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“Hailed as the King?”
Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29; Isaiah 50:4-9a; Luke 19:28-44;
Philippians 2:5-11; Luke 22:14-23:56
Rev. Sandy Nuernberg
Oakland-Cambridge Presbyterian Church, Cambridge, WI
Palm/Passion Sunday
April 1, 2007
Prayer: O God, as we
hear and try to understand your Word, surround us with your Holy Spirit and
allow us to respond in your Name and for your Glory. AMEN.
This Palm Sunday of 2007, it
seems, is a time of irony as we sing ‘Hosanna’ to the ‘King of Glory’
entering Jerusalem for the last time; when the tremendous crowds are
celebrating and hailing a king with joy. “Blessed is the king who comes in
the name of the Lord! (v. 38)”; a king
like none they’ve ever seen or heard before. Yet, the irony is that there
are signs of triumph and tragedy–perhaps instantly as we celebrate today,
and then, as we also know, our next days of impending gloom for this King of
Glory.
Our texts capture vividly, in
Isaiah’s unnamed servant (God’s servant, or us), and in Luke’s named
servant, Jesus Christ, that faithfulness towards God and God’s truth is put
in jeopardy of God’s Kingdom to come. They make clear to us in this Lenten
season that which was similar for Jesus Christ; the palms of joy and
the passion, the suffering, of being a servant. Perhaps we come this
Palm/Passion Sunday to ask, like the disciples, “Who is this King of
Glory?”, and then also to ask, as did the disciples and many of us, “For
whom do we stand, and how will we respond?”
On this day of his riding into
town, Jesus represents a lowly king of glory, it seems to me; the disciples
respond to Jesus’ exact wishes in getting an animal for him to ride, where
it will be, what to say. Jesus’ kingship and humbleness is shown by his
riding a beast of a donkey, not any warrior horse of a general, governor, or
Roman official of dignity having military power. The disciples believed Him!
All along his journey, from the Samaritans readying themselves to receive
Jesus (9:53) in Jerusalem, those fearing Jesus, the Pharisees warning Jesus
of his fate, and those plotting against Him and wanting to kill Jesus, none
of these people disappeared, our gospel texts tell us. In fact, Jesus’ final
days were in his shifting from acts of healing and preaching in his parables
to teaching his disciples and those followers after Him of his being the
heir apparent of scripture and proper practices in their worship in the
temple and in life. It’s not in their will of what they want done,
these followers, it’s all in the culmination of Jesus being the
Christ, and God’s will be done! Jesus Christ is hailed as King!
This King of Glory was visible
and active for me not long ago, but I wasn’t even aware of it. I’ve always,
always loved the pomp and circumstance in spring at Eastertide; the palm
branches waving, the beautiful music sung, and everything in celebration.
Unlike others, I’ve never thought of this season being gloomy or even
painful. When I think back, maybe I didn’t know what Easter was about; the
suffering servant as teacher, and all that Jesus endured before His death. A
few years ago, it was in April (1999), during Holy Week, I went with a group
of twenty (20) at my church to border mission ministry in Mexico. I remember
not wanting to go then because I liked being at my own church and its
comfortableness; singing in the choir with the familiar ‘Alleluia’ chorus
and all, seeing the children’s bonnets and their excitement of chickens,
rabbits, flowers, all the newness of spring. It was spring break (I was at
Edgewood College) though and we thought it was a trip to do something many
of us had never done before.
We did have a planned ‘attack’ of
our mission in Piedras Negras, Mexico that wasn’t too comfortable; painting,
plumbing, tiling and preparation of the pastor’s manse and at the Presbyterian
Church there. We had devotions morning and evening together, we made our own
breakfasts and lunches at the church, worshiped nightly because of it being Holy
Week (all in Spanish). I got to tile the shower floors/walls of the bathroom
with one other teacher from here. Actually, Arlene and I had a ball, but I
remember a few more things about our trip; it was sweltering hot, we had great
food by the church volunteer ladies at night (some spicy), and we visited a
church family home for dinner and shopped at a mega-store center to learn how
families lived in this very populated and yet poverty stricken area that was
predominantly a Catholic neighborhood. But it was different; there were no
crosses anywhere, no candles, and I kept wondering how we could preach of joy
and hope and love, our themes?
What I know for sure is that I
was taught and I learned more in receiving hope and love that week than I felt I
gave hope and love to our border church families. I gathered with those I didn’t
want to be with to see Christ as the servant bringing something new to me and to
others as we were God’s servants with each another. We the visitors took into
our hearts their smiles and their graciousness for our being there; it was so
powerful for me. I never missed not hearing English or not recognizing their
Spanish; the music was really beautiful. Our eyes connected, our ears listened,
and our hearts received each others heartfelt warmth and love. In Isaiah, as
Melanie read, “Let us stand up together” was us, every one of us as servants who
had ears, backs, tongues, and cheeks to receive and respond to the confidence
and courage as God helped us in helping others. We stood together and completed
our mission for them as they responded and gave their hearts full of thanks in
love to us; we gave them love and courage and hope in themselves to continue and
finish the tasks that we started for them. There was a kind of hailing to the
King of Glory for all of us as we returned home.
In this world we live in we are
given choices, and we need to decide in/for whom we stand and how we will
respond. Jesus has come and brought the hour of decision for his disciples and
his followers; his deeds of power are in his deeds of healing as the servant of
the Lord. And when these followers praise and respond to his deeds of power, the
Messiah has come, Christ has come! Palm/Passion Sunday is the culmination of
coming from the wilderness as Lent began seven weeks ago, in all its lowliness
of our repentance and our response is turning towards God. Today’s welcome of
Jesus Christ on a donkey into Jerusalem is our response in hailing the King of
Glory as an important, joyous and momentous occasion. The glory is here and now!
The gloom of our Lord is to come!
As we come to the communion table,
we celebrate Jesus as the ‘King of Israel’, coming in the name of the Lord in
hope and confidence for restoring their nation in being God’s kingdom. The good
news of the gospel for us is that Christ is the humble ‘King of Glory’ coming in
the name of the Lord for our confidence and our hope of serving and doing the
will of God for God’s kingdom. The culmination of joy and suffering is in Jesus
being the Christ and God’s will being done; let us respond and nourish our faith
together in the deepest way possible, in communion with one another at the
Lord’s table. Hail to the King of Glory!
Thanks be to
God. AMEN
In reading all of our gospel
accounts of the plot to kill Jesus; on Maundy Thursday when our pastor, Bette
Duff read the exact scripture of Peter’s denial, ironically, the roosters were
crowing in the yards around our mission border church
( Matthew 26:74 )! As Peter wept bitterly then, Jesus is weeping
upon Jerusalem now, as he enters on a donkey knowing that the things that make
for peace are not recognized.
We know in Jesus’ teachings, after
his appearance in Jerusalem this day, he is perhaps at his angriest in attesting
to the functions inside their synagogue; he drove out the money changers and
their selling, and taught, “My house shall be a house of prayer,” as they had
made it a den of robbers! In both of our texts it is the servant, it is Christ
as the suffering teacher who endures the pain along his journey to rejoicing and
song, ironically in proclaiming God’s will and plan, not the practices of
humans. Jesus told them they had not recognized the timing of their visitation
from God (v.44).
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