Palm Sunday: A New Hope

This was originally given as the Palm Sunday Sermon on April 9, 2017 at North Kildonan Mennonite Church.

Over the Lenten Season, we have been using the conference theme of Restore us, O God! Each week we have focused on a different verb, We Hunger, We Wonder, We Thirst, We See. This Week, the theme given to us was Restore Us O God, We Hope!

Hope is good. It drives us forward. In the movie Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, the rebellion was faced with a huge problem, they had just found out about the existence of the Death Star, a giant space station capable of destroying a planet, and that it was nearing completion. Many rebel leaders were ready to give up and live under Imperial domination because they didn’t see any other option. Jyn Erso, an outsider, spoke up saying “We have hope! Rebellions are built on hope!”

                       

Now it might seem really nerdy, and a little weird to start a sermon off with a scene from a Star Wars movie, but it is more relevant to today’s passage then merely the word “hope”.

See, When Jesus was travelling from village to village, proclaiming that the Kingdom of Heaven was here, he was acting like every other religious zealot. Gathering the masses to his side, promising them that the long anticipated day of reckoning, the day when their foreign oppressors would be driven out, was coming. 

Jesus was starting a rebellion. Among his followers were violent revolutionaries. Simon the Zealot is obvious, as well some scholars think that Judas Iscariot’s name refers to another revolutionary group, the sicari, a league of assassins who intended to drive the romans. James and John, were called Sons of Thunder, which probably has to do with their attitude, but a few scholars think that it might have to do with some sort of revolutionary group as well. These people followed Jesus because they expected him to lead them into battle.

While the Rebel Alliance was fighting the Galactic Empire in order to restore the Old Republic as a beacon of liberty and democracy, Jesus’ followers thought that Jesus was going to fight the Roman Empire to restore the kingdom of Israel to its former glory.

I used to work as a cleaner and had a lot of time to listen to audio books. Being the cheap Mennonite that I am, I found free recordings of public domain books. One of the longer books I listened to was Ben Hur: A tale of the Christ, written in 1880. If you haven’t read the book, a movie was made last year, or there is also the 1959 classic with Charlton Heston. It had that amazing chariot race.

In the story, Judah Ben-Hur is a Jewish nobleman who is falsely accused of attempting to assassinate the Roman Governor. He is sold into slavery, and on his way to the coast to become a galley slave on a ship, is offered a cup of water from a young carpenter, which gives him the strength to carry on. Years later he has earned his freedom, regained his wealth and returns to Jerusalem to win back his family’s honour.

Along the way he meets that young carpenter who is now a Rabbi named Jesus and becomes one of his followers. He witnesses Jesus’ miracles and believes that Jesus is the long awaited Messiah who will free them. Using his wealth, Judah funds the raising of a secret army ready to help Jesus when it’s time to overthrow the Romans.

When Jesus rides into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, Ben Hur thinks that the time has come, and sneaks his army into the crowd ready to strike on Jesus’ command. Much to Ben Hur’s consternation, Jesus instead spends the week teaching in the synagogue. Ben Hur witnesses Jesus’ arrest and Crucifiction, and is able to give Jesus a drink, vinegar on a sponge, returning Jesus’ favor. It is at the point of Jesus’ death on the cross that Ben Hur commits his life to Christ, realizing that Jesus was not an earthly king, but a heavenly king, and the saviour of the world.

Now clearly there wasn’t really a secret highly trained army waiting in the wings for Jesus, but the fact remains that there was a large crowd begging someone they thought was God’s annointed one to “Hosanna”.

Hosanna in hebrew means “Save Us”.

Hosanna in the highest

Hosanna Son of David

While it is an exclamation of praise, its underpinning is a cry for help. They were praising Jesus because they expected him to save them,

The Jews under Roman occupation, who face a heavy burden, who live in darkness have seen a great light. They have caught a glimpse of Hope. They expected Jesus to call them to arms.

Passover, and other pilgrimage festivals were hotbeds of anti-Roman sentiment. The Jews resented Roman occupation, and messiah figures took advantage of the crowds to incite violence. This violence was always met with overwhelming force and always ended in failure. The hope was that Jesus would succeed where others failed.

And Jesus did succeed, but not in the way they thought.

