Palm Sunday, 2012

Palm Sunday, The Sixth Sunday in Lent, 2012

Pastor Gregory L. Jackson

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/bethany-lutheran-worship

Bethany Lutheran Church, 10 AM Central Time

The Hymn #160       All Glory, Laud                      4:49 

The Confession of Sins
The Absolution
The Introit p. 16
The Gloria Patri
The Kyrie p. 17
The Gloria in Excelsis
The Salutation and Collect p. 19
The Epistle and Gradual        

The Gospel              

Glory be to Thee, O Lord!
Praise be to Thee, O Christ!
The Nicene Creed p. 22
The Sermon Hymn # 162               Ride On                     4:80 

Messianic Hymn

The Communion Hymn # 42        O Thou Love             4:93

The Preface p. 24
The Sanctus p. 26
The Lord's Prayer p. 27
The Words of Institution
The Agnus Dei p. 28
The Nunc Dimittis p. 29
The Benediction p. 31
The Hymn # 388                  Just As I Am                          4:91

KJV Philippians 2:5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: 7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: 8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. 9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: 10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; 11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

KJV Matthew 21:1 And when they drew nigh unto Jerusalem, and were come to Bethphage, unto the mount of Olives, then sent Jesus two disciples, 2 Saying unto them, Go into the village over against you, and straightway ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her: loose them, and bring them unto me. 3 And if any man say ought unto you, ye shall say, The Lord hath need of them; and straightway he will send them. 4 All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, 5 Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass. 6 And the disciples went, and did as Jesus commanded them, 7 And brought the ass, and the colt, and put on them their clothes, and they set him thereon. 8 And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way; others cut down branches from the trees, and strawed them in the way. 9 And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the Son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest.

Palm Sunday

Almighty and everlasting God, who hast caused Thy beloved Son to take our nature upon Himself, that He might give all mankind the example of humility and suffer death upon the cross for our sins: Mercifully grant us a believing knowledge of this, and that, following the example of His patience, we may be made partakers of the benefits of His sacred passion and death, through the same, Thy beloved Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, one true God, world without end. Amen.

Messianic Hymn

Christ Jesus Who, being in the form of God,

thought it not robbery to be equal with God:

7 But made himself of no reputation,

and took upon him the form of a servant,

and was made in the likeness of men:

8 And being found in fashion as a man,

he humbled himself,

and became obedient unto death,

even the death of the cross.

9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him,

and given him a name which is above every name:

10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,

of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;

11 And that every tongue should confess

that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

The Epistle matches the Gospel, reflecting the lesson of Holy Week.

Philippians 2:6 Christ Jesus Who, being in the form of God,

thought it not robbery to be equal with God:

The episode at Bethany is crucial to the events of Holy Week. Jesus learned that His good friend was mortally ill, but He delayed His trip to Bethany on purpose. The sisters of Lazarus sent a message to Him that Lazarus was sick. Jesus knew that His good friend was not merely sick, but dead. He delayed His trip so that Lazarus was dead for four days when they arrived.

The tensions were so great, after three years of public ministry, that doubting Thomas thought they would all die in traveling so close to Jerusalem.

KJV John 11:16 Then said Thomas, which is called Didymus, unto his fellowdisciples, Let us also go, that we may die with him (Lazarus.)

At Bethany Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead by calling Him from the tomb. Lazarus emerged covered in his burial cloths.

This caused a sensation in the whole region for many reasons. Lazarus was wealthy, which we know from his carved tomb. He was necessarily prominent, so his extended family and friends were witnesses to his rising from the dead. They were still at the funeral.

Assuming travel between Bethany and Jerusalem, and the normal exchange of news, the people of Jerusalem would also have found out about this miracle. First a prominent man was known to be dead and buried for days. Then he was raised from the dead by Jesus.

That means the crowd from the funeral of Lazarus followed Jesus to Jerusalem, with Lazarus prominent in the company.

Those who found out about the rising of Lazarus came out of the city to meet him and Jesus. Therefore crowds followed Jesus and came out of the city, forming an enormous circle of shouting, Hosanna crying people.

Only God could raise someone from the dead. Some might say, “But there were two others.” And there were. One was a widow’s son, so that must have been well known or rumored at least. The other was the little girl, whose funeral was interrupted by Jesus bringing her back to life. “Little girl, I say, arise.”

Notice in both cases that Jesus overcame death with His Word. God always works with His Word. One might speculate about God acting otherwise, which is possible, but Jesus chose to do His work through the Word, just as God bound His Word to His Spirit.

That is an important corrective against all false religion. They identify this and that as coming from God, but always without His Word and against His Word.

So Jesus displayed Himself as the Son of God, beyond all doubting, before He entered Jerusalem. The crowds and the opponents knew it. The children caught the excitement and hope of the moment and joined in praising God, because children have faith too. They have child-like faith, the kind Jesus commended to the frowning and rationalistic adults.

"Learn then from this Gospel what takes place when God begins to make us godly, and what the first step is in becoming godly.  There is no other beginning than that your king comes to you and begins to work in you.  It is done in this way:  The Gospel must be the first, this must be preached and heard.  In it you hear and learn how all your works count for nothing before God and that everything is sinful that you work and do.  Your king must first be in you and rule you.  Behold, here is the beginning of your salvation; you relinquish your works and despair of yourself, because you hear and see that all you do is sin and amounts to nothing, as the Gospel tells you, and you receive your king in faith, cling to him, implore his grace and find consolation in his mercy alone."

            Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed., John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids:  Baker Book House, 1983, I,  p. 26.   

