Thomas J Parlette
Give it Up for Jesus”
Philippians 2: 5-11
4/2/23, Palm Sunday
I’m sure you’ve all heard the phrase “Give it up.” It’s been around for awhile now. To show that you like someone who is being introduced or a song that’s about to be played, the person giving the introduction will instruct you to “Give it up for…” Whoever it happens to be. And that’s your cue to applaud and cheer and jump up and down, if that’s your thing. You do whatever it takes to show that you are really excited to see that person or hear that song or whatever. Go ahead and give it up.
Now if that phrase had been around a couple of thousand years ago in Jerusalem, someone might well have instructed the crowd to “give it up for Jesus” as he rode into town on the back of a donkey. Along with the waving leafy branches and throwing down garments, the hosannas and alleluias of the assembled admirers could definitely have been construed as “giving it up for Jesus.”
After all, this was an exciting time. Jesus of Nazareth was an exciting guy. He had the gumption to stand up to those self-righteous Pharisees. He made the little people feel just as important as the powerful and the wealthy. He spoke with such authority that even the Roman soldiers seemed to listen to him. He befriended everybody, saint and sinner alike. And all those stories about him – wonderous!
It was said that he healed the sick. That he gave sight to the blind. That he could touch someone’s crippled limb and make it healthy again. There were even stories of how he made dead people come back to life.
Some people went so far as to say that Jesus was the promised Messiah – the long-awaited Savior of the people; the one who would lead Israel back to the greatness it had known under kings such as David and Solomon.
So why not “give it up” for Jesus? If all this was true – the stories, the speculation, the rumors, the miraculous abilities – then Jesus deserved complete devotion and loyalty. This was Jesus’ day, and this crowd was Jesus greatest fan club. Jesus deserved a welcome fit for a king, and more. For Jesus was truly sent by God.
Or so it seemed… for the moment at least.
And this is precisely the temptation that Jesus faced on that triumphant day of palms and hosannas – to be who people wanted him to be – instead of who he really was.
The temptation to give in to the desires of the crowd; to be worshiped and lifted up as a great charismatic leader; to fulfill the political agenda that others had in mind; to free the people from the Romans, and not from their own sinfulness. That is the temptation for Jesus on this day. The temptation to exploit his equality with God for his own, personal gain.
It was at this point in his ministry, and in his life, that Jesus had to “give it up” for the people. He had to empty himself, as Paul puts it, and become their servant – not their King. He had to humble himself completely, and walk through the next 6 days not only as one of them, but as one who would be thoroughly humiliated, condemned, and executed as a criminal. Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God, handled like a piece of human garbage, so the powers that be might prove him weak and ineffective.
Those people standing along the roadside on Palm Sunday were willing to give it up for Jesus – but only if they got something in return. They would cheer Jesus on, as long he took them where they wanted to go. They would support Jesus, as long as he fulfilled the role they had picked out for him. But let Jesus waver from the path they wanted him to walk, and suddenly he was walking alone.
We human beings are a fickle lot. We listen to speakers to hear what they have to say to us, not about anybody else. We want politicians to tell us things that are going to make our lives better, not necessarily the things that will improve the world. We want instructors to teach us things we want to learn, not necessarily the things they want to teach us. We want preachers to tell us we’re doing good things and that we’re headed in the right direction that will ultimate lead us to heaven. We don’t necessarily want to hear the truth. If a speaker doesn’t have something to say to us, something that will directly benefit our lives in the way we want – we have a habit of tuning them out.
As a speaker, Jesus was no exception. As long as he kept the people entertained, and amazed – they were happy. As long as he promised them a better life – they were impressed. As long as it appeared he might be the One to set them free from the dreadful Romans who occupied their land – they followed him. But as soon as he was tested, and failed their test, they abandoned him.
How many times have we said, “Jesus could have…”
How many times have we asked, “Why didn’t Jesus just….?”
We think that if we were writing the script, we could have done a much better job. That’s what some of Jesus followers thought. One of them, Judas, even tried to rewrite the ending by forcing Jesus’ hand. But it didn’t work.
