Visiting Minister
Luke 19: 29-40
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(Prepared for verbal delivery…may change in the pulpit…grammar/punctuation not correct…)
“Palm Sunday places us in the space between celebration and sorrow, between praise and rejection, between the way things are and the way we long for them to be.”
Loving God, May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts and minds be touched by you, Creator, reconciler, sustainer…
Let’s imagine ourselves just outside Jerusalem.
We are with Jesus and his band of disciples early in the morning.
For 3 years, we have heard his teaching, parables and questions.
-God’s love for all people…inclusion of all people….
-we have been given Hope…of a new kind of Kingdom
-Not lead by domination of the Romans…but by love and equality of all
people…not just the wealthy and powerful.
-Jesus calls it the Kingdom of God.
Something is different about today.
Jesus has summoned a donkey to ride into Jerusalem.
There is no saddle, some of us put our coats on the donkey for Jesus to sit.
We start down the road that leads to Jerusalem.
We walk alongside Jesus….we are thinking, Jesus is #1, Jesus is #1
At first it is quiet…the only sound is the donkey’s hooves clomping on the road….dust rises…we are thirsty as we walk.
-The wind blows through the olive trees.
-We don’t have any idea what Jesus has planned.
Then we hear something up ahead. What is it?
A crowd is gathering, people are cheering for Jesus. Palm branched are waving.
-People are taking their coats and spreading them on the dusty road.
They are making a carpet, as if for a King.
They welcome Jesus as if he were a King being welcomed to the capital.
More and more people join our parade as we descend the hill.
As we walk excitement builds. We shout and dance.
Our voices eco across the valley
–“Blessings on the king who comes in the name of the Lord!”
-“Peace in heaven and glory in the highest heavens!”
Some Pharisees who have been part of the crowd are getting uncomfortable.
They rush up to Jesus and sternly warn him…
“Teacher……you must order everyone to be quiet.
The Pharisees are afraid of Jesus causing a scene
The Pharisees know if the Romans see us proclaiming Jesus as king, they will kill us, they will kill Jesus…Caesar is the Roman King…and to say otherwise puts our lives in danger”
Jesus refuses to silence us. He says,
“even if they are silent, even the stones, will start shouting!”
-we have reached a tipping point, we can’t be quiet now, we can’t keep quiet any longer.
Our parade continues.
We shout louder than ever.
“Blessings on the king who comes in the name of the Lord!”
–After 3 years of following Jesus and learning from him, it feels as if things are reaching a climax.
-we round a bend, and there is Jerusalem before us, the Temple and all the sellers at the temple… glistening in the hot sun.
We have just walked together one scene of this drama. We imagined ourselves walking down the dusty road with Jesus on a donkey…excitement building, the Pharisees warning us to be quiet. This brings us to another scene. The Parade that is processing from the other side of town.
This is the weekend of Passover. The celebration of freedom from a long time ago for the Hebrew/Jewish people. Let’s think about this. They are celebrating freedom in the past…. in a place where they are no longer free. They live under rule of the Romans.
The Roman rulers don’t let people forget who is in power.
-Herod rides into the city in full procession from his headquarters in Caesarea Philippi. He enters, not on a young donkey, but on a mighty warhorse. He is not surrounded by a ragtag crowd waving palm branches.
-He’s surrounded by chariots, with uniformed soldiers.
-with their swords and spears and bows held high.
-His military procession is a show of force intended to inspire fear and compliance, not hope and joy.
Palm Sunday…2 parades… Jesus from East on a donkey…Herod from the West on war horse surrounded by armed soldiers.
-This is not a May Day parade or the Santa Clause parade
-This a moment in time when 2 ways of seeing the world… clash.
The meaning of this day begins to become clear to us. Caesar’s kingdom, the empire of Rome, rules by fear with threats of violence, demanding submission. God’s kingdom, on earth as it is in heaven, rules by faith with a promise of peace, inspiring generosity and joy.
