I want to begin by saying that
even though we have just participated in the reading
of the Passion Account according to St. Luke,
I want to back up to the Liturgy of the Palms.
This Sunday’s readings give us the full scope of Holy Week,
and on Good Friday we will focus in on the Passion of our Lord
as we read it in the Gospel of John.
So I will direct our attention back to what has been called
the Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem.
I will state right out that this reading is making a political statement,
a provocative political statement,
on purpose.
Now we are very much aware of political statements being made all the time
here in this country,
and we are savvy enough to know that
most political statements carry hidden, or not so hidden, agenda,
that they are often a cover statement for an underlying objective
of gaining power
or benefiting one side of an issue against the other side.
Behind the words are the political maneuvering
aimed at getting or keeping power.
Such is the way political systems work
and so it has been throughout recorded history.
Some win, and rise to the top of the ruling structure,
and others lose and pay tribute or taxes.
This is the way it is with “the kingdoms of this world,”
to put it in biblical terminology.
But in the Gospels Jesus often is making a contrast
between the kingdoms of this world
and the Kingdom of God,
and the contrast is about as extreme as you can get.
The disciples are portrayed as forever having the notion
that Jesus is going to bring about a new kingdom, a new political reality,
that would, of course, eliminate the Roman emperor,
and their beloved nation would be free from foreign rule.
No matter how many times Jesus tells them that these same political powers,
both the Romans and their own Jewish rulers,
are going to be the cause of his persecution and death,
no matter how many times he says this, the disciples just won’t hear of it.
Instead they are thinking about how, come the revolution,
with God on their side and Jesus elevated to a throne,
which of them will get the powerful positions at his right and his left.
And Jesus tells them more than once
if you are following me, one on either side of me,
you will be down on your knees washing feet with me,
you will be serving others,
you will be going the extra mile,
giving whenever you are asked without thought of return,
forgiving 70 times 7,
turning the other cheek,
and loving your enemies.
Jesus didn’t say blessed are the powerful, the strong, those politically adept.
Rather he said blessed are the peacemakers,
the pure in heart,
those who hunger and thirst after righteousness,
and those who suffer at the hands of those in power
for the sake of following the One who preaches the Kingdom of God at hand.
The Kingdom of God has a far different economic, political and military strategy
than the kingdoms of this world.
So with this as the background and context,
here today we see Jesus doing something
which is almost out of character for him.
He makes preparation for what we would later call
his TRIUMPHAL entry into Jerusalem.
He sets the scene up very intentionally and provocatively.
The colt not ridden previously signifies a royal mount.
The route he takes coming from the Mount of Olives
will lead up to the Temple through the Lion Gate.
It all fits the Messianic picture of a coming king,
and the people with him are more than willing to fill out that picture.
And so are we – with our liturgy of a procession with palms.
thinking we are doing something
which is an authentic mark of the kingship of Jesus.
The disciples do the equivalent of rolling out the red carpet:
they carpet the road with their own robes.
They start chanting their slogans: Jesus does powerful deeds,
Jesus’ got the power!
And their political anthem is Psalm 118,
a Psalm of David, the great king of the past,
now for the Davidic heir, lo, these many generations later,
who comes riding on – a borrowed donkey.
Well, this all makes a mockery of both the leaders of the Hebrew nation
and Pontius Pilate governing in the name of the emperor.
It is all so very provocative that the powers that be will have to act
and act forcefully and decisively.
And, can you see it, this is just what Jesus intends.
This is all part of his purpose,
essential for the main point of his mission.
And this is where we are going this week,
as we do every year,
for two thousand years now,
focusing our attention in scripture, worship and vigil
around the center of our faith.
This is the most important time of the year in our observance of faith,
if that isn’t already obvious.
So don’t miss it!
My brothers and sisters, be present this week like at no other time.
Every liturgy this week is designed to unfold the whole story of our salvation.
Like today with our palm branches.
We are participating in a betrayal, when we do this liturgy;
we are participating in a political mistake!
Every liturgy this week is designed to unfold the whole story of our salvation.
Every detail of what we do and say,
every piece of music, every liturgical action
all is a part of this story, of our story,
of the story of Jesus and his death and resurrection.
Today the Palm Sunday story is the climax point
in the narrative structure of the Gospels,
the turning point that moves the flow of events
from Jesus’ mission of teaching, parables, healings and feedings
to the sacrifice of his life for the sake of all living beings,
the opening of the way of liberation, which is salvation,
for the full expression of his purpose
that everything, previous to this, was leading up to.
The turning point had been reached.
The people in the march into Jerusalem
were saying the words that would get Jesus and themselves all in trouble,
and those in the crowd who understood the consequences were concerned.
“Teacher,” they said, “order your disciples to stop.”
But Jesus answered,
“I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.”
The stones themselves would shout.
They would shout, “Hosanna! God, save us!”
God, save us. That’s what the Hebrew word hosanna means. God, save us.
There was no stopping this rush of all time, of all the ages,
of all hopes, of all prayers, of all meaning
this rush into the vortex of this event now unfolding.
Even the stones would bear witness.
And they did, they have.
If you have ever made the pilgrimage to Jerusalem,
you know that these stones tell the story.
Stones that make up the last bit of the retaining wall
from where the Temple of Jesus’ day had stood.
Stones, in places the very stones,
that had been the streets that the feet of Jesus had touched.
The stones on the Mount of Olives in the Garden of Gethsemane
where Jesus had knelt in prayer.
The paving stones in the location identified as the Praetorium
where the soldiers had mocked Jesus and abused and whipped him.
The stones in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher
where one could bend down on the knees to reach through the floor
and touch the stone of Golgotha,
and the stones where the tomb had been.
Stones still silently shouting their history and their role in this great story.
Hosanna. Save us. Let the strong man save us.
The kingdoms of this world read these words one way
anxious and desperate for a strong man to take care of things.
The kingdoms of this world, and their set of values,
the power basis upon which all political structures operate
can hardly understand this story of Jesus and the Kingdom of God.
You mind may very well be much more focused on present politics,
in the world, in the nation, locally, even in our own families.
So I would urge you instead
to put your mind on the words of the Epistle reading for today.
Let this be our palm procession anthem, this ancient hymn of the early church,
that the Apostle Paul includes in his letter to the Church in Philippi:
“Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,…”
his mind, his values, his humility, his obedience,
his body given for you, his death for your life.
Let THIS mind be in you.
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