Chaos

Charlotte Collins Reed
Christ Church Episcopal
April 2, 2023

Palm Sunday 

          If everything we know about Palm Sunday came from our Palm Sunday liturgy, our worship, we would leave this morning believing that Palm Sunday was Jesus’ orderly entry into Jerusalem, well thought out since the beginning of time, going exactly according to plan, with people singing their hearts out in praise preferably in the right key, and united in their expectation that something amazing was about to happen.  Those of us who plan worship actually work hard to make that your experience.  However, a close reading of the Palm Sunday story in Matthew’s gospel tells a very different story about Palm Sunday.  

          Our first clue that perhaps this was not an orderly, well thought out event is when Jesus sends his disciples to find a donkey and a colt to fulfill what the prophet said, which is actually a blend from the prophets Isaiah and Zechariah.  Well and good until verse 7 when Jesus sits on both the donkey and the colt at the same time.  I have never ridden a colt or a donkey and know nothing about either, but for the life of me, I can’t figure out how one can ride both at the same time. 

          The second clue is in the words that the crowds are shouting.  “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!  Hosanna in the highest heaven!”  We hear shouts of praise.  But the word “Hosanna” literally means “save” or “help.”  The crowds are shouting for Jesus to save them.  Save them from what?  What are they expecting from this Son of David?  First century Jews were no more united in their expectations and beliefs about the messiah or most other aspects of their faith than 21^st century Christians are.  But the people are in Jerusalem for the Passover, which is the Jewish feast that celebrates their liberation from Egypt.  In their worship, as instructed in the book of Exodus, the people relive their deliverance and celebrate God’s saving action.  So clearly the people want to be saved from something, something so big and important that they have taken to the streets to make their appeal to Jesus.  And when a large crowd is gathered to celebrate their liberation from an oppressor, even long ago, the current oppressor, in this case the Romans, has reason to take notice. Trouble is on the horizon.

          Thirdly, at the end of the passage, when Jesus enters Jerusalem, the whole city is in turmoil, which is never a good sign.  When the people ask “Who is this?” the answer is not “the Son of David” which the crowds had been shouting.  The answer is “the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee.”  Why the change?  I don’t know and the commentaries are not clear.  But here is my guess.  Prophets were notoriously unpredictable and often met with resistance to the point of being killed.  I wonder if the people’s answer is partially “we don’t have a clue” and partially a recognition that the next part of the story may not go well for Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth.  Perhaps they want to distance themselves from what is about to unfold.

          Despite our attempts to make our Palm Sunday liturgy the opposite of chaos and confusion, the reality is that Palm Sunday was full of both.  There is nothing orderly about this day that sends us into Jesus’ arrest, trial, and crucifixion.  In a moment, we will enter into those events.  In our mind’s eye, we will watch as Jesus is arrested, betrayed, tried, crucified and as he dies.  We will shout “Crucify him.”  When we shout those words, we are not playing the part of someone else.  With those words we are owning our own place in the crowds and the way we tend to behave when we are caught up in crowd mentality.  We are owning the times we deny Jesus, owning the times we are complicit as others suffer unjustly, owing the times when we are bystanders to the evils that rob others of life because we fail to take action.  Palm Sunday challenges us to grapple with the question: “From what do we wish the Son of David to save us?  And in what ways do we take matters into our own hands to achieve our salvation, even at the expense of others, rather than trust the sacrificial love of God?”

                                                                                      Amen.