Triumphant Journey
April 13, 2025 Palm/Passion Sunday
Ladue Chapel Presbyterian Church
Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29Luke 19:28-44
“Triumphant Journey”
Melissa K. Smith
On your mark, get set, go!
These words are said at the starting line - the beginning of a race. For onlookers, spectators, or those who have never participated in a race, the starting line looks like the place where the race begins. And while the starting line may very well be the start of the race, it is not the beginning of the race - the beginning of the race more likely came when you registered or decided you would run.
Before the race there is preparation - building up endurance, regular training, and mentally preparing. Depending on the race, it can be an incredibly rigorous process! But for those of us who only watch the race from the starting line, we can hardly appreciate the dedication and hard work that truly began before the athlete stepped up to hear the words, “On your mark, get set, go!”
The moment the athlete takes their first step, the immediate thought is “who is winning? Who is going to win?” and we look at the race from the viewpoint of the finish line, causing us to be in danger of missing the journey it actually takes to get there.
Palm Sunday is the starting line of Holy Week - it is the day we celebrate Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem. It is the day we wave palm branches in the air, we proclaim shouts of praise, and we say jubilantly, “Hosanna! Hosanna in the Highest! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
It is too easy to step up to the starting line of Holy Week and get swept up in the chanting, cheering crowd, that we forget the journey, the ministry, it took to get here.
Luke was intentional with his interpretation of the Gospel. He utilizes geography to help build to the climax of the Gospel, building to the entry into Jerusalem, Jesus’ passion, death, and resurrection.
At the beginning of this morning’s passage, we are made aware that Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem. But throughout the Gospel we are told that Jesus is journeying there.
In Luke 9, just after the transfiguration, we read, “When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.” In chapter 13 we are again made aware that Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem continues: “Jesus went through one town and village after another, teaching as he made his way to Jerusalem.” And in chapter 17 we are again reminded of Jesus’ trajectory: “On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee.”
By the time we get to the Triumphant Entry – the celebration of Jesus making it to Palm Sunday – it could be easy to consider this the finish line of his journey. But that is by far not the case – Jesus’ earthly ministry according to Luke does not end until his ascension into heaven in Acts chapter 1. What Palm Sunday, the celebration of the triumphant entry, gives us is a starting line to Holy Week, a starting line to the journey to the cross that acknowledges and is necessitated by the life, ministry, and journey that took place before.
Jesus healed. He taught. He lifted up the marginalized and the oppressed. He condemned the Pharisees. He called disciples to follow him. As we get to Holy Week, as we join the chanting, cheering, dizzy crowd, we cannot lose sight of who Jesus is and what he did in his life and ministry to get to Jerusalem.
On your mark, get set, go. Jesus has been on a long, three-year journey of robust ministry that challenges the status quo and lifts up the oppressed. This Jesus, who now is on the cusp of reaching Jerusalem, is stepping into his identity as Messiah, King, and Lord.
As Jesus nears Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, he sends two disciples ahead to get a colt. He has the foreknowledge to know exactly how the conversation would happen. Jesus says, “Go into the village ahead of you, and as you enter it you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ just say this, ‘The Lord needs it.’” Jesus is identifying himself as Lord and knows exactly how the conversation will play out. We see Jesus’ sovereignty and power as he knows this little interaction – making his lament at the end of our passage all the more significant.
As he gets on the colt in a way that signifies he is king, as he steps into the messianic symbolism, and as he stands on the Mount where he was transfigured, where he will ascend into heaven, and where we see now more clearly the fulfillment of his passion, Jesus laments. He says, while speaking over Jerusalem before he enters the city, “If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. Indeed, the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up ramparts around you and surround you, and hem you in on every side. They will crush you to the ground, you and your children within you, and they will not leave within you one stone upon another; because you did not recognize the time of your visitation from God.”
