Philippians 2:5-11

Humbly Exalted

Palm Sunday

 March 29, 2015

The excitement could be felt in the air.  Everyone was talking about it.  Pilgrims from all over the world had come to town for the week that would end with the biggest celebration of the year.  The city swelled from 275,000 people to 2.75 million. 

But along with the excitement comes anxiety, especially with so many extra people.  It’s no wonder that some feared the crowds. He who controls the mob controls the city.  And so extra police were called in just in case, but there was fear that the crowds would react to this badly.  And even more, with the question that the whole city was talking about, “could He be the one?  Could He be the Christ?”

And then He comes riding into Jerusalem on a donkey, just like the Israelite kings of old.  “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, even the king of Israel!”  The crowds met Him with joy and praise and hope, waving their palm branches and laying down their cloaks in front of Him. 

Today their song has become ours.  We welcome the Lord who comes into our presence with joy and thanksgiving and praise and hope.  And yet it’s a bittersweet day. For it also serves as the beginning of Holy Week, of focusing upon the passion and death of our Lord.  This week, this Sunday until next Sunday is what our Christian faith is all about.

Our closing hymn for today explains it really well.  The first and last verses capture Palm Sunday and Holy Week perfectly.  “Ride on, ride on in majesty, Hark! All the tribes hosanna cry! O Savior meek, pursue Thy road, with palms and scattered garments strowed.  Ride on Ride on in majesty in lowly pomp ride on to die.  Bow Thy meek head to mortal pain, Then take, O God, Thy pow’r and reign.” (LSB 441)

Jesus knows that His being glorified is not being received by the crowd with palm branches.  The welcome is appropriate, but neither Jesus’ disciples nor the crowds completely understand what that really means.  But they’re going to find out. But His being glorified takes place in going to cross, His glory of giving His life for us, followed by His glorious resurrection from the dead. 

And so St. Paul’s letter to the Philippians speaks God’s Word to strengthen both our understanding and our faith.  “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with Gad a thing to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking 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.”  The cross is the entire point of Christianity, and thus of Palm Sunday, of Holy Week, and of our lives.

The way of grace leads to the cross; to the cross where Jesus died for us.  And then the way of grace flows from the cross to us through God’s Word and Sacraments. As a response, our praise and thanksgiving ascend back to God for what He has done for us. There is sadness in this day and this week, to be sure.  But there is also Easter. 

We too often don’t understand the reality of this. There’s a reason why Maundy Thursday and Good Friday services always have lower attendance than Sunday morning: we don’t always get it.  And what we understand, we don’t always like.  We hear about it over and over again, which is good. Yet, we become numb to the cross, numb to what Christ underwent for our sake, numb to the glory of the Son of God lifted upon a tree to die, and hence numb to the glory of the resurrection.

Repent.  Repent for waving your palm branches in praise today, then tomorrow forgetting what this is all about.  Repent for wanting only Easter but ignoring how Jesus got into the tomb.  For God the Father exalted His Son upon the cross and there bestowed upon Him the name that is above every name—Jesus, the Lord saves.  This salvation, this justification, the forgiveness of your sins, life, and salvation are won by Christ the crucified.

We do not, we cannot, justify ourselves, but by God through Christ who was like us in all ways, though without sin, humbled Himself to serve us by forgiving our sins upon the cross. As believers in Christ, in bowing our knees to our Lord through faith, we too are exalted with Christ. His glory is for us.  Jesus is lifted up so that all who believe in Him might be lifted up.  That we might be lifted up out of our sin. That we might be lifted up out this sinful world. That we might be lifted out from 6 ft under.

The exaltation of a Christian in this life looks like that of Jesus’ life.  Stricken, smitten, and afflicted.  Beat down by the world, our sin, and the devil.  Our Christian exaltation is most clearly seen in suffering. But again, not in our suffering, but in the suffering of Christ upon the cross.  There, He suffers for you. There is humbled for you. There He dies for you. There He is lifted up for all the world to see, the death of the Son of God.

In our life, as we look to the cross, we realize that not everything is going to be perfect.  Christ was crucified between two criminals. So we the church exist between in a sinful and fallen and rebellious world.  We often want to live our lives secluded from the all the evil of the world, attempting to protect ourselves and our families from danger.  Yet the Kingdom of God exists surrounded by enemies, and those who would distract us from the cross and the empty grave.

May God gives us the strength and courage to not look away this week but to rejoice in the Son of God who was humbly exalted to save us. The Father has glorified the name of Jesus by placing it upon us.  In the name of the Father and of the T Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.