Palm Sunday, March 28, 2021

 

watch - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f046idqOIt4

 

11 When they were approaching Jerusalem, at Bethphage and Bethany, near the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples ² and said to them, “Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately as you enter it, you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden; untie it and bring it. ³ If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ just say this, ‘The Lord needs it and will send it back here immediately.’” ⁴ They went away and found a colt tied near a door, outside in the street. As they were untying it, ⁵ some of the bystanders said to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?” ⁶ They told them what Jesus had said; and they allowed them to take it. ⁷ Then they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it; and he sat on it. ⁸ Many people spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut in the fields. ⁹ Then 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!”

¹¹ Then he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple; and when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve.

¹² On the following day, when they came from Bethany, he was hungry. ¹³ Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see whether perhaps he would find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. ¹⁴ He said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard it.

¹⁵ Then they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who were selling and those who were buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves; ¹⁶ and he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. ¹⁷ He was teaching and saying, “Is it not written,

‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’?

    But you have made it a den of robbers.”

¹⁸ And when the chief priests and the scribes heard it, they kept looking for a way to kill him; for they were afraid of him, because the whole crowd was spellbound by his teaching. ¹⁹ And when evening came, Jesus and his disciples^[a] went out of the city.

The Lesson from the Withered Fig Tree

²⁰ In the morning as they passed by, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots. ²¹ Then Peter remembered and said to him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has withered.” ²² Jesus answered them, “Have^[b] faith in God. ²³ Truly I tell you, if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and if you do not doubt in your heart, but believe that what you say will come to pass, it will be done for you. ²⁴ So I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received^[c] it, and it will be yours.

²⁵ “Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone; so that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses.”^[d]

 

 

            They came to the outskirts of Jerusalem and Jesus gave an instruction.  “As you go into the village, untie a donkey at a certain house and bring it back.  If anyone asks why you are taking a donkey that doesn’t belong to you, tell them, ‘the Lord needs it.’”  They followed Jesus’ instructions and as he indicated, someone asked about the donkey.  They responded as he said they should, and they were allowed to take the donkey. 

I have a thick sermon file on Mark 11.  Each Gospel has a version of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, but even alternating from one gospel to another, after 20 plus years, I have looked at Mark 11 quite often.  This week, following a simple ‘A-B’ pattern helped me walk through this story in scripture.  I don’t mean to prescribe this as the only way to analyze a passage.  Systematic theology and critical study of Biblical texts are useful, unless these approaches are overdone and given exclusive voice.  The Bible is a living word that speaks afresh in our lives. When we read, come with our own experiences and the Bible speaks into those experiences.  So, I offer this A-B pattern as one of many possible pathways into this passage, understanding that the Bible is under no obligation to conform to patterns imposed upon it.

Part A is a divine action.  God does something. In this case, Jesus gives an instruction.  Part B is human response.  In the Mark 11 text, the human response is obedience.  The disciples do exactly what Jesus says to do and it turns out well.  They get the donkey and are able to prepare for Jesus’ ride into Jerusalem.  This simple A-B approach reveals the action of Mark 11, what we now call “Palm Sunday,” as it unfolds.

Through this approach we see what God is doing as Jesus rides into the city on the donkey, the disciples’ garments serving as his saddle blanket.  A raucous crowd greets him on his ride, as if he were a conquering general.  Some were his true followers and had been for quite a while.  Some in the crowd were always watching for the Messiah, hoping he would come with fanfare and drama as he forcefully evicted Rome and re-established the throne of David.  Others lining the road shouting just saw a crowd and decided to join it.

Jesus’ ride into Jerusalem was a divine action, and whatever motivated particular individuals within the crowd, that crowd provided the human response.  In the A-B pattern, God is the initiator and we, those created in his image, respond to what He’s doing, whether we realize it’s God acting or not.

Remember, how fickle the crowd can be.  On this day, they shouted “Hosanna,” which means, “O Lord save us, save us now.”  It’s from Psalm 118, verse 26.  A few days later, the same frenzied crowd would, at the prompting of certain priests and scribes, “Crucify him.”  The popular consciousness is easily manipulated and certainly was in this story.  The “Hosannas” were appropriate, but uttered in short-sighted ignorance.

The crowd hope the Messiah would boot the Romans out while they cheered.  They thought He had come to confront Rome.  They never imagined the Messiah to be God’s own son, through whom God would challenge their own sacrificial system.  That comes out in the next divine act.

