Sermon for Palm Sunday, Year A, March 29th 2026
By The Rev. Larry D. Herrold, Jr.
Into your hands, O Lord, we commend our spirits, for you have redeemed us, O Lord, O God of truth… Amen…
Jesus is Lord! …
How often have you seen that saying on t-shirts and hats? Bumper stickers and roadsigns?
It may not be those words exactly.
Christ is King… or, no god but God… there are countless other examples.
Whenever I see these statements on apparel or on vehicles I often I wonder what the person means to convey by wearing that.
The words seem straightforward enough, but nothing is ever really as it seems.
What does it mean to say that Jesus is Lord and King?
I don’t know if the people who lined the road into Jerusalem, waving their palm branches and spreading their cloaks before Him, asked themselves that question.
If they didn’t… they really should have.
The people of Jerusalem and all of Judea were living under the immense weight of the Roman occupation. There were strange new customs, heretical religious practices, and intimidating soldiers all around them.
Jesus was a miracle worker, and perhaps He could work a miracle in throwing off the Roman yoke.
We are far removed from the times and places of our sacred Scriptures, so it’s easily lost on us just how politically threatening Jesus’ ministry was.
Jesus was a wanted man - He was upsetting the established order of things - breaking sabbath law, eating with sinners, threatening the Temple system, and speaking of this radical thing called the ‘kingdom of God’.
The rich and the powerful, often chastised in Jesus’ teachings, knew that this kingdom of God would probably look very different than the kingdom of Caesar in which they thrived…
The people who greeted Jesus with shouts of ‘hosanna’ wanted a political saviour as much as they did a religious one - someone who would kick out the foreigners and bring things back to how they used to be.
But that’s not what happened.
I’m strongly opposed to letting Good Friday seep too strongly into Palm Sunday, but I don’t think I’m giving any spoilers away when I say that if Jesus was meant to be an earthly king, a political saviour, He failed miserably…
It’s no wonder the crowds so quickly turned on Him, and their shouts of ‘hosanna’ became ‘crucify Him!’…
I think if the crowds of people had known who to expect, had known their own sacred scripture and prophecies, they would not have been so crushed when their messiah ended up dead on a cross.
But perhaps if they knew the kind of king Jesus was meant to be, the kind of king He really is, they wouldn’t have been there at all.
Who would ever pick a spiritual king, one who preaches peace and love, when you could have a king who shows strength and dominance?…
The prophet Isaiah, speaking of the messiah who is to come, describes this man, who Christians identify as Jesus, to be ‘the suffering servant’.
‘I did not turn backward’, he says, ‘I gave my back to those who struck me and my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard; I did not hide my face from insult and spitting’.
St. Paul, many centuries later and writing on the other side of Easter, wrote to the Philippians with a similar sentiment:
‘[Jesus] emptied Himself, taking the form of a slave, assuming human likeness… He humbled Himself, and became obedient to the point of death - even death on a cross’.
The true messiah that was foretold in ancient prophecy and who was worshipped by those first few apostles and disciples was not a strongman, but a servant.
I wonder, if we were there with the crowds on that first Palm Sunday, what kind of king would we be expecting? What kind of king would we be hoping for?
When we look around our world today, and when we hear the loudest voices within the Christian movement, we should be asking ourselves what kind of king they are worshipping.
Those Christians who would preach violence against supposed enemies, or discrimination against supposed sinners, would do well to spend some time reflecting on what it is Jesus actually preached.
This Lenten season we’ve been immersed in some powerful stories from Jesus’ ministry where we can see the type of king that He is, and get a sense of the type of Christian He calls us to be.
He met the Samaritan woman at the well, a person who was several times divorced, living with a new man outside of marriage, and worst of all (for the disciples) was a foreigner… someone who was not ethnically, racially, or religiously pure… and yet Jesus showed her compassion and love.
He met the blind man and, though the religious elite had deemed him a sinner and unworthy of being healed, Jesus healed him anyway… breaking the sabbath laws to do so… because loving your neighbour, no matter who they are, always takes precedence over any law.
And this is just scratching the surface of Jesus’ years of radical love - need I repeat again those beloved Beatitudes?
Our world today is in desperate need of a servant king.
We don’t need more people praising leaders who grasp for power; we need people who follow a king who kneels to serve.
We don’t need more people protecting wealth at the expense of the poor; we need people who follow a king who gives Himself away for others.
We don’t need more people turning away from the stranger; we need people who follow a king who welcomes the outsider as neighbour.
We don’t need more people excusing injustice or remaining silent; we need people who follow a king who speaks truth and bears its ugly cost.
We don’t need more people clinging to status, pride, and being right; we need people who follow a king who lays down his glory for the sake of the world.
We don’t need more people baptising anger, division, and cruelty; we need people who follow a king who loves even his enemies.
We don’t need any king but Jesus! …
As we shout our hosannas, as we gather at the table of Christ’s last supper, as we sit teary eyed at the foot of the cross, and as we pray with an ache in our hearts to see the empty tomb, we’re meant to reflect upon the nature of who this Jesus really is.
And in doing so, I pray we find the deep and abiding truth - that we ourselves are called to model the radical grace and love of God in Christ.
For the sake of a world in need, a world that needs more people with servant hearts, let’s take up that call.
This is our God, the servant King. He calls us now to follow Him. To bring our lives as a daily offering - of worship, to the servant King…
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit… Amen…
By The Rev. Larry D. Herrold, Jr.
