Sermon for Palm Sunday on Luke 23:23-25, "Voices, Demand, Will"
In the Name of the Father and of the
Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. A spiritual storm was launched on Jesus at
the cross. All the anger, confusion, discord, and hatred boiling on the surface,
was stirred up from Satan and all his demons below. A fury of false
accusations, vehement cries, urgent shouts—a rising crescendo; away with this
man! This Jesus! How did His own people treat the Son of God? Not with the
worship due God’s Son, nor with the honor due the King who rode into Jerusalem
on Palm Sunday, nor with the attention due to the pure Teacher of God’s Truth. Instead,
like a thorn in their side, a criminal to be crucified, a false prophet and a
blasphemer to denounce. They saw Jesus as their enemy, not their Deliverer. See
how resolute He is in the midst of the spiritual tornado of lies, death and dishonor;
how strong, calm, and even merciful and forgiving. Your rock and refuge in the
storms of life. When you are struck down, cling to Him.
Zoom into verses 23-25. The mob circles
Pilate, crying out against Jesus. And “their
voices prevailed.” Pilate grants “their
demand”, and finally, He delivers Jesus over to “their will.” Their voices, their demand, and their will. He gave
them what they wanted, and they got it; or so they thought. We all know it can
be dangerous to get what we want. But compare their voices, their demand, and
their will, to the voice, the demand, and the will of God. Whose voice and
demands are we listening to? Whose will do we choose to obey—our own, or God’s?
They spoke and did evil against
Jesus, but what was His response? Let’s start with His voice. God the Father speaks
aloud only a few times where His words are recorded for us. At Jesus’ baptism,
the Father spoke from heaven: “This is my
beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased” (Matt. 3:17) and again at His
Transfiguration in almost the same words: “This
is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to Him” (Matt.
17:5). The Father’s ultimate love, satisfaction, and joy are found in Jeus. So
can you imagine how horrible in the Father’s ears, it was to hear His beloved
Son slandered, mocked and accused? What if it were your child? What depth of
God’s love!
And in the midst of that hell storm
of evil, how did Jesus voice His Father’s heart and words? At first it was all
silence. Absorbing every venomous word. But then, when women wept over His
suffering, He warned them to weep for themselves and their children. Destruction
was headed for Jerusalem. He was worried for them, not Himself. And His word
turned from compassion and concern to forgiveness for His enemies. What selfless
love and compassion! The One who suffers gives comfort, and the One who is
wronged forgives.
How will we use our voices?
Scripture says they were made for prayer, praising, and blessing—not for
cursing, lying, or evil. Not only is Jesus a marvelous example, but His
Words and Spirit give us life and
produce in us this forgiving spirit and enlarge our heart to love our enemies
and pray for those who persecute us. By baptism you are joined to Christ Jesus
and His life is now hidden in you, transforming your life after Him. May God employ
our tongues and voices for good and for blessing! May we speak concern,
compassion and forgiveness into the lives of those around us—even those who
harm us.
As sinful humans, we seek our best
interest—and it typically steers toward selfishness, pride, power, or fleshly
security. But contrast God’s demands and will. At the Transfiguration God says:
“Listen to Him.” He wants our ears
tuned carefully into His beloved Son. Don’t miss the words from His mouth. Central
to Jesus’s words are how He summed up God’s two greatest demands: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart,
with all your soul, with all your mind” and “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:37, 39). God’s ten holy
demands are summed up in the single word love—but
they spread out in three dimensions in the fullest and highest love toward God
and love toward neighbor. If our sinful nature bends inward to selfishness and
smallness, then God’s holy commands steer us outward into the awesomeness, the
greatness, and magnificence of who God is. And outward to loving care and
generosity for our neighbor—concern for others, not only ourselves.
Your bulletin has a long list of
Bible verses that speak about God’s will. We can’t cover them all here, but a
few examples contrast God’s good will and that of sinful men. Amazingly, 7
centuries before Jesus’ birth, God spoke through the prophet Isaiah what would
happen on the cross. Isaiah 53:10–11 reads: (ESV)
“10 Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has
put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his
offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his
hand. 11 Out of the anguish of his soul he
shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my
servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their
iniquities.”
It’s
painfully stark, but this says it was the Father’s will for the Son to crush
Him, put Him to grief, and become an offering for guilt. But it also speaks of
the hope of Jesus’ resurrection, how He
will live to see His offspring, and it speaks of how Jesus, even in his anguish
of soul, would be satisfied, as He made many righteous. To get to the blessings
and goodness of what He had to do, He first had to undergo evil and suffering
at the hands of wicked men, so that we could be counted righteous, and He could
bear our sins. He did this all willingly—no
one took His life from Him, which means that despite the appearances, it was
not truly their voices that prevailed, and their will—but God’s will prevailed.
God had the final word when Jesus said “It
is finished!” God’s will can never be overwhelmed by our evil sinful
will—He will accomplish His good purposes no matter what. Often He does allow
us to suffer and struggle, but He puts even these experiences into service of
His greater plan and will.
The New Testament tells more about
God’s will. Jesus says that only those who do the will of the Father will enter
heaven. He says that it’s not His
will for little ones to perish. Jesus said it was His delight to do the
Father’s will. In another key passage Jesus explains precisely what the
Father’s will is: John 6:38–40 (ESV),
38 For
I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who
sent me. 39 And this is the
will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given
me, but raise it up on the last day. 40 For
this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes
in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”
God’s
will is not to lose anyone, but that we would believe in Jesus and so have
eternal life! If our ways lead to Jesus’ death, what does the voice, the
demand, and will of God lead to? It leads to life! God wills that we believe in
Jesus and have eternal life!
Jesus’ death show us that when these
two wills collide, that God’s voice, demands and will prevails. It shows that God
gives life, even in the midst of darkness and death. God speaks life into the
most confused, bitter, and angry lives, and gives forgiveness, life, and peace,
to all who will receive it. Even those most hatefully bent against Him at the
cross, He pleaded for their forgiveness. None of us could have carried out God’s
good and perfect demands on our own—not even the simple demand—to Love God with
all our heart, soul and mind, and to
love our neighbor as ourselves. Even these simple commands escape our
best efforts—when our minds are not fully devoted to God; when our hearts are
not fully in our worship; when jealousy or greed or anger or lust keep us from
loving and respecting our neighbor as we ought. But Jesus fully pursued all
God’s demands and will. He never turned astray from the path, and obeyed God’s
entire good and gracious will. When we are buried and raised with Jesus in
baptism, His life washes over and fills ours, so that we can begin to pursue
God’s good and gracious will. We begin to learn life lived God’s way, attentive
to His voice, His demands, and will. He has given us life in Him!
He rode into Jerusalem in full
knowledge of the storm that faced Him. But Jesus’ voice carries above the
storm. His voice calls for life, long after the storm has passed and wreaked
its destruction. Jesus’ voice was silenced for three days, but called out in familiar
tones again after His resurrection. Would we have joy in this life? Would we
have eternal life and peace? Then look to God’s beloved Son and listen to Him. Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.
Amen.
Sermon Talking
Points
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- Read Isaiah
53:10-11; Matthew 7:21; 12:50; 18:14; John 1:13; 4:34; 5:30; 6:38-40; Romans 8:27; 12:2; Galatians 1:4; Ephesians 6:6; 1
Thessalonians 4:3; 5:18; 1 Peter 2:15; 4:2; 1 John 2:17. What do these
passages tell us about God’s will? How does God the Father speak in
Matthew 3:17; 17:5? How does Jesus sum up God’s good demands? Matthew
22:36-40.
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