Palm Sunday

 

Mark 11:1-11; Isaiah 50:4-9; Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29; Philippians 2:5-11;  Mark 14:1-15:47

Palm Sunday is kind of like Holy Week packed into one day. Palm Sunday is when we begin the slow journey towards the cross that makes up the last week before Jesus is killed. We inch along with him. We listen to his teachings, and even imagine ourselves as part of the crowd that is leaning-in to hear him. …

It requires a certain kind of emotional strength to walk through these days. It is the kind of strength that is needed to walk into the hospital room of a friend who has been diagnosed with a terminal disease, and to actually talk about that diagnosis rather than change the subject and talk about the weather. It is the kind of strength needed to attend the funeral of someone you love. … Some people do almost anything they can to avoid that sadness. To them, Good Friday is “such a downer”. It is uncomfortable, so they don’t attend. … But tragedy and sadness are a part of life. We might be able to sanitize it in the modern world with our institutionalization of death, and pain medication, and distract ourselves from these realities with various forms of entertainment. However, to deny tragedy and sadness is to live in denial- it is to not really be present to life. It is to be shallow. … So, I encourage all of us to enter into Holy Week, to walk alongside Jesus, to imagine ourselves as disciples, and to not distract ourselves from the emotional intensity of it. To be “awake!”, as he encourages James, John, and Peter to be in the garden!

It’s doesn’t begin with sadness, though. It begins with celebration as Jesus enters Jerusalem. … all of us place our hope somewhere. We hold onto a person or event that will solve the problem. If we worry about the fragility of the creation, then we might place our hope in new technologies that will free us from fossil fuels. If we worry about national debt that threatens to bankrupt the economy, then we might place our hope in the election of a fiscally responsible government. Some who are single place all their hope on finding the right partner who will swoop in and fix all their problems. … The people of Israel had similar hopes in a Messiah who would come to save them- a great and faithful warrior king, who reflected the national memory of King David, who lived 1000 years earlier. He united the people and defeated their enemies. This Messiah would be a “son” of David. He would evoke that memory and live into that expectation.

It might be helpful to remind ourselves a bit about King David’s family. There was no small amount of drama regarding David’s sons. King David had many sons, and as he entered his final days as a frail old man, one of his sons conspired to steal the monarchy from his brother Solomon, whom it had been promised to (1 Chron 23:1; 29:22). Adonijah was a charismatic young man and had the support of important powerful people. He plans a private coronation alongside numerous powerful officials while his father is ill and in bed. Solomon’s mother, Bathsheba, and the prophet Nathan warn King David, who then sets a plan in motion before it is too late (1 Kings 1:28-37). The King arranges for a coronation for Solomon that will be official beyond any doubt. David also gives Solomon his royal donkey, and he is paraded from the east into the city as the true king, against the false leaders conspiring to steal the throne. The message is clear- This man, riding on a donkey is the true king. … When news gets out, the conspiracy dissolves- Adonijah is afraid and his supporters scatter.

Jesus retraces these steps, riding a donkey into Jerusalem from the east, and in that way declares himself to be another son of David. There are others in the city who claim to rule- Herod, Pontius Pilate, the Pharisees and Sadducees- but they are conspirators against the true king, just like Adonijah. The arrival of this son of David had been looked to by the prophets. Zechariah says, 

“Rejoice greatly, O daughter Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter Jerusalem! Lo, your king comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on a donkey…” (Zech 9:9).

 Ezekiel, too, mentions God’s presence arriving in Jerusalem from the east which will result in the creation of a new temple (Ez 43). Solomon built the original temple, and Jesus will judge this temple, symbolically destroying it, and building a new one in three days (in the form of his resurrected body).

The symbolism of Jesus’ arrival on the donkey is not lost on the crowds who have gathered for Passover. Remember that Passover is the festival when they remember God rescuing their ancestors from slavery in Egypt. … Many of them felt enslaved by the occupying Romans and yearned for freedom. … Now they see Jesus, this miracle worker, who some call the messiah, riding on a donkey, like David’s son Solomon. And they react with cheering. They cut leafy branches from the trees and placed them on the road along with their cloaks. And they cried out, “Hosanna!”, which is a Hebrew word we find in our Psalm today (118:25) that means “save”, “rescue”, or “saviour”. They also cry out saying, 

“Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David! Hosanna in the highest heaven!”

The crowds expected a messiah, but their expectations were about a warrior king who had God on his side and who re-established the sovereignty if the nation of Israel. God had much more in mind for the messiah. The mission of Jesus is spoken about by Paul in the letter to the Philippians. He speaks about Jesus 

“who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death-- even death on a cross” (Phil 2:6-8).

 … It is a mission hinted at in our reading from Isaiah as the mysterious ‘servant’ is described, 

“I gave my back to those who struck me, and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard; I did not hide my face from insult and spitting. The Lord God helps me; therefore I have not been disgraced; therefore I have set my face like flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame; he who vindicates me is near…” (Is 50:6-8).

 And we will see this described in more detail in Isaiah chapter 53. … It is a counterintuitive mission by human standards.

Quickly the shouts of “Hosanna!” turned to shouts of "crucify him". The waving palms become soldier’s spears. Instead of an earthly throne he is raised up on the cross. … As he takes on this hate and violence he gets closer and closer to the the real enemy. … But, I’m getting ahead of myself.

The expected messiah was of the line of King David and was expected to fulfill God’s promise of an unending heir to David’s throne (2 Sam 7:12-16). But, Jesus is not to take up the royal line and rule in the way David did. He may be the son of David, but he has none of the flaws of Solomon or Solomon’s father. He may be the Son of David, but he is also the Son of God, and His kingdom will have no end. The destiny of this king was not to bring unity and sovereignty to a nation, but to bring salvation to the world. … This is a different kind of king. Jesus came not to fit into our understanding of the world, but to free our understanding to see the world as it truly is.

In Jesus, God was willing to gently ride a donkey and ask for our acceptance, not command it. Jesus teaches us the depth of God’s love for us even by allowing us to reject him and crucify him. And even after all that, He will not give up on us. He used even our rejection of him, his own crucifixion, to show the unbelievable depth of his love for us, and his transforming power. … I hope you take the time to walk alongside him this Holy Week… AMEN