Who Is This?
“Who Is This?”
Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29 Matthew 21:1-11
Palm Sunday, Year A, April 2, 2023
First Presbyterian Church of Sandpoint, Idaho
Andrew Kennaly, Pastor
Today is Palm Sunday, one week before Easter. Some people call it Passion-Palm Sunday, mostly because people don’t tend to commit to midweek worship services, such as Maundy Thursday, so if you don’t mention the Passion of Christ today, the jump from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday misses the crucifixion. The Passion of Jesus involves his being arrested, crucified, and buried, hardly something that can be skimmed over, yet the reality is that most people do.
Can you believe that three years ago the sanctuary was closed due to Covid? We had a bucket sitting out at the bottom of the steps and people could come by and take palm branches out of the bucket. It seems like a few people did, but most of the palms stayed in the bucket, even on a busy street corner like North Fourth Avenue and Larch Street. In our culture, observance of church tradition is in decline. Easter egg hunts and chocolate bunnies are still around, but not many people go out of their way to get a palm branch one week before Easter.
We even have eco-palms, ordered through a program that ensures these branches are harvested sustainably, and farmers are given a fair wage for their labor. Palm branches are intended to help us think about Jesus facing his fears as he courageously enters Jerusalem.
The Triumphal entry, Matthew’s version, has Jesus entering Jerusalem as people lay their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and lay them on the road. The people have expectations, for Jesus to be the beginning of a political rebellion. But Jesus is very selective in his choice of a colt, foal, donkey, depending on which Gospel you read. Jesus comes in peace, humbly, without aggression. He has learned, and models for us, what a life in unity with God looks like when the fears of one’s ego structures are dismantled.
Jesus knows exactly what is facing him in Jerusalem, yet he chooses non-violent resistance that’s grounded on Love: love for God, love of his True Self as Son of God, love for others, even love for his enemies because there are no distinctions when all are viewed as one; when the unity of shared consciousness is experienced, when Grace as Reality shines forth in your heart and soul, transforming your mind.
The speech that the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. gives the night before his assassination tells how he has seen a vision of the Promised Land and he is not afraid of what may happen to him. He acknowledges that he might not be able to get there with those struggling for freedom, but he knows freedom’s light will shine. Or the priest then archbishop, Oscar Romero who shared ministry with the poor in El Salvador as he embraced Liberation Theology and spoke out for social justice amidst escalating violence. He continued to serve despite the death threats until he was killed as he led mass one day. He was assassinated for his faithful efforts.
People like King and Romero get to a point where love is their only focus, serving others their priority, and sacrifice just part of the deal. They have already died to any sense of non-reflective ego. Life is no longer about them, but about coming alongside the archetypal pattern Jesus shows, a pattern that transforms suffering through love’s larger purpose of bringing wholeness and healing to humanity and the larger world.
Our specific and unique life is part of a larger whole and a greater unity. This is the approach Jesus has as he enters Jerusalem with humility and courage, and yet is confronted by people who constantly judge, either that he is their political savior or that he is an enemy. With this mentality you are either in or you are out. By the end of the week, Jesus is condemned by religion and executed by the State, for blasphemy and sedition. This is an action taken by those who want to maintain power and control. Yet simply by riding a symbolic animal of humility and peace into this sea of judgment, Jesus points out the need to move beyond, that culture and religion need to evolve. Not only can people change what they think or assume, but they can invite change in how our mind processes, take on a whole new way of thinking. Centered in Christ, people are called away from dualistic judgments that cling to their false self, which is an identity laced with fear. People are called to trust at the heart level an inclusive love that has no end.
The world struggles with fear, worry, angst, anxiety, threats and spirals of violence, political pressures; all expressions of the tension of living in a world that judges, measures, compares, counts, and defends based on frames of reference of unexamined egos. Yet by entering Jerusalem, Jesus shows us the power of love and humility, and we’re invited to notice God in our midst. That awareness, like Jesus on a donkey, carries a vision and intent of God’s love for the world.
In the days ahead, holy week shows a pattern of struggle and suffering, which leads to blame and accusation. Pain is projected onto others, and this perpetuates a mindset that will not be adequate to resolve it. This is indicative of the need for systemic change.
The Jesus journey is an opportunity to remain open to a heart change, an expanded spirit, a deep unity, a more compassionate expression of life. Anger, fear, defensiveness; these energies only get us so far. Collaboration, trust, and love, expressed in the Peace of Christ and embodied in Jesus, call us to learn faith’s art of letting go, to contemplate on God so our actions are based, not on our fear, or our desire for control, or on blame or accusing; but centered on Christ’s path of reconciliation and renewed spirits.
As we wave a branch today, this shows our desire for the depths of God’s loving presence, for God’s action and activity in our lives. We wave a branch in solidarity with all of creation, and ask God to help us live, in Christ, as people of the Earth who trust the journey into a deeper unity with all things. May the waving action itself share peace in each moment, breath by breath. Happy Palm Sunday, as we humble ourselves before the Lord, to live Christ-infused lives. And with each breath, may God’s humble and powerful love be experienced as we learn who this Jesus is, the One we follow, NOW, even as forever. Amen.