Palm Sunday/Year C/April 10, 2022
Opening prayer: God of the story, You are in and out of the stories we read calling us into them and calling us out of them. Give us courage to listen to our own curiosities as we read old stories. Dare us to ask the questions hidden in the heart of the text. Lead us to mine—with heart and mind and desire and desperation—the many meanings in the one story. Because this is where we find you and where you find us. Amen. (Padraig O Tuama, Daily Prayer with the Corrymeela Community)
We’ve just listened to some old stories today. The opening scriptures and prayers from the Liturgy of the Palms mark the beginning of Holy Week, Palm Sunday - when we recall the story about the day Jesus entered the holy city of Jerusalem in triumph, and was proclaimed as King of kings by those who spread their garments and branches of palm along his way. It was a festive and celebratory movement, that quickly changes, as we move on to listen to the Passion story as recorded in the gospel of Luke today.
The Passion story, the events leading up to and on Good Friday, are usually included in today’s service, because many people don’t always attend the services between today, Palm Sunday, and next Sunday – Easter Day. It’s an important story to be told…We can’t just skip from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday…there is so much that is set in motion, beginning on Palm Sunday…and so much that happens in those days leading up to Jesus’s death on the cross on Good Friday.
There would be no Easter Resurrection story to proclaim, without Jesus’ difficult, and heart-wrenching journey to the cross….And… the fullness of God’s love, and the HOPE proclaimed in the resurrection of Jesus, on Easter Day, can only come alive in us, and transform us, when we choose to join the movement, that begins today on Palm Sunday, and following Jesus all the way through Holy Week…all the way, on this journey of sacrificial love…
You see…some witnesses chose to turn back, turn around, some felt threatened by Jesus’ power and healing miracles, some felt let down as Jesus is ultimately arrested, taken away, mocked, scorned, and crucified on the cross like others in his day…Yet, other witnesses chose to follow him all the way to the cross…and were there on the day of his crucifixion…In our Lenten book study using the book “Witness at the Cross”, by Amy-Jill Levine…we explored some new teachings for many of us, about who those witnesses were at the cross that day…We talked about Simon of Cyrene, the bystanders and the scoffers, the other victims, the ones being crucified on both sides of Jesus, the soldiers, Jesus’ beloved disciple, who we will hear more about in the Good Friday passion reading according to John. We heard a lot about the women who followed Jesus, and who were at the foot of the cross that day…and this coming week, we will learn more about Joseph of Arimathia and Nicodemus as followers of Jesus and witnesses at the cross…
Fast forward to today, the year 2022, as hearers of this Passion story, who have been through so much, apart and together, these past few years…
Where have we seen ourselves and our neighbors in this old, old, story of God’s love poured out for all of us, in these past few years of the pandemic, and social unrest? What kind of witness will we choose to be now? Will we turn back and turn away from the hard, and difficult things that are enfolding among us today and before us in the weeks and months ahead?
Or will we join in and get caught up in the movement of God’s love for us and all creation, being set in motion, once again, today, as we enter into Holy Week…
Will we choose to begin again today, as witness to Christ’s sacrificial love, by following Jesus, all the way to the cross?
…Will we choose to follow Jesus all the way to the cross, by walking with him in the way of love…a way of love that proclaims healing, hope, peace, love, joy, justice and freedom for all God’s people…for every one of God’s beloved creations?
As we begin Holy Week…Let us continue to ask the hard questions, hidden in the heart of the scriptures today. Pray for the Holy Spirit to enlighten us, and help us see the many meanings in the stories we bear witness to today in the scriptures and in our lives…and pray for the Holy Spirit to strengthen us, and equip us to follow Jesus…all the way to the cross, to the empty tomb…… so that we may be transformed by the fullness of God’s love, and the HOPE proclaimed in the resurrection of Jesus, on Easter Day…
On Palm Sunday…the movement begins…the spirit is stirring things up…we begin our journey through Holy Week…with palm branches and proclaiming Jesus as King of kings…
I close with these few verses of an old African-american spiritual….
Hymn after the sermon: Ride on, King Jesus – (LEVS) 97
Refrain:
Ride on, King Jesus,
No man can a-hinder me,
Ride on, King Jesus, ride on,
No man can a-hinder me.
1 King Jesus rides on a milk-white horse,
No man can a-hinder me;
The river of Jordan he did cross,
No man can a-hinder me. [Refrain]
2 I know that my redeemer lives,
No man can a-hinder me;
And of his blessing freely gives,
No man can a-hinder me. [Refrain]
3 If you want to find your way to God,
No man can a-hinder me;
The gospel highway must be trod,
No man can a-hinder me. [Refrain]
Rev Julie Platson
St Peter’s by the Sea Episcopal Church
Sitka, AK