John 12:12-37, Palm Sunday
Introduction
When Jesus emerged on the public scene he was seemingly an overnight sensation. When he came to towns masses lined the streets. He would try to go off to be alone and the people would follow him. People would push their way through crowds just to touch the hem of us garment, they would climb trees just to get a better view of him, and even cut holes in roofs, just to be in his presence. Massive crowds came to hear him preach and a wave of divine expectation swept the region, all culminating with the ultimate display of his popularity (and demand) on Palm Sunday, when coats and leafy palm branches were spread before him to make a royal pathway and there were shouts of “Hosanna!” “Save us Jesus”.
Everywhere he went, in some form or another, the masses cheered for Jesus. But the cheering didn’t last. There came a point when the cheering stopped and the tide turned against him. But why? Why did the masses so quickly and easily turn against him? How did the shouts of “Hosanna” on Sunday transform into the shouts of “crucify him” by Friday? In just five days it all fell apart. Why? And I am not just talking about the immediate events that brought this about, but rather the underlying root causes. What were the deeper issues?
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Palm Sunday is always a jubilant, celebratory day. And if we allow for such then it sets up next Sunday quite well—“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Halleluiah, Jesus lives!” But we shouldn’t just go from the jubilation of Palm Sunday to the celebration of Easter because if we do then we miss the confronting answer to the question, “But why…did the cheering stop?”
The next six days are critically important for us to not skip over, because when we delve deeper into this Palm/Passion narrative, and then take this last bit of Lent to consider the fickle propensities of us human beings, several reasons begin to emerge as to why we humans so often struggle to become children of light, and why so often the cheering for Jesus stops.
Move 1
On this deeper dive to understand why the cheering stopped we begin to see as Jesus was drawing closer and closer to the cross, he was preaching, teaching and calling for more and more commitment.
Just before his triumphant entry into Jerusalem, a critical scene occurs, and even more significantly, it occurred in full view of the people. A rich young ruler came enthusiastically to Jesus, asking what it would take for him to inherit the kingdom of God. Jesus says: “Go and sell all that you have and give it to the poor and then come follow me.”
The masses were stunned, troubled first for a theological reason. They had been raised to believe God had blessed rich men. Yet, here is Jesus turning away the big money—and it bothered them, to say the least. But the bother went even deeper because for so long Jesus’ message had largely been one of grace and love and provision.
When 5,000 and more were hungry he feed them, when the sick were brought to him, he healed them. When a woman is caught in adultery, about to be stoned, it’s Jesus who intervenes on her behalf. The message of his ministry has been grace, his presence that of giving and acceptance. But now Jesus is asking for something. It’s as if he is saying, “The time for miracles is over and now is the time for commitment.”
Move 2
Here in the Gospel of John, and in each of the synoptic Gospels, just prior to Palm Sunday, and then all the way to the passion of Good Friday, we find Jesus making persistent calls for commitment. Jesus tells a parable of a son who, when asked by his father to work, says, “I will work” but then doesn’t. He continues the parable by telling him this same father asks his other son to work, and that son’s reply is, “I will not work,” but later he relents and does the work. Jesus then asks who is more committed? It is the son who does the work—not the son who only gives lip service.
Also in this time, Jesus gives the greatest commandment: “Love God and Love your neighbor.” Which again is a call to commitment—commit to loving God, but also commit to seeing everyone as your neighbor. Jesus’ teaching to, “be watchful for we do not the day or hour of his return,” is also here—a call to commit ourselves to being ready. And Matthew tells us when Jesus was hungry one morning he goes to a fig tree, but finds no figs. So with his word Jesus withers the tree because it is producing no fruit. Jesus demands lives committed to producing kingdom worthy fruits.
Just prior to, and after the triumphal entry, Jesus is doing less cheer inducing acts— no longer just doing things for the people. He was now speaking about the other side of faith—commitment. And as a result…the cheering stopped.
Move 3
But Jesus didn’t stop at calling for the people to commit to selling their possessions and follow him. The cheering also began to stop when Jesus dared to suggest all people are worth loving. In the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, on Palm Sunday Jesus goes to the temple and drives the moneychangers out, charging them with having turned the house of prayer into a den of robbers—which certainly garnered him no good will among those in authority. But Jesus takes things to the next level when after emptying the temple he invites in the lame, the poor, the sick, the outcasts of society. He dares to bring into the church those whom many would refer to today as seedy street people. And by bringing in the outcast and marginalized Jesus is saying all people have access to God because that is what the Kingdom of God is going to be like. When Jesus opened the doors of the church to anyone and everyone—no matter who they were or what they had done— it angered some people back then, and truth be told, it angers some people still today.
But Jesus still wasn’t done with his “from cheers to jeers” inducing works. The cheering stopped also because Jesus was talking more and more about a cross—a cross that was now a lot closer than ever before.
