Of all of the weeks on the Christian church calendar, it is this week – Holy Week – which has the most dramatic shift in tone.
We started off on Palm Sunday with such great joy, waving our palm branches and shouting “Hosanna!” But, in just a few days’ time, we’re going to gather in the church to remember Jesus procession to the cross.
During Holy Week, we are commemorating two processions: The joyous procession into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, and the sorrowful procession to the cross.
In our gospel reading for Palm Sunday, Jesus enters into Jerusalem with great fanfare, with people shouting his name and waving palms. But, in less than a week’s time, many of those same people will no longer be waving palm branches at Jesus. They will be spitting on him.
And, in less than a week’s time, many of those same people will no longer be shouting “Hosanna!” at Jesus. Instead, they’ll be shouting, “Crucify him!”
And, so my question for you this Palm Sunday morning is: “What in the world did Jesus say or do that upset people so much that they went praising him to killing him?”
I mean, if was Jesus simply going around teaching people about peace, love, and joy – telling people to forgive one another, love one another, serve one another – why would that make people so upset?
Well, I’ve told you before: Jesus wasn’t killed because he was a “nice guy.”
Jesus was killed because he was trying to establish a new Kingdom, one in which the stranger would be welcome, the poor would be fed, the sick would be healed, the outcast would be loved and accepted.
Jesus was killed because he was trying to establish a new world order, where the last would be first, where the “least of these” would be given most importance.
That was threat to the Powers-that-Be back in Jesus’s day, and it remains a threat to the Powers-that-Be today.
If we truly call ourselves followers of the Way of Jesus – if we truly say we are about building the Kingdom – then we are called to do as Jesus did: to speak truth to the Powers-that-Be when they enact polices that keep out the stranger; that deny healthcare to the sick; that demean the outcast; and that hurt the poor and benefit the rich.
This Truth-telling may make us enemies of the State, but so was Jesus.
Our “Words of Integration & Guidance” this morning mention a book called The Last Days, by John Dominic Crosson and the late Marcus Borg, two members of the famous Jesus Seminar and two of the world’s leading Progressive Christian scholars.
In the book, they write: “The point is not that Jesus was good guy who accepted everybody and we should do the same. Rather, his teachings and behavior reflect an alternative social vision. Jesus was not talking about how to be good and how to behave in the framework of a domination system. He was a critic of the domination system itself.”
Jesus was a critic of the system, and that’s what got him killed. They needed to silence him.
The people turned on him, too, because they were expecting a different kind of king, one that would bring them power and wealth and dominion.
But, Jesus was a different kind of king, and he demonstrated that by entering into Jerusalem on a donkey.
Now, I don’t know if you’ve ever seen a grown man riding a donkey, but it is not very majestic or kingly. Kings would come riding into town on gold chariots and splendid horses, not lowly donkeys. But, but riding a donkey, Jesus is purposely mocking the domination system.
You see, Jesus was not seeking power and praise for himself. He wanted to empower people to see the Divinity within themselves and within one another.
And, that’s why many of us in Progressive Christian churches, don’t really like using the word “Kingdom” to describe what Jesus was trying to establish, because he wasn’t seeking to be a King on throne, an object of praise.
Rather, he wanted to empower us to build a KIN-dom together, a place where all people are considered KIN, brothers and sisters of one another.
Now, in their book, The Last Days, Crosson and Borg remind us that there were actually two processions on that first Palm Sunday: A military parade led by Pontius Pilate coming in the name of Caesar, and one was led by Jesus coming the name of the Lord.
One is one of way the state, the way of the world, the way of the ego…and the other is the way of Love, the way of the Spirit, the way of the Christ.
So, on this Palm Sunday, stop and ask yourself: “Which procession – which path – am I following?” The way of the state or the way of the Christ?
The Way of the Ego or the Way of Spirit? You can’t serve both!
As Jesus says in Scripture: “No one can serve two masters: for either they will hate the one, and love the other; or else, they will hold to the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” Mammon meaning “wealth and power and dominion.”
So, which procession (which parade) are you following?
If we are to truly call ourselves Christians, we must have the courage to follow Jesus on the procession into Jerusalem, the Holy City, for that is where Holy Week begins.
As we’ve been talking about each Sunday during Lent, this process requires us to go to places of darkness in order to experience new growth and new life.
In the darkness of Lent, we undergo the process of “dying”…dying to the worldly self, the false self, the ego self.
In the darkness of Lent, we are consciously crucifying the ego self so that we can resurrect the spiritual Self, the Divine Self, the True Self, the Christ Self.
This Lenten procession (this spiritual process) requires our “taking up our cross,” just as Jesus did. It requires sacrifice. The word “Sacrifice” comes from a Latin word which means “To Make Holy,” to make whole.
And, that is why the journey to cross begins in Jerusalem, the City of Wholeness. This is the place where humanity meets divinity and becomes One with it.
If we are to experience this Oneness – if we are to experience new growth and new life – we must have the courage to follow Jesus humbly into Jerusalem, and we must be willing enter into the darkness.
The contemporary Christian writer, Joan Chittister, said, “Darkness deserves our gratitude. It’s the Hallelujah! Point at which we learn to understand that all growth does not take place in the sunlight.”
We, my friends, may be going thru dark times right now, but that’s not the end of the story. The promise of new life is on its way, so get ready! That’s what Holy Week is all about.
So, may the palms you have received this morning remind you and encourage you to keep waking the spiritual path…even thru times of darkness.
May they remind you to keep moving forward – closer to your Sacred Source – as you continue your journey on the path to Wholeness.
Wishing you all a blessed and meaningful Holy Week.