"Palm Sunday and the Humble Power of God"

Text: Zechariah 9:9-14

"Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen." (1 Timothy 1:17)

Dear Fellow Christians:

What would be your initial reaction to an announcement that we will begin this morning with a brief history of the country that is today known as Great Britain? Most would no doubt greet such news with a furrowed brow and an unspoken, "Why?" Though our national roots can still be traced from that part of the world, most of us remain woefully ignorant of its history. Nor, for the most part, do we seem to care. In fact I have little doubt that most here today would consider any such discussion rather irrelevant. It is anything but, as we shall see. The challenge, of course, is in identifying how the history of Great Britain in any way applies to the event we celebrate on this day, Palm Sunday.

Though we often despise the Romans for their treatment of the Messiah and for their persecution of the early Church, God surely used their military power as a crowbar to pry open the pagan world for the expansion of the Christian faith. In fact while Paul and the other Apostles were reaching out to the relatively civilized cities around the Mediterranean Sea, Julius Caesar was busy with a military conquest of wild, pagan Britain. Yet with all of their military might, Rome was either unwilling or unable to subdue the ferociously brutal northern tribes, and so settled into an occupation and development of the southern two-thirds of the Island – protected from their northern enemies by Hadrian's Wall. (Constructed from 122-130 AD) Yet what Rome was unable to do with arms, Christianity did with words, for missionaries boldly went where Rome's legions could not, and Christianity was established rather quickly in both Scotland and in what is today Ireland.

By 410 the Romans had withdrawn, and the Britons again ruled England. Their control was not to last. Emboldened by their success against Rome, Germanic speaking Angles and Saxons crossed the English Channel and occupied most of the former Roman territory and held it for some 500 years until Danish (Viking) raiders conquered and settled all but the rich south. Though essentially driven out by the Saxons under Alfred the Great and his successors, many Danes remained and were assimilated, leaving England with a distinctly Scandinavian element to their culture. Saxon domination lasted until the French-Norman invasion of William the Conqueror in 1066. The Normans, having annihilated the defending Saxon army at the Battle of Hastings, never left. English blood lines became a mixture of Briton, Anglo-Saxon (Germanic), Scandinavian, and Norman (French).

Yet throughout all of the brutality and bloodletting, one thing remained and thrived – the very thing that the vast majority of those early pagan warriors despised as weak and impotent – Christianity. Throughout the centuries, conquerors rose and fell. Mighty armies were assembled and slaughtered. The only thing that not only survived but flourished was the Christian faith – that humble, impotent, weakling religion that was so despised especially by those who trusted in their own force of arms. Christianity in fact became the national religion that eventually bound together that multicultural society we today know as Great Britain. Should we care? Absolutely, since it was the work of the gospel in this area that later insured that our own great nation would be founded as a Christian nation – the benefits of which cannot be overestimated. We should also care because this bit of history teaches us something about the true nature of the power of God still today.

With this bit of history and insight we turn back the clock to the days of Zechariah the Prophet and the prophecy that forms our text for this morning – a text that speaks of the rare and unique power of God that not only conquered the unconquerable civilizations of old, but that will one day be recognized as the very power of the one true God. That text is found in the Ninth Chapter of the Book of Zechariah:

Zechariah 9:9-14 "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, lowly and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey. ¹⁰ I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the horse from Jerusalem; the battle bow shall be cut off. He shall speak peace to the nations; His dominion shall be 'from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.' ¹¹ " As for you also, because of the blood of your covenant, I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit. ¹² Return to the stronghold, you prisoners of hope. Even today I declare that I will restore double to you. ¹³ For I have bent Judah, My bow, fitted the bow with Ephraim, and raised up your sons, O Zion, against your sons, O Greece, and made you like the sword of a mighty man." ¹⁴ Then the LORD will be seen over them, and His arrow will go forth like lightning. The Lord GOD will blow the trumpet, and go with whirlwinds from the south.

So far the words of our Palm Sunday text. These words speak of a power that surpasses human understanding and wisdom, and this morning we pray that our God would use that same power to instruct and strengthen us as we pray: “Sanctify us through your truth, O Lord. Your word is truth.” Amen.

