10 Ways to Preach the Palm Sunday Sermon
In David Roseberry’s ongoing series of posts on 10 Ways to Preach, we come to Palm Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week.
Palm Sunday features a diverse mix of stories and traditions, encompassing the events from the Lord’s triumphal entry to his burial in a tomb. For that reason, it is challenging to determine what to say, what not to say, and how long the preacher has to preach.
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For instance, the 2019 Book of Common Prayer offers various ways to observe Palm Sunday, with many congregations opting for a procession symbolizing Jesus’s entry into Jerusalem. This tradition of a congregation-wide processional is quite old. In the late 4th Century, a nun, Egeria, an upper-class Roman female convert, went on a three-year pilgrimage in and around the Holy Land. She kept a travel diary of her experiences, and her account of the Palm Sunday tradition is as touching as it is fascinating. In her own words, she wrote:
And as the eleventh hour approaches, the passage from the Gospel is read, where the children, carrying branches and palms, met the Lord, saying; Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord… all go on foot from the top of the Mount of Olives, saying to one another: Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord. And all the children in the neighborhood, even those who are too young to walk, are carried by their parents on their shoulders, all of them bearing branches, some of palms and some of olives, and thus the bishop is escorted in the same manner as the Lord was of old.
(A fuller look at the amazing story can be found in Slate here.)
The service, as described in the 2019 Prayer Book, also typically includes two gospel readings, a complete Passion narrative, and special music, concluding with a Collect and silent departure, marking the start of Holy Week.
Some churches forgo the sermon due to time constraints. However, it’s crucial not to miss an opportunity to preach the Gospel, even if the sermon is shorter than usual. Therefore, here are ten ways to preach a Palm Sunday sermon. Five will focus on the story of the Triumphal Entry, and five will draw on other aspects of Holy Week.
The Triumphal Entry
1. The Man Who Wouldn’t Be King
Palm Sunday was not just a parade like we would think about parades today. Each element deserves to be understood. The palm branches were waved as symbols of victory and triumph. The crowd excitedly imagined that Jesus was entering Jerusalem as a political and military hero, ready to become Israel’s new king.
However, Jesus did not come on a steed or in a military march. When he asked his disciples to secure a donkey or a colt, his choice echoed Zechariah 9:9. It was a statement of humility; the King of Israel had come in peace. Both Matthew 21:5 and John 12:15 quote Zechariah 9:9 directly:
Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!
Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem!
Behold, your king is coming to you;
righteous and having salvation is he,
humble and mounted on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
This sermon could contrast the hope and expectations that many have in political solutions to our modern troubles with the nature and character of the Christian gospel, which must first enter the human heart before it is used for political victory.
2. A Kingdom Not of This World
There is an absurd element to the story of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem. The man riding into Jerusalem on a donkey becomes the center of attention for the Passover weekend. On its surface, Jesus’ Gospel message doesn’t match the might of the massive Roman Empire. The currency of the Kingdom—love, forgiveness, humility, servanthood, sacrifice—could not match Rome’s glory. But human kingdoms rise and fall. The truth of God’s Kingdom would prevail. Brute force may have crushed the Son of God on the cross, but God had the last word.
Today, most people in the West do not imagine our respective nations could come to naught. We expect and hope that Western democracy will last forever. But there are no guarantees. Nations can and do fall (Job 12:23-25).
Mary makes this point in her Magnificat: God has confounded the mighty and exalted the humble. God uses the weak to confound the strong. This is also Paul’s message in 1 Corinthians.
3. No Blind, No Lame, No Kids
A shocking fact about Jerusalem and the Temple at the time of Christ is that the blind and the lame were not allowed to enter. It was thought King David had cursed them a thousand years earlier (read about it in 2 Samuel 5:8ff). That is why the blind and the lame found Jesus in the outer courts. They had waited all their lives to enter God’s presence.
Aside from Matthew’s account of this mass healing at the Temple, Jesus did not perform a single miracle in Jerusalem, except the two recorded in John 5 and John 9, about the paralyzed man and the man born blind. Trace their steps after their miracle. They both go straight to the Temple. David had cursed them, but Jesus came to reverse the curse.
Then all hell broke loose—in a good way.
When Jesus healed the blind and lame, the children sang: “Hosanna to the Son of David!” However, that phrase was reserved for the Messiah, so, as the Temple officials said, Jesus should hush the children. In effect, Jesus says, “Don’t you get it? Psalm 8:2 says that the infants and babes will speak God’s praise!”
In Luke’s version, Jesus boasts about the events transpiring and that even the rocks and stones themselves will praise God for the marvelous things he has done—and is doing. This calls to mind C. S. Lewis’s image in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, where the snow finally starts to melt and Christmas is coming.
4. And Ye Would Not
In John 11:35, the Lord wept with Mary at the grave of Lazarus. Luke’s and Matthew’s Gospels give us the only other recorded time that Jesus wept: when he stopped on the eastern slope of the Kidron Valley and looked over Jerusalem.
He wept then over the missed opportunities of God’s people. The Lord repeatedly sent them prophets and teachers, and they rejected, stoned, and killed them. So, his people remained alone without the protection of a good God.
Matthew 23:37 is one of the most frightening, prophetic, and powerful judgments on God’s people. On Palm Sunday, it might be dramatic to close the sermon with verse 37 from the King James Version. The last four words are a profound indictment of us still.
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!
5. Jesus and the Temple
The synoptic writers place the story of the cleansing of the Temple after Jesus’ triumphal entry, either immediately (in Matthew and Luke) or after a day (in Mark). For his purposes, John moves the account to his second chapter. But this dramatic moment, where Jesus overturns the tables and drives out the money changers, is pivotal. It may have even prompted Jesus’s arrest and execution.
