Palm Sunday is one of the most dramatic days in the Church calendar – today our journey through Lent takes a dramatic turn.
Through this journey we may well have taken time to consider our relationship with God. We may well have given something up, or taken something up – but now we’re approaching the end of that particular journey.
Soon, Lent will be over for another year – and we have another big decision to make – the decision as to whether anything we may have done or not done through Lent is going to make a difference to the rest of our lives.
The first Palm Sunday was the beginning of an irreversible change – a change not just in the life of Jesus, or his disciples, but a change in the whole of history – because whatever a person’s view of the Christian faith, there is no doubt that Jesus has changed the course of history…
Jesus was taking a journey which would lead to arrest, torture and death – and yet he was taking a journey that would bring real life to millions through his resurrection….
On that first Palm Sunday we are told that the crowds were there waving their palm branches – they were there cheering for Jesus… but for many of that crowd, their waving and cheering seems to have been pretty empty – in a short time they would perhaps even be amongst a crowd choosing to save a murderer in Barabbas, rather than Jesus…
The problem was that so many of these people had their own idea on what Jesus should be like and what he should achieve. There were those who thought by riding into Jerusalem Jesus was signalling the beginning of his take-over. He would now come triumphantly to overthrow the Romans and the Jewish authorities. Whether by force or by any other method, Jesus would get the sort of power that would change people’s lives… Anything less than this would be seen by many as failure.
And maybe it wasn’t just the crowds who had these sort of feelings – even those closest to Jesus seem confused – we know that Peter would deny even knowing Jesus, we know that Judas Iscariot would betray him – we know that other followers were nowhere to be seen after Jesus was arrested… They too perhaps had expectations of Jesus which, when he seemed to fail to deliver them, led them to doubt or turn away.
The first Palm Sunday and the days that followed said so much about the followers of Jesus – triumphant and supportive one moment, defeatist and denying the next…
And that is the great challenge of Palm Sunday today – to consider what sort of category we fit into. A visiting preacher was really getting the congregation moving. Near the end of his sermon he said, "This church has really got to walk," to which someone in the back yelled, "Let her walk preacher." The preacher then said, "If this church is going to go it's got to get up and run," to which someone again yelled with gusto, "Let her run preacher."
Feeling the surge of the church, the preacher then said with even louder gusto, "If this church is going to go it's got to really fly," and once again with ever greater gusto, someone yelled, "Let her fly preacher, let her fly." The preacher then seized the moment and stated with even greater gusto, "If this church is really going to fly it's going to need money." There was silence. Then someone in the back seat cried, "Let her walk preacher, let her walk."
Palm Sunday is one of those days where we’re called to decide what our faith is about because like those crowds cheering Jesus into Jerusalem on that Palm Sunday who were absent or had changed their minds when it came to trying to save Jesus later in the week, it’s very possible that we too might have expectations of Jesus which are nowhere near anything he promised…
Perhaps we cling to Jesus as some sort of safety net, perhaps as someone who will help to bring us prosperity, perhaps as someone who will manage to take our minds off the problems of our lives or even this world, perhaps as a non threatening friend , perhaps as someone to be admired in books or even stained glass windows…
But that isn’t the Jesus who entered Jerusalem on that Palm Sunday – that Jesus was someone who was confounding all the expectations and hopes, he was making a stand against the institutions and standards of the world, he was about to win a better and longer lasting victory than any earthly ruler and to do it without force or violence or bullying, but to do it with the most powerful display of love every known…
And to follow Jesus it’s impossible to jump from the adulation of Palm Sunday straight to Easter Day – it’s impossible just to look at the victories, because in between there was the pain of seeming defeat – and that pain is sometimes a pain we may have to endure – not to the same degree of Jesus of course, but following him doesn’t mean an easy ride – it doesn’t mean that there will be no pain or suffering, it doesn’t mean that there will be bags of money or influential positions…
Journeys into Jerusalem were complicated in Jesus’ time – there were Romans and there were religious authorities and there was rivalry and bitterness. Journeys into Jerusalem today are also pretty complicated at times with fears of gunfire or even bombs in places. Just outside there are roadblocks and barricades and not too far away, huge walls… All symbols of pain, of fear, sometimes of hatred and yet, in this complicated but beautiful and incredible city one thing remains unchanged…
It was and is the place where Jesus came in triumph on a donkey with palms waving, it was the place of pain as he faced arrest, torture and death, but we know the end of that story and today whilst we reflect on the joyful entry but consider also the pain to come we reflect also on the greatest victory…
Following Jesus means that there will be someone to take us along every step of life’s journey – there will be someone who understands the darkest of times, there will be someone who has experienced every depth that we ever can, and emerged triumphant…
And that is the promise Jesus makes to us – not to be the superstitious strength, not to be a lucky mascot, not to be the giver of lots of material gifts, not to be the comforting friend or teacher, but to be THE SAVIOUR, OUR SAVIOUR. Amen
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