“Blessed Peace and Glory”
“Blessed Peace and Glory”
Palm Sunday, Year C, April 13, 2025 xrm
Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29 Luke 19:28-40
First Presbyterian Church of Sandpoint, Idaho
Andy Kennaly, Pastor
Here we are on Palm Sunday, and we have eco-palms that are sustainably harvested, and rather than exploit workers, we partner with growers so they can receive compensation through the Fair-Trade process. While capitalism would have us be savvy shoppers looking for the cheapest price, which forces growers into competitive modes that are not always the most beneficial for the Earth, the larger Church and those with a collaborative approach to Fair-Trade have created networks and cooperatives that pay farmers an amount that helps create sustainability for their livelihood and hopefully regenerative qualities that enhance the farms involved with raising crops, such as these palms.
Every year we get palm branches. Every year we wave them to remember Jesus’ triumphal entry and the beginning of Holy Week. Yet here we are in Lectionary Year C of a three-year, A-B-C cycle, with Luke as the controlling Gospel, and Luke doesn’t mention palm branches at all.
These verses of Jesus greeted by a crowd and a parade of people on his way to Jerusalem, mentions no palms, only cloaks as people spread fabric on the colt and on the road ahead of them.
Matthew, Mark, and Luke are called “Synoptic Gospels” because so many stories overlap about Jesus and his ministry. Synoptic starts with the letters, s-y-n, like the word synonym, which means words that are like other words. That s-y-n has to do with being the same only different, close, related, or similar in their meaning. Same with the Synoptic Gospels as Matthew, Mark, and Luke are very similar.
In Mark 11:8 it says, “Many people spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut in the fields.” In Matthew’s gospel, it’s not until chapter 21:8 when it says, “Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.”
Churches don’t celebrate “Cloak Sunday” by laying our coats in the aisle. And where are the branches from? In Mark they come from the fields, in Matthew they come from trees, and in Luke, there are no branches at all. So much for being similar. Which version of Palm Sunday is the real deal? What is the truth, and how can we biblically verify it if different texts have stories that don’t exactly match?
By the way, as we read in Luke the disciples go and untie the colt which has never been ridden and bring it to Jesus because “the Lord needs it.” Some translations of Luke say, “The Master needs it.” In Mark, the same thing happens. But in Matthew, they go and “find a donkey tied, and a colt with her.” In that one, they say, “The Lord needs them,” and they bring the donkey and the colt, they bring both, and put their cloaks on them, and apparently he rides both to fulfill the prophet Zechariah, who says, “Tell the daughter of Zion, Look, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”
I was ordained as a pastor a little over 30 years ago, October 16, 1994. I’ve preached many Palm Sundays, and in churches, all of them have featured palm branches. Even when we didn’t meet in person because of Covid, on Sunday morning when my wife and I came here, and Annie played the piano, and we did Facebook Live for streaming only because the sanctuary was empty, even that year we had a bucket outside at the bottom of the steps filled with palm branches in case anyone felt the urge to swing by and get one. I don’t know if anyone did, but it was there.
Every year the Palm Sunday scriptures change on who does what, where things come from, and what animals are involved. This story is hard to pin down. Not only that, but the variety of symbolism can be confusing. Palm branches are like flags of rebellion. People are ushering in a political savior, like a coup, in hopes that Jesus will kick out Rome and put Israel on top of all the nations, filled with power, totally strong and secure, dominating their enemies; and the palm branches symbolize that might makes right through Jesus the king. As they enter Jerusalem, it has the theme of an invasion. The people are excited, the disciples “praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen…”
The Pharisees of Jerusalem have a status-quo-self-interest to protect, so they tell Jesus to end this rebellious attention. They don’t want Rome to get upset. There’s no use getting a powerful country riled up enough for an invasion, especially if you are the smaller one that is already controlled, occupied by the larger force. This political action would likely lead to a disproportionate response, a total destruction.
It seems that human nature and the headlines of politics echo through the ages and the more things change the more they stay the same.
All the overlapping biblical accounts about Palm Sunday have an interesting undercurrent. The crowds and disciples hail Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem with triumph because they expect God’s judgment from the highest heaven to be swift and in their favor. But by the way he enters, Jesus makes very clear that Jesus is more interested in humility, and a stance of being open to the flow of God’s Spirit from a purity of heart.
