Initially, this sermon has three apsects to it because it was going to be a three-part dialogue sermon with our Pastoral Resident, Associate Pastor, and me preaching. That idea did not come to fruition, but the sermon title had already been printed, so I worked with the concept of three elements in the sermon.
I loved the final illustration about the Boston Marathon crowd, although maybe I should have saved it for another sermon when it could have been the main focus of the sermon. The same could probably be said for the Gomes illustration as well.
at the end of the first move, I realized I had not gone back and "striaghtened it out" after practicing the draft fo the sermon. I sort of improvised and probably missed out on something that would have makde it work better!
the sermon felt like a good start to Holy Week.
“Ashes to Palms to Crucifixion” Matthew 21: 1-11; Matthew 27:11-14; 27-31; St. Andrew Presbyterian Church; March 29, 2026
Matthew 27: 11-14; 27-31
11 Now Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?” Jesus said, “You say so.” 12 But when he was accused by the chief priests and elders, he did not answer. 13 Then Pilate said to him, “Do you not hear how many accusations they make against you?” 14 But he gave him no answer, not even to a single charge, so that the governor was greatly amazed.
27 Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the governor’s headquarters,[l] and they gathered the whole cohort around him. 28 They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, 29 and after twisting some thorns into a crown they put it on his head. They put a reed in his right hand and knelt before him and mocked him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” 30 They spat on him and took the reed and struck him on the head. 31 After mocking him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him.
Introduction: The crowds got it right.
The people who gathered in the streets of Jerusalem
the people who lined the streets with their cloaks and palm branches
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the people who excitedly shouted “Hosanna!
Blessed is the one who comes in the name of Lord.”
they got it right.
and they did not even understand the truth of what they did and said.
The Roman soldiers got it right.
Jesus avoids the governor’s question when he asks “Are you the king fo the Jews.”
and Jesus refuses to speak about who he is to the chief priests and elders.
But the Roman soldiers dress him up with a scarlet robe
they put a crown of thorns on him that dig into his head
they kneel before the beaten Jesus and taunt him,
say “hail King of the Jews” as they spit on him and strike him on the head.
The soldiers got it right.
Jesus is the “King of the Jews”
Indeed, Jesus will prove to be king of the world.
but the soldiers did not believe it
or understand how right they were.
Welcome to Holy Week!
Move 1: A week of palms and passion
a. I had a person once tell me how much they loved holy week.
“What do you love about it?”
“Palm sunday and all the branches waving is such a festive service, and then gloRious Easter morning worship! I especially love the music on Easter!”
“What about Good Friday?”
“Oh, I don’t go to church on Friday night, and besides it’s too depressing with all the crucifixion stuff.”
1. Holy Week, by design, leads us from the cheering crowds of Palm Sunday
through the gathering of Jesus and his friends around the table
through the darkness of Christ’s crucifixion
to the empty tomb,
2. Easter comes not as the joyous celebration of Palm Sunday on steroids;
Easter comes becomes the world desperately needs a God of resurrection.
that’s why the passion plays such an important role
palms - excitement
crucifixion - pain of the world that sometimes overwhelms us,
and sometimes overcomes us.
b. Who jesus is;
Jesus’ death;
and Jesus’s resurrection cannot be separated.
1. Crucifixion and death are inextricably tied to glorious resurrecton.
2. that may not be what we think we want.
3. Peter Gomes, former dean of the chapel at Harvard divinity school, in a sermon he preached noted that the Victorian editions of Shakespeare did not like his grim endings because their optimistic moralism did not respond well to Shakespeare’s corrupted sense of reality.
For example, in their version of Romeo and Juliet, the lovers suddenly recovering, and not only recovering but being reconciled, and not only their being reconciled, but their families being reconciled and a huge, glorious wedding taking place.
4. But to have a resurrection means there must be a death.
5. Which may be scary,
because who wants to have a death
but it is also our hope
that we follow a God of resurrection who has r come even death.
6. So we gather around palms and passion to worship the God who is found in both.
move 2: We live in a paradoxical world that calls us to find our way as we are pulled in different, sometimes contradictory ways.
a. Think of some of the paradoxes you have in your own life.
We live in a nation whose birth was created through revolution and overthrowing power,
even as we lay claim to our allegiance to the Prince of peace.
we can find anxiety in dealing with death and our fear of death,
even as we lay claim to our hope in the God of resurrection.
we pray for the safety of our soldiers in harms’ way,
even as we continue to impose our power on other countries
we call out for God’s justice,
even as we beg for God’s mercy.
we seek power so that we can control and impact the world around us,
even as we follow the crucified one who showed himself as powerless in the face of the authorities.
we desire change in our lives,
even as we resist making any changes to the way we live.
We can look to Easter and its glorious celebration of resurrection,
but dread the coming of Easter because the pain and loss in our lives makes us not want to participate in anything that seems glorious or uplifting.
b. I suppose that’s why Ash wednesday is such an important part of our Lenten journey.
1. As we lay claim to our humanity in the signing of ashes,
we remember how complex and complicated it is to live out our lives.
2. As we acknowledge our sinfulness,
we remember how easily we are tempted and look to the God who forgives us and calls us to repent.
3. As we see the empty cross displayed on our foreheads that symbolize Jesus Christ as the king of world and the one who comes to save us,
we remember that he was condemned by the religious authorities and put to death by the government authorities.
c. Jesus and his saving actions do not fall into particular categories we have,
becasue he shatters all categories and calls us to a new way of life and a new worldview.
1. Palms and passion are not about averaging out joy and pain to some safe, middle ground;
but recognizing that there is both joy and pain
fear and hope
life and death
and God finds us in all those places.
2. Into the messy world that defies categorization or easy answers,
Christ comes as God in flesh to live among us,
die for us,
and bring us new life
Move 3: we begin Holy Week with a story of a parade in the steeets of Jerusalem.
you know the story.
a. Recently I read a book about the Boston Marathon.
Part of the book is about the writer’s own preparation to run the marathon
part of the book was about the history of the Boston Marathon,
but part of it was about the crowds that line the street throughout that 26.2 mile race.
the author describes how the onlookers become past of the race.
He writes: The fan base is sincere not only in their love for the race, but in their actual role within it.
Words of encouragement, yells of how much farther a runner might have to go, cooling warm runners with garden hoses or slices of oranges—all speaks to the fan’s role in the race.
This is not a parade that they are passively watching; it’s an event in which they are actively participating. From the open bathroom doors in Hopkinton to the screams of “One more mile!” in Kenmore Square, the spectators become part of the race, earning the undying appreciation of the runners. (26.2 miles to Boston, A Journey into the Heart of the Boston Marathon, Michael Connolly, 71)
b. Holy week brings with it an invitation for you to not just passively listen as you hear stories being told,
but to engage the God of life, death, and resurrection.
Conclusion: Ashes to palms to passion - getting ready for resurrection.
Amen.
When they had come near Jerusalem and had reached Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, 2 saying to them, “Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to me. 3 If anyone says anything to you, just say this, ‘The Lord needs them.’ And he will send them immediately.”[a] 4 This took place to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet:
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“Tell the daughter of Zion,
Look, your king is coming to you,
humble and mounted on a donkey,
and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”
6 The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them; 7 they brought the donkey and the colt and put their cloaks on them, and he sat on them. 8 A very large crowd[b] spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 The crowds that went ahead of him and that followed were shouting,
“Hosanna to the Son of David!
Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!
Hosanna in the highest heaven!”
10 When he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in turmoil, asking, “Who is this?” 11 The crowds were saying, “This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee.”
