It is Finished - Passion Sunday

Title: It is Finished By Pastor Lohn Johnson
Text:   John 12:12-15  The next day the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem.  13 So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, "Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!"  14 And Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, just as it is written,  15 "Fear not, daughter of Zion; behold, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey's colt!" INTRODUCTION: My dear friends in Christ, Legend tells us that once upon a time, a long time ago, there was a city named Troy. Troy was located on the coast of what we call Turkey today. It’s across the sea from Greece. And in those days, people used to build walls around their city to help protect them. The walls around Troy were very high and very strong and the Greeks had been trying to get over the wall around the city of Troy, but they never could. One day, a Greek general, Odysseus, had an idea. "Let's pretend to sail away," he suggested. "We'll leave a gift for Troy, a gift to announce the end of the war, a large wooden horse." The Greeks thought it was a brilliant idea, because the horse had a little surprise for the Trojans! [Video   Hidden away inside were thirty Greek soldiers, and later that night, while the Trojan people slept soundly, the thirty Greeks hidden inside the wooden horse climbed out, opened the gates of Troy, and let the Greek army inside. That was the end of Troy]   And similarly I think that Palm Sunday is the Trojan horse of the Church Year.
I. Like the Greeks and the Trojans, we have all been engaged in prolonged battle.  It’s God and His people against the devil, the world and the sin of us all.
	A. The devil is the prince of this world because of our sin.
		1. And sin has seized control of the human race. And through sin the devil rules.
			a. It is not a misdeed here or there or a misjudgment we've made; rather, sin is a force that controls our entire lives.  There is no health in us, and the wages of sin is death. b. As with the Greeks it seemed as if our battle was lost. We are unable to defeat our enemy of sin. We are trapped in the grave of despair.
		2. And we see an example of sin and the devil at work in the week after Jesus entered Jerusalem, the week Jesus was crucified
			a. The chief priests, elders and scribes were the religious leaders of Judaism. But observe what they do: They premeditate Jesus’ murder: They plot to have Him arrested and killed. They arrange for false witnesses to testify against Him, and the witnesses are so bad that they can't get their stories straight. When they call for Jesus' death, they have no proof of any guilt or wrongdoing on His part.  They bribe one of His followers to betray Him.  They are prime examples of enemies of God. b. Then, of course, there's Pilate. As the local Roman ruler, it's his responsibility to dispense justice. He knows Jesus is innocent. He knows the right thing to do, but in the end he abandons the law and acts to gratify the crowd. He releases the guilty Barabbas. Of Jesus he says, "I find no fault with this Man." But then he sentences Him to die. Pilate may be an example of a sin of omission, but he shows he is solidly within Satan’s kingdom.
		3. After looking at those who call for Jesus' death, we have quite a list of sins.
			a. They premeditated murder, they lied and promoted lying. They blackmailed the judge and corrupted the justice system. They failed to examine the facts, and just went along with what everybody else is saying. They gave into cowardice and selfishness, caring more about pleasing the crowd than doing the right thing. b. That's hardly a list of virtues.  This is the wall around Troy – the wall around the stronghold of the enemy – the wall around Satan’s kingdom.  A wall that needs to be breached.
	B.  It's tempting to look at those who condemned Jesus and say, "I sure am glad I'm not as sinful as they were." Don't do that. It's not profitable. All that might do is make you feel like less of a sinner--but still a sinner all the same.  You and I share the same sinful nature.
		1. Whether your sinfulness displays itself so spectacularly or not, it's still enough to kill you. And it is right that we should examine ourselves, so that we make the honest confession and say: we have sinned and deserve God's punishment.  2. Remember that Pilate released Barabbas instead of Jesus.  Barabbas was a key figure in an insurrection. He was a terrorist, one who would use force, kill if necessary, to purge the land of the Roman infidels.
				a. The uncomfortable truth is that Barabbas is us. We are insurrectionists against God’s kingdom, rebels against the rule of God. Sinners. b. A little boy by the name Billy visited his grandmother in California one summer and almost wore her out with his vigorous activity. She was accustomed to living a peaceful, orderly life. He was perpetual motion, into everything, and nearly turned the house upside down everyday. One night when they were both sound asleep, there was an earthquake. The grandmother was awakened by the house shaking and in her concern called out, "Billy, Billy!" Billy yelled back, "I didn't do it, grandma!" Well, Billy was a little like an earthquake and revealed himself by his actions.  We reveal who we are by our actions. It is by our interactions with others that we paint, stroke by stroke, the portrait of who we are.  And our actions often show that we too are firmly in the kingdom of Satan—we need help we will not seek.
