First and foremost, welcome to Holy Week. Today is the start of Holy Week. Today is Palm Sunday and I think some of us might wonder and say, hey, kyle, I don't know what Holy Week means, but I bet you can say Holy Moly, what a week it's been. Okay, I'll sit down now. It was good while it lasted. But this is an interesting time of year. We're in the springtime. I see spring budding. You know, maybe things are going to start blooming here soon.

I just changed the winter tires off my vehicle to summer tires, which I think in the Midwest is like jinxing yourself. So if there's a blizzard in like two weeks, that's my fault. I'm sorry, guys. Blizzard in like two weeks, that's my fault. I'm sorry, guys. I brought it on us all. It's also kind of an interesting time in the lull of the sports calendar too. We've got the masters ending today, we just had the basketball ncaa end and it's going to be a while before the nfl picks back up. Or maybe it's just a season or a time of transition. So you know, you've got graduations or weddings coming up, school's going to be out, you're signing up for summer camps. There's sort of a rhythm or a life seasonal change that happens as summer comes around.

But here we are at Palm Sunday and Holy Week, and what do those words mean? As we stare into the coming Sunday, we stare into Easter Sunday. If we remember, easter is the most important weekend in the Christian year, and sometimes I wonder if we get that. Without Easter Sunday and the resurrection of Jesus, our faith means nothing. That's why Easter Sunday is so important each and every year. And so today we have our work cut out for us, because I want us to ask the question what does it mean for us to enter Easter week faithfully? How do we approach Easter Sunday next week and how do we start today preparing our hearts for that? So I'll ask the question today what does Palm Sunday mean for us? And then we're going to look at Luke, chapter 22, and what that means when Jesus gathers his disciples one last time and prepares the Lord's Supper. What does communion and the Lord's Supper mean for us every week as we practice it? I want to ask that as well. And then, lastly, I want us to focus in on what the Lord's Table means, both for us every Sunday that we practice it and specifically here on Easter week. So let's jump right in. What does Holy Week and Palm Sunday mean?

Now, one of the things we enjoy every time we come to Madison Church on a Sunday is our praise and worship team, because they take time to practice, they prepare each and every week, they help us enter into a holy space by making music to our hearts, to our souls. Now, if we take a look at their instruments up here, we've got a drum set, we've got a guitar, we've got a keyboard. And if I were to start walking over and just playing one of these instruments, I think you would quickly realize I am not qualified to be part of the worship team. I think if I walked over here to Jeff's guitar and I started plucking strings, I'd make sound. I would make sound, but it wouldn't be music. And why is that? I think one of the most fundamental aspects about music is rhythm, something I was born without, but I think that rhythm is an important part of that. If I go and bang on the drum set without any rhythm, then I don't sound any different than a handyman trying to build a deck in their backyard, and that's one of the reasons that Holy Week becomes so important for us to celebrate each and every year.

It creates a spiritual rhythm for us, much like in daily prayer or a daily scripture rhythm that we want to develop, or much like the Sunday practice of coming here to celebrate. It's a rhythm. It's a spiritual rhythm for us. Rhythms help us focus on spiritual truths to be reminded of each year Christmas, that's a time to anticipate God choosing to become incarnate for us, to meet us where we're at. We have Lent, a time to remember that we are dust and to feel the pain of our sin and darkness and what oppresses us. And then Easter, a time to focus on the power of the resurrection and what it means for us in our lives. Now, if we tried to celebrate Holy Week every week, it might tire us out, just like if we tried to run a marathon each and every week. We just weren't made for that. But we are built for a rhythm that shapes our lives in different points throughout the year. So, for today, we enter into Holy Week with Palm Sunday. And what does that mean For us? To get into that, let's go back a couple weeks to what Stephen preached on just a few weeks ago in Luke, chapter 19.

Now to set the stage for Luke, chapter 19,. Remember, the theme of Luke is Jesus on his journey to Jerusalem. He begins his journey in Luke, chapter 9. He arrives in Jerusalem at Luke, chapter 19. And through his wonders, his miracles, his sayings, he's gathered large crowds. That crowd, it's comprised of a few different folks. You have his disciples, his most faithful disciples, you have the religious leaders, the Pharisees, and then you have the simply, the curious, the wonderers, the people who are drawn to this figure who has done great things and said great things. So let's look at Luke, chapter 19, 29 through 40.

