04.13.2014 Palm Sunday - Hope/Expectation/Anticipation

04-13-2014 from Grace Summit on Vimeo.

Thank You for Your Word – and this celebration – celebrating the victory of Christ – remembering how You went to the cross to pay the debt of our sin – and stand as a great and forgiving God – we enter Your presence – knowing that we are loved by You. Help our hearts to be open to Who You are - You are alive! We celebrate You! You are the One who saves – and we cry Hosanna! Hosanna in the Highest!

John 12: 12 On the next day the large crowd who had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, 13 took the branches of the palm trees and went out to meet Him, and began to shout, “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel.” 14 Jesus, finding a young donkey, sat on it; as it is written, 15 “Fear not, daughter of Zion; behold, your King is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt.” 16 These things His disciples did not understand at the first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written of Him, and that they had done these things to Him.
This was a scene that would be seen throughout the Roman world – when a king or commander would return to a city from battle, the people would come out celebrating the victory of the king. This is exactly what is happening here! Think of a ticker-tape parade – like after World War II – celebrating the Allied victories over Germany and Japan.
What is unique about this celebration - this is a defeated people, going out to celebrate a king without a throne – who has not yet conquered anything – so what was the motivation for them to do this? What they are celebrating – they believe that this one, coming in on a donkey, is about to overthrow the Romans. That is what they are celebrating.
In order to understand their motivation – we need to look at the context. Chapter 11 is all about the resurrection of Lazarus from the dead. This was Jesus’ great sign and it set the stage for Holy Week.
9 The large crowd of the Jews then learned that He was there; and they came, not for Jesus’ sake only, but that they might also see Lazarus, whom He raised from the dead. 10 But the chief priests planned to put Lazarus to death also; 11 because on account of him many of the Jews were going away and were believing in Jesus.
The crowd was going out to see Lazarus as well. Bethany was a small community close to Jerusalem. It had maybe 5000 people – and the whole community would have been involved in the mourning process. And now he was alive – and the very next day is the beginning of the Passover week – people going to Jerusalem – and they hear that Jesus is coming. Even though there is no victory over Rome – there is victory over death! And if this guy can conquer death, Rome must certainly be next.
When they go out – there are two phrases that are packed with meaning – Hosanna! Save us! God save us!
And the other is, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!” – this is not just a random phrase. Think of it like these campaign slogans that led their candidate to victory….

