Sermon – Love You to Death
Luke 19:28-40; Isaiah 50:4-9a
Farmville Presbyterian Church
4/13/25
Some days I am not sure what to call. January 1st might not be obvious until I tell you. Then, it will make sense – Polar Bear Plunge Day. Like I said, that makes sense, at least in the northern hemisphere. Eight days later is harder to pick as Static Electricity Day. That one goes right over my head and makes my hair stand up. I know to call February 26 my birthday, but I would be at a loss to name it also as Tell a Fairy Tale Day. Maybe my birth was magical…. The following day is just as strange – you have your pick: February 27 is International Polar Bear Day (for those who need to keep jumping into cold waters) AND No-Brainers’ Day (maybe also for those who want to keep jumping into frigid water). Then, there was Friday. You’d better believe I knew it was a special day on Friday. Yes, that was the wife’s birthday – my favorite day of the year! I am a bit amused that birthdays have been working into my sermons these weeks. First was my daughter Gracie’s birthday two weeks ago, and then, it was my daughter Hannah’s birthday last week. Those days are all easy to name.
Today, however, I have a hard time naming. I just read Luke’s account of this day, and the great many of us have a name we are used to calling it. We probably all know it as Palm Sunday; however, in Luke’s account there are actually NO palms. Instead, it is all about cloaks. Still, same day. Cloaks was actually a thing you could do to honor someone important coming into town. In 2 Kings 9:13 (hundreds and hundreds of years earlier), this was done for King Jehu. Laying out the cloaks is a way to genuinely welcome someone. It shows you are serious. In fact, the people were there in the first place on this day because they were seriously waiting for the Messiah to lead them out of oppression under Rome and to reestablish the throne of David. They had heard Jesus was in the area and thought he might be coming on that day. You heard Luke say that they were all telling the wonders that Jesus had done. And their chant was all about pushing Jesus to accept the throne. They took the words from Psalm 118 and elsewhere and changed it from “Blessed is the ONE who comes” to “Blessed is the KING who comes.” That is a huge difference and sounds very political and powerful.
Whether it is palms or cloaks, however, I really, really struggle to name today. Last Friday I completely get as Anne’s birthday. This Thursday is most definitely Maundy Thursday, and next Sunday is Resurrection Sunday because that is what it is. Nevertheless, if you say “Easter,” we will all still get it because we know what that is, but do you really know what today is?
Today was a day that Jesus was completely in charge. Even though the crowds seem to be sweeping him along, he is completely in control. He is doing nothing that he does not mean to do. To prove his point, he rides that colt THAT HAS NEVER BEEN RIDDEN BEFORE. You try riding an animal that has never been ridden and see how far you get. He tells his disciples where to go, what to get, and what to say. Every step is carefully choreographed because Jesus is in control. Do not blame the Jews or the Romans for what happens later this week. Nothing here happens without Jesus’ permission.
I find that truly remarkable when I think about it. Naturally, we want to blame someone. There are times in the past when the Jews get the blame or the Romans who actually executed him, maybe Pontius Pilate, or the more modern thing is to blame ourselves – you and me. It is our fault that Jesus took the cross. It is our guilt that put him there. It is OUR fault. And yet, he is doing nothing here that he does not mean to do. No one is forcing him to do anything. This is God’s plan, but this is Jesus’ choice. What if this week is not all about guilt but about something else? What if today begins something remarkable? What if Jesus has decided by his own free will to love us all the way to death? What if this is not meant to condemn us but to free us?
Everyone in that crowd wanted to be freed. Even the Pharisees and Scribes and Sadducees and everyone there would have been delighted to be freed from Roman rule. They would much rather have been their own country and write their own rules, but there was only one way they would get there, and that meant through power. To achieve that freedom, people would have had to unleash violence in every way required to beat the Romans out. That is taking power. That is fighting for control. That is what they were trying to push Jesus to do with every breath. The crowds chose power, human power, on this day; they missed that Jesus was choosing the opposite – powerlessness. Yes, he dictated every step of his path, but he did it by submitting and giving up all human power. His power was submitting to the forces around him. In the past, we have seen people who resisted evil through being passive. His war was waged with love. Literally, he was changing us all through his love.
He found himself in the ideas of Isaiah 50:4-9a [read].
More than 500 years before Jesus was even born, Isaiah was sharing God’s words. He was prophesying as the people of Judah were preparing to return to Israel after decades of exile in Babylon. In Babylon, they lived in a pagan place with a pagan people in a pagan culture. They were exhausted and needed to know that all that they had gone through mattered. The ones who were worn out trying to be faithful when the world was against them needed to know that someone still had their back. They needed to know there was someone out there who was not afraid to step into the dark, difficult places or to stand up against the forces of this world. It was hard and tough and brutal to be God’s people back then. Others would attack them. They had witnessed their nation vanish. Now, there was talk of returning. Isaiah was there to love them into hope and change. Part of his message involved this servant character, this person who shows up in his message and acts for us in God’s story. Some call this character the “Suffering Servant” because he does seem to suffer a lot for God’s people. This weary, worn-out, and discouraged people needed to know that God loved them still. They needed to know that someone would stand up for them.
The servant was not meant to be Jesus necessarily, but you can certainly hear connections to Jesus’ experiences in Isaiah’s words. The servant in Isaiah 50 is the one who stands up for God and is willing to suffer for the love of those entrusted to his or her care. Yes, Jesus did this, but we always need those willing to endure and to even suffer for the sake of the gospel. Believe it or not, the world is pretty much against active and honest Christian truth. In fact, when the world is not actively resisting us, that should make us wonder whether we are actively and actually following Jesus or the gospel well enough.
In other words, our love in Christ may be weak. While the crowds cheering Jesus on were very strong and vocal and powerful, their love was for themselves and their political ambition. They wanted to make Israel great, again, but that was not why Jesus came. In fact, I am not so sure that the reason Jesus was riding into Jerusalem on this day was to embrace the ones who were cheering him on. They had their own agenda which was not Jesus’, and they turned on him easier than we would expect. I am thinking that Jesus was riding for the ones who were shut out, the ones without the voices, the ones too weak and weary to make a stand, the ones whose voices were not represented in the halls of power. Jesus was riding for the ones with whom he ate and socialized, the ones he healed and the ones he touched. He was riding for the small, the weak, and the forgotten. They would not have been the ones in front of this parade but would have been pushed to the back. They might not have even had a cloak to throw out.
Luke likes to remember the ones that others forget, and he likes to make sure that we know the gospel is for all people. The gospel is best lived out more than talked about. It is shown in actions more than words. Jesus says nothing except in response to those who were criticizing. In his mind, I imagine he is saying, “If you only knew what you were saying.” Jesus is brought to tears when we comes here to behold Jerusalem. The only way he knows the people will be changed is to love them into that change, to love them ALL into that change, to love them all the way to his death for that change. We would not be here today if he had not been willing to take that ride all the way to the end. Some things are worth the cost. I hope we have some of those things in our lives, too.
To God be the glory. Amen.