20 March 2016 St BotolphWorthing
St Botolph’s Church Worthing
Palm Sunday
Luke 19: 28-40.
Father Roger Walker
Palm Sunday always brings a tingle of anticipation – the long days of Lent are behind us and Easter lies just a week away – with the events of Holy Week in between – and we still walk away today with a new palm cross to replace the ones we burned to make ash for Ash Wednesday.
So what does Palm Sunday have to say to us and how should we be realigning our thoughts to be ready for Easter? Let’s look first at the well-known story of the Triumphant Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, which we heard this morning. This was not, as it is written to appear, a spontaneous event and welcome, but rather something planned by Jesus to fulfil the prophecy of Zechariah. This reads: ‘Rejoice daughter of Jerusalem, see your King comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey – on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” Jesus has made sure that he has a donkey to hand in the village of Bethany and he has arranged a password for the disciples who collect it: “the Lord needs it”.
Then, as they approach Jerusalem, the crowd is singing Psalm 118, the traditional pilgrim Psalm for the entry to Jerusalem. It contains the words: ‘blessed is the King who comes in name of the Lord’. And finally, to confirm His Kingship, Jesus rides His donkey into Jerusalem. Everyone else obeyed the tradition of dismounting and leading their animal in. As an interesting aside, 1900 years later at the end of WW1 General Allenby captured Jerusalem and at the gate of the city he dismounted from his horse and walked in. He remembered what the Chaplain at his public school had taught him years before.
So we have, first, a carefully planned fulfilment of prophecy – Jesus wanted those with eyes to see and recognise who he was. In our eyes, however, perhaps the most amazing thing about the Triumphal Entry is that Jesus did not get arrested by the Romans: but the Roman commanders did not know the prophesy of Zechariah. The entry of Jesus was, in their eyes, just part of a huge noisy crowd converging on the city for Passover, and singing Psalm 118 and waving palm branches as part of the ritual.
Sometimes we can be like the Romans and not see what God is doing in plain sight. We can be so caught up with our own concerns that, like the Roman commanders, we don’t see God’s action in our lives. So the message here is to be open to what God is doing, and if something disconcerting happens to us, ask: is God behind this and how does He want me to respond?
The great rejoicing of Palm Sunday turned into the horror of betrayal and crucifixion on Good Friday, and we have our Palms knotted into the shape of a cross to remind us what is to come in five days’ time. But this, we have to remember, is part of God’s plan – just like the Triumphal Entry – and it is reflected for us in Zechariah’s prophecy for he describes the coming King as ‘righteous and having salvation’. This is what Jesus was on Good Friday. He, the righteous and sinless one, died so that we sinners might have salvation - that we might be delivered from our sin, which separates us from God – and so be able to enter into God’s presence to share the eternal life, which Jesus Resurrection on Easter Day opens to us.
Lots of theology and Biblical exegesis here, but can Palm Sunday have any more personal message for us? Let’s come back to our Gospel Reading and look at the simple actions within it. First we see the disciples being obedient – even when they were somewhat puzzled about what Jesus was doing. And here is our first personal message: we are called to listen to Jesus and to be obedient to him, even if what he is asking is puzzling or even something that does not fit well with our lives.
Then we see the disciples taking off their coats and laying them on the donkey to make a saddle for Jesus and the crowd putting their coats down in the road to make a pathway for Jesus. This is a bit like Sir Walter Raleigh is said to have done for Queen Elizabeth 1 when there was a muddy patch in front of her! This speaks to us of giving and generosity – something that has to be part of our Christian life, even if we are reluctant to part with our possessions and time.
Next we hear the whole crowd praising God joyfully for what He has done for them: and we are reminded that praise and thanksgiving should be part of our lives of prayer – not just asking God for things!
Finally we see the Pharisees – always on the wrong side in the Gospel narratives – asking Jesus to rebuke His disciples for their actions, and implicitly rebuking Jesus as well – for daring to apply Zechariah’s prophecy to Himself. And the reply: ‘if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out’. For us this is saying – Do not keep quiet about your faith in Jesus, but take up opportunities to speak of it.
So here, drawn from our Reading, are four simple personal messages that will apply to each of our lives in different ways:
-Obedience to Jesus
-Generosity
-Praising and thanking God
-Speaking of our faith
Let your Palm Cross be a visible reminder of these throughout the year, as well as a symbol of all that happened to Jesus during Holy Week
AMEN
Father Roger Walker
20.3.16