Jesus Comes
With or Without Our Processions
Palm Sunday – April 5, 2020
“Triumphal entry”
Click here for the YouTube video of this sermon
Paper palm fronds
· Today is Palm Sunday
o Usually would come to church and receive palms (some
churches do the single strand, like a sword ;) that can be folded into a cross;
we do Eco-Palms – the full frond)
o Those arrived at my house Tuesday (b/c FedEx won’t
deliver to the church w/o a signature, so I just have them delivered to my
home, b/c they’ll just leave them on the porch)
o And they sit in my basement, b/c it’s important that
we stay at home unless it’s “mission critical” – something essential
§ And palms are not essential, even for Palm Sunday
· So my family colored and cut out paper palm fronds and
had our own little procession last night (I mailed and emailed copies to
everyone)
o b/c traditions are important
· And it was fun – but it’s also a reminder of how
drastically things have changed
o We mourn those things – so many traditions we haven’t
been able and won’t be able to share as a church this year
§ Palm Sunday; gathering for Maundy Thursday to remember
the Last Supper and sharing holy communion and hearing God’s words of
forgiveness as we bring Lent to a close; the somber reflection about Jesus’
death on a cross – for us – on Good Friday; the joy and beauty and wonder as we
come to worship on Easter morning – with flowers and favorite hymns – and none
of that will be happening the usual way this year
· Not just church stuff we are missing right now either
o All sorts of other Easter traditions, planning Easter
baskets and buying Easter outfits and getting together with loved ones for
Easter dinner, Easter egg hunts
o And all of the mundane stuff we used to not even think
about – shopping or going out to eat or being with people outside of our
household w/o having to make sure we’re 6 feet apart
· It is a whole way of life that has suddenly been put
on hold, with none of us knowing for sure when it will go back to “normal”
(whatever normal means)
· In these days, it is completely natural for us to be
mourning all of these ordinary, important things that have been lost, if only
for a while; for us to long for the very recent past before this new
coronavirus took hold and spread around the globe, keeping us holed up in our
houses to keep ourselves and our surrounding communities safe
o The very real grief that comes to and for all of those
who have lost loved ones to COVID-19 and the inability to gather for comfort and
to console one another
If we were together on
this day, we’d begin in the fellowship room, and we would shout our “Hosannas”
in celebration
· But the word Hosanna means “Save us!”
And the people in the
gospel who welcomed Jesus as he arrived at Jerusalem for the week leading into
the Passover festival shouted their Hosannas in welcome
· Crying out in celebration, but also in a desire for
Jesus to save them – a recognition that here was the One they had been waiting
for, the one who had the power to save them
· b/c they too are longing for Jesus to change their
life, their circumstances
· They cry out “Blessed is the one who comes in the name
of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David! Hosanna in
the highest heaven!”
o They too want to return to days gone by
o Their life wasn’t upended by a pandemic, but instead
by conquering kingdoms (a series of them – you might remember from our travels
through the Old Testament in the fall – the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the
Persians…and now, centuries later, the Romans)
o And they are looking forward to the one who will come
from David’s line, who will restore the kingdom, who will set things right, who
will set them free from the oppression of Roman rule
o Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David! –
with Jesus’ arrival, they hope for the ousting of the occupying forces, for
God’s chosen one to reign and rule over their independent nation once more, to
restore their former glory, their way of life
o They are mourning all that once was, wondering, hoping
that those days may come again
Jesus arrives in Jerusalem
in advance of the coming Passover festival
· The festival that celebrates the liberation of the
Jewish people from slavery in Egypt, being led out by Moses toward the promised
land
· That entry into the promised land was a long time
coming – but we remember that God was with them for every one of those 40
years, providing for them, guiding them, teaching them
Jesus comes, and they
shout their Hosannas, pleading for salvation
· And Jesus will
save them, but it won’t be quite as they expect
· Because Jesus doesn’t come as a conquering king
o Instead Jesus will allow himself to be conquered by
both religious and political leaders who are threatened by his teachings
· Jesus will not restore the kingdom of Israel to its
former glory under David
o But Jesus will restore and reconcile God’s people with
the God who made them
· Jesus is not the kind of savior they thought they were
looking for
o And yet he is the savior the world needs, riding into
town on a donkey, coming face to face with the systems of domination and
oppression – and though by Friday it will seem that he has lost and hope is
gone – as we journey through this week with him and with each other, we will
see how grief and despair gives way to joy and hope and the promise of new life
And though we may be
mourning all that we recently lost, whether permanently or temporarily
· We take comfort this day that we see Jesus approaching
· He will arrive, with or without our processions, with
or without our palms, with or without our traditions
· Jesus comes to walk with us in all of life’s ups and
downs
o He mourns with us in our sorrows
· He hears our cries of “Hosanna” – and he comes with
love and mercy to save and to lead us through dark valleys into light and life
and peace and hope once more.
· Hosanna in the highest! Come, Lord Jesus.
· Amen.
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