Saint Luke Ev. Lutheran Church of Watertown

Sermon delivered by Pastor Anthony E. Schultz

Palm Sunday, March 24, 2002 Zechariah 9:9,10

Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. I will take away the chariots from Ephraim and the war-horses from Jerusalem, and the battle bow will be broken. He will proclaim peace to the nations. His rule will extend from sea to sea and from the river to the ends of the earth.

People of God—rescued from the flaming lake of fire in hell by the innocent blood of the very Lamb of God:

What kind of world do we live in? There is a little grocery store in Lowell, Massachusetts. They have one of those little express lanes—8 items or less! That—I think is pretty simple—8 items or less means 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 objects from the shelves of the grocery store that you wish to purchase. 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 parcels—8 pieces of food or shampoo or paper towel. They can be really small—like boxes of toothpicks or huge things like 8 50-pound packages of puppy kibble. The critical factor is the number 8. If you have 2 or 3 or 4 or 5 of the same thing—they count as 5—not one because they are all the same thing! Well—the other day a woman went through the 8 items or less lane—with—you guessed it—9 things. That’s one item too many. You reach critical mass when you go just one item over the limit. Express isn’t express when it says 8 or less and you mush 9 items through. Well, the next customer—the next woman counted her neighbor’s groceries and realized—alas, too late—her neighbor was over the limit! She mentioned this in no uncertain terms—calling the woman ahead of her a stupid head—in even less kind terms. The 9 item in the 8-limit lane lady remarked about the physical beauty and innate intelligence of her neighbor. You want to take this out into the parking lot? Yeah, I do came the response. The next think you know—the woman who started by pointing out her neighbor’s excess item finished by actually pounding her neighbor senseless—pounding her unconscious! That’s horrible! That’s wrong! That’s a sin! And you know what I think is even worse? The next day on talk radio other neighbors called in to say they applauded the lady who pounded—physically pummeled her neighbor for one item over the limit! That’s scary. That’s sinful. That’s wrong! This Sunday we are again reminded of the wonder of God’s amazing grace. It was for sinners like that woman with express lane rage—and for sinners like me and like you—who have lost our temper that Jesus came to die. It is for people who are all kind and gentle and thoughtful and careful—that the gentle King rode into Jerusalem to suffer and die. It was for sinners as terrible as I am—that Jesus came to die. Today we bow down before Jesus.

Jesus Is The King of Hearts!

1. Jesus brings forever forgiveness.

2. Jesus brings forever peace.

The part of God’s Word we are concentrating on this morning is part of the scroll of the prophet Zechariah. What does that mean to you—the scroll of the prophet Zechariah? Do you remember that Zechariah preached God’s Word the same time as Haggai? Does that help—Haggai and Zechariah preaching God’s Word to God’s people at the same time? We need to do our homework this Palm Sunday. God’s people came home from captivity in far off Babylon. They came back to a land that had been neglected for 70 years. That’s a long time. If you have ever had the unenviable task of cleaning out the house after a relative has died—a relative who was maybe even in their 80s or 90s and lived pretty much by themselves—maybe they couldn’t clean and keep house like they wished they could. When you come in to clean out the house—it’s hard work—just from a few years. Imagine if the whole community was without people. A terrible war—hand-to-hand combat and you are defeated and taken away into captivity. Coming back to Jerusalem—you were maybe born in Babylon—50 years old—you had never been to Jerusalem! 70 years of nobody—absolutely nobody cutting the grass or washing the floor or getting the cobwebs out of the corners! It’s hard to imagine! And then there was the most precious work of all—or at least it was supposed to be—rebuilding the House of the LORD! How did the work go? To be sure—the work started out well. Back to the fatherland the people made a good start—but a good start is only half the battle. Even more important than a good start—is the God-given determination to keep on working—to endure and persevere and finish the work! God’s Word says, “But many of the older priests and Levites and family heads, who had seen the former temple, wept aloud when they saw the foundation of this temple being laid, while many others shouted for joy. No one could distinguish the sound of the shouts of joy from the sound of weeping, because the people made so much noise.” Ezra 3:12,13 If you read about this in The People’s Bible Commentary it says you can’t explain all this crying by saying the people were really sad remembering the grief they had endured the past 50 years. There has to be more to it. It says this sadness “was no doubt occasioned chiefly by the sight of the miserable circumstances under which the congregation took this work in hand.” The work dragged on and on and on. It dragged on and didn’t get finished. Haggai tells us why. “It wasn’t that there were enemies and frustrations to the plan for rebuilding…it was sin, not the Samaritans, that kept God’s house unfinished.” The people were more interested in their own houses than in God’s house. Faithful men of God preached, “Build God’s house!” It’s not that the LORD—the one whom Heaven and earth cannot contain was waiting homeless for people to finish dry-walling and painting and carpeting a modest split-level house so he could move in. It’s a matter of values—a matter of priorities. It’s the problem of no room in the inn of our hearts!