Jesus knows what he is about to walk into. The crowd doesn’t. They don’t know that their shouts of praise and their loud hosannas will turn into piercing cries of “crucify him!” by the end of the week. But Jesus knows. And he still moves on, stepping boldly from this new starting line into the journey to the cross.
James R. Edwards, a New Testament scholar says, “Jesus is not unaware of the storm clouds gathering before him, nor is he an unwilling victim of them. Rather, he possesses foreknowledge and sovereignty over all that “must” transpire in Jerusalem.”
Jesus boldly moves forward. His eyes are set on the cross. He knows he will be betrayed. He knows he will be tortured. He knows he will be crucified. And yet he moves on. He enters the city on the colt, surrounded by cheers saying, “Hosanna! Save us!” His journey, his trajectory, will lead to salvation. But not how the crowds expected, and not without sacrifice.
As we sang earlier, “Lest we be fooled because our hearts have surged with passing praise, remind us, God, as this week starts where Christ has fixed his gaze.”
It is good and right to praise Jesus Christ. It is good and right to celebrate him as the Messiah, the Lord. It is good and right to celebrate all that he has done for us. But we cannot get swept up in the cheering of Palm Sunday and then jump to the celebration of Resurrection Sunday, effectively skipping from the starting line to the finish line. Honor and remember the journey.
Paul writes in Philippians 2, “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 in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death – even death on a cross.”
Jesus goes before us, and it is through his death and resurrection that we are saved. Will you follow Jesus? Will you follow Jesus knowing that the trajectory to life means setting our eyes and journey toward the cross?
The joy of the resurrection makes absolutely no sense without recognizing and remembering the death on Good Friday. The chanting and cheering of Palm Sunday is a mockery if we do not remember where Jesus was heading and if we forget that the same voices who cheered Hosanna are the voices who cried, “Crucify.”
Let us follow Jesus to the cross. Let us shout hosanna knowing how it is that Jesus came to save. Let us recognize Jesus’ obedience and his incredible love for us.
Today is a starting line. But don’t forget the journey it took to get here. The Resurrection is the finish line of Holy Week, but do not forget the journey it took to get there.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
Ladue Chapel Presbyterian Church
Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29Luke 19:28-44
“Triumphant Journey”
Melissa K. Smith
On your mark, get set, go!
These words are said at the starting line - the beginning of a race. For onlookers, spectators, or those who have never participated in a race, the starting line looks like the place where the race begins. And while the starting line may very well be the start of the race, it is not the beginning of the race - the beginning of the race more likely came when you registered or decided you would run.
Before the race there is preparation - building up endurance, regular training, and mentally preparing. Depending on the race, it can be an incredibly rigorous process! But for those of us who only watch the race from the starting line, we can hardly appreciate the dedication and hard work that truly began before the athlete stepped up to hear the words, “On your mark, get set, go!”
The moment the athlete takes their first step, the immediate thought is “who is winning? Who is going to win?” and we look at the race from the viewpoint of the finish line, causing us to be in danger of missing the journey it actually takes to get there.
Palm Sunday is the starting line of Holy Week - it is the day we celebrate Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem. It is the day we wave palm branches in the air, we proclaim shouts of praise, and we say jubilantly, “Hosanna! Hosanna in the Highest! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
It is too easy to step up to the starting line of Holy Week and get swept up in the chanting, cheering crowd, that we forget the journey, the ministry, it took to get here.
Luke was intentional with his interpretation of the Gospel. He utilizes geography to help build to the climax of the Gospel, building to the entry into Jerusalem, Jesus’ passion, death, and resurrection.
At the beginning of this morning’s passage, we are made aware that Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem. But throughout the Gospel we are told that Jesus is journeying there.
In Luke 9, just after the transfiguration, we read, “When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.” In chapter 13 we are again made aware that Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem continues: “Jesus went through one town and village after another, teaching as he made his way to Jerusalem.” And in chapter 17 we are again reminded of Jesus’ trajectory: “On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee.”
