SPECIAL DAYS: Passion/Palm Sunday

April 4, 2004 - Lesson: Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29; Luke 19:28-40

SERMON TITLE: Rolling Out the Red Carpet (1)

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INTRODUCTION:

  1. Palm Sunday can be deceiving.

    1. We can get lost in the joy and lose the purpose.

    2. We do not want to take it for granted.

    3. We have the advantage of observing from a distance what is taking place.

      1. We can know the end from the beginning.

      2. We can know the liabilities and the benefits.

  2. My thought was that we ought to "roll out the red carpet" for Jesus.

    1. This idea came to me as I watched a few minutes of the opening ceremonies for the Oscar's

    2. But then I wondered about the origins of "Roll Out the Red Carpet"

      1. To give someone the red carpet indicates that they are regarded as important.

      2. A suggested origin was posted on the SHU Phrases Forum.

    3. The layout of the Mughal palace was re-created in these tent compounds.

      1. Rows of qanats, free-standing textile screens, replaced red sandstone walls, and flower-covered carpets reproduced the gardens of the inner courtyards.

      2. The red color served to identify the emperor's tent.

      3. Luxurious textiles not only provided the comforts of home but also symbolically reminded envoys and visitors of the power and the wealth of their rulers."

    4. Jahangir, Mughal emperor from 1605 to 1627, once paid a visit to his brother-in-law on New Year's Day.

      1. To celebrate the event, his brother-in-law carpeted the road between his house and the palace with gold brocades and rich velvets, so that the royal entourage would not have to touch the ground.

    5. Today we say "Roll out the red carpet" or "the red-carpet treatment" to indicate the conferring of honor and prestige."

Charles, Prince of Wales, after Australian and US tour was quoted as saying:

"I sometimes wonder if two thirds of the globe is covered in red carpet." (2)

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MAIN BODY:

  1. We start with the three g's of the Hollywood red carpet treatment which are GLITTER, GLAMOUR, AND GOSSIP.

    1. If you tuned in February 29th to the 76th Annual Academy Awards®, you got your fill of these "three G's" as celebrities walked the Red Carpet on their way into the Kodak Theater to be entertained by emcee Billy Crystal.

    2. The E! Network began its coverage of the Oscars at noon, offering six hours of buildup to the arrival of the stars for the awards ceremony.

    3. Thousands of fans, for whom following the lives of others is important, sat in specially constructed stands to catch all the action.

      1. Thus, gawking and gossiping in the presence of glitter and glamour has now become an all-day event.

      2. Those watching on television stayed glued to the tube for a glimpse of Nicole Kidman, Colin Farrell, Kate Hudson, Elijah Wood, Reese Witherspoon and others.

      3. Flashbulbs popped and the paparazzi shot pics for the covers of People, Us and The National Enquirer.

    4. Interviewers stuck microphones into celebrity faces and asked stupid questions, to which they received mostly stupid answers.

      1. Some members of the media got downright nasty-if not perceptive-as Joan Rivers did when she called one rock star's wife an "idiot."

      2. Fact is, tons of fans get a thrill from watching their favorite stars on the Red Carpet.

      3. The Academy Awards show has become the most-watched television event in the world, drawing nearly a billion viewers.

      4. About one in every six members of the human race is glued to the TV on Oscar night.

    5. Glitter, glamour, gossip. Seems we just can't get enough.

  2. On a day that we call Palm Sunday, the people rolled out the red carpet for Jesus.

    1. The three G's of the Jerusalem red carpet treatment are the same as those used at the Oscar Ceremonies: GLITTER, GLAMOUR, AND GOSSIP

      1. Not that this is anything new.

      2. Think of today, Palm Sunday, as a sort of pre-show for Holy Week.

      3. A superstar was coming to town, so the people of Jerusalem spread their cloaks on the road (Luke 19:36).

      4. The crowds waved branches of palm trees (John 12:13).

    2. A major event was under way, a Passover Festival that drew about 2.5 million pilgrims to Jerusalem.

      1. You could say without too much exaggeration that the city was electrified with Oscar-night enthusiasm.

      2. Jesus was aware of this, and knew exactly what he was getting into.

      3. He expected a hero's welcome on Palm Sunday, but he also knew how this was all going to turn out.

      4. He had been alluding to it for weeks, to the dismay of his disciples.

    3. What they say about Hollywood was probably true in Jerusalem as well:

"People in Hollywood are always touching you -- not because they like you, but because they want to see how soft you are before they eat you alive."