Jesus instructed the disciples and the followed instructions; divine act, human response; the A-B pattern.  Jesus rode into Jerusalem and the crowd cheered and worshiped.  Upon arriving, he surveyed the happenings at the temple and then headed back out of the city to their lodgings in Bethany.

The next day, arriving back at the temple, Jesus sees more of what he noted the previous day: what has become the normal daily life in the temple’ outer court.  Jews from around the world want to have their sins atoned for at the temple, so they make a long journey to Jerusalem.  Too burdensome to haul the animal they would sacrifice that distance, instead, they bring money – Roman currency.  The temple will only accept temple currency, so the worshipers have to first visit the money changing station, where they are taken for a ride.  Then, they have to buy an animal so that can participate in worship through sacrifice.  The prices for animals are also marked up.  Priests and money changers get rich while worshipers leave the temple broke.

We see God’s thoughts on this crass greed that taints something holy when Jesus turns over the tables.  That’s the divine act, and I think it was as dramatically disruptive as we might imagine.  He certainly had everyone’s attention when then said, quoting Isaiah 56:7, “My house shall be a house of prayer for all nations, but you – you religious leaders, priests, money changers - you have made it a den for robbers.”

Following our pattern, ‘A,’ is his actions of turning over tables, driving animals, and making this pronouncement.  What is ‘B,’ the human response?  There are two.

Verse 17 says he was teaching.  For one to teach, there must be those who listen and learn.  So, one human response from present was to listen to what Jesus had to say.  We know this because we have the Gospel of Mark.  Someone present wrote down what Jesus said and did, or remembered it and later dictated it to Mark who wrote it.  Paying attention while Jesus talked was one human response to the divine action.

The other comes from the chief priests and scribes.  These were the men – and in those day they indeed were all men – called by God to teach his word, lead in worship, and keep the community on the path to holiness.  These divinely ordained leaders responded to the action of God by looking for a way to kill Jesus.  Mark tells us they were afraid because the crowd was “spellbound by his teaching.”  These leaders feared losing their privileged position, even it they lost it because of an act of God.  They would manipulate that crowd they so feared to turn on Jesus.  God acted, in Jesus’ turning over money tables and condemnation of corruption, and the humans, the leaders anyway, responded out of fear, not faith.

We see three ways of rejecting God’s actions.  First is direct opposition.  This was the reaction of the scribes and leading priests.  The other two ways of rejecting God’ initiatives are seen in American culture today: to ignore Jesus and to reduce Jesus.

Those who ignore Jesus are generally outside the church.  The coming, death, and resurrection of Jesus is God acting to save the world.  But people in the world today don’t seem to care that God did that.  The mother of my daughter’s friend invited her to come to a fun outing.  It was very nice, and this family is wholesome and wonderful and I love them and especially I love how much they care about my daughter.  They invited her to come to an outing on Sunday; Easter Sunday.  Why would they invite a Christian youth to an outing on Easter Sunday?  Easter isn’t the center of their world like it is for a follower of Jesus.  They think to themselves, ‘we’ll distract this Christian and take her was from worship.’  They didn’t think about it at all.  They acted as if God is an afterthought, one option among many for how one invests’ one’s time, energy and thought.  Ignoring God is a way of rejecting God.

The other rejection happens in churches that teach a very limited Christianity.  The coming of Jesus alters reality throughout the cosmos and yet some believers only teach that Christianity is all about an individual going to heaven when he or she dies.  That’s it.  That’s the Gospel. 

Of course, individual salvation is an important part of the Gospel.  I need to reconcile for my sins and the only I can is coming to Jesus in faith and accepting his death for me.  I must do this.  I must receive what He has done.  However, when a pastor or a church teaches only an individual salvation story, they miss and their members miss, the grander story of Jesus dying on the cross to save the world.  There is much, much more going in the death and resurrection of Jesus than simply securing an individual’s personal salvation.  Jesus ushers in a new age.  With his resurrection, new creation has begun.  Churches today that fail to teach this reduce the Gospel.  Reduction of the Gospel is a rejection of God’s action.  It’s the opposite of a faith response.

            A faith response recognizes or at least senses that we need to live in the new creation.  We started out with the disciples obeying Jesus’ instructions to the letter, but prior to crucifixion-resurrection, they were locked into the the old way of thinking.  In Mark 10, the disciples James and John ask Jesus to allow them to sit on his right and left when his sits in glory.  This is rejection of God’s action as Jesus makes clear in his response to their request. 

