3.29.26 Palm Sunday Drive to Church

[00:00:00] Good morning, St. Paul Lutheran Church. It's Pastor Wolfmiel. This is the Sunday Palm Sunday Drive to Church podcast. March 29th, year of our Lord 2029. Welcome to Holy Week. [00:00:12] Today, Holy Week starts the most precious of all weeks, the most precious of all events. It's the 1994th anniversary of the Lord Jesus triumphal entry into Jerusalem and the events that follow all week that culminate in his crucifixion and his resurrection, all for us. [00:00:36] I don't know if you guys do get tired of me always talking about what anniversary it is, but it's on purpose because it's easy for us to let these events sort of slip off into mythical proportions rather than keeping them grounded in history. So it's this time that we're in, this earth, that we're on, this history that we are in is when these things happened, when our Lord Jesus himself sent the disciples to grab the foal to ride on into Jerusalem. [00:01:10] These are real historical events, most especially his resurrection from the dead. It really happened and we rejoice in that. So we celebrate this with all the Lord's faithful for the last 1,994 years delighting in this that Jesus wrote into Jerusalem not to conquer, but to be conquered. And all that for us. God be praised. Let's start with the collect and then we'll talk about the texts and everything else that's going on. Let us pray. [00:01:42] Most merciful God is the people of Jerusalem with palms on their hands, gathered to greet your dearly beloved son when he came into his holy city. [00:01:50] Grant that we may ever hail him as our king and when he comes again, may go forth to meet him with trusting and steadfast hearts and follow him in the way that leads to eternal life through the same Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you in the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. [00:02:07] Amen. [00:02:09] I learned interesting in the Ladies Bible study. Last Tuesday we're doing the Feast of the Old Testament and we were talking about Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread and the Feast of the Firstfruits, remember? So just a quick overview. It was on the 14th day of the month of Nisan. So that's middle of the month. Remember, the months are 28 days. They're connected to the moon. So 14th day, that's the full moon. So we know that there was a full moon when Jesus was praying in the Garden of Gethsemane. Kind of an amazing thing to know. [00:02:43] The 14th, they would sacrifice the lamb and roast it and eat it real quick in the night. [00:02:50] But remember when the sun goes down, that's already now the 15th. Friday the 15th. But it's an extension of the Passover day. The Lord gave the people all night to eat the meal. That's why the high priests want to take Jesus before the sun comes up. But they don't want to go in to see Pilate. Thus they become defiled, so they can't eat the Passover. So they're still hoping to hand Jesus off to his crucifixion and then hustle back home and eat the Passover meal. But they didn't. Pilate sends Jesus to Herod and then back. And so they're stuck going back and forth. The sun comes up. They didn't get the Passover. And that's why I think the high priests are at the Crucifixion instead of being in the temple on the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, offering the special sacrifices that are supposed to be offered on that day. They're not there because they didn't eat the Passover, so they're not even authorized to do it. They made themselves unclean both actively and passively and actively by how they were fighting against Jesus and trying to destroy him. And passively because they didn't have the Passover any anyhow. Oh, the other amazing thing about this, remember the 14th is the. Is the Passover celebration. They eat the. The roasted goat with their. With their clothes on, with their shoes on, with a staff in their hands ready to go. [00:04:08] And then Starting on the 15th of Nisan, for one week, you have the feast of Unleavened Bread. So for a whole week, there are special sacrifices in the temple, especially on the first day and the last day, the whole week, you don't eat any bread with leaven. And there's other things that happen so that on the 15th, that's Friday, good Friday, when Jesus was being crucified, there were special sacrifices being offered in the temple. [00:04:34] And then here's the other amazing thing is that there was a third feast called the Feast of the First Fruits that was supposed to happen the day after the Sabbath in the midst of the week of the unleavened Bread. [00:04:50] So whatever. Remember that would move Sunday to Saturday, the days would be kind of off. So the day after the Sabbath in the Feast of the Unleavened Bread was called the Feast of First Fruits, where the high pries wave a barley sheaf in front of the temple. Well, what happened on the. The day of first fruits during this feast of unleavened bread. That was on Easter Sunday, where Jesus is the first fruits of the resurrection. So when Jesus is rising from the dead, the high priest is waving the barley loaves in front of the Lord. The feast of the