Our Sermons

Bible Passage: Matthew 21:-11
Pastor: Pastor Berg
Sermon Date:  April 5, 2020

Back in the beginning of Lent, which honestly seems like months ago, we shared a devotional booklet with the congregation titled: Christus Paradox, or the paradoxes of Christ. The devotions focused on the seeming contradictions that we find in the person of Jesus. The critic of the Bible often wants to be able to rationalize everything. Everything has to make sense. And so paradoxes are going to be problems for them. “Which is it” It’s one or the other. It has to be either…or, right?” However, the message of the Bible is not “either…or,” but rather, “both…and.” We know that it’s not the Law or the Gospel, but both Law and Gospel that need to be preached and taught. We know that the Christian life is marked by obedience, yet in mercy God comes to the repentant sinner with his free and faithful grace. We know that Jesus isn’t either God or man, but both God and man. We know that God is not either a God of judgement or a God of mercy, but both. On this Palm Sunday, we see yet another both…and. Jesus is Both Defeated and Victorious.

What a contrast that is: a great victory or a terrible defeat. Doesn’t seem like it would be hard to pick one, does it? How many of us would be signing up for a terrible defeat? We want the victory! Vince Lombardi is often misquoted to say, “Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing.” And that’s not just something to motivate us to work harder and keep us on our toes. This is real. A coach or an athlete may talk about a “moral victory,” after a loss to try and keep spirits up. That same coach may need to remind a victorious team that they were fortunate to win because they didn’t give their best effort. But this is different. When we talk about Jesus, he endured a brutal defeat, and yet won the greatest victory. Both the highs and the lows are real.

I think we can sort of relate to this. You can think of some times in your life where your emotions were confused. We may feel happy and sad at the same time, and that paradox causes us emotional stress. As a child goes off to college, mom and dad are extremely proud and truly happy for them, and yet at the same time they are sad and dreading the days ahead as their “baby” is no longer living at home. When a Christian lays a loved one to their final rest, they will be happy that their loved one is with Jesus and no longer suffering, but at the same time they are saddened by the loneliness. In each case, the joy and sadness are very real and the people experience both…and, not either…or.

Today we see our Savior triumphantly entering Jerusalem. We see the people throwing their cloaks on the ground in royal homage. We see them waving palms, an honor reserved for a victorious king. We hear the cries of “Hosanna,” “Praise the Lord,” as the great crowd acknowledged Jesus as the Son of David, the Messiah, the Christ. We ourselves have sung, “All glory, laud, and honor, to you Redeemer King!” We want to join the throngs and celebrate! But isn’t our celebration muted, just a bit, knowing what comes next? Doesn’t the fact that this Palm Sunday parade ends at the cross and the tomb just take all the wind out of our sails? The very same throng that acknowledges him as the Messiah, that urges him to “hosanna,” to save; in less than a week will be shouting, “Crucify!” Maybe if we were just watching this scene play out like some TV show, it might make our eyes tear up a little, knowing what is going to happen to Jesus. Maybe? But we’re not just watching the scene; we’re part of it. You and I are part of that throng, praising him one minute, calling for his death the next. Out sins put Jesus on this path to defeat. Our sins were placed upon him as he rode on to die. We were right there with the crowd shouting, “Crucify!” And this defeat isn’t just a game. There’s no reset button we can hit and just start over. This is real. Jesus is riding into Jerusalem on this Palm Sunday to die. Jesus will experience the greatest of defeats, hell on the cross, forsaken by his Father; and our sins put him there!

But thankfully, that’s not where this story ends. The shout from the crowd on this Palm Sunday is, “Hosanna.” Hosanna literally means, “Save!” And that’s exactly what Jesus was riding into Jerusalem to do. He was riding on to save. But our salvation could not end in a defeat. In order to save us, Jesus couldn’t stay dead. That would have shown that the sins of the world had been too much. That would have shown that Jesus didn’t fulfill all that was written about him in the Law and the Prophets. That would have been only a defeat. But remember, it’s not either… or, it’s both…and. Yes, Jesus suffered a brutal defeat, but he also won a glorious victory. And that’s the light at the end of this Holy Week tunnel.

