First Lutheran Church – Detroit Lakes, MN
Palm Sunday | 03.28.2021 | Mark 11:1-11
Today we observe a monumental point in the story of Jesus and part of understanding the moment with depth is reviewing the context of Palm Sunday. So, before we dive into Palm Sunday, I want to do a rapid-fire headlines summary of Jesus’ story up to this point. Okay, ready?—a quick review of Jesus’ ministry:
- Let’s start at Jesus’ baptism: Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist and affirmed as God’s beloved Son.
- From there he went into the wilderness and was tested and prepared for the grueling ministry ahead.
- From there Jesus would call his first disciples to join him in God’s loving work for the world, which is always an important detail, that Jesus doesn’t work alone, that Jesus’ work didn’t begin until he called people to join him.
- He and the disciples then began heading towards Galilee and doing Kingdom of God work along the way: healing, feeding, preaching, teaching, forgiving, and embracing people.
- Then, a literal turning point in his ministry. Jesus went up the mount of the Transfiguration and God speaks again and confirmed that Jesus is God’s beloved Son and that we should listen to him. Jesus went back down the mountain and set his compass towards Jerusalem. As seasons of the church go, there ends Epiphany, and there begins Lent.
- The Lenten season then tracks Jesus’ ministry as he journeyed towards Jerusalem. On that journey, Kingdom of God ministry continued along the way, as well as tension, especially as Jesus gave hints that something big was coming, in some cases outright telling his disciples that he would soon die.
- Then, finally, he arrived in Jerusalem for his fateful last week on earth, and his entrance into the Holy City – which was this regional center of wealth, politics, culture, and religion – and this entry was nothing short of dramatic. It is this entry, this Palm Sunday entry, that we observe today.
Sometimes I wonder if we observe Palm Sunday in a too lighthearted, upbeat manner. Now, I think it is some of those things, but when we only have those feelings about Palm Sunday, I think we might miss out on its full gravity. Because in reality, the context of Palm Sunday which we just went over is pretty intense. This day marks the beginning of the end for Jesus’ life on earth, and it begins the holiest week in the Christian faith.
All of Jesus’ life and story lead to this point (!)—that general context alone makes today dramatic, but as we get into the details, we realize just how sensational his entrance into Jerusalem was. His entry wasn’t just a prop-filled celebration, but was drenched with piercing tension.
I want to dive into that. To set the tone, I have a long quote by a biblical scholar that helps clarify the detailed scene of the biblical Palm Sunday to help remind us of its intensity:
It is the time of the annual Passover celebration. The city of Jerusalem is filled to capacity with Jewish pilgrims and tourists who have arrived from all over the Roman Empire. The Roman governor [Pilate], who otherwise resides in Caesarea on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea, comes up to Jerusalem for this occasion every year. He does not make the trip because he is interested in the holy days, but because he is in charge of crowd control…After all, Passover is the Jewish celebration of [independence] from…Egypt.
[In other words, Passover was a political holiday, like our Fourth of July, but under Roman occupation…in other words, revolution was in the air!]
When the governor Pilate comes into Jerusalem, he enters the city from the west with an excessive show of military pomp and circumstance. He leads a large group of cavalry and foot soldiers, and rides an impressive stallion. He is the highest representative of the imperial power of Rome in the area. One imagines that the inhabitants of the city stand motionless and silent at the street corners…Pilate represents the emperor himself…His entry into Jerusalem is clearly a demonstration of…Roman power.
[Now…] On the east side of town, Jesus and his friends enter the city. Jesus has organized things in advance…a demonstration that is as different as it can possibly be from Pilate’s power demonstration on the other side of town. The donkey Jesus rides mocks Pilate’s powerful horse…In the narrow streets, the band of friends from Galilee, men and women, is joined by a handful of other people. They are a joyful group…they cheer…More people join in…This is guerilla theatre [directly challenging the power and legitimacy of the Romans].[1]
PEOPLE! This is so intense! Jesus had gained popularity all over the Galilean countryside. It was Passover, and therefore, political drama was in the air. So, things were already tense, and how did Jesus roll into town? By toying with Pilate (!), by mocking his idea of what is powerful!–and doubling down on taking “his alternative message of the kingdom, of the reign of God, into Jerusalem”; in this moment he was taking “God’s message of justice, peace, and love” into the heart of a Roman-controlled city.
That’s Palm Sunday…a day of spiritual and political tension. (For the record – those who say politics and religion don’t mix don’t understand Palm Sunday.)
And, my friends, that’s not all, especially as we dive deeper into the behavior of the crowd. They were waving palm branches, right? Well, these branches weren’t random or lighthearted props, but were provocative, intentional symbols.
Waving them was a sign of adoration for Jesus, yes, but these palm branches also had a deep historical-political meaning, and with these branches these people were sending an sharp message to the oppressive powers of Rome and to the corrupt powers of the religious elite.
You see, Israel’s former king, King Solomon (the son of King David and considered one of Israel’s most faithful and wise rulers) ruled a free and united kingdom of Israel, about 1000 years before Jesus was born. In other words, if you remember Solomon’s reign as a 1st Century Jew, you are recalling a FREE, politically independent Israel.
And guess what? King Solomon, you know with what he adorned his house? Engravements of palm branches. It is right there in our 1st Kings reading today (6:29).
By waving these branches the people were publicly declaring that this Jesus, who was meanwhile riding a donkey mocking the current political authority, that No one is lord over them, but this king. Hosanna.
It gives me the chills.
As Pilate is probably rolling in on the other side of town, here the crowd is reclaiming of the throne for a homeless, Palestinian Jew named Jesus! It was absurd – open rebellion simmering in the face of religious and political power. (It is no wonder the Roman and religious powers would collaborate in the coming days to bring this Jesus down).
There is much to say about this scene and I’ll let the rest of it speak for itself, but this seems a good place to make an emphasis about the palm branches and their powerful symbolism for you and me today. We wave them today for a number of reasons, and one of them is the same reason as the crowd—to confess boldly that NOTHING has ultimate power over us but this King of love, grace, and life.
As we wave these branches, in Christ Jesus, we are declaring that we are heirs to the House of David, of the eternal covenants of God’s love. So, in the face of whatever it is that is plaguing you and bringing you down, in the face of the Empire, political injustice, violence, terminal illness, bullies, guilt, shame, stress, poverty, addiction, or grief – in the face of all the things that claim to have power over us, we defiantly wave palm branches.
In the power of our humble king, we wave palm branches to proclaim to ourselves and to one another that nothing has power over Christ Jesus in whom we have life and who claims us—nothing…not even death, as we shall see, soon and very soon. Amen.
[1] Wolfgang H. Stahlberg, “Mark 11:1-10 – Pastoral Perspective,” in Feasting on the Gospels: Mark, ed. Cynthia A. Jarvis and E. Elizabeth Johnson (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2014), 338-342.
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