first fruits. And amazing. But here's the thing we realized on Tuesday is that the people of Israel were supposed to pick the lamb that they were going to use for the sacrifice on the 14th, on the 10th day of Nisan, and keep it apart, maybe by themselves. [00:05:46] They were supposed to keep that Passover lamb. I said goat earlier. [00:05:50] It's the lamb. They're supposed to keep that lamb separate for those five days until it's sacrificed. Well, if you go back, then the 10th day of Nisan is the Sunday of the triumphal entry. So on the day when the people of Israel are supposed to be picking what lamb they're going to sacrifice, Jesus himself is presenting himself in Jerusalem to all the people, saying, here I am, the one. [00:06:15] It's amazing how it all fits together so perfectly. Okay, now we do some special things on Palm Sunday. The first is we have the Palm Sunday procession. So children come early, meet in the narthex. We'll get the palm trees and we'll have a Palm Sunday procession. We'll go halfway into church while the choir is singing Hosanna, the son of David. And then there's the collect and the reading of the Palm Sunday Gospel from John, chapter 12. The next day, the large crowd had come to the feast, heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, so they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him. [00:06:48] It's interesting when you compare Matthew, Mark and Luke's. I mean, Palm Sundays. In all four gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke has the perspective of the procession from Jesus and the disciples coming from Bethany and Bethphage down into Jerusalem. John has the perspective of the crowds coming out from Jerusalem to meet them. [00:07:08] And it says, so they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying, hosanna. [00:07:14] Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel. And Jesus found a young donkey, sat on it as written, fear not, daughter of Zion. Behold, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey's colt. That's Zechariah 9. [00:07:27] And we'll hear Zechariah 9 as the old Testament lesson. And it has even some more amazing details. The disciples didn't understand these things, but when Jesus was glorified, that's resurrected. They remembered that these things had been written about him and had been done to him. [00:07:40] The crowd that had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to bear witness. That's the Bethany crowd. [00:07:49] The reasons why the crowd went to meet him was that they heard he had done the sign. So the Pharisees said to one another, you see that? You're gaining nothing. Look, the whole world's gone after him. The Pharisees are getting all upset with each other. What are they going to do though? [00:08:00] Now, a couple of things just to note. First, the word hosanna is there. [00:08:04] And remember, hosanna is a is a Hebrew word that means Lord, save. [00:08:10] But interesting that the only Hebrew words, like for example, hosanna and alleluia are found in the New Testament. And you say now, Pastor, what is going on when the Hebrew words are in the Greek New Testament and not in the Hebrew Old Testament? The answer is, because if you come across those Hebrew words in the Old Testament, you translate them, you say, you take hosanna and you make it Lord save. But in the New Testament, it actually has the Hebrew word transliterated with Greek letters. [00:08:44] And so when you have a transliterated word, you don't translate it, you just also transliterate it. [00:08:50] So that's why the only place you can find hosanna and hallelujah is in the New Testament, not the Old Testament. Because the Greek New Testament took those Hebrew words and just brought them straight across. Anyway, notice how this is in all four Gospels explicitly given to us as a fulfillment of Zechariah 9:9, which is our old Testament lesson. And we have to hear it. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion. [00:09:15] Zechariah is the one of the prophets of the reconstruction. [00:09:20] So Babylonians destroy Jerusalem 586. It starts to be rebuilt in 530, 520. And you've got these four later prophets that are prophesying the rebuilding and encouraging the people and warning about the judgment to come. But in, in Zechariah chapter 9, it really switches to these kingdom of God prophecies. [00:09:39] And with 99 the coming of this kingdom by the peaceful entry of the king. [00:09:48] Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion. Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem. Behold, your king is coming to you. How righteous and having salvation. [00:09:58] So note what the option could be. Your king is coming to you sinful and having condemnation, or angry and having damnation, but no righteous and having salvation is he. And then humble, mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the full of a donkey. I was reading this morning Revelation just in my own personal devotions and was comparing this might make it into the sermon. I'm not sure how you know. You've got the two beasts and the false prophet and the dragon that are trying to destroy the church and. [00:10:34] And then as they are trying to wreck the kingdom of God, you've got another picture of Jesus writing and it's a little bit different than this one. [00:10:48] This is Revelation 19:11. [00:10:51] Now I saw heaven opened and behold a white horse. And he who sat on him was called faithful and true. And in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes were like a flame of fire. On his head were many crowns. He had a name written, written that no one knew except himself. He was clothed with a robe, dripped in blood. His name is called the Word of God. And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed him on white horses. And out of his mouth goes a sharp two edged sword that he should strike the nations, and he himself will rule them. With a rod of iron he himself treads the winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of Almighty God. [00:11:31] And he has on his robe and on his thigh a name written King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Whoa. Now that comes to us in Revelation is such good news. Because here's the beast being ridden by the prostitute, stomping over the Lord's faithful people and just obliterating them. And now here comes the hero to rescue and to deliver. [00:11:53] But how different is that second coming in glory than this first coming in humility. Humble mounting on a donkey, he comes not to destroy, but to be destroyed. [00:12:07] Not to judge, but to be condemned. [00:12:13] It's amazing. [00:12:15] It says, I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit. Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope. That's what Zechariah says. [00:12:24] So here the people of Israel are held in prison, but they also have this hope that the Lord's on the way. [00:12:33] It's amazing. The epistles, Philippians, chapter two. Perhaps. Now I probably say this every week, but perhaps one of the most beautiful passages in the Bible. [00:12:42] The Bible commenters tell us that Paul is quoting an ancient hymn. Here the character of the Greek changes. It's more poetic and hymnic. Paul writes this. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus who? And here the hymn starts. Though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. I cannot read that without getting goosebumps. [00:13:15] First of all, who does this Remind you of counted equality with God as a thing to be grasped. That's Adam and Eve. When the devil says, oh, if you eat it, you will be like God. So they reached out and they considered equality with God something to be grasped. But Jesus does not. [00:13:31] Even though he is equal with God, he does not. So he humbles himself and he's born in the likeness of men. [00:13:45] I think we're going to need a couple of million years to meditate on this in the new heaven and the new earth. Do you see how in the beginning, the Lord made us in his likeness and his image? [00:13:57] And then we lost it. We blew it. We took the forbidden fruit. We embraced death. [00:14:04] We made a friend with the devil. [00:14:07] We invited sin into the world. We sinned ourselves. [00:14:12] So we lost the image and likeness of God. And so Jesus says, I wanted to be with you forever, so I made you in my image. You blew it. So now what do I got to do? I've got to take on your image, your likeness. [00:14:28] So Jesus comes in our likeness. [00:14:31] And then, not only that, being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. [00:14:42] So Jesus does more than take upon himself our human nature, which itself is already incredibly, miraculously wonderful. [00:14:53] But then he takes on our mortality, our sinful corruption, our guilt and shame. [00:15:00] Not that he had it himself or he ever committed a sin, but that he bears that for us so that he can die on the cross. Cursed are all those who hang on the tree to save us. [00:15:12] Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that's above. Every name at the name of Jesus. Every knee should bow in heaven and earth and under the earth. [00:15:21] And every tongue confess, Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. [00:15:29] May God grant it. [00:15:31] For the gospel lesson we'll hear. So we'll hear two gospel lessons. Remember, on Palm Sunday. So we hear the Palm Sunday procession from John, and then we'll hear the abbreviated Passion from Matthew. So we're going to do Matthew 27, 11:54 this week. [00:15:45] And it'll start with Jesus before Pilate. [00:15:49] And Pilate's there trying to release Jesus. Seems like over and over he's trying to get out of him. I go back and forth. We were talking about this on Wednesday at the Bible study. Every year I go back and forth about whether to be sympathetic with Pilate or to be disgusted with him. [00:16:02] And it's kind of easy to go both ways because on the one hand, he obviously is Wanting to release Jesus and doesn't think that there's any guilt. But also he's being overwhelmed by the crowd and just can't do the right thing. [00:16:19] So there's all these attempts to get Jesus out of the capital punishment loop. He beats him. Behold the man. He tries to release him instead of Barabbas. In fact, I think Pilate