In what has become an almost annual tradition, Dr. Patterson and I preached a joint sermon. We have done it in different ways over the past six years with movement some years, but this time we stayed in the lectern and pulpit. St.Andrew follows recent trend of having a Palm/Passion liturgy on Palm Sunday - we start worship with a palm processional and conclude with "stripping" the church and covering the chancel with black. Although it makes Maundy Thursday seem like we are moving backward in the story, it provides a good opportunity for worshippers to have a "passion" experience, if they are not going to participate in the Good Friday Tenebrae service. the whole worship service, which began with a palm procession and combined music from the adult, youth and children's choirs, plus handbells and had a Litany of Palm and Passion at the end worked well.
“Transitions: From Palms to Passion”; SAPC, Denton; April 10, 2022; Palm Sunday; Lisa Patterson and Richard B. Culp
Luke 19: 28-40 and Luke 22: 39-48
Richard: 28 After he had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem.
Lisa: 9 He came out and went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives; and the disciples followed him.
Richard: 29 When he had come near Bethphage and Bethany, at the place called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of the disciples, 30 saying, “Go into the village ahead of you, and as you enter it you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 31 If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ just say this, ‘The Lord needs it.’” 32 So those who were sent departed and found it as he had told them. 33 As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the colt?” 34 They said, “The Lord needs it.”
Lisa: 40 When he reached the place, he said to them, “Pray that you may not come into the time of trial.”[g] 41 Then he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, knelt down, and prayed, 42 “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me; yet, not my will but yours be done.” [[43 Then an angel from heaven appeared to him and gave him strength. 44 In his anguish he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down on the ground.]][h] 45 When he got up from prayer, he came to the disciples and found them sleeping because of grief, 46 and he said to them, “Why are you sleeping? Get up and pray that you may not come into the time of trial.”[i]
Richard: 35 Then they brought it to Jesus; and after throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. 36 As he rode along, people kept spreading their cloaks on the road. 37 As he was now approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen, 38 saying,
“Blessed is the king
who comes in the name of the Lord!
Peace in heaven,
and glory in the highest heaven!”
39 Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, order your disciples to stop.” 40 He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.”
Lisa: 47 While he was still speaking, suddenly a crowd came, and the one called Judas, one of the twelve, was leading them. He approached Jesus to kiss him; 48 but Jesus said to him, “Judas, is it with a kiss that you are betraying the Son of Man?”
Introduction: We continue our Lenten preaching reflections on transitions in the biblical text and transitions in our own lives.
This week, we explore the transition from palms to passion.
Christ’s journey in these two texts certainly moves from palms to passion, but for the bystanders and followers of Christ’s perspective, the transition might be more like excitement to betrayal.
As Lisa and I read the two scripture lessons in tandem, perhaps you noticed (as you flipped pages back and forth wondering what we were doing) perhaps you noticed how closely related the palm sunday story and the passion story are.
Excitement to betrayal.
Lisa: Palms to passion.
Move 1:
Lisa: Richard, what do you think it takes to move from excitement to betrayal, from palms to passion?
Richard: For those in the crowds - not much;
They show up for the parade; they experience the excitement of the day; they feel the surge of energy and optimism
As the religious and Roman authorities confront Jesus and put him on trial, the mood of the crowds shifts.
Just like that. They show how easy it is to move from excitement to betrayal.
LBP: How would the crowds react to the One leading this parade? They could simply watch as the parade passed by with the unlikely king in the lead. They could turn and walk away. They could celebrate but then move on making no commitment.
The crowds were looking for something by attending and some even participating in the parade, because a parade is a spectator sport. It is entertainment. Maybe a moment of relief in a difficult day or life. The parade was pageantry. The crowd could participate – shout Hosannas or lay their cloaks on the road for Jesus, the king. Or the crowds could choose to passively watch Jesus as he and the parade passed them by.
I want to share part of an account of Jesus’ final week in Jerusalem from the book, The Last Week, written by Dominic Crossan and Marcus Borg. You might have read an excerpt from the same book in our Lenten devotional for today.