Jesus didn’t give in to the temptation of Palm Sunday. He didn’t budge an inch off the course that God had set for him. Yes, he could have. He could have done a lot of things, and in our imaginations we can conjure up all kinds of alternate ending to Jesus’ story.
Yes, Jesus could have accepted the throne that the Palm Sunday crowd wanted to put him on. He could have led Israel to worldly domination by crushing the Roman empire with the mighty hand of God. He could have healed the nation of pestilence and disease. He could have fed all the hungry of the world with a bumper crop of manna from heaven like Israel had never seen before. He could have eradicated evil from the face of the earth and set up his kingdom right then and there.
He could have done all that – Yes. But he didn’t. He didn’t because he was Jesus. And that wasn’t what Jesus was about. That was what those people were about. They celebrated him one day and condemned him the next. That’s what we’re about. We’re like that when we try to make Jesus into something that he was never meant to be. We’re like that when we still try to tempt Jesus by waving palms and carrying a banner that makes Jesus out to be a leader who exemplifies our politics and our expectations for the future.
Jesus was never what people expected him to be. Jesus was always obedient. But he wasn’t obedient to the passing whims and aspirations of the crowds. He was obedient only to God, even to the point of death… death on a cross.
In our human fickleness, we are also controlling. We have even been taught that we should be able to control our own destinies and who we want to be. Hidden behind the Palm Sunday crowd’s exuberance, was a controlling people. They were a people willing to manipulate the events at hand in order to determine a future that would be beneficial for them.
But is that any different than we do today? Individuals use other individuals to get what they want. Governments use other governments and even their own citizens to get what they want. And we have adopted the philosophy that the ends do indeed justify the means, as long as the ends are in our favor.
But Jesus didn’t give in to that philosophy… or did he? For Jesus, the means to the end that he wanted to achieve was the path to Calvary – a road less-traveled. For Jesus, it was a trail of complete denial and sacrifice. To us, it was a mysterious walk that took Jesus from the adulation of the crowds to the glorification of God.
When you look at it that way, perhaps the temptation of Palm Sunday was not that great. If you have a choice between being revered by the people or applauded by God – which would you choose? Of course the choice is not easy if you consider that the cross stood between you and the glory that would come from God.
But Jesus resisted the temptation. And because he was able to overcome any inkling to give in to this ego and self-interest, he was able to fulfill his purpose on earth. As a lamb sacrificed on the altar, Jesus was given over to the enemy and died for our sins – crucified for us that we might have everlasting life.
And God exulted him. God – not the people in the crowd – gave him a name that is above every other name. He made it so that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bend, not just on earth, but under the earth and in heaven as well; and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord.
We always have to be cautious not to be lured in by the temptation of Palm Sunday. It’s tempting to jump on the bandwagon and join the cheerleading squad that puts Jesus on a pedestal and hails him as the driving force behind whatever cause the crowds have determined him to be “for” or “against.”
Jesus’ ministry was a demanding one. His mission was urgent. He could not be side-tracked by every diversion that he faced. He had to keep focused, always, on his ultimate goal. He came into our world for one purpose. He achieved that purpose by “giving it up” – giving it up…for all of us. “Though he was in the form of God, he did not regard equality with God as a thing to be exploited.” Instead – he emptied himself.
So, on this Palm Sunday – let’s “give it up” for Jesus. And the way to do that is not by being in the cheering section, not by lining the streets and not by getting caught up in the hysterical crowds. To give it up for Jesus, we have to focus on the same mission that Jesus came to accomplish – the salvation of all humankind. Starting with our own circle of family and friends, and venturing out into the world around us, we give it up for Jesus by professing the name that causes every knee to bow and every tongue to confess – and by living a life that screams and shouts the name of Jesus in every kind act we do, and every caring word we speak.
We “give it up for Jesus” – because he “gave it up for us.”
We give it for Jesus… by giving up ourselves.
May God guide our feet as we travel the roads of this Holy Week.
Amen.
