The Expectation

Mark 11:1-10

† In the name of Jesus †

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Murphy’s Law & Expectation

We begin a new church year today! Part of me, the analytical side, tells me I should have plans laid out for the new year. One-month plans, quarterly plans, and yearly plans. Maybe even start looking at 5 and 10 year plans, for certainly, 10 years from now, this town will be radically different that it is today. So will this church! Part of me wants to plan for it. I need to set out goals, and document the steps that will get us from where we are today. To an extent, I do plan some along this way, as we shall see over the next year. Yet another part of me, laughs a bit at the idea of making plans

Two things I know, if I lay down specific plans; the first is that a certain Mr. Murphy will show up, and invoke his laws on anything we plan. You all do know Mr. Murphy, and his infamous laws? Here they are,

1. Nothing is as easy as it looks,

2. Everything takes longer than it should,

3. And if anything can go wrong, it would, at the worst possible moment.

The second thing I know, is that God will do more than we can ever dream! I have usually found out, that while things do not go the way I anticipate, the result is far more incredible than I could ever dream. The funny thing, is that God so often, uses whatever dashes our expectations, and turns them into something so spectacular, something so beyond our expectations.

I can think of so many examples in my life, from what I expected to be as a pastor, to what I am now. I always dreamed what a congregation I would pastor would be like, and you guys are nothing like I pictured. Yet, conversations with both Pastor Strelow, and Pastor Neilsen this week, have confirmed one thing. That I have been blessed with being able to serve a congregation that loves God, and loves each other, like very few congregations in the world do.

I can think of more expectations in scripture, those of Abraham, those of Moses, those of Gideon, or King David. Those of the Apostles Peter and Paul, who never could have seen what they experienced coming – if they had, they would have run!

Yet God used what happened to them all, to His glory, and to their salvation.

No greater picture of expectations dashed, and fulfilled beyond imagination exists, than in today’s gospel lesson, and it is there, we shall see God’s glory, and love, for us.

… Hallelujah to the King

o Jesus acknowledges He is Lord

o Blessed is He that Comes in the Name of the Lord

o Let’s get on with it, and crown Him

o Uhh, not that way

Throughout the gospels, people wanted Jesus to admit He was, or at least that He thought He was, the Messiah. The chosen, anointed one of God, for that is what both Messiah means in Hebrew, and Christ means in Greek.

This day in today’s reading, is described in detail in all four gospels, and it is incredible. For Jesus, in saying, “the Lord needs it,” is making a claim, as He is, in entering the city of Jerusalem on a colt of a donkey. For such was prophesied in the Old Testament book of Zechariah, where it says,

⁹ Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. Zechariah 9:9 (ESV)

He is claiming, on the the day of the triumphal entry, His Messiahship. Jesus had often said to the apostles, to not reveal His role as Christ, until the proper time. Yet, here, in this passage, He acknowledges it, as clearly as if saying, “Yes, I am the King, I am the Messiah.”

He is the one blessed, and who comes in the name and authority of God the Father. The one of whom the Law and prophets spoke of, and whom, it was promised, would deliver Israel, make her free, a people incomparable. The people respond – by hosting an inaugurational parade!

Here is our King – Praise Him – praise the God who gave Him to us. What a blessing we have, for the Kingdom that God promised to King David, it is finally here! They had what someone from the south might term a “rip roaring time!”

Then a week later, they took their King, and killed Him, brutally, on a cross.

For He was, as the sign said above His head, in three languages, “the King of the Jews”.

Their expectations were comepletely dashed, and incredibly fulfilled, on that hot Friday afternoon, just five days after the parade.

… Save us, O King

… We are blessed, the Kingdom of David has come

… David’s Kingdom

… Again, God’s reference – not ours

… The Blood of the Covenant of Peace

… We proclaim it till He comes!

You see, there is something unique in that parade, that I never saw there before. These people were crying Hosanna! Hosanna!, Hosanna in the highest. Perhaps it is being overly familiar with those words, but I forgot they are a prayer, far more than a praise. It is a cry, a cry out to God. It literally means, Save us! We find it in Psalm 118,

²¹ I thank you that you have answered me and have become my salvation. ²² The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. ²³ This is the Lord's doing; it is marvelous in our eyes. ²⁴ This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. ²⁵ Save us, we pray, O Lord! ( that’s the Hosanna!) O Lord, we pray, give us success! ²⁶ Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! We bless you from the house of the Lord. Psalms 118:21-26 (ESV)

That is where this song of praise comes from! What an incredible praise, what an incredible prophecy. For the people do reject this coming King, and He does answer them, and provide for them, salvation, in His very death that they call for. They wanted a King and Savior, though they didn’t realize the cost.

He did. He knew, He planned it all, and on the day of the parade, He said, Yes, I am He.

It does not stop there either. Our gospel reading, by referring to the Kingdom of David, refers to a passage from Ezekiel, hear it now, as it describes the Kingdom of which Jesus rules.

²⁴ "My servant David shall be king over them, and they shall all have one shepherd. They shall walk in my rules and be careful to obey my statutes. ²⁵ They shall dwell in the land that I gave to my servant Jacob, where your fathers lived. They and their children and their children's children shall dwell there forever, and David my servant shall be their prince forever. ²⁶ I will make a covenant of peace with them. It shall be an everlasting covenant with them. And I will set them in their land and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in their midst forevermore. ²⁷ My dwelling place shall be with them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. ²⁸ Then the nations will know that I am the Lord who sanctifies Israel, when my sanctuary is in their midst forevermore." Ezekiel 37:24-28 (ESV)

This was the kind of Messiah that they were led to believe was coming, for them. A King of Kings, who shall have His people abide in their presence, forever. God the Father says, I will be their God, they will be my people, and does it, answering the cries for the people to save Him. He does in Christ, who is our prince forever!

A covenant is a contract, and God established one, with us forever. Forever will the people of God be in His presence,. Forever will their sins be forgiven. Forever, I will have saved them.

Such a covenant, is signed in the blood, as an assurance that the covenant would be fulfilled. Christ’s blood, spilled on that mountain outside of Jerusalem, signed the covenant of peace between the God and His people.

Moments from now, when the elder hands you the cup, after I have told you to take and eat, realize the importance of that cup, the Cup Jesus calls His blood, the blood of the new and everlasting covenant.

It is His answer, to our cries of Hosanna, our cries for God to save us.

And it is far more incredible than we could ever realize.

Drink it, and as Paul describes, proclaim His death, for you, until His second advent appears

And know the peace of God that passes all understanding, that guards your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus!