Sunday, March 29, 2026, Palm Sunday

“O Christ, You Walked the Road… for ME”

Scripture Readings: Psalm 118:19-29; Isaiah 50:4-9a; Philippians 2:5-11; John 12:12-19 

Service Order: A Hymn Setting for Divine Service III, with Holy Communion

Hymns: “All Glory, Laud, and Honor” #442; “No Tramp of Soldier’s Marching Feet” #444; “Ride On, Ride On in Majesty” #441; “O Christ, You Walked the Road” #424; “My Song Is Love Unknown” #430; “Hosanna, Loud Hosanna” #443

Dear Friends in Christ,

     Grace, mercy, and peace you, from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

     O Christ, You walked the road… for ME! Are you comfortable with that? With putting the word ME in that sentence? It’s not arrogant; it’s not like that at all. It isn’t pride, it isn’t pushing yourself forward, it isn’t putting yourself above anyone else; quite the opposite, in fact. Jesus died for all of us, for everyone, that’s true. But if you can accept the “just for ME” of the thing as being true; that is, that He would have died for me if I’d been the only sinner there was - that makes it personal. If you can say, “Christ died for ME,” that He walked the road to the cross for ME, that He loves ME - that will change your Palm Sunday, and your Holy Week, and your Easter, and your life. St. Paul says it will even change your attitude.

     An attitude is a mental direction. It’s where your brain is pointing, and where your thoughts are inclined, whether your attitude is righteous or poor. And curiously enough, a good, godly, and righteous attitude - once you wrap your mind around “Jesus died for ME” - takes the focus off of ME altogether; isn’t it funny how that works? Jesus loves me, and He died for me, unrighteous though I was, just because He loves me - and He didn’t need any other reason. So, sinner saved by grace that I am,

“Therefore it is my duty to thank and praise, serve and obey Him; this is most certainly true.” So this new “Christ attitude” means this isn’t about ME anymore; it’s about Him, and about the people I know who need to know about Him, too, who also need to understand what “for ME” really means.

     Your attitude, says Paul – your mindset – should be the same as Christ Jesus. That gives us quite an example to follow, doesn’t it? It’s something to work on anyway. Jesus, says Paul, was (and is) in very nature God. He existed from eternity as God, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, “begotten of His Father before all worlds, God of God and Light of Light and Very God of Very God.” The word for “grasp” means to rob or plunder or seize by force. The devil’s original sin was wanting to be God, even to the point of starting a heavenly insurrection and making war on God Himself. He wanted to be equal with God, even to exceed Him and take His place.

     But Jesus made Himself nothing, He emptied Himself, He stepped down from the place that was His by right; and He took on the form and nature of a servant, a slave, a lowly human being. “Took on the likeness of Adam” is the literal translation, in the likeness of the man who was formed out of dirt. And He didn’t make Himself a rich or powerful man, but a poor and ordinary one. That happened at Christmas, when He was born of a virgin girl named Mary in a cattle shed in Bethlehem… for ME!

     And being found in appearance as a man – a man who walked the dusty roads of this world, a man who ate and drank, and lived and laughed and cried - He humbled Himself, lowered himself, debased Himself, took the lowest place on earth there was, and became obedient to death, even death on a cross – for ME.

     “Therefore,” says Paul (and thank God every day there’s a “therefore”) God exalted Him, elevated Him, raised Him, above everyone and everything else in heaven or on earth. That happened at the Resurrection, when He conquered death and walked away from His grave, and showed Himself to His disciples alive. And then He was taken back up into heaven – the Ascension, we call that – and now He’s in heaven, praying and interceding before His Father and preparing a place in heaven – for ME.

     His name – Jesus, Joshua, Yeshua - means “the Lord Saves.” His name is the name we now praise and worship above every other name. I worship Him, because He in His mercy chose to save and glorify ME. He did it all for me; what can I do but give all I have to Him? At the name of Jesus, every knee ought to bow, shall bow, one day will bow, in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth. Some will bend their knees to Him willingly, and submissively, and do it with great joy. And others will only bend to Him on a day when it’s too late. But every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

     I myself confess – ME, sinner though I am – that Jesus Christ is MY Lord. That is my personal confession, my personal statement of faith. No one can make that confession for me. I can’t believe for you, and you can’t believe for me. But as for myself, whatever small honor or glory I might have in this world, I bend my knee and give it all to Him and let all the glory be His. “He must become greater,” said John the Baptist, “and I must become less.”

