March 20, Passion/Palm Sunday

Lesson: Philippians 2.5-11

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INTRODUCTION:

Bound for Heaven or Hell? ⁽¹⁾

At the end of his sermon Father O'Brian turned to his listeners and said:

"Now, let me ask you. Which of you thinks truly he is bound for Paradise? Would you please stand?" He was pleased to note that nearly all of his parishioners stood up.

"That's good," he exclaimed. "But now, let me ask you. Which of you thinks he is bound for Hell? Would you stand?"

After a few seconds, Jack Burke slowly got to his feet, and remained standing as the priest eyed him with sadness. Afterwards, as the worshippers filed out, Father O'Brian pulled Jack aside and asked him, "Now, Jack, what is it that makes you fear you're bound for Hell?"

To which he responded, "O, Father, I have no fear for my own outcome, but I did feel sorry for you standing up there all by yourself."

1. One person rides into town.

1. He is surrounded by a crowd of well-wishers, shouting words of praise.

2. If you create a composite of the three gospel accounts of Jesus triumphal entry into Jerusalem you can visualize what is happening and listen to the joyous cries of the disciples and the people.

Matthew 21:8-9, NRSVA
⁸A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. ⁹The crowds that went ahead of him and that followed were shouting,
    "Hosanna to the Son of David!
        Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!
        Hosanna in the highest heaven!"

Mark 11:8-10, NRSVA
⁸Many people spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut in the fields. ⁹Then those who went ahead and those who followed were shouting,
    "Hosanna!
        Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!
        ¹⁰ Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David!
    Hosanna in the highest heaven!"

Luke 19:38, NRSVA
³⁸saying,
    "Blessed is the king
        who comes in the name of the Lord!
        Peace in heaven,
        and glory in the highest heaven!"

3. They are all enacting an old ritual of welcome.

4. In the midst of this commotion, there is only one person who knows the true reality of the moment.

5. For you understand that the world, even the world of Jesus, is inhabited by two kinds of people, the spectators and the participants.

2. Would it help us this Sunday to reflect on the differences?

3. Would it help us to know how people can move from being spectators to becoming participants?

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MAIN BODY:

1. We can more easily identify spectators.

1. This is the season of March Madness.

1. It is time for the NCAA basketball playoffs.

2. Who among us does not know that UW-Madison won on Friday and is the sixth seed in the Syracuse Regional, and plays Bucknell this afternoon.

2. At basketball games, spectators will scream with delight or groan with disappointment.

1. Spectators will cheer the right call of the referee and curse the wrong one. Of course, the call is in their own minds.

2. Participants are those who are playing the game.

3. The same distinction is also true on this Palm Sunday.

4. There are loads of spectators, but few participants.

2. Why not remain a spectator?

Clarence Jordan was the founder of the Koinonia Farm near Americus, Georgia. ⁽²⁾

It was set up to be an interracial community before anyone knew what civil rights were all about. Jordan himself was a pacifist as well as an integrationist and thus was not a popular figure in Georgia, even though he came from a prominent family.

The Koinonia Farm, by its very nature, was controversial and, of course, it was in trouble. In the early '50s Clarence approached his brother Robert Jordan (later a state senator and justice of the Georgia Supreme Court) to ask him to represent legally the Koinonia Farm. They were having trouble getting LP gas delivered for heating during the winter even though it was against the law not to deliver gas.

Clarence thought Robert could do much through a phone call. However, Robert responded to Clarence's request (Listen to this conversation and Robert's conclusion):

"Clarence, I can't do that. You know my political aspirations. Why, if I represented you, I might lose my job, my house, everything I've got."

"We might lose everything, too, Bob."

"It's different for you."

"Why is it different? I remember, it seems to me, that you and I joined the church on the same Sunday, as boys. I expect when we came forward the preacher asked me the same question he did you. He asked me, 'Do you accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior?' And I said, 'Yes.' What did you say?"

"I follow Jesus, Clarence, up to a point."

"Could that point by any chance be--the cross?"

"That's right. I follow him to the cross, but not on the cross. I'm not getting myself crucified."

