The Rev. Joseph Peters-Mathews is the vicar of St. Hilda St. Patrick. The sermon for Sunday, April 10, 2022, was preached in response to the gospel texts for The Sunday of the Passion: Palm Sunday using the manuscript below.
Two parades, two processions.
One calling “Blessed is the king
who comes in the name of the Lord!
Peace in heaven,
and glory in the highest heaven!”
One in silence at a distance,
watching what’s going on.
Luke’s story of the so-called triumphal entry
doesn’t even include the word hosannah!
Luke’s emphasis,
as all of the evangelists’
is to parody the entrance into cities
by rulers of the state
those who wield violence and return to town
celebrating their own victories through violence.
Jesus doesn’t ride a war horse,
and no guilds have woven tapestries with his symbols on it.
Instead Jesus rides a simple colt,
the only honor being that no one else has ridden it before
an honor he receives at his burial.
Unlike in Matthew and Mark
Jesus isn’t welcomed into the city by the crowds,
celebrated by the masses who turn their backs on him.
Jesus’ disciples get the colt for him,
they put their cloaks on the colt and put Jesus on their cloaks,
and those that have been following him are the ones
who put their cloaks on the road.
As Fred Craddock notes,
“The story as Luke tells it is less crowded and more subdued,
but it is an event of and for believers,
and its meaning lies in Jesus and in their faith in him,
meaning that is in no way related to public favor or disfavor,
participation or nonparticipation.
This is not to say Jesus’ followers have come to clarity and maturity;
the events soon to transpire will test them,
and some will fail.
But at this moment, descending the Mount of Olives, they are right.”[1]
Luke wants us to know that this king who is coming into Jerusalem
is not an earthly king in any way,
not even as his followers parody those who make their boasts
in the way that might makes right.
Instead of coming in claiming David’s throne,
Jesus in Luke comes in as his disciples
speak of the peace he brings
using the same same words the angels spoke
at Jesus’ own birth.
Jesus arrives in Jerusalem knowing that God’s plan is in place
and that what Jesus needs will be there for him.
Even if the disciples don’t turn their backs on Jesus as the crowds,
humanity is broken —
and God works through broken humanity
to bring about God’s plan of reconciliation
between God and all creation.
Jesus tells the pharisees that if the disciples didn’t sing praises
nature itself would, with rocks crying out about his goodness.
Two parades, two processions.
One calling “Blessed is the king
who comes in the name of the Lord!
Peace in heaven,
and glory in the highest heaven!”
One in silence at a distance,
watching what’s going on.
In our passages from Luke today,
we don’t have Jesus’ farewell meal and instructions for his closest followers.
As we’ve read the passion this year,
we don’t hear Jesus predict Peter’s denial
or Jesus predict Judas’ betrayal
after Jesus has sealed a new covenant for his followers
in his own flesh and blood.
As we go from entrance to arrest,
it’s easy to internalize the lyrics
“Ah, holy Jesus, how hast thou offended,
that we to judge thee have in hate pretended?””
Yet not heard today are what our friend Tom called
some of Jesus’ greatest hits:
Jesus cleansing the temple;
Jesus highlighting breaking of the Law
while evading a question about taxes;
Jesus denouncing scribes,
challenging the sincerity of the rich,
and predicting the destruction of the temple.
Jesus isn’t in Jerusalem very long,
but he manages to offend both the civil and religious leaders.
This brings us to Jesus’ arrest,
where the clergy seize him
as he’s betrayed by a friend-turned-enemy with a kiss
and a friend who claims he’ll stay to the end
greets the attackers with a sword.
Peter, in the comfort of a meal,
has said that he’ll follow Jesus to the end,
even to prison or death.
As Jesus is held in the high priest’s house,
Peter follows at a distance,
and then three times says
that he is not one of Jesus’ followers.
He’s certainly not Jesus’ closest follower.
After Jesus’ arrest in the night,
hiding the actions and treating him like a bandit.
after Peter denies knowing Jesus three times,
when the going has gotten a little tough.
Then Luke makes things more vague,
and in this vagueness is where we see ourselves.
Two parades, two processions.
One calling “Blessed is the king
who comes in the name of the Lord!
Peace in heaven,
and glory in the highest heaven!”
One in silence at a distance,
watching what’s going on.
In the morning, the assembly of the elders,
which then simply becomes “they”
gathers to give Jesus a first hearing,
where he assents — using their own words —
to being God’s son.
Then they take him to Pilate,
where he assents to Pilate’s words
and lets Pilate speak the truth of this roving teacher
from the backwater of Galilee.
Luckily for Pilate the Tetrarch of Galilee is in Jerusalem,
and he can deal with his own subject.
Herod has been wanting to meet Jesus,
and hasn’t been a fan!
yet finds no fault with Jesus,
certainly not a fault worthy of death.
Yet the crowds, they, we,
will not be deterred.
The charges brought against Jesus of perverting
— or subverting — the people aren’t enough,
not even trying to frame his talk about taxes
or claiming to be a king
for Pilate and Herod.
Yet the crowds, they, we,
will not be deterred.
So the crowds, they, we,
demand Barabbas’ release,
the release of an actual violent insurrectionist and murderer
so that Jesus may die.
Three times Roman powers ask what Jesus has done,
and three times the crowds, they, we,
call back “Crucify him!”
So Jesus is condemned to die,
and those who’ve followed him before
follow him again.
Luke hasn’t given us crowds who turn in a week
declaring Jesus as their new king
calling for his enthronement
and then calling for his death
when he fails to live up to their standards
of how a Messiah-God-King should act.
No, Luke has given us followers,
people who already believed
who welcome him and the peace he brings
and then slide into the background,
betraying him, denying him,
or staying away at a distance.
Two parades, two processions.
One calling “Blessed is the king
who comes in the name of the Lord!
Peace in heaven,
and glory in the highest heaven!”
One in silence at a distance,
watching what’s going on.
And thus is Jesus crucified,
between two criminals.
Mocked from guards
mocked by one of those at his side,
and mocked by religious and civil leaders,
the heart of the gospel rings true.
As he’s done in his ministry in Galilee
and his ministry in Jerusalem
Jesus proclaims good news to a thief
who has been sentenced to die:
“today you will be with me in Paradise.”
As Jesus hangs dying,
he offers salvation to this thief.
As Jesus hangs dying,
“all his acquaintances,
including the women who had followed him from Galilee,
stood at a distance, watching these things”
And as Jesus hangs dying,
he prays for salvation for the rest:
the other thief, the guards;
the religious and civil leaders;
the disciples who’ve betrayed him,
the disciples who’ve denied him;
the whole assembly, the crowds;
they, we, us.
“Father, forgive them;
for they do not know what they are doing.”
Two parades, two processions.
One calling “Blessed is the king
who comes in the name of the Lord!
Peace in heaven,
and glory in the highest heaven!”
One in silence at a distance,
watching what’s going on.
Forgive us Father, when we do and do not know
what we are doing. Amen.
[1] Craddock, Fred B.. Luke: Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching (p. 227). Presbyterian Publishing Corporation. Kindle Edition.