To Whom Do You Wave Your Palm? Mark 11:1-11

This is the sermon for Palm Sunday at Trinity Church of the Nazarene; Rev. Christy Gunter Leppert.

I. The people think they know who Jesus is.

They wave their palm branches in extreme excitement. The Messiah has come.

They heard the stories—this guy raised Lazarus from the dead! This guy turned water into wine.
"Oooh, does he have a magic wand?"

"Can he make supernatural things happen?"

Is he a wizard?

'Maybe at this big old fair we are having here… he could do some magic tricks. Let’s see a sign!"

Others were all excited because they thought the Messiah would be a conquering war hero.

"Whoo hoo—a guy coming on a white stallion with a sword in hand!"

Perhaps he is a political revolutionist!

"We will rally together and dictate others. We will overthrow the government and take over!"

"Jesus will overthrow the Romans."

"We will not be oppressed anymore!"

"The Messiah has come and we will no longer suffer domination!"

* * * *

He is a war hero… he is a wizard… he is a political revolutionist.

* * * *

The people think they know to whom they are waving their palm branches.

II. Who do we think Jesus is? What are our expectations for Jesus?

Sometimes we think of Jesus as a cop.

“Ohhh, you better stop doing that or you will get an eternal ticket for eternal damnation and condemnation.”

Or: “Tisk-tisk. I will have to pull you over in life to make you suffer the punishment for sinning!”

Sometimes we think of Jesus as a judge.

Have you ever stood before a judge? Most people tend to feel very insignificant before a judge

that controls fines and punishment.

Sometimes we think of Jesus like that…

“I therefore sentence you to an eternal dance with the evil one since you chose to speed the other day.”

Or: “Shame on you. You are a horrible person who makes horrible choices and therefore you will have your name erased from the good book.”

Or we are completely self-righteous and assume the judge will say: “Well done. You are the holiest person I have ever seen. You chose to love perfectly in every situation. You get eternal reward forever and ever. You will feel like you are floating on cotton balls and eating ice cream for all eternity.”

Sometimes we think of Jesus as Superman.

I personally love superman—so this one is easy for me.

Jesus the hero who flies through the city, saving the people in peril.

Jesus has eyes that can burn through metal and gets sick from kryptonite.

Sometimes we think of Jesus as the one who makes life easy.

"Come follow me and life will forever and eternally be simple, trouble free, uncomplicated, and undemanding."

Doesn’t that sound fantastic?

Follow Jesus and get a ticket to an eternal massage and perpetual spa treatments.

Sometimes we think of Jesus as the one who saves us from suffering.

"Follow Jesus and life will come together in utopia. There will be no suffering in this life. No tears. No crying."

Everything gets perfect when you follow Jesus.

People today think they know to whom they are waving their palm branches.

III. Philippians 2:5-11 gives a different picture.

Ah, see… perhaps Jesus is not who we think he is.

Perhaps the Jesus we THINK we know, the Jesus we EXPECT… is not the Jesus who revealed himself on Palm Sunday.

IV. Jesus the Suffering Servant:

Jesus was fully human.

Which means Jesus had the same desire we all do—to preserve ourselves.

Jesus did not want to die; just like none of us are exactly lining up for death today.

Jesus did not want to feel pain.

I mean, who likes to feel pain? Normal humans do not want to feel pain.

Jesus did not want to feel the whip or the crown of thorns… or those nails… or the weight of his body hanging on a cross.

But Jesus chose to act differently than the human desired.

He chose to make himself nothing.

He chose to humble himself.

He chose to die, on a cross.

He chose to be a servant.

Jesus came on a donkey—not a white stallion.
Jesus came on a colt—not a war horse.

Jesus came waving an olive branch—not a sword.
Jesus came with a palm—not a magic wand.

Jesus is a suffering servant; humbling himself—not at all what we often expect.

V. To whom do you wave your palm?

Do you wave your palm to a magician? A war hero?

Do you wave your palm to a cop Jesus, a judge Jesus, a Superman Jesus, a spa treatment Jesus,

or a non-suffering Messiah?

To whom do you wave your palm?

Do you wave your palm to the Jesus you THINK you know?
Do you wave your palm to the Jesus you EXPECT?

Or do you wave your palm to the Jesus who suffered and calls us to suffer too?

Because the Jesus in scripture asked his followers to go into a nasty, dirty stable and get donkeys.

That is a fun romantic task, is it not?
Who wants to sign up for that fun experience as Jesus’ disciple?

Not me.

And Jesus sends his disciples out to look like thieves to the world.

That one sounds really great, doesn’t it?
Who wants to go steal donkeys for Jesus?

Not me.

The Jesus in scripture is a Jesus who suffers—and a Jesus who calls his disciples to suffer too.

To whom do you wave your palm branch today?
To your idea of Jesus—or to the Jesus of Scripture?

VI. Let us pray:

Dear Lord,

We come before you and confess sometimes we want to tell you who you are.
We want to expect you are a conquering hero.
We want to expect you are a magician.
We expect you are a cop or a judge.

We think of you in all the wrong ways.

Forgive us.

Help us to have a renewed understanding of you today—as a suffering servant who said this world may not be easy; but you would always be with us. We love you Lord.

Amen.