Palm Sunday at Epiphany on April 5, 2009

Mark 11:1-10 As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples, ² saying to them, "Go to the village ahead of you, and just as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. ³ If anyone asks you, 'Why are you doing this?' tell him, 'The Lord needs it and will send it back here shortly.'" ⁴ They went and found a colt outside in the street, tied at a doorway. As they untied it, ⁵ some people standing there asked, "What are you doing, untying that colt?" ⁶ They answered as Jesus had told them to, and the people let them go. ⁷ When they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks over it, he sat on it. ⁸ Many people spread their cloaks on the road, while others spread branches they had cut in the fields. ⁹ Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted, "Hosanna!" "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" ¹⁰ "Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!" "Hosanna in the highest!"

Holy War!

Jihad. Holy war. Up until about eight years ago, you probably didn’t know that word. But now you do. Now you know it well. It is not just a word. It is a reality. And hearing it probably sends chills down your spine. Because it is used by those who say they are fighting for god. It used by those who take up weapons of war and murder in order to make their god the king of this world. It is used by those who see the war for supremacy as a war that they fight for god.

That is their jihad. Today, and all this week, we hear about the real jihad. The real holy war. It is not a war that we fight for God, but that God fights for us. A war fought not with conventional weapons, but with spiritual weapons against a spiritual foe. St. Paul said, “Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” (Eph 6:12)

On His way to the cross Jesus said, “Now the ruler of this world is cast out.” (John 12:31) Jesus’ death is the exorcism of the world. He casts out the devil by the power of His own death. The reign of the Liar is ended. The roaring lion is declawed. The ancient serpent is defanged. The seven-headed dragon is hurled down. The reason the Son of God appeared in the flesh was to destroy the works of the devil. (1 John 3:8)

Because this holy war is against unconventional opponents, it was fought with an unconventional weapon. With a weapon that looked more like defeat than victory – a cross. Victory doesn’t come by putting our foe on that cross, but by our King being nailed to it – only after He is first betrayed, denied, tried, convicted, beaten, and humiliated.

Does that jihad send chills down your spine? It should. Perhaps it has become too familiar to us. That’s why it is important that we enter this Holy Week to again hear and remember. To hear and remember not just the work of our Savior, but the love of our Savior. For this jihad is not fought out of hatred, but out of love. We call this Sunday not only Palm Sunday but the Sunday of the Passion. During Lent we read the Passion History of our Lord leading to the Passion of His crucifixion. There we see God’s complete passion for us – His obsessive, driven love that causes Him to come and fight for us. To come and live as us. To come and die for us. For this is a holy war only He could fight – a holy war only He could win. A holy war fought by the Holy One, so that we who are unholy might be made holy.

You know that ... and so the question is: why do we keep trying to fight this war? Why do we think we can win this war of holiness, with our own strength, our own wisdom, our own efforts, our own weapons? Thinking that we can conquer our sin, if only we try hard enough. Thinking that we can build the Church, if only we use the right methods. Thinking that we can get out of our financial dilemmas, our marital mess, our addictive wreckage on our own – if only we work harder and pray harder. Thinking we can change the immorality of our nation by electing the right politicians or endorsing the right laws. Just like the crowds that welcomed Jesus that day into Jerusalem, with visions of worldly grandeur and political success.

God does want you to join Him in this fight for faith. We are not to be wholly passive spectators. But if you want to fight in this holy war, you must use His weapon, not yours; His method, not yours; His way, not yours. And what is that? St. Paul told us: “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 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!”

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this holy war is still one that is fought for us. It’s not that Jesus did His part back then, and now it’s up to us to do our part now. No. If we are to fight, it is still Jesus fighting for us. He is with us in the valley against the giant. He is with us in the fiery furnace. He is with us in the lions’ den. He is the pillar of fire between us and our enemies. If we are to win, it is still Jesus’ victory for us. And so we fight not by rising up, but by making ourselves nothing, by serving, by surrendering, by humbling ourselves, and yes, even by dying for others. By giving up our life, our time, our energy, our efforts, our money, our prayers, our will, for others. Very unconventional weapons aren’t they? That’s like going into battle against a giant carrying only a sling and five smooth stones or against the mighty Midianites carrying only torches and clay jars or toppling the tremendous walls of Jericho by marching and shouting. All of these are unconventional weapons, aren’t they? But that’s what it means to have the mind of Christ. 

And that’s hard, isn’t it? It’s much easier to wield the conventional weapons of our own power and wisdom and strength. Our anger and temper and indignation. Our reason and arguments and politics. They look stronger. They work faster. They are more tangible. They make more sense to us. To have the mind of Christ goes against the norm. It doesn’t come naturally.