Into your hands, O Lord, we commend our spirits, for you have redeemed us, O Lord, O God of truth… Amen…
Jesus is Lord! …
How often have you seen that saying on t-shirts and hats? Bumper stickers and roadsigns?
It may not be those words exactly.
Christ is King… or, no god but God… there are countless other examples.
Whenever I see these statements on apparel or on vehicles I often I wonder what the person means to convey by wearing that.
The words seem straightforward enough, but nothing is ever really as it seems.
What does it mean to say that Jesus is Lord and King?
I don’t know if the people who lined the road into Jerusalem, waving their palm branches and spreading their cloaks before Him, asked themselves that question.
If they didn’t… they really should have.
The people of Jerusalem and all of Judea were living under the immense weight of the Roman occupation. There were strange new customs, heretical religious practices, and intimidating soldiers all around them.
Jesus was a miracle worker, and perhaps He could work a miracle in throwing off the Roman yoke.
We are far removed from the times and places of our sacred Scriptures, so it’s easily lost on us just how politically threatening Jesus’ ministry was.
Jesus was a wanted man - He was upsetting the established order of things - breaking sabbath law, eating with sinners, threatening the Temple system, and speaking of this radical thing called the ‘kingdom of God’.
The rich and the powerful, often chastised in Jesus’ teachings, knew that this kingdom of God would probably look very different than the kingdom of Caesar in which they thrived…
The people who greeted Jesus with shouts of ‘hosanna’ wanted a political saviour as much as they did a religious one - someone who would kick out the foreigners and bring things back to how they used to be.
But that’s not what happened.
I’m strongly opposed to letting Good Friday seep too strongly into Palm Sunday, but I don’t think I’m giving any spoilers away when I say that if Jesus was meant to be an earthly king, a political saviour, He failed miserably…
It’s no wonder the crowds so quickly turned on Him, and their shouts of ‘hosanna’ became ‘crucify Him!’…
I think if the crowds of people had known who to expect, had known their own sacred scripture and prophecies, they would not have been so crushed when their messiah ended up dead on a cross.
But perhaps if they knew the kind of king Jesus was meant to be, the kind of king He really is, they wouldn’t have been there at all.
Who would ever pick a spiritual king, one who preaches peace and love, when you could have a king who shows strength and dominance?…
The prophet Isaiah, speaking of the messiah who is to come, describes this man, who Christians identify as Jesus, to be ‘the suffering servant’.
‘I did not turn backward’, he says, ‘I gave my back to those who struck me and my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard; I did not hide my face from insult and spitting’.
St. Paul, many centuries later and writing on the other side of Easter, wrote to the Philippians with a similar sentiment:
‘[Jesus] emptied Himself, taking the form of a slave, assuming human likeness… He humbled Himself, and became obedient to the point of death - even death on a cross’.
The true messiah that was foretold in ancient prophecy and who was worshipped by those first few apostles and disciples was not a strongman, but a servant.
I wonder, if we were there with the crowds on that first Palm Sunday, what kind of king would we be expecting? What kind of king would we be hoping for?
When we look around our world today, and when we hear the loudest voices within the Christian movement, we should be asking ourselves what kind of king they are worshipping.
Those Christians who would preach violence against supposed enemies, or discrimination against supposed sinners, would do well to spend some time reflecting on what it is Jesus actually preached.
This Lenten season we’ve been immersed in some powerful stories from Jesus’ ministry where we can see the type of king that He is, and get a sense of the type of Christian He calls us to be.
He met the Samaritan woman at the well, a person who was several times divorced, living with a new man outside of marriage, and worst of all (for the disciples) was a foreigner… someone who was not ethnically, racially, or religiously pure… and yet Jesus showed her compassion and love.
He met the blind man and, though the religious elite had deemed him a sinner and unworthy of being healed, Jesus healed him anyway… breaking the sabbath laws to do so… because loving your neighbour, no matter who they are, always takes precedence over any law.
And this is just scratching the surface of Jesus’ years of radical love - need I repeat again those beloved Beatitudes?
Our world today is in desperate need of a servant king.
We don’t need more people praising leaders who grasp for power; we need people who follow a king who kneels to serve.
We don’t need more people protecting wealth at the expense of the poor; we need people who follow a king who gives Himself away for others.
We don’t need more people turning away from the stranger; we need people who follow a king who welcomes the outsider as neighbour.
We don’t need more people excusing injustice or remaining silent; we need people who follow a king who speaks truth and bears its ugly cost.
We don’t need more people clinging to status, pride, and being right; we need people who follow a king who lays down his glory for the sake of the world.
We don’t need more people baptising anger, division, and cruelty; we need people who follow a king who loves even his enemies.
We don’t need any king but Jesus! …
As we shout our hosannas, as we gather at the table of Christ’s last supper, as we sit teary eyed at the foot of the cross, and as we pray with an ache in our hearts to see the empty tomb, we’re meant to reflect upon the nature of who this Jesus really is.
And in doing so, I pray we find the deep and abiding truth - that we ourselves are called to model the radical grace and love of God in Christ.
For the sake of a world in need, a world that needs more people with servant hearts, let’s take up that call.
This is our God, the servant King. He calls us now to follow Him. To bring our lives as a daily offering - of worship, to the servant King…
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit… Amen…