If everyone who belongs to Saint Luke’s came to church for the same service—our building could be three times this big—and it wouldn’t be big enough to hold everyone! If everyone who could come to Sunday School showed up on one Sunday—we wouldn’t have near enough room for everyone. If everyone who could come to our Day School enrolled—we would need a lot more room and a lot more teachers. If everyone who could come to adult Bible Class did—we would need more than twice this church worship area to hold them all! Imagine how wonderful that would be. If everyone would bring just one friend—just one neighbor—just one relative to meet Jesus we would need more than twice the space we have. You see—we need to do construction work in our hearts—and then it would be simple—to get more concrete and lumber and dry wall and paint and carpet! When was the last time we brought a friend to meet Jesus? Last week? Last month? Last year? We can’t remember the last time? You can invite friends to Brewer games and the Brewers lose. You can invite friends out to a fish fry and the place is smoky and the wait is for hours—and the fish is cold and the cole slaw is soggy and the French fries are wilted! You can invite friends to a Packers game and the B team shows up and they complete more touch down passes to the other guys and to our guys and the Bears win! You can go to the movies where the reviews are two thumbs way up—and it’s a dud! But bring your neighbor to church and they will learn the way to heaven for Jesus’ sake. They will be reminded again and again that God is love. What wondrous love the Father has lavished on us that we should be called the children of God. And that is what we are! You can bring your neighbor to church—a neighbor who is tormented by guilt and blame and regret and remorse. And they will hear—this is how we set our hearts at ease when our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our heart. He knows everything. Jesus knows we are forgiven because Jesus is the one who has—thats pluperfect--past tense—with results that go on and on into the future. Jesus has forgiven us!

God’s Word says, “Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem!” The LORD—the great I AM is talking to you and to me. You don’t need Jewish relatives who came to America—not through New York, the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island but through Toronto and then down into Wisconsin. You don’t need to wear a yarmulke. You don’t need to be a mommy who knows how to light two candles at the supper table to begin the Sabbath—lighting them—then gathering the warmth and light to your heart. You don’t have to avoid shrimp and ham and keep the juice from your cottage cheese from bumping into your pot roast. Remember what Jesus said of Zacchaeus—here is indeed a child of Abraham! Jesus was not saying here is someone incredibly Jewish—blood and genetics and DNA-wise. Jesus was saying—here is someone with the faith of Abraham. A faith that so trusted the Gospel word and promises of God—that Abraham had in his heart sacrificed his son—his only son Isaac—the son he loved—believing that the LORD could raise his son Isaac from the dead. We are the daughters of Zion—the daughters of Jerusalem—the children of God. We trust the Gospel promises of God—that Jesus is our only Savior from sin!

See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. Jesus is righteous. He never ever did anything wrong! He isn’t just nice—really, really nice. He is flawless—without sin! Jesus became sin for us—that we might be made the righteousness of God. I read the other day about a paramedic in Denver named Otis. Otis was driving his 5-ton paramedic truck two Christmases ago—driving it really fast when he lost control and went skidding. Otis was at the wheel when his ambulance ran over a 19-year-old girl named Virginia. Otis said he saw the fear and the sadness in her eyes just before he hit her. That was two Christmases ago—and still—every time he puts on the siren he sees her eyes. Every time he sees something in the corner of his eyes—as he is driving his ambulance through the streets of Denver—a bird flying—a child on the sidewalk—a car starting into the intersection then stopping—he gets a flash of Virginia’s eyes. He is haunted—absolutely haunted by guilt. Do you know how that feels? Do you know the pain of that mental videotape that runs over and over again and again—play and rewind—play and rewind? Do you know guilt and regret and remorse? The carpenter who rode down the mount of olives—into Jerusalem came there to die—to wash away all your sins—no matter how many times the devil tries to make you sad and ashamed and afraid. Jesus is your righteousness!

He will proclaim peace! Shalom! Peace! It is a most precious gift that Jesus gives us. We live in a mixed up messed up world. I heard the other day about a man in Las Vegas who was playing a slot machine when he hit the jackpot! I don’t mean an ice cream pail full of quarters I mean a jackpot of $10,000! The man was so excited he had a heart attack. He died right there. And somebody else stole the money. I heard the other day about a car crash—a terrible accident. A man stopped to try and help. He got out and tried to direct traffic around the crash so no one else would get hurt. And while he was directing traffic—somebody stole his car! I heard the other day about a movie star who had his car stolen—an antique Porsche! It was worth $180,000! “Was” being the operative word. They found his car parked in a pond—leather seats soaked in pond water! I heard the other day about a little grandpa who died. This little grandpa used to go out to eat all the time—pancakes or eggs and toast for breakfast. Soup and sandwiches for lunch—meatloaf or pot roast and potatoes and gravy for supper. In his will this grandpa left a tip--$2,500 to each of the 10 waitresses who always waited on him. What an unexpected inheritance—but nothing compared to the forever inheritance of Heaven which Jesus gave to you and to me. The King rode into Jerusalem—to bless us—not with jackpots or cars or currency. Jesus has blessed us with a place in Heaven. That’s the forever love of Jesus—the King of Hearts. Amen!