The authors note that, it is likely “Two processions entered Jerusalem on that day in the year 30. It was the beginning of the week of Passover, the most sacred week of the Jewish year.” They go on to describe how they imagine the first procession –
It entered the city from the west. Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of Idumea, Judea, and Samaria, entered Jerusalem at the head of a column of imperial cavalry and soldiers. It was the standard practice of the Roman governors of Judea to be in Jerusalem for the major Jewish festivals. They did so not out of empathetic reverence for the religious devotion of their Jewish subjects, but to be in the city in case there was trouble which there often was, especially at Passover, a festival that celebrated the Jewish people’s liberation from an earlier empire. The procession was a visual display of imperial power: cavalry on horses, foot soldiers, leather armor, helmets, weapons, banners, golden eagles mounted on poles, sun glinting on metal and gold. The sounds of the marching of feet, the creaking of leather, the clinking of bridles, the beating of drums. The swirling of dust.
the first chapter of the book The Last Week ends this way: “Two processions entered Jerusalem on that day. The same question, the same alternative, faces those who would be faithful to Jesus today. Which procession are we in? Which procession do we want to be in?” (7) FPC, Troy, Palm Sunday, 2008; disocvered through Lib McGregor, University Presbyterian Church, San Antonio
Lisa For the crowds – from excitement to betrayal.
Richard For Jesus - to move from palms to passion is a bit more challenging;
When we were talking about Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey one year, a confirmand commented to me: That’s not the first time Jesus rode a donkey. His first ride was in Mary’s womb when she rode a donkey to Bethlehem.
Now here comes Jesus, riding another donkey, this time heading to Jerusalem - heading to the cross.
It is not an easy journey for Jesus.
we hear him at Gethsemane asking or pleading with God: “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me;”
His sweat drips off him like drops of blood. To move from plans to passion demands a lot of Jesus.
But he is on the path that began on that donkey ride long ago - the path to become born as God in flesh now leads to Jerusalem, one step closer to redeeming the world.
LBP Our breath prayer awakens us to the reality of Jesus’ journey and our part in it. “God of celebration and betrayal, do not cast me away.”
Move 2:
Richard: We are on a journey.
Lisa: for crowds, it is easy to get off track; to become distracted; they don’t want to miss the excitement or are scared by the coming conflict.
The journey is hard; too often, we do not stay on the journey with Jesus, because we don’t understand the journey or the journey’s destination. The crowds were hoping this king riding an unbroken colt was the one - the one who would liberate them from Roman rule.
The crowds may have been hoping, that this was the long awaited Messiah. The One who would call the people of God back from where they had been scattered into one people.
They were hoping for, expecting, a king who was coming to rule for them, and they were right…and wrong.
Richard: Jesus’ journey is less about his being king, and more about his steady, persistent movement toward the cross.
He is intentional about what he is doing, and whether people get it or not, Jesus gets it.
Remember his words in the garden: “not my will but yours be done.” An acknowledgment that Jesus understands his path is to do what God desires of him
I heard about a cowboy in West Texas who heard this Palm Sunday story about Jesus riding through the streets of Jerusalem.
After hearing it, he commented, "Jesus must have had wonderful hands."
Others did not understand what he was talking about: "What do you mean, ‘he had good hands.”
The cowboy replied: " If Jesus could sit on a colt on which no person ever sat, an untried, unbroken animal; if he could soothe it and control it and guide it while people were shrieking hosannas in its ears, waving the branches of palm trees in front of its eyes, and throwing down clothes in front of its feet, Jesus must have had wonderful hands!”
I like that image of Jesus - steadily moving through the streets, not just riding in a parade, but moving toward doing what he came into the world to do - save us.
Lisa: Jesus is steady and persistent on his journey to the cross. The crowds can’t hang on and, and there is Jesus holding on…reaching out.
Richard: “God of celebration and betrayal, do not cast me away.”
Move 3: When we see we have left the excitement and are in the midst of the betrayal, what do we do?
Lisa: We see we have left the excitement of the parade and are in the midst of betrayal.
As Tom Long writes in Christian Century, “To live the Christian life is to assume the pattern of Jesus’ obedience, to allow the phrase “Glory to God! Peace on earth! Good will to all people! to become the drumbeat marking our own steps along the pilgrim way. For Jesus, obedience meant carrying the cross; for most of us, it means lifting a thousand little and daily crosses in the complexities and demands of our many relationships.” (Christian Century, online :Seasons Greetings)
As the crowds shout Crucify him! Crucify him! perhaps some stop and wonder – How did I get from hosanna to crucify?
Or better yet – How do I get back?
Richard: For Jesus - his journey takes him to the cross, so he can get us back;
Jesus may make his journey to the cross alone as everyone betrays and forsakes him, but he is not thinking about himself.
He is thinking about us.
We may not know how we can get back from betrayal to excitement, but Jesus does.
He knows that God does not give up on us.
So Jesus comes back for us.
conclusion:
Lisa: But where will our journey take us? Will we throw down our cloaks with abandon and weep with grief on Good Friday?
Richard: or will we turn away and hide
Lisa: or just simply watch as a spectator as others live their lives around us?
Richard: Excitement to betrayal.
Lisa: We know what Jesus will do.
Richard: he will stay on the journey to come and save us.
Lisa: Palms to passion
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