Sermon 3/28/21 - Palm Sunday
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Palm Sunday Sermon 2021
Theme: Community of Christ
Scriptures: Ephesians 4:1-16, Mark 11:1-11
Ephesians 4:1-16 (Body of Christ)
I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.
But each of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore it is said,
‘When he ascended on high he made captivity itself a captive;
he gave gifts to his people.’
(When it says, ‘He ascended’, what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is the same one who ascended far above all the heavens, so that he might fill all things.) The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ. We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people’s trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming. But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and knitted together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body’s growth in building itself up in love.
Community of Christ
Mark 11:1-11 (Triumphal entry)
When they were approaching Jerusalem, at Bethphage and Bethany, near the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples and said to them, “Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately as you enter it, you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden; untie it and bring it. If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ just say this, ‘The Lord needs it and will send it back here immediately.’” They went away and found a colt tied near a door, outside in the street. As they were untying it, some of the bystanders said to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?” They told them what Jesus had said; and they allowed them to take it. Then they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it; and he sat on it. Many people spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut in the fields. Then those who went ahead and those who followed were shouting,
“Hosanna!
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!”
Then he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple; and when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve.
It was the festival of the Passover and the streets of Jerusalem were packed with people. A steady stream of travellers poured through the gates of the city. Along the narrow lanes people hurried from place to place making preparations to celebrate the Passover meal at sundown. There was energy and excitement in the air. But this year the energy was different, overshadowing the frenetic preparations was an atmosphere of joyful celebration as crowds gathered and lined the streets to welcome Jesus. For three years this carpenter’s son from Nazareth had been travelling the countryside drawing crowds everywhere he went.
A community had formed up around him. An unusual mix of followers from all walks of life: ordinary fisherman, dubious tax collectors, the physically sick and mentally tortured, those with checkered pasts, those ostracized from society and forced to the margins. Men, women and children, single people and families. A beautiful, imperfect, joyful, fearful, hurting, loving ragtag community.
What was it about Jesus that made the crowds want to follow him? What did they see in him that caused them to shout “Hosanna” in the streets? To gather before him and behind him and lay their cloaks on the ground and grab branches from the fields to line his path as if he was their King?
Was it because they witnessed his signs of healing?
Was it because they had listened to him teach and felt their hearts stirred, amazed at the truth that was wiser than even the religious authorities?
Was it because they knew Jesus was a leader who cared not only for their spiritual needs for their physical needs as well providing the crowds with loaves of bread and fishes?
Was it because they had been baptized by John and experienced the freedom and new life that comes from true repentance and forgiveness and committing your life to God?
What they saw was a leader, not just any leader, the leader they had been waiting for, the Messiah, the descendent of King David who God had promised to send to be their deliverer.
‘Hosanna! - Save us!
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!
This community had formed with Jesus at the center and they were expecting him to become their leader and establish a new kingdom. But this made the authorities nervous - both the Religious leaders and the rulers of the State - they feared losing their power and authority in the religious sphere, in the social sphere and in the political sphere. They wanted Jesus out of the picture because he was a threat to their power.
What were they afraid of?
Jesus did not have a military or stockpile of weapons.
He didn’t even have a donkey of his own, much less an impressive war horse or fancy carriage accompanied by a powerful entourage. He had to get a loaner donkey, not even full grown.
His followers were hardly threatening - the old, the sick, children, the rejected.
But the community around Jesus seemed to keep growing and growing. And the enthusiasm of the crowds kept increasing. In Jesus they experienced a presence so powerful, a message so compelling and a love so complete that they eagerly followed with great joy and expectation. Followed him from the countryside all the way to Jerusalem shouting “Hosanna!” “Save us!”
Only things didn’t turn out as anyone expected. By the end of the week the Crowds had deserted and in some cases even turned against him. How do we make sense of this dramatic turn of events from the perspective of community?
Was the community a “false community”? Was their praise not sincere? Were they shouting praise for the Messiah they wanted Jesus to be? Or the Messiah that Jesus actually was? Was their desire to elevate Jesus to a position of power motivated by their frustration with the current rulers? Was it not so much a vote FOR the kingdom of God but more so a vote AGAINST those currently in power in the state and the church? (Desire for violent overthrow of Rome’s occupational forces. Feasting On The Word, p. 155) Surely there must have been some in the crowd who had been healed and were genuinely grateful, some who had heard him teach and felt their hearts moved, some who received forgiveness and were joyful over their newfound life of freedom
Maybe it was all of the above. Maybe it was both/and. Yes the people were sincere in their praise, they were drawn to this leader who was like no one before him - full of grace and truth. Yes they wanted Jesus to be the type of leader they envisioned. Yes they were disillusioned when the King they wanted wasn’t the King they got. What began as a week of joy and hopeful expectation ended in confusion, anger, fear and sorrow. Jesus did not turn out to be the successful Leader they envisioned and the community became disillusioned.