It says this Jesus sent two disciples ahead. Go into that village over there, he told them, and as you enter it you will see a young donkey tied there that no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here, and if anyone asks why are you untying that colt, just say the Lord needs it. So they went and found the colt, just as Jesus had said, and sure enough, they were untying it. The owners asked them why are you untying that colt? And the disciples simply replied the Lord needs it. So they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their garments over it for him to ride on. And as he rode along, the crowds began spreading their garments on the road ahead of him, and when he reached the place where the road started down, the Mount of Olives, all of his followers began to shout and sing as they walked along, praising God for all the wonderful miracles they had seen.

Here. It is Blessings on the King who comes in the name of the Lord. Peace in heaven and glory in the highest heaven. But some of the Pharisees among the crowd said Teacher, rebuke your followers for saying things like that. He replied. If they kept quiet, the stones along the road would burst into cheers. That is Palm Sunday. This is Palm Sunday. This is Palm Sunday, the triumphant entry of our King bringing peace to this earth, peace to us in our pain and redemption to us in our broken shame. And it's not just a restoration of humanity, though, because even the rocks will cry out, knowing that they too are part of God's creation. They will also be redeemed through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.

Now, we don't see the use of palm tree in the Luke's gospel, but we see it used in in the other gospels the palm branches. They weigh palm branches as he comes in, and scholars believe that the term palm and the use of the palm branches it represents strength in kind of this time period in the world as a victor would come back, they would be greeted after they conquered a land. They'd be greeted with palm branches shaking. Now for the crowd in this moment, they would be reminded of a story, a story that was very peculiar to Israel. See, about 150 years before this very moment where Jesus is walking into Jerusalem, there was a Jewish revolt known as the Maccabean Revolt, and in that a leader named Simon went and purged the temple that had been taken over by some Greeks, a group of Greeks. And after Simon purges the temple and he leads the Israelites to purify it one more time, he was a victor by force, and it's likely that, even as pure the intentions were for the crowd in this moment, they were also caught up in longing that same deliverance. Just like Simon had delivered them from the Greeks, perhaps Jesus could deliver them from the Romans and the Roman occupation.

And I think that sometimes I understand the crowd in this moment too, laying down garments and singing praises to our king, but also unable to imagine the reality that is just about to befall their Lord. And I also think that they say in this moment, just like I do blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord to deliver us right and I think I still get lost at that part To deliver us from the Romans right. To deliver us just like Moses delivered the Israelites from the Egyptians right, or, fast forwarding to this present circumstance, our present day, to deliver us from our pain right, our worldly circumstances right. But we don't see a king in this moment who comes with earthly occupation in mind. We don't see that. Instead, we see a kingship that defies all expectations, coming humbly to serve, coming to give his life and, in that, to bring peace across the cosmos, knowing that the path before him as he comes into Jerusalem will be painful. Because if we look again at Luke, chapter 19, verses 41 and 42, right where we left off. But as he came closer to Jerusalem and saw the city ahead, he began to weep. How I wish today that all of you people would understand the way to peace. But now it is too late and peace is hidden from your eyes.

Jesus in this moment knows that even in his triumphant entry, the people still don't fully understand the nature of his kingdom. They still don't quite get it, especially the religious leaders. So he rides into Jerusalem on a donkey Soon. He's going to turn over the tables in the temple and then he's going to claim to be God's son. He's about to make a lot of enemies, not with the Romans at first, but with the religious leaders. It's completely unexpected, and what he's going to do is that he's going to say that he has authority over the temple, that the temple was corrupt, that it no longer represents the God of Israel, and that's going to be something that's really difficult for his disciples to grasp, but it is the path that leads us to redemption. So what he's going to do is he's going to try one last time. Just a little bit later, in Luke, chapter 22, he gathers his closest disciples together for one last meal, knowing that it'll be his last, the Passover meal, and in that he tries to tell them the nature of who he is and the nature of a hope redefined through humility and sacrifice. And that's where we come to the Lord's Supper.

Now I wonder if any one of you has ever had a meal with someone you really didn't get along with. You're like well, that's every time I go home, kyle, I'm like oh, I get that, I understand. Or perhaps you've had a meal with someone and you knew a secret about someone at the table but you couldn't share it and it created a really awkward situation. Or perhaps you've been in a family gathering or a family meal and people start bickering about who does more for the family than another and someone finally screams through. Can't we all just get along? That's not what Christmas is about, or whatever it is. And I say that because some of that is in the background of Luke, chapter 22. Jesus is going to call Peter and John to go and prepare the Passover meal so that they can eat it together.

