Palm Sunday.

My name is Nermalis, and today I get to talk about my favorite topic ever, Jesus. It's Jesus. Today is something that's called Palm Sunday.

It is a day that's observed in the liturgical or the church calendar that marks the beginning of what's called Holy Week. Holy Week starts on Palm Sunday, the day Jesus arrived in Jerusalem, and then it ends on Resurrection Sunday, more commonly referred to as Easter. Today I get the honor of teaching about Jesus' triumphant entry into Jerusalem that we now know as Palm Sunday.

A few quick things before I jump into the message. One, we are kicking off Alpha in two weeks. On April 16th, we're going to be doing Alpha every single Sunday morning downstairs. We want to continue to encourage you guys to either sign up or to be praying about who to invite to be a part of that. It is at no point too late to sign up. For more information, you can go to alphamadison.org.

Another quick note: this prayer room in the back corner behind you is open 24-7 and we would love to encourage you throughout Holy Week to be taking advantage of that and being in that space. Make sure that this week you're signing up or if you have any questions about how to sign up to be going into the prayer room, just let us know. We would love to help you out in getting involved and being there.

I would like you all to join me in John chapter 12, verses 12 through 19.

The next day, the great crowd that had come for the festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting, Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Blessed is the king of Israel. Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it as it is written. Do not be afraid, daughter Zion. See your king is coming, seated on a donkey's colt. At first, his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that these things had been done to him. 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 performed this sign, went out to meet him. So the Pharisees said to one another, see, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him.

John 12:12-19

Let's pray.

Jesus, our Savior, thank you for the salvation that only you can offer us. Lord, I pray that you give us hearts submitted to you and your way. In Jesus' matchless, holy and mighty name, amen.

Growing up speaking Spanglish

So for those of you that don't know, I grew up speaking Spanglish. I grew up speaking both Spanish and English. That's because my family is from Puerto Rico. At home and at church, we spoke Spanish, and then at school and everywhere else, we spoke English.

My dad spoke English fluently. It was his first language. He grew up in New York City. But my mom grew up speaking Spanish, so that was her primary language. Growing up, she did speak English, but Spanish was definitely her stronger language. If you know anything about speaking more than one language, you know that while languages translate, they usually do not translate directly. Some things just don't translate at all. For example, sayings and phrases do not typically translate.

English sayings like hit the nail on the head or he has bigger fish to fry do not translate well because those are not Spanish sayings. If I say, he has bigger fish to fry in Spanish, it will be understood as, that guy has a large fish that he intends to dip in hot oil and fry. Fish fry Friday, everybody.

I remember being a sophomore or junior in high school, something like that. I don't remember specifically. My mom calls me out of my room to read a text message from a couple that my parents had mentored for at least two decades. A long time. She calls me out of the room, and she goes, Nerma, I think that the Vegas are opening a bakery. I was really confused because this couple had been in full-time ministry my whole life and had very little deviation from that. She hands me her phone.

She also looked confused. I look at her phone, and it's a graphic of an oven. The oven says Vega family. On the inside of the oven is a loaf of bread that says coming like September 2016 or something like that. Then it's followed by a text message that said we have a bun in the oven. I look at my mom and I'm like, Ma, Debbie's pregnant. She takes the phone from me, looks at it, and she looks at me and she's like, where does it say that?

She just didn't get it. And to no fault of her own, her context, in this case a language barrier, did not allow her to understand that this woman was pregnant, not opening a bakery. Because bun in the oven does not mean pregnant in Spanish. Can my Spanish speakers agree with me? Yes? No. It does not mean pregnant in Spanish.

She just didn't get it. And sometimes we just don't get it. Sometimes everything we know prevents us from being able to understand something foreign to us. And Palm Sunday in reality is the story of a bunch of people that just don't get it. They're saying a new bakery is opening when in reality a new baby is on the way.

The context of Palm Sunday

Let me explain. The Jewish people are a conquered people group, and they've been in a cycle of being conquered for generations. At this current moment in history, they are under Roman rule and have been for over 100 years. On this day, when Jesus is arriving in Jerusalem, it's the beginning of what's called the Passover Festival.

The Passover Festival is a religious festival commemorating when the Israelites were liberated from oppression in Egypt. It's celebrating the salvation that God once won for them. So let me set the scene of what's happening in Jerusalem on this day.

At the west gate of the city, Pilate, who is the Roman governor, is arriving in Jerusalem, as is the tradition, in a procession of his own. In his procession, it is timed and staged perfectly to happen at the start of Passover to remind the Jewish people that although they are commemorating a salvation that once came, it's not coming again. They are now under a different oppression, and they are by no means free. They may have been saved in the past, but this time it's not coming. In this procession, he flexes the military power and sheer wealth of the Roman government, and he declares Caesar is Lord as he marches into the city.

Then at the same time, coming in from the east gate of the city is Jesus riding into the city on a borrowed donkey. We got a funny Lord, I'm just saying. A borrowed donkey. The people of Israel are at the east gate of the city, waving palms and laying their cloaks down before him, declaring that Jesus is their king and Lord, shouting Hosanna, which means save us.

To add to the dynamics of the moment are the palms. 150 years before this moment in time, Judas Maccabeus, known as Judas the Hammer, led the Jewish people to victory over the Selicid dynasty. After leading them to a military victory, the crowd celebrated by waving palm branches. To commemorate the victory of Judas the Hammer, he stamped an image of palm leaves into their coins, which symbolized victory for the Jewish people over their oppressors. In effect, palm branches became the flag of the Israelite nation that wasn't recognized as a nation, had no flag.

150 years later, when the Jewish people are under foreign rule again, they wave their palms in the air again, shouting, Hosanna, save us, at Jesus. They were looking to Jesus as king and savior, and they were right. Jesus was about to give them the salvation that they so desperately needed, but they just didn't get it. They saw a bun in the oven instead of a baby on the way.

Jesus offers the salvation we're looking for

The thing I want you to most remember from this message is this: Jesus offers us the salvation we are looking for. And our now what is let go of our need to control how it comes.

You see, when the Jewish people wave their palms and shout Hosanna at Jesus' entry, they're saying something significant to Jesus. There are big implications behind their actions. It is by no means a casual or cute moment. They, in effect, are saying, rescue us and do it like it's been done before. Save us and do it by our definition of salvation. And don't we do the same exact thing?

We say, Jesus, provide. And what we mean by that is, Jesus sent an anonymous check in the mail for the exact amount of money that I need. Actually, God is the God of abundantly more than I could ask, think, or imagine. So God, overflow. $500 more than what I actually need. Maybe we wouldn't say that's what we do, but when your boss offered you overtime this week, you didn't say, thank you, Jesus, for the provision I asked for.

We pray for peace. And what we mean is, Jesus, take away every stress and anxiety-inducing thing in my life. But Jesus answers by giving us more of himself, empowering us to be full of peace in the midst of anxious circumstances. But we don't want Jesus to change us. We want Jesus to change our circumstance.

But we do this pendulum swing, too. We love limiting Jesus in all sorts of different ways. We don't even bother to believe that God can offer us miraculous healing because we limit Jesus to the natural when, by definition, God is supernatural. How often is God ready and willing to act and we don't even ask because we've defined God as less than what he is. We're left frustrated because it feels like God has not answered our Hosanna cry, our come save us.

But we haven't even acknowledged him worthy of that Hosanna. Hosanna. Hosanna. Save us now. When Jesus doesn't respond or act the way we expect of him, we get frustrated. We see Jesus as our provider, but want to set the terms of that provision. We see Jesus as our healer, but want to dictate that healing. We see Jesus as our peace, but want to define that peace. And we see Jesus as our Savior, but we want to control the means of that salvation.

Jesus offers us the salvation we are looking for, but Jesus' rescue often comes in ways that we don't understand. Jesus saves us through the surprising, vulnerable, and what seemed like a powerless cross. The Jews here call on Jesus for the salvation they knew, the salvation they could wrap their head around. The salvation that made sense to them came in the form of overthrowing an oppressive here and now regime. But Jesus knew what they didn't.

That the salvation they were asking for was short-lived. He knew that the Israelites had a bad habit of not walking in the freedom they were given. And he knew the salvation he had to offer wasn't just about the Jews. It was a salvation for the world, in the here and now, and for all future generations. He was coming to answer their cry for salvation, but that salvation would be made manifest in his body on a cross, not Caesar's head on a stake.

Jesus offers us the salvation we are looking for. Rich Vioda says this. He says: Does the palms we wave and the hosannas we shout speak to our real human desire for liberation, but also our human propensity to want to control the means of salvation? Let me propose to you tonight that Jesus is not limited by our human perceptions of salvation. Jesus is not subject to the box that you and I put him in. Your expectations of Jesus do not define him.