By the time we get to the Triumphant Entry – the celebration of Jesus making it to Palm Sunday – it could be easy to consider this the finish line of his journey. But that is by far not the case – Jesus’ earthly ministry according to Luke does not end until his ascension into heaven in Acts chapter 1. What Palm Sunday, the celebration of the triumphant entry, gives us is a starting line to Holy Week, a starting line to the journey to the cross that acknowledges and is necessitated by the life, ministry, and journey that took place before.
Jesus healed. He taught. He lifted up the marginalized and the oppressed. He condemned the Pharisees. He called disciples to follow him. As we get to Holy Week, as we join the chanting, cheering, dizzy crowd, we cannot lose sight of who Jesus is and what he did in his life and ministry to get to Jerusalem.
On your mark, get set, go. Jesus has been on a long, three-year journey of robust ministry that challenges the status quo and lifts up the oppressed. This Jesus, who now is on the cusp of reaching Jerusalem, is stepping into his identity as Messiah, King, and Lord.
As Jesus nears Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, he sends two disciples ahead to get a colt. He has the foreknowledge to know exactly how the conversation would happen. Jesus says, “Go into the village ahead of you, and as you enter it you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ just say this, ‘The Lord needs it.’” Jesus is identifying himself as Lord and knows exactly how the conversation will play out. We see Jesus’ sovereignty and power as he knows this little interaction – making his lament at the end of our passage all the more significant.
As he gets on the colt in a way that signifies he is king, as he steps into the messianic symbolism, and as he stands on the Mount where he was transfigured, where he will ascend into heaven, and where we see now more clearly the fulfillment of his passion, Jesus laments. He says, while speaking over Jerusalem before he enters the city, “If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. Indeed, the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up ramparts around you and surround you, and hem you in on every side. They will crush you to the ground, you and your children within you, and they will not leave within you one stone upon another; because you did not recognize the time of your visitation from God.”
Jesus knows what he is about to walk into. The crowd doesn’t. They don’t know that their shouts of praise and their loud hosannas will turn into piercing cries of “crucify him!” by the end of the week. But Jesus knows. And he still moves on, stepping boldly from this new starting line into the journey to the cross.
James R. Edwards, a New Testament scholar says, “Jesus is not unaware of the storm clouds gathering before him, nor is he an unwilling victim of them. Rather, he possesses foreknowledge and sovereignty over all that “must” transpire in Jerusalem.”
Jesus boldly moves forward. His eyes are set on the cross. He knows he will be betrayed. He knows he will be tortured. He knows he will be crucified. And yet he moves on. He enters the city on the colt, surrounded by cheers saying, “Hosanna! Save us!” His journey, his trajectory, will lead to salvation. But not how the crowds expected, and not without sacrifice.
As we sang earlier, “Lest we be fooled because our hearts have surged with passing praise, remind us, God, as this week starts where Christ has fixed his gaze.”
It is good and right to praise Jesus Christ. It is good and right to celebrate him as the Messiah, the Lord. It is good and right to celebrate all that he has done for us. But we cannot get swept up in the cheering of Palm Sunday and then jump to the celebration of Resurrection Sunday, effectively skipping from the starting line to the finish line. Honor and remember the journey.
Paul writes in Philippians 2, “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 in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death – even death on a cross.”
Jesus goes before us, and it is through his death and resurrection that we are saved. Will you follow Jesus? Will you follow Jesus knowing that the trajectory to life means setting our eyes and journey toward the cross?
The joy of the resurrection makes absolutely no sense without recognizing and remembering the death on Good Friday. The chanting and cheering of Palm Sunday is a mockery if we do not remember where Jesus was heading and if we forget that the same voices who cheered Hosanna are the voices who cried, “Crucify.”
Let us follow Jesus to the cross. Let us shout hosanna knowing how it is that Jesus came to save. Let us recognize Jesus’ obedience and his incredible love for us.
Today is a starting line. But don’t forget the journey it took to get here. The Resurrection is the finish line of Holy Week, but do not forget the journey it took to get there.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
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