     Our Gospel today, our Palm Sunday story, takes place the day after Jesus had raised up Lazarus from the dead. It was nearing the time for the annual Passover celebration of the Jews. Pilgrims would come from everywhere to be in Jerusalem for the Feast, so the city was crowded. And some in the crowd had been at Lazarus’ funeral – the funeral that turned out not to be a funeral – just the day before. So the mighty miracle Jesus had done was the talk of the town (to the great consternation of the Pharisees). And then came the news that Jesus was on His way into the city.

     Don’t get the picture in your head that this was some quiet, peaceful, Palm Sunday donkey ride. This was all chaos, excitement, tumult, and noise. Many in that crowd were determined to crown Him their King. If a king was approaching your city in those days - especially if he’d brought along an army – you could either bar the gates, man the ramparts, and get ready for a fight, or hold up those palm branches as a symbol of welcome and peace.

     It isn’t hard to see what the crowd had in mind that day. “Hosanna!” means, “O Lord, come now and save us!” When they shouted, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord,” they were looking for a new King David -a King blessed by God, but a King with an actual army. They thought they had in Jesus a King who’d throw out the Romans and give them back the kingdom they once knew, and they had in mind to set Him on a throne. They even had the audacity to proclaim Him “King of Israel.” But that wasn’t what Jesus had in His mind or in His heart… for ME.

     Jesus could have come into Jerusalem any way He so chose - on a great white horse, on the wings of angels, with power and authority and the mountain-breaking voice of God. Instead He found a young donkey, a little one, and sat upon it. An impressive stallion or warhorse would have put Him above the crowd, at least; riding a little donkey put Him among them all, at eye level with them.

     The “do not be afraid, donkey’s colt” quote is from the prophet Zechariah, written 500 years before, to tell the people of Israel what to look for in their Savior, so they’d recognize Him when He came. Jesus, on purpose, was fulfilling a prophecy about Himself, though no one, including His disciples, understood that at the time -- That He’d be a humble King, one who’d lower Himself, one who’d bend down, for the sake of the people He loved. And for ME.

     “Now the crowd that was with Him when He called Lazarus from the tomb and raised Him from the dead continued to spread the word. Many people, because they had heard that He had given this miraculous sign, went out to meet Him.” The Pharisees and Jewish leaders were jealous, angry, and afraid. They were afraid for their power, their position, and their pocketbooks. They said to one another, "See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after Him!" If this tumult doesn’t stop, we’ll have to answer to the governor for it; so what can we do? He’s got to go! They were all about themselves. Not about God, not about the people God had given them to care for; only about themselves. They had no humility at all.

     This wouldn’t be a calm and peaceful Palm Sunday, or a quiet Holy Week. This would be a week of crowds and noise and unrest in the streets, a week of zealots and plotters planning to make Him King, a week of scribes and Sadducees and Pharisees who’d decided He had to die; and a week when a friend would betray Him. (Judas, who was a zealot Himself, may have been disappointed that Jesus had passed on the revolution he’d been hoping for). There would come the chaotic night in the Garden of Gethsemane, Judas leading the mob to arrest Him. There’d be an angry trial before the Sanhedrin, and loud accusations before Pontius Pilate. There would come the noisy, mocking crowd of soldiers, laughing as they gave Him a king’s robe and a thorny crown and laid the lash to His back; and then the terrible, stumbling walk down the Way of Sorrows, the Via Dolorosa, as Jesus struggled to carry His cross through the narrow, crowded streets of Jerusalem; down the Via Dolorosa, the Way of Sorrows, outside the city, to Calvary… for ME.

     Martin Luther wrote somewhere that the most important words in the Sacrament we’re about to receive are “for YOU.” Given for YOU, poured out for YOU. For me? Yes, for ME!

     O Christ, You walked the road to the cross, for ME. You humbled Yourself and became obedient to death, for ME. You chose a donkey’s colt over a show of power, for ME. You chose MY life over Yours; now may I give MY life, always and forever, to You Through the chaos and the trials and the tumult of this world, Lord, be with me, and be with us all, until we all reach Heaven at last. In the name, of Jesus, the name above all names. Amen.

Rev. Larry Sheppard. M.Div.

Trinity Lutheran Church, Packwaukee, WI

St. John’s Lutheran Church, Oxford, WI

pastorshepp@gmail.com