Jesus and his followers turn their ministry toward Jerusalem. They are going to celebrate Passover at the Temple. Jesus is probably the only one who knows what is going to happen in Jerusalem at this Passover. If he does not know the outcome, perhaps he is the only person who knows that something significant, something life changing is going to happen.
We can picture in our mind’s eye what Jerusalem looked like then. If we have not been to Jerusalem, then we have seen enough images on television to know that it probably does not look too much different now than it did two thousand years ago. For Passover, we know there are thousands of people crowding the streets and passageways throughout the old city. They throng into the huge Temple to fulfill the holy, religious, obligations of Passover.
As Jesus and his followers get close to the city, he asks two of them to go get a colt and bring it to him. He knows what he is going to do. When they return, they throw their robes over the back of the colt and Jesus gets on it. They begin to make their way into the city, toward the Temple. It becomes a processional with the crowd throwing clothes are greenery down in front of Jesus. It becomes a processional not unlike a processional for royalty. Not unlike the processionals which once celebrated the great kings of Israel and Judah.
Historians tell us how nervous the Romans were whenever the Jews came en masse to celebrate a major holiday. It was customary to send to Jerusalem from Caesarea extra garrisons of soldiers. It was necessary, to keep the peace; there had been, over the years, countless uprisings and rebellions during these religious holidays.
This year, this Passover, Jesus was coming to the Temple. There are so many things we do not know about his story. How many people were with him? How many people in Jerusalem knew of him? How many people took part in his processional? How much of a threat to the status quo could this rebellious peasant from Nazareth be? Did the events take place as he surmised or was Jesus taken by surprise?
One thing, I am sure, Jesus knew that week before Passover; there was no turning back. Once he sat on that colt and the crowd laid their clothes and the green plants before him, destiny awaited.
Who were the people acting out this drama of the revolutionary peasant from Nazareth?
There were Jesus’ disciples, his followers, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the Roman authorities. My source for much of this description of the Pharisees and the Sadducees is John Meir, author of the three-volume series titled A Marginal Jew.
Meir tells us the Pharisees were “a Jewish group with both political and religious interests…” They were known for their “pursuit of purity.” Their concerns were moral concerns. That is they were predominantly concerned about interpreting and living Mosaic Law in exactly the right way. They also debated and lived by the tradition of “oral laws” passed down as the faith of their fathers. Their worship centered on the Law and the temple.
They believed that Jews had the responsibility to live by the Law and by so doing were in a covenantal relationship with God. Their political interests were pursued to ensure their freedom to live and worship their religion.
It is no wonder that in the Gospel stories it is the Pharisees who question Jesus’ knowledge of the law?
They believed in an apocalyptic event that would usher in a time when God exercised authority over the human story. They believed God would give them a messiah that would establish a kingdom of righteousness and peace on earth. And one more significant characteristic of the Pharisees, they believed in a bodily resurrection for all the righteous dead.
The Sadducees were the wealthy aristocratic Jews. Some of whom were high priests. They were involved in public affairs, public worship, and politics. Meir wrote that at the time of Jesus, the Sadducees would have been very concerned about keeping the balance of power between the Roman rulers and the Sanhedrin as stable as possible. The Sanhedrin was the governing body in Jerusalem that saw to all matters of law, taxes, politics, and religion. It is believed that only the Sadducees were members of the Sanhedrin. They did not believe God intervened in human affairs. They believed human beings had the power to influence history and that humans were capable of choosing between good and evil.
The Sadducees did not believe in an afterlife other than Sheol. The meaning of Sheol is debated by scholars today. It can be the grave, and only the grave, or the grave connected to an otherworld, it could be a place where the righteous and the wicked reside after death, or just the righteous. It could be a place of inquiry, accountability, and/or punishment. There is no agreement among scholars on how the Jews of the first century viewed Sheol. And last, the Sadducees did not believe in a bodily resurrection.
The Pharisees and the Sadducees had very different beliefs concerning life, religion, and death. Both had a part to play in the drama unfolding with Jesus’ processional into Jerusalem.
We stop here and ask the question, if we were there, where would we be when Jesus rode the colt into Jerusalem? Of course, we cannot answer that question, legitimately, but there are other questions we can ask ourselves, other considerations.
On that day, would we more likely be followers of Jesus?
Or would we be inclined to be like the Pharisees, involved with the morals of the issues rather than the morality of our behavior?
Or, are we so invested in the status quo, that we, like the Sadducees, see Jesus as a threat to our way of life?
If Jesus were processing to the Mall this morning to preach, would we lay down our palms before him, or would we hang about the corners watching, waiting for him to issue his own death warrant.
What kind of life would we have to live today to say we are following Jesus’ teachings?
Are the martyred priests and nuns of Central and Latin America the only ones today who can lay claim to a life lived in Jesus? Are the monks in Asia, Burma for example, living Jesus’ teaching when they burn themselves to death in protest of an oppressive and tyrannical regime?
