Palm Sunday: We Need a Saviour - Bishop Justin

Kia ora whānau, lovely to join you this Palm Sunday. I’m pre‑recording this, obviously. Actually, as you watch this, I probably will be in the UK, having just been part of the Archbishop of Canterbury’s installation, representing you there. However, who knows what could happen between now and then in a very tumultuous world? So hopefully all goes well. Hopefully you’re watching this on Palm Sunday, and hopefully I’ve been to the Archbishop of Canterbury’s installation and have represented you well there.

Anyway, we are coming to the end of our Lenten journey, and we have our traditional Palm Sunday reading, Matthew 21:1–11, where we read of Jesus sending his disciples ahead of him to, I suppose, requisition a donkey in order for Jesus to ride into Jerusalem, and he rides into Jerusalem with huge celebration. And we remember this every year, and we celebrate this every year.

So what do we want to focus on this time as we discuss this reading? Well, what caught my attention was the fact of the Jewish people at the time in Jerusalem who turned out. They turned out with an expectation, because they were expecting a Messiah. They had been waiting hundreds of years for a Messiah to turn up to save them. It says in Zechariah that the king will come riding on a donkey. Jesus fulfils that prophecy as he turns up in Jerusalem. So he is there as the Messiah. They turn up — it has been hundreds of years — and they are waiting for a Messiah to liberate them, to take them out of foreign domination, to bring shalom, to bring goodness, to bring peace, to bring prosperity — all these things they’ve been waiting for for hundreds of years. And now a Saviour turns up. The Saviour, the King, has arrived.

When I was reflecting on this verse, I thought how difficult it is for us to understand what it must be like for a people to be expectant of a Saviour or a Messiah. But I feel like in the last 100 years or so, with the materialist worldview — a secular worldview — becoming more and more dominant in our society, we no longer have a place for a Saviour. We have, you know, Charles Darwin — you know, evolution with the survival of the fittest — so, you know, that evolution goes forward by competition, and those who naturally have the upper edge and are above us, they will do better. And also, the latest version of that was, you know, 30–40 years ago we had Richard Dawkins publishing The Selfish Gene, which again just talked about the fact that, you know, at the gene level, at a genetic level, we are, you know, competing for our own survival.

And so this idea that we are responsible for our destiny — there is no place for a Creator, that whatever happens to us is our responsibility. And therefore, what we experience a lot in life, I think, nowadays, is we live in a culture of trying to shuffle that responsibility. Who can I blame for my life? Who can I blame for my situation? Who can I pass that responsibility on to — somebody else — for my lack in life? It’s because we have no place for a Saviour or no place for a Creator; then we’re left with just playing the blame game.

But what this passion speaks to us is: there is a Saviour. There is one who enters the world to save us. There is one who means that I am not left to my own devices. There is one who says that whatever I face, there is a power greater than me that can intervene in that situation. Because I find myself in so many situations, and I watch my friends in so many situations, where actually we can’t solve it. We’re not smart enough, bright enough, or have enough willpower to solve it. We find ourselves in addiction issues which we cannot break out of. We find ourselves in conflict or violence that we cannot break out of. We find ourselves in domestic dysfunction that we cannot break out of. We find ourselves in health issues that are beyond us. We find ourselves ageing and we cannot turn that around. We find ourselves in global conflicts and wars and global catastrophes and climate change — all these things that, yes, we must use our sphere of influence to do what we can, but ultimately, we cannot do enough. Ultimately, as individuals, we cannot solve these. We need a Saviour.

And this Palm Sunday, we remember that core truth: that we are not alone in the world; that God sent his Son into the world to save us; and that we remember that we are creatures, and he is our Creator. And in that remembering, we remember again that we have one who loves us and who came to save us. And so this Sunday, I encourage us to call to mind the areas of our life that we need saving in, or saving from. I encourage us to call to mind, and to articulate, and cry out to God afresh and say, “God, I thank you for coming into the world to save me.”

Now, I know that that saving — as in Palm Sunday — that saving doesn’t quite look the way we thought it would look, but that’s for another week — that sermon — but it does look different than we think saving looks. But nonetheless, there is a Saviour. There is one who is there for us. And as we come to the end of our Lenten journey, and as we approach the great work of Easter, where Jesus literally saves us, then I encourage us to call to mind again our position in the world, our place in the world, and we remember that we are not masters of our own destiny. We are but servants of the Master, and the Master has come to save us, and for that, we are forever grateful.

So, my friends, I pray as you enter Holy Week, that as you do this journey, that ultimately when we get to the celebration of Easter Sunday, you will experience again the resurrection of Jesus in your life, and that you will find the Saviour’s work afresh for you. I pray richest blessing on you. And I look forward to returning to the diocese after coming back from the UK. Blessings on you.