Sermon Date: Palm
Jesus’
entry into
Borrowing from a
UCC pastor whose sermons I enjoy, “Of all the days of the Christian year, it is this
one that holds stark contrasts. The joy of the journey, and the sorrow before arrival, the
happy waving of palms and the stunning silence of the cross, the innocence of our children
and the realities of a world that made Jesus weep.”
Palm Sunday can
be a confusing day. At least for me. When my sisters and I were growing up my
grandparents bought new clothes for both Palm Sunday and Easter. We celebrated Jesus’ entry into
So on one Sunday
we celebrated with new clothes. Then the next
Sunday we came back together to celebrate with Easter eggs and more new clothes. But that wasn’t necessarily the confusing
part.
I wasn’t
confused until later when I really understood Jesus being arrested, put on trial and then
nailed to a cross. I got the entry into
Jerusalem. I got the empty tomb. I just didn’t get the hard part in the middle. It was as if we went from a high experience to
another high experience without grasping the extremely difficult part in the middle, the
complete story of Jesus’ sacrifice and the struggles of his disciples. And if I, who knew the end of the story was
confused, how must the disciples have felt?
Prayer:
We ask,
dear Lord, that you help us to comprehend what you have for us to learn this Holy season. May our lives be changed by this experience. Amen.
You may have heard of Ernest Shackleton. Among
his many expeditions, Shackleton
participated in the National Antarctic Expedition, which was organized by the Royal Geographical Society
in 1901, and led by
Robert Falcon Scott.
This expedition is also called the "Discovery Expedition", as its ship was
called Discovery.
It is believed that he placed what has become one of the world's most famous advertisements in the Times of London in December 1901: "Men wanted for hazardous journey. Small wages. Bitter cold. Long months of complete darkness. Constant danger. Safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in case of success."
The ad itself is not the amazing part of the story. The amazing part is that thousands of men actually answered the ad to sign on for this journey. Thousands.
Had the disciples seen such an ad, would they have signed up for the journey they took with Jesus?
They had no idea what really lay ahead. Yet they too were willing to follow. They were willing to risk reputations and lives. And certainly they must have been confused at times.
They followed as Jesus entered into Jerusalem as the star of the parade. They watched as the people treated Jesus like royalty. They tore palm branches from the trees and laid down their own cloaks for his donkeys to walk on. The people were shouting “Hosanna” as he passed by.
The
disciples must have thought they finally had it made. No
more looking over the shoulders for the Jewish leaders who were trying to catch Jesus at
breaking the law. No more moving from house to
house without even an extra robe. Maybe now
they would watch Jesus be honored in the way in which they believed he should be.
But that was not to be the case. It didn’t turn out as they had hoped. Instead their lives turned out more like a
Shackelton ad: "Men wanted for hazardous journey. No wages or extra
clothing. Constant danger and possible ridicule.. Safe return doubtful. Honour and
recognition in case of success."
You see, when people along the parade route ask, “Who is this?” “the crowd answered, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee.”
Jesus, the prophet. Not Jesus the Messiah. You see, they don’t yet understand that. Here they are caught up in the moment and excited about the parade, much like we saw many years ago with Elvis and the Beatles. Watch reruns today and you won’t be able to figure out why these girls are jumping up and down, screaming and crying as four lads from England sing or a guy from Memphis moves his hips. They are caught up in a moment. A moment that does not last.
Palm Sunday serves as a reminder that even today we too can be swept along with the crowd and not understand the full meaning of the moment.
The story continues as Jesus then went to the temple and found the moneychangers cheating the folks who were buying doves to make sacrifices. He turned over the tables and drove them out. The blind and lame came to him to be healed, which angered the chief priests and the rabbis as they watched.
Think about the last days of Jesus’ life in our own linear way of thinking. Assuming the parade of the palm branches was on a
Sunday, Jesus had four days left to teach the disciples.
If we stay only in the Gospel of Matthew we read as Jesus put a curse on a fig tree
because it had no figs on it and told the disciples that if only they had enough faith,
they could tell a mountain to jump into the sea.
He dealt with people questioning his authority. He used parables to teach valuable lessons like, “the stone that the builders tossed aside is now the most important stone of all.” He told them that the most important commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind. The second is to love your neighbor as yourself.
He warned them that the temple would be destroyed and that trouble lay ahead for them. He also warned them not to look for the exact time and place when the Messiah would appear. That wasn’t for them to know.
I hope you will follow Jesus to the empty tomb by reading the rest of the Gospel of Matthew this week. At least begin with chapter 21 and read to the end. Experience the last days of Jesus. Join us here on Thursday evening as we experience and remember the last time Jesus ate and drank with the disciples.
Remember that Jesus went into the garden and asked God if it weren’t possible to stop this thing that was about to happen. Remember that Jesus did not want to die, but he would if he had to.
Remember the betrayal of one of his own, even though some now believe Jesus asked Judas to betray him. Regardless of the circumstances that we cannot know, Jesus was betrayed. Each of the gospels tells that part of the story.
Experience and remember what we call Good Friday. Remember that Jesus’ death was for a reason and that we are the reason. We are the reason that Jesus gave his life willingly. Remember too that we cannot use the word “sacrifice” unless it really hurt, unless it really came from the depths of Jesus’ being.
Remember that Jesus could have walked to the cross over those same palm branches – now dried up and forgotten. He could have walked by the same people who laid down the cloaks but now shout “Crucify him!”
Whatever you do this week, to honor the week we call “holy” don’t go come to Easter without having been to the cross. Don’t miss the experiences of the week.
These
experiences remind us that Jesus preached love, lived love, taught love and died it. They encourage us to move into the week and
into our world with the same desire, to blind the awful wounds of the world with aching,
caring love.
Jesus
rode into Jerusalem in such a way that every one knew he had arrived, then he took
everyone on—the entire establishment of power, authority and might, through the next
days of Holy Week. He never lost his love for those close to him, and he never lost his
love for the perpetrators who ordered his suffering and eventual death. (The Face of Suffering/The
Face of Blessing by Patricia de Jong, March 20, 2005)
I’m
no longer confused about the celebration of Palm Sunday because we celebrate it knowing
the full story. In fact, we cannot
celebrate unless we recognize Jesus as Christ. When
we wave the palm branches we are waving them for the Messiah, for the one we recognize as
Lord and Savior.
And
when we think of the courage and the depth of compassionate tenderness in the face of
Jesus on this day of blessing and suffering, let us decide that this is how we want to
live in the world, with courage, tenderness and passionate hope. (ibid)
During
this Holy Week may the amazing grace of God’s love transform you and me as we move
past the cross and toward the empty tomb.