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Palm Sunday 2025: A Prayer of Obedience
A Reflective Service in Three Movements
MOVEMENT 1: Jesus’ Ministry:
We adopted our dog Pepper a couple of years ago and when she came to us she was super sweet, really friendly, very adorable, and she had no idea how to exist as a calm, sane dog in the world. And so we very quickly enrolled her in obedience school. Now they call it like puppy Academy or something very academic like that. And for several weeks, Zach took her to PetSmart on Saturday afternoons. And they practiced all kinds of obedience drills. She learned to sit. She learned to stay. She learned kind of to walk without pulling us, like we were going to fall over when we go around the neighborhood. She basically just learned how to be a pleasant dog to have around. And then when she graduated, she was very proud of herself. (SLIDE) Look at the picture of her with her diploma, it's so cute.
I’d say she was like an ok student...listens sometimes. Really doesn’t listen others. But for the most part, a more obedient dog than when we first adopted her, so that’s the win! 2
And I have to tell you, I like the concept of obedience when it comes to my dog. But when it comes to MYSELF? When I start to consider what obedience looks like in my own life?
Spoiler—I like THIS a LOT less. Actually, I REALLY struggle with this one. Especially when it comes to my relationship with God. Obedience sounds...restrictive. That word even sort of brings to the surface some rather toxic teachings about how we as people who love God are supposed to be obedient, even if it harms us. It feels obligatory and forced. Maybe it’s just my wiring, but I have a lot of resistance to this idea.
AND YET. It’s part of the story. Part of Jesus’ story. And it’s something that we have to wrestle with it, especially as we make our way into Holy Week and see what Jesus does and how he does it and the ways he connects with God in the process.
We’re going to explore this topic in a bit of a unique way today in that we’re going to divide up this sermon time into three parts. And after each part, there will be a song, some time for reflection, even something that you can do right in your seat. But we take this time to do the message a little differently a couple of times a year because the world is loud. The world is busy. And it’s a gift to us to be able to slow down a bit and have a moment to reflect and pray and 3
unpack what is a pretty complicated teaching that we find from a prayer that Jesus prayed. This isn’t simple stuff and so we can give it the space it needs today to really have some conversation with God about what obedience or surrender or just trying to follow God in our world can look like.
During this whole season of Lent, we’ve been looking at the prayers that Jesus prayed. Last week, we explored one of the prayers that was recorded on the cross and today we’re looking at another one that is found in Luke. Here, Jesus prays these words: (SLIDE)
“Into Your Hands, I commend my spirit”
It’s a prayer of surrender. And it’s absolutely a prayer of obedience.
Now, what’s interesting about this prayer in this moment of Jesus’ life is that I think to really understand and appreciate his ability to say these words to God in this moment of great pain and suffering, we have to go back a bit in Jesus’ story. We have to look at his life as a whole.
Because this moment on the cross was not the first time Jesus had prayed a prayer of obedience. It wasn't the first time that Jesus had done something that was risky or raised eyebrows or just even seemed a little bit odd because god 4
had told him to do it. In fact if we look back at Jesus's life we see that he been practicing praying this kind of prayer, of having this kind of posture towards God, since his early years. (SLIDE) Jesus’ ability to surrender all to God did not begin on the cross.
Earlier in Luke 2, we meet Jesus as a child, around 12 years old. His family has gone on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem for Passover and it’s time to return home. And in this return trip, Jesus sort of has a Kevin McAllister moment—all the adults assume he’s accounted for, somewhere within their giant traveling group, but in fact, he is not. And they travel for a whole day before they realize that he’s not with them.
But it’s not that Jesus is forgotten...this is an intentional choice that Jesus makes. He stays back to hang out in the temple and to listen and debate with the religious scholars and everyone is like “who is this kid?!” They’re amazed by him and the way he understands these complex religious teachings.
His parents, on the other hand, when they finally find him a few days later, are not quite as impressed. They’re scared and they’re angry and they want to know why he would run off like that. And their feelings are a pretty major contrast to where Jesus is in this moment, because for him, this is beyond obvious. It’s obedience! He’s doing what God the 5
Father would have him do and there’s no more important place for him to be than there, in that temple, doing exactly what he is doing.
Jesus’ obedience to the Spirit in this moment...it makes his parents not especially pleased. But that obedience is important to who Jesus is becoming.
Later in Luke, once we get into Jesus’ adult life, we see a couple of healing stories. And healing on the surface seems really lovely and not at all controversial...but when Jesus is around, it’s just never quite that simple.
And so in Luke 8, we have a story of Jesus healing a demon-possessed man (Luke 8:26-39). Obedience calls him to go to someone who no one else would go to. Someone who everyone was afraid of, and for good reason. He’s running around naked, he’s shrieking, he’s dirty and scary. I mean, this is like the person who when you see them in the parking lot, you get uneasy, but this is amplified beyond what most of us have ever seen. Something was terribly wrong with him.
