“One of Those Weeks?”
Matthew 21:1-11

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Pastor Kevin Vogts
Trinity Lutheran Church
Paola, Kansas
Palm Sunday—April 13, 2014

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Have you ever had “one of those days,” or worse yet, “one of those weeks,” when everything seems to go wrong?  This morning we ask: Was Holy Week “one of those weeks”?  Was Good Friday “one of those days”?  Did everything go wrong that week?  Was Jesus’ last week of earthly life a tragic failure?  Or was it really a marvelous success?

Holy Week began successfully enough on the first Palm Sunday.  That day our Lord’s popularity with the people was at an all-time high.  As he rode into Jerusalem, huge crowds lined the way, waving palm branches, and throwing their coats on the road as a royal carpet for the coming king.

“Behold, your King is coming!”  The people shouted with joy, the children sang out, “Hosanna to the Son of David!  Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.  Hosanna in the highest!”  But, by the end of that same week, the crowds were shouting even louder, “Crucify him!  Crucify him!”  By Good Friday, Jesus’ popularity with the people was at an all-time low.

Why?  Why did the crowds turn against Jesus?  Why did the scribes and Pharisees plot to kill Jesus?  Why did Judas Iscariot, one of his own disciples, help their plot by betraying Jesus for 30 pieces of silver?  Why did the other disciples, Jesus’ closest friends, deny and desert him?

Why?  Because the crowds, the scribes and Pharisees, Judas Iscariot, even the other disciples all thought Jesus had “one of those weeks” when everything went wrong.  They considered Holy Week to be a failure.  And by the end of that week, they thought Jesus himself was a failure too.

“Behold, your King is coming!”  The crowds were ecstatic on Palm Sunday because they were expecting Jesus to be a mighty earthly King, who would overthrow their Roman oppressors with military might in a riotous revolution.  But, this King wasn’t what they wanted.  This King didn’t come riding into Jerusalem on a warrior’s white steed or a conqueror’s chariot.  This King came riding on the lowliest and most humble of animals—a donkey!  To the crowds expecting a powerful military and political revolution, this King was a failure.  So they turned against him.

The scribes and Pharisees were expecting the Messiah when he came to congratulate them on being such good people, and reward them for their own self-righteousness.  But, this Messiah wasn’t what they wanted.  This Messiah condemned them: “Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites!  On the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy.”  To the hypocritical, self-righteous scribes and Pharisees, this Messiah was a failure.  So they plotted to kill him.

And Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve, helped in their plot.  Judas had the mistaken notion that following Jesus would make him rich and powerful.  Since he was treasurer for the disciples, and stole from their money bag, it seemed natural he would become Secretary of the Treasury for King Jesus when he established his earthly kingdom.  Then, like so many corrupt politicians, Judas could rally loot from the national treasury on a massive scale.  But, once Judas realized Jesus cared nothing about earthly power and riches and glory, he too concluded Jesus was a failure, and following Jesus would get him nowhere.  So he agreed to betray him for what he really wanted: money, 30 pieces of silver.

The other disciples were also expecting events to turn out differently that week.  It began so wonderfully on Palm Sunday—the crowds cheering and shouting, the palm branches waving, the carpet of coats into the capital city.  The disciples thought they would hitch their wagon to a rising star, as the old saying goes, and be swept up to the pinnacle of power on the coat-tails of a popular politician.  They were expecting Jesus to exploit his popularity with the people and quickly seize control of the country, probably by the end of that very week setting himself as a powerful earthly King.  And of course all his loyal disciples would be rewarded by becoming very important people in Jesus new kingdom.  But, Holy Week didn’t turn out the way they expected.

Instead of following Jesus to the pinnacle of political power, on Good Friday the disciples all denied and deserted their master as he was stricken, smitten, and afflicted.  It looked like Holy Week was a failure, and Jesus himself a failure too.

How many times we have denied and deserted our master.  Like the disciples, denying and deserting Jesus because following him doesn’t make us popular with the world.  Denying him by what we say and do.  Deserting him by what we fail to say and fail to do.

How many times we have betrayed our Lord.  Like Judas Iscariot, betraying him by considering earthly treasures and pleasures more valuable than Jesus.

How many times we have rejected the Messiah.  Like the scribes and Pharisees, rejecting him because we don’t want to hear about our sin and wickedness and hypocrisy.

How many times we have turned away from Jesus.  Like the crowds who shouted “Hosanna!” on Palm Sunday, we are at times excited about our faith.  But, all too soon we grow cold and indifferent, turning away from our Lord like the crowds who shouted “Crucify him!” on Good Friday.

We are no better than the disciples who denied and deserted him.  We are no better than Judas, who betrayed him.  We are no better than the scribes and Pharisees, who plotted to kill him.  We are no better than the crowds crying out, “Crucify him!”  For we too, in our own lives, have denied and deserted and betrayed and rejected and turned away from Jesus.

Our only hope is the success of Holy Week.  For, Holy Week wasn’t “one of those weeks” when everything went wrong.  Good Friday wasn’t “one of those days.”  Holy Week was the perfect fulfillment of God’s eternal plan of salvation for the world.  A week where everything went exactly right, just according to God’s plan, for your salvation.  As Peter tells the people of Jerusalem, “This man was handed over to you according to the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, whom you put to death by nailing him to a cross.”

According to plan, Jesus rode through the cheering crowds into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, but walked out through the jeering crowds carrying his cross to Calvary on Good Friday.  According to plan, Jesus suffered and died as a sacrifice for all your sins.  According to plan, Jesus rose triumphant from the dead on Easter morn.  According to plan, your sins are all forgiven, on account of Jesus Christ—his perfect life, his unjust suffering, his sacrificial death, his glorious resurrection.  As Paul says in Romans, “He was put to death for our sins, and was raised to life for our justification.”  That was the success of Holy Week.

To the world, it looked like Holy Week was a tragic failure.  But, according to God’s plan, Holy Week was a marvelous success.  When you yourself sometimes feel like a failure in the eyes of the world, remember how the world judged even Jesus a failure on Good Friday.  But, the world was proven wrong in the victorious conclusion of Holy Week on Easter morn.

Sometimes your whole life may feel like “one of the weeks,” “one of those days.”  But, despite the judgment of the world, you too are not a failure.  To God, you are precious, valuable, beloved, an important part of his plan.  So precious, so valuable, so beloved, so important to God that he gave up his own Son for you.  As Paul says in Romans, “This is how God demonstrates his love for us: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

“Behold, your King is coming!”  When Jesus comes again at the last day, he will not be humbly riding on a donkey, but gloriously coming on the clouds.    As Paul says in today’s Epistle Reading, “At the name of Jesus every knee should bow . . . and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.”

“Behold, your King is coming!”  “Come” he will say to you.  “Enter the kingdom prepared for you.”

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

Amen.