The Palm Sunday Subversive Sermon for 4-1-07
The Palm Sunday Subversive
Sermon for April 1, 2007
Scripture: Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29; Luke 19:28-40
Have any of you ever thought about the Palm Sunday procession as a planned political demonstration? Please stay with me as I challenge you with an alternative Palm Sunday sermon.
The first decision preachers have to make on this Sunday is whether to focus on Jesus’ passion, the events of the week leading up to his crucifixion or the celebratory focus of a big parade. There’s a big difference in mood as Jesus’ passion (meaning suffering) is a very painful, somber story. Luke’s description of the procession—even though it says nothing about palms—is still oriented to celebration with his disciples and other followers, who threw their cloaks on the path that he took on top of the donkey. These cloaks were not the expensive type as these followers were a ragtag group whose garments were “tattered shawls and dusty, sweat-stained rags”[1] Jesus was no ordinary king; he was the king of fishermen, tax collectors, women, Samaritans, harlots, blind men, demoniacs, and cripples, the king of the oppressed and suffering.[2]
Have you ever thought why Jesus rode a donkey in this parade? There are many answers given—some more trivial than others such as because he was tired or wanted to be up high enough for his followers to see him—or the one I’ve heard mostly is because it was foreordained, predicted in ancient prophecy: Zechariah says, “Look, your king is coming to you, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey”—the explanation in Matthew as he quotes Zechariah 9:9. According to Marcus Borg in his book Jesus, this was a prophetic act. He describes prophetic acts as “provocative public deeds performed for the sake of what they symbolized”…ancient “street theater”—actions performed in public to draw a crowd and to convey a message.[3] Borg goes on to say that the meaning and message of the donkey was: “a kingdom of peace, not violence.”
Jesus has been on his way to Jerusalem for the last 10 chapters of Luke—I mentioned last week in the story of Mary that Jerusalem was seen by Jesus as his city of destiny, the place where he would go and confront the Roman authorities and be killed. The time was Passover, the holy Jewish feast that brought people from all over Israel on a pilgrimage to commemorate God’s mighty work of freeing them from Egyptian bondage during the days of Moses. It was customary for the Roman state to make a show of force during Passover, sending in many soldiers in their own type of military procession. Jesus and the Gospel writers would have been well aware of this practice.
Just imagine for a moment these two processions: from the West comes Pilate, entering Jerusalem with pomp and ceremony, accompanied by uniformed soldiers showing military might, power and glory. And then imagine Jesus’ triumphal entry from the Mount of Olives with his ragtag following, a stark contrast of anti-imperial counter procession, proclaiming “the kingdom of God”. Borg sees the two processions embodying the central conflict of Jesus’ last week: the kingdom of God vs. the kingdom of imperial domination; Jesus versus Pilate, the nonviolence versus violence. So what we Christians refer to as Palm Sunday “featured a choice of two kingdoms, two visions of life on earth.”[4] Jesus and his followers had an alternative vision where the last became first, where the poor were valued and the rich scorned, where peace and love were esteemed over power, violence, and might.
So what were Jesus and his early followers subverting? Jesus’ alternate vision subverted major aspects of the way most societies, both ancient and modern, have been organized to accept political and economic oppression of the masses, often holding up God to legitimize their preferences: “God wants things this way;” “Jesus says you’ll always have the poor with you”, and so forth. Jesus’ kingdom lifted up those who had been discounted by the ruling powers and the patriarchy: women, gentiles, the poor, the marginalized, the mentally ill, the lepers, and the list could go on. Our Gospels testify to this new way of being throughout, starting with the Magnificat at the time of his birth (Lk. 1:47-56). Mary sang that this baby Jesus would bring down the powerful from their thrones and lift up the lowly; that he would fill the hungry with good things and send the rich away empty. Then at the beginning of his public ministry, remember his first sermon when he read from Isaiah about bringing good news to the poor and proclaiming release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind and letting the oppressed go free (Lk 4:1-19). So the fact that Jesus is our Palm Sunday subversive is really nothing new or unexpected in the Gospel.
My sisters and brothers, this Palm Sunday I am all in favor of praising God. The other gospels are filled with Hosannas a word that means save us. Most of Jesus’s followers in that Passover procession wanted a Warrior King, yet Jesus was a suffering Messiah. Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote: “God allows himself to be edged out of the world and onto the cross. God is weak and powerless in the world, and that is exactly the way, the only way, in which he can be with us and help us.”[5](Letter of July 16, 1944.)
Are you willing to join Jesus in his subversive counter-procession into all the world? Our Statement of Faith has the phrase “You call us into your church to accept the joy and cost of discipleship, to be your servants in the service of others, to proclaim the gospel to all the world and resist the powers of evil…” If we follow Jesus, there are many times that we may have to be subversive, treating all people with dignity and advocating for their human rights whether it be —the Muslims, the immigrants, the gays, lesbians, and transgendered, the poor, the homeless, the fundamentalists, the atheists, the Jehovah Witnesses, to name a few of the oppressed groups. It also means that we humble ourselves and die to self , that we love our enemies and promote peace and love wherever we find ourselves. To be subversive is to become aware of and to act in a way that we participate in liberating justice for all, remembering Jesus’ words, “As you do it to the least of these, you do it unto me.”
In closing please consider with me Dr. Martin Luther King’s words, “Even if they try to kill you, you develop the inner conviction that there are some things so precious, some things so eternally true that they are worth dying for.” Let us help each other to be subversives for Jesus. Amen and amen!
[1] Culpepper in The New Interpreters Bible, Vol IX, p. 390.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Marcus Borg, Jesus, p. 231
[4] Ibid. 232.
[5] Letter of July 16, 1944.
