I love words… a little too much, and I often use them in greater measure than need be. ‘Words have meaning’ is one of my life’s catchphrases, especially when I argue with my wife.
A few years ago, Jessica and I were grocery shopping together. She had just remembered she wanted to grab a couple things from produce and asked if I needed anything. I responded, “Could you grab some guacamoles?” She looked confused and replied, “guacamoles?” I looked back at her incredulously, thinking how does this woman not know what a guacamole is? I rather arrogantly replied, “Yeah, guacamoles. Do you want me to just get them?” She frowned at my disdain but then it dawned on her I wasn’t saying the word I wanted to. Her smile grew like the Grinch on Christmas Eve and she played along saying “Guacamoles, oh yeah. Got it!”, as she floated away with a little extra swing in her step. A few moments later Jess found me in the store, practically skipping towards me, with items in both hands. She held up a square package and said, “This is a package of guacamole.”, dropping it into the cart like Salt Bae. She lifted her other hand holding two green gems and said, “These are not guacamoles – they are avocados. Words have meaning, sweetheart.”, as she tapped my face with her palm.
Do you know… I still say guacamoles by accident. It makes us giggle every time.
Today’s title is a play on words because it is Palm Sunday and we opened today’s service with jubilant praise, waving our palms. In Matthew and Mark’s telling of this story the people cry out “Hosanna!”, like we sang during worship. And yet… Good Friday is coming and just a few short days from now that same crowd would soon be screaming “crucify Him!”. They will nail His open palms to the cross. How did they go from welcoming Jesus as a king to demanding he be murdered in the worst way possible? It is a good question.
Well, I am not sure of all the answers to that, but there are some clues in our text for today. Our gospel (Luke 19:28—40 NLT) starts by saying Jesus is on his way from Jericho to Jerusalem right after teaching the crowds with a parable. Context is key here. It was the Parable of the Ten Servants which begins with a king who is going away to be crowned. Before he leaves he splits a huge sum of money between ten servants, telling them to do business until he returns. When the King returns, he finds that some servants have invested and multiplied their portion of money but one buried it in the earth. He was full of fear… so he did nothing with it. This is our first clue - hold onto that.
Now back in our gospel, Jesus must get from Jericho to Jerusalem and to do so He tells his disciples to go steal a donkey colt for Him. That’s weird. Grand Theft Donkey is in the Bible! All kidding aside, they are not stealing this donkey – it possibly belonged to a follower of Jesus – but it is really showing the authority Jesus walked in. Apparently, “Tell them ‘the Lord needs it’” line really worked. Don’t try that in real life. I have, and it failed.
What’s interesting here, also our second clue, is the animal which Jesus chose to ride into Jerusalem. A donkey wasn’t a prestigious animal, and the colt of a donkey even less so. A returning King rode a powerful horse into a city, not a donkey.
Our third clue is found in the crowd throwing palms in front of the procession. This was a sign of triumph and victory and was done for returning armies and mighty rulers… not for carpenters or rabbis.
They were also throwing down their cloaks, a practice for returning victorious generals, and our fourth clue. A cloak was very expensive, and the average person would only have one. The reason one might throw their cloak to be trampled was that a returning army would be bringing back the spoils of war. The whole city would be made rich and there would be plenty of money for new threads!
There is also one other detail that is easy to miss. Jesus tells them they will find a colt that has never been ridden. Why? The book of Numbers tells us that animals used in sacrifice must be without blemish and “on which a yoke was never laid”. Jesus is going to Jerusalem to be sacrificed… see how the gospel mentions His path leads through the Mount of Olives. This is the very place where the Garden of Gethsemane is located, where in four days Jesus will be handed over to the authorities to be judged, tortured, and killed. He is going there to die.
Well, the crowds don’t get that, indeed it seems many of His followers don’t seem to comprehend it either. So, they gather and wave palms and throw down coats and praise Him. Which leads to our final clue as they cry out, “Blessed is the one who come in the name of the Lord!”. They declare He is the long-awaited Messiah, the one who will deliver them from the tyranny of Rome and usher in a new era. It is Passover, which is a remembrance of their nation being freed from Pharaoh and slavery of Egypt. In their minds, this is it, their moment has come! They cry out “Hosanna” … do you know what that word means? It means “save us”. Save us. Set us free.
Imagine their surprise and shock when Jesus revealed He was there to save them from themselves, not from Rome. He came to free them from the cost of sin, not from the cost of taxes. His mission wasn’t to take away the hurt of this world, the disappointment, the pain. No, He is here to be present with us in our disappointment, to draw close to us in our pain, to remove shame and condemnation from our minds and hearts. He isn’t here to rule like a tyrant over us and steal away our freedom in exchange for “safety and comfort”. He is here to serve us and to love us in the midst of a world where there is obviously pain and suffering. More than this, He is here to challenge us to do the same for each other.
Remember that parable I told you to hang onto of the servants who multiplied the gift their King gave them? They had power in their hands to make that gift grow – their master didn’t multiply it magically for them. They were involved. So, what is the gift Jesus lavishes upon us and expects us to invest, grow, and pour into? Love. He is love and He pours Himself out, even unto death on a cross, so that we can see we are free. We don’t need to be enslaved by our mistakes. We don’t need to bow our heads under the oppression of condemnation. He invites us to choose love for us and for others, all the while promising He will be right there with us as we do. Imagine what this world would look like if we just loved each other and respected how differently God made us. Can you fathom what a different place we would have to live if we just followed His teaching? But so often we don’t. I don’t. Oh Lord, I want to.
The Pharisees, religious scholars, Herod, Pilate – their power was being threatened by this Jesus of Nazareth. They ruled through fear, which was what a death by crucifixion was all about. They are the ones who promised they could fix things. They were saying, “If you follow these rituals God will bless you”, and “If you submit to me as king I will protect you”, and “If you bow before Rome the state will take care of you”. “But this Jesus guy… He expects too much from you. Love your neighbor? Your neighbor wants your stuff. Your neighbor is the wrong color. Believes in the wrong god. Thinks wrong. Votes wrong. Loves the wrong people. Don’t trust them with power – give the power to us and we will make it all better for you.”
That lie… that lie right there that tells us to serve fear instead of love… that’s how we go from jubilant “Glory in the highest heaven” to the furious shouts of “Crucify Him”. They did. You know. I did. Every time I choose fear over love, I do it all over again. But Jesus’ life and death means it doesn’t need to stay that way. During Eucharist there is a part which reads, “He stretched out His arms upon the cross and offered Himself”. Palms open. Those words have meaning. It’s an invitation to choose His boundless Love. God incarnate, Jesus, was the perfect sacrifice for the whole world. Hosanna… Jesus’ love is here to save us if we first choose it for ourselves, and then choose it for each other.
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