Palm Sunday

[00:00:03] Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our father, and from our Lord and savior, Jesus Christ. [00:00:09] Amen. [00:00:18] In our gospel reading this morning, Jesus says, now, must the son of man be glorified. [00:00:26] It's the time of his glory, and it's the time of his crucifixion. It's the time when he'll be lifted up. [00:00:35] Now, we're getting close to the end of Lent here. Remember what kind of kicked it off or transitioned us into Lent? Was transfiguration Sunday, when Jesus went up a high mountain, and we saw him briefly in all his glory, shining there on the mountain. [00:00:53] Remember, it was Super Bowl Sunday, I think, right. Was transfiguration Sunday. And we talked about the quarterback being ascending the little mountain that was rolled out onto the field and receiving glory and attention of millions of viewers. [00:01:10] So that was Jesus then. Well, now Jesus is gonna. He's gonna ascend. He's gonna be lifted up and receive attention, and he's gonna cast out the ruler of this world. He's going to be glorified. [00:01:26] It looks really different, though. [00:01:29] It's not what you might expect. It doesn't exactly look like the quarterback who just won. [00:01:38] He's there on the cross, but that's the point. This is Jesus'victory. This is jesus'glory. This is where he draws all people to himself. [00:02:02] Now is the judgment of this world. [00:02:05] Now will the ruler of this world be cast out? And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself. [00:02:15] Now he has our attention. [00:02:19] But drawing all people to himself isn't just about people paying attention. It's not just about people sort of believing in Jesus, like believing that he's the one. James says even the demons believe. Right. So it's not just kind of a bare faith in facts, like an understanding of the facts that he's talking about. [00:02:45] Also, John mentions that at the end of the reading there, many, even of the authorities believed in him. But for fear of the Pharisees, they did not confess it so that they would not be put out of the synagogue. It's like, well, so they believed, but they just didn't tell anybody about it. Well, no, it's worse than that, for they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God. [00:03:11] So John's saying they believed, but they gave it up. [00:03:19] They believed, but they didn't benefit from it. [00:03:22] When Jesus says that he'll draw all people to himself, he's drawing them into his death by believing in Jesus and looking to him on the cross. [00:03:41] We are there with him in his death, like his death is our death. [00:03:49] That's why the ruler of this world is cast out. It's because in Jesus, humanity dies. [00:04:01] In the Gospel of John, Jesus says, you know, a woman in labor is in a lot of pain, but when the baby is born, she rejoices, because a human being has been born into the world, and he's talking about his own crucifixion. This is going to be tough. I'm going to die, but through my death, there's going to be a new birth, a new birth of humanity. Then fast forward a little bit during know, the trial and all that, the crowds and such. What does Pontius Pilate says? He says, behold the man. [00:04:49] There's humanity wrapped up in Jesus. And then Jesus says, I'll draw all people to myself. [00:05:00] Jesus is there in his glory on the cross, dying, and he's pulling us into it. [00:05:08] That, of course, is what baptism is all about, that we're united to Christ, united with him in his death and resurrection. [00:05:20] The ruler of this world is cast out by jesus'crucifixion. Because in him we die. [00:05:30] We die to our old self, we die to sin and live to God. Like Paul says in Romans six, in the context of baptism and being united to Christ in his death and resurrection. [00:05:47] That's what Jesus is saying also when he says, unless a seed dies and falls into the ground, it's not going to produce anything. But think about that grain of wheat. If the grain of wheat dies and then falls off the stock into the ground, then it's going to grow and it's going to bear much fruit. [00:06:08] What's the fruit? [00:06:10] It's you and me. Thanks be to God that in him we all exist. This is the same image as the tree of life in Revelation 22. [00:06:29] So we got a few trees, and in this hymn we just sung, it talks about the cross as this tree that bears fruit, and it's an allusion to the tree of life. [00:06:45] In Revelation 22, it says that the tree, it's on either side. It's on both sides of the river of life, however, that works. In the New Jerusalem, the water is flowing from the throne and from the lamb. And then there's the tree of life with twelve kinds of fruit. [00:07:04] Why twelve? Well, twelve represents God's people, the twelve tribes of Israel and the twelve Apostles. And then twelve times twelve is 144. And in revelation there, it's the 144,000 that are in robes of white, and they're God's people. It's the fullness of God's people. So there's the tree with twelve kinds of