Since it's already Sunday in some parts of the world, and since I've just finished typing it up, here is the sermon I'm going to be giving in church tomorrow (for me) morning. It's notable because, although I've given similar talks before, this will be the first time I've ever actually given the main message in a Sunday service and, as such, I feel it's an important part of my journey towards (possibly) becoming an ordained person.

Luke 19:28-40 Wrote:28 After he had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem.

29 When he had come near Bethphage and Bethany, at the place called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of the disciples, 30 saying, “Go into the village ahead of you, and as you enter it you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 31 If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ just say this, ‘The Lord needs it.’” 32 So those who were sent departed and found it as he had told them. 33 As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the colt?” 34 They said, “The Lord needs it.” 35 Then they brought it to Jesus; and after throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. 36 As he rode along, people kept spreading their cloaks on the road. 37 As he was now approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen, 38 saying,

“Blessed is the king
who comes in the name of the Lord!
Peace in heaven,
and glory in the highest heaven!”

39 Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, order your disciples to stop.” 40 He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.”

Philippians 2:5-11 Wrote:5 Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,

6 who, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God
as something to be exploited,
7 but emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
being born in human likeness.
And being found in human form,
8 he humbled himself
and became obedient to the point of death—
even death on a cross.

9 Therefore God also highly exalted him
and gave him the name
that is above every name,
10 so that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bend,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue should confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

Have you ever been treated like a King or a Queen? Pampered, feet up, glasses of champagne, friends and family hanging on your every word - or whatever your prefered fantasy might be? If you have, it was doubtless a great experience. How did it make you feel, I wonder? Did you bask in praise and adulation? Or were you, perhaps, humbled by it all, all too aware of your own lack of worth?

Jesus was treated like a King in our gospel reading this morning. The palm fronds laid across the path upon which he rode, the cheering crowds to welcome him - they even call him King in this account of the event. “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!”

And Jesus accepts it. Indeed, he makes it clear that this is the right and proper response of the world as a whole to his arriving in Jerusalem. “If these were silent, the stones would shout out!” From anyone else, it would be the most profound arrogance, but Jesus has already shown his authority, his right to be considered King, not only in “the deeds of power” the crowd had witnessed during his ministry, but just before this in successfully commandeering a local’s donkey.

But there’s another reason that this isn’t mere arrogance and it’s expressed here in the fact that he did commandeer a donkey and not a white stallion or some other more traditional symbol of Kingship. Even as he accepts praise and worship, Jesus is humble.

In the reading from Philippians, we heard the apostle Paul quoting a spiritual song of the early Church. In it, the humility of Christ in living and dying as a lowly human is painted in bold strokes, even as it also depicts his glory and the fulfilment of his purposes. We see that the very same tension which was present in the Triumphal Entry lies at the very heart of Jesus’ mission on Earth and so, Paul urges, should it lie in the heart of the Church’s mission also.

As Christians, we are to ‘let the same mind’ be in us as is in this humble, glorious Christ. For Christ is worthy of all glory and yet chose to humble himself, so we, who are humble in being even as Christ glorifies us, must also choose the path of humility to serve him.

It’s not easy, especially when it’s held in that tension of humility and glory.

I’ve helped tell this story on the stage several times as part of telling the larger Easter narrative. Both back in Aberdeen and here in Taunton, I’ve had the privilege to perform in Easter Passion plays and nowhere in my life have I found this tension of Christ-like humility and glory made more starkly plain. To stand in front of hundreds of people, knowing that they are focussed intently upon you, that you have their full attention in all you say and do - that is an astonishing thing and it’s made all the more so by the words of praise received after the performance. It’s very easy to let it go to your head.

But, in telling the story of the Passion in particular, I was always aware that I wasn’t there to be a star - indeed, I wasn’t there to be there at all. I was a servant in the telling of something much bigger than I and the best outcome of all would be for the audience to fail to notice me entirely.

The Christian life, then, is much like that stage experience. We’re all engaged in telling the story of God’s mission to the World, whether we know it or not, and at the times when we really have our audience’s attention, we might easily be led to believe that we’re the stars of the show, that our moment has come. Christ’s example in choosing to live and die as one of us for our sake, to ride the donkey, not the stallion, through the crowds of adoring worshippers right up to the cursed tree - and there to be spat on, mocked and scourged - Christ’s example reminds us that we are not the stars of our own stories. He is. We must humble ourselves, so to tell the story authentically and so that He will be glorified - and yes, us with him, but always Him first!

So, tomorrow, when we find ourselves not in Church, but as the Church in the World, let us remember to have, as the NIV* puts it, ‘the same mindset as Christ Jesus’. Let us humble ourselves and serve Him and the World by telling His story with our lives.


*the New International Version, a Bible translation. All other quotations, including the passages at the start of this post are from the New Revised Standard Version, as this is the version used in the Church of England Lectionary - the list of set passages that the church uses throughout the liturgical year.