Palm Sunday Sermon from Preaching Luke

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Who is this King of Glory, O blessed Prince of Peace
Revealing things of Heaven and all its mysteries
Our spirits ever longing for His grace in which to stand
Who's this King of glory, Son of God and son of man

Who is this King of Glory? Palm Sunday is interesting day in the church year. I have always been fascinated with this triumphant entry into Jerusalem and then quickly hearing our King of Glory laid in the tomb. Now the story itself did not happen as quick for the disciples but I am sure that it was one of the fastest and slowest week of their lives. In the span of five days, they saw their beloved teacher and friend captured, convicted, tortured, and killed with two other insurrectionist. In this time, Jesus said and did many things that left questions for them, and for us, of who is this man?

And the week started just as our service started today with a triumphant procession into Jerusalem. We heard in the processional gospel was the recalling of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem on the back of the colt while people chanted “Blessed is He who comes in the name of Lord.” They held palm branches in their hands and laid there coats and palms onto the path. Today we had our own procession, lead by our cross, as we marched our way into the sanctuary sing:

All glory, laud, and honor, to thee, Redeemer, King,
to whom the lips of children made sweet hosannas ring.
You are the King of Israel, and David's royal Son,
now in the Lord’s Name cometh, our King and Blessed One.

But the singing quickly fades. The music ends and the true identity of Christ begins to be unveiled. What is going to be unveiled is essentially “who Jesus really is” and “what his teachings, ministry, and work mean for you and me.” The cross that Jesus bore holds the answers to our questions. It was Gerhard Forde, a famous Lutheran Theologian from Luther Seminary, that said the ideals and norms that Jesus promoted in his teachings (and through his actions) were made known to us only through his suffering on the cross. A theologian of the cross, the entire Christian church (you and I), is someone “whose eyes have been turned away from the quest for glory by the cross, who have eyes only for what is visible, what is actually there to be seen of God, the suffering and despised crucified Jesus.”

That image of a suffering and despised crucified Jesus is not something that sits well for us. We think of a power savior, a power God, THE KING OF THE UNIVERSE, to be strong and mighty and not suffering, despised and dead on a cross. It is not a comfortable image we have of anyone in power. We do not want our president or any elected official humiliated while in office. Power holds beauty but this is not a pretty picture here. For Jesus, his authority, his title as King did not come till he was nailed to the cross. I recently read an article written by John Hoffmeyer on the torture and theology of the Cross. In the beginning part of his article, he describes an experience while working El Salvador that led to a new way of viewing the meaning of the cross:

"I notice in the back of the chapel...hung fourteen very large drawings. They were outline sketches, black on a white background. Each depicts a victim of torture or execution (or both). My initial reaction was mixed. I appreciated the value of drawing public attention to the grave abuse of human rights that had gone on for years in El Salvador...Yet I also felt at first that such gruesome scenes were in dubious taste in a church. They were true, but they were shocking, even offensive. I turned back for another look at the front of the church. There over the altar stood the cross. Suddenly the obvious broke through and redefined the setting around me. Jesus bore gruesome wounds just like the figures in the drawings across the back of the chapel. The cross was an instrument of torture. Like the persons represented in the drawings that had shocked me, I realized then that Jesus was tortured." (silence)

It is in knowing the cross that we know Jesus--Crucified and torture. All of Jesus’ teachings and actions come into focus on the cross. Before this event, passages like “‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me” and “take and eat,” take and drink” mean nothing to the disciples or to us till we are met at the cross event.

On that cross held the salvation of the world and a sign that read, “(ὁ βασιλεὺς τῶν Ἰουδαίων οὗτος) The King of the Jews. To claim political authority such as King, in the Roman Society led to a very dismal future. In the eyes of the Roman Government, to be crucified meant you were a insurrectionist, a terrorist, a revolutionist. This is what got Jesus killed--he was a threat to sovereignty of the empire. However, both Pilate and Herod both found Jesus not guilty of this claim. Back in verses 3-4 and verse 11. Pilate and Herod did not see him as a King but rather a man who stole the show away from the Jewish Leadership. It is strange then that this placard would stand above Jesus identifying his “crime” (a tradition at the time so that people walking by would see the crime that man or woman committed and deter them from committing the same crime). One commentary writes, “The inscription is thus, from the Roman perspective, false, yet it constitutes for Luke and his audience an ironic affirmation of truth of Jesus’s regal identity.”

That is the scandal of the cross. It is no surprise to me how the cross is used here to identity Jesus. Every single gospel points us to this image of Jesus--Torture and Crucified--King of us all. Today and this week we will live out the retelling of this story. We will stand from a distant just as the followers of Jesus stood from a distance wondering what is next, what is to come of all these actions:

Beneath the cross of Jesus I long to take my stand;
the shadow of a mighty rock within a weary land,
a home within a within a wilderness, a rest upon the way,
my sinful self my only shame, my glory all, the cross.

Beneath the cross looking up Jesus is where we will see our glory, our faith, our savior hanging there for us all. This is our king and this is where he is crowned. Even the centurion, a gentile (a non-believer) realizes Jesus’ identity at the end of the story. As one commentator writes it is not clear whether or not this centurion had access to who Jesus was is but nevertheless, “in his response to Jesus’ death, recognizes the salvific hand of God at work in Jesus.” The scandal of the cross is that we have a God so loving and brilliant to spare Jesus for the world--Our King. Pilate and Herod played the game and won their power but Jesus hung on a cross to receive his:

This is our King of Glory, Salvation of the World.
Bruised and Bloody Body, stretched out for all to see.
This is our King of Glory, the scandal of his death.
Found Glory on the Cross, and grants us liberty.

This week, we will relive this story: through the washing of our feet, the celebration of the Eucharist, the stripping of the altar, and finally in the last words of Jesus. Today is the just the beginning as we walk the way of the Cross--the way we know Jesus as King. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.