In the early part of his ministry Jesus talked about the Kingdom of God—which is exactly what the people wanted to hear about, especially since they misunderstood this kingdom to be a restoration of Israel to the days of King David’s glory. Eventually though it became evident Jesus was talking about the Kingdom of God requiring a sacrifice of one’s self and desires, giving up one’s life for the Kingdom of God—a commitment to a way of life in this world that was not of this world. But the people just weren’t having it—they liked the old way of Jesus giving to them, not this new self-sacrificing stuff.
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There’s a story about a boy playing in a little league baseball game who got up to bat with his team down a run, bases loaded, and nobody out. He looked over to his coach expecting to see the sign to hit a home run, but instead his coach gave him the signal to make a sacrifice bunt. The boy then promptly proceeded to take three straight big swings and strike out.
The coach ran up to him and said: “Didn’t you see me give you the signal to sacrifice?”
The boy replied, “Yes. But I didn’t think you meant it.”
Isn’t that what we so often say to God? “Yes, Lord, I heard you talk about sacrifice but I didn’t think you meant it. I was certain you would rather I hit a home run and win the glory of doing so.” But Jesus did mean it. And he does mean it. And we know he means it because the cross we will arrive at in just a few days emphatically says he does. Jesus committed to what was to come. He committed not to his will, not to his desire, not to what he wanted to happen—rather he committed to God’s will.
Move 4
Everywhere he went, masses of people cheered for Jesus. But the cheering did not last. There came a point when the tide slowly began to turn. Yes, people still came, but the previous excitement was waning. Then his critics had begun to publicly attack him, which was new because before they were afraid to criticize, knowing they could not discredit his moral character. But when the cheering stopped, the religious authorities saw their chance to manipulate the fickle public. And their plan worked. Slowly the opposition began to snowball, and before it was all over an avalanche of opposition had brought Jesus to his knees under the weight of a cross.
Why did the masses so radically turn against him? How did the shouts of “Hosanna” on Sunday transform into the shouts of “crucify him” by Friday? The cheering stopped because then, like today, there was a clash of worldviews. A clash between the worldview of power, military might, coercion, exclusion, and glory, and the worldview of grace, acceptance, sacrifice, and commitment to that which is beyond ourselves. The worldview of power, military might, coercion, exclusion, and glory is as present and dominant in today’s world as it was then.
We may admire Jesus, but we’re not necessarily ready to follow him down that road of suffering, sacrifice and servant-hood to all people. Many of those who were waving branches on Sunday were long gone by Friday, having abandoned Jesus to the powers of the temple and the empire.
They stopped cheering when they chose self-preservation over the way of Jesus.
So the question we have to ask on Palm Sunday is whether we do the same thing when following Christ becomes inconvenient at best, or, at worst, something we simply refuse to commit to.
Conclusion
Palm Sunday isn’t just a celebratory day that sets up Easter. Rather Palm Sunday confronts us with huge questions about our commitment to Jesus and the Kingdom of God. Palm Sunday implores us to ask…Will we still be those who cheer for Jesus and his ways of commitment, openness, and inclusiveness, even as we see where it leads and what it requires? Or, by Friday, will our commitment, and cheering, to Jesus stop? Amen.
Pastoral Prayer, April 10, 2022 Palm Sunday
Holy God, throughout this season of Lent you have invited us to cultivate a spirit that produces good fruit, and to do so by letting go of that which inhibits such growth. You have invited us to know you as the gardener of our lives who does everything possible for growth to happen. But then, it’s up to us. It’s up to us to decide how the parable will end. It is up to us if we will respond to the opportunities you present…or if we will not. And that same invitation is presented yet again in the telling and hearing of that first Palm Sunday, when the masses were all so ready and willing to let you be for them what they wanted.
Yet we know the choices many made. And now we are faced with making a choice on this Palm Sunday. How will we respond when your way isn’t exactly what we want? How will we respond when your way requires us to let go of more than we realize? How will we respond when your way calls us to embrace those we would rather not? How will we respond when your way calls us to commit a greater part of us than we ever imagined? Holy God, on this Palm Sunday keep us aware of the new commandment Christ gave to his disciples, that we should love one another as you have loved us.
Keep us aware that only a full commitment is what Jesus asks. Keep us aware of the humble servant-hood he displayed, especially when we begin to let the ways of the world influence our level of commitment. Keep us aware that we cannot hope to change the world if we will not first change ourselves.
Creator God, throughout this Holy Week, we pray you endow us with awareness to the ministry and call of Jesus; to forgiving one another as we have been forgiven; to walk boldly to the cross, and then beyond to the new life that surely awaits us all. Help us become willing to serving you with such a great commitment.
Hear now the prayers of our hearts as we offer them in this time of Holy Silence.
All this we pray in the name of Christ Jesus, the one who comes in the name of the Lord, the one who taught us to pray saying, “Our…”