The Sparta-Elroy bike trail is an old railroad route in Western Wisconsin that’s been converted into a recreational bike trail. And one of the more interesting features of the trail are some rather long tunnels that the trail goes through. One of those tunnels is nearly three quarters of a mile long. And in order get through that tunnel, you have to get off your bike and walk your bike through. Once you get into that tunnel, it’s dark. Without a flashlight, you can’t even see the path that you are walking on. It’s cold and damp and dark. But off in the distance is that little speck of light, the light at the end of the tunnel. Our Lenten journey is much like transversing that tunnel. It’s a dark journey as we are forced to contemplate our sinfulness. It’s cold as we relive everything that Jesus had to endure: the hatred, the jealousy, the anger, the wrath and rage of his enemies, all for us. It’s a journey that seems like it will never end. It seems as if that light at the end of the tunnel will never come. But as we make that journey, the light grows bigger and bigger, brighter and brighter, until we are finally thrust into the light on Easter. Then we celebrate the glorious victory of Jesus, who defeated death, who conquered the world’s sin, who destroyed the power of the devil forever!

And so here we stand on Palm Sunday, in an emotional bind! We desperately want to join the throng and shout, “Hosanna,” yet we know what awaits Jesus. We know that Jesus will suffer and be crucified and die and be buried, and yet we know that he will rise again! So how should we feel today when we see Jesus? Should we feel sorry for Jesus because of the defeat that is approaching. Should we forget that and go right to the victory celebration? Can we really sing our personal hosannas or should we anticipate the darkness of this Thursday in the Garden and on trial? Friends, remember, it can’t be either…or. It has to be both…and. We cannot have Jesus’ victory without his defeat. We need both his defeat and victory.

Friends, Palm Sunday is not about how we feel. Easter is not about how we feel. And unlike many are saying today, the Christian faith is not about how we feel. Worship isn’t characterized as good or bad based on how we feel. Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter Sunday, worship and the Christian faith are all about what God has done! If we were left to our feeling to determine the meaning of all these, we would have a very conflicted faith and very conflicted worship because we deal with so many conflicting emotions at the same time! And especially now as we are physically separated from one another, worship definitely doesn’t “feel” the same. So let not focus on how we feel. Let’s instead focus on what God has done.

God sent his Son Jesus into the world as the Savior. Jesus lived in our world perfectly. He fulfilled everything the prophets said about him, right down to the smallest of details. We see a perfect example of that today. The prophet Zechariah wrote,    “Rejoice greatly, Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! Look! Your King is coming to you. He is righteous and brings salvation. He is humble and is riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” And there we see Jesus, riding into Jerusalem, with the fanfare of the people, humble and riding on the colt donkey. Jesus lived that perfect life all the way to the cross. And it’s on the cross where Jesus made his great exchange. He took that perfect life and gave it to the whole world. And in exchange he took on all of the world’s sin. And then he suffered his brutal defeat. He was forsaken by his Father in heaven because of the world’s sin. God turned his back on Jesus as he suffered the torments of hell right there on the cross. He suffered when we should have. And then he died. He offered his life-blood as the sacrifice that would make the world right with God. His perfect life-blood paid the price that the world’s sins had earned, that your sins and mine had earned. And then, by his death, he defeated the devil’s plan to destroy us. But that victory was not complete until Jesus rose from the dead. And before he made himself known to the world, he went down and made his victory lap in hell, preaching by his glorified presence to those demons and the devil himself that he had won the victory. And then he made himself known to his disciples and declared to all the world that his sacrifice for sin had been acceptable to God and that by his resurrection, we too will rise! That’s what God has done for us. May that be our focus during this Holy Week!

Defeat or victory? By now we understand that’s not an either or. The answer is yes. We will take both in Christ! May we join with all the highest in shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest! Amen