When the earliest pagan Saxon and Viking raiders invaded Britain, they relished the thought of doing battle against a king and a people that trusted in a God of peace. Odin, their pagan war-god, would certainly prevail over any such weakness. Odin and his pagan followers are no more; the God of peace remains. Had those pagan invaders known the lessons of history, they would have known that it has ever been thus. Brutal men have always misjudged reality based on the near-sighted evidence that the battle always goes to the fiercest, most brutal warrior. In the short term, the God of Peace often allows some measure of success to the wicked, but all are eventually brought to nothing.

Zechariah spoke of such things in our text for this morning, and did so from a most unique perspective. Zechariah had witnessed the impossible. Not only did he witness the fall of the mighty Babylonian Empire, he lived to see the return of the Jewish exiles to the Promised Land. To understand how rare an occurrence that was, we need only consider the fate of the Northern Tribes which, having rejected their God, had simply ceased to exist. This was the normal fate of a people as thoroughly and utterly defeated as the Jews in Judah. Books would be needed to list all of the tribes and peoples that simply ceased to exist following a military defeat. Against all odds the Jews were spared, and Zechariah surely understood that there could be only one possible explanation: the God of Israel had preserved the Jews because of his Great Promise. God had promised to send the Savior through the Jewish nation, and he had preserved a remnant of that Jewish nation to fulfill his promise.

One of the things that is so striking about that preservation is that God accomplished it without military might of any kind. The Jews in captivity had no military might. In fact God made that which appeared impossible to the unbelieving world of that or any other day look relatively easy. The Jews were captives, exiles, little more than slaves, yet they survived. Though you will find no Assyrians, or Babylonians, or even Romans alive today, there certainly are more than a few Jews.

Zechariah had witnessed this miraculous deliverance and had no trouble giving all credit to the One True God. In our text he describes the unique character of God's power in a day and age where men must have ridiculed such thoughts. Clearly the first part of our text was a prophecy concerning the events of this day – Palm Sunday: "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, lowly and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey." While clearly a reference to Jesus' entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday at the start of Holy Week, these words also describe that aspect of God's power that makes it so unique, so different. God's power is most often altogether humble in appearance and unimposing in character – a much different sort of power than that which is recognized by the brutal, might-makes-right world around us.

Zechariah goes on to elaborate on this unique truth when he says, "I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the horse from Jerusalem; the battle bow shall be cut off. He shall speak peace to the nations." Note well the radical departure from the norm here. One would expect that any divine promise of deliverance would include the pledge of military power and prowess and the slaughter of defeated enemies, yet God here speaks of peace.

This was, in fact, the sort of King that we see entering Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, isn't it? It is the sort of King that puzzled the Roman Governor Pilate – amused him actually – for Jesus was (to Pilate's eyes) so obviously lacking in any of the outward trapping most often associated with rulership and power as to make him laughable. Herod had the same impression, mocking what he saw as Jesus' pathetic claims to royalty by clothing him in a purple robe and kneeling before him in a derisive demonstration of false honor.

These men understood only the vicious, merciless sort of power coveted by earthly kings, and therefore missed the true, life-giving power of the King of kings. What they despised in Jesus was the very thing that has always been despised by the world, and always will be despised by the world until the very end. Man has blinded himself to the fact that there is a power much greater than that which can be seen, despite the fact that God's unique power has always won out in the end. We therefore today can read these words from Zechariah in our text and recognize without doubt that they refer to Jesus and the power of the gospel to "more than conquer" God's enemies: For I have bent Judah, My bow, fitted the bow with Ephraim, and raised up your sons, O Zion, against your sons, O Greece, and made you like the sword of a mighty man." ¹⁴ Then the LORD will be seen over them, and His arrow will go forth like lightning. The Lord GOD will blow the trumpet, and go with whirlwinds from the south." Jesus is the arrow and his Word is the sword, and the world will never know any great power.

So then you and I today hear of this humble sort of authority, we see our Lord riding into Jerusalem in such a lowly demonstration of humility, and what is our reaction? Obviously we would agree that this humble Lord is in fact our Savior God, in whom dwells all the fullness of the Godhead in bodily form. And you and I would be right. But that is the sort of answer that is easy to give here in the comfort and security of God's house as we hear God's Word. It is not so easy when circumstances change.

