Palm Sunday, 2017 1

Humble, humbled, humbling, humbleness, humility,, humiliated,

humiliating, humiliation Words have two different kinds of meanings:
denotative and connotative. The denotative meaning deals simply with the
dictionary definition. I humbled myself and asked my rival for help means
the same thing as, I humiliated myself and asked my rival for help. They
share a denotative meaning. Connotative meaning has to do with the
feelings evoked by a word. In the above examples, humiliated is a stronger
word than humbled because it is closer to embarrassed than it is to
lowered. We often say that Jesus was born in humble surroundings, but I
have never heard it said that being born in a stable was humiliating to
Jesus or to his parents. The story of Jesus ride into Jerusalem on a
donkey colt is often described as an act of humility. The people who have
witnessed the miraculous resurrection of Lazarus at Bethany have followed
Jesus, and those from the city who have heard about it have surged out to
meet him. Both groups cover the road with palm leaves and with their
coats, shouting Long live the King, and God bless the King and
variations thereof. Lets back up a bit in Johns gospel in order to see how
we got to this point.

Pick up the thread of Jesus narrative at John 7.

The battle between Jesus and the Pharisees is heating up. Many of Jesus
followers have left him because Jesus has said that he knows who does
and does not believe. Jesus is challenged to go to Judea for the festival of
booths: Leave here and go to Judea so that your disciples also may see
the works you are doing; for noone who wants to be widely known acts in
secret. If you do these things, show yourself to the world. Jesus does not
take the bait, but attends the festival in secret. In the middle of the festival,
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Jesus begins to preach. When the Jews attempt to discredit him, Jesus
says Did not Moses give you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law. Why
are you looking for an opportunity to kill me? As a result, there is
dissension among the people: is not this the man whom they are trying to
kill? And here he is, speaking openly, but they say nothing to him! Can it be
that the authorities know that this is the Messiah?

The police answered, Never has anyone spoken like this!: Then the
Pharisees replied, Surely you have not been deceived too, have you? Has
any one of the authorities or of the Pharisees believed in him? But this
crowd, which does not know the law -- they are accursed.

After the healing of the blind man: Some of the Pharisees said, This man
is not from God, for he does not observe the sabbath. But others said,
How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs? And they were
divided.

After the parable of the gate: Again the Jews were divided because of
these words. Many of them were saying, He has a demon and is out of his
mind. Why listen to him? Others were saying, These are not the words of
one who has a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?
So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, How long will you keep
us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly. Jesus answered, I
have told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Fathers
name testify to me, but you do not believe, because you do not belong to
my sheep. My sheep hear my voice. I know them and they follow me.
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After the raising of Lazarus: Many of the Jews therefore, who had come
with Mary and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him. But some of them
went to the Pharisees and told them what he had done. So the chief priests
and the Pharisees called a meeting of the council, and said, What are we
to do? This man is performing many signe. If we let him go on like this,
everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and destroy both
our holy place and our nation.

When the Pharisees watch the crowds converge -- those who had followed
Jesus from Bethany to those who had heard about it, The Pharisees said
to one another, You see, you can do nothing.Look, the world has gone
after him.

Nevertheless many, even of the authorities, believed in him. But

because of the Pharisees they did not confess it, for fear that they would be
put out of the synagogue; for they loved human glory more than the glory
that comes from God.
It has become, then, a battle between glory and humility. In his
Sermon for Palm Sunday of 1534, Martin Luther said: This is the reason
why Christ entered Jerusalem as he did to point out the manner and
character of his kingdom. The manner and character of the kingdom of
God is not embarrassing humiliation, but humble service. The manner and
character of the kingdom of God is not bold demonstrations of weapons
and war, but everlasting peace. The manner and character of the kingdom
of God is not pride, but grace. Jesus humiliation is described for us in
Philippians 2: though (Jesus) was in the form of God, (he) did not count
equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking
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the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in
human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of
death, even death on a cross. There is no greater humility than God dying
a human death on a cross
Thats why he starts this holy week on a donkey. He comes in peace to
fight a war with every evil that would try to win us over. He comes in peace
to fight a war with all the spiritual forces that attempt to take us down. He
comes in peace to make his way to death on a cross where he surprisingly
wins the war over sin, death and the devil. He clothes himself in flesh,
death and the ultimate humility to exalt us into the space of the Fathers
grace. His humility means that we are forgiven and free. It means that war
has been won for us. It means that though we dont deserve it, in due time
we will be exalted to the heavenly places according to the mercy of our
loving God. Amen.