Our Redeemer Lutheran Church
Quincy, IL
Rev. Larry D. Troxel

The Sixth Sunday in Lent
Sunday of the Passion (Palm Sunday)
Saturday, March 15, 2008 at 7:00 p.m.
Sunday, March 16, 2008 at 8:00 & 10:15 a.m.


“Rejection and Rejoicing”
(Psalm 118:22–24)
²²The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.
²³This is the LORD's doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.
²⁴This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.

In Jesus’ name. Amen.
The week began with the sounds of rejoicing. Shouts of “Hosanna” resounded in the streets of Jerusalem and echoed off the walls of the Temple. The week ended with the dead body of Jesus sealed in a tomb, guarded by soldiers, with Jesus’ disciples hiding in fear and despair. Yet rejoicing once again would fill the mouths and hearts of Jesus’ followers as news of His resurrection spread. Holy Week began with rejoicing, ended with rejection, and was followed by the rejoicing that cannot be silenced because sin, death, and hell have been defeated once and for all.

The rejoicing with which Palm Sunday began was well-founded in the promises of God and the remarkable miracles which Jesus had done. Holy Scripture tells us that two crowds sang Jesus’ praises on that first Palm Sunday. There was the crowd who accompanied Jesus from Bethany to Jerusalem. “The whole multitude of His disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen.”¹ They had been present when Jesus called his friend Lazarus back from death and the grave to life once again.² And there was the crowd of pilgrims who had gathered in Jerusalem to celebrate Passover. They “heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him.”³ “The crowd that had been with [Jesus] when He called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to bear witness. The reason why the crowd [from Jerusalem] went out to meet Him was that they heard He had done this sign.” ⁴

We cannot fault the crowd for their exuberance and joy. They were, in fact, fulfilling the prophecy of Zechariah:
“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.”⁵
How dramatically things changed by Friday morning. Another crowd had gathered, this time before the headquarters of the Roman Governor, and their shouts were so different. They demanded Jesus’ crucifixion. And when Pontius Pilate asked, “Shall I crucify your king?” they replied, “We have no king but Caesar.”⁶

Admittedly, the two crowds probably were quite different. The disciples who praised Jesus on Sunday morning were not part of the crowd that demanded Jesus’ crucifixion on Friday morning. But that fact does not diminish the rejection which Jesus experienced.

Why was Jesus rejected? We could suggest that Jesus did not measure up to what the people expected the Messiah to be and to do, and that would be true. We could suggest that the religious leaders viewed Jesus as a threat to their status in society, to their position of authority granted to them by the Roman government, and to their wealth, and that would be true. But the chief reason that Jesus was rejected was that it was the will of His heavenly Father that He be “despised and rejected by men; a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.”⁷ In the days before His death, Jesus even quoted the verse from Psalm 118 in His confrontations with the religious leaders.⁸ As the prophet Isaiah foretold:
“It was the will of the LORD to crush Him;
He has put Him to grief.”⁹
Isaiah goes on to say that “His soul makes an offering for sin,” and “the will of the LORD shall prosper in His hand.” ¹⁰ The ultimate result is that “He poured out His soul to death and was numbered among the transgressors; yet He bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.”¹¹ You see,
“He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was crushed for our iniquities; …
The LORD has laid on Him
the [guilt] of us all.”¹²

“He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death,
even death on a cross.”¹³
Before Jesus died, He cried out, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”¹⁴ Jesus experienced the ultimate rejection. He was rejected by God His true Father and by the people to whom He had been sent. He experienced all of this willingly in our place, as our Substitute, so that we never need to experience any rejection by God. Because of all of the rejection that Jesus experienced, we now live at peace with God and He lives at peace with us.¹⁵ Because Jesus was rejected by His heavenly Father, “there is now no condemnation,” no punishment, “for those who are in Christ Jesus.”¹⁶

Because Jesus was rejected according to His heavenly Father’s good and saving will, we are assured that our heavenly Father always hears of our prayers and always answers us in the very best way at the very best time.

Jesus is “the stone that the builders rejected,” and He “has become the cornerstone” of our salvation, the cornerstone of the holy Christian church. Holy Scripture speaks of us and to us when it says, “you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In Him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.”¹⁷

Truly, “this is the LORD's doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.” Through what seemed like complete rejection and complete defeat, God accomplished the greatest victory of all. Through Jesus’ suffering, death, and resurrection, God has won the complete victory over sin, death, and hell for us. Yes, the blood of Jesus was shed. It was shed to accomplish our redemption, to win for us complete forgiveness of all our sins, and to give us assurance of life eternal.

Because Jesus was rejected by His own people and by His heavenly Father, we need never fear being rejected by God. Because of Jesus we have gained full and eternal acceptance by God. We live in the peace which He alone gives.

And that is reason for rejoicing. Today we have sung “hosanna.” Today we also can speak the words which usually are spoken on Easter: “This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” Rejoice and be glad for God never will reject you. Rejoice and be glad for God always hears and answers your prayers. Rejoice and be glad for God has cleansed you of all sin. He did it with the blood of Jesus. Rejoice and be glad for eternal life is yours in Christ Jesus. Rejoice and be glad, and share this Good News with everyone you know. Amen.


1. Luke 19:37
2. John 11
3. John 12:12–13
4. John 12:17–18
5. Zechariah 9:9
6. John 19:15
7. Isaiah 53:3
8. Matthew 21:42
9. Isaiah 53:10
10. Isaiah 53:10
11. Isaiah 53:12
12. 53:5a, 6c
13. Philippians 2:8
14. Psalm 22:1; Matthew 27:46
15. Romans 5:1
16. Romans 8:1
17. Ephesians 2:19–22


[ Home ] [ Up ] [ About Us ] [ Contact Us ] [ Links ] [ Pastor ] [ Events ] [ Youth ] [ Services ] [ Our Staff ] [ Education ]