Palm Sunday

Luke 19:28-40

Do you have faith to get in?

I wonder if some of you have heard of a man named Blondin? He lived in 19th-century
and was a French acrobat most famous for crossing the Niagara Falls on a tightrope.
But he didn’t just walk across. Blondin was always looking for more exciting ways to
cross the rope, which was 1,100 feet long, 3 inches wide and 160 feet above the
raging waters…
Sometimes he did it blindfolded.
Sometimes he did it on stilts.
Sometimes he did it carrying his manager on his back.
Sometimes he would sit down half way along and cook himself an omelette on a
small stove.
The crowds would flock to see him; half of them wanting to watch him succeed in
these incredible feats and half of them, as perverse as us humans are, wanting to
see the drama of him plunging into the icy waters below.
Eventually, Blondin came up with a new idea for crossing the Falls – pushing a
wheelbarrow. And one day, as the crowds pushed and shoved to get a better view,
Blondin said to them “How many of you believe that I can push this wheelbarrow over
with someone sitting in it?” A gasp went round the crowd and dozens of people put
there hands up and cheered him on. So Blondin went over to a young man who’s
hand was in the air and said, “If you believe I can do it, do you have enough faith in
me to get in the wheelbarrow? The young man gave some thought to it – and, of
course, graciously declined!
But the question Blondin posed to the young man is the same question which
Jesus poses to each one of us today. And it’s a question which, because we know
the outcome of the story, is especially relevant to this Palm Sunday crowd as well.
Jesus says to us – and no doubt this question was in his mind on Palm Sunday –
“You say you believe in me. But are you prepared to put your faith in me? Are you
prepared to go all the way with me?”
Faith and belief are two quite different things. It’s one thing to believe that Jesus
is the Son of God, the Messiah for whom we’ve been waiting. It’s quite another thing
for us to put our faith in him and put our lives into his hands. But that’s the question
he asks of us this morning and that’s what he demands of us if we truly want to be
the disciples of Christ. To respond to Christ means to offer a wholehearted response
to give all that we have, all that we are, over to him.
But if we are sensible, we will want to think through exactly why we should give
our lives over to Jesus. It’s not something we do rashly and without thought. Jesus
told us to think very carefully before becoming his disciple: he warned against
starting to build a tower that we couldn’t finish. He told us to weigh up the costs of
discipleship before embarking on the way of faith.
So what is it about Jesus that attracts us to him as our Lord and Saviour? There
are many answers to that but this passage suggests three characteristics in
particular that draw us in faith to Jesus Christ…

Jesus was a man of courage

You may have seen the film, Braveheart about the Scottish freedom fighter William
Wallace at the time of Robert the Bruce and the Scottish struggle in the face of the
tyranny of the English. And Wallace is an incredible character, quite rightly known as
Braveheart for the way in which he shows such courage in the face of personal cost.
And the most important part of the film for that is right at the end where Wallace is
hung, drawn, and quartered for his rebellion against the English. He’s given the
opportunity to recant but he chooses instead to face a painful death in the name of
Freedom rather than court popularity and personal safety.

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 And there’s something very powerful in his decision to die for the truth. There is
something very attractive about courage: it’s a wonderful quality, one of the most
admired qualities in humanity. There’s an Italian proverb which says, “It’s better to
live one day as a lion than a hundred years as a sheep.” And this Palm Sunday story
shows us the Brave-heart, the Lion-heart, of Jesus of Nazareth…
Jesus knew full well that he was entering a hostile city. Yes, the crowds were
enthusiastic at the time but Jesus knew that the authorities hated him and that they
had sworn to eliminate him. That being the case for most people, we would have
been a little more secretive in entering the city – slipping in under the cover of night
or perhaps coming in by the back gate.
But Jesus wasn’t like that…
He entered Jerusalem in the most public way possible, putting himself in the
spotlight at the centre of the stage. And the rest of Easter week, he carried on in the
same vein: every act he carried out was an act of defiance and challenge against the
spiritual and political authorities. Jesus throws down the gauntlet to them in a way
they can never ignore.
And it was that characteristic of courage that so attracted people to him. Courage
can never be ignored. We can walk away from it in disgust or we can respond
positively to it but it never allows us to be neutral…
And the most challenging aspect of it for us is that Jesus says, if we want to be
true disciples of his, then we need to show similar courage too. We need to
challenge political and religious injustice where we see it by not being afraid to speak
out when required. We need to be proud to be known as Christians and to stand up
for the Gospel even in the most trying circumstances.
Jesus – the man of courage – was attractive to those who knew him and his
courage attracts us too.

