Scripture Lesson: Zechariah 9:9 Matthew 21:1-17 THE PALM AND THE CROSS (04/17/11) Lo, your king comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. (Zechariah 9:9) Today is Palm Sunday, a day of celebration. It marks not only Jesus triumphal entry into Jerusalem, but also the beginning of Holy Week, one of the most profound and deeply symbolic weeks in human history. On this day churches throughout the world distribute palms to their communicants. The palms may be in the form of long palm branches or they may be in other forms. This morning I would like us to reflect on the symbolism of the palm cross which you hold in your hand, its meaning for Jesus and its meaning for your life. First, let us try to understand what happened on what we know as Palm Sunday. The account of Jesus triumphal entry into Jerusalem is recorded in all four gospels. However, only the Gospel of John mentions the use of palms. Matthew and Mark relate that some people in the crowd cut leafy branches from the trees and spread them on the road. Luke doesn t mention branches at all, but says that people spread their cloaks on the road before Jesus. Only John says that the people took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him. What is the symbolism of the palm? The palm tree is a symbol of longevity. The palm branch was also a symbol of the revolution against Rome. It symbolized the hope that Jesus would be the political and military as well as religious leader that would free his people from the yoke of Roman oppression. If the palms symbolized the hope that Jesus would be the one from the House of David who would unite Israel and rule as David had done, then the events that followed must have been disappointing. Jesus did not turn out to be the Messiah for whom the people had longed. In fact, there is scant evidence that he ever thought of himself this way. His kingdom, the Kingdom of God, was a spiritual, not a political kingdom. The gospels present Jesus entry into Jerusalem as the exact and literal fulfillment of a somewhat obscure prophecy by Zechariah. That Jesus actions exactly mirror this prophecy poses several problems. 1
One problem is the matter of whether Jesus consciously intended to fulfill this prophecy. Did he have this particular text in mind as he planned his entry into Jerusalem? By evoking symbols that would not have been familiar to the Romans, he might have been declaring to his people that he was indeed the Messiah. The problem is that he had previously demurred on this matter. It is also possible that the early church wrote this passage in as a legendary overlay, either assuming it had happened this way because they wanted it to have happened this way, or because they wanted to convince the Jews that Jesus was truly the Messiah. If Jesus had had this passage from Zechariah in mind and planned his entry accordingly, then both the cutting of the palm branches and the selection of the animal that bore him into the city must have been staged. If the owner of the colt were a follower of Jesus it would explain why he knew the password: The Lord has need of it. We note that the owner didn t hesitate when asked for the colt, nor did he ask whom the disciples meant when they said the Lord. Do you think Jesus would have set it up like this? It seems out of character for him to be so theatrical. We need to remember how he forbade the dissemination of information about his healings and his other miracles. If he were trying to be proclaimed as the Messiah, one would think that he would have made this point earlier and more consistently throughout his ministry. Whether they are a political statement or not, the palms that are associated with Jesus triumphal entry into Jerusalem symbolize the beginning of Holy Week. They evoke feelings of celebration, honor, and triumph. Some churches celebrate Palm Sunday by having a procession around the church. The ashes that are obtained from burning the leftover palms are distributed to worshippers on Ash Wednesday the following year. I like the palm branches that are traditionally distributed on Palm Sunday, but I also like these palm crosses. The proceeds from the sale of these crosses, which are hand made, help the inhabitants of a little village in Africa build hospitals and schools. In a very small way, they become another part of our mission outreach as a church. But the palm crosses mean more than this. They combine the palm, a symbol of honor, celebration and triumph, with the cross, a symbol of sadness, defeat, and death. The opposites in the life of Jesus and also the opposites in our lives are contained in this powerful symbol. The events of Holy Week are not only historical; they are personal. They not only happened to Jesus of Nazareth; they happen to us. The deeper truths of Holy Week are not 2
