Two Rivers Pastoral Charge
April 10, 2022 – Palm Sunday
Scripture: Luke 19:28-40
I have to confess that this whole pandemic has done funny things to how I view the world. I was watching a movie this week – and to be clear, it was a movie both set and filmed before the Covid-19 pandemic – and there was a scene at a rock concert. A stadium packed with people, shoulder to shoulder, and not a mask in sight. Everyone singing along with the musicians, and body-surfing over the crowd. And after two years of physical distancing and masks, it made me slightly uncomfortable to watch, even though with my head I know that all of this was normal before March 2020.
But I also know that even before March 2020, not everyone was comfortable in a big crowd like that. I know for me, personally, I’m not a fan of crowds. Being at a parade or in a crowded room or somewhere like a fair or a concert – it’s not my favourite place to be. It must be the introvert in me. I get easily overwhelmed by the noise and all the people and the noise.
And so I can only imagine what it must have been like as Jesus and his disciples entered Jerusalem that day. There were crowds of people all around. Luke doesn’t mention palm branches, but instead says that the crowd was throwing their cloaks on the ground in front of Jesus, riding on his colt. They are shouting – the noise must have been overwhelming.
Jesus is riding a colt that had never been ridden before – this would be the opposite of a trained warhorse – I heard someone suggest that it was probably more along the lines of a rodeo bronc, trying to shake this unaccustomed rider off it’s back. So this isn’t a slow and stately procession into the city – there’s an element of wildness and unpredictability.
And behind this wildness, there is also an air of tension. Jerusalem, at that time, was a city under occupation. The Roman Empire was in charge, and they were enforcing their rule through fear and violence. There were constant rumblings of dissent and revolution, and everyone was likely a bit on edge even before this parade made its way into town.
And Jesus – he himself had caught the attention of the authorities, for proclaiming a new way of being in the world, for showing an alternate reality to the reality in front of the people. A way of peace and love and the end of oppression. But of course the end of oppression would require an end to the occupation, and those in charge didn’t want that to happen.
By the time Luke wrote down the events of this day, 50 years later, give-or-take, the people of Jerusalem had revolted against Rome, and the city, including the temple had been destroyed.
And so I honestly don’t know how I would have felt, if I had been a part of that first Palm Sunday parade. I don’t think that I would have been 100% joyful and relaxed. I suspect that I might have felt a bit on edge (or maybe a lot on edge), and yet I might also have felt compelled to be there to witness the theatre of it all, complete with a rodeo colt and people paving the way with their cloaks.
And my mind keeps coming back to the crowds – all those people escorting Jesus into Jerusalem that day. One person does not a crowd make. Here we have a multitude of people coming together, spreading their cloaks on the road and shouting praises to Jesus. And Jesus says that even if the people were silent, the very stones would cry out. All of creation is part of the crowd that is singing God’s praise as the parade makes its way into Jerusalem. This crowd extends to include everything that we can see and everything that we can’t see. When we join our voices together to sing God’s praise, the whole community of creation is singing with us.
And that is true for everything that we do as a church. This Lent we’ve been talking about gardening – looking at what seeds we want to plant in our lives, looking at what we need to do to nurture these seeds along, asking if there is any pruning or weeding that we need to do in our lives so that these seeds can flourish. And eventually it comes time to harvest.
And when we all harvest the seeds that we have been nurturing, just think of the impact we could make in the world. We nurture our souls for the benefit that it brings to us – for the peace and the joy and the love we can experience – but we also nurture our souls so that we are able to then love and serve the world.
And if the whole church – not just us but the universal church of every time and every place – if the whole church was able to do this, can you imagine what the world would be like? Can you imagine a world where Jesus’s message of loving one another, neighbour and enemy alike, was a reality? Can you imagine a world where oppression is no more, and where everyone is focused on building one another up rather than pulling each other down? Can you imagine a world where the Prince of Peace reigns in everyone’s heart, and also in every relationship, big and small?
This is the new way of being that we are cheering on as we accompany Jesus into Jerusalem today. This is the vision for the world that compels us to be a part of this crowd, despite the tension and the danger. This is the new way of being that we, the crowd, accompanied by all of creation are called to usher into being. This is why the Holy Spirit is planting these seeds in our lives and nurturing them to the harvest – so that we can share the fruit that our souls can produce to feed the world.
Lent can be an inward-looking season, but in the end, we aren’t the only ones to reap the benefit of this season. For the fruit that the Holy Spirit produces in all of us – the fruit of generosity, of love, of peace, of kindness, or joy – all of this fruit is given to us so that we can share with the world!
And so as we join this Palm Sunday Parade… as we begin this journey of Holy Week where the tensions will escalate until we reach the cross… let us hold fast to this vision of a world transformed – a world transformed not just for you and for me but for all of creation. And let us trust that the Holy Spirit who has called us to join in this parade today is working in us and in the world so that this vision will become the new reality. Thanks be to God! Amen.
“Palm Sunday: Even the Stones”
by Cara B. Hochhalter
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