Servant of the Lord forces a separation between the true and the false, the righteous and the wicked, the saved and the lost—all these categories are among those who profess to be God’s people.

Clearly we know something that Israel did not at the time of this prophecy. We can look back and see who the Servant of the Lord is—Jesus Christ. However, the same exhortation and challenge is before us today. From the numbers of those who claim to be the people of God there will always be those who will not live up to the faith and obedience required of them. There will always be those who genuinely rely upon God and choose to follow him no matter the cost and they will inherit all that God has promised them for eternity but there will be those who decide to follow their own desires and turn away from the example that the Servant laid out in Isaiah 50. In the end it will be the Servant of the Lord whose testimony we just read who will force the division between the true and the false among God’s people. To “fear the Lord” and “to obey the word of His Servant” are one and the same thing. We all have to decide whether or not we will follow him.

We find the perfect example of this in our gospel passage this morning from Matthew 21:1–11. Let’s read Matthew 21:1–5,

Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, 2 saying to them, “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. 3 If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will send them at once.” 4 This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying,5 “Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’”

Perhaps you’ve wondered about this title—Triumphal Entry—when Jesus was riding the foal of a donkey. In our culture this would be seen as odd but for those seeing Jesus entering Jerusalem seated on a donkey it would have been what they anticipated. It was in keeping with the Messianic prophecy of Zechariah 9:9. This was a well-known Messianic prophecy that spoke of the coming priest/king who would free Israel of political and military oppression from their enemies. The symbol of Zechariah’s messianic king riding on a donkey was very important. Instead of riding in on a warriors stead at this point, the great king would make his appearance into Jerusalem astride a young donkey. Donkeys were among the mounts preferred by royalty during peacetime. By riding a donkey a king would indicate his complete victory and the end of the war. Jesus knew that he must fulfill all that was foretold about the Messiah, but he also knew that the crowds would not understand his real mission but like the faithful Servant of Isaiah 50, he would be obedient to the will of his Father and trust in his provision.

When the crowds saw Jesus riding into Jerusalem in this way their response indicated that they understood the symbolism and they began to celebrate.

Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” 10 And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, “Who is this?” 11 And the crowds said, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.”

The crowds celebrated because they thought they knew why Jesus had finally come. He would be the long awaited King foretold by the prophets; he was the Messiah, which means “the anointed or chosen one”. Israel was a conquered nation that lived under the rule and authority of Rome during the time of Jesus. By the time Jesus came into his ministry in Israel they had been a conquered nation since the time of Malachi, which was over 400 years. The Roman Empire was only the most recent of all those who had ruled over them. During this period of time there had been no prophetic voice in Israel and God’s Spirit had long since departed the Temple in Jerusalem. The reason that they found themselves in this desperate situation is because they had rejected God’s overtures of love and mercy time and time again. God decided for a time to give them what they had asked for—not Him. Though they had turned away from God and his law and chosen to worship others gods and had incorporated pagan worship with their own worship, God never forgot his promise to one day come to their rescue.

We have been talking a lot recently about the ways that Jesus revealed his divinity to Israel. He healed the sick, brought sight to the blind (even a man born blind); through his command the lame could now walk, the demons had to flee, nature itself submitted to his word and the dead were raised to life again. His teaching caused everyone to marvel at the power and authority and why wouldn’t it? As we read this morning from Isaiah 50, the Servant—who was the God/man Jesus—had been taught by the Father himself. All these signs and wonders pointed to Jesus as the Messiah and now they see him riding on a donkey’s colt, apparently declaring that he was the King of Peace. The crowds are celebrating because they assumed that he had come as the King who would conquer their Roman oppressors and Israel would once again be the mighty nation that all nations should fear.

The crowds assumed that the victory over Rome was now imminent and the vengeance would be so very sweet. They assumed that Jesus would take his place as Israel’s King and would return to the Throne of David in Jerusalem. Of course Rome would object and then Jesus would really show his mighty power and strength. This was going to be so cool. The truth is that Jesus could have done exactly that but it would have been like settling for a cubic zirconia when the Hope Diamond is being offered. Jesus did come to do battle but Rome was not the enemy, as a matter of fact what Jesus came to do would open up the way of forgiveness and the path to the Father that all nations could follow. The battle was to be against the prince of darkness who had started this war in the first place. The only way to win was to follow the plan that the Father had spoken to him and as the Servant he would not be rebellious.

Jesus knew that even though the crowds were crying out,

“Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest”

that they would turn on him when they realized that his plan was different than their expectations. In a matter of a few days the cheering would be replaced by the demands of a raging mob who would scream, “Crucify him.”

I confess that when I read this portion of Scripture I am thankful that Jesus was the faithful servant because I would have gotten back on the donkey and high tailed it back out of Jerusalem. Consider the words of the Psalmist this morning in Psalm 31:13–16,

For I hear the whispering of many—terror on every side!— as they scheme together against me, as they plot to take my life. 14 But I trust in you, O Lord; I say, “You are my God.” 15 My times are in your hand; rescue me from the hand of my enemies and from my persecutors! 16 make your face shine on your servant; save me in your steadfast love!

We begin this morning by considering how Isaiah provides us with the model of what a servant of God is to be and in our Gospel we saw how Jesus lived into that Servant model as Messiah. Our epistle reading from Philippians 2:5–11 reveals to us the reward of obedience that Jesus the Servant of God received and this too should serve for us as the model. Let’s read again verses 5–11,

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, ]6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

To best make our point this morning is helpful to see these verses in light of verse 4 of Philippians 2, “Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.” Paul is pointing out that Jesus is the perfect model of one who considered others more important than himself. Jesus did not consider the fact that he was God as reason for not coming to our rescue. He knew his Father’s heart for his creation and so he emptied himself of his heavenly glory and took on the human form of a servant without abandoning his divinity. He did this pay the price of our sins and to make a way for us to be reconciled to the Father. The fact that Jesus is equal with the Father makes this sacrifice the ultimate act of love and obedience. This loving act of the Son caused the Father to also act with love in response to the Son’s obedience.

The Father restored the Son to his former glory but also gives him the highest honor and exaltation possible. The Son took on the name “Jesus” at his incarnation and this symbolized his humility in subjecting himself to death on our behalf. The name “Christ” signifies his human title as Messiah or king of Israel but it is the name “Lord” that is above every name. Paul points out that the name of Jesus is the signal that “every knee should bow” and proclaim that the God/man is Lord. The Fathers response to the Son’s faithfulness is that “at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, and this very act brings glory to the Father.”

This is to be the eternal designation of Jesus because he is eternally the God- man who is to be praised as Lord of all to the glory of the Father.

If he had settled for what the crowd wanted he would not have received this designation from the Father and we would still be condemned under sin and would still have no way to the Father. He clearly chose the better way.

As we pointed out from the passage from Isaiah 50, Jesus the perfect servant still is the one who forces a separation between the true and the false, the righteous and the wicked, the saved and the lost. Those who will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord and live in humble obedience to his word and commands will receive the reward of life eternal with him in the Kingdom of God. Those who choose to follow a different path will reap the reward of —NOT GOD… which is eternal separation from him. Those who choose to follow Jesus must humbly bow their knee to Him and follow him whatever the cost; the reward is so worth it.

In the name above all names, Jesus Christ the Lord! Amen.

©2017 Rev. Mike Moffitt

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