Palm Sunday: The Triumphal Entry

A sermon preached by The Reverend Scott Dennis Nowack on April 1, 2012

at the First Presbyterian Church, Kilgore, Texas

Palm Sunday: “The Triumphal Entry”

Psalm 118:1-2; 19-29

Mark 11:1-11

            “You can’t always get what you want”, sang Mick Jaggar on my car radio recently.  “But if you try sometimes, you just might find.  You get what you need.”  Oh yeah!  I’m not a big fan of the Rolling Stones, but I always liked this song because of these words.  “You can’t always get what you want…you get what you need.”  These words are filled with irony.  We think we know what we want, but how often do we find ourselves a bit mixed up, walking in someone else’s sleep, somewhat confused, having slipped off-track somewhere?  We think we know what we want, but through the reality checks life throws our way, we come to learn that all too often what we think we want is an illusion; an illusion that God breaks apart to give us a clear vision of what is real; a clear vision leading us to what we are called to obey and follow as his disciples.

            The events of Palm Sunday are saturated with irony.  The first bit of irony we notice is the very fact that Jesus makes a triumphal entry into Jerusalem like a king would returning home from victory in battle or as a modern day sports celebrity that just led their team to winning the Super Bowl.  People line the street with their cloaks.  They spread them out along the road along with leafy branches to pave the way for the expected arrival of the Messiah of God.  To be this open and public about himself and his identity is totally out of character for Jesus.  During his whole ministry, whenever he performed a miracle or healed someone, he told people not to tell anybody about his miraculous power and identity as the Messiah.  But here he does and does so in a very public way.

            For this moment in time Jesus is very popular, riding high in the public opinion polls.  In the eyes of the public, Jesus is viewed as the Messiah because this was the way the prophets proclaimed the Messiah would one day enter the royal city. 

            The second bit of irony involves the crowds who lined the road Jesus travelled that day.  They cheer and yell the words written in Psalm 118: “the one who comes in the name of the Lord.”  The psalm calls God’s people to celebrate God’s presence with us and to have a joyful celebration.  Yet even here the cross of Jesus cannot be forgotten.  The stone that God has chosen as the “chief cornerstone” has been rejected by others and all who have read the story through to its conclusion know that these evil voices still lurk nearby in their attempt to make this rejection permanent. 

But to what or to whom is the psalmist referring to as “the chief cornerstone”?  What logical connection is the psalmist trying to make here and from what building has this rejected stone become the chief cornerstone?  There is not clear answer, but one thing seems clear.  The New Testament writers could think of no one to whom these lines applied more appropriately than the about-to-be-rejected Jesus, who becomes the adored and reigning risen Christ.

When you get right down to it, it is the genuine, transformative power of God we are celebrating today and in the days ahead.  It’s at the heart and core of our lessons today.  The power of God is what is on display here.  It is a power that shatters all human expectations, especially of those who witnessed these events first hand.  It is this power that turns the world as we know it upside down; the power that changes the game; the power that humbles the exalted and exalts the lowly and downtrodden of the world.

The Jesus the people wanted and welcomed is not the Jesus they in fact get.  The people want a teacher, a leader who will say what they want to hear and in ways that are pretty and soothing.  They are looking for a warrior, a great defender, a king who would protect and preserve their interests; a king who resurrect the kingdom of David and throw out the Roman occuppiers. The kingdom they prepare to receive in our New Testament text is not a kingdom for which they are prepared.

God works by a different set of rules and guidelines than our world does.  Our God in Jesus Christ is the champion for the lost, the oppressed, and the downtrodden.  Christ is the champion for individuals ignored, shunned, disrespected, and trampled on; for the outcasts who eventually become the key person to solve a problem, meet a challenge, to change the world.

King David was not who his contemporaries viewed as someone who is qualified to be king.  He was too young, too small, no real experience, no qualifications.  He was the youngest and smallest of his brothers.  He was not considered to be old enough or big enough to take on Goliath and be a part of the Israelite army.  When given the chance, he was faithful to God and depended on Him to give him the strength and the courage need to slay Goliath and later be the most highly acclaimed king in the history of Israel.

Perhaps you’ve heard about a young man named Jeremy Lin in the news a few months ago.  After receiving no athletic scholarship offers out of high school and being undrafted out of college, the 2010 Harvard University graduate reached a partially guaranteed contract deal later that year with the Golden State Warriors of the NBA.  He seldom played his rookie year and was eventually released by the Warriors and later the Houston Rockets before landing with the New York Knicks.  He played sparingly through the beginning of a strike-shortened season.  Then the Knicks considered releasing Lin before his contract became guaranteed this past February 10^th, so they could sign a new player. However, after the Knicks squandered a fourth quarter lead in a February 3 loss to the Boston Celtics, Coach Mike D'Antoni decided to give Lin a chance to play due to "desperation".

"He got lucky because we were playing so bad," said Coach D'Antoni.  Lin had played only 55 minutes through the Knicks' first 23 games, but he surprised everyone turning around an 8–15 Knicks team that had lost 11 of its last 13 games.

On February 4, Lin had 25 points, five rebounds, and seven assists—all career-highs—in a 99–92 Knicks victory over the New Jersey Nets. Teammate Carmelo Anthony suggested to Coach Mike D'Antoni at halftime that Lin should play more in the second half.  After the game, Coach D'Antoni said Lin has a point-guard mentality and "a rhyme and a reason for what he is doing out there.”  Lin has turned the Knicks from zeros to heroes in just a couple of months.  Through his strong faith in God, he has persevered through all the rejection and the odds stacked against him.  The Jeremy Lin the college and NBA scouts ignored and rejected has become the starting point guard, the chief cornerstone, for the New York Knicks this season. Lin credits his success with the Knicks to his faith in Christ, a faith that allowed him to place everything, his fears and insecurities, in God’s hands. 

Christ is present in the world as the one contradicted and rejected by every way that we go about building our world.  The risen Christ is not the acceptable Christ; rather, it is in all the ways that he differs from us that he calls us to the transformations of repentance that answer God’s deed in him.  The marvelous thing is that the one whom our human instincts and wisdom reject, God has nonetheless, in spite of us and for our salvation, made the chief cornerstone.