had miscalculated that so severely because he thought that even though the Pharisees were jealous, that the crowds would cry out to release Jesus. But they don't. They cry out for Barabbas. [00:16:44] He try. He tries to excuse himself, I'm innocent of this man's blood. See to it yourself. [00:16:51] And then they take Jesus and they strip him. They put a scarlet robe on him. They put on a crown of thorns. Hail, King of the Jews. They spit on him. [00:17:00] They take the reed and struck him on the head. And they mocked him and stripped him and led him away to be crucified. Simon of Cyrene is carrying the cross and they go to Golgotha. [00:17:11] They offer him wine mixed with gold. But Jesus refuses. [00:17:15] He's going to suffer everything here. He's not going to take any anesthesation or anything to dull the pain. [00:17:24] The soldiers fulfill the prophecy by gambling for his garments. We've heard all these stories from the midweek services already. It should be well in our mind. But this is a great way to enter into this Passion Week, hearing it again. [00:17:38] And we get to the crucifixion. [00:17:43] Remember, there's this threefold suffering of Jesus. The physical suffering which has to do with the thorns and the nails and the whip and the brutality of crucifixion. [00:17:58] And then there's the second category of suffering, which is the shame of the cross, which is what the Gospel writers really emphasize, this mockery. [00:18:06] He saved others. He can't save himself. He's king of Israel. Let him come down now from the cross and we'll believe in him. He trusts in God that God deliver him now if he desires him. He said, I'm the Son of God. [00:18:17] This hurt Jesus. I can't. [00:18:20] I mean, it's all hurting him. It is the suffering of the cross. And so Jesus is truly suffering. [00:18:25] He's truly enduring this pain. And it's not just the physical pain, but it's that shame of, in fact, trusting in God and being mocked for it. [00:18:36] There's darkness from noon to 3. [00:18:39] Remember to make plans to come to church from noon to 3 this Friday for the Traore service. [00:18:44] Matthew and Mark, while. While there's seven words from the cross. [00:18:49] Matthew and Mark just give us one, one sermon from the cross. [00:18:54] Matthew in fact gives it to us in the original Hebrew and it's remember Hebrew, but in Greek letters. So we just transliterate it Eli, Eli lama sabachthani. [00:19:06] And Matthew himself translates it. It's the first verse of Psalm 22. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? [00:19:14] Mark gives it to us probably in the original uttered by Jesus, the Aramaic, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani. [00:19:23] So one letter Eloi versus Eli, that's the difference between Hebrew and Aramaic. But it's the same cry, the same psalm. [00:19:30] And I think it's a real question. [00:19:33] Jesus in the mystery of the Incarnation. It's possible for Jesus, who knows everything, to not know some things. [00:19:41] So we see it before when Jesus says only the Father knows the day of the Second Coming, not even the Son of Man. In the garden he prays, if it's possible, let this cup pass from me. So Jesus is able, even on the cross, to hide from himself the knowledge of why he's enduring this suffering. He knows he doesn't deserve it. He didn't do anything wrong. He knows that sinners have received God's grace and mercy. He knows that he's begging for release, but he doesn't know why. He doesn't know why he's being forsaken by God. [00:20:10] He doesn't know that this is saving the world. Because there would be some comfort in that. You should imagine it like this if Jesus knew well, this is for a few days. This death is for a few days, this wrath is for a few minutes. [00:20:21] And when it's over, I will have accomplished everything that I came for and have will have destroyed the devil's kingdom and rescued my people. [00:20:30] There would be some comfort in that. But every comfort is taken away from him. Now how the two natures of Jesus are united in his person in such a way that God can die and that the Holy One can suffer and that the righteous one can bear sin, and that the all knowing one cannot know things is a profound mystery. [00:20:53] But so it is, especially in his state of humiliation, that his divine attributes are not always used in every way. And here his divine attribute of knowing everything is taken away from him in such a way or is hidden from him in such a way that he's really asking why? Why? [00:21:12] And we know the answer. [00:21:16] He's there. [00:21:19] He's there being forsaken by God so that we never will be. [00:21:28] It's called the cry of dereliction My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? [00:21:36] Some of the bystanders hearing it this he's calling Elijah. [00:21:40] Although I think some must have known. I mean like the chief priests and scribes who knew Psalm 22 and must have heard that cry, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And. And all of a sudden they realized that Psalm 22 is right there in front of them. And there the bulls of Bashan surrounding at his feet, mocking