Palm Sunday April 13, 2025
“The Best Part of the Story” Philippians 2:5-11
Rev. John R. Larson Ascension Lutheran Church Littleton, Colorado
There was a man who left Chicago on a cold and bitter winter day to vacation in sunny Florida. His wife couldn’t come until the next day. When he arrived he wanted to send her an e-mail telling about his day and how he was looking forward to her arrival.
But as some of us men do, he didn’t remember her e-mail address, but he gave it his best shot. He only missed the right address by one letter, but the note was sent, by mistake, to an elderly preacher’s wife whose husband had passed away just a day before.
When the grieving widow checked her e-mail, she took a look at her monitor, let out a scream and fainted. Her family rushed in to her room and saw the e-mail that read, “Dear Wife, Just checked in. Everything prepared for your arrival tomorrow. P.S. Sure is hot down here!!”
The best part of a story is the end of the story. Some folks are just great at telling stories. They keep you engaged and boom!! they hit you with the final line. Maybe it is a joke, maybe it is the great culmination of some wonderful event, or it is the shock and horror of what someone said or did. It is always the conclusion that gets you. When they tell you the joke you laugh till you can’t stand it anymore!! Or, you stand in amazement, or horror, as to how the conclusion came out. The best part of the story is always the end of the story.
That is true today. Today is Palm Sunday and the best part of the story is the end of the story. The people are asking for one thing when they shout Hosanna – they are asking for God’s great rescue. Hosanna means, “Save us now, Lord.” They were asking for God’s strong hand to come into their life. But it wasn’t going to come with some palm branches or some coats on the road. It wasn’t going to come because He rides into Jerusalem on a donkey. The best part of the story is the part when He says that He is ready to give them His body and blood for the forgiveness of their sins. The best part of the story is His body that would be beaten and mistreated and then crucified on the cross. The best part of the story comes a week from today when death is defeated and life eternal is promised in His resurrection.
These words, probably the first ones written about the death of Jesus, tell us great things about who Jesus is and what He has done. The first part says, “Who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death – even death on a cross.” (Philippians 2:6-8) The first part of the story, that we have named the state of humiliation, is an amazing story. He has the power to turn stones into bread and yet doesn’t do it. He drinks the cup of suffering and sin and damnation and hell willingly. He accepts the cross as the place to die for the failures of all.
But that is not the best part of the story. Now it is fundamental that we state that Jesus died on that cross. In the Creed we state, “{He} suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried.” But that is not the best part of the story. The best part is that such an event changes our story. It changes how we are and how we end. We have to believe in the history of the events that we speak of this week – His death and His bodily resurrection – but we must go beyond simply history. We grasp its fullness in our life. In the second part of this glorious word, the state of exaltation, it says, “Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:9-11)
The great story of Christ changes our story. Our knees bow before Him. Humility. Repentance. We take our rightful position before our God and Savior. We do it willingly, and seriously, and with the knowledge that it is the right thing to do. Do you ever wonder what your first expression will be when you get to see your Savior, Jesus Christ, in heaven? Will you lower your head, will you bend your knee, or maybe you will raise your hands in sheer praise? The greatest part of our story will be the end because He wants our end to be great. “I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day – and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for His appearing.” (II Timothy 4:7-8)
Our story has changed. We make a confession that life is changing. We confess that Jesus is Lord. We are not the ones in charge of our life. We do not live by our own will. We don’t have the final say about the choices that we make. Now, that is quite revolutionary. Most people want control. They want the power to do what they want to do and when they want to do it. We call that freedom or independence. But the best part of our story is that as God moves in our life by His Spirit and by the living word of God, we joyfully say “Jesus is Lord”. He is the Lord. He is God. He is Savior. And we say, He is my Lord. He is My God. He is my Savior.
You don’t have to wait until the end of life to make such a confession. It is a joy when our Confirmation students bend the knee in life-changing repentance and life-changing faith and confess that Jesus is Lord and the God of their lives. It is a joy when a 20 or 30 year-old does it. It is a joy when I get to speak it. It is a joy when you get to speak it. The best part of the story is the end – the result of the story.
The best part of the story is how a story changes us. The story of Jesus, the beginning and the end, will never leave us to be how we are, right now, if we trust this Christ. The section that I read is one of those verses that you can quote if we are discussing the deity of Jesus (that He is God) with your family or friends who do not believe such a thing. But the context of this writing was a practical one. Jesus’ humility was to address our pride. His sacrifice was to address our selfishness. Just before our reading it says, “Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.” (Philippians 1:27) “For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer for Him.” (Philippians 1:29) “If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from His love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose.” (Philippians 2:1-2) His great end makes our beginning and our middle and our end a life with purpose and direction.
The best part of the story is that Christ enters our story. He changes our story. He rewrites our story. It gives it a new beginning. He gives it a gracious richness in its content. And then the end of this story is the best one that can ever be written. The best part of the story is that Christ is the story. Amen!!
(This sermon was originally spoken to the saints at Ascension Lutheran Church on Palm Sunday in 2016, 9 years ago)
