Palm Sunday

Text: John 12:12-19

Where are you going?

It’s a question children are asked in various ways and at various times as they mature and grow.

It’s a question we ask ourselves as trouble appears, hindering our steps throughout this troubled life.

It’s a question we try to discern as we depart the graves of our loved ones, intending to move forward and out of the shadows of death.

Where are you going?

In the chapter preceding the Gospel reading from St. John today, Jesus’ friend Lazarus had died. Having heard of Lazarus’ illness, Jesus said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.” (John 11:7)

Why is Jesus taking His disciples to Judea again? He says, “Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up.” (John 11:11)

When it says, “Our friend Lazarus sleeps,” the Greek word for “Sleeps” is “koimeterion,” which is also where we get the word “cemetery” from today. A more literal translation might be a bedroom or a sleeping place for the dead.

So, Jesus will now go to awake and arouse Lazarus from his deep sleep, demonstrating His dominion over life and death.

Still, even as Jesus, the God-Man, approaches the tomb of His friend, He is not without emotion. Instead, the shortest verse of Scripture confesses the great humility and love Jesus has for His brothers and sisters. 

“Jesus wept.” (John 11:35)

Saint Augustine will say, “Why did Christ weep except to teach us to weep?”

The procession of mankind’s history has been flooded by the tears and weeping of men and women.

After their fall into sin, your first parents, Adam and Eve, proceeded out of the Garden and into a life of tears, pain, and thorns of the flesh, accompanied by a promised return to the dust of the earth.

The sin of your first parents abides with you today as you make your procession to the grave and one day return to the dust of the earth.

What is it that will kill you?

The same things were already killing the Disciples: betrayal, denial, the sleep and slumber of unbelief.

Yet, the purpose of this Great Week resides in the tears and compassion of Jesus, to redeem you and His Disciples from the bondage of sin and death.

While we process into the sanctuary this day, we do so that we might enter Jerusalem once again with Christ Jesus and participate in the events of His Passion.

Our procession began with the same cries of the crowds that first Palm Sunday:
“Hosanna!
  ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!’”

Hosanna: Save us now! Come and help us, Lord Jesus Christ.

But the week will continue and bring us to Maundy Thursday as Judas betrays his teacher for the wealth of this world. A decision Judas almost immediately regrets and reveals to us how our choices, words, and actions have eternal consequences.

While there is forgiveness, there is no going back in time. No way to take back our words or deeds.

Still, the night will grow deeper, and you must contend with the door of your lips and the confession of your heart.

Are you stronger than faithful Peter? Or, like Peter, has Satan scandalized, tempted, and caused your confession of faith to stumble?

The rooster continues to crow, and it now sounds for you who turn away from your Savior and rest in a selfish faith and trust in yourself.

The events of this Holy Week should cause you to ask the question, where are you going? Where is your faith leading you?

What remains true some two thousand years after Jesus walked this earth is that this week continues to be a reflection of your life.

While it begins with joyous cheering and hopes of redemption, it is met with failure, self-centered pride, and temporal greed for power, money, and control.

Still, the Jesus we sing to today will complete the promised journey of redemption as He assumes His place upon the altar of Good Friday. His death now restores what was lost by your first parents as they took of the Garden’s forbidden tree - His blood is the new wine that now flows from the tree of the cross and gives unto you new life.

So, even while this week's events lead you to Calvary’s cross, they also lead you out of the grave, awaken you from the sleep of unbelief, and raise you to new life.

For this purpose, your procession today now teaches you how to pray and live again. The words of the crowds are now your words and patterns of speech, grafted into your hearts as we gather here each week and prepared to be led to the Holy Supper, where Christ awakens faith and grants you forgiveness and everlasting life.

My friends, don't approach this week and life idly, but learn again from the Sanctus to say and sing:

“Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.”

Permit these words to lead you to trust deeply in your Savior, Jesus Christ; He continues to proceed into your lives to redeem you from the throes of death itself. In fact, He entered and sanctified the graves of the faithful so that you may go to the grave confidently, trusting that you will be awakened as Lazarus and led into eternal life on the last day.

The solemn time for weeping and mourning over sin and death has never been closer and more present, so look up and see how your Jesus leads you to His cross.

Then cry out to Him with loud Hosannas and rejoice that He now saves you.  

Even the grave will not keep you, but His Word will call and arouse you with Lazarus and all the faithful to everlasting life. +INJ+

The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Rev. Noah J. Rogness
Associate Pastor, Immanuel Evangelical-Lutheran Church
Alexandria, VA