Palm Sunday at MBCC
17 April 2011

Texts:
Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29
Matthew 21:1-11

I. Intro: It’s Palm Sunday!
a. yearly reminder of the hope people had in Jesus
i. waving palms
ii. parading around
b. beginning of Holy Week
i. can be deceptive if we skip straight to Easter
ii. much happens in between

II. Why all this hope?
a. a bubbling over of frustration and feeling helpless
i. nearly 500 years of living under the rule of others
ii. newest Superpower, Rome, exacted a lot from them
b. a belief in God’s promise to make them a people set apart
i. several times throughout their history, they had broken out from under a
Superpower’s control with God’s help
1. most notably from Egypt through the Exodus
2. also from Syria, with the Syrian King’s blessing
c. the time seemed ripe for a revolution
i. lots of prophets running around (e.g. John the Baptist)
ii. internal strife among the religious leaders showed something was brewing

III. Hero needed
a. past heroes
i. Moses – Joshua
ii. David – Solomon
iii. King Cyrus of Syria – Nehemiah + Ezra
b. enter Jesus
i. healer
ii. rule breaker
iii. welcome of all
c. Question: What political, religious, or personal situations have us wishing for a
hero?

IV. This is not the hero you are looking for
a. they wanted a war hero (like the Psalm heralds)
i. to enter triumphantly into the capital and overtake it
ii. to overthrow the powers that be and put things right
iii. to change the situation on the ground
b. they got something very different
i. a king who rides in on a borrowed donkey
ii. a leader who is described as meek
iii. a leader who recommends “turning the other cheek”
c. Jesus, the unlikely hero
i. comes from a long line of unlikely heroes
1. family tree that starts off the gospel of Matthew includes Tamar, Rahab,
Uriah’s wife, Mary (Jesus’ mother)
ii. comes knowing the events of the week will not go well

V. God is not the hero we are looking for
a. God is not our “Calgon take me away”
i. God doesn’t swoop in, wave a magic wand and make everything okay
1. Wouldn’t it be nice if God did?
b. God works through unlikely heroes to bring about God’s realm
i. Prostitutes, the abused and forgotten, those outside of the social norms, you
and me
ii. God comes on a donkey not on a worthy steed – in meek and maybe unnoticed
ways
c. But, God comes
i. with us or in spite of us, God comes
ii. again and again, God comes
iii. this is a cause for great hope and celebration
iv. wave those palms and trust, as Jesus’ followers on that first Palm Sunday, that
God comes!