Given on March 20, 2005, Palm Sunday of that year… The main Scripture is from Matthew 21: 1-11, but also includes quotes from Isaiah 50: 4-9 and Philippians 2: 5-11

       I am such a party animal!! Just as an example, a girl that I dated in college invited me to her house to celebrate New Year’s Eve with her family, and I accepted with my usual amount of enthusiasm… “OK… I guess.”

Now, you might recall that one of the main ‘things’ about the sixties and seventies was to be ‘cool’! Being ‘cool’ meant that absolutely nothing disturbed you… nothing surprised you, nothing upset you, and nothing excited you… you were just ‘cool’! If any of you ever watched I Spy, you remember that no matter what was going on around them, Bill Cosby and Robert Culp were never fazed, while on Burke’s Law, Gene Barry always nonchalantly dealt with every evil-doer that came his way. Even Mr. Spock, of Star Trek fame, was eternally ‘cool’ because, as a Vulcan, he never showed any emotion! ‘Cool’ was in!

So when midnight came on this particular New Year’s Eve, and this girl and all of her family grabbed pots and pans and anything else they could find and went around the house banging and raising all of the ruckus and noise that they could for ten minutes or so, I was ‘cool’ about the whole thing and sat undisturbed on the couch, just shaking my head at what I considered so much nonsense… I mean, it just wasn’t ‘cool’!

Afterwards, her grandmother came up to me and said… and not very kindly, I might add… that if I was going to go through life with that kind of attitude, I was going to have a rough way to go. And after forty-some years, I must reluctantly agree with her… at least partially!

The truth is, I have never been one to allow much deep emotion of any kind to show on the surface (except perhaps to my closest friends)… I’m just too ‘cool’ for that! Besides, if everybody believes that you have your feelings and emotions under control, then most think you really ‘have-it-together’… and it becomes really easy to hide all of the pain that life does dish out sometimes! The problem with that way of thinking is that it also prohibits you from enjoying all of the love and happiness that exists as well!

And so, as I try to picture myself as a part of the crowd shouting “Hosanna! Hosanna!”, I see myself as one who is watching all of this from the sidelines… acknowledging the entrance of ‘the King’, but silently keeping my excitement inside of myself… being oh, so ‘cool’!

I mean, Jesus seemed to be acting ‘cool’ about it! We can imagine how excited all of the Apostles and disciples might have felt, riding into Jerusalem to what amounted to a hero’s welcome! We can imagine them smiling and happy and proud and triumphant as they took in the crowds and the adoration and singing and shouting and so-on and so-on… this was undoubtedly the high point of Jesus’ ministry, and those who had followed Him from the beginning were willing and ready to ‘ride-the-wave’ to what they considered acceptance and success.

But Jesus was ‘cool’! He sat astride this little donkey colt, His feet most likely dragging the ground if He should forget to hold them up, and calmly rode into the political and religious center of all Israel… the seat and residence of all those who were opposed to Him… and He was ‘cool’! Nobody in this entire mass of humanity that surrounded Him, pressing against Him and cheering and shouting, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” knew what He knew… that He was riding to His death! But, Jesus was ‘cool’! And not just any death, but the most humiliating, cruel and painful death that was possible at that time… possibly of all time! But, Jesus was ‘cool’… or so it might have appeared to those present!

We can imagine Him maybe thinking these very words from Isaiah 50, verses 4-9… “Because the Sovereign LORD helps me, I will not be disgraced. Therefore have I set my face like flint, and I know I will not be put to shame. He who vindicates me is near.

Who then will bring charges against me? Let us face each other! Who is my accuser? Let him confront me!

It is the Sovereign LORD who helps me. Who is he that will condemn me?”

“Who is he that will condemn me?” Jesus knew! Even as His entourage rode triumphantly through the gates and streets of the capitol city to shouts of “Hosanna to the Son of David! Hosanna in the highest,” Jesus knew that in a few short days, many of those same masses would be shouting, “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!”

Yet, Jesus was ‘cool’!

And in the 2^nd chapter of Philippians, verses 5-11, Paul says, “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 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!

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.”

I confess that I have often envied those who are so full of the love and joy of Christ that they can shout and sing and jump and dance and truly become ‘fools for Christ’… a proud title to have, by the way! And yet, if I take these words of Paul telling me that my attitude should be the same as Christ’s, then isn’t my ‘coolness’ more on par with how He rode into Jerusalem?

But wait… what about that one verse we read last week? When Lazarus died, Jesus wept! That wouldn’t be considered ‘cool’! How about when he overturned the tables of the money-changers and threw them all out of the temple? That wasn’t a ‘cool’ reaction to solving a problem! The fact is, there are many instances where we learn that Jesus was a loving and compassionate man… indeed, His entire ministry was based on that very love and compassion! And if He seemed ‘cool, calm and collected’ as he rode through this procession, it is only because He does love… He loves all of us so compassionately that he was willing to calmly ride towards His death of crucifixion as a sacrifice for each of us!

The Life Application Commentary tells us that there are, “Two plotlines that fill the world with stories. The first tells of bottom-up progress: pauper to magnate, scavenger to CEO, log cabin to White House. In the Bible, the stories of Joseph, Ruth, and David provide exciting examples of how people held in low esteem rose to power and blessing.

Another plotline tells of top-to-bottom change: height to depth, glory to shame, power to weakness, monarch to slave. One Bible person really fits this story line, and he urges all who follow him to consider its meaning for them. He is the living Christ, God incarnate, who died as a criminal on a Roman cross for you. He laid aside his rights as son of God to enter our world to find us.

Our life stories should parallel his. “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus.” We must become servants (slaves) of God for a needy world…”

Yet, how often do we “excuse selfishness, pride, or evil by claiming them as our right? We think, “I can cheat on this test; after all, I deserve to pass this class,” or “I can spend all this money on myself — I worked hard for it,” or “I can get an abortion; I have a right to control my own body.” Obedience, submission, and sacrifice are not popular qualities for humans, and society has little respect for those who practice them. But believers should have a different attitude, one that enables us to lay aside our ‘rights’ in order to serve others. If we say we follow Christ, we must also say that we want to live as he lived. We should develop his attitude of humility as we serve, even when we are not likely to get recognition for our efforts. Jesus was willing to wait until after his death to receive his glory…”

So, it would seem to me that there is room… and indeed a need!… for both ‘types’ of people… those who cheer and shout as Jesus rides through their lives… and those of us who try to stay ‘cool’ and let our excitement for Him show only in all that we do and say in His name! So, shout Hosanna! And if you can shout it out with true gusto and emotion, good for you! But even if you’re like me and have to force it out from between your lips… shout it out anyway… just because it feels good! Are you ready? The words are in the bulletin… let’s shout them out together!

“Hosanna to the Son of David!”

“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”

“Hosanna in the highest!”