simply historical truths; they are eternal truths, truths about life. As we participate in the events of Holy Week, we walk the path that Jesus walked. Think about it. Isn t the symbolism of the palm cross true of life? Isn t it true of our lives? We live a life that is full of opposites. There are moments of triumph and moments of defeat. There are moments of joy and moments of sadness. There are times of pleasure and times of a pain we cannot escape. There are times when we feel strong and on top of life and times when we feel weak and vulnerable. This is the symbolism of the palm cross. Throughout this Lenten season I have been trying to help us identify several love languages, different ways that we express love within the context of a friendship, a marriage, or one s relationship with a child. The theme of the palm cross is not technically one of the love languages, but it speaks to the matter of the deepest kind of love. It speaks to the matter of the kind of love that we would hope to create in our marriages. It speaks to the matter of what the Roman Catholic Church has called true or sacramental love. I know we like to think of ourselves here in American as #1 in just about everything. Being #1 is a source of national pride. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. Of all the countries in the world, we rank 10 th in the overall prosperity index. We are 6 th in the percentage of our young people who are enrolled in college. In terms of life expectancy we are 27 th. We are 28 th when it comes to satisfaction with our standard of living, and with regard to providing adequate food and shelter for our citizens we are 31 st. There is one area where our claim to be #1 is truly uncontested. We have a higher rate of divorce than any other country in the world. We also have the most guns and the most death from guns in a country that is not torn by war, but that s not my point. Our reflections on that will have to wait for another day. Allow me to speak in generalities. I would never, and I emphasize the word never, pass judgment on someone who has initiated a divorce. We should not pass judgment on someone unless we have walked a mile in his/her shoes. I can think of a number of situations when, as either a minister or a psychologist, I fully supported someone s decision to file for divorce. Some marriages are simply intolerable, but then I wouldn t consider most of those relationships a true or sacramental marriage. So I am not passing judgment on anyone specifically when I raise some general issues about our high rate of divorce. 3
Social psychologists have raised the possibility that the high rate of divorce in our country may have something to do with our cultural attitudes about marriage. Many young people enter into marriage with feelings of happiness, and they expect this feeling of happiness to continue. When it fades away, as it tends to do in a marriage, they experience it as an injustice. They assume that something must be wrong. Since what is wrong in their marriage obviously has nothing to do with them, the blame must lie with their partner. If their partner can not or will not make them happy, they feel they are entitled to find their happiness elsewhere. Whatever gave us the idea that marriage is about happiness? It is not about happiness. It is not about pleasure. It is not about getting our needs met. If we enter into marriage with the correct understanding, it can become the container within which we can grow into fullness of life. Marriage, if it is a true or sacramental marriage, can teach us what true love is all about. It can actually teach us how to love. In this process, it can actually make us a more loving person. Think about the vows you took on your wedding day. You didn t promise to make your partner happy, to meet your partner s needs, to fill your partner s life with pleasure. If your vows were anything like mine, you promised to love. You promised to love your partner to the very best of your ability. You promised to love your partner not only when things were going well, but also when things were not going well. It is the latter times, the more difficult seasons of our marriages, that teach us how to love on a deeper level. In our wedding vows we state publicly, before God and the community of our family and friends, that we will love our partner for better and for worse, for richer and for poorer, in sickness and in health. When we expand our understanding of sickness to include the kind of psychological, emotional, and relational problems that often arise within a marriage container, we can see what a powerful vow this actually is. When things are going well in my marriage, I don t need to think about the vows I took so many years ago. I feel connected with my wife on a feeling level. It is when we are going through difficult times, when we are struggling with either external or internal problems, that our love is tested. What kind of love would it be that bailed out when things became difficult? It would not be a true or sacramental love, the kind of love that hopefully evolves within a Christian marriage, and the kind of love that God has for us. I think some of the most beautiful expressions of love come when times are difficult, when they are painful, when they are even heartbreaking. I think of a minister from my 4