We define God with our expectations, and those expectations come from everything often other than who he has said he is. Our expectations of God come from our daddy issues, Greek mythology or the latest movie we watched. Everything we see and experience shapes our understanding of God whether we want those things to do it or not. For example, someone who grew up with controlling parents will often develop an expectation for God to be a micromanaging deity. If you are averse to judgment, you expect God never to step on anyone's toes.

We deify what we value. What that means is that we take the things we care about that we think matter most and we assign those things to God and we create a god in the image of our desires. That is exactly what the crowds in this story do. They want a military incursion, the overthrowing of the Roman government. They want Judas the Hammer moment again. And so they assign that to Jesus. And when Jesus doesn't save them according to their expectations, the same people on Sunday who yell, Hosanna, Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Blessed is the King of Israel. On Friday, those same crowds yell, crucify him.

Surrender your expectations

Here's my prayer. That God would open our eyes to who he is so that we can see where he is in our lives. You see, because as long as we're looking for our version of God, we won't find him. But if we wholly surrender to the person of Jesus, if we surrender to his salvation in ways we don't expect, if we're willing to let go of our need to control how he saves, we'll see him everywhere.

When we begin to ruthlessly surrender our limited and human expectation, our eyes to the beauty and everything around us will be opened. But as long as our hands are clenched around our expectations, we will not be open to who God is. Because we'll be constantly comparing God to our definition of what he should be.

I read a book in college during a strenuous time in my faith journey when I was really struggling with my idea of God. This book is called God Over Good. The author is Luke Norrisworthy. And he says this: Maybe salvation looks more like letting go than holding on. Do any of you watch NASCAR? Okay, me neither. I don't either. I don't know nothing about it either.

But Luke Norrisworthy shares this story in his book and I think it makes a really good point, so I'm going to share it with you with the preface of this is not my story. I do not watch NASCAR and I know nothing about this other than what Luke said. I'm just going to be honest.

In the 2014 Daytona 500, a 13-car accident happened ending the race for a handful of drivers including one driver named Danica Patrick. Danica was on her way to a top 20 finish but the collision sent her car toward the wall. Naturally, she fought to keep her car away from the wall, but she recalls that the harder she fought with the wheel, the more she knew she was in trouble.

A split second before the collision with the wall, she did something that went against her instincts. She completely let go of the steering wheel, relinquishing any control of the vehicle. When Danica's car crashed into the wall, the steering wheel violently twisted with such force that it would have snapped her wrist if her hands had been wrapped around the wheel. Danica saved her wrist by letting go of the wheel. Sometimes the only thing that can save us is letting go.

To save her wrist, Danica had to let go. To receive the salvation that Jesus is offering us, some of us must do the same thing with our expectations. When things are spiraling out of control, the most unnatural thing for us to do is let go. But that act of relinquishing control might be the only thing that can save us.

Jesus offers us the salvation we are looking for, but we need to let go of our need to control how it comes. Or as Barbara Brown Taylor says, we don't ever lose control. We only lose the illusion we ever had control. This doesn't mean that we let go of God. It means we let go of our ownership of how God must move in our lives.

Can I challenge you today that maybe you've been frustrated because you feel like God has not been moving in your life? And maybe you felt that God has not been answering your Hosanna cries. But can I challenge you that perhaps Jesus is right now offering you the salvation you've been praying for, and you just don't see it because you're looking for a new bakery instead of a new baby. And you're looking for the next Judas the Hammer, but it's Jesus of Nazareth instead.

Matthew 5:8 says:

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

Matthew 5:8

I remember hearing this verse in all of the Beatitudes and seeing them as a reference of who gets to go to heaven and what the afterlife will be like. But I think that maybe Jesus meant so much more than that. That this verse might just be about seeing God right here and right now. Maybe those who see God have eyes that haven't been polluted by their demand for God to bend to their definitions.

Maybe their line of sight is unobstructed by their own constructed views of God. The pure in heart don't need to wait to see God because they're open to accepting God right now. Maybe those that see God are those that have let go of their need to control him.

Jesus offers us the salvation we are looking for. If you know me, you know I enjoy a really good debate, a good argument. I find it fun most of the time. Depends who I'm arguing with. But I don't have an argument that solves all the things we want Jesus to make right in the world. But I do have the life of Jesus.

Sorrow, loss, and betrayal were Jesus' regular experiences leading to his humiliating death. God didn't step into the best and brightest areas of his created world. Jesus didn't ride into Jerusalem on a noble steed, clothed in riches and flexing. He came on a donkey with his feet dragging on the ground, kicking up dirt.

