Introduction:

We've been working our way through John. The last couple weeks we've been looking at John 11, where we've heard the story of Lazarus being brought back to life, and then the big party thrown by his sisters in honor of Jesus. At the party, Mary pours out about $75,000 worth of intense perfume on Jesus' feet. As we looked at that story last week, we talked about life in terms of life being seen as an offering. We tied that to stewardship- we said that stewardship wasn't a matter of money; it's a matter of love of Christ and how we will invest our lives. Money has very little to do with it, but it is a reflection of how a life is being invested.

I) John Tells Palm Sunday Differently

You just heard our story, it's the story of Palm Sunday. Usually when we read this story, especially in Matthew, Mark and Luke, we think of a fickle crowd. We think of a crowd that loves Jesus, the conquering hero, but screams to have him killed a few days later.

But John tells the story differently. He introduces it in a very different way from Matthew, Mark and Luke. For them, the story happens as Jesus comes into Jerusalem, with no mention of the Lazarus episode nor of the party the day before. The party in John is the key thing- it's a party that goes on and on! Listen how it all fits together. Here's the introduction to our text last week:

John 12:1-3 Six days before the Passover, Jesus arrived at Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. [2] Here a dinner was given in Jesus' honor. Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him. [3] Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus' feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

John goes on: John 12:9, 12-13 Meanwhile a large crowd of Jews found out that Jesus was there and came, not only because of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead... [12] The next day the great crowd that had come for the Feast heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. [13] They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting, "Hosanna!" "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" "Blessed is the King of Israel!"

And listen to the connection to this at the end of our text:

John 12:17-18 Now the crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to spread the word. [18] Many people, because they had heard that he had given this miraculous sign, went out to meet him.

To sum it up- Mary and Martha throw a party; Mary pours out the perfume; a huge crowd gathers; (12:12) They shout the Messianic greeting from Psalm 118: 25-26. For John, Palm Sunday is a continuation of the party!

John presents Palm Sunday very differently from the other three Gospels. In John, Jesus is not losing control. This is the Jesus who says in John 10:17-18: The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life--only to take it up again. [18] No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father."

II) The Party Rolls On

And these people are genuinely praising him. It's a continuation of the party! They were responding to what they had seen and heard. It's a very different way to look at Palm Sunday from how I normally look at it, based on the other three Gospels.

Remember when the Twins won the World Series back in '87? We attended the celebration at the State Capitol. We even took first grader John out of school, and Tim out of pre-school just to see this thing. At that time we thought it might be a once-in-a-lifetime event! Little did we know the Twins would win it again in '91 and '03!

I never saw such an excited crowd. More than a hundred thousand people all standing out in the cold autumn wind to catch a tiny glimpse of the Twins. All those people took the day off! They laid down their jobs, setting their schedules aside, just to cheer. They laid down their normal day, and maybe a day's pay, just to be there. Electricity filled the crowd, and everybody was so very, very elated. They were genuinely excited about what the Twins had done, and cheered together for their team and a Minnesota that finally could be a winner.

The party began the day the Twins won, and continued as the motorcade drove from Minneapolis to St. Paul a couple days later. The party kept rolling on. Some of that same emotion probably filled the people who cheered Jesus' Messianic entry into Jerusalem. They laid everything down.

It's interesting how they respond. They take palm branches and lay down their clothes, probably their only clothes, to make things clean and appropriate for the King. They are laying down a royal red carpet from the best they have on hand. It's a spontaneous outpouring of love, of worship, of surrender and of stewardship. This crowd knew the leaders had tried to kill Jesus. They knew they were facing the wrath of both the Jewish leaders and the Roman rulers. They were very close to insurrection. Romans didn't like riots. But these people didn't care. They were laying everything down. The party rolled on.

These folks had been a part of the sequence of watching Lazarus raised from the dead; they had witnessed the immeasurable outpouring of love by Mary. They formed this spontaneous parade as Jesus heads into Jerusalem on the route the Messiah was to take. They shout verses from Psalm 118:

[25] O LORD, save us; (Hosanna! -only place in Bible is Psa. 118) O LORD, grant us success. [26] Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD. From the house of the LORD we bless you. [27] The LORD is God, and he has made his light shine upon us. (Light of the World!)

With boughs in hand, (palm branches!) join in the festal procession up to the horns of the altar. (Jesus went to the temple to clean it out, according to the other Gospels.)

[28] You are my God, (Divinity!) and I will give you thanks; you are my God, and I will exalt you. (Now we're into worship mode!)