Many have used this story to justify their own temper tantrums, thinking, “Jesus kicked them out, and they deserved it.” But the intent is to tell us something about Jesus, not give us license for an outburst.
A sermon on this episode would underscore the Temple’s purpose and God’s desire to bless all nations. Jesus was overturning Jewish religious practice, which had lost its mission. God elected the Jews to, through them, bless all the nations. However, they took God’s plan and remade it to their liking. Jesus quotes Isaiah 56:7, claiming that the house of God is to be a house of prayer for all nations. He also fulfills the prophecy of Malachi 3:1, which announces the sudden arrival of the Lord, which is also quoted in the very first sentence of the Gospel of Mark.
The Rest of the Story
In these next five, take in the entire Holy Week story. Here are five ways to focus on the rest of the week.
6. Read the Entire Passion Story
In many churches, it is a tradition to read the entire passion narrative.
Often, church members take on the speaking parts, though there is no physical acting. Another method with a similar effect is to ask one reader to read the entire story, and, at the mention of the crowd, the congregation reads out those verses in unison. Regardless, the congregation reverently stands when the narration comes to the scene at Calvary or Golgotha.
After the passion reading, the preacher can give the congregation a day-to-day description of the week’s events. Timothy Dean Roth’s book The Week That Changed the World would be beneficial. For background and a clear hour-by-hour account of the Lord’s Passion, pick up Peter Walker’s excellent book The Weekend That Changed the World.
7. A Catastrophic Failure
The actors assembled for the Passover feast, our story’s setting, are a “who’s who” of Roman dignitaries. However, the most advanced civilization of the ancient world failed at every level. Indeed, from the governing officials to the most human of personal relationships, everything in this story turned south, turned sour, and betrayed its moment in history.
The Roman government was corrupt, and the Temple’s hierarchy was complicit. The crowd became a fickle, hostile mob. Jesus’s close friends deserted him, and two betrayed or denied him. It was, as we might say today, a dumpster fire.
Palm Sunday is a story of disappointment, denial, betrayal, aggression, corruption, apathy, indifference, grief, doubt, and sorrow. Yet even then, God overcame every evil force and carried out the plan conceived from the world’s foundation (Eph 1).
8. Prophetic Fulfillment
An obvious theme for a sermon on Palm Sunday would be to emphasize how prophecy was fulfilled in the seemingly chaotic events. From the moment Jesus cursed the fig tree to his cry from the cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Psalm 22:1), the events of Holy Week were unsurprising to God. They were part of his plan.
People seek personal assurance that God is not surprised by the chaotic and fretful events of their lives and our world. They can be comforted to know that God has a plan. Even if it is unknown to us, the Lord can turn our chaos into something he will use. In Romans 8:28, Paul says, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him.”
9. A Mystery Man
Mark 14:51-52 tells a peculiar story set in Gethsemane on Thursday night. Judas leads the arresting party to the garden, and soon, a sword emerges. Christ’s disciples flee for their lives. But there is one other young man, also a follower, who starts to flee. The soldiers seize him, but he wrestles free, leaving only his linen robe, and runs away naked and afraid.
Some scholars believe this could be Mark making a cameo in the story, but we don’t know. We do know the boy powerfully represents the shame of all the disciples. His is the naked shame of every follower of Christ who flees in the face of danger.
But here is our good news from Mark: their cowardice has been covered. The exposed shame of their fear is healed. Shame will expose and condemn them, but the righteousness of Christ will cover them for all eternity. The word Mark selects for the linen cloth (twice) appears only one other time to refer to the linen cloth covering Jesus’s dead, spent body (Mark 15:46). This could be a compelling way to bring up the powerful message of the cross and apply it to our lives.
10. Give us Barabbas
A moment comes in the Passion when the Sanhedrin prompts the crowd to call for Jesus’s crucifixion. Even when Pilate offers to free one prisoner as a magnanimous gesture, the rabble calls for the release of Barabbas. Consider the power of a sermon on the most notorious, unpunished insurrectionist in history.
Given what we know about him from Matthew 27:15-26, Barabbas was likely part of the Zealot movement, which sought to overthrow the Roman occupation of Israel. His name in Aramaic means “son of the father,” a cruel irony played on Jesus, the true Son of the Father. Given that Jesus’s life was given for the freedom of an unworthy sinner, the application to our own lives is unmistakable. That message allows you to focus on the atonement and the power of Christ’s cross to free us.
Conclusion
Per column inch, there are more cross-references in this Palm Sunday entry story than almost any other place in the New Testament. There is a rich vein of gold in these hills, and its treasures are inexhaustible. This should tell us two things:
- The ministry of Jesus is culminating in the week’s events.
- The preacher should work overtime in the study to present the fullest biblical portrait.
Check out The Rev. Canon David Roseberry’s The Psalm on the Cross, his devotional journey through Psalm 22 for Lent, available in paperback and Kindle versions on Amazon.
You can also purchase the paperback and Kindle editions of David Roseberry’s new book with Anglican Compass, The Rector, the Vestry, and the Bishop now, exclusively on Amazon.
How can we commemorate Lent at home? Check out Ashley Wallace’s new book with Anglican Compass, The Liturgical Home: Lent. The paperback and Kindle are now available exclusively on Amazon, as is her book, The Liturgical Home: Easter, also available in paperback and for Kindle.
Image: The Entry of Christ into Jerusalem by Jean-Hippolyte Flandrin (1846)
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