PALM/PASSION SUNDAY, YEAR A
SERMON (S) PREACHED AT CHRIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, NORWAY, MAINE
THE REV. ANNE G. STANLEY
16 MARCH 2008
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Liturgy of the Palms
Jesus is now nearing the end of his earthly ministry. For almost three years now, since his baptism, he has been wandering the area, preaching, teaching, healing, proclaiming the coming realm of God.
Today he draws near to Jerusalem, the city of Peace. This beloved city is a city in turmoil: ruled by foreign occupiers, the Romans, with Jewish religious oppressors in cahoots with the Romans. Poverty, struggle, a city filled with people yearning to be free, yearning to be free from the principalities and powers in charge of their miserable lives.
Here comes Jesus, the one whose reputation has preceded him. The one we’ve been waiting for, think the people. Our liberator. Perhaps even sent by God to set us free. Our king! Our anointed one, the Messiah. Halleuiah!! And Hosanna---which we know means “save us!” And “Jesus” we know means “he who saves.”
So the people, with Jesus’ help, set about reenacting a scene from the old scriptures, from the prophet Zechariah, his depiction of the king returning to save the people. There’s a donkey in Zechariah’s story, and a colt, the foal of a donkey. And the king comes to save the people from, back then, the Assyrians. Today it’s the Romans. Hosanna! Save us!
So Jesus and the people set up a parade, just like in the old prophet’s story. And the people scoop up branches and spread them on the ground as a welcome mat and they wave them and sing and the children join in with instruments. A joyful noise! Here comes our mighty king!
It’s a little weird, a godly king riding on a donkey. Riding on a donkey AND a baby donkey. But there we are. Here he comes to save us! Hosanna!
The only trouble is, the people don’t realize that this king must first die. In fact, who would ever want a king who would end up dying, even if it meant he would save them? No, this king would be a hero the easy way. He’d be as powerful as the Romans, only he’d be a “good” king. End of story! So off we go. Hosanna!
Liturgy of the Passion
We arrived in the city with Jesus. He has taken a few days to tend to some of God’s business. You can check your Bible for what he did there during those days: he cleansed the temple, he cursed a fig tree, he told some parables and answered some questions. But then, things started to get really rough. Jesus’ terrible final days were upon him. He was put to the test and, by daring to do the right thing, he suffered the consequences. Turning a nation’s power grid onto its head always has consequences. Cleansing a country’s institutions and values always creates turmoil and trouble. I have just this very week witnessed many people rising up, standing up, speaking up, to realign unjust structures and policies: from the people who packed the State House to protest the proposed budget cuts which shatter the poorest of the poor in Maine to the group who stood in the cold for an hour with homemade signs in South Paris’ Moore Park on Saturday to witness to the frightful, ongoing war in Iraq. Sometimes those actions bear fruit. Sometimes they merely end in failure.
All by himself Jesus suffered the consequences of his faithful actions. To those who looked on, it seemed like a total failure. The people, who had so recently claimed Jesus as their king and savior by parading joyfully with him in triumph, now turned against him. He wasn’t the king they’d expected. “Crucify him, crucify him,” some shouted. Others simply crept away.
Today we will hear the story of the betrayal of Jesus by children of God. As you listen and participate in this Passion story, remember this: that Jesus was with the people as they misunderstood him during the parade into the city and Jesus was with them when they betrayed him. Just so, Jesus is with us still, when we fail to understand him AND when we betray him by what we do and don’t do.
Thanks be to God.