AtomPalm Sunday is about being a “Christopher”, a Chirst-bearer for Jesus
Palm Sunday 2011
Matthew 21:1-21
What a Day….Palm Sunday (in late April in the snow)!! It’s a day of celebrating…waving of Palms, processional, Singing Hosanna, and more…
Yet, let’s ask what for me is, the obvious Palm Sunday Question:
What’s the meaning of what we’re doing…what are we celebrating?
I mean…we do this every year…but…what are we doing when we do this…??
What is Palm Sunday all about???
Let’s ask in another way…when you gather together around the table this afternoon with whoever it is you gather with…and you are asked, “What is Palm Sunday all about?”…how would you answer??
What would you say? “Palm Sunday is about……WHAT???
In the next few minutes, I hope you’ll receive at least ONE answer to this question…that, in a few moments you’ll be able to say,
“Palm Sunday is about being a CHRISTOPHER for Jesus”!!
To set the stage…let’s look into the Gospel of Matthew…asking, which of the characters, the actors, “The Heroes” in this Gospel can help us understand….
First of all…let’s check in with the Disciples…surely they, the first followers of Jesus…will give us a clue.
But Sadly…it won’t happen with them. Not on Palm Sunday. They were probably still arguing over who was the greatest in God’s Kingdom (checkout chapter 20). And, even now, they were probably really nervous…especially with Jesus talking about death and suffering… And, as we know…in the next few
days…when the rubber hits the road, they disappeared quickly…
How about the crowds…the ones shouting “Hosanna” and waving palm branches…which, by the way would be similar to us shouting “God Bless America” and waving the American Flag.
They were jumping on the bandwagon of Jesus…perhaps knowing some of the truth about Jesus, but now able to live out the truth…and a few days later, they began shouting crucify him as all they could do was look out for their own self-interests. Nope…not them!!
And Tragically, there is no way we can understand through the religious leaders!!
They were corrupt, mean-spirited and jealous. When Lazarus was raised from the dead, they conspired to put him right back in the tomb — where he belonged. They offered and took bribes. They solicited false testimony. They created a bogus trial. They sent an innocent man to his death.
None of these are helpful…so…where do we turn.
Let me suggest we turn to an unexpected place….to the donkey…a servant of Jesus…to learn what Palm Sunday is all about.
We turn here because, this animal can teach us a lot, because she is the creature who carries Christ into the world.
And this is what Palm Sunday is about: Carrying Christ into the world.
The donkey was a Christ-bearer, or a Christopher (derived from the Greek Christos combined with pherein “to bear, to carry”).
Corrie Ten Boom was a famous Christian whose testimony of suffering in Nazi concentration camps and God’s grace through it all touched millions of lives. She personally touched my life when I heard her speak at the old Met Center in Bloomington…as a Senior in High School.
The story is told about her…in a press conference following a ceremony in which Corrie Ten Boom was given an honorary degree, one of the reporters asked her if it was difficult remaining humble while hearing so much acclaim. She replied immediately, “Young man, when Jesus Christ rode into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday on the back of a donkey, and everyone was waving palm branches and throwing garments in the road and singing praises, do you think that for one moment it ever entered the head of that donkey that any of that was for him?” She continued, “If I can be the donkey on which Jesus Christ rides in his glory, I give him all the praise and all the honor.”
This is what Palm Sunday is all about!!!
It’s about recognizing that Palm Sunday is a day we are invited to claim the name Christopher (Christophera, feminine) as our own. By doing so, we commit to bearing Christ to the world.
Thus, learning from the donkey, “Being a Christopher” means: (from Timothy Merrill)…
• Serving Christ Faithfully and Humbly without caring who gets the glory.
• Following Christ’s direction; being willing to go where he wants to go, not demanding to go where we think we want to go.
• Not getting spooked by the crowds, the noise, the attention.
• Carrying Christ into “enemy” territory.
• Never asking Christ to “get off our backs.”
• Being willing to shed the “hero” image people wanted to pin on Jesus.
• Being obedient to the will of the One who holds the reins to this world and the next.
• Saying YES to the invitation of Jesus to do a particular kind of work, and to live out the Gospel of compassion, mercy, grace and justice.
Someone wrote a little piece speculating what might have happened to our donkey on Monday, the day after Palm Sunday.
The donkey awakened, his mind still savoring the afterglow of the most exciting day of his life. Never before had he felt such a rush of pleasure and pride.
He walked into town and found a group of people by the well. “I’ll show myself to them,” he thought. But they didn’t notice him. They went on drawing their water and paid him no mind.
“Throw your garments down,” he said expectantly. “Don’t you know who I am?” They just looked at him in amazement. Someone slapped him across the tail and ordered him to move.
“I don’t get it!” he muttered to himself. “I’ll just go to the market where the good people are. They will remember me.”
But the same thing happened. No one paid any attention to the donkey as he strutted down the main street in front of the market- place.
“The palm branches! Where are the palm branches!” he shouted. “Yesterday, you threw palm branches!” Hurt and confused, the donkey returned home to his mother.
“Foolish child,” she said gently. “Don’t you realize that without Christ, you are just an ordinary donkey?”
The author continues by writing:
Just like the donkey who carried Jesus in Jerusalem, we are most fulfilled when we are in the service of Jesus Christ. When we lift up Christ, however, we are no longer ordinary people, but key players in God’s plan to redeem the world.
Are we getting this…???
Mom’s and Dad’s, Grandpa’s and Grandma’s, brothers and sisters, neighbors, friends, and all.
This afternoon when you gather to eat dinner together…and when someone asks you, “What is Palm Sunday all about?” now you have ONE solid answer you can give.
Palm Sunday is about our being Christopher’s…Christ Bearers to our world.
And, this is far from new! In “Our Daily Bread devotional” dated March 24, 2001, the author writes:
A missionary in China calls herself “the Lord’s donkey.” She’s a humble believer, “carrying” her Lord faithfully into town after town and training others to do likewise. The Lord has need of many such “donkeys” in today’s world, humble people who will carry Him into their Jerusalem and make Him known.
And this author then reminds us:
The donkey had to be untied before Jesus could use it. We too must be untied…released from our attachments for us to serve Christ.
Are we willing to be the Lord’s servant…donkey?
Today, If you are looking for some CONCRETE ways to be Christopher’s…
Look no farther than our bulletin. There you will find opportunities galore…
Still have room for 8 Christopher’s to join the crew packing food on April 30th…
And, of course…you can look into your everyday world…where God has placed you for hours at a time…there you will find opportunities galore to be Christophers:
Consider:
One day an “executive” was walking past one of the offices at her workplace. She glanced in and saw a young woman sitting at her desk, crying. The executive went in to see if she could help. “Nothing’s that bad,” she said. “Tell me about it.”
The younger woman explained: “My mother died about a month ago. Just this past weekend I became engaged. We’ve planned a June wedding…and now I don’t have a mom to share this with me.” “Oh yes you do,” said the older. “I’ll be your mother!”
And that day, an incredible friendship was born—all because one person saw two things: a hurting person and a place she could be a Christopher…a bearer of Christ.
What is Palm Sunday all about? I trust you can answer today…
Palm Sunday is not about US…it’s about CHRIST…and it’s about our being CHRISTOPHERS for Christ…
Today, and every day that we are given breath!!
St. Paul writes in our lesson today from Philippians 2:
Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death— even death on a cross.
What is this Mind we’re to have?
It’s the Mind of a Christopher!! AMEN.
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