But the Messiah was never meant to rule as King the way they envisioned. There were lots of clues for those who had eyes to see and ears to hear:
Messianic prophecies Zechariah 9:9
Look, your king will come to you.
He is righteous and victorious.
He is humble and riding on an ass,
on a colt, the offspring of a donkey.
If ever there was an “Anti-triumphalist” triumphant entry this was it. Clue number one that this Jesus was no typical King - he was humble (in both senses of the word - of lowly estate and full of humility
There was another clue that the Messiah’s path to becoming Ruler was not going to look anything like success. Granted this was known only to his inner circle of followers, his disciple. Before Jesus went up to Jerusalem, he explained to his disciples that . . .
the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. - Mark 8:31
Luke 13:33; Matthew 16:21; Matthew 17:22; Mark 8:31
When Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem was followed by an arrest, trial and execution - the community was understandably confused, upset and even angry that their promised Messiah was not exerting the kind of power they thought he should. The events of that week were not what they expected.
Holy Week - Calls into question all of our assumptions. As we meditate on the events of this week we too are asked to reexamine who exactly is this Jesus we say we follow?
There are a multitude of ways to approach Holy Week. This year I want to invite you to meditate with me on this question:
What does it mean to shape our community according to the life, death and resurrection of Jesus?
Oftentimes Christianity gets boiled down to a message of personal salvation. Jesus came to pay the price for my sins so that when I die I can go to heaven. While coming to see Jesus as our ultimate source of forgiveness and hope and life is personally transformative - that is only the beginning - there is so much more to the story. Jesus came to transform not just our individual lives, but our communities and our entire world - not just for the sake of the hereafter but for the here and now.
In our second scripture reading of Paul’s message to the church at Ephesus, Paul tries to explain to his fellow Jesus followers how their community is to function. The community has one calling - the way of love.
But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and knitted together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body’s growth in building itself up in love. - Ephesians 4:15
What is radical about the kingdom Jesus came to build, is that it cannot be built through the power of one righteous ruler, or the power of a mighty army - it can only be built by all of us growing into the full grace of Jesus Christ. By living in Christ and through Christ we learn each day how to die to self and live to God. We learn how to use the gifts we have been given to spread mercy and compassion. To not only resist the forces of this world that feed off of hatred, violence, oppression and dehumanization - but to transform them through the power given to us in Christ.
The way of Jesus is the way of love. Love transforms everything. Love even transformed the cross. What was intended to be an instrument of violence shame, and oppression whose whole purpose was to destroy was transformed into an instrument of healing, beauty and even joy whose whole purpose is to build up love.
This is what was so unexpected, inconceivable about God’s chosen King and Messiah. The one who had all power and dominion and authority. In the hour of his greatest need, rather than use his power to destroy those intent on destroying him - he gave it all away. For the sake of love he
chose to die rather than dominate.
The whole point was not for the Messiah to take up his throne and rule over us, but to completely transform the way we understand power and authority, success and dominion. The kingdom Christ came to build is the kingdom of God’s love - and the only way to successfully build that kingdom through the power of love. It was the only way Jesus could teach us how to learn to love one another. By showing us that no force is stronger than the power of God’s love - it can defeat even death.
I’d like to leave you with one final word of encouragement:
Brother Nicholas Bartoli (9/11/2016 Sermon “A Wonderful Story”)
The way of Jesus means taking each passing moment as an opportunity for surrender to God’s Love. For the sake of Christ we become the transformation we seek, sharing peace and joy in our communities, and inspiring the world to a new story, the story of God’s beautiful kingdom.
This week I invite you to set aside time for worship and quiet reflection on the events of this Holy Week: the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. We are called not to commemorate these events in the life of Jesus but to enter into them. To come to the encounter with the desire to be transformed. I like the way the monk Br. Geoffrey compares Holy Week to Niagara Falls and encourages people to find one small stream where we can fill our cup, rather than trying to drink in the whole experience.
What do you thirst for - especially this year?
A deeper sense of community and connection?
A clearer sense of purpose?
A return to joy?
A deeper sense of being completely loved and forgiven?
A stronger hope that the power of God’s love truly has the power to overcome all of the forces of death in our world?
The transformation of our communities begins with the transformation of our own spirits.
Come eager to listen, to learn, to be transformed. Amen.