III. But God has a plan to set us free.  His plan was to attack in the same way the Greeks did with the Trojan horse—a sneak attack.  God’s humble King rides a donkey into Jerusalem. The city welcomes him with wild celebration (v 9).  A lot like what happened in Troy. Jesus, Himself is the Trojan horse – entering into the enemy’s stronghold in a seemingly non-threatening form.
	A. And the city (and all it stands for) is besieged from within as the King does battle with sin.
		1. After they realized He was in their midst, they attacked and gave him their best shot  ---
				a. They clothed Him in purple, crowned Him with thorns, mocked Him, spit upon Him, and beat within inches of His life.  It’s the only time in the Gospel where Jesus is hailed as a king. The only time he wears the purple of royalty, the only time when He is crowned. His throne is a cross. The charge against Him proclaims the truth: The King of the Jews. He is mocked by the religious bystanders and passersby. This is religion and politics, the twin beasts of power, at their worst, turning against the Christ, the true King. b. And He died with a loud cry. To read it in Mark, it reads like an exorcism, what Jesus did with all the demons. This is the final exorcism of the world. It’s as though everything that Jesus had done, indeed, everything that had gone wrong with the world was now drawn into Jesus and with a loud cry He puts it all to death in His death. c. The curtain of the temple that separated the Holy of Holies from the rest is torn violently in to from top to bottom.  The wall is breached.
	B. It seemed like the enemies had won, but the Trojan horse worked in a good way this time – for the good of all mankind. He was victorious.  On the third day He rose.  He broke down anything that stood in His way, including the stone of His tomb.
		1. The most important thing about this Palm Sunday text is that—Jesus does come to His people, much like the Trojan horse came to Troy.
				a. He comes to us because we need Him.  There were those on Palm Sunday who did not welcome Jesus, but He came anyway…He rode into Jerusalem and went to the cross for them anyway.  And Jesus is here for us, whether we love Him or not, because He loves us.  b. In a Peanuts cartoon, Charlie Brown and Linus are standing next to each other, staring at a star-filled sky. "Would you like to see a falling star?" Charlie Brown asks Linus. "Sure..." Linus responds. "Then again, I don't know," he adds, after some thought. "I'd hate to have it fall just on my account." One author uses this cartoon to make the point that a star did fall on our account. God came down to us as Jesus: like a lamb led to slaughter, He died on our account.
		2. He does not come here on a warhorse, but on a donkey.  Similarly He still comes using the Trojan horse method. But now the Trojan horse is the Word and Sacrament, through which He gives out what he has done
				a. He is not here to do battle with us.  He is here to forgive us—to bring us peace.  He is here in the Word to assure us that the battle between God and us is over.  There is peace now.  God is at peace with us.  He forgives us for fighting against Him.  He holds no grudge against us.  b. He said, “it is finished.”  The battle is over.  Jesus comes riding to us, not with bow and spear, but with bread and wine—with the words of pardon.  There is not one sin of ours that He remembers.  He pardons everything.  He does not place chains around our neck—He places bread and wine into our mouths, because this is His body and blood for us.  The same Christ who rode to His people in Jerusalem now rides to us with these holy things, to give us peace, forgiveness, and eternal life. c. Friend, all is well between God and us.  He comes to bless us with His gracious gifts, but we resist Him.  He comes to us with bread and wine, water and word, and we’re making excuses of why we’re too busy for Him. The good news is—He doesn’t stop coming to us.  He comes, not to punish us, but to show mercy.  He is never too busy to come to us.
CONCLUSION:  There is nothing Jesus loves more than to ride to us and gather His people, and tell you these comforting words, “I went to the cross for you, friend.  I forgive you all your sins.  And I will never stop riding on My donkey into your life through My Word and Sacraments, because you are My dear child, and these precious gifts that I bring to you are yours—forgiveness, life, and salvation are yours.”  Amen.
The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.   Amen
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