Palm
Sunday – Year B
March
25, 2018
John
12:12-16
The
next day the great crowd that had come to the festival heard that
Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. So they took branches of palm trees
and went out to meet him, shouting, "Hosanna! Blessed is the one
who comes in the name of the Lord—the King of Israel!" Jesus
found a young donkey and sat on it; as it is written: "Do not be
afraid, daughter of Zion. Look, your king is coming, sitting on a
donkey's colt!" His disciples did not understand these things at
first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these
things had been written of him and had been done to him.
Everybody loves a
parade. At least that's the way the saying goes. Me, I'm not a big
fan of parades; but that's probably because I'm also not a big fan of
crowds. When I'm around a lot of people, it's not that I have a
panic attack, or get overly nervous, it's that I would rather just
get what needs to be done and get away from the chaos of it all.
It's like shopping at Christmas time. Other times in the year, I can
easily spend hours going from store to store at the mall; but when
the crowds are out I want in and out as quickly as possible.
Missy loves going to
concerts. She loves that environment. The mass of humanity moving
together to the performance of the band on stage. Me, not so much.
I'd much prefer to be at home listening to the album than at the
stadium watching. I've pretty much always been like that. Maybe
that's one of the reasons I prefer smaller membership churches to the
megachurches that seem so popular today. Who knows. What I do know
is that our text from John this morning deals with crowds, and that
this coming Friday, when we reflect on the crucifixion of Jesus, we
will be dealing with the crowds once again.
Most of the time,
when I've approached this text in the past I've done so focusing on
the type of King the people in the first crowd wanted. Or, the way
the crowd at the crucifixion seemed blinded by their own desires and
blood lust. The message of peer pressure is easy to see within these
texts. Or, perhaps we see a reflection of where we may have found
ourselves if we had been present those days. Would we have waved our
palms, or shouted for crucifixion, or both? I'm sure that's what a
lot of the sermons you have heard over the years have sounded like
too.
In my preparation
for this week's sermon I spent some time jumping all over the
internet looking at ways in which the church has come to this passage
and to this day. After several hours, I was honestly a bit
frustrated because it seemed like I kept running into the same
thoughts again and again being presented with different words. It's
not that those words were bad, I was just hoping to find a way of
breathing new life into these words. It was in the midst of my
frustration that I came across a story that inspires the rest of this
sermon.
Four years ago, in
the midst of the season of Lent, Pope Francis greeted the crowds of
pilgrims that crowded St. Peter's Square at the Vatican. I'm sure
we've all seen pictures of that mass of devout humanity seeking to
have a moment of eye contact or receive a blessing from the Pope. As
he was blessing the people, a voice cried out in adulation, “Pope
Francis, there is no one like you!” A comment I'm sure we can
agree with. Francis has been a breath of fresh air for the Catholic
Church. Yet, it was Francis' reply that hit me. “You too. There
is no one like you!”
Which
got me thinking. One of the cries of the crowd that day when Jesus
rode into Jerusalem was, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of
the Lord.” Without a doubt, the crowd was directing this
exclamation at Jesus. At the role they saw him filling as the one
who comes in God's name. Yet, could Jesus not have responded that day
just as Francis responded to the man's cry? “You too, you too are
blessed when you come in the name of the Lord.”
When
I look around this sanctuary, I see a lot of difference. I see tall
and short, old and young. I see a whole lot of people of whom I can
say, “There is no one like you.” Yet, at the same time as I look
out I see people that are all created in the image of God. I see
people that are all alike in their desire to come to know God in a
deeper, more meaningful way. I see within all our 'not alikeness',
that we are still united as one in Christ, one in the name of the
Lord.
Often
on Palm Sunday we are challenged to think about the crowds we may
have been a part of. But, what about the crowd we are a part of as
followers of Christ? The crowd we are a part of as those who come
together in the name of the Lord. Or as the reformers said, we are
all a part of the priesthood of all believers.
How
do you come in the name of the Lord? How do you go out into the
world, to others in the name of the Lord? How do we do that as a
congregation, as a community of faith brought together as one in
spite of, or because of our diversity?
One of the phrases
we hear in the United Church of Christ is “That they may all be
one. In essentials unity, in non essentials diversity, in all things
charity.” I pray our congregation is living proof that we can all
get along, despite many of us coming from different denominations. We
can hold different theological beliefs and argue about them, and
still be unified in our love of God and each other. That’s the
essential part according to Jesus. In fact I believe, we are
challenged to think for ourselves, and develop our own theology. I
think this is part of what makes us, not just tolerant, but
respectful of those holding differing views.
The life of faith is
often referred to as being a journey, one in which there are often
unexpected twists and turns, one in which there can be many starts
and stops, times when we think we have strayed from the path. Yet,
this journey of faith, even though it often may feel otherwise, is
not a journey that we make on our own. It’s not an individual
spiritual quest we’re on, but a group travel experience. Everyone
has a role and a responsibility, providing part of the resources for
our journey. Christ has graced “or gifted” the community with
skills needed to keep us all on track. We are part of a crowd that
travels together.
Like the pilgrims
that traveled in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales,
we are all different, all with different stories to tell, yet
all journeying together. It doesn’t mean we all look and speak and
act the same. Here at Zion UCC, we invite all people to be a part of
our family of faith, our journey in the name of the Lord: believers
and agnostics, conventional Christians and questioning skeptics,
women and men, those of all sexual orientations and gender
identities, those of all races and cultures, those of all classes and
abilities - all are welcome to join us on our journey. To be a part
of the crowd.
Like all crowds, we
have our differences and don’t always agree with each other. But by
treating each other in a loving way - by reaching out towards one
another with loving actions, we can overcome our differences and mend
our divides quickly. How we behave towards one another and towards
other people is the fullest expression of what we believe. We are
constantly growing, maturing in wholeness and love, coming alive in
Christ, who keeps dolling out the gifts to help us grow and mature.
He provides us with apostles, others in the crowd to keep us company,
with prophets who inspire us to action, with evangelists who spread
the word, with pastors who care for our needs, and teachers who
remind us of Jesus and his message.
Each
and everyone of us is unique, there is not another person exactly
like you. Not just in the way we look, or the way we act. It's also
about the ways we think about God, ways we think about the church,
how we understand the gifts we have can be used in the service of God
for the benefit of others. Each and every one of us is called to be
a blessing to others. To use our God-given gifts to be a blessing.
To be, as C.S. Lewis said, little Christs to one another. We are to
be a crowd of 'little Christs', all different, yet united in our
striving to be Christlike. Part of the crowd. Blessed be. Amen.
