LITURGY OF THE PALMS Year A April 5, 2020
Just to recap on where we are at, in our
journey of faith, last week we heard about the valley of dry bones and the
death of Lazarus. We heard how Jesus is
the resurrection and the life and the question was posed as to how this affects
us today, and who exactly Jesus is for us. Today we continue that question, and add, what
place does Jesus have in our lives?
This week our journey takes us to that
victorious moment, where the praise for God was declared by young and old. This created such a stir that it was said,
that even if the crowd kept quiet, the stones would cry out in praise to God.
I am so very much reminded that this
weekend I was supposed to be performing in the Passion Play. I was so looking forward to it and so hopeful
for being part of this new thing for our area.
Sadly, our joy has also been turn to sorrow, as it is cancelled due to
the Corona Virus pandemic.
This week is Palm Sunday. We celebrate that day of great praise to God.
This was the point in our Passion Play
where the story began. We were a great
crowd, declaring praise to God. We were
to walk down the isles among the people and encourage them to join in our
praise also….. Can you imagine it?
Praising God and infecting those around us to declare God’s praise as
well.
The ministry of Jesus had reached such
acknowledgement that people were prompted to throw down their cloaks in front
of his donkey as he enter Jerusalem to celebrate the festival. It was a startling sight. He did not have the demeanour of a mighty
King or some narcissistic charismatic leader.
He did not ride in on a majestic horse, but in the same way he came into
the world, carried on a donkey. Many in
the crowd were asking the question that we asked last week – “Who is
this?”
Just as the sunshine casts a shadow,
this day of rejoicing had a deep dark shadow that knew it’s time was near. Just because sorrow and hardship is to follow
doesn’t’ mean there is no rejoicing in the moment of today.
In grief we find this mixture also,
where people can be deeply sad and then happy in the next little while. In fact, we humans cannot bear all the sorrow
of grief, and to find happy moments in the midst of sorrow is the only way to
cope with it all. The happy moments give
us relief, and to give praise to God gives us strength.
Last week I spoke about the Bible, not
just being a guide for this life, but giving account of mankinds struggle to
see the bigger vision of God. Here we
see that this God ordained praise was appropriate, even though the shadow of
Jesus’ rejection and crucifixion was soon to follow.
Our Psalm reflects this same sunshine
and shadow as it states; “This is the day that the LORD has made; let us
rejoice and be glad in it.”
It is then followed immediately by,
“Save us, we beseech you, O LORD we beseech you, give us success!”
“Hosanna to the Son of David”. Hosanna is a term of praise, but do you know
that it actually means “Save us”? From https://www.biblestudytools.com/bible-study/topical-studies/what-does-hosanna-mean.html “The
Hebrew word, “hoshi’a na,” is translated in Greek as “(h)osanna.” In English,
we know it as “hosanna.” The original intent of the scripture is “Save!” It is
viewed as a plea for help. It’s as if we were yelling “stop!” at someone about
to throw a firecracker at us. We use this when we understand the potential
impact of something about to happen, and as an act of surrender.
Our Psalm, with it’s statement of
praise, followed by the plea for salvation, is actually a declaration of
Hosanna….
Hosanna is the moment when you are in
the car and it is spinning out of control.
You then let go of the steering wheel and say, “Lord I am in your
hands.” You realize that you can do
nothing to save yourself and only God can save you.
Hosanna is the acknowledgement of God’s
sovereignty and the complete surrender to his will with a plea that he will
save. This is a moment of truth.
Those marching along the path who were
waving palm branches and singing praise to God were caught up in a moment of
truth. Yahweh, God is Almighty, and the
crowd acknowledged it, being swept up in the moment and not fully aware of what
they were doing. They praised God and
cried out for him to save them.
It was a prophetic moment. We know that the crowd did not fully know
what they were doing because in only a short space of time they turned against
him, denied him and rejected him.
Hosanna was the cry that God inspired
the people to cry…. It was prophetically ordained by God because God knew His
response was about to take place.
The triumphal entry into Jerusalem is
the beginning of our Holy week as we journey with Jesus to the last
supper. We journey with him as he
experiences the betrayal of Judas, the trial before the authorities, the denial
by Peter and the crucifixion. Regardless
of all these very good reasons not to save us, God’s plan goes ahead.
Phillipians 2 tells us; “Let the same mind be in you that was in
Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality
with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of
a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he
humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death– even death on a
cross.” This is a big ask. To have
this same mind of Christ Jesus is a challenge.
Personally, I would have chosen the majestic horse, and required at
least a majority of loyal followers.
Jesus knew that he would be completely loving and giving regardless of
the actions of those around him. In fact,
Jesus’ actions and sacrifice were not dependent on our actions at all.
Now, there is a lesson for all of
us. Let the same mind be in us that was
in Christ, whose actions were not dependent on the behaviour of those around
him. Something I tell school children
often is that, your choice to behave well when others are misbehaving and when
the teacher is not looking, is how we develop a very important quality called
integrity.
At this point in our lives, we have the
opportunity to develop our character. We
are facing a global crisis of health, a global crisis of unemployment, a global
crisis of mental health, a global crisis in finance. How will we develop our character in this
time and how can we strive to have the same mind as Christ, who was deserving
of worship and accolades, yet gave himself to respond to the cry of Hosanna?
Can our actions be giving and loving
without depending on the response of those around us?
Honestly, although I can strive for
this, I have no power in myself to do so.
It is for this reason we find in many of our Church initiation
liturgies, where promises are made, the response is; “I will with
God’s grace”.
At the very beginning of any of any
conversion, there needs to be this Hosanna. There must be an acknowledgement that I
cannot do what is needed to save myself and an acknowledgement that God
can. I need the salvation that Jesus
brings and I surrender to the will of God – proclaiming Jesus as the Lord of my
life.
Are we there yet?
We can be like the crowds. We can proclaim Hosanna, not really knowing
what we are doing and then turn away only a little while later. We can get swept up in the moment and with
great elation get on board with all this God stuff, but when the entertainment
is gone, so are we. We can…. But what should we do?
Even if we proclaim Hosanna and then
turn away, Jesus does not turn away from us.
His resolve to hear our hearts cry and to save us is his plan and our
fickle heart is not going to stop him.
On Palm Sunday the challenge is for us
to proclaim the Hosanna with full knowledge and conscious understanding. God save us, we surrender to you on this day
you have made. You are the great I am, the saviour. Save us and thank you for saving us. Jesus take the wheel, I acknowledge that you
able and I am not. I worship you and surrender to your will. Hosanna.
So, for my final point, I circle back to
the question at the beginning; Who is Jesus for you and what place does he have
in your life? On this Palm Sunday, I
pray that we can consider all that Hosanna encompasses and consciously acknowledge
a moment of truth and proclaim, Hosanna.
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