"Then I don't believe you're a disciple. You're an admirer of Jesus, but not a disciple of his. I think you ought to go back to the church you belong to, and tell them you're an admirer, not a disciple."

"Well now, if everyone who felt like I do did that, we wouldn't have a church, would we?"

"The question," Clarence said, "is, 'Do you have a church?'"

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1. Do you recall the story about the donkey that I used in the March issue of The Good Tidings?

We observe Palm/Passion Sunday on March 20. The story goes that Jesus sent his disciples to acquire a colt (read donkey). I found this little story that makes a mighty point. The author notes that he doesn't have an original source for this little parable, but it illustrates well the concept of being a "Christ-bearer." The story is complete in itself. It requires no moralizing. I hope that you enjoy and learn from it. Pastor Shultz

The donkey awakened, his mind still savoring the afterglow of the most exciting day of his life. Never before had he felt such a rush of pleasure and pride.

He walked into town and found a group of people by the well. "I'll show myself to them," he thought.

But they didn't notice him. They went on drawing their water and paid him no mind.

"Throw your garments down," he said crossly. "Don't you know who I am?"

They just looked at him in amazement. Someone slapped him across the tail and ordered him to move.

"Miserable heathens!" he muttered to himself. "I'll just go to the market where the good people are. They will remember me."

But the same thing happened. No one paid any attention to the donkey as he strutted down the main street in front of the market- place.

"The palm branches! Where are the palm branches!" he shouted. "Yesterday, you threw palm branches!"

Hurt and confused, the donkey returned home to his mother.

"Foolish child," she said gently. "Don't you realize that without him, you are just an ordinary donkey?"

Just like the donkey who carried Jesus in Jerusalem, we are most fulfilled when we are in the service of Jesus Christ. Without him, all our best efforts are like "a filthy cloth" (Isaiah 64:6) and amount to nothing. When we lift up Christ, however, we are no longer ordinary people, but participants in God's plan to redeem the world.

1. The donkey was participating, but it was not a participant.

2. Without Jesus a person is just an ordinary person, lost and alone.

3. This is well-illustrated by a song that was written by Mylon R LeFever and Elvis Presley

Without Him

Without Him I could do nothing
Without Him I'd surely fail
Without Him I would be drifting
Like a ship without a sail

Without Him I would be dying
Without Him I'd be enslaved
Without Him life would be worthless
But with Jesus thank God I'm Saved

Oh Jesus, Oh Jesus
Do you know him today
Please don't turn Him away
Oh Jesus, My Jesus
Without Him how lost I would be
Without Him how lost I would be

2. Without him how lost I would be.

1. The adult Bible study last Wednesday examined a section in Paul's letter to the Galatians which reminds us what it means to be children of God.

2. In Galatians 3:27-29, NRSVA, Paul writes:

²⁷As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. ²⁸There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. ²⁹And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to the promise.

3. Then he draws the conclusion in Galatians 4:1-7, NRSVA, that there was a times when all people were enslaved to the elemental spirits of the world.

¹My point is this: heirs, as long as they are minors, are no better than slaves, though they are the owners of all the property; ²but they remain under guardians and trustees until the date set by the father. ³So with us; while we were minors, we were enslaved to the elemental spirits of the world. ⁴But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, ⁵in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children. ⁶And because you are children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" ⁷So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if a child then also an heir, through God.

3. Without him how lost we are.

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2. With him, ah, that is something else.

1. With him, how wonder-filled life may be.

2. The lesson for this morning reminds us of Jesus place, his humility, and his triumph.

3. The lesson for this morning clearly communicates how people can move from being spectators to being participants.

Philippians 2:5-11 (NRSVA)
⁵Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,
⁶ who, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God
as something to be exploited,
⁷ but emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
being born in human likeness.
And being found in human form,
⁸ he humbled himself
and became obedient to the point of death--
even death on a cross.
⁹ Therefore God also highly exalted him
and gave him the name
that is above every name,
¹⁰ so that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bend,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
¹¹ and every tongue should confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

1. Let this same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus.

2. It sounds more complicated than it is.

3. For, as Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 2.12-16:

¹²Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit that is from God, so that we may understand the gifts bestowed on us by God. ¹³And we speak of these things in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual things to those who are spiritual.

