By Rev. Dr. Brent Russett – Asbury Free Methodist
April 10, 2022 – Luke 19:28-35
I am going to do something a little different for this Palm Sunday sermon. Half the sermon is going to be a video from a website called eyewitnessbible.org. There are some things that I want you to see in this Palm Sunday story – that will dovetail with what I am going to talk about on Good Friday. I am hoping that you will see some of the purposes of God for your life.
Before we get into the video, let me read to you just a portion of the Palm Sunday story again.
Luke 19:28–35 (NIV)
28 After Jesus had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. 29 As he approached Bethphage and Bethany at the hill called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, 30 “Go to the village ahead of you, and as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 31 If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it.’ ”
32 Those who were sent ahead went and found it just as he had told them. 33 As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the colt?”
34 They replied, “The Lord needs it.”
35 They brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt and put Jesus on it.
I want you to hear this story from the point of view of the donkey owner.
VIDEO
https://eyewitnessbible.org/holy-week-series/ (The Donkey Owner)
You met my need.
A couple day after Jesus rode into Jerusalem he taught this.
Matthew 25:31–40 (NIV)
31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.
You met my need.
We don’t often think of God as having needs. In one sense, a theological sense, he doesn’t. God is perfectly self-contained. He cannot be added to, and he cannot be taken from. In this sense, he has no need of anything. He is complete
Yet, on that first Palm Sunday, Jesus told the disciples to tell the donkey owner – “The Lord needs it.” God has chosen to act in this world through people. When you feed the hungry and give water to the thirsty, when you provide hospitality to the stranger and clothe the poor, when you visit the sick or the prisoner – when you meet these kinds of needs – you meet the needs of God – you did it to me. You met my need.
St. Teressa of Avila put it this way,
Christ has no body but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which He looks
Compassion on this world,
Yours are the feet with which He walks to do good,
Yours are the hands, with which He blesses all the world.
Yours are the hands, yours are the feet,
Yours are the eyes, you are His body.
Christ has no body now but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
compassion on this world.
Christ has no body now on earth but yours.
— St. Teresa of Ávila (attributed)
Church, I love how you donated to the food bank last Sunday. There were 246 pounds of groceries that came in last week. It looks like there is more this week. I love how you gave over 3000 dollars to the refugees in Ukraine. When you do things like that, you are being the hands and feet of Jesus.
But here is something I want you to think about. Our view of the world has changed significantly since the time of Jesus. It has been said that there is more information in the Sunday edition of the New York Times than an average person in the time of Jesus would come across in a lifetime. Because we have access to so much information, we know a lot about crises on the other side of the world.
Not only do we know about the humanitarian disaster in Ukraine, but we also know about the brewing famine in southern Ethiopia. Don Miller, from Tear Fund, who was here a couple of weeks ago, told us about that. There will be many more of these kinds of situations happening as food prices rise around the world. It is good that we help where we can in these places.
However, in Jesus’ time, they wouldn’t hear much about famines on the other side of the world. When people heard him talk about the poor and the imprisoned and the hungry, they would have heard him talking about the people who lived in the same town or the next town over from where they lived. Jesus was urging them to meet the need that was around them. He was urging them to meet the need that they encountered in their daily life.
One of the weird things about Canada is that it is cold. We spend five or six months of the year inside. What that means is that many of the needs that are in our community go unseen because they are behind closed doors. The poor, the marginalized, and the hurting are hidden away.
There are a way too many people who die by suicide or drug overdose in our community. There are too many homeless youth and lonely seniors. There are too many people who are grieving alone and hurting alone.
I spend a lot of time talking about being in right relationship with God. That is the beginning of everything. But when God’s kingdom comes and his will is done, we walk in right relationship with him in order to help fix a broken world.
Matthew 25:35–36 (NIV)
35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
We become the hands and feet of Jesus. Our faith was never meant to be limited to the confines of our church building or our private lives. Our faith was meant to change us so that we can, in small ways, change the world around us for the better.
We live in a world that is broken. I believe that as we listen to God together, there will be a time that the Lord will say, I have need of your donkey, your car, your talents, your time. He will ask us, will you be my hands and my feet in the community I set you in. When that happens, I hope that we remember what the donkey owner did for Jesus.
You met my need.
Usually, Palm Sunday sermons have to do with worship. But what I have said connects with that theme too. Let me let Jesus have the last word.
Matthew 5:16 (NIV)
Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.
Pray
Sermon Questions – Palm Sunday 2022
Luke 19:28-35
Introduction
1. What are you celebrating this week?
2. What are you praying about this week?
Digging in
3. Read Luke 19:28-35 – We watched the Palm Sunday story told from the perspective of the donkey owner. https://eyewitnessbible.org/holy-week-series/ (The Donkey Owner). In it he tells how he met the Lord’s need. Does God even have needs? Explain. What would be the equivalent of Christ asking for a donkey in our time?
4. Read Matthew 25:31-40. What does this tell us about meeting needs? If we take this passage seriously, how will it affect how we live?
5. Do you think this passage of scripture is only about meeting the needs of Christians or is it about meeting the needs of everyone? Explain.
6. How do you feel about being the hands and feet of Jesus? (St. Teressa of Avila Poem)
7. What are some of the challenges of meeting people’s needs? How should we prioritize whose needs we should meet?
8. What are some helpful guidelines/principles in meeting the needs of others?
9. Read Matthew 5:16. How does the meeting needs connect to worship? How does this verse work in practice?