“A Warm Welcome for Everyone” (Matthew 21:1-17)
Rob Tennant, Hillside Church, Chapel Hill, NC
Palm Sunday, April 5, 2020
*This message will be broadcast by Facebook and Instagram Live
and posted to Youtube, but will not be preached to a live audience. We – America, the world – are in the midst of
the COVID-19 crisis which is causing people all over the world to avoid
gathering in groups of larger than 10, and diligently maintain “social
distance.” It’s an effort to curb the
rapid, worldwide spread of the Corona virus which can be deadly.
An online devotion that I
subscribe to is d365.org. I thought the
entry for March 30, by Gina Yeager-Buckley is beautifully written. She writes,
[People] are curious. We click [on a weblink] and are taken down
trails of news stories and headlines. We
click and are taken on a path of discovery.
// One of the privileges of having Jesus’s story is that we are allowed
to wonder and ask questions. A path
of discovery. We can follow the path
our mind takes us, imagining what it was like to be Jesus; to wonder what was
waiting in Jerusalem; to wonder why God had outlined this particular road for
his life and death.
Curiosity is a Christian
spiritual practice – a habit we ought to put into our daily routines. Try it!
What do you think was happening while Jesus waited as the disciples
followed? What would you be feeling [if
you where in his place or theirs]? When
in your life have you found yourself waiting for something big?[i]
Shall we accept this devotion
writer’s invitation to imaginatively enter the Jesus story on that day he came
into the city, the day we refer to as Palm Sunday? What was it like?
Matthew writes, “They had come near
Jerusalem and had reached Bethphage at the Mount of Olives. Upon arrival, Jesus tells two of the disciples
to go into the village ahead of them and fetch the donkey and the colt he will
ride as a king entering Jerusalem. If
they are questioned about the animals, they are to say, “The Lord needs
them.” The Lord. What has Jesus called himself up to now? Sonw of Man. Now, he’s The Lord? As we turn the page and come near Jerusalem,
near the end of the gospel, what has changed in the story?
The previous chapter, Matthew 20,
says they were coming from Jericho. From
there to Jerusalem is 15 miles of desert walking, ascending 3000 feet in
elevation. That’s 6-8 hours of uphill,
dry desert walking.[ii] Upon arrival the parade begins. I’d be tired, but people line the highway
into the city. They seem to be there to
welcome Jesus. Would the fatigue of
grueling journey be overcome by the energy of the praises ringing out, praises
for Jesus?
I picked out several words and
phrases from this passage that caught my attention. I think these highlighted depictions capture
the feeling of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem and then his arrival at the temple
and his actions there.
“A very large crowd”; no numbers are
given, but it’s clear that Matthew writing decades later recalls a mass of
people, large enough to be worthy of note.
“Shouting!” What was this large crowd shouting? “Hosanna to the Son of David!” A couple of truly important notes to keep in
mind about this cry that we might miss reading it today. The “Hosanna” is from Psalm 118:26, a
Messianic Psalm. We have then, a large
crowd brazenly shouting for all to hear a Psalm associated with the anticipated
savior. By calling him “Son of David,”
this crowd believes him to be the true king of God’s people. Their frenzy reaches such a fever pitch that
they aren’t afraid even though their declarations of Jesus mean Herod is not
the rightful king; nor is Caesar.
“The whole city is in turmoil.” Is verse 10 an exaggeration? Did all of Jerusalem, the most significant
city in the country really feel the force of Jesus’ arrival? Whether it was exclusively the entry of
Jesus, or there were several messianic movements converging on the city as
Passover drew close, Matthew uses the word “turmoil” to describe the
atmosphere.
A debate ensues as many people ask
“who is this.” Many others respond,
“This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth.”
Lord. Son of David. Prophet.
As Matthew fires titles for Jesus at us more rapidly than we can
process, it is startling to think how little things have changed. The debate rages on. Who is this? People ask, and others fire
responses. A great first century
rabbi. The prophet that came before
Muhammed. The Savior of the World. My personal Lord and Savior. As on that first Palm Sunday, today,
whether we know the truth and walk in the truth still comes down to what we
believe about Jesus and whether or not we follow as his disciples.
“My house shall be called
a house of prayer.” Jesus enters the
temple where he sees people buying animals for the ritual sacrifices made in
worship services at the temple. The
money changers, exchanging temple coins for Roman currency, and the animal
sellers take advantage of the religious pilgrims who want their sins
forgiven. Appalled at how this place
intended to draw truly faithfully worshipers closer to God has been corrupted,
Jesus flips over the tables sending coins in every direction. Then, with a whip, he drives the animals
out. The braying and neighing and
clinking and crashing and shouting – can you hear the cacophony of chaos?