fruit. [00:07:25] That's you and me. It's God's people, the fruit of the cross. [00:07:31] And it says that the leaves are for the healing of the nations. [00:07:38] See, we participate in Jesus cross, we participate in his death, and we die to sin in him, and we participate in his resurrection as well. [00:07:52] But I want to dwell on this tree imagery for a moment here. [00:07:57] So we moved to Greeley like, five months ago, and we bought a house just a little bit north of here. And we're changing some things. But I'm looking at the backyard and there's this scraggly tree. [00:08:11] It's nice and straight, but it just had a ton of branches. And my father in law trimmed it up. And I was like, okay, that's okay. [00:08:20] I guess pickers, beggars can't be choosers. It's not like I picked that tree. [00:08:26] Then I found out what kind of tree it is. It's a linden tree. [00:08:30] And then I started reading about linden trees and, oh, they are cool. [00:08:35] The leaves are edible and they're also medicinal. [00:08:41] And so in medieval towns, they would plant one at the center of the town and line the roads with them. And the leaves had to be reserved for the hospitals. [00:08:51] You couldn't just take the leaves for yourself. They were reserved for healing. And even today they're used in medicines. [00:08:59] Pretty cool. Oh, I'm keeping that tree. It'd be sinful to cut it down. [00:09:07] But in Revelation 22, it says, the leaves are for the healing of the nations. [00:09:13] The leaves are for the healing of the nations. [00:09:16] You and I are all, I mean, in Christ, right? Baptized into him and united to him by faith. We're all wrapped up in Jesus. We're all wrapped up in his death and in his resurrection. And we're being conformed to his image. And it's like we're leaves and fruit on a tree, a tree, it pulls it all together. The cross is a tree. Just want to mention also in the original languages, tree is kind of the same word as wood and such. So just when you see wood or tree or you just got to kind of see them all as the same kind of thing. Okay, so there's the cross. It's this tree. And what a tree does is holds together how many? I don't know. Leaves and branches and everything all united together. [00:10:11] So there's the cross, Christ holding on to all of us and feeding us. That's the direction that all the good stuff goes out through the branches to the fruit and the leaves. And fruit and leaves are for the enjoyment of others, right? For the benefit of others. The leaves are for the healing of the nations. [00:10:33] You and I are united to Christ in baptism and by faith held together in his cross, in his life giving cross held together in Christ. [00:10:45] And that's not just for ourselves. It's for the benefit of the nations. It's for the benefit of the world, for reality. [00:10:55] So the struggle of daily life is to. [00:11:00] Well, to not be seduced by another path, to not walk away from Christ, right? But to be, by faith, looking to Christ, to be fed by him, to receive all the nutrients and the water, to receive from him his spirit that grows in us, a garden that grows in us the fruits of the spirit, to receive from him, not just for ourselves, for others. And so a lot hangs on it as you go about your daily life. And you can just sort of choose a path of sin, you can go off track, right? Well, that's dangerous for you and me individually, but it's also dangerous and harmful to others. [00:11:55] There's a communal aspect of this as well, right? You're rooted in a community, in a family, in a church. [00:12:05] And so the stakes are kind of high for everybody. [00:12:09] The battle for faith, the battle to look to Christ, the battle to be found in Christ and to be conformed to his image by faith and by grace, none of it being our work. [00:12:21] The stakes are high in a dangerous way and in a good way. [00:12:27] Because in each of you, in your faith, as I talk with you and I hear your story or your struggles, and I hear your faith in that boy, it's encouraging to me. We need one another. [00:12:43] We need one another. [00:12:45] That's connectedness in that tree. [00:12:50] What a blessing and a gift. [00:12:54] If you feel distant from Christ or disconnected, or if you've gone down a wrong path, like, what do you do? [00:13:03] Repent. That goes for every day. [00:13:08] It can be a big diversion or it can be a little diversion, but that's the christian life is a life of repentance. [00:13:17] Each one of us helping one another out as well, with God's word. But it's God. Give me your spirit to recognize my sin and to repent and to look to Christ. [00:13:32] That's it, right? Just being connected. So here we all are. Here we are, looking to the cross. [00:13:38] That's the reality of the church too, right? We are Christ's body, just like leaves and fruit are sort of the body of a tree and the branches, right? We all, by God's grace, are Christ's body, connected in him, given life in him through his death and resurrection. Thanks be to God. In Jesus name, amen.