Who, for example, hasn't experienced that momentary (or prolonged?) bout of shame at the apparent weakness of the Christian faith to triumph instantly over evil here on earth? Who here hasn't felt the sting when faced with the condescending, humiliating scorn reserved for those who truly believe and live their Christian faith? To put it another way, who hasn't longed for some sort of a raw demonstration of power to prove the divine nature of our religion?

We are reminded again this morning that Christianity does not work that way. It is the still, small voice. It is the quiet, unassuming, relentless force that accomplishes God's will in less than obvious ways – mysteriously and beyond comprehension by the world around us. It is therefore a power that is recognized only by faith in the faithful, and will forever be despised by the devil, the world, and our own sinful flesh. We need to be reminded of this fact often, lest we join the ranks of the skeptics. So also it ought not surprise us that we have no record of anyone being converted by the triumphal entry of God's Son on Palm Sunday, but we are told that more than five thousand were brought to saving faith through Peter's simple law and gospel presentation on Pentecost. Therein is demonstrated the power of the living God among us.

While Palm Sunday reminds us that one day this subtle, quiet power will give way to the obvious and unimaginably glorious revelation of God's power on the Last Day, for now it remains a matter of faith. Doubt it not. Rejoice rather that God the Holy Spirit has used that power to bring you from death to life in the certain knowledge that Jesus Christ has won forgiveness for all of your sins, and has thereby written your name in the Book of Life. What no sword, no army could ever accomplish, God has brought about by that still, small voice – also in you.

Doubt it not. Rejoice rather that the power of God has conquered your heart, and reaffirm with the Apostle Paul: "I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes." Amen.

Scripture Readings and Sunday Bulletin for March 16, 2008

^NKJ Isaiah 50:4-9 " The Lord GOD has given Me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him who is weary. He awakens Me morning by morning, He awakens My ear to hear as the learned. ⁵ The Lord GOD has opened My ear; and I was not rebellious, nor did I turn away. ⁶ I gave My back to those who struck Me, and My cheeks to those who plucked out the beard; I did not hide My face from shame and spitting. ⁷ "For the Lord GOD will help Me; therefore I will not be disgraced; therefore I have set My face like a flint, and I know that I will not be ashamed. ⁸ He is near who justifies Me; who will contend with Me? Let us stand together. Who is My adversary? Let him come near Me. ⁹ Surely the Lord GOD will help Me; who is he who will condemn Me? Indeed they will all grow old like a garment; the moth will eat them up."

^NKJ John 12:31-41 "Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out. ³² "And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself." ³³ This He said, signifying by what death He would die. ³⁴ The people answered Him, "We have heard from the law that the Christ remains forever; and how can You say, 'The Son of Man must be lifted up'? Who is this Son of Man?" ³⁵ Then Jesus said to them, "A little while longer the light is with you. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you; he who walks in darkness does not know where he is going. ³⁶ ¶ "While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light." These things Jesus spoke, and departed, and was hidden from them. ³⁷ But although He had done so many signs before them, they did not believe in Him, ³⁸ that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke: "Lord, who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?" ³⁹ Therefore they could not believe, because Isaiah said again: ⁴⁰ "He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, Lest they should see with their eyes, Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, So that I should heal them." ⁴¹ These things Isaiah said when he saw His glory and spoke of Him.

^NKJ Zechariah 9:9-14 " Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, lowly and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey. ¹⁰ I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the horse from Jerusalem; the battle bow shall be cut off. He shall speak peace to the nations; His dominion shall be 'from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.' ¹¹ " As for you also, because of the blood of your covenant, I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit. ¹² Return to the stronghold, you prisoners of hope. Even today I declare that I will restore double to you. ¹³ For I have bent Judah, My bow, fitted the bow with Ephraim, and raised up your sons, O Zion, against your sons, O Greece, and made you like the sword of a mighty man." ¹⁴ Then the LORD will be seen over them, and His arrow will go forth like lightning. The Lord GOD will blow the trumpet, and go with whirlwinds from the south.

