4/5/09 - Palm Sunday - Phil. 2:5-11

BOW DOWN
- At the feet of the humbled Servant
- At the feet of the glorified King

Palm Sunday is the peak before the plunge. Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem that morning was one of the highpoints in his life before he reached the lowest. It was really the only time in his 33 years that he allowed a large public display of praise and thanks to occur on his behalf, but just five days later those same people who were shouting “Hosanna to the Son of David” were shouting “Crucify him! Crucify him!” On that Sunday palm branches and robes were thrown down at Jesus’ feet. But in less than a week his own robe was torn off of him and divided among the soldiers. On the first day of that most holy week he came into the city riding on a donkey. On the fifth day of the week he would leave the city with a cross on his back. This event of Jesus’ life that we celebrate this morning is the peak before the plunge. It is the entrance of the Lord himself but only to his death. It is the arrival of the King but only to be a Servant.
The paradox between Christ as our Servant and Christ as our King is made clear on a day like today. And that is why Philippians 2:5-11 is often paired with this Palm Sunday gospel. Paul’s words to the congregation in Philippi demonstrate how low the Lord went for our salvation but also how high the Father glorified him in honor. They show us that we are to bow down - both at the feet of the humbled Servant as well as at the feet of the glorified King. Allow me to repeat these famous words that you have not only heard earlier this morning, but that you have heard many times before: “Our attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
As Paul’s words indicate, even though Christ came into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday as a King of sorts, his entrance wasn’t all that kingly. He came, “taking the very nature of a servant.” Our King didn’t come on horses and chariots; he came on a foal of a donkey. He wasn’t flanked by his army and his riches, but by a handful of ordinary disciples. He wasn’t surrounded with banners and flags and the colors of war, but by palm branches and robes at his feet. He wasn’t welcomed by trumpet blasts and lavish festivals, but by the shouts of children and commoners. Jesus arrived in Jerusalem that day as gloriously as he ever had in public, but it still didn’t look like much from a human perspective. Jesus, the King, still entered the city as a servant. And the people rejoiced! They shouted! They sang! The quoted Scripture! They tore off branches from the trees and threw their own clothing on the ground as a red carpet! These people were excited to see their Savior! They were overjoyed to meet the Messiah who had been prophesied about for centuries! And they were more than happy to bow down at the feet of this unlikely and rather modest looking Servant-King.
When you came into church this morning, I didn’t see anyone jumping up and down in excitement to worship this humble Servant on Palm Sunday - and I didn’t either. And next week I doubt that many of you will lose much sleep on Saturday night because you are anticipating with such eagerness the celebration we’ll have here on Easter Sunday. In fact, there is very little visible enthusiasm on any Sunday we join together here for a worship service. And I wouldn’t expect there to be! Outward emotions and visible zeal aren’t necessary to display as a Christian, and there are not always natural either. We aren’t called on to demonstrate the same external and physical happiness that those crowds on Palm Sunday displayed for the Lord. But our attitude should not be any different at all. There isn’t any reason why we shouldn’t be overjoyed and absolutely thrilled to worship our humble Servant whenever we get a chance. Especially on a day like Palm Sunday! Especially at the peak of his praise before the plunge into his Passion! But it’s so easy to treat Palm Sunday like any other Sunday. And what’s worse: it’s so easy to treat any Sunday like any other Sunday…
Because we get so used to it, don’t we? We come in a little before 9AM, sing hymns out of the same red hymnals, use one of the four regular liturgies from the front of the book, follow along with the same organ, listen to the same pastor, sit with the same people, worship in the same place, and see the same Christ. The joy of seeing and worshiping Christ, the humble servant, loses its shine over time. Christ gets too familiar. It’s nothing we haven’t heard about before; it’s nothing we haven’t seen before. And many of the worship services become an hour that just happens without anything really happening at all. You may walk out the doors on a particular Sunday morning and not even remember what it was that you had just done in there! And other Sundays are those that you just seem to get through without much of a second thought.
Palm Sunday is sometimes one of those Sundays for me. I’m tempted to just “get through” Palm Sunday each year so that I can get to the three upcoming festivals with the three special services I have to write for them and three important sermons I have to prepare for them that all fall within a four day time frame. Palm Sunday almost becomes an expected hassle to deal with before I can really get to the intensive work of Holy Week! Of course, I should never treat Palm Sunday in such a way! We should never treat any Sunday in such a way - as just something to get through or to be at or to check off the “to do” list. It’s a terrible thing when our Sunday worship ceases to be anything special. When it becomes just one more thing on the schedule or something that isn’t even worth putting on the schedule at times. I wonder how happy the Lord is with our worship every week especially if we aren’t overly happy to be here ourselves.
