Sermon for the Sunday of the Passion: Palm Sunday 4.5.2020
Church of the Good Shepherd, Acton, Massachusetts
Rev. Melissa Buono, Interim Priest
Readings: Matthew 21:1-11; Psalm 31: 9-16; Isaiah 50;4-9a; Philippians 2:5-11; The Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Matthew (26:14-27:66)
This week I’ve been wrestling with the question: What is the significance of Palm Sunday?
Yes, it’s our remembering of Jesus’ Triumphant entry into the city of Jerusalem.
You will recall, the population of Jerusalem had swelled as 1000s of pilgrims journeyed to the Holy City to celebrate the High Holy day of Passover. Many of the people gathered there in Jerusalem, were from the villages of Galilee and had witnessed Jesus’ healings, and heard his teaching. And having seen Jesus enter the city, they gave him a hero’s welcome, as he too came to observe the Passover.
The picture though is not one of military strength, but of a humble king riding not on a well decorated steed, but on a donkey - and not even a donkey, but the calf of a donkey. He wasn’t dressed in the finest royal capes with rings on his fingers - he wore his usual garb - a tunic and sandals. There were no trumpets blaring “Hail to the Chief” - just the cheers of the crowd as they gathered and reached out to touch Jesus and moved with him through the crowded narrow streets. And instead of the Hollywood red carpet, the peasants laid down their cloaks (probably the only one they owned) and laid them on the ground for Jesus and the donkey to walk on. Others cut branches from palm trees to lay before his path. Dating back to ancient Egypt, the palm branch is a sign of victory, triumph, peace and eternal life. Even in ancient Greece, winning athletes were awarded a palm branch.
The peasants loved Jesus. They saw in him someone who was on their side for a change. He gave them hope in God’s vision for a new kingdom, a world without pain and suffering and hardship. And they were excited for Jesus to enter the city because they expected that he had to finally clash with the powers that be, and free them from the occupation they were living under with the Roman Empire.
But of course, that’s not what Jesus rode into Jerusalem to do. He knew it would be his last visit to that city. He knew the end of his life was near. And he braced himself for the betrayal and arrest and false charges and mockery that was to come.
The thing is, Jesus wasn’t the only parade in town that day. Because the city would be overflowing with visitors and pilgrims to celebrate the Passover, the Romans wanted to make sure there were no uprisings among the people, no one causing any trouble. So, on the opposite side of the city, at the western gate, Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor entered the city with the Imperial procession of calvary and soldiers and all the fanfare you would expect from a mighty leader. This royal parade was meant to show off the power and authority of the Roman Empire, lest the pilgrims forget who was in charge. Yes, they could have their festival, but it would not get out of hand. You see, the Romans were particularly vigilant about Passover because it was the celebration of the liberation of Israel from the violence of another empire that once ruled - Egypt and Pharaoh. And they didn’t want the Jews to be getting any ideas about another possible escape.
Ultimately, Jesus’ crucifixion was the result of the clash between these two claims: Jesus and the Kingdom of God versus Pilate and the Roman Empire of which Caesar considered himself to be god.
The significance of Jesus’ life and death for us today is located in the fact that Jesus did not succumb to the temptation, to the taunts and jeers of his captors. Just as Satan had done to Jesus in his 40 days in the wilderness after his baptism in the 3 temptations: turning stones into bread to eat; jumping off the peak of the Temple and asking God’s angels to rescue him; and bowing down to Satan in exchange for immediate power and authority over all without dying on the cross. The tempter had returned - as the voices say: Rescue yourself from the cross; come down here and prove to us that you’re the Son of God; He saved others, but he can’t save himself.
The thing is, if Jesus had called on God to rescue him, we would have missed the greatest sign of God’s power over all, the Resurrection. In this one act, God shows ultimate power, taking on death and the grave, and showing that death does not have the final say, but that there is life in Christ after death. Why is this significant?
Because today as we are living through this coronavirus outbreak, we know and can trust that God is with us - in our homes, in the hospital wards, the ICU, in hospice, in the ER and in the morgue. God is in the prisons, and in all the places where hope is diminished, God brings light and life. WHY?
Because God is ALL IN. God doesn’t leave the scene when the going gets tough. God is ALL IN with us throughout the horrors of this pandemic - and God’s promise to be with us (Emmanuel) means God is with us to face whatever life throws our way - the loss of a spouse, of a parent, of a child, of a job, a home, a limb, one’s memory, whatever befalls us, God is with us in it. And when we think we can’t take another step or face another day, God is with us to be our companion, our strength, our whatever is needed in that moment to get us through. Think about Jesus, when he could barely carry himself to Golgotha let alone the heavy cross beam of his execution, Simon of Cyrene was pushed into service to help carry Jesus’ cross.
God is ALL IN and doesn’t bail when the going gets tough. Jesus knew the difficult road before him, the brutality of the soldiers and the mocking of the people, and instead of rescuing himself from that moment, Jesus trusted in God to see him through to the other side - to the resurrection and life in God’s glory.
Jesus is not afraid of the hard times; Jesus is not afraid of the pain of life; And that’s not to say that we’re supposed to behave in the same way as Jesus. Not at all. The point is, we don’t have to be the strong independent brave one facing every difficulty alone. Jesus is there for us to lean on, and Jesus has been through it before. And until Jesus returns to earth, he comes to us in the Body of Christ which is the church. and it is in that imperfect body that God works to provide what is needed at the right time.
The last point I’ll make is that God is ALL IN for each and every one of you. And the beauty is that, it is true whether we believe it or not - because, our belief doesn’t change who God is.
God is our creator and God loves who and what God has made. and while God may not like the choices and decisions we make in the way we treat one another (immigrants, poor people, prisoners, enemies), God is still ALL IN for us ALL.
AMEN