In Jesus, God stepped into darkness, into the absence of life and light, into pain and death. In Jesus, God was on the cross and in the tomb. God is in the darkness with us. God doesn't stay removed from the world only to show up when things are good. Norrisworthy says, God is the heavenly parent who stays by our side through all the tearful nights and heartbroken mornings.

God doesn't show up because that implies that God leaves. The only thing that ever changes is our awareness. The beauty of the Christian story is in God's willingness to become ugly. The beauty of the light of the world is in God's willingness to go dark. The glory of the all-powerful God is in God's willingness to be weak. But we, like the Israelites on the first Palm Sunday, are expecting victory by conquest, and Jesus is offering us victory by crucifixion and resurrection.

On Palm Sunday, the crowds wanted deliverance from the power of Rome, but Jesus was about to deliver the entire world from the power of sin and death. Jesus offers us the salvation we are looking for. We need to let go of our need to control how it comes.

Closing prayer and invitation

I'm going to go ahead and ask the worship team to come on up.

Hosanna. Hosanna. Please save us. Hosanna is not just a cry for salvation. It's a cry of worship. It's acknowledging that Jesus is the one who saves. It's exalting Jesus to his rightful place, the place of Savior. It is coming into agreement with Acts 4:12 that says:

There is no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.

Acts 4:12

What is your Hosanna cry today? Where do you need Jesus to act? And are you willing to let go of your need to control how he answers?

Today I pray God gives you the supernatural miracle you're crying out for, and today I'm praying that your hands be held wide open, surrendered to receive his answer even if it looks different than what you expected. Today I pray you hold fast to your faith and the truth that Jesus offers you the salvation you're looking for and today I pray you let go of the need to control how it comes.

Tonight I want to partner with you in your Hosanna cry. If you're here tonight and you're praying for a move of God in your life, we want to believe in that with you and for you. We want to call on the name of Jesus with you. So Jackie and I will be available in the back to pray with you if tonight you have a Hosanna cry in your heart and you want someone to partner with you in that.

If right now you don't feel led to go pray with someone, that is okay. Here's what I want you to do right at your seat. I want you to reflect on this question. Where and when has God answered my prayer and I just didn't notice? And I want you to ask the Holy Spirit to show you. Then ask yourself this. Is there anything I need to surrender in order to receive what Jesus is offering me?

Invite the Holy Spirit to give you a pure heart so you can see God here and now. The worship team is going to sing over us and I encourage you to either go and find a prayer or to do whatever you need to do to reflect on this with God, whether it's standing and singing or sitting with your journal or getting on your knees in prayer. I don't care how you do it. But I pray that here and now we might not miss the victory of Jesus in our lives because we're looking for the victory of Judas the Hammer.

The last prayer call I want to offer is this. What is the point in waiting one more week till Easter? It's the call to receive Jesus as your Lord and Savior. Palm Sunday marks the arrival of the Savior as the anticipation of salvation mounts. Salvation is coming. That's the whole point of Palm Sunday. Salvation is coming.

But we look at Palm Sunday from a post-cross, post-resurrection perspective. We know what happened next. We know that salvation came and is freely given to each and every one of us. The Savior is here, and right here, right now, he is reaching out to you. So come and receive the salvation of the Lord.

I'm going to invite you all to stand up on your feet. Every eye closed, respecting the privacy of the people around you. Every eye closed. If you're in this room and you want to respond to Jesus' call to salvation, and your Hosanna cry is the purest Hosanna cry, which is just the cry to be in relationship with a loving Savior who pursues you, I want to invite you right where you are in an act of faith to just raise your hand so we can partner with you in prayer. And all together we're going to pray this as a faith family. Please repeat after me.

Lord Jesus, by faith I receive your gift of salvation. Thank you, Lord Jesus, for coming to earth. I believe you are the Son of God, who died on the cross for my sins and rose from the dead on the third day. Come into my heart, Lord Jesus, and be my Savior. Amen.

Lord, right now we just invite you to come like you did. You are our Savior and you are the only one who offers us the salvation that we're looking for. You are the only one that can save us in the here and now. You're the only one who can give us victory. You're the only one who can redeem us. I thank you that you came and you've never left. That you are God with us right now and the same salvation you offered then is the same one you're offering to us today.

Lord, right now we surrender our need to control how you answer, how you act. You are God. We are not. So come and take your rightful place, Lord. In your holy name I pray. Amen.