Philippians 2:9-11
Therefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in Heaven and things on earth and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Anybody know about “do-overs”? Do-over was a term we used as kids to correct an incident during a ballgame when something went terribly wrong. Now, you couldn’t just use it for any occasion, or just because you didn’t like the outcome. Do-overs had rules. The basic premise was, you could only invoke the do-over clause when there was an outside interference so egregious that it changed the outcome of the game for everyone.
A prime example would be playing football in the street. All the ordinary rules apply, like any other football game, until a car suddenly drives through. In that unforeseen event, no matter how exciting the action, or hotly contested the combatants are engaged, hollering, “Interference” stops the action and gives everyone another chance to begin anew. In that case you get an automatic do-over.
This morning we commemorate the triumphant entrance of Jesus Christ into the holy city of Jerusalem for what should have been his crowning and coronation as Lord and King of all the nations on earth. After all, he is Lord of lords and King of kings is he not? But instead of being crowned with a golden crown, by week’s end, he was wearing a crown of thorns, nails in his hands and feet, pierced in his side, murdered, buried, forsaken and forgotten. An unbelievable turn of events by anyone’s standard or imagination. His crowning, his coronation and his triumphant victory was disrupted, postponed, and yes, interfered with. But thank God, not canceled.
It’s interesting that we retain the memory of Palm Sunday at all given the horrific acts that immediately followed, but its place in history was well documented centuries before the man Jesus ever came on the scene. The significance of this lies in the fact that Zechariah prophesied this exact thing hundreds of years earlier. So, we see Jesus intentionally and deliberately fulfilling an Old Testament prophecy from Zechariah 9:9: Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout, Daughter Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
A king riding into the city on a horse generally communicated war, but when a king rode in on a donkey, that signified peace. Not only is Jesus our Lord and King, but he's also the Prince of peace. Glory to his name.
But all that was disrupted by unprecedented interference. Jesus was betrayed by one of his own team members. He was abandoned by those that swore to protect and fight for him. He was forsaken by the very people he healed, delivered and set free. And he was condemned to die by the very folk that failed to uphold righteousness, justice and civility. Fear took the place of boldness. Doubt replaced trust, faith and hope. And violence (for a short time) undermined love. But thanks be to God, he gave us a second chance. We get to do the celebration of our Lord over again. God gave us a do-over.
The word of this heavenly do-over was first given to Isaiah (45:23). He writes, By myself I have sworn; from my mouth has gone out in righteousness a word that shall not return: ‘To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear allegiance. And it was repeated in Romans 14:11 “For it is written: ‘As I live,’ saith the Lord, ‘every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall confess to God.’” And just in case we didn’t get it, Paul in his letter to the Philippians prophetically declares, and clarifies that it is at the name of Jesus that every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.
People of God, interference or no interference, Jesus will get his do-over after all. The only question that remains is will you bow before him now, or will you bow later? Bowing now is in reverence and fellowship; bowing later, in humiliation. He will be Lord. He will be King. There’s no question about that. Heaven has called for a do-over. And we will do this thing again. This time with no interference.
God Bless