Now, at this point in Luke, judas is now conspiring against Jesus and the chief priests and the scribes are looking specifically for a way to put Jesus to death. That's in the backdrop of the Lord gathering his disciples together to have this final meal. Remember, he just entered the city. He wept, he turned over the tables at the temple and he spoke about the temple's future destruction. He had made enemies, again, not with the Romans yet, but with the religious leaders. And once again, peter and John are told something very similar for the triumphant entry, a man carrying a jug of water will meet you and follow him into the house he enters. So, just like with the donkey. Jesus is asking the disciples to have faith in this process of restoration with very little information. And they do, and this man goes and sets up the Passover meal.

Now, with the Passover meal, it was going to be different than any time Jesus had celebrated the Passover before with his disciples, and it's a practice that we see now, instituted every single Sunday here at Madison Church communion, or the Lord's table, or perhaps you've heard it called the Eucharist and other traditions. That comes from the Greek word Eucharisteo, or to give thanks. But what is the nature of the Lord's table and how do we use this sacrament that's instituted by Jesus himself in this last Passover meal in order to prepare our hearts and our minds for the remembrance of the resurrection and in our daily lives? Now let's remember what the Passover was all about. The Passover, that was the night of God's final strike against Egypt, the night that God decisively defeats the Egyptian Pharaoh and releases Israel from bondage in the book of Exodus. And so every year after that, israel celebrates the Passover and it leads up to this feast that has the bread of life and then the wine of blessing, which are important symbols now that connect us to the communion table that we participate in. The Passover meal was broken up into four different movements and they have four different cups, and over each cup you say a blessing, and the blessing sounds something like this You're actually blessing God for providing the food. You're not actually blessing the food. It goes like this May you be blessed, o Lord, our God, king of the world, who creates the fruit of the vine or the bread of life, depending on what part they are in.

So let's look at what Jesus does in Luke, chapter 22, verses 14 and 15. It says when the time came, jesus and the apostles sat down together at the table. Jesus said I have been very eager to eat this Passover meal before my suffering begins, for I tell you now that I won't eat this meal again until its meaning is fulfilled in the kingdom of God. I won't eat this meal again until its meaning is fulfilled in the kingdom of God. If I could just ask you to put yourself in the disciples' shoes just for one moment. In their eyes, the Passover was about celebrating something that already had happened deliverance from the Israelites from their slavery in Egypt. In fact, part of the Passover meal was going to be telling the entire Exodus story, from famine to enslavement to deliverance. But now Jesus is saying this isn't about the past anymore, it's about the future, the future of my suffering, the future of the kingdom of God restructured from a way they know it to be. And so the Passover meal also contains this unleavened bread that we celebrate each and every Sunday.

Now, what is unleavened bread? It's bread made without yeast. So if you use yeast and dough, it'll take some time for the bread to rise and you wait while that process happens. But unleavened bread you can make much more quickly. You don't need the weight for the dough to rise at all. You put it together, you roll it out and you bake it. Why is that important in the Passover? For that, let's jump to Exodus real quick. It tells us in Exodus 12, verse 39,. For the bread, they bake flat cakes from the dough without yeast that they have brought from Egypt. It was made without yeast because the people were driven out of Egypt in such a hurry that they had no time to prepare the bread or other food. Sometimes we hear that yeast is used as a metaphor for sin, but in the original Passover practice it was very practical. It was because of how quickly they left Egypt and they were remembering haste as they remember the Passover.

So what does Jesus do when he gets to this moment in our Passover celebration? In Luke 22?, verse 19,. He took some bread and he broke it and he gave thanks, saying this is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me. Again, the disciples would be puzzled. The bread is supposed to remind them of the haste leaving Egypt. But Jesus takes this and gives it a new meaning, to point to the future and his death. And unfortunately, in just a few hours that will come true. As he hangs on a Roman cross, he suffocates and he dies. And somehow that bread being broken and given symbolizes that act for the disciples in that moment, for you and for me, if we stick with the bread for just a moment.

Bread was also a staple food of the people. It represented life, it represented sustenance. So jesus is putting this symbol of life and sustenance before them, saying this represents my body. I am going to die and that will bring you life. And what about the blood During the first Passover meal?

