Perhaps Palm Sunday didn't make much of an impact on the city of Jerusalem. These were festival days. Jerusalem was crowded. During this time of year it became a large city even as it does on the holy days of our modern times. No, it probably didn't make a big impression on the Holy City.
But those people who stood on the side knew that something special was happening in their very midst. Someone special was entering their city. And so they shouted "Hosanna."
Paul describes the same kind of event with regard to the coming of Christ into the world when he writes in Philippians:
"Have this mind among yourselves, which you have in Christ Jesus, who, though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form he humbled himself & became obedient unto death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted Him & bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven & on earth & under the earth, & every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."
A great & eternal & divine Palm Sunday--not simply the celebration of Jesus entering into Jerusalem, but Jesus who was in the form of God emptying Himself & coming into our world. That is the greater celebration that we enter into this day.
There are 4 simple phrases that should help us understand the significance of Palm Sunday. The first is this:
HE HAD IT ALL.
The crowd sometimes is not a very good judge of what is eternal, what is significant, what is lasting. I know you've heard that old story of the very wealthy man who had in his will that he wanted to be buried in his Cadillac, so the executors of his estate followed his directions precisely & had an enormous hole dug & had the dead man placed in his Cadillac wearing his finest dinner jacket & then lowered the Cadillac into the ground.
Two grave diggers were standing over to the side. They watched in admiration. Then one of them said to the other: "Boy, some people sure know how to live!"
Jesus had much more than the adulation of the crowd because it doesn't take much to stir up a crowd. And it wasn't just power that He had. In fact, He rejected the exercise of human power. You remember how Satan tempted Him in the wilderness & said, "I'll give you all the kingdoms of this world if you will bow down & worship me." But Christ wasn't very interested in power. He had it all; He had power that transcends earthly, military, technological, economic, & political power.
What He had was more than wealth. He was heard to say on one occasion: "Birds of the air have their nests, & foxes have their dens, but the Son of Man has no place to lay His head."
Yet, He had it all. He was King of Kings, Lord of Lords, Wonderful Counselor, Prince of Peace. He had it all.
And yet
HE GAVE IT ALL UP.
He had it all. He gave it all up. Someone put it like this:
The hands of the king are soft & fair--They never knew labor's strain.
The hands of the robber readily wear The bloody brand of Cain.
But the hands of the Man are hard & scarred with the scars of toil & pain.
The slaves of Pilate have washed His hands As white as a King's might be.
Barabbas with wrists unfettered stands, For the world has made him free.
But thy palms toil worn by nails are torn, O Christ, on Calvary.
He gave it all up.
George Fallen tells of visiting an artist's studio out in Dallas, TX. One picture was the artist's pride & joy--a picture of Jesus on the cross. Fallen & the artist discussed the painting briefly. The artist said that the hardest thing about painting the crucifixion was putting the scars in Christ's hands & feet & side.
He gave it all. And what sometimes is devastating for us is to realize that He did it for us & because of us. We put those scars in His hands, His feet, His side.
When the great artist Rembrandt came to paint the scene of the crucifixion, he penitently painted his own face into the mob. He knew that it was for his sins that Jesus was nailed to the tree.
That spiritual "Were You There?" haunts us. "Were you there when they crucified my Lord?" Were you? I know I was.
He had it all, & He gave it all. That's what we celebrate this day.
Palm Sunday is but prelude to His passion. From the cheers of the crowd the scene shifts to crucifixion on the cross. He had it all & He gave it all. But by His death
HE CHANGED IT ALL.
He changed it all. "He humbled Himself & became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God hath exalted Him & given Him a name which is above every name. That at the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow & every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord."
Why do we bow & why do we confess? Because, by His willingness to give Himself, He has changed our world. He has changed our relationship with God & with each other.
There is a classic story about a social worker who went into a home of a family who just didn't care about their surroundings --about their cleanliness or about the shabbiness of their lives.
So one day she bought the most beautiful potted plant she could find & set it on a table in the center of their home. Gradually as that family pondered the beauty of that plant, they decided that the conditions in their home weren't quite fit for that plant.
They began making some improvements--cleaning up the room, then the house, & finally their own lives.
Something like that happened when Christ gave Himself upon the cross. He changed our world, He changed our relationship with God & with each other.
Robert Schuller tells the story of the owner of a beautiful hunting lodge in Scotland who had invited some of his friends to spend the weekend there. In their reveling & partying, one of the guests opened a bottle of soda & spilled it all over a wall. It left an ugly blotch. All thru the rest of the weekend the guests watched that blotch dry into an ugly stain.
The owner was very disturbed, very angry, & he let his guests know it. When the weekend was over, they all started home, except for one of the guests who stayed behind. He kept staring at that stain on the wall & he took some charcoal out & started sketching around that stain. He turned the brown stain into some brown highland rocks. Then he painted a stream that splashed its water over the rocks. At the darkest edge of the stain he put a leaping stag. In the background he painted some pursuing hunters.
Who was this man that painted this stain into a beautiful picture? It was Sir Edward Henry Landseer, a famous British animal artist. Eventually the lodge was turned into an inn & thru the years other artists came & captured the spirit of that painting. They added paintings on the wall & turned what started out to be an ugly stain into a place of beauty.
Something like that happened on Calvary. We don't understand just exactly how it happened. We don't understand what there is about the death of Christ that redeems mankind. Yet we know that it happens. He had it all and He gave it all & He changed it all. The world will never be the same again because of what Christ did there on Calvary.
But one thing needs to be added, & that is this: Christ offers it all. He offers it all. He had it all. He gave it all, He changed it all, & now He offers it all to you & me. We can share in His victory, & we can know the bounteous blessings that flow from His sacrifice.
Dr. Samuel Shoemaker once said, "Religion can never be the answer to human problems. All of the religions of the world are inadequate. Christ alone is the answer. Christ alone understands. Christ alone forgives. Christ alone eliminates your guilt. Christ alone saves & then assures you that you are God's child & the most wonderful person possible! Christ alone fills the human heart with love--joy--peace --self -confidence."
He offers it all. There's a beautiful story that F.W. Boreham used to tell about an elderly man in his parish that he went to call on. He noticed that this elderly man always kept a chair next to the bed on which he lay--an empty chair. One day Dr. Boreham asked this elderly gentleman why that chair was there. The old man explained: "Some years ago I had great difficulty staying awake when I prayed.
Often I'd be so weary that I would fall asleep on my knees while praying. If I managed to stay awake, I frequently found it hard to keep my thoughts from wandering. I spoke to my pastor & he advised me not to worry about kneeling down. `Just sit down,' he suggested, `& put a chair opposite you. Imagine that Jesus is in that chair. Just talk to Him as you would a friend." The old man added, "I've been doing that ever since. That's why the chair is here beside my bed."
A few days later the daughter of the elderly gentleman drove up to Dr. Boreham's home & asked to see him. She told Dr. Boreham that her father had died during the night. "I had no idea death could be so near," she said. "I'd just gone to lie down for an hour or 2. He seemed to be sleeping so comfortably. When I went back he was dead.
He hadn't moved since I saw him before, except for one thing- -his hand was outstretched & was lying on the empty chair beside his bed."
My friends, that is what the coming of Christ into our world is all about. He had it all, He gave it all, He changed it all, He offers it all.
He is alive & He is a friend on whom we can depend. He is seeking to make real His presence in our lives. He who sits upon the throne at the right hand of the Father, sits beside our bed when we are ill, walks beside us when we are well, & calls us to enter into the joy of His salvation.
That's what Palm Sunday is all about. It is a celebration of Christ who is King, Christ who was crucified & Christ who walks with us even today.
I ask you this morning, in all sincerety and love, are you ready to give it all, to the One who gave His all for us? Are you ready? Are you? Come....come....come
