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Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, the text comes from the Gospel reading. You may be seated. Did it ever occur to you the interesting connection with Jesus riding this donkey into Jerusalem? Because the only time, other than this recorded instance, did Jesus ever ride a donkey, was when He rode it inside of His mother’s womb as she was being brought by Joseph to the city of Bethlehem to be born for one reason only, to be born to be our sacrifice. And now, so many years later, is He riding into Jerusalem again, On a donkey. To fulfill what He was born for. To be the sacrifice for the sins of many, for your sins. Now it ought to be something that the disciples picked up on, but they may not have known about Jesus riding a donkey in His mother’s womb as they went to Bethlehem. But for sure, the disciples should have gotten this point. All the time that they were with Jesus, never did Jesus ever ride any animal wherever they went. They did all of that route stepping throughout all of those places in Israel and Palestine, completely and totally by their feet, walking. So you would have thought that they would have said to themselves, wow, this is important, that he’s riding on this animal into Jerusalem. Wow. Well, not just that he’s riding, but think about what he did with two of the disciples. The text said that he sent those two and told them exactly where to find a donkey, exactly what to say to the people who would probably say something to them, and that they would bring that donkey and it would be what he rides on. But they didn’t seem to get that either. But surely, and you know that they knew this, They knew the prophet Zechariah. They knew he prophesied about the Messiah coming in on a donkey and the people shouting, Hosanna to the Son of David. Do you think that they handed out little leaflets to everybody? Here’s what you say when He comes in, everybody. Okay? No. They knew what to say because of that prophecy by Zechariah. And it was also proclaimed in the Psalm 118. All of these things reveal Jesus to be the master of humility. That’s what the epistle reading said, was it not? He who was born in the form of God did not count himself equal, but rather humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross. So the king has entered. The king has come. And he comes to rule one thing and only one thing. He comes to rule your heart. There’s nothing else in this world that He wishes to be Lord over, except your heart. He doesn’t wish to be Lord over any of the governments that are here, any of the beautiful sights that we can find in this world. He only wishes to be the Lord of your heart and that alone. But the disciples are shown clearly He is the King, but their understanding of what King means… And obviously, the Scripture’s proclamation of what it means to be the king are two different things. So it’s kind of interesting. There is this disconnect between what came out of the mouths of the apostles and what came out of the mouths of the crowd and what they believed to be true. So think about this. They were saying all the correct and godly and orthodox stuff That they were proclaiming. It’s right out of Scripture. Saying it and believing it, that’s where there’s a disconnect in your life too. And in mine. They saw him as king and they said, this is it. But they never did totally grasp this humiliation that he would undergo. In fact, John makes this beautiful commentary in his Gospel about these apostles of whom he is a part, the apostle John. He said, His disciples did not believe or understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about him and that these things had been done to him. Don’t throw the apostles under the bus yet. Think about this. Every time Jesus did miraculous things, the feeding of the 5,000, the healing of Jairus’s daughter, the Changing water into wine, the healing of the man born blind or deaf. That gathered a crowd and he always said, and he always walked away so that there wouldn’t be this spun up crowd. So that was what the disciples or the apostles were used to. Here, on this day of days, he doesn’t tell anybody to be quiet. Right? On this day of days, he completely accepts all of the affirmation and accolades coming from the people gathered who are throwing the palm branches in front of him. He doesn’t take any offense. Why? Because he’s come to receive his kingship, and his kingship will be placed upon him in a crown of thorns. And he’s come to sit in the royal chair, But the royal chair is not a chair of which you and I are used to thinking in terms of, it is the cross. So there is this disconnect between us saying the right things and believing the right things. The apostles… And the crowd all said the right things. Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna to the Son of David. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. They said the right things, but what did that mean as to what they would believe? And more importantly, if he’s their king, what’s it mean for them? After the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, the disciples, the twelve, all showed us what it meant to them. Where did he find them after his resurrection? Where did he find them? Hiding for fear of the Jews in the upper room. Now you see the disconnect between what they said and what they believed. And what finally got them out of that room and out of their fears was what God worked within them. And that’s a struggle. It wasn’t at all very much fun. It was, if anything, extremely painful for them. Because it led the 11 of those 12 to all die an early death as a martyr. And it led most of the people who were believers until the Roman Empire embraced Christianity to die the death of a martyr. So you want to know where it comes to your life? Your son or daughter comes home and says to you, “‘My loved one and I are having sex.'” And you’ve always preached to your son or daughter, do not have premarital sex. It’s ungodly. Now what do you do? There’s a disconnect between what you say and what you believe. Because now what do you do? Do you cave on it? Oh, no big deal. Everybody’s doing it. So then all of that statement before was all poppycock and balderdash? Your grandson or your granddaughter comes home to you and says, Grandpa, Grandma, I want you to meet my loved one. And it’s the same sex as your grandson or granddaughter. Now what do you do? You’ve been proclaiming one thing. You’ve been saying one thing. Do you believe it? And how do you practice that belief now? You know you don’t shove them away and despise them and kick them out of your house, but on the other hand, you don’t say, everything is great, everybody’s doing it anyway, it matters not. How does this have anything to do with Palm Sunday? The people that gathered in the streets cried out the right words, but what did it mean for them when their king died? What did it mean for them when their king died? What did it mean for their life and their livelihood when they were affiliated with and trusted in this one who died on the cross? For those of you who were with us last Wednesday night, we talked about Joseph of Arimathea, who gave up his tomb that Jesus could be in it. By doing that, by requesting the body of Jesus… Everybody knew now Joseph of Arimathea was no longer a part of the Sanhedrin. He was kicked out and they ostracized him. And he lost all standing in the Jewish community because he chose to align himself with the king that’s not their king. So what do you stand to risk as grandparent or as parent or as son or daughter when somebody you love doesn’t agree with what God has revealed? And how do you and I go from saying the right things to believing the right things to practicing the right things? As you battle with yourself in faith, and God will allow you to be struggling in your faith. His Holy Spirit promises to resolve the conflict between saying the right things and believing and practicing the right things. It’s not just a matter of whether you’ve had premarital sex or not or whether your loved one is gay or not. It’s a matter of who is the Lord of your heart because that’s what He wants to rule and rule alone. So why is it that we say we should fear, love, and trust in God above all things? Why is it that we say we should fear, love, and trust in God above all things? Because even our wife or our husband, even our son or our daughter, even our wife or our husband are not to be feared, loved, and trusted in more than our God. That’s the conflict that God places within you between what we say is true and what we act out and believe is true. He will always bring us to stronger convictions, but not without a lot of pain. So, for example, just this one. You say and I say we believe that Jesus holds all things in His hands. Good. Why is it then that if we believe that to be true, do we still fret and worry about things and have anxiety? You see the disconnect between saying that we believe He holds all things in His hand, believing and practicing that He holds all things into His hands? But why? It’s not just for you. It’s not just for your marriage. It’s not just for your parenting abilities. It’s not just for you as an individual. He does that to you so that you could be of benefit to the body of Christ. God wants His parish to be made up of lots and lots of hurting, struggling, fear-filled people. He does not want his church made up of a bunch of people who’ve got all their act together and all of their beautiful fabric sewn and looking without afraid edge because only one who has been hurt and healed can give help to one who is hurting. That’s what he has done this to you so that you would be a blessing. Think about how God used Peter. Of all the people, after his reinstatement, he could always go, hey, I’m the one, guys. But he forgave me. He comes to you today in his word. And he comes to you today in his holy supper. And he comes to you today in the name of the Lord to rule over one thing. Your heart. In the name of Jesus. Amen. The peace of God, which passes all understanding. Keep your hearts and minds on Christ Jesus to life everlasting. Amen.