This comes during the plague, the last plague that falls over Egypt. Any Israelite or Egyptian who had the Passover lamb's blood on their doorpost was spared from God's justice. That's where we get the word Passover from. The angel of death passed over those homes with the Passover lamb's blood. But what do they do when they come to the cup of wine? What does Jesus do? Luke, chapter 22, verse 20. After supper, he took another cup of wine and said this cup is the new covenant between God and his people, an agreement confirmed with my blood, which is poured out as sacrifice for you. The disciples confused yet again because the Passover lamb was on their minds. But now Jesus is saying that they are ingesting and participating in a symbol of Jesus' body. Somehow, it's this man's blood that will deliver me. He also said this is a new covenant in my blood. See, god was in a covenant with the Israelites when he redeemed them out of slavery, but Jesus is looking forward to this new relationship that God would enter into with God's people, all of them this time. And so what does that mean for us?

Each and every week, and coming to Easter week, as we come to the table, it's important for us to remember that we dine with Jesus when we participate in the Lord's Supper, because the table is transformative. It's a reminder that God came to commune with you, to commune with me. All are welcome at that table. Even Judas was welcome at the Lord's table that night. And how many times do we feel like God is not there, how many times do we feel as though we are longing for God's presence?

The theology of the Lord's table is that it is the weekly opportunity to dine with our Savior, that it is the weekly opportunity to dine with our Savior, a simple moment of reflection, but also a time when heaven and earth combine just for a second and in the presence of Good Friday coming. The Lord's table is an opportunity to dine with Jesus, just as he dined with his disciples just hours before he was arrested, tortured and killed. Now, the Lord's Supper is not just about me or us and our salvation. It is a necessity for what enables us to be part of God's new creation, part of God's new covenant. We taste it on our lips, we receive it into our soul that we might go out transformed and to do the kind of work that welcomes the kingdom of God into the world. You might say that it's forming us as disciples and helps create that missional, incarnational impulse to carry the gospel forward into the community and as we look towards Easter week, there's one more meal that the Passover reminds us of, and that's the meal from Genesis, chapter 2, the very first meals God invites humanity to dine with him.

Then In Genesis 2, chapter 9, it says this the Lord God made all sorts of trees grow up from the ground, trees that were beautiful and that produced delicious fruit. And in the middle of the garden he placed the tree of life and the tree of knowledge and good, of evil. And God told humanity you may freely eat of the fruit of every tree in the garden except the tree of the knowledge, of good and evil. So if we listen to that closely, adam and Eve were free to dine of the tree of life. Humanity had the opportunity to have communion with God. But we know that humanity did not choose that path and we feel that in our own lives, in our own hearts, as we try to make the decision to commune with God and don't always rise up to that, don't always want that. And here it is.

Jesus didn't have Rome or Caesar in his mind when he spoke about liberation into God's kingdom. He had another enemy, or Pharaoh in mind, a much more universal and evil Pharaoh, and that comes at the human heart's enslavement to darkness, to dark things. It leads us to our own slavery. Uncleanliness wasn't about just breaking rules. It's something that's deep inside our hearts because if we're super honest with ourselves, we know that something is wrong inside of us, something that oppresses us. We feel the oppression in the world even today, and I know that even some of us here feel so strongly that weight over top of us that it prevents us from wanting to partake in a Good Friday service or from wanting to partake in an Easter service or from wanting to share in communion with Jesus. But that is the exact opposite of what Jesus wants. The whole point of taking the bread and the cup is to know that we are not worthy on our own, but that God became human to reach us with an unconditional and an infinite love.

What Jesus is doing in the Passover meal is saying somehow that his life would be lived on behalf of others. Somehow his death would stand in the place of others. He would die so that others could live. Jesus is the victor. Next Sunday is our moment to celebrate that death was not final for our Savior and that resurrection life is made possible to everyone who turns towards him in faith.

The Passover meal, the communion we partake of every Sunday, is a weekly opportunity to remember our new, living, ongoing reality as a child of God. It's an opportunity to dine with the divine, just as God created us to do, and my hope this week is that we embrace a posture of remembering. I also hope that we can remember that God's plan often looks different than what we expect. The disciples were clueless, they were confused, they debated with one another and soon they would be fleeing from the Savior's side as he was arrested. But God had a plan, and this week we celebrate God's ultimate plan a plan of redemption for the cosmos, for the world, for all of creation, and for you and for me.