Palm Sunday - Getting Stoned.

(Psa 118:22)

The stone the builders rejected
    has become the cornerstone;
²³ the Lord has done this,
    and it is marvelous in our eyes.
²⁴ The Lord has done it this very day;
    let us rejoice today and be glad.

²⁵ Lord, save us!
    Lord, grant us success!

²⁶ Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
    From the house of the Lord we bless you.^[b]
27 The Lord is God,    and he has made his light shine on us.
With boughs in hand, join in the festal procession
    up^[c] to the horns of the altar.

²⁸ You are my God, and I will praise you;
    you are my God, and I will exalt you.

²⁹ Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
    his love endures forever.

Luke 19:28-40 

²⁸ After Jesus had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. ²⁹ As he approached Bethphage and Bethany at the hill called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, ³⁰ “Go to the village ahead of you, and as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. ³¹ If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it.’”

³² Those who were sent ahead went and found it just as he had told them. ³³ As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the colt?”

³⁴ They replied, “The Lord needs it.”

³⁵ They brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt and put Jesus on it. ³⁶ As he went along, people spread their cloaks on the road.

³⁷ When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen:

³⁸ “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!”^[a]

“Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”

³⁹ Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!”

⁴⁰ “I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”

Phil 2:1-13 

Imitating Christ’s Humility

2 Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, ² then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. ³ Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves,⁴ not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

⁵ In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

⁶ Who, being in very nature^[a] God,
    did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
⁷ rather, he made himself nothing
    by taking the very nature^[b] of a servant,
    being made in human likeness.
⁸ And being found in appearance as a man,
    he humbled himself
    by becoming obedient to death—
        even death on a cross!

⁹ Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
    and gave him the name that is above every name,
¹⁰ that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
    in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
¹¹ and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
    to the glory of God the Father.

Do Everything Without Grumbling

¹² Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, ¹³ for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.
\

Reflection

The phrase that sticks in my head and concerns me about this morning readings is “the stone that builder’s rejected has become the cornerstone”.   As we reflect on Holy Week, we know the story well, maybe too well for it becomes - usual.  In Jesus’ triumphant entry into the city of Jerusalem the people were yelling “Hosanna, Blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord”.  The same people who were removing their cloaks and throwing palm branches to the ground in front the approaching donkey and rider - celebrating the King – would be the very same people that would screaming and rip their cloaks demanding “Crucify him, crucify him”.  – How do you travel that distance in 4 days?  
I think the answer is found in this. 

When Christ entered Jerusalem the people were celebrating the Messiah they wanted, on the Easter weekend, they were rejecting the Messiah they got.  They stumble over the cornerstone – Christ. 
This verse is an interesting one that poises a question, “who are the builders that do the rejecting?”  

As we look at the Gospel account, we recognize the builders to be the Pharisee’s and Sadducee's, who were building a religion and a society of law that they believed was right. – But we discover in the gospels that the religious leaders were not for God and a deliverer as much as they were interested in maintaining their power and their way of life.  They had established their own cornerstone on which to build their lives – themselves.  The great delusion was that they did it in the name of God.  They expected everyone to align themselves to their cornerstone. In order to accept Christ as the cornerstone, the choice was, reject themselves, what they had built, what made sense to them, how they wanted to see and construct their lives – or reject Christ.  

To place Christ as the cornerstone means that one must reject themselves as the cornerstone – it means that what makes sense to them, how it is that they want to live their lives, to believe in, to see as right or wrong – as acceptable or not acceptable must be torn out and cast aside, and in its place, Christ is insert. It means that our entire being must be re-oriented – in fact, re-built.  

In ancient construction, the cornerstone was the first block to be placed in a building project – it had to be absolutely true in its dimensions because the rest of the project was measure and aligned by that stone – if something didn’t measure up, it wasn’t the cornerstone that was moved, it was the stones that were placed in after.  

The people that celebrated Christ’s entry into the city, and then a few days later demanded crucifixion were looking for a stone that would adjust to them. When it was found that – the cornerstone of Christ could not be moved or aligned by them – they rejected it.   

2000 some odd years later, we have the same question confronting us – and it’s no less vital alive and dramatic than it was on Holy Week.I have to confront the question, am I following the Messiah I want – or the one that He is.  Do I expect that Christ will fit into the house that I’m building, or am I willing to tear out and reject myself as the cornerstone and align my entire purpose on him?  

What the people rejected and I find is still the primary struggle of all the earth, including us in this room today is “what will I do with that cornerstone”?  I find most are happy to include the stone of Christ in their building as long as Christ aligns with them, with what and how they want to believe. They’re willing to even sing “Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord” - to a point.  But when it comes to the question of “will I reject the cornerstone that I have laid, and completely re-construct my life to align with Christ’s” – in a few short days it can transverse a person  from “bless him” to “crucify him”.  

“Christ who was in very nature God” – this is who we must align our lives to.  We must seek to imitators of him in every way, in every aspect, in every thought, action and deed.  It means that I must take on God’s vision and expectation of my life – of all life.  What He has declared to be holy and righteous and pure and lovely – I must take on to be holy, righteous pure and lovely. Those things that He rejects I must reject – of what He embraces, I embrace, of what He hates I hate, of what He loves, I love. 

The question that is before us this morning is – what stone lies at the first place in my life?  Is it the cornerstone I have laid ‘me or He’?  Is it what I believe or the world can accept? -- Is he the messiah I want or can tolerate, that fits with my sensibilities – or is it who He is as the "I am" – This is not an easy thing – in fact it is the hardest thing – it’s why it took the sacrifice of God’s only begotten Son.  God knows what is at stake – it is a question whose answer will affect all of humanity for eternity – for it is whose cornerstone is in place that will determine which building we are a part of for eternity.  That knowledge will lead us to declare “Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord”, or it will enrage us to scream “Crucify Him”. 

There’s a song that has come out in recent years that we occasionally sing in Church.  It gets caught in my throat almost every time – not because I don’t believe it … but because I do. It causes me to think hard about what it is that I’m singing and is it truly the desire of my heart and will. 
I’m going to use it as our closing prayer this morning.  

Jesus, all for Jesus,
All I am and have and ever hope to be.
Jesus, all for Jesus,
All I am and have and ever hope to be.

All of my ambitions, hopes and plans
I surrender these into Your hands.
All of my ambitions, hopes and plans
I surrender these into Your hands.

For it's only in Your will that I am free,
For it's only in Your will that I am free,
Jesus, all for Jesus,
All I am and have and ever hope to be.

Amen.

Anyway, I was just thinking.

Neil