We Wish to See Jesus (Sermon for Palm Sunday: April 13, 2025)

Watch the sermon here. Listen to the sermon here.

Texts:  Deuteronomy 32:36–39

            Philippians 2:5–11

John 12:12-43

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

The text that serves as the foundation for our sermon for today are both of our gospel readings but especially these words at the beginning of the second gospel reading, “Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks. So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, ‘Sir, we wish to see Jesus.’” (John 12:20-21).

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus,

There are a lot of things that we like to see, we long to see. You might have it as a bucket list dream to see all 50 states or to see a certain country. Maybe you want to see all seven modern wonders of the world. Maybe you want to see something a little bit closer to home. Maybe you want to see your kids, your grandkids grow up. Maybe you want to see your family remain in the faith. We all have these things that we long to see. The things that are important to us. In our Gospel greetings for today, there's a great crowd that longs, that wishes to see Jesus. But the Jesus that they want to see isn't exactly the Jesus who Jesus actually is. Today in our gospel readings, we learn that we should long to see Jesus where His glory is beheld, in His death on the cross for our sins.

Let us pray: Almighty God, our Heavenly Father, the crowds longed to see Jesus, see Him as the triumphant king. And yet the triumph that He held was not a temporal triumph, but triumph over sin, death, and the devil, as He willingly went to the cross and suffered and died for us. May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer, that we may have the sure and certain confidence that when we look on Jesus crucified, we see there the forgiveness of sins that He has won for us in His death on the cross. It's through Your Son's name that we pray. Amen.

That first Palm Sunday was a busy time for Jerusalem. It was right as they were beginning the celebrations of the Passover. This would have been the day when all of the firstborn lambs a year old were brought into Jerusalem to be kept safe there for five days before they would have been sacrificed in the temple, their blood shed in remembrance of what had happened all those years ago as the people of Israel were led out of Egypt by God. Israel was this week remembering the salvation from a temporal power that God had given to them. And they've heard about Jesus. After all, Jesus had, just about three miles away from Jerusalem, raised a guy who had been dead for four days, brought him back to life. That was unheard of. Yeah, Jesus had raised some people who had been dead a short amount of time before. Yeah, they had heard some rumors of this young man's being carried out to be buried, and Jesus goes and He touches the casket and the young man springs back up to life. Those things could have been discounted. Maybe people are fabricating. Maybe the young man wasn't actually dead, just nearly dead. But they couldn’t discount it with Lazarus. Lazarus had been dead and buried four days. Lazarus was most certainly dead. Jesus had come and Jesus had commanded Lazarus to come out of the tomb. And Lazarus walked forth, raised from the dead. And this had happened only a couple days earlier. The crowds had heard about this.

And so they saw Jesus coming into Jerusalem mounted on a donkey as David had when he rode into Jerusalem as the victorious king. They're excited. Now is the king of Israel coming into his royal capital. Now is the king of Israel coming to take his throne. So they cut down palm branches and lay their coats on the ground in front of the donkey. And they shout, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!” (John 12:13). And the Jesus that they saw, the Jesus that they were expecting, was the Jesus who they wanted to overthrow the Roman government, who they wanted to throw off the shackles of Rome and make Israel a great nation again. They wanted Him to make Israel into its own nation, free from Roman rule, just as Moses had led the people of Israel out of Egypt, throwing off the chains of Egypt. But this is not who Jesus was. The crowds saw Jesus with their eyes. He didn't do the things that they expected him to do. He didn’t overthrow the Roman government at all.

The Pharisees and the Sadducees and the scribes and the chief priests of the people saw Jesus with their eyes as well. And they saw a threat to their power. On the day after Jesus rode into Jerusalem, He'd go into the temple, see the great evil that was happening there, and with whips would overthrow the money-changing tables. He would go and cleanse the temple in preparation for His sacrifice. Jesus would go and He would preach against the religious leaders of the day. Thus the religious leaders of the day saw in Jesus a threat to their power. And so they had one desire: to see Jesus' death. They wanted this threat to their authority gone once for all. They wanted Him out of the picture. Their own greedy, selfish, sinful desires got the best of them. They could not see who Jesus was. And so a mere five days later, after the crowd had shouted, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”, the leaders of the people would have Jesus arrested. They would have Him stricken and beaten.

As Jesus is standing before Pilate, the crowd saw Jesus and they realized He's not this great political leader. He wasn't going to defeat Pilate. He wasn't going to kill Pilate and take over the government. No. Pilate had him. Bound. Beaten. Crowned with thorns. Bloodied. Marred beyond recognition. And so the crowds turn on Jesus. “Crucify him, crucify him!” (John 19:6).

Jesus would be led out of Jerusalem. And on that hill, He would be nailed to the cross. There He would hang. There, few would look on Him, and most of those who did would look on Him not in faith, but in derision. Most of those who would look on Him hanging there on the cross, seeing Him suffering would mock and scorn him, utter all types of false accusations against Him in order to deride Him. Even there on the cross, the Father would not look at His Son. There on the cross, God the Father placed all of the sins of all of creation, from the very first sin ever committed to the very last sin ever committed, your sins, my sins, all of them were placed on His Son on the cross. And there, the Father would not look at His Son. There the Son would suffer and die so that He could win for you and I the complete and absolute forgiveness of sins that we so desperately need.

What about you? Do you wish to see Jesus? Do you wish to see your Lord and Savior? Which Jesus do you want to see? Because there are many in our world, including many Christians, who will see Jesus as a good teacher. Someone who may have taught some of the right things. He had a fairly good moral system. Some of His teachings might have been out of line with modern day thought, but they have no problem just ignoring those. Others see Jesus as a get out of jail free card. When the times get tough, well then, then I'll run to Jesus. He'll help me out of this issue, that issue, but otherwise, I'm good. I can do things on my own.

Or is the Jesus that you want to see your Savior, nailed there on the cross, suffering and dying for you? Even though He was beaten, even though He was marred so beyond human resemblance, it is yet there on the cross looking to our suffering and dying Lord that we say, “Beautiful Savior, King of creation”. Because that is where true beauty is seen. The beauty is seen where your God willingly took your sins upon Himself and suffered and died for them. That is true beauty, the love of your God for you. This week, we get to see Jesus where we get to see Him each and every day in this life. Through His Word, read and proclaim, through the Sacraments of Baptism, Absolution and the Lord's Supper given, we get to see Jesus, not yet with our own eyes but with the eyes of faith. We get to see Jesus as we move from today, from Palm Sunday, the triumphal Entry. We get to see Jesus on Maundy Thursday in the Upper Room where He gave His disciples His very body and blood to eat and drink for the first time. We get to see Jesus on Good Friday when we see Him suffering and dying for our sins. We get to see Him next Sunday on Easter, when we see Him raised from the dead, triumphant over sin, death, and the devil, the fruits of the victory won for us.

Do you want to see Jesus? Come and see Him. Come and see Him today, this week, next Sunday, and every Sunday. Continue to see Jesus each and every day, each and every week of your life. Until at last, we will see Him with our eyes still bearing the marks of our salvation in His hands, still bearing the pierced side. We will see Him risen, ascended, glorified as He comes again in glory to judge both the living and the dead, who’s kingdom will have no end. Amen.

Now may the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.