As I read Luke’s account of Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem a few days before the Passover, I want to invite you to listen carefully because I have a question for you at the end. Luke 19:28-40.
After Jesus had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. As he approached Bethphage and Bethany at the hill called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it.’”
Those who were sent ahead went and found it just as he had told them. As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the colt?” They replied, “The Lord needs it.”
They brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt and put Jesus on it. As he went along, people spread their cloaks on the road. When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen:
“Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!”
“Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”
Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!” “I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”
Did you notice something missing in Luke’s account? The palms. If we only had Luke’s version of this event we would call today Cloak Sunday, but other gospels tell us that the crowd also cut palm branches to both wave in the air and spread on the ground before Jesus.
While the palm branches were the sign of a victorious king, the laying of garments on the ground was a sign of submission. Luke helps us see Jesus as a victorious king, but a king who wins the battle through humility, which is why he was riding on a donkey. Luke also wants to be clear that we need to submit ourselves to Jesus. Luke wants us to take off all that hinders us and surrender to Jesus. In many ways, the true worship of Jesus can only take place when we are willing to first lay our garments, or our lives and hearts, down before God.
Since we have been looking at different encounters Jesus had with people in Luke’s gospel, let’s dig deeper into the encounter that Jesus had with the people as He rode into Jerusalem, and specifically, let’s see what we can learn about worship - because that is what many in the crowd are doing, they are worshiping Jesus as king, and savior, and lord.
First let’s look at why they are worshiping Jesus. It says they were worshiping Jesus for all the miracles they had seen. Another translation says they were worshiping for all the deeds of power they had seen. I like this saying because a lot of what amazed people weren’t miracles, but simply how Jesus treated people.
For example, Jesus forgave a woman caught in adultery, and a tax collector who was known for cheating. Jesus' teaching lifted up the lowly, which brought the rude and self-serving religious leaders down a peg or two. They heard a powerful message of God’s grace being extended to all people and many from outside the family of God heard that they were not only loved but welcomed into the family of God. Some of the deeds of power that people celebrated were Jesus’ messages, not just His miracles.
But His miracles were pretty amazing. The people saw Jesus heal lepers, restore sight to the blind, feed the multitudes, and raise the dead. Jesus did things that no other person had ever done, and He did things that only God could do. I wonder how many in the crowd hadn’t just heard about Jesus’ miracles but had actually seen them or even been the recipient of them.
Were the 10 lepers there? What about Jairus and his daughter? Remember, this was just a few days before the Passover when most people traveled to Jerusalem, so in the crowd there may have been people who had had their lives transformed by Jesus, or been eyewitnesses to Jesus' love and power.
They worship Jesus because of His miracles and deeds of power. They worship Jesus because He alone is worthy of worship. They worship Jesus because He touched and transformed their lives. And that is why we need to worship today, because God has touched and transformed our lives. Or maybe we worship because we know that God alone is worthy of praise, or that Jesus alone is worthy of all we have to give.
When our lives have been personally touched by God, our worship and praise will be more powerful. How can we not sing? How can we not shout and cry out? How can we not give Jesus our all? But never forget that the focus of our worship can never be ourselves and what God has done for us, but who Jesus is.
The more we understand of Jesus, the more we will want to honor Him. The more we see God at work in our world, and in our lives, the more we will want to lay down our lives before Him. The people worshiped Jesus because of who He was, and what He did, and we still worship Jesus for who He is, and what He is doing, and can do, in all of our lives. He alone is worthy of our worship.
The next lesson we learn from Jesus' encounter with the crowd is that they were worshiping together. It says the whole crowd of disciples began to joyfully praise God in loud voices. Let’s be clear, not everyone was worshiping Jesus. The Pharisees were there and they were not part of the crowd praising Jesus, but all the disciples were together in worship. While we can worship God alone, we see here that the best worship takes place with God’s people gathered together. It is important to worship God with the family of God.
