Palm Sunday or Sunday of the Passion (2024)
Notes
Transcript
Goal: That, by hearing again how Christ humbled himself to save them, the hearers’ mind-sets are once again changed to be like Christ’s, so that they serve the Lord and their fellow man.
Rethinking Real Strength
Most religions believe in a powerful God. And they assume that their god will use that strength for the benefit of his followers. It is a reasonable assumption, but it begs the question: “What is real strength?” It is easy to assume that real strength means exerting your will over another by using any means necessary, including force. But this week we see Christ Jesus demonstrate a different kind of strength.
We have come to Holy Week. It begins with Jesus humbly riding the colt of a donkey straight into the hands of his enemies. As the week progresses, it will appear that Christ’s adversaries are the ones in a position of power and Jesus is in a position of weakness. Yet what Christ does this holy week changes the world. He refuses to use His divine strength by being passive in the face of death. To do what Christ did for us and our salvation took real strength.
And so, in our Epistle reading this morning St. Paul is urging us to “Be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind” (Phil 2:2). Paul is talking about an attitude of humility. We are sometimes concerned about the lack of this attitude in ourselves and in others. God through Paul indicated that He wants the Philippians and us to have AN ATTITUDE OF HUMILITY.
In so doing, Real Strength is on display. You see, the goal is to truly serve God and our fellow man in true humility.
Humility Shows Itself in Service to Others.
Humility Shows Itself in Service to Others.
Jesus “emptied Himself” in order to be one with us and to serve us—no trappings of kingly power for Him, as we heard in our Gospel reading (Mark 11:1-10), but rather death on a cross.
He “emptied Himself'(Phil 2:7), not of His divinity but of its manifestation, its glory.
That is to say, during the period of His humiliation — which began when He became a human-being—Jesus denied Himself the manifestation of His divine glory when He became man, except for a few select times.
His humiliation was His own voluntary act—Jesus decided to become like us in every way.
He appeared on earth as a man and then further humiliated Himself to the point of death on a cross, the most torturous and shameful form of death.
Such humility is not wide spread in our world.
Rather, sometimes people act with a bit of pride and hubris. For example, sometimes people are placed in an office that their maturity level cannot handle just yet. They think of themselves more highly than they ought. I saw this in a Social Media posting not long ago. He presumed to speak for a national organization, only to cast an unintended light on a situation that was already being handled.
Then there are times when you and I flaunt our service or offer it without regard for another's needs, or we limit our service to “our kind of people.”
Pride oftentimes drives us to refuse to help when help is needed. — We say, “I’ve done my part.” “I’m too good for this.” “Clean toilets? Let’s get other people for this.”
And so many more excuses where we elevate ourselves higher than we ought. This happens to Pastors too:
Over 20-years ago I was at a church one weekend visiting with the congregation and their Call Committee. They asked me to lead the Sunday Divine Service, which included a children’s devotional. I sat on the floor with the kids. Later a fellow pastor said that they should have given me a stool to sit on, as sitting on the floor “Was beneath me.”
But Jesus took on the attributes of a slave, which we will see clearly this coming Maundy Thursday.
He stripped down to his underwear, got on His hands and knees to wash feet.
How much more should we? Jesus said, “A servant is not above His Master.”
What an inspiration Jesus is to us—serving people in their totality, sensitive to their needs, never forcing Himself on them or stamping out their individuality. Friends, this is Real Strength on display.
But as we try to give of ourselves according to the pattern of Christ, we can become discouraged because we can never live up to His standards. Our pride keeps popping up. Not even the virtue of humility is immune to the temptation of the devil. We all suffer at times from “acute inflammation of the ego.”
Goal: That, by hearing again how Christ humbled himself to save them, the hearers’ mind-sets are once again changed to be like Christ’s, so that they serve the Lord and their fellow man.
Humility is Possible When we Depend on Christ.
Humility is Possible When we Depend on Christ.
We depend on Christ for forgiveness.
Christ’s resurrection, in which God “highly exalted Him,” is God’s stamp of approval on Christ’s atoning work, proof that all our sins (pride, too!) are forgiven.
We do not have to excuse or make up for our failure to be humble. We simply confess it — that is, repent — and depend on Christ for forgiveness.
With forgiveness comes humility, which is Christ’s gift to us, not simply an attitude we decide we are going to have. Rather, Christ puts His mind in us—by renewing our mind to be like His.
Romans 12:1–2 (NASB95)
1 Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
The Holy Spirit is the One who transforms us more and more, day by day, into the image of God. As we confess our sin of pride, or our failure to help when help is needed, the Holy Spirit to is there to amend our sinful ways according to God’s will. So, we depend on Christ for forgiveness, and…
We also depend on Christ for power.
Christ has power to mold us into more humble people, for God bestowing on Jesus “the name which is above every name” means that Jesus has divine power to meet our every need.
Christ’s power comes to us continually through the means of grace.
This is why the Divine Service is so important; here God distributes the means of grace to us in His Word and Sacrament. Listen to what God’s Word says:
The Third Commandment — “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.”
Hebrews 10:24–25 “Let us . . . not forsake our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.”
As we confess in the Third Article of the Apostles’ Creed, the Holy Spirit “calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian church” through the Gospel.
Christ’s Word is not only a “lamp for our feet and light our path”, but Christ’s Word is life, and John 1 reminds us that this life is the light everyone needs for life (John 1:4).
The gospel also comes to us in the sacraments. Christ’s gives gifts to us in the Sacraments. God delights to use ordinary things to do extraordinary works.
(Luther: LC IV 19). We always teach that the Sacraments and all outward things that God ordains and institutes should not be considered according to the coarse, outward mask, the way we look at a nutshell. But we respect them because God’s Word is included in them.
27 But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; 28 and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are,
Humility, like many other good attitudes, is hard to teach. Jesus is the best teacher for us, having modeled humility in service; more than that, He puts His own humility in us as we are united with Him in Holy Baptism. Now he calls us—with Christ’s help—to cultivate an attitude of humility that shows itself in service to others.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.