“Spread Your Cloaks Before Him!”
Mark 11:1-11

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Pastor Kevin Vogts
Trinity Lutheran Church
Paola, Kansas
Palm Sunday—March 28, 2021

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  Amen.

On the way to Jerusalem for the first Palm Sunday, Jesus tells his disciples: “The Son of Man is about to be betrayed into the hands of men.  He must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and scribes, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.”

Jesus offers up himself as a sacrifice for the sins of the world.  He paid for all your sins with his suffering and death on the cross.  On his account, you are fully forgiven.  Trust in him for salvation, and “Spread Your Cloaks Before Him!”       

On the first Palm Sunday, the exultant crowds throw their cloaks on the road before Jesus.  What about you, today?  What will you give to Jesus, who gave his life for you?  On Palm Sunday, 2021 what will you lay before the Lord?

Spread before him like a cloak your worship:  “Oh, come, let us worship the Lord!”  “Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; be thankful unto him and bless his name.”  Make it your weekly custom to be in the Lord’s house on the Lord’s day, to pray, praise and give thanks, to sing with gratitude in your heart to God.  “Remember the Sabbath Day, to keep it holy.”  Do not despise preaching and his word, but hold it sacred and gladly hear and learn it.  “Worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness.”  Spread before him like a cloak your worship.

What will you give to Jesus, who gave his life for you?  On Palm Sunday, 2021 what will you lay before the Lord?  Spread before him like a cloak your daily devotion and prayer:  “Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly.”  “Search the Scriptures.”  “Grow in the grace and knowledge of your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”  Open your Bible and fold your hands. “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known unto God.”  Spread before him like a cloak your daily devotion and prayer.

What will you give to Jesus, who gave his life for you?  On Palm Sunday, 2021 what will you lay before the Lord?  Spread before him like a cloak your love.  “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength” and “Love your neighbor as yourself.”  “As I have loved you,” Jesus says, “so you must love one another.  By this all men will know that you are my disciples, because you love one another.” 

Are you a disciple of Jesus?  Then it should show in your love, your love for the Lord and for your fellow man.  As St. John says in his 1st Epistle, “Beloved, let us love one another; for love is from God, and everyone that loves is born of God and knows God.  He that loves not knows not God; for God is love.  This is how God showed his love for us: He sent his only-begotten Son into the world that we would have life through him . . .  he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.  Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”  As St. Paul says in Ephesians, “Live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us.”  Spread before him like a cloak your love, your love for the Lord and for your fellow man. 

What will you give to Jesus, who gave his life for you?  On Palm Sunday, 2021 what will you lay before the Lord?  Spread before him like a cloak your service: “Serve the Lord with gladness.”  Offer yourself to your Savior as a living sacrifice, zealously, fervently serving Christ and his kingdom.  And follow the example of Jesus, who went about doing good; who came not to be served, but to serve, and give his life as a ransom for many; who served all of humanity by sacrificing himself; who, on Maundy Thursday, got down on his hands and knees and washed his disciples feet.  In the same way, “serve one another in love.”  As St. Paul says in Philippians, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition on self-centered conceit, but in humility consider others above yourselves.  Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.  Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus.”  Spread before him like a cloak your service, to God and your fellow man.

What will you give to Jesus, who gave his life for you?  On Palm Sunday, 2021 what will you lay before the Lord?  Spread before him like a cloak your financial offerings.  “Bring an offering and come into his courts.”  Give generously to the work of the Lord. Give generously to our own congregation, give generously to support the mission work sponsored by our Synod, give generously to support the work of other worthy Christian causes and charities.  As St. Paul says in 2nd Corinthians, “Excel in the grace of giving.”  What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits to me?  Spread before him like a cloak your financial offerings.

What will you give to Jesus, who gave his life for you?  On Palm Sunday, 2021 what will you lay before the Lord?  Spread before him like a cloak a godly life, your godly life.  As a preacher I give a sermon from the pulpit about once a week; but as disciples of Christ you and I and every Christian give a never-ending sermon our entire lives, not so much with words but with actions. 

People are watching; what are your actions saying?  What are your actions saying about the sincerity of your faith?  What are your actions saying about the teachings of Jesus?  Will your actions attract others to Jesus, or repel them from him?  As St. Paul says in his epistles, “Now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, hatred, slander and filthy language from your lips . . . among you there must not even be a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people.  Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk, dirty joking . . . drunkenness . . . do not think about how to gratify the sinful desires of the flesh . . . It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable, not in lustful desire like the heathen, who do not know God.”

“Let us put off the deeds of darkness . . . as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience . . . put off falsehood and speak truthfully . . . do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths . . . Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, fighting and slander, along with every form of hatred.  Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.  Be imitators of God.”  Spread before him like a cloak a godly life, your godly life.

On the first Palm Sunday, the exultant crowds throw their cloaks on the road before Jesus.  What about you, today?  What will you give to Jesus, who gave his life for you?  On Palm Sunday, 2021 what will you lay before the Lord?  Spread before him like a cloak your worship; spread before him like a cloak your daily devotion and prayer; spread before him like a cloak your love; spread before him like a cloak your service; spread before him like a cloak your financial offerings; spread before him like a cloak a godly life.

As Jesus rode triumphantly into Jerusalem on the first Palm Sunday, “many people spread their cloaks on the road.”  What about you, today?  What will you give to Jesus, who gave his life for you?  On Palm Sunday, 2021 what will you lay before the Lord?  “Spread Your Cloaks Before Him!”