Written by Gordon McPhee

                                                Luke 19:28-40                     

In the Palm of His Hand

SCRIPTURE:  Philippians 2:5-11

Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn’t claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death—and the worst kind of death at that—a crucifixion.

Because of that obedience, God lifted him high and honoured him far beyond anyone or anything, ever, so that all created beings in heaven and on earth—even those long ago dead and buried—will bow in worship before this Jesus Christ, and call out in praise that he is the Master of all, to the glorious honour of God the Father.

INTRODUCTION:

Welcome to, officially, Palm Passion Sunday. What we will do this morning is more like a Morning Prayer Family Service Palm Sunday. The reason for this begins during Vatican II in the early 60’s when the Catholic Church recognized that modern parishioners were skipping most of the Holy Week services that portrayed the Passion of Christ and so were eating a steady diet of Palm Sunday followed by Easter Sunday celebration cake and not experiencing the real meat of the passion and death of Jesus played out in services on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday along with others. So Palm Sunday became Palm-Passion Sunday, and the celebratory Palm portion became a brief processional commencement to the rest of the service, which involved the reading of a complete passion narrative and contemplation of Jesus' sufferings, which traditionally would have been reserved for the weekly services leading up to Easter Sunday. The Anglican Church acknowledged this as a good idea and followed suit along with many other conservative denominations.

However, I think Palm Sunday and its message are too pivotal in the story of Christ to be relegated to a prelude. The earliest indications of Palm Sunday celebrations in the church date back to the 4th century CE, and I’m not comfortable rearranging 1,700 years of tradition for a sixty-some-odd-year-old bright idea. So today, we’re celebrating Palm Sunday, and I’ll simply trust that under your own recognizance, you’ll expose yourselves to the Passion of Christ Jesus before next Sunday.

So after the announcements and opening song, as is usual in a family service, we’ll follow the Liturgy of the Palms as it is on pages 297-299 in the Book of Alternative Services, which will include a procession around the church, which I think I need to lead, waving a palm leaf in one hand and holding a hymn book in the other while singing all five verses of hymn number 181 “All Glory Laud and Honour.” This is not for the faint of heart nor mobility challenged, but I warmly urge and invite all who are able to join me as I can assure you I will need all the support, help, and guidance you can provide.

Again, a hearty welcome to Palm Sunday 2025.

SERMON:

I suppose if I’m going to insist that we treat today as Palm Sunday, the celebration of Jesus triumphal entry into Jerusalem in all the pomp and glory of a king, cloaks and palm branches strewn across the road leading to the gates of the city, riding on a donkey, the symbol of royalty, then I should be talking to you about this morning’s Gospel reading from Luke 19:28-40. But, alas, I’m not. I saw something instead in our reading of Paul’s letter to the church at Philippi, which I think is important to dwell on when contemplating, as we are meant to do today, the divine, kingly nature of Jesus Christ. We are to “Think of [ourselves] the way Christ Jesus thought of himself” (Phil 2:5). “Well!” you say, “That’s not hard to do; we’re supposed to be like Jesus, to follow in his footsteps, to be Christians.”

However, as Paul so often is want to do, he carries on to amplify what he means. It is crucial for our understanding of Jesus as king entering into Jerusalem, as prisoner led to be crucified, and as risen Lord victorious over death. Paul sets as the foundation underlying all that Jesus accomplished and, by association, what it means for us to “Think of [ourselves] the way Christ Jesus thought of himself,” and that is obedience.

In the first paragraph of this reading, Paul walks us down a horrific journey that most of us would characterize as complete and utter failure and despair. Yet, this road is the path of Jesus, and Paul tells us it was an obedient life. This completely contradicts everything we are told as good Christian parishioners. If we are faithful and pious and come to church regularly, doing deeds of kindness and charity, caring for the needs of others, and walking in that straight and narrow path that leads to heaven, won’t we be blessed? If we are obedient to what we have been shown is the truth, will we not have peace and joy and our needs met? After all, the Good Shepherd looks after us.