Before this jihad can be fought by us, it must first be fought in us – continually fought in us. For us who are unholy in sin. For us whose very nature opposes God at every turn. For us whose sin is like a weed that no matter how many times you pull it, you just cannot kill. For us who like to fix our eyes on ourselves instead of on Christ.

Our Savior comes to us, not just on Palm Sunday, but He comes riding to us in the humble and lowly waters of Baptism. This is a victorious jihad every time a sinner is given new life, washed clean from the inside out and given faith. For in those waters the devil is exorcised and the ground of another heart is claimed for the Lord.

Our Savior comes to us, riding in the humble and lowly words of Scripture. This is a victorious jihad every time those words take root and grow in our hearts, bear fruit and work in us to confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. In those words the devil is dispossessed and the ground of another mind is claimed for the Lord.

Our Savior comes to us, riding in the humble and lowly words of forgiveness. This is a victorious jihad every time we fall on our knees in repentance and those words of life lift us up, cheer us up and give hope for our soul. In those words the devil is driven out and the ground of another will is claimed for the Lord.

Our Savior comes to us, riding in the humble and lowly bread and wine of the Lord’s Supper. This is a victorious jihad every time we eat His broken body and drink His shed blood, as Christ comes to us individually, personally, tangibly with forgiveness, strength and new life. In that meal the devil is purged and the ground of another life is claimed for the Lord.

Our Savior comes to us. Jesus is not the Savior of the salvageable, the Redeemer of the redeemable, the Light for the enlightened, or the Lord of those who have the good fortune to be born into the right religion. He’s the Savior, Redeemer, Light, Lord of the world, the universe, the cosmos. He comes for all. Not some. Not the chosen few. All. The good, the bad, the ugly. Everyone from Adam and Eve to the last child born on the last day. He comes in His humble manger birth. He comes riding a humble, lowly donkey. He comes on a humble, rugged cross. He comes from a bright resurrection grave. He comes from the powerful right hand of God. He comes amid glorious, blaring trumpets. He comes for you. He comes for me. He comes for all.

And so still today, as on the cross, the war is being won. By our God who comes and fights for us. If you don’t see it or feel it, that doesn’t mean it isn’t real. The devil, who has been stripped of his power in our Savior’s victorious jihad, now wants to deceive you into thinking the news of his defeat was premature. Just look around in our world and in you – at all the evil, all the sin, all the strife, all the death – who is really the victorious one? It looks as if the devil is winning. But this is the devil’s last gasp, his last grasp at victory, so he’s not pulling any punches.

It looked at is the devil was winning on Good Friday too, when Jesus breathed His last. But as Jesus took His last gasp of breath, He grasped victory away from the devil. With His last breath, Jesus breathed new life into this world of sin. Jesus defeated Satan using our foe’s most fearsome weapon against him – using death to defeat death. Then Jesus opened the tombs of the dead saints, He opened His tomb, and He opens your tomb in victory. The peace and life of Easter morning signals that the jihad was over.

Now our Lord is giving that victory of the cross through His Church. Through you. Do you see evil in the world? It is an opportunity for you to fight, by forgiving. Do you see strife? It is an opportunity for you to fight, by serving. Do you see fear? It is an opportunity for you to fight, by giving Christ’s message of hope. Do you see struggles? It is an opportunity for you to fight, by worshiping in God’s house. Do you see death? It is an opportunity for you to fight, by proclaiming the victory of the cross. Do you see hatred? It is an opportunity for you to fight, by loving. And in these lowly, humble, and despised ways, to have the mind of Christ, and be imitators of Him. For still in these ways, He is winning the jihad, bringing His holiness and life to an unholy and dead world.

It was a mild October afternoon in 1982 and Badger Stadium in Madison was packed. Over 60,000 die-hard UW fans were watching their beloved football team take a beating by Michigan State. However, it seemed odd that as the score became more and more lopsided, bursts of cheers and applause kept being heard in the stands. Some people naturally wondered who these strange people were who were cheering while their team was being pummeled. Well, seventy miles away from Badger stadium, the Milwaukee Brewers were beating the St. Louis Cardinals in game three of the World Series. Many of the Badger fans in the stands were listening to portable radios and responding to something else besides what was happening right in front of their eyes.

This is an accurate description of what the Christian life is like. We might be in the midst of horrible circumstances in this world and yet we have something to cheer about. We see by faith the victory that is really ours in Christ.

That is what this week is all about, this Holy Week, this Passion Week. “The King of glory comes; the nation rejoices.” (CW: 363) The King comes for you. In His passionate, obsessive, driven love. On the last day when every knee bows and every tongue confesses, we will join in welcoming Jesus Christ as Lord to the glory of the Father by shouting, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” The Holy War is won! Amen.