            The rest of the disciples get furious at the request made by James and John and the group descends into a donnybrook as they argue about greatness.  Elevating our own greatness is not a way to live in the new creation nor is it a faith response to action of God.  Jesus insists that in his kingdom, the leaders serve everyone else. 

            Then he demonstrates this in the closing verses of Mark 10.  Walking to Jerusalem with anxious thoughts of crucifixion on his mind and surrounded by crowds with Messianic stars in their eyes, his progress is blocked by the wailings of blind Bartimaeus.  To be blind in the ancient world was to sit at the bottom of society’s social ladder and others made that clear, telling Bartimaeus to “hush, and stop bothering the teacher.”

            Jesus took a different approach.  He stopped and paid attention to the blind man ignored and overlooked by everyone else.  Bartimaeus’ human response to this divine action was to tell Jesus exactly what he wanted.  He wanted to see again.  In the new creation, God pays attention to everyone, even those ignored and forgotten.  If God loves in that way, then in our human response to God’s love, we ought to love everyone and overlook no one. 

            Throughout the narratives on and around Palm Sunday, we see God act.  Through Jesus God enacts new creation.   We can ignore what God’s doing, or oppose it, or reduce it.  Or, we can respond in faith, and begin living in the new creation.  God has acted.  How will we respond?

AMEN

Palm Sunday Message - 2020

“A Warm Welcome for Everyone” (Matthew 21:1-17)

Rob Tennant, Hillside Church, Chapel Hill, NC

Palm Sunday, April 5, 2020

watch - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJD4LSJmr-8

*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.

           

            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

---

[i] Gina Yeager-Buckley, https://d365.org/devotions/the-triumphal-entry-march-31-2020/.

[ii] Michael Wilkins (2004), The NIV Application Commentary: Matthew, Zondervan Publisher (Grand Rapids, MI), p.685.

The Palm Sunday Sermon - 2019

            The journey began in Luke 9:51, where Jesus sets his face to go to Jerusalem.  It ends here in chapter 19.  Jesus and his disciples arrive at Bethphage and Bethany, villages, just east of the city.  He sends two of his disciples into the city to make preparation for his entry. 

            Then Jesus allows those disciples to instigate a series of actions that have come to define our Palm Sunday worship traditions.  Luke makes it clear that there were more followers of Jesus than just the 12 who traveled with him.  In chapter 10, he endowed 70 of his followers with his power to heal diseases, cast out demons, and proclaim that in Jesus, the kingdom of God has drawn near.  By chapter 19, that group of 70 has swelled to the size of a small community built around Jesus.  By the beginning of the book of Acts, also written by Luke,  that group has grown to 120 or more. 

Jesus gives instructions in Luke 19:30 and his followers carry them out.  When they go beyond what Jesus instructed, he goes along with their initiative and enthusiasm.  They retrieve the colt as he told them to, but then they put their cloaks on it.  OK.  They lift Jesus and set him on the colt and they lead it along the road coming into the city.  He did not tell them to do these things, but Jesus willingly receives their adoration and their praise.  He doesn’t say, “I am God.  I am your Messiah and your Savior.”  He doesn’t claim those things at this juncture, but when his disciples make those proclamations about him, he accepts that.  He never tells them to act in a certain way regarding him, but neither does he deny their adoration.  They surely do not know what it all means, but they know Jesus is special and that’s enough for the moment.

Luke, more than the other gospel writers, makes it clear that this crowd lining the road is a crowd of true followers of Jesus.  They don’t know everything about him at this point, but based upon what they know, Luke presents them as disciples.  Their devotion to Jesus is imperfect and incomplete, but Jesus joyfully receives the worship they offer.  

Pharisees in the crowd are the one who provoke conflict.  These gatekeepers who dedicate themselves to their own understanding of the law demand that Jesus silence those of his followers who loudly praise him.  He responds by definitively affirming how appropriate it is that his followers treat him as one coming from God.  “I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out” (19:40).  When we read this story from our perspective we see how inappropriate it is when someone says Jesus was merely a great moral teach or a wise rabbi.  More than those things, he was God in the flesh.  Worship is the right stance when we come before him. 

Jesus cherished his relationship with his followers at this point, before he was crucified and resurrected.  He knew full well what was coming - the suffering, the abandonment, and the death.  He knew some of these who professed faith in him would hide when the pressure from the authorities mounted.  These who enthusiastically cheered him would run away when he needed support.  Even so, in this moment, he loved his followers and he received the love they gave him because it was the best they had to give.

