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Most people love a parade
either as a participant or as a spectator, even if it is watching the parade on
TV. Usually, famous personalities
are leading the parade. There may
be equestrians on review, regaled in their colorful decorations.
There is the stirring music of a marching band.
People love the anticipation and the excitement.
Something is going on all the time.
Such was the parade on that
first Palm Sunday. The famous
personality leading the parade was none other than Jesus of Nazareth, Son of God
and Son of Man, and Savior of the world. Instead
of a spirited horse, He was riding a lowly donkey.
There were no marching bands, but music filled the air with, “Hosanna
to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!”
The crowd really got into it when they took off their cloaks and spread
them on the way, to give this Jesus the “red carpet” treatment as He rode
into Jerusalem.
But what happens after a
parade is important to note, too. Most
people return home, the excitement diminished, and their lives soon return to
normal again.
Much the same probably
happened on that first Palm Sunday. Only
for them life would no longer be the same.
Dramatic changes and events were about to take place.
Good Friday is on the horizon. The
glad hosannas will fade into oblivion and shouts of “Crucify Him!”
fill the air.
Whether those who sang “Hosanna!”
were the same crying out “Crucify Him!” the Scripture really
doesn’t tell us. But mob
psychology being what it is, and people being as sinful, and as fickle as they
are, some of the same people might have gotten caught up in the frenzy of the
mob.
We who have joined the Palm
Sunday parade, today, need to ask ourselves, “What effect will all this have
on us?” We have watched the first
Palm Sunday parade before and for many of us we have joined in the parade for
many years now. We have made the
journey before, from Palm Sunday, through Holy Week, Maundy Thursday, Good
Friday; and what effect does all this have on and in our lives? Let’s consider:
The religious leaders of
Jesus’ day were fit to be tied by what they were hearing and seeing on that
first Palm Sunday. As we noted last
Sunday there was a meeting of the Sanhedrin.
Here was their problem. “If
we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans
will come and take away both our place and our nation" (John
11:48).
“The Pharisees were
saying to one another, ‘See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole
world has gone after him!’”
(John 12:19) Yes, on that first
Palm Sunday, it appears that the whole world has gone after Him.
But for those participants in that parade, the time also came for them to
put away their palms, to pick up their cloaks, to quiet their songs, and return
home. As the excitement diminished,
and the palms dried out and turned brown, what difference had the Christ made in
their lives?
That’s the question that
confronts us this day also. We have
come to worship, and many of us will partake of Holy Communion, and we will
receive our palm cross. What
difference will the Christ make in our lives?
What difference will He
made when adversity comes? It’s
not difficult to see Christ in our lives when times are good, and we’re
feeling healthy and happy. When
adversity comes what do we do?
What’s interesting is
that the disciples are not our role models in the face of adversity.
They were probably there, a part of the Palm Sunday Parade.
They were with Him during the first part of the week.
They met with Jesus on Maundy Thursday, but in the Garden the same night
they forsook Him and fled. Most of
them didn’t show up at the crucifixion. John
was there and some of the women. Only
the women were the ones who ran to the tomb on that first Easter morn.
Not His disciples. Not even the inner circle of Peter, James and John, until
later. They were scared to death
that what happened to Jesus would happen to them.
Today, there are those who
think that if I don’t see God’s generous blessing in my life, and life for
me isn’t fun and games, or if I’m going to suffer in any way, or if Jesus
gets too demanding, or demands sacrifices too great, then I’ll drop out of the
parade; then I’m not going to be a part of the Jesus parade.
Times of adversity are
times of testing in our own lives, too - the testing of our faith.
A person once asked the
Professor at college, “I would suspect churches would have been overflowing
during the Great Depression. Naturally,
Americans being a religious people, would flock to houses of worship during
times of adversity.” The
professor didn’t answer, but said, “You do the research on it.”
So what did the student find? In
1933, probably the Depression’s deepest year - church attendance plummeted. The student concluded exactly the opposite of what he
thought.
Times of adversity, stress
and economic upheaval can either draw us closer to Christ or drive us away from
Him. Sad to say, sometimes when
things are going wrong in their lives they stop coming to church.
They cut themselves off from church people.
They refuse to talk with the pastor.
One of the keys for our
life, amid difficulties, is to do the opposite - to draw closer to Christ and
our fellow Christians in times of adversity.
There will be times in the life of each of us when we will encounter
situations that are terrifying, frightening, sickening and depressing.
We need support. We need someone to listen to us.
We need someone to pray for us and with us. But above all we need to accept the invitation of our Savior
who beckons to us. "Come
to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest”
(Mat 11:28). Will our problems
disappear? They may or may not.
We may receive the answer that Paul received (2 Cor 12:9), “But
he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect
in weakness.’ Therefore I will
boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest
on me.”
When Jesus needed His
disciples the most, they forsook Him and fled.
Coaches like to use the expression, “When the going gets tough, the
tough get going.” In the case of
the disciples it was more like, “When the going gets tough, we’re going to
get going - right out of town.”
Poor Peter.
He was always the first to speak up, and he gave some beautiful
confessions of faith. But at other
times he had hoof and mouth disease - saying something without realizing the
implications of what he was saying. There
in the courtyard of the high priest, hiding in the shadows to see what would
happen to Jesus, women who questioned his discipleship confronted him.
With cursing and swearing he ended up claiming that he didn’t even know
the Christ.
But what about us?
It’s easy to make confession of our Christian faith when we’re among
fellow Christians - in the parade. But
when we’re alone, maybe in an environment that isn’t exactly friendly to the
Christian, is it then that we are embolden by the Holy Spirit to make confession
of the Christ whom we welcome even this day?
The Christ who rode into
Jerusalem was headed to the cross of Good Friday, where He bore all our sins,
including forsaking Him in time of trial and tribulation and testing, including
the times when we ought to have witnessed to Him but instead crawled into our
little shell. There is forgiveness
for all sins, as we trust in the Christ who rode into Jerusalem on that first
Palm Sunday; and we join the crowd today in our own little parade and sing our
praises to Him who is our Savior and King.
In faith we sing, “Hosanna to the Son of David!
Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!
Hosanna in the highest!”
Amen.