In the Old Testament reading the Lord of lords and King of kings speaks words of warning to those people who have looked for help from other gods. The true God of Israel is the only one who can help or hurt, wound or heal, kill or give life. He alone has power to rescue those who are in trouble.
In the Epistle for Palm Sunday Paul praises the Lord Jesus who humbled himself even to the death of the cross and was exalted again as King over all. The day is coming when all will recognize this kingship of Christ.
The Palm Sunday Gospel brings the familiar account of Christ’s entry into Jerusalem. On the Sunday before his death, his followers hail the One riding on a lowly beast of burden as King and Lord.
Traditionally candidates for baptism and confirmation were received into membership on this day, which received its name from the palm branches which the followers of Jesus spread in his way as he entered Jerusalem. Christ’s humble entry into this city reflected his life of humility and foreshadowed his death. The praises which were sung were a foretaste of his victory. Both Christ’s humility and Christ’s glory are parts of Palm Sunday. Both are beautifully presented by Paul in today’s Epistle. The cross leads to a crown—a fitting reminder to those who pledge their faithfulness to Christ on this day (?Rev 2:10?).[1]
There will be a map of Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives in our bulletin this week to help us remember that we are dealing with God’s own account, through Luke, of an historical event. There is the path Christ followed from Bethany and Bethphage [“House of unripe figs.” It fortified the strategic center of the mount.] There is the hollow down the Mount of Olives where the crowd met Him, following Him into the City, packed with pilgrims. The Pharisees were there in force, as expected. The name of the present-day village, El-Azarieh, is the Arabic form of Lazarion, the fourth-century name of the village and the church that was built over the traditional site of Lazarus’ tomb. Excavations revealed that the first church, probably destroyed by an earthquake, was replaced by a fifth-century structure which underwent modifications through the centuries. In the 1950s, a new church was built on the foundations of earlier ones. Within the church’s precincts are numerous rock-cut tombs. One particularly impressive tomb, below the adjacent mosque, with a vestibule and vaulted inner chamber, is the traditional tomb of Lazarus.[2]
[1]Wendland, E., Wendland, E., & Inter-Lutheran Commission on Worship. (1999, c1982). Sermon studies on the Gospels : (ILCW series C) (electronic ed.) (151). Milwaukee: Northwestern Publishing House.
[2]Achtemeier, P. J., Harper & Row, P., & Society of Biblical Literature. (1985; Published in electronic form by Logos Research Systems, 1996). Harper's Bible dictionary (electronic ed.) (105). San Francisco: Harper & Row.