“Shameless in the Word”

Scripture: Isaiah 50:4-10

Today is Palm Sunday – the day we sometimes describe as Jesus’ “triumphal entry” into Jerusalem. The day of Passover was nearly upon the people, and as this would be one of the three great high festivals for Israel, many people had flocked to the city to sacrifice and to celebrate. But the truth is that Israel didn’t really understand what they were celebrating!

It had been some 1,200 years since that first “Passover” – the night when Israel had been spared the penalty of death that settled upon the firstborn of Egypt. And what was the means of that release from death that so many would suffer? It was the faithful obedience to God’s plan of salvation for the people - those who were called his “chosen”.

It would be a sign of things to come, but the people never understood. The prophets would tell of the “suffering Servant”; they would tell of the sacrifice that Messiah would make on their behalf; they would share the truth of what the lamb’s blood on the door posts meant for them, but they never fully understood.

They clung to their own version of the salvation that Messiah would bring, and it was about as far from the truth of God as anything could possibly be. While they sang out songs of Hosannas in the name of the Son of David – pleas for rescue by Messiah – it wasn’t so much a rejoicing in Jesus, as it was for the teaching and prophesy that he brought. Jesus was, for the multitude, a prophet and rabbi of renown, not the long awaited Messiah of God. (Matthew 21:6-11) For many, he was the reincarnated Elijah – the Prophet who would herald the coming of Israel’s Liberator, not the Savior Himself, who had already come!

The celebratory crowds missed the revelation of both that entry day, as well as their own rescue from oppression in Egypt. They only saw the day as a sign that God’s Emissary was on his way, and not as God’s Saving Presence among them; they only saw the blood of Passover as a hope of deliverance from the hatred of earth, instead of the sacrificial Blood that would free them from their own sin and death.

But the prophets had always given the truth to them, and they just didn’t understand!

Read Isaiah 50:4-5

As this passage opens, Yahweh Adonai, or “Sovereign Lord” is introduced as the theme of these 6 verses. The prophet is telling us that the Mighty and All Authoritative God has given him the following message for his people. He confesses that out of his sleep – out of his ignorance, if you will – God has wakened him to a new day and a new life that the word is about to fill him with. Not only are his ears open and ready to hear, but God has also prepared his tongue to share this divine message with others.

But the Lord doesn’t only stir up, wakens up his faithful – he can use whomever he wishes. Remember that Cyrus the Persian was “stirred up” to not only release the Jews from Babylonian captivity, and allow them to return to the Promised Land to rebuild the temple, but he offered them troops to protect them on their journey, and food and sustenance for the long walk, and wealth and treasure to restore the glory of their sacred place. (Ezra 1) Remember that Saul the persecutor and executioner of early Christians, was blinded and “stirred up”, so that he could witness to the world that Jesus Christ had become his Yahweh Adonai. (Acts 22:12-16)
And we are also stirred up in the same, loving, and grace-filled ways that has stirred many through the centuries.

The point is that when the Lord gives us instructions, gives us a glimpse into his realm of thought and plan, it is almost never for our benefit - it’s for us to share with others, and for us to use to bring blessings upon all who may hear it. And notice that God doesn’t expect that the message will just be repeated over and over again by rote – the prophet, the messenger of God, comes to know and understand what it is all about!

And Isaiah reminds us that when we receive a call from our Great and Glorious King, we are to present it to the world in exactly the same way we have received it. No changing it to make it easier on us, no modifications or adjustments to make it more palatable for the listeners, no holding back or hesitating or seeking a better time to share it – we offer it when and as it is given.

Read Isaiah 50:6-7

Some may read these two verses as a lament – a sorrow over the fact that some will reject the word we bring to them, and will hate us, and insult us, and at times, will even attack us. But notice that Isaiah doesn’t see their denial this way. “I will not be disgraced.” he writes! And Jesus gives us the very same advice.

Luke 6:22-23 – “Blessed are you when men hate you, when they exclude you and insult you, and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their fathers treated the prophets.” It may not be a pleasant thing to experience, but when does the world reject the message that we bring? When we are right on track with God’s truth! And when does the world love us? When we share the word that sin has brought! That was true for the prophets of old, and it has been true for every persecuted Christian throughout the countless years past.
And in John 7:6-7 we read that our time to testify to the glory of Jesus Christ has come, and that the hatred that comes from the world is not directed against us, but rather against the Lord. And why does the world hate Jesus? It’s because the word of God that comes to us from Christ “testif(ies) that what it (the world) does is evil!”

So Isaiah is telling us, and Jesus reinforces the thought, that when the people of earth denounce us for our discipleship in Jesus Christ, we are to take it as a compliment, and not to fear their animosity. When we witness to the grace and glory of Christ, the world will always see it as a condemnation of the glory that they want to bring onto themselves; when we proclaim that they can be forgiven for their worldliness simply through faith and trust in Jesus, they will hate the implication that their ways go against all that God stands for; when we offer them the opportunity to know eternal life through Christ, they will ridicule the thought that there is anything other than the beauty and pleasures that they know here and now.

And through it all, we must stand solid on the Rock of Faith, and know that the shame that they try to force on us is, in all truth, glory, and that the shame they bring is actually on their head.

Read Isaiah 50:8-10

The prophet exhibits the most pressing example of confidence in God, and the call that comes directly from him, that we might ever see. God will defend his messengers against every attack, every accusation, every ounce of hatred, every judgmental word that the world can ever produce! The prophet even tells them to “Bring it on! If you are so confident that I’m wrong, tell me to my face, and we’ll discover just who is right and who is wrong!” (Zechariah 3:1-7)

No one – no human, no earthly king, not even Satan or his disciples – can ever stand against the word of Almighty God. Their attitudes and their condemnation will, one day, dissolve in the mist of the Lord’s judgment, and will vanish from all memory. And the only ones left standing will be those who lean on the life and ways of Jesus Christ.

This is the glory and celebration of Palm Sunday, and it is not in the hollow cheers of the earthly crowds. It is the power of God at work on behalf of the lives of the faithful that is being celebrated today. The hatred of earth would soon be redirected away from us, and placed squarely on the back, and head, and hands, and feet of Jesus Christ. The Blood of the Pascal Lamb would soon be released for the rescue – for the salvation - of all the world’s people, if they will just claim it for themselves.

May our Hosannas for the Son of David be placed where they so deservedly belong – fully upon the Son of Man and Son of God. May our prayer today be this – “Save me, Lord Jesus, and send me to share your marvelous message of hope with the lost and hurting and hateful people of earth, and may they be stirred to have ears to hear and arms to embrace, and hearts to love, just as you, precious Savior, have so loved them. Amen.”