Sermon April 5, 2009

Palm Sunday

Today is a schizophrenic day - both Passion Sunday and Palm Sunday: the former remembering Jesus' Passus", his suffering, echoed in the just concluded dramatic reading; the latter remembering his entry into Jerusalem. I want to invite you to set aside the former, re-entering that remembrance by coming to the services of the Triduum: Maundy Thursday through the Celebration of Resurrection; and today embrace the latter: Palm Sunday.

So here we are: Palm Sunday; a day of great drama, where Jesus' actions were much more important, and much more powerful, than any words he could have spoken.

Let's being by considering his audience - a specific group. How do we know? Because of where Jesus was staying during Holy Week. St. Mark records every day of that week, and Mark tells us where Jesus - along with the Twelve were staying - it's pretty easy to figure out: think of what happens when the Superbowl comes to town: hotel prices quadruple - or more. Same thing for the Passover Festival in Jerusalem. So the poorer pilgrims would stay outside Jerusalem - in rented caves, or with friends or relatives.

Jesus and the Twelve were staying in Bethany, with Martha and Mary and Lazarus. Every day except Thursday. Every day they would walk the approximately two miles into Jerusalem ......every day they would go into the Holy City with all the other pilgrims who couldn't afford to spend the nights inside the walls.

And the numbers coming in were astonishing. The normal population of Jerusalem was probably about 35,000. At Passover as many as 100,000 pilgrims were added to that number.

Each day of this week, therefore, Jesus is entering Jerusalem with many thousands of other pilgrims; with his constituency: those who had no money to afford reasonable lodging, namely the poor.

To get to Jerusalem from Bethany, which is east of the city, you climb to the ridge that the gospels call the "Mount of Olives" - a place that, in the First Century, was covered in olive groves. From that ridge you can look across the Kidron valley to Jerusalem. And from there you drop down to cross that valley, where, the Jew's believed, the general resurrection would begin. So the Kidron Valley was the biggest cemetery in Israel. Journeying back and forth every day through a cemetery must have brought the reality of death very close to Jesus - it helps explain why he had a breakdown late Thursday evening and begged for release from his task.

But not this day. Not this moment. Not on his first trip for this festival into the City of the Home of Peace - which is what the Hebrew word "Yer-u-sulam-a" means.

It's easy to imagine tens of thousands of pilgrims, all walking in the same direction, pouring over that hilltop like a wave - not only down the only narrow road from the North and East but also walking among the olive groves either side of it toward the Temple.

And then comes the high drama - the planned theater. On that day everyone knew who would be entering the City of the Home of Peace through the main Western gate - Pilate on his war-horse in full battle armor followed by a full battalion of soldiers and mounted infantry, also in full battle armor. Pilate, bringing the Roman theology of peace through war and victory. No doubt the wealthy and well-connected lined that road to greet them.

So Jesus decides to challenge Rome - to offer an alternate metaphor. He rides in from the other side of the city, from the East, on an ass - echoing Solomon's choice of a mount when he first toured his domain. Solomon came on an ass to Jerusalem, not a war horse. Hence his name - Solomon. Think of these words: Salam. Shalom. The root of the name "Solomon" is "shalom": King Peaceful.

And so the poor traveled beside Jesus and lined his root, in contrast to the rich welcoming the oppressor Romans. These poor pilgrims must have known that Jesus was coming - perhaps they saw the ass with him on it, maybe one of the Twelve had put the word around. In either case they immediately understood the symbolism.

And they responded with symbolism of their own - they looked around for any palm trees they could find and ripped off the branches and threw them in his path.

I think it will come as no surprise to you to know that these palm branches symbolized something really important!

In the Torah palm trees were symbols of God's promise of a land of milk and honey, they had become a symbol for Israel. Lining Jesus' path with palm branches would be like lining the streets with the Stars and Stripes on July Fourth for a presidential visit - a double celebration of national identity and of the coming of one representing the people.

Also in the Torah palm branches were used at God's command to create the booths for the Festival of Booths, to commemorate freedom from slavery, to commemorate God's saving of the Israelites.

And lastly, there's the cry: "Hosanna!" "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord". "Hosanna" was a liturgical word sung every morning during the Festival of Booths - so you can see why the crowd would have cried that word while holding palm branches - it was the word linked to the palm booths of the festival. It doesn't mean what you think it means. It doesn't mean "Hooray". It means "save us"....save us from the Romans like God saved us from the Egyptians."

Here's the contrast: Palm branches vs. Laurel wreaths. And a long-held hope for freedom from oppression.

The palms were a direct challenge the Roman victory wreaths: peace through non-violence, opposed peace through war.

The words and the actions were a direct religious challenge to Roman oppression.

It's pretty safe to say that there were no Roman soldiers present at that moment to arrest Jesus - they were with Pilate on the other side of the city. But you can see why they surely would have arrested him: because the symbolism wouldn't have escaped them either. Undoubtedly the word got back to them. And that 'word'? From their perspective? Sedition! With the possibility of revolt!

Do you see, now, how the table is being set for what is to come this week? There will be a sort of hide-and-seek, where Jesus appears in the Temple precincts to teach then disappears into the crowd. The Romans will look for him to arrest him, but they won't be able to find him until he decides it is time.

So this is Palm Sunday.

• Today we remember the second ride of a "King Peaceful" into the City of the Home of Peace.
• Today we carry the branches of palm - signs of hope for the ultimate and peaceful victory of God's grace.
• Today we cry "Hosanna!"...God save us from those who proclaim that peace is only possible through war in which the poor always lose.
• Today we march beside Jesus.

The only question for us is this. Will we continue to walk with him - in spite of the cost - tomorrow?

And the next day......

And the next day.....