And not only that, but he’s considered unclean. No observant Jew would get near him because he’s been living among the tombs, he’s near the pigs which are off limits for faithful Jews. The whole situation is too messy, too risky for 6
anyone to try and fix and so he just exists there. In agony. In isolation. Day after day.
Until Jesus comes along. And as he heals this man, the demons that are tormenting him beg to be let out to go anywhere, and they say how about the pigs over there on the hillside? And so that’s where they go and they end up driving these pigs off the cliff, into the lake, and they drown.
And after all of this, in the calm that comes after, when this man who has been living in torment is now calm and relieved...no one is celebrating this great act of obedience and care from Jesus. They’re mad. Because those pigs weren’t pets. And the people who were raising those pigs, whose livelihood depended on those pigs, they are furious and terrified. They don’t want Jesus around...what will he do next?
His obedience to be a healer, a restorer of life, to go to the most vulnerable and marginalized...it gets him kicked of town.
One more story to share here. It’s the story of Jesus healing the bleeding woman later in Luke 8. (Luke 8:40-48). We don't get her name, we don't get a lot of details about her situation, but what we do know is that she's been bleeding without any kind of relief for 12 whole years and somehow in this hectic crowd that’s surrounding Jesus, she's found a 7
way to touch him. And she just simply touches the hem of his clothes. But the minute that she has this encounter with Jesus, her bleeding stops. She's healed.
And Jesus, in this moment, he doesn't even have to do anything. He could have kept walking. And ignored her and not have had to deal with the consequences. But that's not what Jesus does. He feels her touch. And he calls it out. He asks, "What just happened? Who touched me?” And that question draws her out of the shadows to reveal herself. And this is where Jesus does something unexpected: instead of ignoring her or backing away, instead of treating her the way that her society would have treated her for twelve whole years...Jesus blesses her. He breaks a social norm. He connects with her on purpose. Because it's obedient to God's call. God’s call to care for the sick. The victim, the afflicted. These are Jesus’ people and he acts accordingly.
One thing to understand about Luke’s Gospel is that he has a specific emphasis as HE tells Jesus’ story. All the Gospels do. And his is on Jesus’ role as a prophet. On Jesus as someone who was willing to break rules and speak truth and do whatever it took to see justice and righteousness happen in this world. Living this way required an obedience from Jesus that was fully dependent on God’s leading. It wasn’t easy. It didn’t come without criticism and even danger. 8
TRANSITION: And this obedience led Jesus to a highly controversial and radical act...his triumphal entry into Jerusalem. And that is about as disruptive as it gets.
KIDS COME IN WITH PALMS
Chorus to begin (kids sing)
Kids file out as verse starts
Movement 2: Palm Sunday
I want to thank our Kids Team for helping us create that moment. Because when I imagine Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem, which we now refer to as Palm Sunday, I imagine it being even louder and more chaotic than that. I imagine people from all over the city gathered to see what's going on here. Why is this guy riding into town on a donkey? What’s going on that all these people are praising him, lining the streets, shouting “Hosana!”
But I suppose that wasn't the first time Jesus had drawn a crowd. All throughout his ministry, people had followed him. They had listened to his teaching. They’d witnessed his healings. And they were excited to see him back in the city, as disruptive as his entrance was.
I say “back in the city” because Jesus has been away for a bit. If you read earlier in the Gospels, in Luke and Matthew in 9
particular, you see that Jesus has kind of had it with Jerusalem. Because despite his obedience, despite his faithfulness, he’s had a pretty bad experience there. He keeps butting heads with the religious leaders, these people who SHOULD be his allies, who SHOULD be on his side, who SHOULD support what he's doing...but they don’t. Instead of supporting him and his call, they just keep dragging him down. They criticize him. They threaten him. They keep trying to make his life harder. And so finally, in Luke chapter 13, Jesus just sort of goes on a rant about Jerusalem and the religious leaders there and he finally says, you know what, I'm not coming back for a while.
He looks at the city and he says:
“how often I wanted to gather your people just as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings. But you didn't want that. Look, your house is abandoned. I tell you, you won't see me until the time comes when you say ‘blessings on the one who comes in the Lord's name.’”
So he’s stayed away. He's been ministering and healing in places where he feels more freedom. But as much as that might feel better than what he experienced in Jerusalem, as more comfortable as that might be, he can't stay away forever. And part of his obedience, part of his surrender to what God is calling him to do is the fact that he's got to go 10
back. Back to this place that has broken his heart. Back to the place that surely means a lack of safety. Back to this place where he might not want to go...but God is clearly calling him to be.
And this specific day of Palm Sunday has to feel so complicated if you’re Jesus, because YES there is this triumphal entry. It’s this subversive moment of commentary about the limitations of the Roman government and what power actually looks like. And that’s really amazing for a moment. But so soon after this...there’s going to be a betrayal. There’s going to be an arrest and a trial and a crucifixion. It all starts here with this seemingly joyful, praising, chaotic, celebrating crowd. But Jesus knows where this road ultimately leads.
