Palm Sunday: Psalm 118:1-2,19-29 Luke 19: Passion Sunday: Isaiah 50:4-9a Psalm 31:9-16 Philippians 2:5-11 Luke 22:14 23:56

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1 Ocean View and Frankford Presbyterian Churches (DE) Palm / Passion Sunday (Year C) March 24, 2013 Palm Sunday: Psalm 118:1-2,19-29 Luke 19:28-40 Passion Sunday: Isaiah 50:4-9a Psalm 31:9-16 Philippians 2:5-11 Luke 22:14 23:56 I. INTRODUCTION A. It Begins with a Parade I presume that most of us love parades. Parades honor those who have done something spectacular. Parades are the way we celebrate: the Fourth of July, or Veterans Day, or Returns Day, or the end of summer tourist season, or whatever. Parades provide us with a snapshot of ourselves at our finest, as we wish to see ourselves. Today s story from the gospels begins with a parade. It ends with a person s death. We have long noted the irony of this. We say that, one moment people hail Jesus as their king, yet the next moment people call for his crucifixion. How is it that this is possible? How is it that we can be so fickle? II. BODY A. The Parade in Luke The parade we witness this morning is a curious blend of two different parades. 1. Passover This was the time of the Passover. Passover was one of the pilgrim festivals in Judaism, a festival at which it was incumbent for devout Jews to make the pilgrimage to Jerusalem to join in its 1

2 celebration. Pilgrims were coming from far and near: not just from within Israel, but throughout the many nations into which Jews had long since been scattered throughout that part of the world. Jesus entered Jerusalem in the midst of a vast throng of pilgrims. Passover was a joyful celebration, and everyone was caught up in that joy. The excitement would be peaking as people, after long, arduous, and dangerous journeys, would be arriving at their destination, making the last few steps into the hallowed city of Jerusalem. Everyone would have been singing one of the entrance psalms or one of the Hallel psalms; they had these memorized. Jerusalem was soon to be bursting at the seams with devout celebrants. Passover, we recall, was instituted to celebrate the liberation of God s people from slavery in Egypt. And so, it looked to the past. Yet they celebrated that past event in a curious way. In the liturgy, participants spoke of that ancient redemption in the first person, as though they themselves were the ones being liberated. This was far from being a simple memorial celebration. At the close of the service, celebrants, after singing Psalm 118 the psalm we earlier read said this, Next year Jerusalem! A place at the table would have been set for Elijah, the prophet who was to make an appearance at the time of God s liberation from its current oppressor. The Passover, then, also looked forward in time. It was a festival anticipating God s future once-and-for-all redemption from its oppressors. Perhaps this redemption would take place within their own lifetimes. This sense of expectancy burned brightly among the pilgrims to Jerusalem. How they longed to be freed from their dreaded Roman overlords. How they longed for an independent kingdom of their own. Perhaps the Messiah, the one who was to bring this liberation to pass, was amongst them now. What better time for him to assert himself than when we are all here now in this one place. This expectation burned brightly among Jesus own followers. As they themselves said following Jesus crucifixion, But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel, (Luke 24:21); Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel? (Acts 1:6). Jesus joined an existing parade of joyful, and hopeful, Passover celebrants. Jesus is making a claim. He is the Messiah who comes to redeem Israel. 2

3 Conflict will arise because the very thought of messiah brings to mind all sorts of expectations we have for Jesus. We want our enemy defeated, whoever that enemy is today. Once freed from our enemy, how wonderful our lives will be. Jesus, however, will be his own Messiah. Jesus understands the real enemies are the powers, the powers of evil and death. And the means he defeats the powers is weakness, his obedience to God, and his submission to those powers in crucifixion. How vicious we can be when someone raises our expectations only to disappoint us. 2. Greco-Roman Triumph Jesus appropriated this parade, however, as his own. He did it by mimicking another kind of parade. This was the Greco-Roman triumph. The triumph would have been familiar to all those pilgrims. It was a well-choreographed event to welcome into the city someone of royal dignity, or a conquering hero, or victor. This king, seated upon a horse (or donkey [as in Zechariah 9:9-10]), would have been escorted into the city by its citizens. The procession would be accompanied by hymns of acclamation. Various elements in the procession would acknowledge the dignity and authority of the person, such as spreading garments on the road. And finally, the entrance came to culmination as the king entered the Temple and performed sacrifices. We cannot help notice that, point for point, Jesus entrance into Jerusalem was patterned on this triumph ceremony. This act mimicking Roman practices appeared earlier in Luke s gospel. The heavenly messengers, who heralded Jesus birth to shepherds, appropriated the royal birth announcement. It was as though they were defiantly saying, You think that your newborn Roman emperor will usher in an era of peace, well, let us tell you about the real King who brings lasting peace, the one born in Bethlehem. Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors! (Luke 2:14). So here, at the end of the Gospel, Jesus appropriates the royal triumphal entry to say something about his person and mission. Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven! (Luke 19:38). Jesus joined in the Passover parade of pilgrims, but did so as the King, the King who comes in triumph. 3

4 Conflict will arise because the very thought of king brings to mind all sorts of expectations we have for Jesus. We want the king to bring security and prosperity. We want a kingdom filled with our own kind. Jesus will be his own King. His Kingdom will be one filled with the outcasts with whom he associated and to whom he ministered throughout his brief ministry. His Kingdom will be one in which every human barrier is broken down. He throws open the gate. Entering into it are Jews and Gentiles, slaves and free, men and women, sinners and Pharisee. And Jesus will send us out to proclaim that Kingdom. It will be a dangerous endeavor. How vicious we can be when someone raises our expectations only to disappoint us. III. CONCLUSION A Clash of Expectation 1. We Have Noted the Irony We note the irony between Palm Sunday and Good Friday, between the welcome Jesus is given as he enters the city and the rejection of him as people cry out for his execution. We may just dismiss this as the fickleness of a crowd pulled first one way and then another. 2. Conflict Between People s Expectations for Jesus and the Person/Mission of Jesus The problem in this story is that the expectations of the people are in fundamental contradiction to Jesus own person and mission. In all of the events of these last few days, Jesus remains the same. It is the expectations that people have for Jesus that are, at first, piqued, then dashed. And so it is that Jesus is one moment hailed and the next rejected. a. Point of Connection We also Have Expectations for Jesus To see this as a clash of expectation takes this story out of the distant past and places it in our midst. For we also have expectations of Jesus. In the midst of a triumphal entry, we also are filled with excitement. Here is someone with power, one who has the ability to change the current situation, one who listens to our wishes, one who 4

5 takes our cause to heart, one who can make a difference. Our expectations for Jesus are those that turn Jesus into our cosmic servant, one who allows us to live as we please and pursue our own goals. b. Who Is Jesus? What Is His Mission? The story comes down to this. Who is Jesus and what, exactly, is his mission? The entire story hinges on our acceptance of Jesus: accepting Jesus as Messiah and King, but the Messiah and King as he embodies these roles. It hinges on us aligning our will with Jesus person. c. Our Expectations of Jesus Are Too Small As with the religious and political authorities in the passion story, the problem is not that our expectations for Jesus are too great. The problem is that our expectations for Jesus are so very, very small. 5