The Palm Sunday story of Jesus' entry in Jerusalem was read to begin the service (Mark 11: 1-11). The sermon assumed that as one of the texts for the sermon. I also contemplated switching Psalm 118 with Zechariah 9:9-10, which I referenced in the sermon. I opted not to switch since the Psalm was already listed in the bulletin.
The sermon went well. I enjoyed preaching it, and it felt good being preached. The comparison of the military parade and Jesus' entry into Jerusalem was not new to me, nor have I learned it from one source. I included the reference I used this week as a place for someone to go if they want to read more about that topic.
”When God Throws a Parade, Then….” St. Andrew, Denton; 3/25/18; Palm Sunday; Psalm 118 Philippians 2: 5-11
Open to me the gates of righteousness,
that I may enter through them
and give thanks to the Lord.
This is the gate of the Lord;
the righteous shall enter through it.
I thank you that you have answered me
and have become my salvation.
The stone that the builders rejected
has become the chief cornerstone.
This is the Lord’s doing;
it is marvelous in our eyes.
24
This is the day that the Lord has made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it.[a]
25
Save us, we beseech you, O Lord!
O Lord, we beseech you, give us success!
26
Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.[b]
We bless you from the house of the Lord.
27
The Lord is God,
and he has given us light.
Bind the festal procession with branches,
up to the horns of the altar.[c]
28
You are my God, and I will give thanks to you;
you are my God, I will extol you.
29
O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,
for his steadfast love endures forever.
Introduction: I think every town I have ever lived in had a parade of some sort at some point in the year to celebrate something: Sunbowl parade on Christmas day in El Paso, Tx.
San Antonio has the thanksgiving parade with floats literally floating down the river.
the derrick Day parades in Corsicana, TX; When I lived in Corsicana, TX, they had a parade for Derrick Days (a spring festival). When I remarked about how short the parade was, the person I was with told me to just wait. So I did. And not too soon after here came the parade again. Same band. Same few floats. Got to see them twice. That lead to an interesting conversation!
Christmas parade in Mt. Sterling, KY;
4th of July parade on the square here in Denton.
the most elaborate I have been involved in was the Strawberry Festival parade in Troy, OH — 2 to 2.5 hour parade; float after float; local groups; bands from all the area high schools; motorcycle police from Indianapolis;
which for many years we would watch from the front yard of a home on south Market St. while eating all sorts of breakfast goodies.
the parade Jesus was in was a bit different I suspect, so let’s reflect for a few minutes about the parade God puts on for us.
Move 1: When God throws a parade, then we better pay attention to the vehicle being used.
a. Vehicles are important.
1. I learned through lots of emails and meetings that finding the correct vehicle was really important for a parade float or group.
2. if your group was walking, no problem.
3. but if you rode horses, you had to account for the trail of stuff horses left!
4. Old, classic vehicles were especially proper. not sure the connection between the miss whatever parade and a classic car, but they always seemed to go together.
5. We had an elder build a full-scale model of the church in OH to be part of a parade on the Bicentennial anniversary of the church. Believe me, it was easier to build a full-scale model than arrange for the proper vehicle and persons who would agree to ride.
b. Jesus willingly rides in the parade, and his vehicle is a colt, a young donkey.
1. In fact, the Gospel of Mark goes to great pains to describe how to get the colt for Jesus to ride.
2. Admittedly,Mark does not offer a very expansive version of Jesus’ parade into Jerusalem (only 11 verses), but half of those are spent on acquiring the colt, rather than on the parade part.
3. Why? Perhaps to emphasize the connection the prophet Zechariah’s description Zechariah 9:9 says,
Rejoice greatly, O daughter Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter Jerusalem! Lo, your king comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. He will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the war horse from Jerusalem; and the battle bow shall be cut off, and he shall command peace to the nations; his dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the River [Euphrates] to the ends of the earth.
Read more at http://www.patheos.com/blogs/carlgregg/2012/03/jesus-subversive-donkey-ride-a-progressive-christian-lectionary-commentary-for-palm-sunday/#WEhQVymt6jXIDO8T.99
4. This image of the king is in contrast to The triumphant military leader would not have come nonviolently on a humble donkey to cut off the chariot, war horse, and bow; but would have come riding a chariot and war horse and wielding a bow or other weapons.
