Cathedral Church
of St. Paul, Detroit
Palm / Passion Sunday
by The Rev. Vicki Hesse, Assisting
Palm Sunday (Year
B) March 25, 2018
In
the name of God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen+
Good morning! it is an honor
to share with you this morning,
this
special milestone in our life together called
Palm/Passion Sunday.
Today’s full ceremony
of prayer and readings,
tempts me to say nothing.
The readings kind of speak for themselves.
And, at the same time,
they beg for explanation.
Today,
the contrasts and paradoxes of Holy Week
meet us as we journey to Jerusalem with
Jesus.
The city of Jerusalem, in Jesus’ time,
with a population of about 30,000,
would swell to as many as 80,000
during the festival of Passover.
Because of the crowds,
the occupying Roman authorities
would get nervous ever year.
The Roman governor and
an extra contingent of imperial troops
would come to Jerusalem
in case things got out of control.
A visible sign of force and rule.
As many scholars have written[1],
it is quite likely
that Jesus planned his entry into Jerusalem
specifically to contrast
the time that Pilate entered the city.
So “…that spring day in the year 30,”
two contrasting processions entered
Jerusalem.
From the east, Jesus rode a donkey
down the Mount of Olives
in a peasant procession.
From the west, Governor Pontius
Pilate
entered Jerusalem
in an imperial procession.
These two processions show
the central conflict and contrasts
leading to Jesus’ crucifixion:
his message of Love,
and his compassion and commitment
for the poor,
declare the already-present kingdom of God
over and against both
the Roman Imperial power and
the Jewish high-priestly influence.
So many contrasts!
·
The charismatic teacher
riding triumphantly into Jerusalem,
was also the one betrayed, abandoned and humbled, facing
death.
·
The people’s adoration of him
giving way to cries for crucifixion.
·
His consolation for us
giving way to his anguish and uncertainty
before God.
·
His extensive message of compassion
giving way to an unnerving silence.
·
As human, Jesus was offensive and there were
even contrasts in who rejected him: rich and poor,
conservative, liberal and revolutionary, pious and impious,
enemies and friends.
So
many contrasts!
And in our society today, we, too, see
contrasts:
·
We yearn for peace and yet we go to war.
·
We want to be a nation of great values, yet we
use violence to control.
·
Our culture values vitality yet our bodies are
frail.
·
School bullies get away with violence,
yet we know God calls us to love, anyway.
·
Leaders, from which we expect the best behavior,
stoop to the lowest moral responses.
·
Our bellies are full, yet our neighbors are
hungry.
Our
lives are full of contrasts.
Where
is God in this mess?!
Where, indeed?
In the 1st century (as in the 20th
century)
it was not easy to recognize
this shockingly human person, Jesus
the son of Mary,
as the One who was also son of God,
God
with us.
In the contrasting drama of his passion,
Jesus forced options.
He didn’t manipulate behavior,
he stood before others in that tragic gap,
holding a silence, so that a response
could no longer be ambiguous.
His vulnerability revealed his divine power
– and the leaders’ choices revealed their values.
In his own moment of truth, Jesus
gave his life.
Those who were “keeping watch” saw,
finally, who he was, God’s Son, with utter clarity.
They saw, along with the Centurion,
the One whose love for us
bears all things, believes all things,
hopes all things and endures all things.
These contrasts exposed a Jesus who was
truly human and truly God,
and in that paradox
of the seemingly absurd but really true,
the contrasts shout out loud
that through Jesus, God’s love never
ends.[2]
Why
Palm / Passion Sunday for us, today?
Because we need to hear again
the enduring narrative of God’s story:
God’s radical life in the person of Jesus,
his unceasing presence with
humankind,
and his claim on the divine reign
over the political and social
“powers and
principalities.”
We need to hear again the story that
reveals Jesus’ vulnerability as a human
and power as God.
In the midst of our paradoxical time,
we need that story
to captivate our imaginations,
to help us make sense of the world, and
to guide us to recognize God’s presence.
And perhaps, through this drama,
Jesus’ humanity and divinity
“compels us - each - into
our own moment of truth.”[3]
Because, see, he was like us,
a multitude of both/ands at any given
moment.
Showing us that
we can adopt what researcher and professor
Brene Brown calls,
“a spiritual practice of belonging” –
one that originates from
the paradox of our
lives.
A
spiritual practice of belonging means
being able to stand alone
when we are called to do so;
to straddle the tension of yes/and,
knowing we are part of something
bigger than us.
A spiritual
practice of belonging means
When we are really struggling with someone,
we can get curious, get closer, ask
questions,
try to connect. Lean in.
·
We see this in the “march for our lives”
for gun control by those whose voice,
in a sense, doesn’t matter
(they are under 18 and not voters)
and yet their voice is what matters
for the future of our nation.
They stood unafraid of the powers of evil.
They resisted, held silence, and all
With the power of Love.
They are leaning in. They are getting closer.
Why
Palm/Passion Sunday?
To save us, to save me, from ourselves,
from a world
that teaches that what matters
is mostly “what I want”
rather than seeing the possibility
that meeting my neighbor’s need
will also satisfy my own heart’s deepest
desire.
In the midst of these contrasts
we are compelled by God’s Love.
This is our moment of truth, in the
contrasts
of Hosanna
and Crucify him.
In our moment of truth,
Jesus is present in the spiritual reality
of our inextricable connection.
This contrasting drama
draws us into that paradox of
God’s intimate, delicate last breath and
God’s powerful resurrection
in the person of Jesus Christ.
So here we are, in this thin place,
where distinctions between time &
eternity
fall away, where we proclaim how
the death of Jesus is integral to
our life in God and where we journey with Jesus in the tension of
both/and.
As we
journey with Jesus this week,
May
we know in the deepest part of our soul
God’s love for us on earth
as it already is in heaven.
Amen
[1] Marcus Borg, The Last Week: A Day-by-Day Account of
Jesus’s Final Week in Jerusalem, (HarperCollins, San Francisco, 2006), p.
2-4
[2] 1 Cor 13:4-8: 4 Love is patient; love
is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant 5 or rude.
It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it
does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. 7 It
bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love
never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues,
they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end.
[3] David J. Schlafer, What Makes This Day Different?: Preaching
Grace on Special Occasions, (Cambridge, Cowley, 1998), p. 86
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