When Jesus entered Jerusalem as a humble servant on the first Palm Sunday, who did he come into that city for? He certainly came for his disciples who accompanied him. He certainly came for the children and the men and women who sang his praises. He certainly came for all those believers in the Old Testament who had waited their entire lives for his coming. But he also came for the people there who changed their minds a few days later and joined in the crowds chanting for his death. Jesus came for the Pharisees who demanded that he prevent his praises from being proclaimed. He came for the chief priests who would condemn him, for Pilate who would pervert justice in a disgusting act of cowardice, and for the soldiers who would ravage his body with scourges and thorns and nails. Jesus came for those who were his true followers and for those who were his outright enemies. Jesus came to forgive and to save those who worshiped him with true hearts that day, and those who didn’t worship him at all. Jesus came for me and Jesus came for you. Not because we worship him correctly every time we come to church, but because we don’t. He came to forgive those very sins and all others. He knew that some of those people there on the first Palm Sunday would turn on him for no good reason. And he knows you and I will not always worship him as we ought. But he entered the city walls of Judea’s capital city anyway. And he left those city gates with a beam of wood on his shoulders because we aren’t perfect. Because we are sinners. Because there was nothing else left for him to do if we were to be saved. Jesus didn’t come riding on a donkey as a humble Servant because we deserved it, but because we don’t and we can’t and we never will. Jesus forgave us because we don’t deserve it. And we are forgiven because we believe we don’t deserve to be.
And what our humble Servant did for us on this earth not only saved us, it earned him the right to be a glorified King in eternity! “Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” That sentence starts with the beautiful word “therefore.” Therefore - because Christ humbled himself and became obedient to death on the cross, God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name. Christ is our glorified King because he first was our humbled Servant. And what a backwards way of earning honor and praise! Usually, a person receives honor and praise because of the great things they have accomplished. David was given honor and praise because he was a mighty warrior and defeated many of the Israelite’s enemies. Solomon was given honor and praise for his great wisdom and his unending riches. Alexander the Great for conquering so many peoples and nations, Constantine for the promotion and spreading of Christianity, George Washington for his defeat of the British army. These men, these rulers, were given honor and praise and fame for the great things they had done. But Christ, this King, our King, is given honor and praise by his Father because he made himself nothing, because he took on the form of a servant, because he humbled himself to death, because he died on a cross. A strange way to earn honor and praise, but that’s exactly what his Father wanted him to do. So that now at the sound of Jesus’ name every knee will bow in heaven and on earth and under earth because this humbled Servant is now the glorified King! He was a servant, but he now rules. He had humbled himself, but now he is glorified. He died in such a humiliating way, but now he lives as the one who is exalted to the highest place. In the end, Christ got exactly what he deserved. And we will get exactly what we don’t. Which happens to be the very same thing: honor and glory on account of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. We will share in Christ’s honor because we believe in him as his children and we will share in his glory as we live in his presence forever. And Palm Sunday gives us a hint of that glory and honor to come.
Palm Sunday is a great time of year. Don’t move on to Easter quite yet! Pause for a moment, look at the humbled Servant, marvel at the glorified King, and bow down to both. Because on this Sunday Christ gives us a little taste about what next Sunday is going to be like. Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday are two great mountain peaks with a dark and miserable valley in between. We can see Easter from here. We can kind of make out what it is going to be like from over here - but we’re not there yet. Spend some time up here on the Palm Sunday peak before you descend into the depths Holy Week. Enjoy the sunshine of the servant and the brief reflection of the coming King. Because one day we will come back to this hill. When Judgment Day arrives and we all gather on the hill of Zion in heaven, we will have another Palm Sunday. Christ will enter the city gates, we will jump for joy, quote Scripture, glorify his name, and sing his praises with palm branches in hand. “After this,” John writes in the book of Revelation, “I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: ‘Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb’” (Rev. 7:9-10)! What a Palm Sunday that will be! A Palm Sunday to end all Sundays! A Palm Sunday that will last forever. Enjoy a smaller version of that today. Look at the humbled Servant. Bow down now at the feet of the King. And keep a hold of his glory as you climb down into these darker days of Christ’s Passion that are just a few steps ahead.
Amen.

“Now to the King immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.” - 1 Tim. 1:17