ST. PAUL EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH

2510 E. Divide Ave.

Bismarck, ND 58501 (701) 223-4885 Cell: (701) 425-5483

Website – www.bismarcklutheran.org

Mr. Mark Johnson, President (222-1855) Mrs. Eileen McEnroe, Organist

Michael Roehl, Pastor

Palm Sunday – March 16, 2008

The Opening Prayer by the Pastor

The Opening Hymn ‑#725- (Verses 1-3) (Brown Hymnal)

"No Tramp of Soldiers' Marching Feet"

The Order of Service – Supplement page 12ff. (Brown Hymnal)

The Scripture Lessons: (Printed on the back page of this bulletin)

The Old Testament Lesson: (Isaiah 50:4-9) The Book of the Prophet Isaiah is a rich source of prophecy concerning the coming Messiah. Jesus himself, along with the Holy Writers of the New Testament confirmed this fact by quoting and applying many of Isaiah's prophecies to Jesus as the Messiah. Our first lesson on this Palm Sunday foretold both the abuse that Jesus would suffer, together with his resolution to carry out the work of our salvation.

Psalm 146 (Page 41) (Brown Hymnal)

The New Testament Lesson: (John 12:31-41) Not only are the prophecies of Isaiah here applied to Jesus, Jesus himself testifies that he is the Light of the world – the world's Savior despite the fact that that world rejects him as such. Yet how amazing that Jesus completed his working even while knowing full well that so many would reject Him and his work of redemption.

The Confession of Faith ‑

The Apostolic Creed – page 15. (Brown Hymnal)

The Pre-Sermon Hymn ‑#162- (Red Hymnal)

"Ride On, Ride On In Majesty"

The Sermon – Text: Zechariah 9:9-14

"Palm Sunday and the Humble Power of God"

The Offertory – (Supplement page 16 insert)

The Post-Sermon Hymn ‑#161- (Red Hymnal)

"Hosanna, Loud Hosanna"

The Offering

The Prayers of the Day followed by the Lord's Prayer

The Benediction

The Closing Hymn ‑#725- (Verse 4) (Brown Hymnal)

"No Tramp of Soldiers' Marching Feet"

Silent Prayer

Attendance ‑ Last Sunday (46) 2008 Average (50) Wednesday (30)

This Week at St. Paul:

Today -10:00 a.m. – Worship Service

-11:00 a.m. – Fellowship Hour

Tuesday -7:00 p.m. – Church Council Meeting

Wednesday -6:00 p.m. – Confirmation and Bible History

Thursday -7:00 p.m. – Maundy Thursday Service

Friday -7:00 p.m. – Good Friday Service

Next Sunday -8:00 a.m. – Men's Easter Breakfast

-10:00 a.m. – Worship Service

-11:00 a.m. – Fellowship Hour

Holy Week Schedule – Please take note of the schedule for Holy Week, listed above. Note that there will be no Bible Class this Wednesday and no Bible Class or Sunday School next Sunday (Easter Sunday). Do, however, make plans to attend the annual Men's Breakfast, served by the men of the congregation from 8:00 to 9:30 on Easter morning, with the Easter service to follow. "Blessed are those who hear the Word of God and keep it."

Confirmation – Parents and students please note that this week's Confirmation class returns to its regular time, 6:00 p.m. Bible History students please contact Mr. Miller for your weekly schedule.

Special Voters' Meeting Resolution – At a congregational assembly last Sunday, the Voters approved the implementation of the Direct Contribution Program. Further details will be made available to those interested in simplifying their contributions.

Holy Communion Schedule for March – Holy Communion is scheduled to be offered here at St. Paul on Maundy Thursday, March 20^th. Private communion is always available from Pastor Roehl by appointment.

In Our Prayers – Pastor Thomas Schuetze, a former pastor of our sister congregation in Bowdle, remains hospitalized in the intensive care unit of a Coloma, MI hospital with influenza and pneumonia. Please remember Pastor Schuetze in your prayers.

Ruth Meier's Donations - The Women's Fellowship is collecting donations for the Ruth Meier's Hospitality House.  A list of suggested items needed is on the bulletin board and a collection box is set up in the kitchen. The collection ends March 31.