Palm Sunday - March 28, 2021
Deborah Laforet Luke 19:29-48
The Heart of Danger
For the past year, through this COVID-19 pandemic, many of have lived with this cloud over our heads. I can remember the early days when we really had no idea how this virus could be spread. Grocery stores ran out of toilet paper. We worried about touching our groceries, the mail, and we knew that person to person contact was a danger but we weren’t quite sure about the science around masks. Trips were cancelled, schools were closed, people worked from home, borders were shut, and everyone was scared. Throughout the year, we saw resistance movements, divisive elections, threats to strong global powers, mental health crises, increase in unemployment and homelessness and domestic abuse, and of course, illness and death from this virulent virus and its variants. And recently, with the hate crime in Atlanta leaving eight people dead and then another shooting in Boulder, Colorado killing ten people, one begins to hold their breath, cross their fingers, and pray every day that something bad doesn’t happen.
It makes the celebrations that much more precious. We make events extra special, like birthdays, graduations, births, and retirements. These special events though can still feel bittersweet. We feel the love; we feel the joy; we even feel the hope, but we know the next day may bring more bad news.
I receive a regular blog from Cameron Trimble, a minister from the states. Last week, she wrote,
Last night, we sheltered in place under a tornado warning. Gratefully, the tornadoes never came and all was fine. In texting with a friend about the experience, she said, “It seems we prepare for a lot of tornadoes these days. It’s a wonder any of us find peace or rest at all.”
She was speaking quite literally. Climate change is creating more frequent and more powerful storms that race through our part of the country. I, though, heard a second lesson in her observation. You and I have learned to live under the threat of constant devastating disruption in our lives, doing what we can to not be blown away.
Feel familiar?
Whenever I read the story of Jesus riding into Jerusalem, I kind of wonder what he must have been feeling. Jesus knows the threat of his ministry. Throughout Rome’s occupation of Israel, there had been many violent rebellions, put down forcefully by Roman soldiers. People were arrested, killed in battle, and sometimes crucified. Jesus was a one-time follower of John the Baptist who was executed for speaking out against the government. Jesus arrives in Jerusalem after three years of teaching, healing, and peaceful resisting, and his entrance is not subtle. A great crowd of disciples, those who had heard of his ministry in the countryside, greet him into Jerusalem with a parade, waving palm branches, and shouting, “Hosanna!” Hosanna means “Save us” or “Help Us.” Authorities might have heard this as another violent rebellion in the making.
We’re going to sing a hymn next which has become one of my favourite Palm Sunday hymns. It’s called Ride On and it’s written by John Bell. In the second verse, he writes, “Ride on, ride on, your critics wait, intrigue and rumour circulate; new lies abound in word and jest, and truth becomes a suspect guest.” It’s a song that hints at what’s coming and the danger that surrounds this moment, coming into Jerusalem.
We always start this Sunday with rejoicing, waving palms, and re-telling this story of Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem, but, for me, it also holds a tone of foreboding, of impending doom, knowing that Good Friday, and the crucifixion of Jesus is on the horizon.
Whether you believe that Jesus has foreknowledge of his death, or whether you believe he knew the consequences of his ministry, Jesus would have known that this loud entrance into Jerusalem was dangerous. Was he nonchalant about it because it was all part of the plan? Was he anxious about what would happen next? Would he be arrested right then and there or would they trap him later? Was he afraid of what might happen to him or even to his followers?
Following this entrance, Jesus enters the temple. In fact, each day, after this entrance into Jerusalem, he goes to the temple, the centre of economics, politics, and spiritual, social, and cultural life. One day he throws tables and throws out vendors, and other days he sits and tells stories and shares wisdom. Every day though, he must have wondered, is today the day?
I hold great admiration for Jesus when I read this story. The bravery and resilience needed to get up every day, and go back into the heart of danger, makes me know he believed in what he was doing and how important it was to do.
I think it’s what keeps us all going. As a species, we are strong and resilient. There are days when we don’t feel like getting out of bed, when we don’t want to work or talk to family and friends, when we feel anxious about what the day will bring, but we do get out of bed. Some of us do better with a little support from family and friends, or doctors, but we get up. We live another day. It helps if we have purpose. Sometimes, we get up and make a phone call to our lonely neighbour, make a casserole for someone who lost a loved one, care for someone who is sick or dying, support a friend through their tears, plant a garden, stand up to injustice, share love with those we love, we share love with those we don’t. We live our life with purpose, making a difference, one person at a time.
As we go from day to day, good day to bad day, celebration to sorrow, joy to grief, from Palm Sunday to Good Friday, we remember that Easter always follows Holy Week, that Easter follows Good Friday. This might not mean parades and parties but it’ll mean new life, new beginnings, transformation, glimpses of hope but more on that next Sunday.
We are a strong and resilient people. You are strong and resilient. And you are not alone. And when I say that, I mean that in three ways. First, what you’re feeling, what you’re experiencing, has been felt and experienced by others. No one has your unique experience, but there are always those who can relate and help you feel that you are not the only one going through this, especially this year, when we all experience a world wide pandemic. Second, along with your family and friends, you have a faith community that is here to support you and walk with you. That is one of the amazing parts of being in a church community; You have this alternate family to whom you can reach out. Third, you are held always in the loving arms of our Creator, wrapped in the divine love that surrounds us and fill us, everywhere and always. So, from our Palm Sundays, to our Good Friday, and to our Easter Sundays, we are never alone. Thanks be to God. Amen.