14Those who are unspiritual do not receive the gifts of God's Spirit, for they are foolishness to them, and they are unable to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. ¹⁵Those who are spiritual discern all things, and they are themselves subject to no one else's scrutiny.

¹⁶ "For who has known the mind of the Lord

so as to instruct him?"

But we have the mind of Christ.

4. We have the mind of Christ.

5. Through the teachings of the New Testament, as revealed by the Holy Spirit, we can know the mind of Christ.

3. The donkey was a Christ-bearer, or a Christopher (derived from the Greek Christos combined with pherein "to bear, to carry").

Most people don't consider it a compliment to be compared to a donkey. One day while Lloyd George was making a political speech before a big crowd, a heckler yelled, "Wait a minute, Mr. George. Isn't it true your grandfather used to peddle tinware around here in an ox cart hauled by a donkey?"

Lloyd George replied, "I digress just a moment and thank the gentleman for calling that to my attention. It is true, my dear old grandfather used to peddle tinware around with an old cart and a donkey. As a matter of fact, after this meeting is over, if my friend will come with me, I will show him that old cart, but I never knew until this minute what became of the donkey." ⁽³⁾

1. Today is an opportunity to take the name Christopher (Christophera, feminine) as our own.

2. By doing so, we commit to becoming a participant with Christ in life and in the world.

1. Being Christopher means:

1. Being a faithful servant can be a burden.

2. Serving Christ humbly without caring who gets the glory.

3. Following Christ's direction; being willing to go where he wants to go, not where we want to go.

4. Not getting spooked by the crowds, the noise, the attention.

5. Taking Christ into enemy territory.

6. Never asking Christ to "get off our backs."

7. Being willing to shed the "hero" image people wanted to pin on Jesus.

8. Being obedient to the will of the One who holds the reins.

2. This means letting love be genuine, hating what is evil, holding fast to what is good.

3. It involves rejoicing in hope, being patient in suffering, and persevering in prayer.

4. To live in this way means that we are going to contribute to the needs of the saints, extend hospitality to strangers, and even go so far as to bless those who persecute us (Romans 12:9-14).

5. It means that when our whole city is "in turmoil," as Jerusalem was on Palm Sunday, and the people around us ask "Who is this?" (21:10), we'll be able to give them an answer that shows them the way to everlasting peace and salvation.

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CONCLUSION:

1. Participating is done on many levels and in many ways.

1. We will not all achieve the same levels of spiritual development.

2. We will not all accomplish the same goals.

3. Our words and thanksgiving and praise will be true and joyful.

2. We will be known as beautiful people.

A well-known beauty product company asked the people in a large city to send pictures along with brief letters about the most beautiful women they knew. Within a few weeks thousands of letters were delivered to the company.

One letter in particular caught the attention of the employees, and soon it was handed to the company president.

The letter was written by a young boy who was obviously from a broken home, living in a run-down neighborhood. With spelling corrections, an excerpt from his letter read: "A beautiful woman lives down the street from me. I visit her every day. She makes me feel like the most important kid in the world. We play checkers and she listens to my problems. She understands me, and when I leave she yells out the door that she's proud of me."

The boy ended his letter saying, "This picture shows you that she is the most beautiful woman. I hope I have a wife as pretty as her."

Intrigued by the letter, the president asked to see this woman's picture.

His secretary handed him a photograph of a smiling, toothless woman, well-advanced in years, sitting in a wheelchair. Sparse gray hair was pulled back in a bun, and wrinkles that formed deep furrows on her face were somehow diminished by the twinkle in her eyes.

"We can't use this woman," explained the president, smiling. "She would show the world that our products aren't necessary to be beautiful."

2. Without him, with him. Spectators and participants. I know which one I choose to be!

Amen!

1. Beliefnet Religious Jokes [BeliefnetReligiousJokes@partner.beliefnet.com]

2. Stanley Hauerwas, cited in "When we don't 'carry' Jesus far enough,"June 21, 2004, Odyssey Web Site,odyssey.blogs.com.

3. Jeffrey D. McPike, "It's a donkey's life," April 16, 2000, Trinity Lutheran Church Web Site, trinity-urbana.org.

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