Palm Sunday “The stones would cry out”

 “The stones would cry out”

March 28,2020 First umc Carroll

Palm Sunday

 

1. Everyone likes a parade. Palm Sunday celebrates Jesus’ paraded into Jerusalem. We celebrate it every year. The story is told in all four Gospels. But let’s see how much we really know about Palm Sunday with these true or false statements.

2. According to the Gospels, the people waved palm branches when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday.

1. False (Matt. 21:6, Mark 11:8, Luke 19:36, John 12:13). None of the four Gospels say the people "waved" branches but that they spread garments and branches in Jesus’ path. Only John 12 passage mentions palm branches.

3. The date of Jesus’ triumphal entry five days before Passover was a special holiday in his time.

1. True, It was the day of selection when those who will host the Passover lamb.  It would be kept under observation of the priests until the day of killing the lambs. 

4. By their actions, the people were publicly proclaiming Jesus as the Messiah.

1. True. When Solomon was anointed king, he rode into the city on a mule, to the shouts and praises of the people (1 Kings 1:43-45). Zechariah prophesied the Messiah would arrive the same way "gentle and riding on a donkey" (Zech. 9:9).

5. The fact that Jesus rode a donkey portrayed him as a warrior king.

1. False. Conquering kings would ride war horses; the donkey symbolized peace and humility (Zech. 9:9, 10). 

6. The shouts of "Hosanna!" meant "Praise the Lord!"

1. False. The Hebrew word Halleluia means "praise the Lord;" Hosanna means "save us!" or "save!" The Palm Sunday crowd falsely assumed that Jesus would bring political liberation.

7. When the people spread branches and garments in Jesus’ path it was to pay him honor.

1. True. The people were boldly declaring that Jesus was their king, an accusation eventually written in condemnation above his cross. It was common in Bible times to spread garments in the path of princes and kings, especially at their coronation (see 2 Kings 9:13).

8. The shouts of "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord" were words of a Jewish hymn.

1. True. The phrases "Hosanna" and "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord" both come from Psalm 118: 25-26, one of the "Hallel" or praise psalms (113-118) used every Passover. These Jewish hymns would be as familiar to the Jewish people as Christmas carols are to Christians.

9. How did you do?  Even if you didn’t do well, be comforted that entrance into heaven is not dependent on this test. 

10. There is more to this little story than we might at first realize. This is not just a cute children’s story.  There is deep meaning and earthshattering significance in the triumphal entry. 

1. You have probably heard the religious significance before. We referenced it in the opening quiz.  The Jewish nation had been expecting and waiting for a messiah. Many expected a warrior or king to liberate them from Rome. Jesus came to set people free, but not from Rome.  They looked to Zechariah who said, "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey." -  (9:9) and said that the messiah would come from the  Mount of Olives. (14:4)

2. We know that the people along the road were thinking of this because they sang this song of salvation as Jesus rode by. 

1. Save us,(hosanna) we beseech you, O Lord!
       O Lord, we beseech you, give us success! (Hosanna in the highest)

2. 26 Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.[a]
       We bless you from the house of the Lord. (Ps 118:25-26)

3. The coming of the messiah was the realization of all the hopes of the people of Israel through the ages. And they are responding with great joy and celebration. As they sing and watch Jesus ride by. 

4. The other side of the religious significance, of course, is the perspective of the Pharisees and Teachers of the Law. It seems like they would be the first to recognize the Messiah and announce his coming to all the people. We don’t know why they didn’t. The most common assumption is that they saw Jesus as a  threat to their power and wealth.  Therefore, they just refused to see it. What it did, set up a dynamic where Judas betrays Jesus and drives a wedge between the leaders of the Jews and the Leaders of the Christians in years to come. 

5. Whether you see Jesus as a fulfillment or a threat, there is no denying that Palm Sunday is of great religious importance. 

11. The triumphal entry was also of great political importance.  Now some folks believe that religion and politics shouldn’t mix. As faithful disciples, however, everything we do we do through the perspective of Christ. Every decision we make is made by measuring it up to the example of Christ.

1. Jesus was not a politician, but some radical political statements came out of his life and teaching. Statements about how we treat outcast groups, statements about taxation, statements about the destruction of the temple.

