Don't Look Away

Don’t Look Away

Luke 19:29-40

As children, one of the things my sisters and I looked forward to every year… was Palm Sunday. Of course, we celebrated 4 main holidays in our family. Christmas (where we looked forward to Santa), Thanksgiving (which was kinda like Christmas without any gifts), Independence Day (as it always marked Vacation Week), the Easter (when got our Easter baskets and competed to find the “prize egg”). Of course, Palm Sunday was part of Easter, in our home… and it meant Easter was just a week away… and that meant a Three Day Weekend!

But, we also looked forward to Palm Sunday, because we always had a Palm Parade at church. The children were given palm branches… and during one of the hymns we would march to the front of the sanctuary, waving our branches as if to welcome Jesus into Holy Week!

It was something special, and I remember it well… the majestic hymns, and upbeat music. It was a joyful day, filled with the sights and sounds of “Hosanna…” as we celebrated the coming King. We knew of Christmas because of Santa, we knew of Thanksgiving because of the Indians/Pilgrims, we knew of the 4th of July because of vacation… we even mainly knew of Easter because of prize eggs and egg hunts: but we knew of Palm Sunday, because of Jesus.

Still, as the years have passed… I’ve become aware of the danger of the pageantry of Palm Sunday. Not that we shouldn’t celebrate the Triumphal Entry… nor should we back away from acknowledging that Jesus is the King of kings… we should celebrate!

But, we have to be intentional NOT to forget why Jesus came to Jerusalem in the first place.

Because, if we’re not careful... we may find ourselves singing “Hosanna, Loud Hosanna” on Palm Sunday and "Christ the Lord has Risen Today" the very next Sunday - without connecting the two.

In other words, whether intentional or not… we sometimes manage to skip over all the uncomfortable parts of Holy Week. Of course, Jesus’ death gets mentioned. It is not that we completely ignore it. We just move past that fact as quickly as we can to get to the resurrection.

The truth is; we don't like to dwell on unpleasant things. We have a general tendency to overlook (or completely ignore) negative things; uncomfortable things… and sometimes, we find ourselves overlooking Jesus' suffering and death, as a result. We get all caught up in the joy… that we seem to forget that Jesus came to Jerusalem to die.

So, when we get to holy week we put our hands over our eyes, or we look away… and say to the person next to us, "Tell me when it is over."

But, my friends, we can’t look away. We can’t afford to ignore the truth that bought our redemption. It may be unpleasant to think about, but Jesus did die. Roman soldiers nailed Him to a cross, driving spikes through his wrists and feet. Jesus experienced rejection and pain. What's most important is that he experienced that pain as an atonement for our sins and for the sins of the world. Jesus' death, His suffering, is a fact of our salvation that we must never overlook.

Hindsight is 20/20… and knowing what we know with 2000 years of hindsight: it makes you wonder how any of us can sing hosannas in the light of Christ's suffering? The people in our story seem to have been grossly ignorant of the facts. If they had known, as we do, why Jesus came to Jerusalem, they would not be singing a song of triumph.

The fact is, they thought Jesus would march into Jerusalem and take over the government. In fact, right before the Triumphal Entry, Luke tells us in 19:11, that Jesus had to correct his disciples for thinking that his kingdom would appear immediately.

The prophets had foretold the Messiah would come riding on a donkey. So, when the people saw Jesus on that Donkey, they though he was coming to lead an uprising. They thought he would ride right up to Herod's palace and sit on his throne. Then he would order the Romans out of his newly established kingdom. The crowd was partially right. Jesus was (and is) the Messiah. Only they expected a Messiah who would rule an earthly kingdom.

Jesus didn't come to Jerusalem to sit on a throne. Jesus came to Jerusalem to hang on a cross. He said so to his disciples several times. He told them plainly. He said the Son of Man must suffer and die. How can we see ourselves shouting with those people? How can we joyfully sing their song? After all it was Jesus' suffering that purchased our salvation.

But I realize that I am saying the same kind of thing the Pharisees in our lesson said. The Pharisees tried to keep Jesus' disciples from singing hosannas back then. Can we try to stop Jesus' disciples from singing hosannas today? The Pharisees said, "Jesus how can you let them do this? They will blaspheme! Stop this crowd, silence them! Teacher rebuke your disciples."

What did Jesus say? He said, "If these were silent, the stones themselves would cry out." If the voices of God’s people refuse to sing praises… then God will give the stones voices and they will shout. By the will of Almighty God who made both voices and stones, hosannas will be sung, and Christ will be proclaimed as King! Mere human that I am who am I to stand in the way of the providence of God!

So, what are we to do? Should we revert to our old ways of overlooking Christ's death. Should we forget Good Friday and look the other way? Can we; forget why Jesus came to Jerusalem and just blend in with the crowd of misled pilgrims? Can we blindly sing, "Blessed is the King who comes to sit on Herod's throne."

How can we; how is it possible for us to sing hosannas on Palm Sunday when we know that Christ's suffering is just down the road.

Maybe we should celebrate the fact that Jesus came to Jerusalem to die. That is precisely what the Bible tells us to do. Paul wrote, "(Christ) humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."(Philippians 2:8-11) In other words Jesus is worthy of praise precisely because he went to Jerusalem to die.

Of course, this applies NOT ONLY to Palm Sunday, but to all of life. Jesus' suffering was necessary to win our salvation. Once we open our eyes to the suffering of Christ we see him as Lord more clearly than before. Every knee shall bow and all shall shout "Hosanna!" because he died. Don’t miss it. Don’t turn away your gaze. Let’s open our eyes to what bought our salvation.