Sermon for April 1, 2007
Scripture: Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29; Luke 19:28-40
Have any of you ever thought about the Palm Sunday procession as a planned political demonstration? Please stay with me as I challenge you with an alternative Palm Sunday sermon.
The first decision preachers have to make on this Sunday is whether to focus on Jesus’ passion, the events of the week leading up to his crucifixion or the celebratory focus of a big parade. There’s a big difference in mood as Jesus’ passion (meaning suffering) is a very painful, somber story. Luke’s description of the procession—even though it says nothing about palms—is still oriented to celebration with his disciples and other followers, who threw their cloaks on the path that he took on top of the donkey. These cloaks were not the expensive type as these followers were a ragtag group whose garments were “tattered shawls and dusty, sweat-stained rags”[1] Jesus was no ordinary king; he was the king of fishermen, tax collectors, women, Samaritans, harlots, blind men, demoniacs, and cripples, the king of the oppressed and suffering.[2]
Have you ever thought why Jesus rode a donkey in this parade? There are many answers given—some more trivial than others such as because he was tired or wanted to be up high enough for his followers to see him—or the one I’ve heard mostly is because it was foreordained, predicted in ancient prophecy: Zechariah says, “Look, your king is coming to you, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey”—the explanation in Matthew as he quotes Zechariah 9:9. According to Marcus Borg in his book Jesus, this was a prophetic act. He describes prophetic acts as “provocative public deeds performed for the sake of what they symbolized”…ancient “street theater”—actions performed in public to draw a crowd and to convey a message.[3] Borg goes on to say that the meaning and message of the donkey was: “a kingdom of peace, not violence.”
Jesus has been on his way to Jerusalem for the last 10 chapters of Luke—I mentioned last week in the story of Mary that Jerusalem was seen by Jesus as his city of destiny, the place where he would go and confront the Roman authorities and be killed. The time was Passover, the holy Jewish feast that brought people from all over Israel on a pilgrimage to commemorate God’s mighty work of freeing them from Egyptian bondage during the days of Moses. It was customary for the Roman state to make a show of force during Passover, sending in many soldiers in their own type of military procession. Jesus and the Gospel writers would have been well aware of this practice.
Just imagine for a moment these two processions: from the West comes Pilate, entering Jerusalem with pomp and ceremony, accompanied by uniformed soldiers showing military might, power and glory. And then imagine Jesus’ triumphal entry from the Mount of Olives with his ragtag following, a stark contrast of anti-imperial counter procession, proclaiming “the kingdom of God”. Borg sees the two processions embodying the central conflict of Jesus’ last week: the kingdom of God vs. the kingdom of imperial domination; Jesus versus Pilate, the nonviolence versus violence. So what we Christians refer to as Palm Sunday “featured a choice of two kingdoms, two visions of life on earth.”[4] Jesus and his followers had an alternative vision where the last became first, where the poor were valued and the rich scorned, where peace and love were esteemed over power, violence, and might.
So what were Jesus and his early followers subverting? Jesus’ alternate vision subverted major aspects of the way most societies, both ancient and modern, have been organized to accept political and economic oppression of the masses, often holding up God to legitimize their preferences: “God wants things this way;” “Jesus says you’ll always have the poor with you”, and so forth. Jesus’ kingdom lifted up those who had been discounted by the ruling powers and the patriarchy: women, gentiles, the poor, the marginalized, the mentally ill, the lepers, and the list could go on. Our Gospels testify to this new way of being throughout, starting with the Magnificat at the time of his birth (Lk. 1:47-56). Mary sang that this baby Jesus would bring down the powerful from their thrones and lift up the lowly; that he would fill the hungry with good things and send the rich away empty. Then at the beginning of his public ministry, remember his first sermon when he read from Isaiah about bringing good news to the poor and proclaiming release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind and letting the oppressed go free (Lk 4:1-19). So the fact that Jesus is our Palm Sunday subversive is really nothing new or unexpected in the Gospel.
My sisters and brothers, this Palm Sunday I am all in favor of praising God. The other gospels are filled with Hosannas a word that means save us. Most of Jesus’s followers in that Passover procession wanted a Warrior King, yet Jesus was a suffering Messiah. Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote: “God allows himself to be edged out of the world and onto the cross. God is weak and powerless in the world, and that is exactly the way, the only way, in which he can be with us and help us.”[5](Letter of July 16, 1944.)
Are you willing to join Jesus in his subversive counter-procession into all the world? Our Statement of Faith has the phrase “You call us into your church to accept the joy and cost of discipleship, to be your servants in the service of others, to proclaim the gospel to all the world and resist the powers of evil…” If we follow Jesus, there are many times that we may have to be subversive, treating all people with dignity and advocating for their human rights whether it be —the Muslims, the immigrants, the gays, lesbians, and transgendered, the poor, the homeless, the fundamentalists, the atheists, the Jehovah Witnesses, to name a few of the oppressed groups. It also means that we humble ourselves and die to self , that we love our enemies and promote peace and love wherever we find ourselves. To be subversive is to become aware of and to act in a way that we participate in liberating justice for all, remembering Jesus’ words, “As you do it to the least of these, you do it unto me.”
In closing please consider with me Dr. Martin Luther King’s words, “Even if they try to kill you, you develop the inner conviction that there are some things so precious, some things so eternally true that they are worth dying for.” Let us help each other to be subversives for Jesus. Amen and amen!
[1] Culpepper in The New Interpreters Bible, Vol IX, p. 390.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Marcus Borg, Jesus, p. 231
[4] Ibid. 232.
[5] Letter of July 16, 1944.
posted by Sermons given at Deering Community Church @ 1:38 PM
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