Hebrews 10:24-25 says, let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
It is important that we worship Jesus together because we need one another to sustain us in life, in faith, and in worship. We have an active scouting program here at Faith Church and our scouts would tell you that if you want to put out a campfire you first need to start moving all the wood and embers apart. If you separate all the wood, the fire will soon burn itself out, but if you can keep it all together - it feeds off of each other and keeps going. Like a fire, our worship can feed off each other.
Picture this worship event with Jesus. In the crowd might be someone who shouted out that because of Jesus he could now see. Maybe a leper was there shouting that Jesus had cleansed him and gave him new life. Maybe someone was weeping for joy because their sins had been forgiven. As their words and songs and cries were heard by others, it filled their hearts and they began to worship Jesus. As they saw and heard great things, they joined in worship.
Can we worship God alone? Of course we can, but it is sweeter to worship God with others. One of the most amazing things for me is when above all the instruments on a Sunday morning I hear the voices of God’s people singing. To hear a crowd in one voice sing to God is amazing. It touches our hearts and strengthens our faith in ways that nothing else can. We need each other - we need the whole crowd of disciples to come together in worship and when we do, our witness, our testimony, our song can fill the world.
So does this mean we can’t worship alone, or outside of the church building, absolutely not, in fact, Jesus and the crowds were criticized because they were worshiping outside of the Temple. This entire scene takes place as Jesus is making His way down from the Mount of Olives to Jerusalem. It’s not in the Temple. They are not in the place of worship, and that is one reason why the Pharisees tell Jesus to tell His disciples to stop. This is not how worship was to take place. The streets were not the place for worship, but I love what Jesus says, if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.
I would love to hear rocks cry out, or stones worship God. There are times when I think creation does worship God. Have you ever seen a sunset so powerful that it simply cries out about God’s power and love? Have you ever heard the crashing of the waves, or the gentle lapping of water, and heard God in the midst of it.
I remember hiking in the Great Smoky Mountains and coming into a field of tall grass and there was a gentle breeze and as all the grass moved I felt the presence of God. I heard God say that just as he constantly moves over the grass, He constantly moves through my life to love and forgive. Creation does sing out and we can worship with them. This week we want to give you a special opportunity to worship outside of these walls and out in the beauty of God’s world.
The Holy Week Selfie Scavenger Hunt is a wonderful opportunity for all of us to worship God in the beauty of creation. Each day there are directions on places to go and activities to do as we read about the events of Jesus' final days. We can go to the banks of a river or lake and read about Jesus washing the feet of his disciples. We can find a cross in the community and read about Jesus carrying His own cross. We can find a large rock and read about how the rock that sealed the tomb was rolled away.
While we would love for you to take some pictures and share them with us, the most important thing is to get out into the world and worship Jesus. Read and reflect on God’s word. Pray and thank God for the faithful love of Jesus. Worship is not confined to these four walls, it can take place in your home, in our community and in the world around us, it’s just always better if we worship with others.
So we have talked about why we worship and where we worship and who we should worship with, so let’s end with when we should worship. It’s easy to worship when things are going well, but we learn from Jesus here that we really need to worship when things are difficult.
While for the people this was a moment of joy and the excitement of celebrating the Passover with Jesus, for Jesus… this was worship in the midst of sorrow. Jesus knew what was coming. Jesus knew that one of his own disciples was entering the city to betray Him. He knew many of the people there would desert him, and He knew that shouts of Hosanna would soon become shouts of crucify Him. It is in the midst of sorrow that Jesus is welcoming this worship and it reminds us that in times of sorrow we also need to worship God.
One of the reasons it is so important to worship during difficult times is because it is our worship that reminds us that God is always with us and that God is always victorious. As Jesus entered the city the people used part of Psalm 118 as their song. They said, blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! This is just part of one verse, but the entire Psalm is known as a Song of Victory. And while the people were shouting this, maybe Jesus was thinking this.
Shouts of joy and victory resound in the tents of the righteous:
“The Lord’s right hand has done mighty things!