[29] Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love (chesed) endures forever.

That's Messiah talk. They knew what they were doing. They laid down their safety, their coats, their futures, all that they were to worship Jesus.

III) How do we Apply it?

If Palm Sunday is the story of real people showing real devotion- then we need to link Mary's outpouring with their act of laying everything down. They were laying down not only their coats, but their lives as well. They laid down everything. That's the response of a heart that's met Jesus.

Mary's act of selflessness had created a like response in hundreds of people. As she poured out all that she had, lives and hearts were touched. The spontaneous outpouring headed right down the hill to the Temple. Their act of worship was laying it all down. That's what hearts do who have really met Jesus.

That's the response of faith. That's what faith is all about. It's life as worship. It's not dabbling. Christianity isn't a hobby. Christianity isn't one more leisure time activity. It means to lay down your life and receive it again as a new life, with new joy, new priorities, a new sense of purpose, and a new call to do God's vocation. It means to lay down your life as worship.

But the call comes through the laying of it all down. From Elisha who hears the call of God while plowing and lays down the plow in the field; to David the shepherd boy who lays down his shepherd's staff to be anointed king; to Peter, James and John who lay down their nets to follow Jesus; that's the same call Gloria Sauck heard, and next thing you know she's in Kenya- that same call comes to you.

Mary, Martha and Lazarus laid it all down, too, but they God seems to have called them to carry on with their lives, living life and glorifying God. They followed Jesus, as did thousands of others who heard the preaching of Peter, John and Paul.

But they heard the same call to lay down their lives.

That's the old, old call. That's the point of freedom. That's the response of faith. That's the response of worship.

This is what we talked about last week as well- life as an offering. The call to be a believer is to be one who lays down their life in response. That laying down of life is worship.

Our Response:

We mixed our service up this morning, so we could reflect on the meaning of this text, and then join that crowd as they laid down their lives. They joined in worship. We join in worship.

The great gift of God in the last part of the 20^th Century was the renewal of worship. From the 70's onward, we have seen a simplified, personal form of worship come into the church, worldwide. Worship has become the norm that is not old, static forms based on a herd mentality, but vibrant, personal, directly connected worship, focusing on the very presence of God.

Five hundred years ago, the Reformation did away with the non-scriptural abuses that had crept into the worship, but the forms and structures remained the same. The Pietistic and Puritan revivals sought to simplify worship to make it more real. But in our time, God is moving in a new way to encourage people to express themselves in real, heart-felt, worship of God. We're not singing about God, we're singing to God. We're not attending a worship service; we're not watching a worship service; we're worshiping God from the center of our beings. We are in the simplest of terms worshiping God as God. We are creature, he is Creator; he is God, we are not. Simple as that. Simple songs that allow us to focus on the meaning of the words and sing them to God from our hearts. That's worship. That's laying our lives down.

I call on you this morning to join in that worship, from the heart. Experience one-on-one with God. This is not art, it's not fancy- it's you talking to God right now. It's about laying down our lives, so that we can be made whole. It's what Mary did in our text last week; it's the investment of your life; it's the response of stewardship. It's getting real before God. Let's worship. Amen. P-17

Psalm 118:19-29

Open for me the gates of righteousness; I will enter and give thanks to the LORD.

[20] This is the gate of the LORD through which the righteous may enter.

[21] I will give you thanks, for you answered me; you have become my salvation.

[22] The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone;

[23] the LORD has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes.

[24] This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.

[25] O LORD, save us; O LORD, grant us success.

[26] Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD.

From the house of the LORD we bless you.

[27] The LORD is God, and he has made his light shine upon us.

With boughs in hand, join in the festal procession up to the horns of the altar.

[28] You are my God, and I will give you thanks; you are my God, and I will exalt you.

[29] Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.

Rev. 7:9-12

After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. [10] And they cried out in a loud voice:

"Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb."

[11] All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, [12] saying:

"Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!"

John 12:12-19

The next day the great crowd that had come for the Feast heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. [13] They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting,

"Hosanna!"

"Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!"

"Blessed is the King of Israel!"

[14] Jesus found a young donkey and sat upon it, as it is written,

[15] "Do not be afraid, O Daughter of Zion;

see, your king is coming,

seated on a donkey's colt."

[16] At first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that they had done these things to him.

[17] Now the crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to spread the word. [18] Many people, because they had heard that he had given this miraculous sign, went out to meet him. [19] So the Pharisees said to one another, "See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him!"