Jesus was a man with a claim

Over the next few weeks before the General Election, we are going to be inundated
with claims and promises from every side as politicians try to curry favour with the
electorate and win our votes on Polling Day. And, of course, we may well become
distrustful of some of the claims that are being made: politicians promising too much,
far more than they can possibly deliver.
Well, no promise or claim from any of the politicians can ever compare with the
claim that Jesus made on Palm Sunday. The actions of Jesus on this day say it all…
He didn’t claim to be a good man.
He didn’t claim to be a miracle-worker.
He didn’t claim to be one more in a long line of prophets.
Jesus made an altogether different claim – a unique claim to be God’s Messiah:
the Anointed One.
Many years previously, Zechariah had prophesied about this day. He had
prophesied about how the Jewish Messiah would ride into Jerusalem on a donkey
and claim the city for his own. And here is Jesus fulfilling that prophecy in every
detail and the crowd knew it, which is why they all cried out, “Hosanna to the Son of
David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
And this claim to be the Messiah is absolutely central to our faith. It is a non-
negotiable fact. There are many people in this country who will concede that Jesus is
a good man but no more than that. There are many people who think of him as a
great worker of miracles but no more than that. There are many more who think of
Jesus as being the next in a long line of prophets but no more than that.
But as we look closely at the life of Jesus, these views are untenable. How could
anyone have achieved what Jesus did and just be a good man? How could anyone
claim for himself what Jesus did and just be a prophet? C.S. Lewis said that there is
no scope for thinking of Jesus as just a good man or a prophet because for anyone
to claim to be the Messiah and the Son of God, they must either be the Messiah and

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the Son of God or someone suffering from some sort of mental illness. He is either
who he says he is or he is not. Jesus makes a claim about himself that we must
wrestle with: either to accept or reject but certainly not to ignore…

Jesus is a man with great appeal

An appeal to the heart is not easily forgotten. We know that through events as Band
Aid; still remembered 25 years later. We know that through our memories of the
parents of Madeline McCann. So many other examples could be given: an appeal to
the heart is not easily forgotten.
And, as we picture the sight of Jesus entering Jerusalem on a donkey, we realise
afresh that this is not an image to be acknowledged in our heads only. It’s an image
that burns deep within our hearts too. The image we are confronted with is not that of
a violent man coming to do battle or an angry social revolutionary intent on
destroying the social order. The image we are confronted with is an image of a man
of peace. The donkey was a great symbol of peace and, by using that to enter
Jerusalem, Jesus appeals to our hearts.
He lets us know that he has not come to destroy but to love. He has not come to
condemn us but to help us. He doesn’t come in the strength of battle but in the
strength of love.
Jesus, on this Palm Sunday, appeals to our hearts, not our heads and he wants
us to open our hearts up to him. Not just to believe in him – like Blondin’s crowds
believed he could do that tightrope walk – but to give ourselves over to him in faith; to
hand our lives over to him in complete trust and submission.

What is our response?

Jesus is the man who compels us to draw near. He is a man of courage that we can’t
ignore. He is a man with a great claim; to be the Messiah, the Son of God. He is a
man with a great appeal; not just to acknowledge him with our heads but with our
hearts also.
For the first Palm Sunday crowd, this would be their last opportunity to respond to
Jesus. We know how the story ends. We know how they failed to embrace their
Messiah. And the same responsibility lies with us this morning – to embrace Jesus;
his courage, his claim, his appeal and to respond accordingly.
Let none of us stay with the Palm Sunday crowd this Easter but let’s walk with
Jesus to the Cross of Calvary and stay with him until Easter morning and experience
the joy of resurrection as God’s promise in our own lives.

Amen.