Simply the Sermon for March 29, 2026: Palm Sunday

Palm Sunday, March 29, is a little different kind of a day. It is a day when we begin by joining in with the excited throng who welcomed Jesus into Jerusalem and begged him to save them and it is the day when we hear much of the rest of the story. It is an emotionally hard day, a long day. We begin by hearing the the story of Jesus's triumphal entry in Matthew 21:1-11. Unfortunately we didn't get a recording of that.

Then we hear readings from Isaiah 50:4-9a; Philippians 2:5-11; and finally Matthew 26:14—27:66. It is a long reading which we were able to break up a bit by singing verses of the beautifully haunting hymn Were You There. A hard story, yes, but a story that shows the depth of love that our Savior has for us.

Today, we encounter the paradox that defines our faith: Jesus Christ is both glorified king and humiliated servant. We too are full of paradox: like Peter, we fervently desire to follow Christ, but find ourselves afraid, denying God. We wave palms in celebration today as Christ comes into our midst, and we follow with trepidation as his path leads to death on the cross. Amid it all we are invited into this paradoxical promise of life through Christ’s broken body and outpoured love in a meal of bread and wine. We begin this week that stands at the center of the church year, anticipating the completion of God’s astounding work.

Photo by Alex Perri on Unsplash