Palm Sunday
Isaiah 50:4-9a Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29 Philippians 2:5-11 Matthew 21:1-11 Dear fellow ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ, grace and peace to you from the one who saves us. Amen Welcome to Holy Week, the high point of the Christian calendar where we remember Jesus’ last days and his saving acts. Usually this is a time where we gather together more frequently Sunday and Thursday, and Friday and then a big celebration Easter morning. But not this year, this year we are practicing our own acts of sacrificial love, we are sacrificing gathering together out of love for our neighbor, and as we walk this most familiar week in an unfamiliar way we will get to see things through new eyes, our experience apart will deepen our experience of Holy week This year I have noticed with new eyes, two things, the cry of the crowd and the state of the city as Jesus enters Jerusalem. We are coming to the end of Jesus’ ministry, much of which has taken place in and around Galilee with a few side trips to visit the gentiles and Jerusalem. Jesus has been ministering to the crowds of people who have come to him, longing for meaning, healing, food, most of them are living day to day under the oppression of the Roman Empire and now they are all traveling to Jerusalem, the holy city with the temple where God lives, to celebrate the Passover, the remembrance and celebration of when God freed the people of Israel from slavery in Egypt. I’m sure they can’t help but notice the juxtaposition, the celebration of freedom in a city that isn’t free. The Romans have noticed it, that’s why Pilate and more soldiers than normal are in residence, in case these Judeans take the idea of freedom to heart, they are on the watch for any disturbance that might break the peace. This is the city Jesus enters into with the crowds and he doesn’t keep a low profile, he enters in the ancient equivalent of the ticker tape parade, fulfilling the scripture by riding on a donkey that his disciples have “borrowed” for him, a humble steed in comparison to the war horses the Romans ride into the city on. And the people praise Jesus, they cry out Hosanna! Now Hosanna is a cry of praise, but it literally means “Save us” The crowds are crying ‘save us’, not to the power of Rome, but to an itinerant preacher riding a donkey. And what’s more they name him Son of David, the one who comes in the name of the Lord, the long awaited messiah, the one who will once again free the people. Save us, Hosanna in the highest heaven. Sometimes our song of praise Is also a cry for help, the two mingling interchangeably together. We will do well to remember that this week, especially as we look to Easter and the celebration that it’s supposed to be when all we want to do is cry ‘save us Lord’ these two impulses are not as contradictory as they might initially appear. So Jesus enters Jerusalem, on a donkey, surrounded by crowds shouting Hosanna to the Son of David, and Matthew tells us that “when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in turmoil” The whole city was in turmoil, the Greek word used for turmoil is a cognate of earthquake, the city is shaken, what once seemed solid has moved and people are unsure of how to proceed. We’re intimately familiar with turmoil, the country is in turmoil, the world is in turmoil, what once seemed solid has moved beneath our feet and we are unsure of how to proceed, in fact, the one thing we know for sure is that we don’t really know what is coming. Jesus enters the city, the city is in turmoil, the people are asking, ‘who is this?’” Who is this that is powerful enough to create such a disturbance? and the answer they receive uncovers a truth that not all are comfortable with, This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth. The people believe that Jesus is the Messiah. But what does it mean for the Messiah to come? There are as many different expectations as there are people, for some the Messiah is supposed to be a military figure who will drive out the Romans, for others a King in the tradition of David. For some it doesn’t matter who Jesus is, he’s causing a scene, the religious leaders who are also the political leaders, the ones the Romans look to to control the masses see Jesus as a threat, to their own power and to the safety of the people because they know that the Romans impose peace at the tip of a sword, the Pax Romana, the Peace of Rome is less peace than a suppression of violence by the threat of greater violence. Jesus entering the city causes turmoil because it reveals truths, truths about who people are, what they expect, their real priorities. The leaders of Israel will defer to Rome, the crowds will disappointedly move on to the next glimmer of hope, the disciples will stick around longer than most but eventually flee, Peter the most ardent of disciples will in one moment promise to die for Jesus and in the next breath deny him. These truths once known can never be unknown the question then becomes now what? What will be done with the truth? Some are excited for the change these revelations can bring, others will work to prevent it in their longing for things to return to normal. The world, our country is in turmoil and truths are being revealed. Truths about how much we expect of our schools, the truth of how crucial those who work in grocery stores are, truths about the priorities of leaders. These truths once known can never be unknown the question then becomes now what? What will be done with the truth? Some are excited for the change these revelations can bring, others will work to prevent it in their longing for things to return to normal. These are questions that we will have to ask ourselves in the coming months and years. The whole city was in turmoil. And what is Jesus doing? Jesus is being the messiah as God defines it, living as a humble servant, bringing about the kingdom of God, a kingdom marked by compassion and self-giving acts of generosity, all that create peace, true peace which rather than an absence of violence is marked by the healing of relationships, the healing of the world. And nothing that anyone did, the crowds, the leaders, the disciples, the Romans, none of their actions could stop Jesus from doing the work of God. Arrested, tried, denied, abandoned, crucified, none of these human actions prevented Jesus from doing what he came to do. Save the world. God’s saving action is just that. God’s. Whether we cry hosanna, save us, Or are silent Whatever choices we make in the face of revealed truths, whatever we do to face the uncertainty of the future, whatever expectations we have, whatever mistakes we make God will continue to work for good, God will save us. In the midst of the turmoil of the world, God comes to us, we cry out Hosanna, and our cry of praise also a petition. Save us Lord. Amen
0 Comments
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
AboutPastor Emily Johnson preaches weekly at Christ Lutheran. These are manuscripts of her sermons given at Christ Lutheran. Feel free to engage with them in the comments section of the blog. Archives
March 2022
Categories
All
|