DEEDS OF [humble] POWER
“DEEDS OF [humble] POWER”
Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29 Luke 19:28-40
Palm Sunday, Year C, April 14, 2019
Pastor Andy Kennaly
Sandpoint, Idaho
Today the church is decorated not only with Palms, but these are sustainably harvested. As we wave palm branches to commemorate Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem shortly before his death and resurrection, we can be glad that this congregation has chosen to support Fair Trade, in which the suppliers of these palms from places like the Maya Biosphere Reserve in northern Guatemala, are not victims of exploitation, but partners. More than 1,000 Presbyterian congregations order eco-palms, adding up to almost 1 million palm fronds. The Presbyterian Church (USA)’s Hunger Program coordinates this. Jessica Maudlin, the Associate for Sustainable Living and Earth Care for the Presbyterian Hunger Program, shares about how this has come about by saying, “Most of the harvesters are men. But when the quality control and packaging warehouses were set up, the women were able to do that work. Even then, though, the men were still in management. After some time and training, the women realized that they could run the facility and have been doing so ever since. This project isn’t just about fair trade, but it’s also about caring for the Earth and empowering women in new ways.”
(By the way, the Presbyterian Hunger Program is supported by the One Great Hour of Sharing offering, which is received this time of year). The Irvington Presbyterian Church in Indianapolis is featured in a recent article, and that congregation uses eco palms, like ours does. They use the Presbyterian Coffee project using Equal Exchange coffee for their Fellowship Time, like ours does as we order organic coffee. That congregation also uses the Rainforest to Rainforest Program which supplies greenery and Christmas wreaths in the same way.
If you come to worship and are given a palm branch, and head down to Fellowship Time and have some coffee during the Deacons Palm Sunday Brunch, then you need to realize there are many, many people that have worked to make those things possible for you to experience. These simple things depend on behind the scenes work across the nations and years of shared ministry. It’s amazing how such simple objects have such a huge impact on actual lives of people. That impact, in this case, is positive in its effects.
Funny how Luke’s Gospel doesn’t mention palm branches at all. The Triumphal Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem has no palms, only cloaks as people spread fabric on the ground and on the colt. Matthew, Mark, and Luke are called the Synoptic Gospels because so many stories overlap in their writing about Jesus and his ministry. 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.”
You don’t see very many churches celebrating “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. Just which version of Palm Sunday is the real deal? What is the truth, and how can we biblically verify it?
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 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 said, “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.”
Friends, this year marks the 25th year since I was ordained as a pastor in October of 1994. I’ve preached on over 20 Palm Sundays, and all of them have featured palm branches. But as confusing as the scriptures themselves seem to be on who does what, where things come from, and what animals are involved, it’s amazing that anyone agrees on anything. Not only that, but the symbolism is also confusing. Palm branches are like flags of the 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 prosperous at that. 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.
The years of Jesus’ ministry have led to this point. His background is not static, and we can presume that as he went along, Jesus learned and grew in his understanding of what ministry involves. Jesus is from Nazareth, and as John the Baptizer, from the Essene community, preached repentance, purgation, and discipline, Jesus was right in line for his ministry to do just what those cloaks and branches were ushering him toward, and as someone who has taken a Nazarite vow, Jesus is expected to base ministry on judgment and renunciation.
But this story in all the overlapping accounts has an interesting undercurrent that indicates a tremendous shift in the life of Jesus. While the crowds of disciples hail his entry into Jerusalem with triumph, Jesus makes very clear that he is more interested in humility, in having a stance of being open to the flow of God’s Spirit, not from withholding, but from a purity of heart. Jesus is not in a political parade, he is on a path of love. This path doesn’t fit the mold of the political systems and religious leaders. They are unconscious to God’s larger Presence, and their ego-centric views label Jesus as an enemy, and so it’s not long before he’s arrested and killed for sedition, as a threat to the establishment. But Jesus chooses to enter Jerusalem anyway, because love casts out fear.
In last Tuesday’s Taize-styled Lenten devotional, the facilitator shared some reflections that focus on three things we can do to free our energy from struggling to maintain our self-importance and instead, focus our actions on love. She said the first is acceptance. This is a way to receive reality as it is, without the need to change it. Simply knowing that all is as it should be, because we live in a benevolent universe, we don’t need to struggle to force things into how we wish they were. Another thing we can do is take responsibility, and not blame or react or get led astray by our feelings. We do have the ability for creative responses to a situation or person. We can take responsibility by choosing love. A third thing is defenselessness. We don’t feel the need to manipulate others or force our point of view. By remaining open to other points of view we are released from rigidity, from attachment and ego-identity that only tries to defend it’s position.
You can see in these stories of Jesus on a donkey or colt all these aspects modeled as Jesus accepts his context and situation and how people are doing what they are doing, he takes responsibility to choose love no matter what comes his way, and he is not afraid of defenselessness, but chooses the path of descent to let go of everything in order to enter God’s spacious, loving Presence, and in that, discovering his True Essence. God’s Holy Spirit is at work through all the details that have led Jesus to this point and his years of ministry and all the little experiences along the way now culminate in this gospel narrative.
So, which version do you want? Do you want a political Jesus, one that rallies people in excitement to make Israel great again? Do you want Jesus and his ministry which the crowds are hyped up about to involve “deeds of power and glory?” They announce blessings on the king, yet Jesus never calls himself a king. Or do you want to look at the back story, the imagery and the details which overlap all the accounts? Things like Jesus going through Bethphage at the Mount of Olives, by Bethany. Remember, that’s where Mary, probably Mary Magdalene the Apostle to the Apostles, anoints Jesus for his death, illustrating love’s unity. And Jesus sending disciples to work together as their mission involves service, and in their work finding the words of Jesus to be true. As Jesus approaches Jerusalem, the road is going down, and this imagery is important. Jesus is on the path of descent, as he shows us the art of letting go, not in a renunciation, but in humiliation, in humbling. Jesus enters Jerusalem truly humbled.
Notice the bottom of Luke’s passage, the part where some of the
“Pharisees in the crowd said to him, ‘Teacher, order your disciples to stop.’ He answered, ‘I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.’”
Depending on which version you want, we could say this is about God’s 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 trying to silence the lower classes, using authority to command a certain outcome. They are telling 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. Jesus is using the power of the people to confront unjust systems in order to bring about change, using non-violence and organized action as a political tool in the face of a power imbalance.
Or we could 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, so whether it’s disciples or stones, God’s glory is honored and God’s purpose is fulfilled. All creation is wrapped up in this moment and movement of divine love. No single political system or religious structure can contain the unbounded grace and perennial Wisdom of God and the depths of creativity through the Christ consciousness, which holds all things together without duality or exclusion; everything is held in tension and paradox and everything belongs.
Wave your branches and wave them well. Feel good about helping farmers through sustainable agricultural practices and fair wages and equal work which claim economic and social justice. But also realize that Jesus is showing us the human path is not always easy. Preparing for Christ’s Passion and the Easter story is about opening our hearts, giving God consent to fill us, use us, send us, and humble us in the same model of ministry Jesus chooses, not as an Essene, or Zealot, or Nazarite, or any other label of distinction; but as one humbled, beyond labeling, sharing the peace of heaven with the world in self-giving ways.
The donkey is participating, the stones are participating, Jesus is participating, the disciples and the crowds are participating, and we are invited to participate in praising God, trusting God, and sharing in the steadfast love of God. God help us on the path of descent and we journey deeper into love, both NOW, and forever. Amen.