Week 6 of Lent - Palm Sunday
April 5, 2020 Palm Sunday Story
Deborah Laforet Mark 11:1-11, Matthew 21:1-11, Luke 19:28-40, John 12:12-19
“Optics”
Let us pray. Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable to you, O God, my rock and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14) Amen.
I have a confession to make. I am hyper aware of what others think of me. If any of you have done any work with the enneagram, which is a personality assessment tool, you’ll know what I mean when I say I am a One. Ones can be judgemental of others, but mostly they are highly judgemental and critical of themselves and worry about being perceived as a bad person or of being wrong. There are healthy and unhealthy spectrums to every number, and I hope that I am on the more healthy side, but that doesn’t mean that I am not always struggling with those critical and judging inner voices.
This is partly why it terrifies me to get in front of a crowd without being absolutely planned and rehearsed. I envy those people who can speak off the cuff, and sound articulate and profound while doing so. When I get in front of groups of people, large or small, I see all those eyes on me and know they are judging me and critiquing me. It’s why my actions are always very intentional, with lots of thought behind them, sometimes too much.
I’m guessing that many of us live this way, worried about how people think of us. I’ve seen a few posts on Facebook where people video-conferencing are half in pyjamas and half in their work clothes. The top half with professional clothing is how we want people to see us and the bottom half is for comfort and how we might dress all the time if we weren’t worried about what people would think. (I promise I have a pants on this morning, although if I were at home that might be different.) I have a friend on social media who was talking about how healthy her skin has been lately because she hasn’t had to put on make-up in weeks, an act she does to look good to the outside world.
Then there are those times when we present ourselves a certain way to make a point. I knew an older woman in Saskatchewan who intentionally decided not to colour her hair anymore. She wanted people to know that she was not ashamed of her grey and that getting older was natural and even wonderful and beautiful.
Then there are those acts of support and protest. The red ribbons worn during the AIDS crisis, pink knitted pussy caps worn when Trump was elected, rainbow clothing to support LGBTQIA+ and two-spirited people. How we present ourselves says a lot about who we are, how we think, and what we believe.
In our story that Kent so creatively shared with us today, we hear about Jesus and his very deliberate and intentional actions. In order for them to be understood though, we have to understand a bit about the politics of this time.
First of all, we’ve talked the past few weeks about the different places Jesus did his ministry. He did most of it in Galilee, going back and forth from Capernaum and visiting his birth town of Nazareth. We also followed him as he went north of Galilee into the Gentile region, and then south of Galilee into Judea, where, today, we follow him into Jerusalem. It’s important to understand, that every place he visited was ruled over by the Roman Empire. The Romans had conquered most of the known world at that time. Every nation, every city, every person, no matter their religion, their culture, or their beliefs, were expected to be loyal to Rome and its emperor.
We also know that the Israelite people bristled against this occupation. They rebelled many times. Roman soldiers had to be sent often into Palestine to put down these rebellions. These rebels, when captured, were often crucified and hung along the roadside as a deterrent against future uprisings. And these uprisings most often occurred around Passover. Passover is a Jewish holiday celebrating freedom and liberation. It was a time when Moses was remembered. People repeated this story of God’s calling to Moses to free the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. They remembered the awesome power of God against the mighty kingdom of Egypt and its Pharaoh. It was a story that stirred up memories of a time when the Israelites were free with their own governance, their own kings, their own land.
So, as Passover approached, Roman presence increased, with the hope that a large military presence would deter the people from rebelling. Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan, in their book, “The Last Week”, imagined the sights and sounds of that procession: “cavalry on horses, foot soldiers, leather armour, helmets, weapons, banners, golden eagles mounted on poles, sun glinting on metal and gold.” There would have been “the sounds of marching feet, the creaking of leather, the clinking of bridles, and the beating of drums.” They ask us to imagine “…the swirling dust… [and] the eyes of the silent onlookers, some curious, some awed, some resentful.” (pg 3)
Then, on the other end of town, we have Jesus, in a very different kind of procession, not on a mighty steed, but on a lowly donkey, not adorned with armour, but probably in the same clothes he’s worn for days on his travels, and not followed by soldiers and banners, but by poor fishermen, and a crowd of lowly people looking for healing, looking for forgiveness, looking for the salvation of a Messiah, someone who would, like Moses from long-ago, free them from the oppression of a powerful empire. “Hosanna!” they shouted. “Save us!”
Jesus’ entrance on a donkey was deliberate. As a Jewish man, who knew his scripture, he was making reference to a passage in the book of Zechariah, where it was prophesied:
Rejoice greatly, O daughter Zion!
Shout aloud, O daughter Jerusalem!
Lo, your ruler comes to you;
triumphant and victorious,
humble and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
The ruler will cut off the chariot from Ephraim
and the war-horse from Jerusalem;
and the battle bow shall be cut off,
and the ruler shall command peace to the nations… (Zechariah 9:9-10)
Jesus’ entrance from the east was in direct contradiction to the Roman imperial procession from the west, in contradiction to an empire that brought peace to the land through violence and subjugation. Jesus wanted to show that there was another way, that peace could be created through non-violent action, but this idea was foreign to most, and is still foreign to many today. Jesus lived in a world of violence; we live in a world of violence, a world where people who promote peace through non-violence are violently killed. The kingdom of God Jesus promoted was and is so radically beyond what most can imagine.
As Jesus came into Jerusalem that day, all eyes were on him, and he knew it. He planned his entrance very carefully, sending a message, a message that some interpreted as dangerous and would would ultimately lead to his death.
Here’s my question for you today, online viewers. It’s a two-part question. Some of us don’t like to stand out in a crowd and there are those few who do, but regardless, if we feel passionate enough, if we feel strongly enough about something, we will make ourselves seen and heard. What is your passion? What makes you stand up and be noticed? The second part: What do you do when you want to be seen, when you are trying to make a point or send a message? Is there an article of clothing you wear? Do you join a protest and hold up a sign? Do you petition the government? What is your passion and what would you do to make your voice heard or to make your point?
Friday was another Climate Action Day when people were supposed to gather to protest actions that are harmful to our earth and to support those actions that will heal our earth. I could have gone online and held up a poster or shared a post or two about climate change, but it just wasn’t the same. Last fall, I put on my clergy collar and help up a sign in front of the Burlington City Hall. I didn’t feel foolish. It felt right. I wasn’t worried that all eyes were on me. I didn’t worry about being judged.
There are times when we have to set aside our own insecurities to stand up for what we believe. Like anyone else, I’m sure Jesus had insecurities, but he rode on that donkey down the streets of Jerusalem, knowing he was making a statement that might get him killed. As we journey this week toward the cross, remember the sacrifice made to make a better world, to bring forth a kingdom of God filled with justice and peace. May we walk alongside Jesus, even after waving our palms, after the parade is over, when the tide begins to turn against him. May God wrap protective arms around us, may Christ’s light guide our way, and may the Spirit keep us strong. May it be so. Amen.