10.30 Holy Communion for Palm Sunday, All Saints Oakham
Matthew 21. 1-11, Philippians 2.5-11, Matthew 21.12-17
Well, we stand, once again, at the “threshold of Holy Week”. Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, in his essay “A good Holy Week” says “Think of Holy Week as an opera, and Palm Sunday as the overture” This is vibrant drama enacted in liturgy which will enfold in the 4 signature services of Holy Week – Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Day.
In medieval times, ideally the blessing of palms started in another church. It included not only branches from palms, but olive and other trees. (Matthew doesn’t specify the type of branch). 6 prayers picked up a range of biblical symbolism – the olive branch brought back to Noah’s Ark by the dove; the olive tree that produces the oil of anointing, and is a symbol of peace; the palm a symbol of victory over death.
Today, seems to me, to be a complex mix of opposites – triumph & disaster; power (glory)& humility; war & peace; praise & lament; Spectating & participating. (Perhaps holding opposites together is part of Christian faith, and speaks of a unity in difference and contrast)
Certainly this entry is a triumph. In Matthews gospel, this is the first and last time in his ministry where Jesus enters Jerusalem. It seems as though it was a planned entry – arrangements had been made in advance about Jesus’ mode of transport (when and by whom we don’t know). Nothing in the immediately preceding days prepares us for this outburst from the crowd. Matthews language conveys that the crowd was huge. And in the phrase “the whole city was stirred up”. he uses a Greek word from which we get “Seismic”. The very ground shakes beneath people’s feet. But we know that disaster.(In the usual Palm Sunday liturgy it is explicit with the reading of the passion.)
In many ways this entry is glorious. It is Jesus explicitly laying a claim to be The Messiah. Matthew’s quote, (partly Isaiah 62:11 and ;partly Zechariah 9:9.) declares Jesus’s entry as a fulfilment of this Messianic prophecy – and the crowd will have picked up the allusion too. “Look, your king is coming to you,” And that claim continues with the cleansing of the temple. One commentator suggests that the overturning of the tables in the temple is not so much about cleansing, but rather Jesus “Staking his Messiah claim in the temple of his people” (Again fulfilling a prophecy from Zechariah 14;21 “There shall no longer be a trader in the house of the Lord of hosts.”)
And the Palm Sunday crowd acknowledge Jesus as Messiah – with palm branches waving, the laying down of cloaks, the shouts of Hosanna. All signal a royal entry. In fact there is more. Hosanna means “God saves now”. And this shout of Hosanna is picked up by the children in the Temple – even out of the mouths of babes and infants – much to the annoyance of the High Priests.
Glorious, but there are plenty of signs that this entry is just as much about humility. This isn’t a Messiah arriving on a white charger & chariot – it’s a lowly ass. It’s an unexpected Messiah. The expectation of the seismic crowd is that this is the man who will lead them in battle against the occupying Romans – the route to freedom. But instead, it is about peace, love and compassion rather than armies, battles and conquests. I don’t know if you watched the Installation of the archbishop of Canterbury.The church of England can do pomp really well -processions, singing, trumpets . But after knocking for admittance Sarah Mullally was met by 3 school children, to be asked 3 questions, the last of which was “How do you come among us and with what confidence?” The reply? “I know nothing except Jesus Christ and him crucified, and in weakness and fear and much trembling.” It was a moving moment. “glory is found in service not position.”
And we can see very clearly the movement from Praise – the acclamation of the crowd – to lament, Jesus almost violently lamenting the intrusion into the temple of traders who should and could have been located outside instead of inside the Temple. And then back again to the praise of the children.
So what can we ponder on as Holy Week begins? Let me suggest 3 things:-
1.Todays political “big beasts” are pursuing a path of overpowering; war; hatred and violence. Jesus is turning the world upside down in the opposite way. Power becomes meekness; war becomes peace; hatred becomes love; violence becomes submission. And, humility will triumph over aggression. It’s in the DNA of Christ’s triumph over death and his resurrection. (Paul says it beautifully in Philippians 2.)
2. In the final analysis love will prevail. And love never forces.God does not arrive through force. God comes gently; persistently; without coercion.”God does not overwhelm us into love.God invites us into it”. A king who does not dominate, but walks alongside. A king who does not avoid suffering, but enters into it. Jesus is not entering Jerusalem to take power. He is entering to redefine power. Are we willing to follow this kind of king?
3. What are the forces that move events from this triumphal entry to a lonely cross? We will see in Holy week the full spectrum of human character from dark to light. We will see envy, enmity, party factions, jockeying for position. We will see hope turning into disappointment; disappointment into frustration.
And frustration, eventually, into rejection. And if we are honest, we can recognise those same patterns in our own world — and even, at times, in ourselves. And each person steps back just enough, and in that space, injustice moves forward. Moments when we stay quiet rather than speak. Moments when we protect what is comfortable rather than what is right.”So Palm Sunday is not just a story we remember. It is a mirror we are invited to look into.
I began with Stephen Cottrell comparing Palm Sunday to an opera. However this isn’t a drama where we are expected to be spectators. Yes one of the most difficult things about Holy Week is – do we have the capacity to “stay and watch” to do “slow looking”, as the terrible events unfold. But we are also invited to be participants in Christ’s journey to death and resurrection. – to enter into the drama. The power of our liturgies is, as Orthodox theologian Alexander Schmemann puts it, the “re-entrance of the Church into the event . . . not merely its ‘idea,’ but its joy or sadness, its living and concrete reality. . . . For us and to us all this happens today.”
I always finish with a hymn – so the last verse of Ride on, Ride on
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.
Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards. Søren Kierkegaard (1813 – 1855) was a Danish philosopher.