Epicurious Lutheran

Based on the sermon for April 13, 2025 (Palm Sunday) at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church – Buffalo, NY .

Sermon Video | 8:30am and 10:30am Worship Services

Scriptures | Luke 22

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

“It’s time!”

When you hear these words from certain people … hopefully, you know exactly what it means. If a woman, at the end of her pregnancy gives you a “certain” look and says “it’s time” … there’s that realization that “oh wow! The thing we’ve been preparing for … it’s happening … and it’s happening NOW!”

Hopefully, they’re prepared and have a plan because when “it’s time!”, it’s clear that the time for thinking and preparing is over and, now, something specific needs to be DONE. For these parents about to give birth, that probably means they grab their bags that have already been packed and head straight to the hospital.

As Christians, we live in preparation for when God says, “It’s time!”

Jesus had been preparing His disciples for when “It’s time”. He talked about His death. Jesus revealed Himself as the Son of God through His miracles, teachings, and by living the Good News for them. He commissioned them to go out and do the same miracles He was doing … and to do even greater things!

Palm Sunday begins a real roller coaster of a week. We begin with joy and celebration that quickly turns dark and heavy and serious. When it comes to our own lives, sometimes we feel that there’s enough dark and heavy and serious so, we don’t want to hear more of that in church related to our faith. We want to hear messages of hope and life and joy instead.

The reality is that we all know that life can throw us curve balls, and it can seem unbearable at times. We know that Christianity and our faith are not just about what’s good, neat, clean, and sweet. Being a Christian does not exempt us from pain, frustration, disappointment, betrayal, loss. Aren’t these kind of like our own Maundy Thursdays and Good Fridays.

So, our faith is not the absence of darkness and death … It is Jesus with us … It is the light of Christ in the darkness – pushing away the darkness … It is the life of Christ in spite of death … It is the hope of Christ when all else seems heavy, serious and even hopeless … It is Jesus telling us “It’s time” as He encourages us to draw on our own preparation … to make decisions and take action because of our faith … to risk … to move … to experiment … and then to learn from what we’ve done so we can continue to risk, move, and experiment.

Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem that Palm Sunday was no ordinary thing. He didn’t ride on a stallion as a conquering king, but humble, riding on a donkey and the people responded by throwing palm branches and their cloaks on the ground before him.

What training or teaching could have prepared them to know that that was the time and that was what they should do? The people knew something significant was happening. They were probably all on edge wondering … “IS it time?“ “Do I really know what decisions I need to make and what actions I need to take?”

Y’all may get a bit tired of me bringing up honeybees, but you may know that I took an 8-week class on beekeeping – 16 hours of instruction! I know what kinds of things to look for, but, when it was me all alone opening up my hives with 10s-of-thousands of bees all around me, … I lost focus … I doubted myself … even though I had a plan, it was difficult to follow it because life really almost never unfolds according to our plans.

I think our faith life can feel like that quite often. It’s easier and safer to learn in a protected environment, but when “it’s time” … when it’s you in the real world with real people and situations … The loss of focus and self-doubt can stop you in your tracks.

On that Palm Sunday and the week that followed, so many people had decisions to make and actions to take that were brought into clearer focus because of the unfolding events of that day. Just consider the decisions Judas was making. How about the other disciples, King Herod, or Pilate?

This Holy Week, look for where God has made decisions and taken actions for you … the actions of God that we hear about through Bible stories … but also in your life.

There’s a lot going on this week. It was time for Jesus to take very bold and decisive actions. The time had come for people around Jesus to make decisions and take action, too. It was time for there to be a confrontation about what was actually truth. It was time for Jesus to show us that – on the other side of darkness, sin, death, disappointment … there is life!

It’s now time for you and I to make decisions and take actions because of our faith

Dear people of God … “It’s time.”

In the name of Jesus. Amen!