Palm Sunday 2018

+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti + Amen.

Text: Mark 11:9
Theme: Expectations!

Dear friends in Christ Jesus,

“Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!”1 He comes not in self-importance or in pomp and circumstance. He comes as the One “Who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death- even death on a cross!”2 He comes out of concern for every human soul. He comes because He must.

Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey. It was hardly a regal entrance. He had no kingly retinue. Still, a long trail of miracles, signs, and wonders attended Him. He was locally famous. His miracles were incontestable. Herod wanted to see one and some Jewish leaders tried to attribute them to demonic power. On different occasions His disciples and the crowds had witnessed Him elude arrest and capture by the authorities. He did so not by hiding out, or by a show of force, but through the mystery of His divine elusiveness. Peter cut off Malchus’s ear in the Garden of Gethsemane, but Jesus told him to sheathe His sword3. The time had come for the Son of Man to be glorified. His kingdom would not be bound to earth’s dimensions of time and space. Spiritual wars are not won in the same way physical wars are.

Palm Sunday primes us for the contrast and harmony between expectation and fulfillment. The peaks and valleys of Holy Week were extraordinary for the followers of Jesus of Nazareth. Hope, joy, doubt, fear, disappointment, grief, despair, surprise, astonishment, rapture, and elation are some of the emotions that filled the hearts and minds of those who witnessed the journey. The moment of truth was at hand. What would happen with this itinerant preacher from Galilee? On Palm Sunday expectations were high, by Good Friday they were all but dashed.

Expectations are something that must be managed throughout life. It’s healthy to regularly assess whether our handling of expectations is reasonable and godly. What are our expectations of God? What are our expectations of others? What are our expectations of ourselves? And what are these expectations based on? Now, it should come as no surprise to anyone that expectations are frequently unreasonable, misguided, and uninformed. Nor should it be surprising that expectations are often biased towards the one who anticipates a certain outcome. Owning this truth is to do nothing more than confess our own self-centredness; an obligation for honest Christians.


The starting point is, of course, our relationship with the God who comes to us in the person of Jesus and through the power of the Holy Spirit. Many First Century followers of Jesus expected Him to institute a kingdom generally in line with their preconceived ideas. Instead, He accomplished something different but much more significant. All of our expectations in life will be fatally skewed if we don’t understand that Jesus came because we are sinners. The coming King calls us to repentance with good reason and we should expect nothing else.

Our knowledge of our own sinfulness would end badly if we didn’t also know that God doesn’t leave to fend for ourselves. We can expect that God is being true to His word when His Spirit opens our hearts to the promises of the gospel. The Bible says, “No matter how many promises God has made, they are ‘Yes’ in Christ.”4 Maturity in life involves managing expectations in a godly way whether trivial matters are at stake or big issues are on the agenda. How do we react when our expectations aren’t met?

Two police officers in nearby towns set up separate ‘speed traps’ near their respective public schools one Saturday afternoon. In line with statistical averages both expected to nab a certain number of offenders over a four-hour period. Both knew a sporting event was taking place in the one town and expected celebrations to go on well into the night. The first policeman, in the town where the event was held, was surprised to catch only one offender. The second was even more surprised to note nearly every second person racing past the limit. The reason was due to an approaching hailstorm. The locals had a short trip to shelter. The others were desperate to reach their garages in the next town. Expectations of both officers were blown.

When He sees fit, God completely disregards the law of averages too. He blows our expectations out of the water. He can calm the storm, heal the sick, and raise the dead. God can cure cancer completely. But He might also choose to send it into remission or let it run its course. God can bring someone unharmed through an horrific accident, but He might also bring them to the day of judgment. In every case He is being just and holy even when we can’t see it. And God never acts inconsistently with His will as revealed in the Scriptures. We need not speculate about God’s opinion regarding anything to do with our ultimate welfare. We have it in His word.

Hopeful and expectant people waved palm branches and spread their cloaks on the road to welcome their Messiah into Jerusalem. By the end of the week He would be fixed like a criminal to that gruesome instrument of Roman retribution known as a cross. The people of Jerusalem cheered hosanna as He entered their city. It’s a plea meaning ‘Lord, please save us.” Hosanna is not part of the language of our age. Yet the truth it expresses is timeless. We might learn to find substitutes for biblical words like hosanna. Luther would be the first to say that God’s word must be made available to people in their language. But he would also be the first to insist the message itself not be changed. Cultures and societies will always be in a state of flux, but the unchanging Word of God transforms individuals within societies of every age. A ‘gospel’ that’s changed by the culture is no longer the gospel. We should expect that people of faith see the world from a different perspective and think, speak, and act accordingly.

Dear friends, the gospel doesn’t mean God has lowered His expectations of us. His will for us to live selfless, sacrificial lives doesn’t change. The gospel doesn’t mean that God has discounted the significance of sin. There is no schedule of depreciation for the cost of sin. The good news of Jesus’ sacrificial death is that the heavenly Father makes no concessions at all. He doesn’t lower His expectations. Christ meets them all. We are valued, freed, and forgiven, God’s incomprehensible mercy is the reason and nothing else. We are justified by grace, not by any efforts or accomplishments.

Jesus once referred to His passion as a baptism. He asked James and John (who were eager to share in His glory), “are you able…to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?”5 The baptism of water and the Spirit that believers receive would be without power or lasting effect had Jesus not undergone His baptism of fire. Rejoice, sisters and brothers! Your baptism is vested with the strength and blessing of Jesus’ own passion and resurrection. You have forgiveness. You are at peace with God. In prosperity or adversity, you can be certain that Jesus has gone to prepare a place for you6. He gives you, even now, a foretaste of the banquet to come when you receive His body and blood in the Lord’s Supper. It is manna from above.

Remember, Jesus came to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. It was a special celebration of reflection and thanksgiving for God’s deliverance from slavery and subsequent gifting of the Promised Land. The angel of death passed over the homes of the Israelites marked with Lamb’s blood7. It’s no coincide that Jesus will now facilitate a new and greater deliverance at this time. Dear friends, what good is it for anyone to have their temporal life spared if their soul is lost for eternity? Christ comes to deliver from eternal death, hell, and damnation. Could there be a better reason to join the refrain, saying, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!”8 Amen.


+ In nomine Jesu +

Fifth Sunday In Lent
18 March 2018
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt


1 Mark 11:9 2 Philippians 2:6-8
3 See John 18:9-10 4 2 Corinthians 1:20
5 Mark 10:38 6 See John 14:3
7 See Exodus 12:23 8 Mark 11:9