community who visited his mother at the state mental hospital where I worked every single day. She had suffered for many years from schizophrenia and now was suffering from dementia. She was bedridden and essentially in a coma. She probably didn t even know she had a visitor, let alone that the visitor was her son. Yet every single afternoon at precisely 2:00 p.m. he came to see her. Every single afternoon he picked up a dish of ice cream at the nearby Dairy Queen. And he gently, patiently, lovingly fed this ice cream to his mother. Then he kissed her on the forehead and left. I think this is the expression of a special kind of love. I think of members of this congregation who have cared for spouses who died from cancer. You shared life with your spouse when times were good and also when times were bad. You were by your partner s side in times of sickness and times of health. In a sacramental marriage, neither partner would walk away just because things got difficult. I also think of the kind of love that is shown by parents whose child has cerebral palsy, autism, or some other serious medical or developmental disorder, and I am humbled. This is a special kind of love. What kind of love would be contingent on a preponderance of happiness, pleasure, and well-being in a relationship? It would be a pretty shallow love. It is certainly not the kind of love that God holds for us, that God feels for us. If God loves us and is present to us in good times and bad, in times of joy and times of sorrow, in times of sickness and times of health, we should try to love each other in that way as well. As I look out on this congregation, I can think of many examples of the palm cross. Most of us have a lot to celebrate, a lot for which to be thankful. Most of us also carry burdens that we cannot lay aside but which at times seem heavier than we can carry. These burdens may have to do with our physical or psychological health. They may have to do with problems in our marriages. They often have to do with members of our families, with trying to share the burdens of those we love. We have a lot to celebrate in life. We also, most of us, carry a heavy cross. This is the symbolism of the palm cross that we hold in our hands this morning. These two symbols found expression in the life of Jesus; they frame his experience of Holy Week. These two symbols are also a part of our lives. They have given rise to and they are the expression of the very deepest and most beautiful kind of love. Every Palm Sunday, as we sing Ride On! Ride On in Majesty! I think of the mysterious nature of God s pageant -- that it is both happy and sad, a time of rejoicing and a 5
time of mourning. I think of what Jesus must have felt like as he rode into Jerusalem, how his heart must have been heavy. The palm and the cross: the light and the shadow sides of life. celebration: The hymn, which was written by Henry Milman in 1827, begins with a note of Ride on! ride on in majesty! Hark! all the tribes hosanna cry; O Saviour meek, pursue Thy road With palms and scattered garments strowed. Then the tone begins to change; the texture of the hymn begins to darken: Ride on! ride on in majesty! In lowly pomp ride on to die; O Christ, Thy triumphs now begin O er captive death and conquered sin. Ride on! ride on in majesty! The winged squadrons of the sky Look down with sad and wondering eyes To see th approaching sacrifice. Ride on! ride on in majesty! In lowly pomp ride on to die; Bow Thy meek head to mortal pain, Then take, O God, Thy power and reign. There are times when we, like Jesus, have our heads bowed by mortal pain. There are times when we, like Jesus, face the week that lies before us with a heavy heart. There are times when we, like Jesus, face the future feeling vulnerable and weak. There are time, like Jesus, when we wish God would take the bitter cup from us. But we have in our hands, in our lives, not only a cross but also a palm. Holy Week begins with the palm. Then it moves to the cup. Then it moves to the cross. But it doesn t end with the cross. It ends with the empty tomb, with new life. In the week to come, think about the palm-cross that symbolizes not only the events of Holy Week but also your week, not only Jesus life but also your life and the lives of those you love. Then step forth into the week, as Jesus did, knowing that amidst the joy and pain, the triumph and the tragedy, God is with us. We are not alone. Step forward knowing that somehow, in ways that may be unknown to us, in the darkest moments of our lives we will begin 6
to experience the triumph of which this hymn speaks. New life will begin to burst forth. This belief, this faith, this conviction, is the glorious celebration of Easter. A sermon preached by the Reverend Paul D. Sanderson The First Community Church of Southborough April 17, 2011 7