In worship today we have had three become church members, a man over 50 and two girls under 10. To be a member is to say you want to be part of the body of Christ.  You are announcing to the church family that Jesus is your Lord and you’ve given your life to Him.  You want to worship and serve him as a part of this church family and you are committing your life to Him and committing to serving in this church.

Greg was not baptized today because he was baptized many years ago.  He’s joining our church today but he’s been a Christian for a long time.  He was baptized before the girls were even born.  God has led him to commit to membership in our church family.  

Tara Beth and Mary Grace, in their baptism today declare their faith in Jesus.   Their baptism is their testimony that Jesus is Lord and that they belong to him.  In becoming members and being baptized they are telling all of us they want to live as Christians.  

Can a child so young make a commitment like the one Mary Grace and Tara Beth have made today?  Over the course of many years I have been in conversations with other pastors, with church leaders, and denominational leaders on this very topic.  Committing one’s life to Jesus is a serious thing.  Is it too serious for such a young child?  Can one so young understand what’s happening?

Obviously, we baptized these kids today because we believe their faith in Jesus is real and sincere.  I trust their parents.  I trust that they will continue to be raised in the faith.  I trust our Sunday school leaders and both of these girls are active in Sunday School and worship lab.  I believe they have had a real encounter with Jesus and their faith is genuine.

Is it a child’s faith?  Yes. In their lives, will these girls go through periods of doubt?  Possibly.  It can’t be predicted.  Hopefully they will continue to grow in faith and also in life, and that includes progress in their education.  Education opens a world of ideas many of which can lead a person to question his or her faith.  We grow when we face questions and struggles and when we deal with doubt.  

When we meet God and grow in relationship with God, we are dynamic, not static.  We have life experiences, including great joy and deep pain.  We react to the world around us.  Our team wins the championship.  There’s a devastating terrorist attack.  We get married.  We move to a new place.  All these and 1000 more experiences color our faith.  Jesus is Lord in all the seasons of life, but because the seasons of life change and the things we go through are so different, we see him differently.  Sometimes, we fall into life situations that make it difficult to see God at all.  He’s there and he loves us, but we can’t see him. 

So, yes, I think it is wonderful that a 7-year-old and 8-year-old were baptized today.  I think all of Heaven rejoices at their expression of faith.  And, yes, I think they may backslide and have periods in life where they have trouble relating to God.  The same, by the way, might happen to Greg at his season of life.  It happens to me.  I don’t predict difficulty for Tara Beth or Mary Grace because of their age.  I predict it for all of us because we all go through dark times.  If any of us have seasons of doubt, it does not negate the faith we proclaim at baptism.  God adores that childlike faith.  He loves us where we are and helps us grow to become more like Christ: loving, grace-filled, courageous, and compassionate.

Jesus rode into Jerusalem to the sounds of cheers and praises, coming from a small group - 70-80 true disciples.  However, turning over a few pages to the end of Luke 22, we see Jesus in prayer at the Mount of Olives.  When the authorities come to arrest him, one of the disciples strikes out with a sword, but that half-hearted defense amounts to nothing.  Jesus is arrested, roughed up, and no disciples are found anywhere.  Those who called out “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord” are silent and absent. 

Only Peter remains and he follows at a distance.  Three times he has the chance to stand in solidarity with Jesus.  Three times he denies knowing him.  The childlike Palm Sunday enthusiasm has evaporated into abandonment and denial.  

Yet, what comes about in Luke 24?  The same disciples that praised Jesus on Palm Sunday and left him on Good Friday to die in shame, alone and broken, are gathered with them.  The resurrected Christ welcomes them back with love.  He knew they would fail him and yet he absolutely accepted their Palm Sunday worship premature and uninformed as it was.  Now raised, he raised them to a new level of faith - Easter faith; it’s faith that cannot die.

When you see 2nd and 3rd graders baptized, don’t worry that their faith might be too childlike.   Celebrate because angels in Heaven are celebrating the new birth of Tara Beth and Mary Grace today.  Rejoice and be grateful.  God meets you in your childlike faith which is as fragile as theirs; maybe more.  Let the baptism of these girls inspire in your hear the deep desire to offer all of your worship to God.  Be inspired to give your very self to God, committing your life to Christ.  

We offer our Palm Sunday faith to God knowing we would have failed Jesus just as his disciples did if we had been there when he was arrested, tried, and crucified.  We worship, offering all the faith we have, however much that is.  And we worship in gratitude because we know on the cross Jesus accomplished forgiveness for our sins.  In the resurrection, he defeated death.  He loves us and when we come to him in faith, we have life.  We are new creations, forgiven and bound for the Kingdom of God. 

AMEN