Church Period: Lent Palm Sunday
Sermon Title: Living Through Holy Week Successfully
Sermon Date: April 7, 1968
Rev. August Hauptman
Sermon Text: John 12:1-8
Dear Christian friends:
During this past week the world has been surprised
and shocked by several earth shaking events: last Sunday
evening our president announced that he would not be a
candidate in November; on Wednesday we heard that Hanoi
was ready to meet with our government and talk about peace;
before we could quiet down we heard terrible news about
Dr. Martin Luther King.
In my life time I can't remember of any week in
which so many earth shaking things happened. Perhaps the
only other week in history that can compare is the first
Holy Week more than 1900 years ago, the week when Jesus
on the first Palm Sunday rode on the donkey into Jerusalem
to suffer and die, then to rise again on Easter Sunday.
That first Holy Week also was full of many earth shaking
events.
By the events of this past week God is speaking to
our world and especially to our country. God is saying to
all of us, "Wake up! Confess your sins. Be ashamed and
sorry about your wicked ways. Believe my Words and be
saved."
And God chose a very good time to let these terrible
things happen to us, right before Holy Week. Often we begin
Holy Week and live through it and Easter either half asleep
or fully asleep. God wants us to wake up and see what
happened 1900 years ago and how we are joined with that.
We need to believe to be saved and healed.
Our text for this Palm Sunday is a good one to help
us wake up and live. It will help us to prepare ourselves
for living through Holy Week successfully.
A successful preparation for Holy Week requires
that we be encouraged and comforted by the faith and love
of Mary. Six days before Passover Jesus went with His
disciples to Bethany to the home of Simon the leper. Mary
and her sister Martha served the supper, and their brother
Lazarus whom Jesus a short time before had raised from the
dead was sitting with Jesus at the table.
While they were eating Mary came with some very
expensive perfumed ointment and poured it on Jesus' head
and body, and also some on His feet. Then she loosened
her hair and knelt down and wiped His feet with her hair.
Now the odor of the sweet-smelling ointment (oil)
spread through the room. The twelve disciples and other
guests saw what Mary was doing. Judas was displeased and
criticised Mary. He asked, "Why not sell that perfume and
give the money to the poor, why waste it?" But Jesus said,
"Leave her alone she's doing that for my burial. The poor
you always have with you, but you will not always have
Me."
Jesus praises Mary because by pouring that expensive
oil on Him she shows her faith and love to Him. Several
times before Jesus had told His disciples and all of His
friends that "He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things
and be crucified and then rise on the third day." Many
believed Jesus' words, prophecy, about His death and
resurrection. So she now anoints His body for burial. Mary
also believed in Jesus and loved Him very much because He
had shown His wonderful kindness and power when He made her
brother Lazarus arise from death a few weeks before.
The twelve disciples did not believe in Jesus and
love Him like Mary. Her faith and love in Jesus should be
strong encouragement to all of us to believe in Him and
show our love to Him by worshipping Him and offering to Him
expensive gifts. Judas says that perfume was worth 300
denarii, one years wages at that time. To us it would be
like $3,000 or $4,000. Remember last Thursday Martin
Luther King gave His life to serve his people, his country
and his Savior Jesus. What will you give for Jesus this
Holy Week?
Mary is a big help to us in preparing ourselves to
wake up and live successfully through this Holy Week. Also
by attending to Judas who sat at the table and complained
we will be helped in our preparation for Holy Week.
Judas complained when Mary showed such strong faith
and love. He tried to criticise her and say she was wasting
too much money. And he tried to make a good argument. He
asks, "Why not sell this perfume and then give the money to
the poor?" But John tells why he said that - "not because
he loved the poor but because he was a thief and often stole
the money from the box." Judas was the treasurer.
We know very well that Judas did not love Jesus and
didn't care for the poor. He loved money and on Thursday
night he sold Jesus to the Jewish priests for thirty pieces
of silver.
All of us have greed in our hearts, too. We are
daily tempted to love money and all the nice things money
can buy. T.V. commercials, newspaper ads, attractive
magazines ads daily tempt us to value earthly things and
pleasures, more than Jesus and His spiritual riches or
blessings.
We may be hypocrites like Judas, too. You know on
Easter I always want you to buy and bring many flowers to
decorate our church to honor and praise Jesus on Easter
Sunday. Then some members perhaps say, "Why waste the
church money for flowers? Why not give the money to the
poor or to missions?" But do they really love the poor?
Do they really want to support missions? No! Thy don't
give for flowers and they don't give for missions or the
poor. They only want to keep their money for themselves.
They really don't want to give for anything. Like Judas,
they love money rather than Jesus.
Each one of us should honestly today search our
hearts and confess our sins. Don't be a hypocrite. Don't
argue and make false excuses like Judas.
See Jesus how He loved Mary and Martha and Lazarus
and how He here bravely and calmly prepares to suffer and
die for our sins and for the sins of the whole world. He
even loves Judas. He knew what evil and deceit was in
Judas' heart, He kindly tried to help Judas see His sin.
He reminds Judas that in a few days He will die for the
world.
Wonderful Jesus! He is very kind and merciful. He
suffers our sins and insults without complaint, He does no
violence, like Dr. King, non-violent.
On this Palm Sunday and during this Holy Week let
us attend carefully to all the things Jesus did for us in
Jerusalem 1900 years ago. He did that because of us. He
saw us too when He suffered and died.
Jesus can heal our hearts and our nations, too.
Amen.