The Lord’s right hand is lifted high;
the Lord’s right hand has done mighty things!”
I will not die but live, and will proclaim what the Lord has done.
The Lord has chastened me severely, but he has not given me over to death. Open for me the gates of the righteous; I will enter and give thanks to the Lord. This is the gate of the Lord through which the righteous may enter. Psalm 118:15-20
When we gather to worship during difficult times, our worship reminds us that God has already won the victory for us in Jesus. While struggles are all around us, God’s love will see us through.
While challenges come at us on all sides, worship reminds us that God is our refuge and our strength. We can’t just worship when things are going well, worship among God’s people is where we need to be when things aren’t going well because worship reminds us that God is good all the time, and that all the time, God is good.
This encounter Jesus has with the worshiping crowd teaches us a lot about worship. We worship God because of all the powerful things we have heard and seen and experienced for ourselves in Jesus. We worship together so we can find strength, power, and passion from one another. We worship everywhere God is, and since God is everywhere, worship can be an ongoing part of our lives, and we worship God even in the midst of sorrow and pain because worship reminds us that God loves us and that God has been, and always will be, victorious in our lives.
This is an important week for us to worship together as God’s people and we have many opportunities to do just that. This afternoon we can worship through the word and song of the Easter Cantata. Thursday and Friday we can worship Jesus as we remember the final hours of Jesus' life and the lengths He was willing to go to love us and to save us. We have an opportunity to worship every day this week at home and in our community as we read and reflect on God’s word. And whether things are going well, or we are struggling with doubt, fear, sorrow, or pain this week, our worship can remind us that God is good all the time and that all the time - God is good.
Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.
Next Steps
Encounters with Jesus - the Palm Sunday Crowds
Read Luke 19:28-40. Compare with the story found in other Gospels. Matthew 21:1-17, Mark 11:1-11, John 12:12-50
What would it mean for you to take off your cloak and lay it before Jesus? How can you surrender yourself in new ways this week?
Why we worship
● What deeds of power have you experienced in Jesus?
● Which miracles of Jesus mean the most to you?
● What teaching of Jesus speaks most to your heart?
Who we worship with
● Why is worshiping with others so important?
● When have you been encouraged and inspired by being part of a larger worshiping congregation?
Where we worship
● Take advantage of all the Holy Week worship opportunities at Faith Church.
○ Easter Cantata, Holy Week scavenger hunt
○ Maundy Thursday and Good Friday worship
○ Good Friday prayer labyrinth,
○ Easter Sunrise and Easter Sunday worship
When we worship
● When has worship helped you through a difficult time?
● How was the worship of Palm Sunday an encouragement to Jesus? (read all of Psalm 118)
● How can Psalm 118 be an encouragement to you during difficult times?
Holy Week outdoor worship guide and selfie scavenger hunt!
Day 1 or April 13
Jesus humbled himself and washed the disciple’s feet. Wash a family member's feet or find a body water where you can dip your feet in. Read Luke 7:36-50
Day 2 or April 14
Jesus went to the garden of Gethsemane to pray. Find a garden where you can read Mark 14:32-50 and pray. It can be anywhere outside that would make a comfortable spot to share your heart with Jesus.
Day 3 or April 15
Jesus dies on the cross. We remember the cross as a place of suffering but also as a place of hope for all eternity. Find a cross (or hold one) and read Matthew 27:32-61. Reflect on the hope we have in Jesus.
Day 3 or April 16
The tomb was empty! The tomb was a cave with a large stone covering the entrance. Do you have a special rock or stone? Find one outside. Read John 20:1-18 and reflect on the miracle of Jesus rising from the dead.
Day 5 or April 17
Jesus appears to his disciples. Our greatest hope comes in knowing that we will get to spend eternity with Jesus and all who follow him! In a favorite outdoor location, read Luke 24:36-52 and reflect on the JOY of Easter and new life.
You can share your faith by posting pictures (selfies) on our facebook page. Special posts will run April 13-17. Or post on Instagram with #bellefontefaith.