Start
As I prepared for this Palm Sunday…we hold the bible in one hand…the newspaper (tablet) in the other and we ask how the bible story speaks to us today. Where is God/ Spirit of life, rising up in the world?
I think of the parades/protests going on in the United States. On April 5th up to a 5 million people protested in 130 cities in United States. Protesting against the current American administration. Protesting: cutting jobs, cutting funding to social programs, cutting scientific research, dismantling rights for immigrants. Dismantling rights for Gay Lesbian Bi Trans Queer peoples, false information on vaccination programs, and the list goes on. Including not honoring international trade agreements and good/workable relationships internationally.
People in United States are protesting peacefully, speaking up for equal rights, health and safely of all people. In Seattle a group called the Resistance Lab is training people to protest in a nonviolent way. A few weeks ago they were hoping for a couple hundred people for the course and they had a couple of thousands of people sign up. A peaceful parade…nonviolent action is growing and preparing in United States.
To see this movement happening in the United States is similar to the Civil rights movements of 1960’s, the women’s movement of 70’s, environmental movements of 80 and 90s. (also Gandhi. Poland workers’ rights movement )
What happens in these social movements? How do we go from people upset and starting to speak out to ideas/values/rights protected and codified into law?
Four stages:
At this stage in United States (and to some extend other countries) is stage 1. Energy, chaos, resisting what’s happening.
This is a hard place to be. Leaders are starting to emerge but it’s early on. People don’t know what’s coming next. The growing energy is just that…growing and needing focus and leadership. If we look to past social movements the leadership will come.
“I tell you, even if they were silent, the stones would shout out.”
If we go back to our story of Jesus leading the peaceful parade/protest into Jerusalem we remember that some of the Pharisees in the crowd ordered Jesus to tell his disciples to stop. Don’t challenge the Roman authority. Don’t take your peaceful protest any further. It’s not clear why they wanted Jesus and the disciples to stop. Did they want to protect Jesus? Did they want to uphold the power of Rome for their own protection? We don’t know…Why do any of us not protest, not stand up for inclusion and love for all people? It can be costly… it takes energy and time.
What helps any social movement is being centered in values. Holding values at the center…holds the commitment that is called upon for change.
Martin Luther King Jr clearly stated the dream of equality for his children…that they not be judged by the color of their skin but by their character. His speeches articulated the value of equal rights for all people.
Some Americans leaders are starting to write and talk about values. Talking about empathy… and what that means and looks like. Clearly articulated values will progress the current social movement in US into the next stage of coalescing the energy as leaders emerge. There is hope….and it is early on in the process….
As people of faith…we often ask how we can help. How can we live out our trust in God’s abundance for all people in such complex situations?
How can we be co-creators with the Spirit to help build the Kingdom of God on earth today?
We need to keep our hearts and minds open. We need to keep learning. Book study of “how we learn to be Brave” by Mariann Edgar Budde is happening here at Mount Seymour.
-We need Spiritual practices that keep us grounded and connected with the God/Divine so that we can deal with chaos and not be overcome.
-We need the support of faith community and peers to discern and live out the values of Jesus, love and inclusion for all people.
-We need both these individual practices and community so that we can be brave and act wisely today. So that we walk in the nonviolent parade with Jesus into Jerusalem and not be afraid.
Here is some good news.
Maybe you don’t feel or experience or know “the kingdom of God within your own soul” or “heaven on earth” that I have been talking about…and that’s ok…
Because this line from Luke “the kingdom of God is within you” can also be translated to “the kingdom of God is already among you.”
-or in the midst of you
Ah…whew…that means even when I don’t know the God / Spirit within me…I can be around others…and the Spirit will be in them…or maybe the Spirit of life will be… in between us…present in the words that we exchange …present in the actions that are taken…that connect us to each other…in between. The kingdom of God is among us…in our midst…we are not alone…mmm…I’m thankful for this! Amen…