Jerusalem had a garrison of roman soldiers stationed at it which was reinforced for the major pilgrimage festivals. These reinforcements, marching in full imperial trappings, came from the west about a week before the festival proper to prevent uprisings. A week before the Passover, perhaps even the same day as the arrival of the troops, Jesus entered Jerusalem from the eastern gate treated as royalty.

But the entire time, he challenged the assumption of being a military messiah, by drawing on powerful symbols. In a world of violent revolutionaries, Jesus’ actions prove that his kingdom is a kingdom of peace.

 While the roman general would have come in on a war horse portraying might, Jesus rode in on a donkey, a symbol of peace from the prophet Zechariah who spoke of a king of peace, “lowly and riding on a donkey”.

Justin Martyr also connected Jesus’ use of a foal to Genesis 49 when Jacob is blessing Judah saying a ruler will come from Judah who would bring peace and tie his donkey’s colt to the choice vine.

The crowd laying their coats on the ground is symbolic of with when Jehu was proclaimed King in 2^nd Kings and his followers put their coats on the stairs in front of him (though this seems like a tripping hazard to me).

The Palm Branches are important to both Hebrew and Roman cultures. 200 years earlier, Palm Branches were part of the victory celebration following the Maccabean revolt. The Maccabee Brothers had led a revolt against Greek Oppressors. Jews in Jesus’ time saw themselves as in a similar situation as their forbearers, and thought that if they could do it once they could do it again all they needed was a leader.

Palm Branches were also important to Roman Mythology, they were a symbol of the goddess Nike or Victory, so the Romans would see the waving of palm branches as Jesus claiming victory.

However, while Jesus is greeted enthusiastically on Sunday, while they call him “son of David”, and “the one who comes in the name of the Lord,” we as readers recognize the truth to these statements more than the crowd saying them does! When asked who Jesus is, they say that he is “Jesus the Prophet”!

The crowds didn’t realize Jesus’ divine significance. He merely is a prophet standing up against injustice, not the victorious king of Peace, the son of God that he truly is.

The Irony continues in the Crowd’s fickleness.

 By Wednesday Judas has agreed to betray Jesus, Thursday Jesus is arrested and by Friday the crowds that cheered his triumphal entry are calling for his execution. Palm Sunday is not a simply a joyous festival, but a symbol of the blindness and fickleness of human loyalties. It is a pageant of “Royalty and death”. The one called king, is also crucified. Jesus is only vindicated on Resurrection Sunday.

In light of the resurrection, Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem provides hope for the hopeless. Jesus’ Kingdom is not of this world. No earthly country is truly a Christian Nation. But wherever we find ourselves, we commit ourselves to following our true King, Jesus Christ. It is our loyalty to the Kingdom of God that calls us to welcome the refugee, to put together relief Kits for Mennonite Central Committee,

It’s the reason why Michael Sharp dedicated his life as a peace worker with Mennonite Central Committee and the United Nations. He would walk unarmed into rebel camps to drink tea and share stories. In 2013, he said “If Jesus’ example is for everyone everywhere, what does that look like in eastern Congo, where war has been the norm for 20 years?” The 34 year old from Kansas worked with a program that has convinced 1600 Rwandan rebels in the DRC to stop fighting, in doing so they give hope to future generations, the children of these men now have the opportunity to go to school, rather than living in a Jungle and being illiterate. Two weeks ago Michael was kidnapped and killed while investigating human rights abuses. He gave his life following Jesus.

Jesus walked into Jerusalem, a city under enemy occupation, in the name of peace. As we take the final steps of our Lenten Journey, as we approach the cross, we follow Our King of Peace. Most of us will not lose our lives trying to reach rebels in the Jungle, though that is a possibility. We are called however to live our lives following Jesus’ example. We are called to bring hope to those around us.

  

Last Monday, I shared the story of the Triumphal Entry with the kids club. We talked about how Jesus is the King of Heaven. Every week at Kids Club, we finish by praying the Lord’s Prayer, which says “Your Kingdom Come here on earth as it is in heaven.” I asked them what that means, and one of the kids said that we are supposed to love God and love each other. As we finish today’s sermon, would you please join me in praying the prayer that Jesus taught us and think about the hope it offers us:

Our Father, who art in Heaven, Hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven, give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For yours is the kingdom, the power and the glory, forever and ever, amen.