2. Rome was the greatest empire in the world at the time. But it didn’t take much to make Rome feel threatened. They were accustomed to squashing rebellions, and they did it with no mercy. Crucifixion was the most common way of executing insurrectionists… and in their mind, that is what Jesus was. It also had the benefit of being so horrific it made folks think twice before they planned the next revolt. 

3. Jesus, of course, never claimed to be the king of the Jews. He never thought of himself as a king. But when he talks about a coming kingdom or his kingdom, there is little room for interpretation from Pilate’s perspective.   Rome interpreted the triumphal entry as a  “March upon the city” and Jesus’ popularity was undeniable.   So we have to acknowledge that Palm Sunday was a political event. 

12. It was also a Symbolic action. 

1.  Not just in the fulfillment of the prophecy, but remember I said this happened on the day of selection.  The people were selecting their lambs.  Jesus was the Lamb of God who would take away the sins of the world.  It is impossible to understand the terrible sacrifice God made on the cross without understanding the symbolism that Jesus is the Lamb of God. 

2. It is also impossible to understand Palm Sunday without realizing that riding the donkey was a symbol of a king who came in peace. A warrior king would come on a stallion.  Jesus came on a humble donkey. And the great servant -king.

3. The palms are symbols of victory. 

4. So you can see palm Sunday was also a symbolic event. 

5. Palm Sunday was an event of Cosmic importance. God’s incarnate son was on his way to the cross and death riding on a humble donkey. Surrounded by a few friends who would all fall away, and besieged by Jewish ad Roman political authority. The world was about to change we see that represented in the thunder, clouds, earthquake, and darkness portrayed in conjunction with Jesus’ death.  This was all of creation reeling from the impact of the death of God’s son. 

6. Jesus refers to this cosmic importance in today’s story. Did you catch that?

7. The Pharisees tell Jesus to quiet his followers.  And Jesus’ reply is “I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.”  That is actually the sentence that caught my attention this year. “I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.” 

8. So what does that mean? It means that the events of that week would have cosmic significance. They would change the way the world works.  Think about it. Stones are inanimate objects. I have never seen a stone shout or sing or even nod its head.  But Jesus said “if these are silent” there’s going to be a rock concert right here in front of God and everyone.  I knew Mick Jagger was old, but apparently, the rolling stones were waiting in the wings just in case they were needed. 

9. Seriously, this word that was from the very beginning, the one who did not count equality of God as something to be grasped, but 

 

13.                             

14. Cosmic significance!  A name above every name.  Every knee bowed, every tongue confessing that Jesus Christ is lord.

Le the trees of the field clap their hands,

Let heaven celebrate! Let the earth rejoice!
    Let the sea and everything in it roar!
    Let the countryside and everything in it celebrate!
    Then all the trees of the forest too
        will shout out joyfully — Psalm 96:11-12 (CEB)

 

“But ask the beasts, and they will teach you;
    the birds of the heavens, and they will tell you;
or the bushes of the earth, and they will teach you;
    and the fish of the sea will declare to you.
Who among all these does not know
    that the hand of the Lord has done this?
In his hand is the life of every living thing
    and the breath of all mankind. — Job 12:7-10 (ESV)

He makes Lebanon leap like a calf, ps 29:6

The voice of the Lord strikes
    with flashes of lightning.
8 The voice of the Lord shakes the desert;
    the Lord shakes the Desert of Kadesh.
9 The voice of the Lord twists the oaks[c]
    and strips the forests bare.
And in his temple all cry, “Glory!” ps 29:7-9

All in the temple cry glory.

All in the city cry glory

Let all the world, cry glory

Let all God’s people cry glory.

Let all the people cry halleluiah

Let all the people cry he comes in the name of the lord

Let all creation cry Hosanna… hosanna in the highest

 

And then they crucified him.

15. He bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

17. 28 After he had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem.

18. 29 When he had come near Bethphage and Bethany, at the place called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of the disciples, 30 saying, “Go into the village ahead of you, and as you enter it you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 31 If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ just say this, ‘The Lord needs it.’” 32 So those who were sent departed and found it as he had told them. 33 As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the colt?” 34 They said, “The Lord needs it.” 35 Then they brought it to Jesus; and after throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. 36 As he rode along, people kept spreading their cloaks on the road. 37 As he was now approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen, 38 saying,

19. “Blessed is the king
        who comes in the name of the Lord!
    Peace in heaven,
        and glory in the highest heaven!”

20. 39 Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, order your disciples to stop.” 40 He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.”