And so this entry into Jerusalem... it's almost like every step is an act of surrender and an act of obedience. Because every step leads Jesus towards the cross.
What's so ironic about this story, it gets me every time I read it, is that we know there's going to be some overlap and that some of the crowd that praises and cheers and waves palms is going to be the same crowd that will chant crucify him. There’s going to be some overlap in the people that will yell “give us Barabas!” when they could have set Jesus free. There's going to be some overlap and some of that crowd 11
that lines the streets today will line the streets so soon as Jesus walks through them carrying part of his cross. There's going to be some overlap and some of these same people will watch him die a public death and be ok with it.
Obedience is a complicated thing. Surrender is kind of a terrifying pursuit. There’s praise and suffering and mystery all wrapped up within that. And so I want us to take a moment during this next song, to let ourselves reflect on that. On the fact that this same Jesus who rode into town triumphantly would later walk these streets carrying a cross. What does it look like to follow God like that? What does that mean for us? How do we let our faith be shaped to trust God with the highest and lowest parts of our story?
TRANSITION: Today on the way in, you received a palm leaf. I want to invite you to take that palm leave and remove a couple of the little pieces of it. During this next song, you can make a cross. You just do this (demonstrate). And as you make it, consider:
- What do you need to trust God with right now?
- What joy are you holding that you can say thank you for?
- What does surrender look like?
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- Where could God be calling you to go to that only obedience can take you?
SONG: A Thousand Hallelujahs
Movement 3: What does it mean to entrust our Spirit?
As we turn to the cross this week, as we stay in this place before we get to the celebration of Easter, we are left with the question of what it means to pray this prayer that Jesus prays, “Into your hands I entrust my Spirit” ourselves.
Because, again, obedience is an uncomfortable concept and surrender is scary. Following Jesus wherever he might lead us is very different than having all of our plans arranged just so and having so much control over what goes on in our lives.
All of that is true. AND. I don’t want us to miss the feeling underneath all of that, that I see present for Jesus on the cross as he prays these words. Because when everything around him is falling apart, when the end is near and all of his friends have failed him and his enemies seem to have won...there’s a sense of comfort as Jesus offers himself fully to God the Father.
I almost have this image, as Jesus prays this, of Jesus finding his way home. Finding his way to safety even in the middle of 13
danger and unpredictability. When I was really little, we would always have these big family gatherings at my Nana and Papa’s house, and it would be pretty chaotic. My loud uncle would be talking and my tiny cousins would be crawling around. And I’ve been told that when I would walk into their house at the beginning of these gatherings, I would sort of plant myself in the middle of all of the activity and noise and put my hands on my hips and say, “I want my Nana!”
I needed to find my person, I needed to find my calm in the middle of everything else going on.
I wonder if Jesus making this declaration was his own way of finding that peace and calm in his moment of chaos. It’s tempting to think that Jesus is purely defeated when he says these words, like he’s giving up, but maybe he’s actually turning the tables. He’s exercising something that cannot be taken away from him: his trust in and his connection to God. Even when every single thing is not the way that it should be, he can still have a powerful moment of connection. He can still turn to God and know that God is holding him.
Because God’s spirit is still present and active and moving. There’s this very significant moment during Jesus’ crucifixion where the temple veil is torn in half. And in this place where God was believed to dwell, this place where only a few 14
designated individuals could have access to God, where there was a very clear separation between people and God...in this moment, God says NO MORE. That separation is gone and the Spirit of God cannot, will not be contained.
The tearing of the curtain wasn’t just for dramatic effect...it was for functional change. Everything would be different now between God and people. Because of what Jesus did. Because of how he showed up and followed God, everything has changed.
And when I think about the wild movement of the Spirit of God in that moment, it sort of shifts my response towards obedience. Because obedience to that...it doesn’t feel so restrictive. It’s still risky. It still might make us uncomfortable. But following this kind of uncontainable God can take us to some beautiful and bold places. That’s how we live the example of Jesus.
And so as we consider what it looks like to pray this prayer of Jesus for ourselves, we have to be honest about the reasons it’s a challenge to do so. We need to name why we DON’T want to. To identify the obstacles that get in the way. AND to explore the possibility of what it would look like if we DID pray this kind of prayer.
A prayer of obedience and a prayer of surrender is one that we can pray...because we know the story. We know how 15
hope wins the day. We know who has the last word. We know that no matter how hard things get, our story ends with resurrection and life.
We’re heading into a week where we remember the darkest parts of this story. But as we remember them we know that Sunday comes. We know that hope is on the way. And as we hear our final song today, I want to invite you to simply sit in that space. Holding:
- What makes obedience and surrender difficult right now?
- What hope can you hold on to in this moment?
Benediction:
Maybe you can keep this cross in a special place that helps you pray. Or you give it to someone that needs it. You can take your palm with you and m
ake multiple crosses to pass out.
Wherever you choose to put this cross, I hope it serves as a reminder of what a prayer like this can do, and how you might pray like Jesus not just today, but any day.