Sermon for Palm Sunday
A Parade of Humility, Vulnerability and Love
By The Rev. Eric Christopher Shafer -
Dictators and despots, they love military parades. Think of Stalin or Hitler or Kim Jong-un. They love military bands, marching and saluting soldiers with big guns, huge missiles on trailers with lots of flags and banners. You have all seen these images from Nazi Germany or Russia’s May Day parades or modern North Korea.Dictators and despots, they love military parades. Think of Stalin or Hitler or Kim Jong-un. They love military bands, marching and saluting soldiers with big guns, huge missiles on trailers with lots of flags and banners. You have all seen these images from Nazi Germany or Russia’s May Day parades or modern North Korea.
Pontius Pilate, the Roman prefect, a fancy term for governor, of Judea from 26 – 36 AD, loved military parades, too. Although some of the Gospel accounts suggest Pilate might have had some hesitation about crucifying Jesus, we should not be deceived – Pilate was a cruel, military ruler with an army of perhaps 3,000 soldiers. Pilate ruled by brut force. Historians tell us that he crucified so many people that even Emperor Tiberius in Rome thought Pilate was too violent and not a good ruler of Judea. Perhaps that is why he only lasted as the local dictator for ten years?
Pilate loved a good military parade. Not long after he took over rule in Judea, somewhere around 30 AD, just as Jesus was beginning his public ministry, not long after Pilate took over rule in Judea, historians tell us that Pilate held a large military parade in Jerusalem. Just because he could. Soldiers on horseback and soldiers on foot. Each soldier in high gloss leather armor. Swords and spears. Archers with bows and arrows. Just to show the people of Judea, now in virtual slavery to Rome, just to show how powerful Pilate was. After all, dictators and despots love military parades.
Jesus would have known all about Pilate. The Roman rule pervaded life in Jesus’ time. Heavy taxes, violent beatings and lots of crucifixions. Jesus would have known all about this as he grew up in Nazareth. Jesus would have seen the oppression of his people as he traveled around Judea. Yes, Jesus would have known about Pilate. And Jesus would have suspected and even expected that his entry into Jerusalem would attract Pilate’s attention.
Pilate would have known about Jesus, too. Judea was a small state. The Old City of Jerusalem, the only part of the city of Jerusalem in Jesus’ and Pilate’s day, was built on a hilltop. A great vantage point for the rulers of Jerusalem, political and religious, to see and hear about Jesus’ teachings in the surrounding area. Make no mistake, Pilate would have known about Jesus.
Pilate would have also known about the Passover, too, how it celebrated the Jews liberation from Egypt. If there was any time the Jews might revolt, it would have been during Passover. Pilate would have been prepared for any hint of rebellion. And Jesus would have represented rebellion, not with weapons but with hearts and minds. Yes, Pilate would have known about Jesus and probably feared Jesus’ sort of rebellion.
In today’s Processional Gospel, Jesus enters Jerusalem. This year we read Mark’s portrait of Palm Sunday, but this same story is repeated in all four Gospels, something in itself that tells you of its importance to the early church and to our faith.
Before Jesus enters Jerusalem, he goes to some lengths to get ready, or, more accurately, Jesus asks his disciples to go to some lengths to get everything ready, sending them into Bethphage or Bethany to get the proper colt for Jesus to ride. And there were probably many more preparations by Jesus and his followers not recorded in the Gospels.
Step by step, Jesus plans his dramatic entry into Jerusalem. There may be no other point in time in any of the gospels when Jesus spends as much time preparing to do anything as much as he prepares for his ride into Jerusalem. For Jesus, this moment is huge, this parade is critical to his mission, and he does not want anything left to chance. It is not too much of a stretch to picture Jesus sending an advance team into Jerusalem to gather leafy branches, to organize people along the street and to make sure that the parade Jesus made would get everyone's attention.
Jesus wants a spectacle. Jesus wants to be seen. Jesus wants to get everyone's attention, especially those, like Pilate and the religious rulers of Jesus’ day, those who believe they have divine power.
One thing you cannot help but notice when you visit the Holy Land is that anyone on the Temple Mount in what is now the Old City of Jerusalem, anyone in and around the Temple, anyone would have been able to see straight across the Kidron Valley to where Jesus was preaching and teaching. Anyone, including the chief priests and political leaders, would have been able to clearly see that Jesus was gathering huge crowds. They would have known that Jesus was teaching ideas that they found heretical.
Jesus knew all this, Jesus knew what he was doing. And Jesus made sure he was doing all of this right under everyone’s noses. Jesus was challenging the political and religious leaders on their home turf, and today's parade into the city was the pinnacle moment of that gloriously confrontational agenda.
Jesus was mocking the powerful, openly criticizing the strong, and celebrating the simple grace of God. Think of the scene - Jesus, a grown man, climbs upon a young colt. He would have looked a bit ridiculous, picture a man trying to ride a Shetland pony, certainly not proud and strong as victors who typically marched in such a parade.
As Jesus rode through the streets, people would have been waving simple tree branches, not the grand banners of a king or emperor. In every way, this parade mocked the ways in which the leaders of the day put their power on display. And in every way, Jesus would be pointing to the true power of God, a true power that is found in humility, in vulnerability, and in grace.
Jesus knew exactly what he was doing. He was mocking the strong and celebrating the simple grace of God.
We have all likely heard that Jesus came to turn our notions of power and strength upside down, but perhaps we need to hear that again in a new way.
Many of us have grown up in the church, formed by what we tacitly believe is a Christian culture, but our world is most certainly not Christ-like, not now, nor has it ever been so. We all live in a world that seeks to claim the truth, the truth that only Jesus brings. In all aspects of our life, leaders try to claim moral and ethical authority without any sense of Jesus’ truth. I do not have to tell you that living in this world can be a great challenge to our faith.
Of course, claiming any "truth" is dangerous. I would certainly like to claim my own ideas as the real truth, but I know better than that. Claiming truth is human nature. We naturally seek to identify and claim an ultimate truth because we seek the comfort and the confidence that truth brings.
But today we see that the ultimate truth, the truth that Jesus points to, is far from our normal desires, far from our basic human condition. The truth Jesus points to is not pride or perfection or judgment, but humility, vulnerability, and grace. The truth that Jesus points to is the truth that God loves us just as we are. And that God loves us enough not to leave us as we are.
What is truly on display in today’s Gospel, in the Palm Sunday story, is a parade of grace and love. Jesus prepares to march into the center of life and culture, the center of earthly power and authority with a vulnerability that will ultimately get him killed. This is not the kind of parade we naturally seek out, but this parade of grace is one that will fulfill and redeem us in every way, one that will meet our every need, and one that will save us from every evil. Today, the parade that Jesus leads is an opportunity for each of us, truly a grand invitation to every one of us to be changed for the good. Jesus' parade is one that will change the world, and Jesus is calling each one of us to join Him.
As we enter this Holy Week, Jesus is calling to us, trying to get our attention by creating a true spectacle. Not pride or perfection or judgement but humility, vulnerability and grace. God loves us today just as we are. And God wants more from and for us.
It is Palm Sunday. Can you hear the beat of Jesus’ grace parade? That rhythm is for you and that rhythm is for me. Humility, vulnerability, love. Celebrating the simple grace of God, the love of God for all people. Let’s join that parade.
Amen.
(With thanks to the Rev. Dr. Christopher Girata and the “Day1” radio ministry).
The Rev. Eric Christopher Shafer
Senior Pastor - Mt. Olive Lutheran Church
Santa Monica, California
March 24 & 25, 2018