But it is not chaos! This series of momentous events that begins
with Jesus arriving and then entering the city as a king, albeit a humble,
servant-ruler, may appear random and out of control, but it is in actuality an
orchestrated prophetic act that crescendos to the new creation climax Jesus
announces when he says, “My house shall be a house of prayer.”
To feel the full force of this, we
have to hear the entire quote which Matthew surely shortened. Jesus is quoting Isaiah 56:6-7.
6 And the foreigners who join themselves to
the Lord,
to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord,
and to be his servants,
all who keep the sabbath, and do not profane it,
and hold fast my covenant—
7 these I will bring to my holy mountain,
and make them joyful in my house of prayer;
their burnt offerings and their sacrifices
will be accepted on my altar;
for my house shall be called a house of prayer
for all peoples.
to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord,
and to be his servants,
all who keep the sabbath, and do not profane it,
and hold fast my covenant—
7 these I will bring to my holy mountain,
and make them joyful in my house of prayer;
their burnt offerings and their sacrifices
will be accepted on my altar;
for my house shall be called a house of prayer
for all peoples.
Accepting the title “Lord,” entering
the city as a king, accepting the praise of the people known to be praise for
the Messiah, brazenly defying King Herod, Pontius Pilate and Caesar, and the
religious leaders who oversaw temple proceedings, Jesus declares that with his
arrival a new era has begun. What’s
different about it?
Matthew 21:14 says the blind and
lame came to him. He received them and healed
them in the temple’s outer court. In
Leviticus 21:17 blind and lame people are prohibited from drawing near to the
Lord in worship. Why this prohibition
exists is a debate for another day.
Suffice it to say it’s there, in the Torah. In 2 Samuel 5:8, newly crowned King David
reiterates this prohibition, banning blind and lame people from worship. Jesus, God-in-the-flesh, overturns this
rejection. To him, the blind and lame
are not people with blemishes. They are
beloved children of God he has come to save.
He, not a building called a “temple” is where people will come to meet
God. He welcomes all and hears the
prayers of all.
In opening the pathway to God for
the blind and lame, Jesus declares God’s welcome to all in Israel, not just the
religious elites. In quoting Isaiah 56,
he welcomes all outside of Israel. The
prophet promises that foreigners, non-Israelites, those outside the “Chosen
People” who join themselves to the Lord will be accepted and receive joy. God hears their prayers too.
How do we join ourselves to the Lord? We come to know Jesus. In the Gospels, in the New Testament, and in
Christian testimony, we see him. We
confess our sins and receive forgiveness in his name. We give ourselves to him and pledge to live
under his leadership as we declare that he and only he is Lord. We become his disciples.
By the end of the Gospel we understand that this
temple, as beautiful as it was, as important as it was, in the end was not
where God is found. Jesus is the house
of prayer. Jesus is where prayers are
heard. Jesus is where God is met. And where is Jesus? The Gospel ends with him sending the
disciples on a mission to multiply the church and saying to them, “Remember I
am with you always, to the end of the age.”
God in the flesh has risen and will return at that
time he said, “The end of the age.” God
the Holy Spirit is omnipresent, with you wherever you go and at the same time,
with me wherever I happen to be. He is
with us, always, to the end of the age.
He is Lord, above all powers and governments, ruler of all, savior of
all. And, as the events of Palm Sunday,
his Jerusalem entry, shows, he welcomes all.
I know you are dealing with “stay-at-home” orders,
looming unemployment, possible sickness, and other realities associated with
the worldwide pandemic that is the Coronavirus.
I know you’re dealing with this because everyone is. I don’t know how it’s effecting you. And I don’t know what else might be going on
in your life. I don’t know your
struggles or fears. Jesus does. He sees you.
He is with you. He loves you.
No blemish you might have cuts you off from
him. No past mistakes get in the way of
you coming into his arms of love. The
path is wide open and he waits for you with welcome arms stretched out
wide. You can step into His embrace
without fear of catching anything other than joy, love, and peace. Oh, and you might also get righteousness,
hope, and encouragement. He has come for
all. He has come for you. He invites you to give your life to Him.
AMEN
[ii]
Michael Wilkins (2004), The NIV Application Commentary: Matthew,
Zondervan Publisher (Grand Rapids, MI), p.685.
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