Rather than a political parade, Jesus is on a path, and it’s a path of love. This path doesn’t fit the mold of the political systems and religious leaders, most of whom don’t comprehend a deep, spiritual path of love, but view Jesus as an enemy. It’s not long before he’s arrested and killed for what the leaders interpret as blasphemy and sedition, as a threat to the religious establishment and the Roman State’s politics of law and order. The context was set, but Jesus chooses to enter Jerusalem anyway.
In these stories of Jesus on a donkey or colt, he accepts his context and situation and how people are doing what they are doing, and he takes responsibility to choose to love no matter what comes his way. He doesn’t take the criticisms personally, and he doesn’t take the praises personally either; he doesn’t go for the title, King, he’s never promoted that, and earlier when people tried to make him king, he withdrew to a mountain in prayer by himself. Early in his public ministry, Jesus set the tone. By this parade time, Jesus has courage in the face of threats and chooses the path of descent, to let go of everything to enter God’s spacious, loving Presence, and in that, discovers his True Essence.
As the people lay their cloaks down in a sign of respect for royalty, as the disciples shout out blessings and praises to God, I got to wondering which version of this parade do we tend to favor? Which version do you want? Do you want a political Jesus, one that rallies people in excitement to his cause? Do you want Jesus and his ministry, which the crowds are hyped up about, to involve deeds of power and glory?
Imagery is important in how this text from Luke is interpreted. Is it telling you what you want to hear, reinforcing your own ego-centered notions of biblical truth? Or is it stretching you, a help to move deeper into love in ways you might not have anticipated? Jesus is on the path of descent, as he shows us the art of letting go, not in a renunciation, like penitence in Lent to help us repent, but humiliation, in humbling, awakening to our need for God, for spiritual insight, for wisdom’s guidance, and the Spirit’s presence. Jesus enters Jerusalem humbled.
This passage is more than political, involves more than human beings who push the margins of power and control and shape a narrative to their benefit. These verses also include the larger world. Notice the last part of Luke’s passage, where some of the “Pharisees in the crowd said to him, ‘Teacher, order your disciples to stop.’ He answers, ‘I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.’”
Depending on which version you want, we could say lots of things about that last dialogue. We could be encouraged that this is about God’s omnipotent power and purpose, unstoppable, and this recognizes divine action. We could also view this through social-justice angles and see the Pharisees as those in positions of power who push their authority to demand a certain outcome and try and silence the lower classes, of whom Jesus was part of. They tell Jesus what to do, and yet he doesn’t comply. Maybe in that sense, we could interpret this as Jesus illustrating the power of non-violent active resistance. This is a blueprint for revolution. Jesus uses the power of the people to confront unjust systems to bring change and, uses non-violence and organized action as a political tool in the face of a power imbalance.
We could also focus on the word “silent.” There is a play between silence and shouting, between the disciples and the stones. From a unity perspective, Jesus could be declaring God’s purpose and Presence in all things, whether disciples or stones. In all creation, God’s glory is honored and the purpose of God’s creative power is fulfilled. Whether people or stones, its all star-dust taking form to express the Living Christ.
No single political, economic, or social system, and no single religious structure or tradition can contain the unbounded grace and Wisdom of God. Blessed peace and glory rooted in creativity through the Christ consciousness, holds all things together without duality or exclusion; everything is held in tension and paradox, and everything belongs.
Whether you lay a cloak or wave a branch from a tree or from the field; as we wave our branches, we realize that Jesus shows us that the human path is not always easy. The path that seems to be headed somewhere, to a destination, gets twisted and just as we think we’ve arrived, something turns and we’re on the edge. But whether we’re close to center or on the fringe, it’s the same path and life involves taking one step at a time. Each step has its place, and the entire journey is one.
As he enters Jerusalem, Jesus shows us the Easter story is about opening our hearts to give God consent to fill us, use us, send us, and humble us in the same model of ministry Jesus chooses. Christ shares the peace of heaven with the world in self-giving ways.
The colt participates, the stones participate, Jesus participates, the disciples and the crowds and the religious leaders with mixed motives all participate, and we are invited to participate in praise and trust in God.
As we walk paths of contemplation and experience faith, love leads us to action as God helps us on the path of descent. As we journey deeper into love, both NOW, and forever, Peace and All Good be with you. Amen.