Palm Sunday: Date: March 20, 2016
– THE SERMON: John 13:31-32
Theme: The Son of Man Is Glorified
I. Jesus Is Glorified in His Passion.
II. God Is Glorified In Jesus Suffering and Death.
III. We Glorify our God and Savior Because Jesus Died for Us.
( Pastor Theodore Barthels )
Bulletin: Read Bulletin
Sermon: Read Sermon
THE ORDER OF SERVICE: p. 15
HYMNS: 160; 725; 162; 313:2
THE GOSPEL LESSON: Luke 19:28-40
Jesus’ authority is evidenced from the very beginning of this event when His word was enough to grant Him use of the donkey and her colt. Immediately the people that were present were led to honor Jesus as He rode this colt of a donkey, as they spread their clothes on the road before Jesus and praised Him as He made His way from the Mount of Olives into Jerusalem. When the Pharisees objected, Jesus made it clear that it was God’s will that He be praised.
THE OLD TESTAMENT LESSON: Zechariah 9:9-10
This prophecy fulfilled by Jesus gives us cause for rejoicing as much as the people of Jesus’ day. Possessing the right understanding of Jesus’ reign we appreciate that this lowly Man came with great power to bring us salvation. Jesus alone was able to bring us peace with God and establish His rule that extends to the ends of the earth.
Sermon
St. Paul’s Lutheran Church
2100 16th Street SW
Austin, MN 55912-1749
Pastor Ted Barthels
Sermon preached on
March 20, 2016
Palm Sunday
Scripture Lessons: Zechariah 9:9-10; Luke 19:28-40
Hymns: 160; 725; 162; 313:2
Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Sermon Text: John 13:31-32
So, when he (that is Judas Iscariot) had gone out, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man is glorified, and God is glorified in Him. 32 If God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself, and glorify Him immediately.
(NKJV)
This is the Word of God.
Sanctify us, oh Lord, through Your truth. Your Word is truth. Amen.
In Christ Jesus, our Redeemer King, dear fellow Redeemed:
INTRO: Palm Sunday Praise. —
As we consider the words of our Lord Jesus regarding His sufferings and death these words before us this morning have very special significance for directing our understanding of Jesus’ sufferings and death. The words of our text were spoken in the Upper Room at the Last Passover Supper. Jesus spoke these words right after He had identified Judas as the betrayer and Judas had left the room. Even though Jesus spoke these words four days after Palm Sunday these words shed great light on the significance of those events of Palm Sunday as Jesus made His royal entrance into Jerusalem. The words of our text, spoken as Judas went on his way to deliver Jesus to His enemies, make the connection for us about why it was that on Palm Sunday —
THEME: The Son of Man Was Glorified.
Palm Sunday was the day for Jesus to be acknowledged for the victory that only He could secure. But there was much that lay ahead for Jesus before that victory was His. It is important for us to comprehend that the significance of Palm Sunday is found in the fact that —
I. Jesus Is Glorified in His Passion.
This is why it is so important for us to consider what Jesus said the following Thursday evening in the Upper Room when things were set in motion by Judas leaving to betray Jesus to His enemies.
John 13:31 So, when he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man is glorified.”
I suppose someone might mistakenly conclude that Jesus didn’t realize exactly what was going to happen in the coming 18 hours. Maybe some suppose that Jesus knew that there was going to be a confrontation with His enemies, but Jesus had survived a number of such confrontations in the past. His enemies had been powerless to do anything against Jesus. This may have even been in Judas’ mind when he conspired to betray Jesus.
That Jesus’ enemies were powerless against Jesus was indeed the truth. It would not be any different on that night when Jesus was taken prisoner. They weren’t the greater authority. In spite of their great band of armed men, they weren’t the overwhelming power in Gethsemane. Jesus, with nothing but a word, knocked them all backwards to the ground. We recall how Jesus had said that He could summon twelve legions of angels, but then how would the Scriptures be fulfilled (Matthew 26:53-54). No, Jesus gave Himself over into the hands of His enemies. Jesus willingly endured the shame and the abuse and pain, and condemnation. “He humbled Himself, and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross” (Philippians 2:8).
This is what lay before Jesus when on Palm Sunday He entered Jerusalem riding on a donkey, a colt the foal of a donkey (Matthew 21:5). What we sang in our last hymn is right to the point. Jesus didn’t come with kingly pride. He came in deep humility. He didn’t come with a large army, but riding a lowly donkey with a small band disciples. And yet Jesus was recognized as the mighty King, the Conqueror who would win the victory and bring the people the help they prayed for that day saying “Lord, save now, we pray,” which is what “Hosanna” means.
It was in that conflict that lay ahead that Jesus was glorified. This conflict was not merely with the chief priests and Roman soldiers; they but served as agents and tools of the devil. No, it was battling against the devil himself that Jesus would serve in His capacity as our substitute, as our Champion, fighting a horrible battle in our place, and defeating the devil once and for all. In this Jesus is glorified, even as “He was despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief,” even as He was “stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted” (Isaiah 53:3-4).
Jesus is glorified by how He willingly, graciously went forward to die so that we might live. He fulfilled the mission given Him by His Father in heaven who gave Him this cup of suffering to drink.
And so —
II. God Is Glorified In Jesus’ Suffering and Death.
God is glorified by Jesus’ sufferings and death because this reveals for us the depth of God’s love and compassion for this sinful world. There are those who believe that this “tale” of Jesus dying on the cross is far too gruesome to represent a loving God. With their imaginations they create a god who simply dismisses the evil that they have done, and grants eternal life to all, (or at least to all who make an effort to be kind and good to others). This is however only a figment of their imagination and doesn’t glorify God who is holy in all His ways, just and fair in His dealings with men, and gracious beyond our comprehension.
It is from this grace, that “God did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all” (Romans 8:32), that our salvation flows. In this great sacrifice God is glorified in His Son. And so on this Palm Sunday we acknowledge the greatness of His grace and —
III. We Glorify our God and Savior Because Jesus Died for Us.
Palm Sunday is a wondrous festival in the Church year. Just days before the most solemn of festivals of Good Friday when we observe Jesus’ death and burial we are rejoicing in the triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. We bring out our palms, we sing our “Hosannas,” and it is all as our God in heaven, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit saw that it should be. God is glorified in His Son!
John 13:32 If God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself, and glorify Him immediately.
God the Father saw the work of salvation that was to take place as a feat accomplished already on Palm Sunday. God saw the mission of salvation, the humiliation, the curse of crucifixion, the ignominious death Jesus had to endure as Jesus’ greatest work of love for man and devotion to His Father in heaven. God was glorified in Jesus’ sufferings for by Jesus’ sufferings He redeemed the world!
So God also glorified Jesus in His resurrection and ascension to the right hand of God. Paul wrote of this also in Philippians chapter 2.
Philippians 2:9-11 “Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
Every tongue will confess Jesus name! Every knee shall bow before the Lord, willingly or unwillingly. How blessed we are to know the love of God in Christ, to know the full and free forgiveness that is ours in Jesus’ blood, to know the peace we have with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. So God is glorified also in our hearts, and we see with eyes of faith the glory of our Savior even as He languished for us upon the cross. With willing hearts and joyful voices we eagerly sing:
“All glory, laud, and honor To Thee Redeemer King,
To whom the lips of children Made sweet hosannas ring.
The people of the Hebrews With palms before Thee went;
Our praise, and prayers and anthems
Before Thee we present.” (The Lutheran Hymnal 160:3)
AMEN.
“Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Amen. (Romans15:13)