Festival of Palms

Sermon Luke 19:28-40 March 20, 2016 Palm SundayC

Festival of Palms

Look who’s coming! Come quickly, look who’s coming!

There is someone coming and people are opening their windows and running out their front doors.

People are shouting and calling out, they are all crowding together to get a better look. Some have taken off their coats and lined the streets.

They created a carpet, a royal road. And then they see!

They see him, they see him on a donkey, a colt.

They see him coming.

And they shout again.

Jesus the teacher is here.

Jesus the healer has come.

Jesus the Savior is here!

Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven!”

Jesus the Christ is here.

For the church tradition, today is a festival.

It is not only the Festival of Palms, the day we celebrate the hailing of Jesus by the crowds as king and Savior, but it marks the entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem.

It marks the beginning of what we call Holy Week, which culminates next Sunday as Easter Sunday.

Jesus comes to Jerusalem for the week of Passover.

He comes to celebrate a festival of freedom.

He comes to celebrate the victory of God’s people from oppression.

He comes bringing peace.

Festivals have purpose.

Some festivals are for the purpose of bringing awareness to an issue or a cause or calling for support. We can name a few-Cancer, Autism, Alzheimer’s, and others. They celebrate and they serve a community purpose of uniting people; and some are perhaps even just for the sheer pleasure of a good time-such as the Christmas parade or the St Patrick’s Day parade in Onancock.

The festival of palms pulls us back into the story of Jesus’ final days. It draws us back into the frenzy of his followers and the fickle nature of cheering crowds. With the adjectives and verbs and present tense it draws us in as if we are right there in the moment. It draws us together and unites us in the history of our faith.

And then it challenges us.

The story puts us in the center of the crowd, or with the disciples running up to untie a colt, or with the ones who call for the shouts to stop. It makes us wonder who we are in the story?

Is this festival scene too much for us? Can we handle all the things happening here?

Do we get annoyed by people carrying on in public shouting out words of peace? Do we get frustrated with people trying to quash the crowds from having their day of freedom of expression?

When we think about this Jesus parade do we wonder if the religious leaders were correct in thinking that Jesus was a threat to national security?

Is acting on behalf of peace a dangerous endeavor?

Can we bear to follow someone that puts us at risk?

It is clear from Luke that Jesus does things so deliberate that put him in the eye of those who oppose him. These three things put him at center of controversy:

1.       Jesus descends from the Mount of Olives-the place recognized by the people as the place where the Messiah will enter the world.

2.      He gets on a colt-or a donkey depending on which gospel account we read, in order to fulfill an old prophecy from Zechariah announcing the entrance of a king.

3.      The shouts of the crowd, “Glory in the highest”, echo the song of the angels from Jesus’ birth.

All these actions are the ones that put Jesus at risk for what would happen in the week to come.

The actions of Jesus until this day of his entrance into Jerusalem have been actions of teaching and healing, and as it turned out those things stirred up trouble.

He got involved with people different from himself.

He touched people he shouldn’t have.

He invited people to dinner from the wrong neighborhood.

He ruined people’s businesses by turning over tables and casting out demons.

He broke laws to show love and compassion.

He twisted well known words of Scripture to save a person from certain death.

And he had the audacity to tell people how to pray and how to have a relationship with God.

The actions of Jesus were actions of bringing peace to a world in need.

And to the nay sayers he let them know even if they silence everyone, the very stones will cry out.

All creation will shout out God’s redemptive work.

It cannot be stopped.

And today we celebrate that joy of his actions.

Today we sing and shout Peace in heaven, hosanna in the highest.

You don’t have to be the one in the crowd that believes in Jesus as Savior.

You don’t have to be the one in the crowd that shouts for the noise to stop.

You don’t have to be the disciple that goes running to get what Jesus wants.

You can be the one that witnesses the actions of Jesus and chooses to do likewise.

The redemptive work God set out to do cannot be stopped.

The stones themselves will sing.

No amount of nay sayers will prevent God’s peace and God’s love from continuing.

Today is the festival of Palms for the church. It is a day of celebration. It is a day to sing loud and with good cheer. It is a day to hear God’s Word for us. It is a day to put on the peace of heaven and go forth on behalf of freedom.

Look who’s coming!

Jesus the Christ is here. He comes bringing peace.

Hosanna in the Highest. Amen.

[Children’s Sermon-Holy Week book taken from Carolyn Brown’s book ‘Teaching Children about Easter’ and I tell the children ‘the week to come is a week filled with happy, sad, angry, all the emotions we have as humans.’ I ask them to fill it out during the week and bring it to me on Easter. I tell them the short story version-That ‘during the week Jesus was put on the cross by angry people and he died and was put in a tomb. And next Sunday when you come to church it will be a happy day again like today because Jesus who died will be alive again.’ I invite the congregation at that point to walk Holy Week with me and together arrive at Easter.]

Resources: Karolyn Lewis Working Preacher; NIB Luke.