The People behind the Palms
RUMC Palm Sunday 2015
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Imagine you were in Jerusalem that day.
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Imagine the press of the crowds.
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Imagine the noise of people haggling over prices, meeting old
friends, laughing and talking loud over the commotion of the crowd.
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Imagine children playing everywhere, because Passover was a
family event.
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Imagine animals in the streets looking for a bit of grass or a
puddle of water, some of them lambs searching for their last meal.
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Imagine the smells, of people who have been traveling for a long
time, sweaty animals, and pots of food all mixed together.
It might have been like Times Square on New Year’s
Eve, or maybe like RAGBRI puling in to some of these little towns and swelling
the population by tenfold for one night.
Josephus, the notable Jewish historian, says
that 256,500 lambs were slain at one Passover. That’s a lot of blood isn’t it? Each
lamb represented at least ten worshippers. That would work out to at least 2.5
million people. That is 4 times the normal population of Jerusalem at the time.
Teeming
throngs from all over the world were flooding into the city to observe the great
festival of Passover. Can you imagine the logistics of housing and feeding such
a mass of people?
In the midst of this, Jesus makes his
entrance. Who would even notice the rabbi among the millions of bodies? How
many of the international crowd would have ever heard of him? On a road packed
with people and animals I wonder who was interested enough to stop and wave
palms for the rabbi. I wonder what those who had never heard of him thought. I
wonder what the officials thought.
For a variety of reasons, people noticed Jesus
and it was a significant enough event that all four gospels, Matthew, Mark,
Luke, and John record the events on the road. It is rare that all four gospels
record the same event in Jesus’ life. Sometimes one or two gospels record an
event; some events in Jesus’ life are found in three gospel accounts. What happens
on this day in Jerusalem, however, was so important that all four of the gospels
record the story with only minor variations.
A crowd gathers as Jesus rides into the city
on the colt of a donkey and they begin to wave palm branches and shout their
welcome to Jesus. Now we should not imagine that everyone stopped what they
were doing and joined in. There were branch wavers and there were those who
laid down their cloaks. There were skeptics, and there were enemies. Who are
these people and what were they thinking. Who are the people behind the palms?
First, we know the disciples were there. What
do you suppose they would be doing? Well, we know that two of them went in to
town to get a donkey. The others had been busy making dinner and lodging
arrangements. You might think that they were the instigators. I am sure they
were there, but I don’t picture them leading the parade.
The disciples had to have Jesus’ prediction about what would
happen to him in Jerusalem on their minds.
Mark 10, just one chapter before the Markan story of Palm
Sunday, Mark writes, “ Again he took the Twelve aside
and told them what was going to happen to him. “ We are going up to
Jerusalem,” he said, “and the Son of Man will be delivered over
to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to
death and will hand him over to the Gentiles, who will mock him and spit on
him, flog him and kill him. Three days later he will rise.”[1]
How could the disciples NOT have that on their minds? They
must have been thinking, "why are we going, then?” Let’s head back to
Galilee. I think the disciples would have been right beside Jesus while he was
riding on the donkey, scared to death. I think they would have been trying to
quiet things down. I think they might have been trying to calm the people.
Anyone who knew anything,
knew that the Romans brought a huge contingent of soldiers to the
Jerusalem Passover celebration in order to keep the peace. I am guessing that
the disciples were thinking it would be better to not make a huge scene and get
their attention. Not to mention raising the ire of the chief priests, whom
Jesus predicted would be his demise.
But we have people like that today. Even here today, there
are folks who want to be close to Jesus, but they’d rather not make a big scene.
They come to church, they go home, and they think it’s better if they just
don’t talk about it, or be seen with those dangerous folks who they think get a
little too excited about Jesus. Like the disciples, they like the status quo so
they think it is better if the church just doesn’t stir things up. Are any of
you a little like that?
Second, there were the crowds who often
followed Jesus. Many of them might have been interested in a good show. This
was after all kind of like Mardi Gras.
Immediately before the triumphal entry story in John, there
is a note about why people were coming to see Jesus. It says, “They
came, not only on account of him but also to see Lazarus, whom
he had raised from the dead.”
These people there
for a good show. They wanted to see a miracle. They were thrill seekers.
They were the kind of people who would have gravitated to
the parade as it started, saying, “Let’s see what happens here.” They were the
kind of people who might have gathered a little ways off from the cross hoping
that Jesus would jump down and strike the chief priests with lightening.
They enjoy a good show. We have folks like that here today
too. You have to admit that the procession, and the choir, and the stripping of
the sanctuary later on make a pretty dramatic impact. Maybe it is the music
that entertains them. Maybe it is the stories. They might even have a side bet
on how long it takes the preacher to fall over himself. They are not likely to be
changed (after all it is just a show.) They aren’t likely to serve because
there isn’t much entertainment value in that. Worship is not a show, however. Worship
is lifting our hearts to God because God deserves to be worshipped. There is drama
in remembering, and ritualizing the salvation story, but that is not the reason
for doing it. Yet there are those who go to church for a little bit of a show.
Are any of you a little like that?
Third, the Roman soldiers were there.