him. [00:22:04] And then three o' clock arrives and it's finished. [00:22:09] Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, yielded up his spirit. [00:22:14] Behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks are split, tombs are opened. [00:22:22] Many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised and coming out of the tombs. After his resurrection, they went to the holy city and appeared to many. That's a wild little verse. The best I can understand it, if you can imagine. Like the. [00:22:34] The crucifixion is like the shockwave. And all these people that had just been buried in the last couple of weeks were like woke them up and they start wandering back into the city. [00:22:47] It's like the. The death of Jesus is like a mini miracle that all that recently died came back, jumped back to life. [00:22:58] The centurion and those who were with him keeping watch over Jesus, they saw the earthquake and everything that took place. [00:23:04] They were filled with awe, confessed truly this is the Son of God. [00:23:13] Our Our hymn of the week is A lamb goes on complaining forth this most beautiful Linton hymn by Paul Gerhardt. [00:23:21] It is a a profound meditation on all that Jesus is doing in his suffering. [00:23:31] A lamb goes on complaining forth the guilt of sinners, bearing laden with the sins of the earth. None else the burden sharing goes patient on grows weak and faint to slaughter. Led without complaint that psalm or Isaiah 53 he opened not his mouth spotless life to offer the paschal lamb had to be perfect. [00:23:51] He bears the stripes, the wounds, the lies. Isaiah 53 Again the mockery and replies all this I gladly suffer. [00:23:59] Hebrews 12 he endured the cross despising the shame for the joy set before him. [00:24:04] He's suffering this willingly, not unwillingly. [00:24:10] There's all these promises that are being fulfilled in the suffering of Jesus. John is especially clear on this. [00:24:16] They broke not his legs, that wine, blood and water comes out of his side, that they look on him whom they pierced. That even though it looks like Jesus is completely handed over to to the enemies of God. This is just as God planned it, because this is Our salvation. [00:24:35] This Lamb is Christ, the soul's great friend, the Lamb of God, our Savior, whom God the Father chose to send to gain for us his favor. Go forth, my son, the Father said. Free my children from their dread of guilt and condemnation, the wrath. The stripes are hard to bear, but by your passion they will share the fruit of your salvation. Passion, by the way, is connected to passive. It's the let things happen. [00:25:00] It's to be on the receiving end of other activities. So Jesus hands himself over to the world, to our sin, to the devil. [00:25:12] So it has this invented conversation. I think Paul Gerhard learned this from Luther, who always used to make up these stories like this. And so the Father says, go forth, my son. And then verse three, stanza three, the Son answers, yes, Father, yes, most willingly. I'll bear what you command me. [00:25:27] Not my will, but your will be done. Remember, Jesus will pray in the garden. My will conforms to your decree. I'll do what you've asked me. [00:25:34] Oh, wondrous love, what have you done? The Father offers up his son, desiring our salvation. O love, how strong you are. To save you lay the one into the grave who built the earth's foundation, Lord. And then the fourth stanza, a prayer. Lord, when your glory I shall see and taste your kingdom's pleasure. That's the day of the second coming. [00:25:56] Your blood, my royal robe shall be my joy beyond all measure. True that when I appear before your throne, your righteousness shall be my crown. Note, it's not our own righteousness that we will present on the Judgment Day. It's not a resume of our own efforts and good works, but rather the blood of Christ. [00:26:16] And what's the result when we're clothed with the righteousness of Christ? With these I need not hide me there in garments richly wrought. As your own bride shall we be brought to stand in joy beside you. [00:26:31] It is the marriage feast of the Lamb that's coming on the last day. [00:26:35] And the adornment that we have for the last day is accomplished by Jesus this week, by his suffering, by his death, by his resurrection. [00:26:47] So fantastic. [00:26:49] We have our festive bulletin today starting today. And we'll have festive bulletins for. Well, for every service this week. So Today, Maundy Thursday, 7 o', clock, Good Friday noon to 3, and again at 7 at the Deaf Church at 4. [00:27:03] And then Holy Saturday, 7 o', clock. And then Easter Sunday 8 and 11. We have Bible class today still, so don't skip that. We're in Matthew, chapter four. [00:27:12] We have the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness. Wow. That's phenomenal. Oh, look at the time. All right. I hope you're at church by now. This is. Whoo. [00:27:21] I said it all now, so the sermon can be short. I'm sure that's. [00:27:25] Well, I better not make any promises. God bless you, Blessed Palm Sunday. That's a Sunday drive to church. See you soon.