But listen carefully to what happened to Jesus. He started with “equal status with God,” which is Paul’s testimony, and we faithfully confess this in the Apostles Creed every Sunday. As I say in the sermon title, he had it all: “In the Palm of his Hand.” However, Paul attests he “didn’t think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what.”

Would any of us be so magnanimous with the achievements of our lives? We look at all we have, all we’ve worked hard to accumulate and acquire, and our response appropriately is thankfulness to God, recognizing that much is a matter of God’s providence and could have been far different. We are grateful, but is it possible we think so much of ourselves that we cling to these advantages of status no matter what? But before you go home, sell all you have, and enter a monastery, let’s continue with Paul’s story.

Paul wants us to think of ourselves as Jesus thought of himself, so let’s keep that focus. Jesus didn’t cling to the advantages of his status as equal with God, but “When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human!” The two things I want you to remember here are that it was his choice, his volition, to set aside his divine status, and it was at a specific time. We might say, for a particular purpose and occasion.

That occasion was to become human and remain human, as he is today, although in a transcendent form of this human body and nature, which Paul, in profound understatement, says was an “incredibly humbling process.” God, who created humanity, became human. And more, he “didn’t claim special privileges,” entering the world as the child of an Emperor but as a lowly carpenter from the backwaters of Galilee. One might suppose that growing up experiencing all the frailties of a child and the humbling status of a Jew in the Roman Empire would suffice. Still, Paul continues that after living a selfless and obedient life, he dies the worst kind of death, a crucifixion.

This is a bad to worse to even worse than that to as bad as it gets story. Paul is telling us that this is what Jesus chose because the time had come. However, and this is the part we all like, “Because of that obedience, God lifted him high and honoured him far beyond anyone or anything, ever, so that all created beings in heaven and on earth—even those long ago dead and buried—will bow in worship before this Jesus Christ, and call out in praise that he is the Master of all.”

We love the Palm Sunday part of Paul’s message, Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey honoured as the arriving Messiah and King. Paul puts this at the end, after the crucifixion. The celebration of the Palms isn’t a foreshadowing of Jesus' glory to come, a promise that he will be raised. It is before the crucifixion. It is a reminder of where he is coming from so we can contemplate and consider all that the King of kings and Lord of lords, God Almighty, of one substance with the Father, through whom all things were made, voluntarily set aside to become human.

In the sermon title, I’m playing on the English homonym ‘palm.’ It refers to the palm of your hand, but also I’m alluding to Palm Sunday. What Jesus did that Paul is writing about was not cling to the advantages of his status. If you cling to something, you must make a closed fist with your hand. You can only see the palm if you open your hand and let go. At the time established in history for the conception of the incarnate Messiah, Jesus was obedient because his hand was open, his palm exposed as he did not cling to the amazing, immeasurable advantages and status of his being with the Father.

Can we think of ourselves in that way? This Palm Sunday can we open our hands, yes, thanking and praising God for all the glorious blessings he bestows but then opening our palms and letting them go. Not grasping onto our status as blessed children of God and not thinking so much of ourselves that we cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. But even as we walk with Jesus in that blessed palm-strewn road into Jerusalem, may our palms be open so that we are always and, in every way, ready to be obedient to whatever God calls us to do.

Karl Marx held that the possession of things was the great evil in the world and that all suffering resulted from the vying for the power of ownership. And I would venture to suggest he wasn’t far wrong except that, even like Jesus, possessing a status equal to God is not wrong, but also, like Jesus, we must possess our status as blessed children of God and all his blessings to us, with open palms, so that our hearts are always, like Jesus’ was, ready to obey and do all he asks of us when the time comes.

God bless us as we enter this Holy Week and remember all Jesus did for us in willing and ready obedience to his Father and now, because of the cross, ours.

Amen