Do we need to believe in liberation theology before we can claim Jesus?
What does it look like for us to follow Jesus?
Every day I ask myself these questions. For many reasons.
I love Jesus; have since I was a little girl.
I ask myself these questions because…
I have answered a call to try to make a difference in this world, and I wonder if I able to do that.
… because you have called me to lead and to serve you, and I want to do that grounded in Jesus’ teachings.
I ask myself these questions because … I see pain and suffering every day, and I want to help alleviate that pain and suffering, not just for the individuals, but systemically.
Every day I ask myself these questions, and every day I fall short of what I believe God would have me be. Except that I think, who am I to assume I know, for sure, what God wants.
How often do you ask yourself “What does it look like for me to follow Jesus today?”
Would you do something for me please? Pick up the palms the children gave us this morning. We have palms in our hands.
A symbol of praise, praise for God who loves us, praise for Jesus who gave so much for us,
A symbol of gratitude, gratitude for the life God gives us, gratitude for the ministry Jesus offers us,
A symbol of love, love for God, love for each other, love which transcends the self to selflessness
Palms on Palm Sunday, to lay down, not before the revolutionary peasant going in to Jerusalem, but to lay down before Jesus’ words and ministry which has been passed on to us.
Now, I would ask you to stand and walk to the center aisle of the church and lay down your palm on the red carpet, then return to your seat.
Each of us is called to make a difference—somehow, someway, someday. Each of us has a palm to lay down to our calling, and it is different for each one of us. Are we Pharisees, or Sadduceeans, or are we followers?
As we sing our recessional hymn, I’d like for us to make it a processional, and everyone stand, leave your seat by way of the outside aisle, walk around, up here to the chancel, and then process down the center aisle. As we do, we will walk on the palms we laid down to our calling, may we walk on the palms with a renewed commitment to follow Jesus’ words and ministry, Jesus our Christ.
Blessed be and amen.
Opening Words
By Maria Hoshaw
It is right to praise you, Almighty God, for the acts of love by which you have redeemed us through your Son Jesus Christ our Lord. On this day Jesus entered the holy city of Jerusalem in triumph, and was proclaimed as King of kings by those who spread their garments and branches of palm along his way. Help us remember the palm branches as signs of his victory, to hail him as our king, and to follow him.
Reading I
Words from POPE BENEDICT XVI
In the Palm Sunday procession we join with the crowd of disciples who in festive joy accompany the Lord during his entry into Jerusalem. Like them, we praise the Lord with a loud voice for all the miracles we have seen. Yes, we too have seen and still see today the wonders of Christ: how he brings men and women to renounce the comforts of their lives and devote themselves totally to the service of the suffering; how he gives men and women the courage to oppose violence and deceit, to make room for truth in the world; how, in secret, he persuades men and women to do good to others, to bring about reconciliation where there had been hatred and to create peace where enmity had reigned.
The procession is first and foremost a joyful witness that we bear to Jesus Christ, in whom the Face of God became visible to us and thanks to whom the Heart of God is open to us. In Luke’s Gospel, the account of the beginning of the procession in the vicinity of Jerusalem is in part modeled literally on the rite of coronation with which, according to the First Book of Kings, Solomon was invested as heir to David’s kingship (cf. I Kgs 1: 33-35).
Thus, the procession of the Palms is also a procession of Christ the King: we profess the Kingship of Jesus Christ, we recognize Jesus as the Son of David, the true Solomon, the King of peace and justice. Recognizing him as King means accepting him as the One who shows us the way, in whom we trust and whom we follow. It means accepting his Word day after day as a valid criterion for our life.
The procession of the Palms – as it was at that time for the disciples – is primarily an expression of joy because we are able to recognize Jesus, because he allows us to be his friends and because he has given us the key to life.
Reading II
From the Jewish New Testament Mark 11:1-11
As they were approaching Yerushalayim, near Beit-Pagey and Beit-Anyah, by the Mount of Olives, Yeshua sent two of his talmidim with these instructions: “Go into the village ahead of you; and as soon as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there that has never been ridden. Untie it, and bring it here. If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ tell him, ‘The Lord needs it,’ and he will sent it here right away.”
They went off and found a colt in the street tied in a doorway, and they untied it. The bystanders said to them, “What are you doing, untying that colt?” they gave the answer Yeshua had told them to give, and they let them continue. They brought the colt to Yeshua and threw their robes on it, and he sat on it.
Many people carpeted the road with their clothing, while others spread out green branches which they had cut in the fields. Those who were ahead and those behind shouted,
“Please deliver us!”
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of Adonai!”
Blessed is the coming Kingdom of our father David”
And,
“You in the highest heaven! Please Deliver us!”
Yeshua entered Yerushalayim, went into the Temple courts and took a good look at everything; but since it was now, late, he went out with the Twelve to Beit-Anyah.