Traditionally Palm Sunday is a day we experience contradictions. We parade with palms and celebrate the day Jesus arrived in Jerusalem, the capital, the place from where God reigns over the kingdom of Israel and near the end our hopes are dashed as we recount the death of Jesus by reading the Passion. There is a movement in the church to end this practice and it is a movement that I support. Palm Sunday highlights an important piece of the story of Jesus, and an important component of what it means to be his disciple, but that component gets overshadowed by the emphasis placed on his death.
When Jesus arrives at Jerusalem he has been spreading his message of love for three long years. He has healed the sick, cast out demons, raised the dead, but more importantly he has questioned the status quo. He has questioned the authority of Rome, he has questioned the authority of the temple, and he has questioned the authority of his listeners’ hearts. No one is spared and nor should they be because Jesus was not sent to be the voice of God for just one group, the right group, Jesus was sent to be the voice for ALL.
On the first Palm Sunday, which was not a Sunday, Jesus descends from the hills surrounding the city greeted by thousands of inhabitants shouting Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest! Or something like it. Hosanna is an Aramaic word that literally means “Save (help), I pray!” and it only appears in the gospels in relationship to this moment in time. The shouting of Hosana is a sign that the people are ready, they are ready for something different, they are ready to be out from under the thumb of the Roman emperor, they are ready to be out from under the oppressive rules of the temple, but are they truly ready for what these hopes will cost?
As the procession of palms enters Jerusalem from the east, another procession is entering through the west gate. Pontious Pilot has arrived with his legions to ensure that the city remain calm during Passover. Thousands of Hebrews descend on Jerusalem every year for the observance of Passover and Pilot is not going to take any chances of there being trouble due to recent grumblings of rebellion. So here we have two distinctly different processions, one that represents joy and hope; and one that represents authority and oppression. They meet, symbolically, in the middle in Jerusalem, a city which is described by Matthew as a city in turmoil.
So here we are, in the year 2026, symbolically recreating the procession from the east, calling and praying for God to Save us; but from what do we need to be saved? While some, as attested to by the No Kings marchers, argue that we need to be saved from government oppression, that is not it because that is a human matter. Jesus did not save the Hebrew people from the authority of Rome or even the temple and his death and ultimate resurrection are not about the political turmoil humanity creates for itself; it is about hoping in the possibility that some day we will be able to reconcile the turmoil that is within each of us.
The events we remember today and throughout Holy Week were real. We know this because they are in the historical record and I don’t just mean they are in the gospels. Our remembrance of them is consistent with our Hebrew roots as a faith tradition, but let’s not mistake remembrance for meaning. While we remember these events, we must also do the hard work of allowing the meaning of these events to renew and change us.
The turmoil in Jerusalem nearly 2,000 years ago was due to civic unrest caused by the juxtaposition to Imperial authority, temple authority, and this new guy spreading a cryptic message of love. For just a moment, try to picture the events of that day. You are standing in front of your house and from one direction you hear trumpets announcing the arrival of the Roman legions, and from the other direction you hear people shouting Hosana, save us! You have heard the trumpets of Rome many times and are used to them, so you turn your attention toward the east and wonder what all of this hubbub is about, then you realize it is about that guy Jesus who has been saying some pretty radical things, like love your neighbor, but on some level that makes sense to you and you want to hear more; but you also know that the priests don’t like this guy and have told you all to stay away. So, what do you do? Do you listen to the people in charge and stay away? Do you go hear what he has to say? Or do you go about your day and mind your own business because you have kids to feed and work to do? This decision is not an easy one, it creates conflict in you. On the one hand you are busy and need to get to work, but on the other hand you like some of what you have heard about Jesus and want to go listen? You feel conflicted, your thoughts are in turmoil.
The celebration of Jesus entry into Jerusalem is not just about the historical events, it is a reminder to us that the turmoil caused for the people who experienced it is the same turmoil that lives in us every single day. We are all Jerusalem on that day. We live in the turmoil, striving to be faithful to God’s command to love, while faced with neighbors who are frankly just jerks, which is not a strong enough word, but I leave it to your imagine the words I would like to use.
We are consistently and constantly bombarded with the opinions and actions of people who appear to hate their neighbors, who clearly only care about how everything affects them. We are told that we need to be civically active, that we must obey the law, that we must pay our taxes. We are consistently disregarded by our employers as we slave away to ensure that they make money or in the non-profit world to ensure that government or donors’ money isn’t being wasted. All of these things, are nothing more than the Roman and temple authorities of our time and the pressure we feel from these external sources is very real and is often in conflict with what Jesus teaches us, creating internal conflict and turmoil.
How can we be faithful followers of Jesus, a people who seek to love all people when human existence is so messy? We start with Hosana! Save me I pray! And then we gather around a table and share a meal, because when we are sharing a meal, we can forget about all those other things; this is what we do on Maundy Thursday.
After our meal we take some time to think about from what we wished to be save. What is the one thing we want to change about ourselves and we ask God to help us and they will; but only if we believe they will. We call this concept placing our burdens at the foot of the cross and it is what we do on Good Friday.
Having placed our burden on the cross and we allow that burden to die with Jesus, because that is what it is all about. It is about God carrying our burdens with us and for us, so that they are no longer burdens. Once we have done that, they are buried with Christ and if we truly allow them to be buried, they will no longer be a burden; and we will still be here as a resurrected people. As people who, because of their faith, were able to let go of the turmoil, if only for a few moments.
The cycle of turmoil, death, and resurrection is not a one time thing, it is a cycle that is repeated time and time again, and it is a cycle we are called to repeat every day of our lives, which is why we gather as a community week after week in a sanctuary from the turmoil of the world, to break bread, and to celebrate the resurrection of Christ Jesus.
My invitation to use all is to enter Holy Week with the intention of fully immersing ourselves in this process so when we gather on Easter morning the resurrection holds new meaning for us all.
Learning by Fire! 