Psalm 69:33 reads: “For the LORD hears the needy and does not despise His own people who are prisoners.”
Not many of us have that experience of being locked up in a place, but I want you to sit back and ponder how we are prisoners of a different sort. Consider these chains that bind. Pain still felt from the past, of when you were made to feel bad, stupid, or small. Prisoner of self-hatred, bound by a warped self-image. Doing time in a superficial relationship, with solitary confinement of feeling lonely and unloved, but vowing you’ll never be rejected again. Held captive by the fear of the future. Shattered dreams of the past confine you to play it safe, not realizing your true giftedness or potential.
Some of us are prisoners of our perfectionism in trying to measure up to some invisible standard, trying to break out by our looks or performance. Some of us are inmates within dysfunctional families, trying to earn some semblance of peace with good behavior. Some of us are imprisoned by how we look, the color of our skin, how we talk, or where we came from.
We are all prisoners in one way or another, and that’s the bridge which draws us together with those pilgrims flowing into Jerusalem. Passover is about being set free from our prisons. If so, someone has to be the liberator. Someone needs to break us out.
Jesus is your liberator. He initiates His triumphal entry into Jerusalem, as pilgrims arrive singing: “Save us we pray, O LORD! (Ps 118:25)” Jesus sends two disciples to retrieve a donkey and her colt. Mathew is inspired to see the connection to the prophet Zechariah: “Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey. (Mt 21:5)” The crowds go before, and follow after Jesus, laying before Him cloaks and palm branches, all the while proclaiming: “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! (Mt 21:9)”
To a city swelling to six times its normal size, among 180,000 people – “What’s the buzz?” People are asking this inescapable question: “Who is this? (Mt 21:10)” Only to hear again and again, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee. (Mt 21:11)”
Jesus orchestrates His triumphal entry. He knows the city is flooded with pilgrims. He knows what Passover is all about. He knows how they feel imprisoned, either by Rome or their shame. But, He does not comply (nor gets absorbed into) the crowd dynamic? He’s in Jerusalem at that point in history to truly answer the question “Who is this?”
Jesus chose to live up to His name. He wanted to live up to His purpose. Aside from being the lowly King riding into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey. Aside from being the Prophet who would speak of the kingdom of God with signs and wonders. Jesus became the Priest who would sacrifice His life. When the tide did turn. When reception became rejection. When He chose not to use His power and influence immediately and at that moment.
What did your liberator do? Death passed over you and onto Him, when He died in your place. Life passed from Him onto you, when He rose from the grave. He baptized you into His death and resurrection. You are sealed by the Holy Spirit who is the guarantee of your eternal inheritance (Eph 1:13-14). You are special, unique, loved, and chosen. Your heavenly Father, your Creator, looks on you through the blood of His Son, and you are accepted as a child of God.
That is why we sing: “Hosanna! (save us). That He did and continues to do. Jesus broke us out of our prisons. He freed us from where we were incarcerated. We are no longer bound in solitary confinement. He saved us in desperate need for peace with God, peace with ourselves, and peace with one another. •
— By Pastor Neil Stern
Grace Lutheran, Edmonton AB
A portion of his sermon from Palm Sunday March 24th.