St. Paul Lutheran Church, Minden, Nebraska
Sunday Sermon – Palm Sunday – 6th Sunday in Lent – March 28, 2010
“A Testimony To Be Given!”
Text: Luke 19:37-40
We are approaching the end of 40 days of Lent moving toward Good Friday this coming week. From next Sunday, Easter Sunday, to the Minden High School graduation on Saturday, May 15 is just a little over another 40 days, 40 days of Easter. With 40 days of Lent ending & 40 plus days of Easter coming, my theme this morning is: “A Testimony To Be Given – Shout To the Lord.”
There is singing & shouting this Palm Sunday in remembrance of Jesus’ joyful entrance into Jerusalem. Jesus’ disciples loudly praised God saying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord. Peace in heaven and glory in the highest.”
Next Sunday, Easter Sunday, there will be great joy & singing with loud voices as Christians in many churches greet each other saying: “Christ is risen; He is risen indeed!”
And down the road another 40 days or so, although it’s not on the calendar of the church year, there will be great joy and praise when it comes to high school seniors graduating. Or will there?
To clap or not to clap, to whistle or not to whistle; to shout or not to shout; that seems to be the question for some friends & happy families when it comes to high school graduations these days.
Twenty years or so ago, when our daughters were graduating from
high school back in the late 80’s, early 90’s, when it came to that point in the graduation program for the seniors names to be called, and each graduate step forward and receive their diploma and then return to their places, as I remember it, there were a lot of flashes from camera’s clicking, a lot of beaming moms & dads, some with tears in their eyes, but other than that the audience was pretty quiet. No clapping, no whistling, no loud, sudden outbursts of friends & proud, happy families shouting hoorays for this graduate or that graduate.
When I shared this recollection with one of our daughters, she smiled and said, “Yeah, it was all pretty quiet back then, but maybe that was because back then it was assumed everyone would make it, whereas today it’s a really big thing for some to hear their named called and find out they did make it, they are graduating. “Whistle & shout & praise the Lord.”
For some glad, special occasions, it goes without saying, clap-ping, whistling, shouting is encouraged.
To clap and whistle for veterans or veteran fire-fighters when they appear in parades or speak to school assemblies is not a question. Do it! They deserve it. Whistle & shout & clap. It is a testimony given to their courage & dedication.
To shout and whistle and let loose with loud, raucous cheering for home-town teams winning championships, or even finishing runners-up, winning medals, having parades & pictures & loud school assemblies goes without saying. Whistle & shout & clap your hands. It is a testimony given to hard work, teamwork, sacrifice, success.
But what about church, what about worship services, what about Holy Week? We know about Easter and what beautiful, joyful, victorious sounds of trumpets playing & loud singing is accompanied by full organ, clavinova, praise bands, along with shouts of “Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!”
But what about Palm Sunday also called Passion Sunday marking the beginning of Holy Week leading up to Good Friday with its dark, somber, penitential mood of Christ’s last hours on the cross?
Is Palm Sunday/Passion Sunday a Sunday for clapping, whistling, shouting? According to the traditional Gospel reading for this Sunday from Luke 19, it is. Palm Sunday is a Sunday for all creation, all God’s people to loudly praise God.
I commend Cassandra and our pre-school & Sunday School classes for beginning this service with a rousing version of “Blessed, Blessed is He our Savior, Blessed, Blessed is He our Lord.”
From time to time, I have watched parents gather their children together in the narthex of our church and say to them as they head into our sanctuary to worship, “Now, be quiet. Quiet down. This is a time for church voices.” “Church voices” being low, whispering, soft-sounding voices so as not to disturb others and that’s all right; that’s good!
But on the occasion of Jesus entrance into Jerusalem Jesus allows & Jesus defends his followers for their loud outbursts of praise! Jesus even says that if his followers were silent, even the stones would shout. That says to me there are times when “church voices” need to be loud, joyful voices, much the same as if children & adults were lined up to give a home-town, flag-waving welcome to a returning soldier or visit from an American President.
Does not Jesus say, “Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, shall make me ashamed of him?”
Does not Jesus say that the world will drag His followers before magistrates & judges in the courts and though they will not know what to say, the Holy Spirit will tell them what to say and give them words to shout?
According to Matthew’s account of Palm Sunday, when Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying ‘Who is this?’ And the joyful, shouting crowds said, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.” (21:10)
It appears to be the nature of God, the God of Noah, the God of Abraham, the God of Moses, the God of David, the God of Isaiah & Jeremiah & Jonah, the God of Christmas and Epiphany and Easter; it appears to be the nature of God to not go unnoticed, to have a witness, to inspire all God’s people to raise their voices in acknowledging and praising God, Father, Son, & Holy Spirit from whom all blessings flow. Or what about that great Hallelujah Chorus from Handel’s Messiah that will be sung again this evening over in Kearney!
According to Luke, according to Matthew & Mark, not just Jesus’ disciples, but when a whole crowd of people, including children, saw Jesus’ riding into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey, they assumed Jesus had come to rule, assumed that their deliverance was at hand; and it was; although that deliverance would come not with a crown but by way of a cross!
Dark as Good Friday gets, dark as night at 3:00 in the afternoon; earthquake shaking the ground, huge curtain in the Jerusalem temple at the entrance to the Holy of Holies tearing in two, even reports of graves opening when Jesus died on the cross, although there are no huge, extravagant Good Friday concerts or loud calls for repentance, there are Good Friday services for those faithful to believing in God to worship, to sing, to give testimony, to bear witness to the truth that it is the nature of God to not go unnoticed, to have a witness, always to have somebody to testify and tell the story of salvation in word & song.
Said the Roman centurion in charge of Jesus’ crucifixion, the centurion “who stood at the foot of the cross looking up at Jesus and saw Jesus die when he breathe his last,” said that centurion, “Truly this man was the Son of God.”
That is what the shouting is all about this Palm Sunday. Jesus’ humble, selfless, servant-king, riding a donkey into Jerusalem; Jesus, Savior, Word Incarnate, God coming among us in the flesh; all the hidden power & glory of God that characterized Jesus birth, His life, His teaching, His ministry, His entrance into Jerusalem, His Passion – it all points to a testimony that needs to be given and we’re going to give it in the words of the hymn, ”This Is He!”
Along with shouting & waving palm branches in remembrance of a lowly king, in a passing parade, leading ultimately to a cross;
Along with the mournful hymns & songs of Good Friday that honor Jesus as our crucified king, conquering sin death;
Along with raising our voices next Sunday in joyful Easter hymns and loudly celebrating Jesus rising to life again;
Even another 40 plus days from now, amid graduations that may be full of shouts & whistles & clapping; in times of sorrow & grief, in times of joy & celebration IS the knowledge, the belief, the confidence, the testimony, the witness to God’s great love in Jesus Christ that we can give to each other, to others around us, and to a world in need of Good News!
Let’s rise and say it, sing it, shout it, give our Palm Sunday testimony to it, This is He! “Blessed is Christ our suffering, risen Lord, King of kings and Lord of lords, who comes to serve us, save us, heal us, restore unto us the joy of our salvation. Peace in heaven and glory in the highest.” This Is He! Blessed Is He!”