 

Lenski:

Yet, although so much is involved, the fact remains that the Scriptures freely name the person, at one time only as a person, at another according to his office, at another according to one, again according to the other and even according to both natures and, no matter how it is named, predicate of this person something that is native to the one or to the other or also to both of his natures. Knowing this, we might pass on without further concern when Paul writes “Christ Jesus” (office, person), for this name certainly befits all that is predicated of him. The issue is raised by the Kenoticists and by those related to them. They empty out more or less of the logos, of his divine nature, plus also every divine gift bestowed on Christ’s human nature. Their first statement is that here “Christ Jesus” = the logos before he became flesh. The confessional church emphatically rejects this demand because this demand would contradict all that Paul here says of “Jesus Christ.”

The subject of all that follows in v. 6–11 is “Jesus Christ.” This whole section is one connected sentence. This is Paul’s great passage on the humiliation and the exaltation of Christ, on these two states. Both deal with Christ’s human nature, here and everywhere in Scripture where either the humiliation or the exaltation or both are mentioned. The divine nature can undergo neither humiliation nor exaltation, it is immutable.

                Lenski, R. C. H.: The Interpretation of St. Paul's Epistles to the Galatians, to the Ephesians and to the Philippians. Columbus, O. : Lutheran Book Concern, 1937, S. 773.

7 But made himself of no reputation,

and took upon him the form of a servant,

and was made in the likeness of men:

When Jesus entered Jersalem as the Messiah, the Son of God, He deliberately kept His divine nature from being prominent. Except for healing the servant’s ear (at His arrest) and cursing the fig tree, He did not show His divine nature.

Instead, He allowed Himself to be treated as an ordinary human. The Roman and Jewish opponents hated and feared Him, but they also delighted in capturing, torturing, and destroying Him – exalting in their victory.

He should have shown His divine majesty, but He did not. His opponent were overjoyed that all those reports were wrong. They were the powerful ones. They took away everything with guile, deceit, and power.

Almost all of Jesus public ministry was in the form of a lowly servant. He traveled by foot, ate food, became thirsty, was angry and happy, sorrowful, and grieving.

He told them He could use His divine majesty to summon legions of angels, but He did not. Therefore, He allowed Himself to be seen in the form of a servant.

Luther’s point about Holy Week is that Jesus gave up everything to become our Savior. He left the heavenly abode to live among men, to teach them and perform miracles, to show them true righteousness, through faith in Him. For this He was scorned, mocked, beaten, and given the worst form of execution devised by man.

8 And being found in fashion as a man,

he humbled himself,

and became obedient unto death,

even the death of the cross.

 

Jesus became poor to make the wealth of the Gospel available to the entire world, training apostles that would take the saving Word to the corners of the Roman Empire. America was discovered by the Chinese 600 years ago (http://www.1421.tv) and by Columbus 500 years ago. And yet it only took 300 years for the Gospel to travel from the dregs of Roman society to Constantine, one of the great politicians and military heroes of Roman history. (He was not the best family man.)

Ministers like to complain about this and that, about various hardships and bad treatment. Some of it comes from human institutions. A lot of it comes from resistance to the Word of God. The greatest resistance met the Word of God Incarnate, because He truly bore the cross as the Suffering Servant, executed with criminals, almost alone. The rest of us see some form of bearing the cross, which wakes up the Old Adam to complain, worry, and fret. Why do the apostates do so well? Because their time of pleasure is short, the penalty phase endless.

The ultimate battle was fought and won by Christ. The forces against the Gospel have never rested. They give the Gospel no peace. There is endless hatred poured out against the Christian faith today. I see it on atheist forums and Internet posts. Any unbeliever is condemned by the Holy Spirit and feels the wrath of God against that unbelief. For some, the constant agitation is good, because it awakens them to study the Word, often to prove it wrong, and they are converted to faith in the Gospel. For others, this agitation makes them angrier all the time, and they become progressively more hardened and blind.

As someone said recently, when we discussed justification by faith, we are always in danger of falling into apathy and sins that remove us from the Gospel. The Means of Grace remove the power of sin, even though temptations remain, and give us the energy to remain in the fold as followers of the Good Shepherd. His loving and gathering Spirit is expressed in the Word, in hundreds of ways.

9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him,

and given him a name which is above every name:

10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,

of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;

11 And that every tongue should confess

that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Because Jesus was willing to be abased and humiliated for the sake of salvation, God has exalted Him about all others. No one is compared to Jesus because He did all to rescue us from Satan’s grasp.

When the final revelation is given, every single creature will bow to His Name – the heavenly beings, all human races, and the devils of Hell. Those without faith will still acknowledge what they rejected, because Jesus will be shown to them also as the King of King and Lord of Lords. For them it will be too late.

I read about and know about famous ministers who have started in some form of the Gospel – all denominations included – and became atheists over time. How do we know? By their public proclamation, by bragging about their newfound unbelief. One was the founder of the Jesus Seminar, which was famous for rejecting the Gospel. Another was a co-worker of Billy Graham and a fellow evangelist to boot. Others were Lutheran ministers I knew, ministers whose work as radicals was highly praised by synodical leaders. One day they will know again what they rejected – that Jesus in the Savior and that faith in Him receives forgiveness and everlasting life.

"For you do not find Him; He finds you.  For the preachers come from Him, not from you.  Your faith comes from Him, not from you.  And everything that works faith within you comes from Him, not from you."

            What Luther Says, An Anthology, 3 vols., ed., Ewald Plass, St. Louis:  Concordia Publishing House, 1959, I, p. 345. Matthew 21:1‑9.