As the crowd begins to honor Jesus, I’m sure
it got the attention of the Roman soldiers. They were there to keep the peace. During the annual Passover feast, it was not
uncommon for some of the Jewish zealots to try to arouse the people to fight
back against the Roman occupation. Maybe they thought this parade was that kind
of an event. Maybe they were expecting to have to quell a riot.
Then here comes Jesus, riding on a donkey’s colt. I imagine that some of the Roman soldiers
must have smiled at the “Triumphal Entry,” because it was nothing like their
own triumphal celebrations back in Rome.
Whenever a Roman general was victorious on foreign soil, the
general would ride into the city in a gold-covered chariot with white stallions
pulling it, a symbol of a warrior. The general would display the trophies he
had won. The enemy leaders he had captured would be paraded in chains down the
street behind the general. The parade ended at the arena where some of the
captives entertained the people by fighting wild beasts.
Yes, I bet some of these soldiers probably laughed at the
antics of the Jerusalem crowd that day, and at the sight of this so-called “King.”
What real king would ride on a dumb donkey? What powerful leader would stoop so
low? They probably found it amusing. Compared to a “Roman triumph,” our Lord’s
entry into Jerusalem was nothing.
We don’t have roman soldiers, but we have people like that,
don’t we? People who think this is all pretty boring or silly. To those who
have never experienced the power of faith in their lives this is all kind of
silly. After all, what educated person really believes some of the things that
people say Jesus did? Make the blind to see. The lame to walk. The deaf to
hear. Walk on water. Calm storms with a word. Feed 5000 people with five loaves
of bread and two fish! Who in their right mind would believe such things? Are any of you a little like that?
Fourth, the religious leaders were there
at the triumphal entry. “The
Pharisees said to one another, ‘See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the
whole world has gone after him!’ “[2]
These were power people. They wanted the power. They wanted
the prestige. They wanted the praise. They wanted the glory. They wanted to be looked
up to and they wanted to be the ones who had all the influence. They were fine
as long as they were the center of attention, but look out if someone else
received the praise.
People were beginning to come to Jesus and follow Him. And
the Pharisees felt threatened. They were afraid that this Jesus might get too
powerful. They watched suspiciously
with fear building up inside of them with every shout of ‘hosanna.” Fear and
more fear.
We all know people who live in fear.
And sometimes because they are afraid,
they lash out.
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They
are afraid in their homes so they riot against the police.
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They
are afraid of those who are different,
so they behead them on a beach in Africa.
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They
are afraid of losing power so they stonewall any progress in congress.
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They
are afraid of any change in their communities, so they lash at neighbors out
with terrible words and threats.
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They
are afraid to forgive so they wallow in bitterness and rehearse the hurts.
Are any of you a little like that?
Finally, there were those who wanted to see
Jesus.
Again just before the
disciples are sent to get the donkey, we are told, “Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to
worship at the Feast. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee,
with a request. “Sir,” they said, “we would like to see Jesus.”[3]
“We would like to see Jesus.”
Oh, that we would all say that.
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Oh that the
whole world would come to say, “We would like to see Jesus.”
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They
wanted to see Jesus, not to quiet him in order to keep from making a scene.
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They
wanted to see Jesus, not for a good show like others in the crowd.
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They
wanted to see Jesus, not to for a good laugh like the roman soldiers.
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They
wanted to see Jesus, not to destroy him, like the Pharisees and chief priests.
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They
wanted to see Jesus, Just to worship him. Just to be with him. Just to love
him.
Oh what a difference it would make in our lives if we would
say, “We would like to see Jesus.” For no other reason other than to worship
him. No ulterior motive. No hidden agenda.
What a difference it would make in our lives if we just came
to see Jesus because he is the king of kings and the Lord of Lords.
What a difference it would make if we came for no other
reason than to worship the one who is
above all names, “at whose name every
knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of
God the Father.”
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What a
difference it would make if we came not to fence Jesus in, but to set him free
in our lives to change our hearts and open our eyes so that we can experience
the Kingdom of God for the first time ever.
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What a
difference it would make if we came not for a good show like others in the
crowd. But to worship.
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What a
difference it would make if we came not for a good laugh like the roman
soldiers, but for forgiveness and grace.
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What a
difference it would make if we came not with fear, but with faith.
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What a
difference it would make in our lives if we didn’t come to achieve our own
agendas, but to accomplish his.
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What a
difference would it make if we came not to keep Jesus to ourselves, but to join
the parade of kingdom workers taking Jesus out of the church and into our
world, or communities, our neighborhoods, our shops, our workplaces, and our
homes.
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What a
difference it would make if we were to take the Jesus parade to the hearts and
lives of the broken people, hurting families who so desperately need someone to
save them.
Those people in the crowd that day… they were shouting
something that was far more significant than they realized.
Hosanna, they shouted. Hosanna.
This Hebrew word means “he who saves” or “save us.”
They knew the power that rode before then that day. I think
many of us have forgotten the power of the events we remember this Holy Week. I
am afraid that many take for granted the saving power of the cross and the
resurrection. I am afraid that for us a palm branch is just something to hide
behind.
Let’s not just be people hiding behind the palms this year…
Let’s get in the parade and follow the King of creation, the savior of the
world, our Jesus, as he rides triumphantly into the kingdom of God.
AMEN
AMEN
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