For example, 300 some odd years before Jesus will ride into Jerusalem, Alexander the Great, having conquered “Tyre and Gaza after terrible sieges . . . Jerusalem opened its gate without a fight.” And we can “Imagine the victorious Alexander entering Jerusalem on his famous war-horse, the black stallion Bucephalus.”
Likewise, Pilate would customarily have a huge military parade during passover — with war horse, chariot, and weapons — to remind the thousands of Jews who had gathered there for passover celebration that Rome was in charge
c. We live in a world that understands the power of a parade.
1. Nations host parades where the military display their might.
2. Here in the United States there is talk a parade to display the power and might of our own military.
3. the power and might of the world on full display.
4. then there is Jesus, the one who bring the power to save us, and he’s riding into Jerusalem on a donkey colt.
When God throws a parade, pay attention to the vehicle being used.
Move 2: When God throws a parade, then we better pay attention to the route.
a. One year as the Strawberry Festival parade approached in Troy, tragedy struck a family in the church.
An older couple’s only daughter was killed suddenly in traffic accident right here in Dallas at an intersection just off Central Expressway.
The funeral home called and told me the body was being flown in and the family wanted a graveside on Saturday morning. the Saturday morning of the parade.
“Can you even get to the cemetery at 11:00 in the morning with the parade still going?” I asked.
Yes, but the family would have to meet at the graveside and travel a circuitous route to avoid downtown and the clogged side streets.
it was a hot, humid, may morning in Troy that Saturday (which I’m relearning is a like a hot, March day in TX). I went to the parade as planned, but I was the only one in a suit and tie.
I watched the parade until it was time to leave. the 5 minute drive would take about 30 minutes by the time I made my way through the side streets, went out into the county and made my way around to the come in the back side of the cemetery.
I arrived and joined the family. What a different 30 minutes made - I left joy, celebration, and festivities to join tragedy, grief, and tears.
b. I thought about that morning when I was in Israel and looked out from Jerusalem to the Mount of Olives where Jesus would begin his parade into Jerusalem.
1. there on the hillside were tomb stones marking a Jewish cemetery.
2. In all my years of preaching on Palm Sunday, I’ve never read or heard about the cometry. Or at least I don’t remember it.
3. is it new? I checked, and it’s not new. For at least the past 3,000 years they’ve been burying the dead there.
4. So now my image of Jesus riding into jerusalem includes a cemetery.
c. Remember - Jesus comes into Jerusalem not to wave a magic wand and transform our world into a fairy tale world, but to join us in our mortality.
1. Jesus comes not to deny death or do away with death, but to transform death into life.
2. To save us by transforming our very lives from that which holds us back into the new creations God desires of us.
3. jesus rides by the cemetery as the one who brings us hope in the face of death.
When God throws a parade, then we better pay attention to the route.
move 3: When God throws a parade, then we better show up.
a. Every year on Palm Sunday, that is my question: Who gathered in those streets?
1. and, of course, the add-on question, “Why did they gather?”
3. Some were surely people who had been listening to Jesus teach, watching him heal;
4. Maybe some were asked to g there by friends.
5. Perhaps some just happened by there, or saw the crowd.
6. Boston one fall Saturday. Going for a walk. Noticed people. Darting down side streets. We followed and found ourselves at the Charles River watching crew races.
b. a mix of people: some people who did not quite get it.
1. They could not conceive of what Jesus spoke.
2. Not ready for what Jesus asked them to do.
3. God, you want me to do what?
5. Jesus is saving us how?
6. Do you really love me?
d. But they showed up that day.
1. their actions prior to this day in Jerusalem and their actions later give no indication that they can get it right, that they can figure it out.
2. But as Jesus rode by that day in Jerusalem and they shouted “Hosanna, blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord” they had it right.
3. Despite the misunderstandings in the past and the betrayals that await, in that moment they got it right.
4. Sometimes, we show up, and we get it right.
5. We may e one step away from betrayal, but the truth we proclaim carries us through the day.
6. Jesus is coming in Jerusalem; Jesus is coming into our lives.
7. Show up. With as little or as much as you have to offer. Show up.
conclusion: Hosanna. Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the LOrd.
the one riding on a colt has arrived.
The one who joins us in our humanity is in our midst.
the one who comes to save us; to save even you; to save even me.