It is a rallying cry – a political cry of victory over tyranny. These statements come out of Psalm 118.
There is this expectation, anticipation and hope for salvation – for victory – for being rescued – looking for a Messiah to transform their lives – to bring back the glory days of old – to restore the nation.
Traditionally, Palm Sunday begins Holy Week – a time of anticipation and hope. For five weeks, we have been observing Lent – a time of preparation and fasting – in preparation for this time.
It is like – everything shutting down between Christmas and New Years – everyone takes off work to celebrate Passover – a time of hope and anticipation and transformation. We need to ask, in our lives – where do we need to see change? Where do we need to be saved?
And then to have the hope and expectation that those things can happen because God is our victorious king. The one who raised Lazarus from the dead is active and engaged in our lives. It is a matter of faith – a resurrection is coming and a transformation is coming to the world.
When we talk about this transformation and hope, what does it mean, and what can we rightfully hope for?
I think we can expect God to help us go deeper in our understanding of Who He is and our relationship with Him. Now, I am not speaking theologically – not that we can just read a bunch of stuff and have a better understanding of the trinity and how it works, but He wants to reveal Himself to us – and to connect it with what we are facing in life. God wants us – we are always turning new corners – and there is some other circumstance or challenge that we find ourselves facing – and in every corner, He wants to reveal Who He is – for us and in us – at that point in our lives. And what He wants to show and demonstrate – that He is good – He is loving – He is concerned – engaged – NOW – in that aspect of your life.
Then, in the relational aspect of things – you are having better quiet times – but He wants us to experience Him in an intimate way more and more consistently – to experience His presence – and to give us greater faith in our daily routine. We need to be able to expect God to build that inside of us. We can expect God to engage our lives – to work in and through us.
We are starting this time of transformation – it starts with our own lives – character flaws that need to be transformed – and we need to be changed – and we can expect God to be engaged in that process – He is working every angle in our lives to see us transformed to be more and more like Him.
He is working through us in our circumstances – using us to help others be transformed. He is turning difficult things to bring about good in our lives – to bring about transformation of our lives and relationships – to become different people – He uses those circumstances to shape our lives.
Yesterday, we went down to the Presbyterian church on Hudson Drive – to observe their Soup Kitchen – and we got there early – and we got a tour – and the people who were supposed to be doing it – the people that were supposed to come in had forgot or didn’t get the message – so we observed by doing! It is GOD taking = seeing that God is involved in our lives – but everyone there said – God just wants us to do it! We started making decisions and we took care of it.
We need to have that mentality in our lives – If something is not working out the way we planned it to work out – we need to figure out what God is doing.
Back to Palm Sunday – one thing I left out – the palms! We think of the palms – we used to give them out – but the kids would have sword fights, and the parents would talk to me… - the palms are symbolic – they became a national symbol for Israel. When they printed coins, they always had palm branches on the coins. It was a symbol of hope and eventual victory. Think of our stars and stripes. Think of the athlete who wins an Olympic gold – they go to the stands and someone gives them a flag and they wrap it around their shoulders and take a victory lap. That is what the palm branches mean to them – it had that much emotion connected to it. But there is something else the palm branches reveal – it reveals a flaw in their expectations and hope. There is something improper. Something that needs to be corrected. Something they are doing – they are attaching Jesus to their agenda. They have had this agenda all along. There are many Jewish leaders who tried to drive Rome out and failed. But they are saying – in effect – let’s just stick on Him what we expect! How often do we attach God to our agenda? We say, In Jesus Name – Looking for His approval! But we need to learn to attach ourselves to God’s agenda! In life – what is God doing in this? What are God’s agenda, mission, and purpose? And then attach our lives to that.
There is a fourth symbol – the donkey – we can’t forget the donkey – I was going to make a Shrek joke – but Jesus uses the donkey to correct their expectations. Typically, a conquering king would enter on a stallion – a horse as a symbol of victory! That is how the Roman kings and generals and commanders would enter a city. This donkey, however, was a symbol of peace and humility. He is saying – I am not the king you expect. My kingdom is not of this world. I am not interested in driving out the Romans. I am here to bring peace – not as the world gives, but as a suffering servant.
Read Isaiah 53 – Suffering Servant – He is the ultimate suffering servant – the ultimate. The one who freely gives His life – and power comes out of that.
The remainder of the gospel is the death and resurrection of Jesus. It begins in 13 where He demonstrates humility by washing their feet and predicting it and then it happens – a third of the book focuses on His suffering…
17 So the [e]people, who were with Him when He called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead, continued to testify about Him. 18 For this reason also the [f]people went and met Him, because they heard that He had performed this [g]sign. 19 So the Pharisees said to one another, “You see that you are not doing any good; look, the world has gone after Him.”
Now here is what is interesting – we have all these people coming out – but John is asking – who are the true followers? Are you just a curiosity seeker, or are you a true follower? When I was in Honduras – I was sharing my testimony – we only went to church on Christmas and Easter – and everyone started laughing! Was it how it was translated? What did I say? You only went to church on Christmas and Easter – they couldn’t imagine someone living life that way – if you were a Christian – they couldn’t imagine it!
But these people who came out yelling Hosanna! – are probably yelling ‘Crucify Him!’ in a few days. But the good news – as many of those who yelled Crucify Him – what were they doing? They were getting baptized! It shows the amazing power of the transformation of Easter – not the holiday – but the reality.