someone's got to go find the truth
if you change
The logic of adding the Passion into Palm Sunday is to reduce the likelihood we’ll go directly from the ‘Glory, Laud, and Honor’ of Palm Sunday into the glorious victory of Easter Sunday. If you avoid the darkness, distress, and downright doom of Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, you are not only missing the power of Jesus’ empty tomb. You are also robbing yourself of the opportunity to reckon with those ambiguous dimensions of your own life.
The problem, though, is there’s no good way to try and fit the Passion into an at-home Palm Sunday service. Maybe there’s never been a good way to shoehorn the Passion into Palm Sunday, and life in the time of COVID is just making that apparent. Either way, all we can observe today is the festivities of Jesus’ triumphant entry.
Which is ironic. It’s ironic because the reasons we can only have Palm Sunday celebrations, are not all that celebratory…
As it turns out, though, this setback is not beyond Jesus’ reach. In fact, just as Maundy Thursday and Good Friday reveal in light of the Easter dawn, misfortune is the foundation for Jesus’ triumph!
Not being able to observe the Passion today is the perfect opportunity for Jesus to make a true Palm Sunday out of today.
In years past, I would focus the sermon on preparing us to better hear the Passion. This year, though, I have had to better listen to what is going on as Jesus triumphantly enters Jerusalem. And if one thing is clear, it’s that Jesus is in control. And, the celebrations are just fine by him! The horror of Good Friday may still lie ahead, and no one is more aware of that than Jesus. But that doesn’t stop him from orchestrating this jubilant procession!
Jesus is the one who sends the disciples into the village to procure the colt so he can ride in in glory! Lo and behold, the disciples find everything exactly as Jesus had told them, too! Then, when some of the Pharisees prudently try and get Jesus to tone down all the merrymaking, Jesus refuses! In fact, he goes so far as to insist if the disciples were silent, the stones themselves would take up the song!
The point, Scripture makes clear, is that although it may be hard to celebrate, and no one knows that better than Jesus, that’s no reason not to! The setbacks, disappointments, tragedies, disasters, pandemics, and plagues of life are not obstacles to Jesus’ victory. They are the very path his victory runs straight through!
That, that is why Jesus insisted upon celebrating that first Palm Sunday. And, this one today, too!
…Over seven years ago, Saint Mary Young was laid to rest. Much of her life was lived in a house that ought to make us all blush over all the comforts we take for granted. And as is all too often the case, it wasn’t just poverty that hounded Mary. She was a woman well acquainted with grief. She lost her son too early, and tragically. She carried the weight of all that with her throughout her life.
Miraculously, though, Jesus’ beatitudes proved true for Mary in the fiery furnace of all her trouble. Mary’s grief may have lasted through the night, but joy came in the morning. She may have put her last dime in the offering plate a time or two, but she could never match everything Jesus had given her!
And she did it all without a hint of self-righteousness, too. Mary just sort of exuded a humble holiness!
That’s why, when Mary died and word got out no funeral was being planned, her congregation knew they had to intervene. They told Mary’s extended family they’d make all the arrangements and they’d cover all the expenses, too. And they told their pastor the funeral was going to be done with all the bells and whistles. In fact, after the funeral, the funeral director remarked to the pastor about how impressive the funeral was. Intimating that Mary must have been one of those well-to-do widows.
In Mary, people caught a glimpse of Jesus’ power, even in the face of the worst life can throw at you. So when it was time for her send off, the congregation knew they couldn’t keep quiet. They sensed if they didn’t speak up, the stones themselves would shout out. So, even in the face of death, they sent Mary home in style befitting the most celebrated of saints!
The best dancing is always done on the devil’s dance floor!
This is why we celebrate today! Not because we’re in denial about what’s to come. But because we can’t deny what Jesus is doing! This is why we celebrate today! Not because we’ve underestimated the power of sin, death, and the devil. But because we refuse to underestimate the power of Jesus’ victory over them!
Jesus is busy orchestrating a procession even now. A celebration, in fact! Follow his lead as he dances into Holy Week. To Maundy Thursday, where he will undress himself to take the role of a servant and wash you. To Good Friday, where he will refuse to take vengeance and instead bring reconciliation between you and God.
The time to mourn will come, but for now, we have to celebrate. Knowing full well what will come. Because in the end, those blue notes will turn out to be nothing less than a variation on the great theme of Jesus’ triumphant victory hymn!
“Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven!”
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