It’s Palm Sunday! In this online worship service and sermon, we’re looking at the story of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem in Matthew 21:1-11. Helpful resources for me were Jonathan Merritt at Christianity Today, David Lose at In the Meantime,and this hymn reflection from Pam McAllister. Here’s the video of the full worship service, followed by the sermon text.
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen
If you’re watching on Facebook, you probably know about Facebook’s “memories” feature. For those watching on YouTube or if you aren’t a regular Facebook user, each day, Facebook gives you a notification to look at what you posted on this date in previous years.
It’s kind of fun to look back and remember what I was doing, or what was going on in the world in previous years. For me, some of the most fun is seeing what I shared 10 years ago in college – apparently I used Facebook a LOT in college. It’s also a good reminder of how I’ve grown over the last dozen or so years.
In the last few days, I’ve seen people sharing statuses about the pandemic, just so they’ll show up in future years in memories, and we’ll be able to remember what’s happening right now. Gas prices are low, sporting events are postponed, school is closed, panic buying has caused a toilet paper shortage, restaurants are closed or only offering takeout and delivery. There are a lot of details about this time that we’ll forget once it’s passed.
Whether or not you use Facebook, it might be worth writing a note to yourself about what’s going on right now, both in the country as a whole and just personally how you’re feeling and coping. Then each year, you can look back and remember.
That’s what’s happening this week. Each year, Christians mark Holy Week, the time from today, Palm Sunday, through Easter. We look back and remember the most important event in all of history, when Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, gave his life for us. And as we look back and remember, we get a new perspective on what happened, a perspective those who were experiencing it certainly didn’t have.
Holy Week starts with Palm Sunday, today. We call it Palm Sunday, of course, because as Jeff just read, when Jesus entered into the city of Jerusalem, people spread palm leaves on the ground before him. It’s a great story, this triumphal entrance of Jesus.
It ought to have been the climax of Jesus’ journey. For three years, this carpenter’s son, this itinerant rabbi has been traveling throughout Israel, teaching, healing, and proclaiming the coming of God’s kingdom. Now, with his crowds of followers, he enters triumphantly into the city. In fulfillment of an ancient prophecy from Zechariah, he’s riding on a donkey, entering as a king, triumphant and victorious.
But as we know, this is only the beginning of the story, not the climax. This moment that looks like triumph is full of irony, because Jesus is not the kind of king the crowds expect. They’re looking for a mighty military leader, a great king to restore the glory of the nation of Israel. As he comes in, the crowds are shouting “Hosanna” which means, “Lord, save us!”
They see him as a savior sent from God, which is true, but not in the way they think. Through the course of this week, it quickly becomes clear that this savior will not meet their expectations.
You have to imagine some of the same people in the crowd lining the streets with palm branches, some of the same people who were so excited to welcome him are in that other crowd a few days later shouting “Crucify him! Crucify him!” as they demand Jesus’ death.
You can understand their disappointment, can’t you? You can understand a God who refuses to meet our expectations, who when we want someone to come and make everything better, instead comes to suffer alongside us? How many people right now have cried out for God to come and miraculously bring healing, to triumphantly chase out the virus and return everything to normal?
Two hundred years earlier, when the nation of Israel was under the thumb of the Syrian empire, a revolutionary Jewish leader named Judas Maccabee had entered the city in a triumphant parade. People had lined the streets, waved palm branches, and sung hymns to welcome him. When he arrived, he defeated the Syrian king and recaptured the temple, establishing a century of Jewish self-rule.
Now, under occupation by the Romans, the people see Jesus coming in and it looks familiar. There’s palm branches and singing, and they assume the same thing is about to happen.
But Jesus has a different mission. He has come to liberate them, to set them free, but not just so they can return to their old glory days, back to the way things were before. Jesus has not come to establish an earthly kingdom, but a heavenly kingdom extending beyond this world.
How often do we do the same thing as the crowds? How often do we put our own expectations on God, expecting God to act the way we want? And then, when God doesn’t meet our standards, we get frustrated, lose faith, or turn against him as the crowds do?
And yet, throughout the Bible, God continually upends expectations. Over and over in the Gospels, Jesus fails to live up to people’s picture of a savior, especially the picture of the faithful religious leaders. He’s born in strange circumstances, in a stable rather than a palace. He chooses humble fishermen and despised tax collectors as his followers. He welcomes sinners and the poor, but criticizes the powerful religious authorities and demands the rich give up their wealth.
The events of Holy Week that start with a victory parade will lead to death on a cross. This savior, this messiah will lose everything, even his life. This week of triumph ends in defeat, in death, in a tomb.
Except, Jesus defies that expectation too. The final irony of Holy Week is that Jesus doesn’t stay dead. As it turns out in the end, Jesus is a king, but his kingdom is not of this world. The crowd’s cries of Hosanna “Lord, save us” were correct, but they needed a far deeper kind of salvation than they realized.
When God fails to meet your expectations, when Jesus doesn’t act the way you expect, pause and wonder if it’s our expectations that aren’t quite right. Look for the unexpected ways Jesus is at work bringing healing and peace, not through a dramatic fixing of everything all at once, but through the small actions of his followers.
This week, we look back and remember all the events that lead up to the cross. We remember how quickly we with the crowds turn from joyful cheering to hostile anger when our expectations aren’t met.
We remember how Jesus calls us as his followers to live a different way than that of the world, to give ourselves away in humility and love, instead of seeking power. We remember that when the people thought they needed a great conquering hero, Jesus gave them an even greater gift, himself.
Beloved of God, as we enter Holy Week, may you recognize God’s presence with you. May you notice the Holy Spirit’s actions around you. And may the peace of Christ, which passes all understanding, be always with you. Amen
Our hymn of the day today is All Glory, Laud, and Honor, and of course it’s always appropriate for Palm Sunday, but especially for this year. I did some research, and it turns out this hymn was written in the year 818 by Theodulph, the Archbishop of Orleans.
Caught in the political upheaval following the death of the emperor Charlemagne, Theoldulf was imprisoned in a tower when a procession on Palm Sunday waving palms passed his window, inspiring him to write this hymn as a way of joining in their procession from afar. Seems appropriate for our celebration today. Let’s sing.