The Lord Needs It

A Sermon for the Sunday of the Passion: Palm Sunday (Year C)
April 13, 2025

Text: Luke 19:28-40

I speak to you in the name of one God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Whenever I write a sermon for Palm Sunday, there are two things I try to keep in mind. Number 1: Keep it brief. The focus of our service on Palm Sunday should always be the reading of the Passion Gospel.

Every year, we hear the story of our Lord’s passion and death re-told from one of the three Synoptic Gospels—Matthew, Mark, or Luke.

At St. Mary’s, we hear it proclaimed in a very moving and dramatic way with members of the congregation reading different parts.

The story is powerful enough on its own, and there’s really not much more I need to say in a sermon.

So, I try my best to keep it short and to the point.

The second thing I try to do in my preaching on Palm Sunday is to stress the importance of Holy Week.

Palm Sunday marks the beginning of our journey through Holy Week.

And, it’s important that we take time out of our busy lives to walk through this week together as a community of faith, participating in as many services as we can—especially in the three days leading up to Easter.

I hope you’ll remember that as we leave church today and go about the week ahead.

This special time time between Palm Sunday and Easter is the single most important week for Christians around the world, and we’re called to observe it faithfully.

In our journey through Holy Week, we’re renewed in our faith and reminded of what it truly means to be a follower of Jesus Christ—the one who laid down his life for us, opening the way of salvation for all people.

So, as you’re thinking about the week ahead and how you’re going to spend your Holy Week, make plans now to come back to church on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. 

Come back to church on Saturday night for the Great Vigil of Easter and help us celebrate the Passover of our Lord as we move move from the darkness of Good Friday to the joy of resurrected life.

I promise you won’t regret it.

But, what I can’t promise is that you won’t be changed in the process and come out on the other end of this week with an even greater and deeper love for Jesus.

Come back to church this week as often as you can.

Make it a priority for you and your family.

Embrace the mystery of Christ’s death and resurrection.

Because the truth, dear friends, is that it’s not just about Jesus and something that happened 2,000 years ago.

It’s also about you and me and this life we’re called to live in Christ, which leads me to the point I really want to make in my sermon for today.

And, to do that, I want to draw your attention to the passage from Luke’s Gospel that we heard outside in the Garden.

Think back to the story we heard earlier.

Jesus and his disciples are on their way to Jerusalem.

And, as they approach the towns of Bethphage and Bethany, near the Mount of Olives, Jesus sends two of his disciples ahead of the group to go and find a young colt that’s never been ridden.

He says to the two disciples, “Untie [the colt] and bring it here. If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ just say this, ‘The Lord needs it.’”

The disciples do as Jesus told them.

They walk ahead of the group, and when they arrive in the village, they find everything just as Jesus said they would, including the young colt.

As they’re untying it, the owners come out and ask them why they’re taking the colt.

They respond as Jesus instructed them.

“The Lord needs it.”

One thing I love about this passage from Luke is that it says something pretty remarkable about Jesus—something we don’t often consider.

Jesus asked for help.

He trusted his disciples to do what they were asked and shared his ministry with them.

But, even more than that, Jesus needed his disciples to help carry out God’s plan for salvation.

He couldn’t do it alone.

Luke’s account of the triumphant entry into Jerusalem involves both Jesus and his disciples.

His disciples are the ones who secure the colt that will bring him into the city.

His disciples are the ones who’ll throw their cloaks on top of the colt and place him on its back.

They’re the ones who will praise God joyfully as he approaches the city gates, saying, “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!”

His disciples are the ones who will make a way for him to enter the holy city to complete his work of salvation on the cross.

I think there’s something incredibly powerful about that.

Presumably, Jesus could’ve done all of it himself.

He could’ve come among us as a mighty king and accomplished all he did without anyone else’s help.

But, that’s not what happened.

Instead, “he emptied himself,” as Paul writes in his letter to the Philippians, “taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness.”

Jesus lowered himself and became vulnerable to the temptations and pain of this world and, by doing so, gave us a perfect example of humility and obedience to God.

His disciples played an important part in his journey.

And, just like they did when they made a way for Jesus to enter the city, we’re called—in our own time and place—to make a way for Jesus.

That’s what our journey from Palm Sunday to Easter is all about.

Not only recalling the story of Jesus’ death and resurrection —but also remembering who we are in the process and who we’re called to be.

We are the hands and feet of Jesus, and our ministry is one of service, just as Jesus came, not to be served but to serve others.

We are his Body, broken and poured out for the life of the world.

And he’s calling us, once again this Holy Week, to be renewed in our faith and to recommit ourselves to the work we’ve been given to do.

If you need to be reminded why, remember these words:

“The Lord needs it.”

Amen.