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    1. The gospel of Luke also tells us that Jesus and his disciples did all their own advance work.

      1. He sent two disciples ahead of him to acquire a colt, and said to them, "If anyone asks you, 'Why are you untying it?' just say this, 'The Lord needs it'" (19:31).

      2. Just as Jesus predicted, the owners of the colt asked that very question, but they were silenced when the disciples explained, "The Lord needs it."

    2. The point of Palm Sunday is that the Celebrity Christ is given the celebrity treatment as he enters Jerusalem.

      1. All the expected elements are in place.

      2. He makes a royal entrance, in a procession associated with powerful kings and conquering generals.

      3. He is escorted by the citizens of Jerusalem and "the whole multitude of the disciples" (v. 37).

        1. They wave palm branches

        2. They praise him for his deeds of power.

        3. They sing hymns of acclamation, crying out, "Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven" (v. 38).

      4. He rides on a colt, on the foal of a donkey, just as King Solomon did before his coronation-although Jesus' choice of a donkey could also mean that he is a bringer of peace.

    3. So Jesus is a superstar, complete with the "three G's" of glitter, glamour and gossip.

      1. He's got the glitter of a royal entrance,

      2. He's got the glamour of waving palm branches.

      3. He even has the gossip associated with his disciples and the borrowed colt.

    4. But here's the twist: His prize is a cross-and he knew it.

    5. Like modern celebrities, Jesus is not only idolized, he is also picked apart.

      1. He's a conquoring hero on Sunday

      2. He is a disappointment on Monday.

      3. He is the enemy on Friday.

    6. The machinery that kills him on Friday begins to operate on Sunday.

      1. As the disciples sing praises, the Pharisees begin to shout, "Teacher, order your disciples to stop." But Jesus refuses to do this, replying, "I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out" (vv. 39-40).

      2. Jesus is killed on Friday because he fails to live up to human fantasies.

      3. He gets picked apart like Mel Gibson producing the Passion of Christ.

    7. It will do us no good to be like the people who are celebrating.

    8. It will do us no good to be like the some of the Pharisee's who are critical.

    9. We do not want to be like the disciples who are hopeful.

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  1. Jesus rolls out the red carpet for you and me.

    1. The Three G's of Jesus are GRACE, GIVING and GOODNESS.

    2. If you're ready to let Jesus step off the Red Carpet and simply be himself, be prepared for a life-changing lesson.

    3. Jesus is not interested in glitter, glamour and gossip, but he is interested in grace, giving and goodness.

      1. We are saved "by grace" (Ephesians 2:8).

        1. It is his graciousness that makes it possible for us to live in a "state of grace."

        2. We are children of grace, and but for that grace, only God knows where we'd be.

      2. He was all about giving.

        1. He gave of himself.

        2. He who was rich became poor that we might be rich.

        3. He gave until there was no more to give.

      3. He was all about goodness.

        1. The essential goodness of Jesus, unparalleled by anyone before him or after him, testifies to the life to which we are called.

        2. When he saw the crowds as sheep not having a shepherd.

        3. He was moved with compassion-he became almost physically sick, so great was his love.

  2. We roll out the red carpet for Jesus. Where does it lead?

    1. We know where it leads.

    2. It leads to an upper room.

    3. It leads to a garden.

    4. He leads to the halls of justice or in Jesus case, injustice.

    5. It leads to Golgotha.

    6. It leads to a new tomb.

    7. It leads to an Easter Sunday morning and the resurrection.

CONCLUSION

  1. Let's give Jesus the palm branch treatment.

    1. Let's not make this a one Sunday wonder.

    2. His grace, his giving and his goodness invite us to change our behavior.

    3. We do this not because we want too, but because we know that there is no other possible response to walking on the red carpet.


1. I had the idea for this sermon before my copy of Homiletics Magazine arrived. I am still deeply indebted to Homiletics Magazine and the sermon, "Palm Branches and Red Carpets | April 4, 2004 | Luke 19:28-40, for some of the content of this sermon.

2. Charles, Prince of Wales. Simpson's Contemporary Quotations, compiled by James B. Simpson. 1988. After Australian and US tour, quoted in US 16 Dec 85

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