Pieces of Palm Sunday

Pieces of Palm Sunday

Lectionary Reading: John 12:12-16 (also in Matt, and Mark)

Its Palm Sunday again – time for kids to march down church aisles waving freshly cut palm branches and managing to whack a senior citizen or two in the head during the processional. Time for songs about Hosanna! And tales of donkeys and crowds. We know the story by heart – but what we rarely do is look at it as a narrative – as a collection of major symbols and images. When we do, we see more about who Christ really is – to them and to us.

The Palms

The first thing we think about Palm Sunday is the Palms – the branches and leaves waved by the crowd as Jesus entered Jerusalem for the Passover. Preachers have a tendency to over-simplify this act and say – “they did this kind of thing to welcome a king” or “they were so excited they just grabbed whatever was available”. But both of those are not very accurate ideas. Kings were given various greetings, but rarely with this much fanfare (they hadn’t had a king that wasn’t an occupier or oppressor in generations), and desert dwellers realize all plant life is precious. They don’t just rip palm branches off trees for the first rabbi on a donkey who comes along! So, what’s the deal with the Palms?

In 167 BCE, a Hebrew Priest refused to make an offering to a Greek idol, and killed another Jewish priest who compromised and gave in. This killing and the war that followed it freed Israel from the oppression of the Hellenistic Seleucid dynasty. The Macabees, who led the revolt, created a “mini-army” that also let Israel have their own nation for almost a hundred years (from 164 BCE to 63 BCE). The small Macabbean army didn’t have a flag for the nation of Israel and no time to bring together a council to make one – so they used the palm branches of the Middle-eastern desert to be their flag. They would be waved in battle as a sign of the “nation” of the Jews who were going to war against religious and political oppression. Using palm branches as a flag was a banner of hope brought by the power of might.

So, when the crowds are waving Palms at Jesus’ entry and putting them on the ground for his donkey to walk upon (the idea being he was “uplifted” by the nation over the dirt of commonness) – they are remembering the Macabees and showing their faith that Jesus will deliver the people from Rome, just as the Macabees had delivered them from Greece. They wanted Jesus to bring about their hope to be a free nation yet again.

But Jesus isn’t about politics or nations. Its something we forget in American culture. God is not American. And to be American is not to naturally be godly. The palms they waved as a flag of nationalism at the beginning of the week, would be dead and trodden under the feet of the angry mob by Friday. Jesus is not subject to our nationalistic ideas or needs, and we should remember that when we turn him into a political tool or argument, we are subverting the true justice; meaning and power of the gospel which was give for all people, of all nations for all time.

Hosanna

The other thing the church has done wrong historically is the use of the word “Hosanna”. We tend to see it as a word of “praise” and is ‘Loud Hosanna’s Ring” or “Hosanna in the Highest”. But the more we decorate bulletins and liturgy with this pretty Hebrew word, the less we really get its meaning. Hosanna is not the same as “hallelujah” and is not a specifically a praise of joy. “Hosanna” is a cry for help. In Hebrew the word literally means “Save Me”.

So we have crowd of people waving a political flag shouting and crying out to Jesus “Save us” – “Save us first” (in the highest is a translator’s way of making sense of the praise “first priority”.). They are calling out to Jesus as oppressed people wanting justice. Roman occupation had led to the oppression of religious thought, the theft of their homes, livestock or farm products, the abuse of their women, and the humiliation of their men by Roman citizens and soldiers alike. As Jesus enters the city they cry out to him, "SAVE US. SAVE US FIRST. Hosanna to the Son of David! (The Son of David can Save!). "

Palm Sunday isn’t a time for our victorious entry parade with trumpets and clarion calls. Palm Sunday is a time of humility. It’s a time to cry out to Jesus in our need – Save Me. Save me from injustice. Save me from oppression. Save me from my sins. Save me from the sins of others. Save me first. You can save me! So the next time you hear that word in a worship setting – lift up your heart as it truly is, and call out to be saved – first and foremost.

The Donkey

Jesus comes through the open gate to Jerusalem like a king entering the city, that’s true. His people are ready for his to raise an army. “When he fights,” they say with confidence, “I’ll fight with him.” But almost as soon as he shows up they begin to notice something different, and the palms get tossed to the floor pretty early in the week. Jesus is isn’t entering the gate riding a horse (a symbol of victory in battle), he is riding a donkey (a symbol of a time of peace). Donkeys are slower, sturdier and more sure-footed than a high spirited horse on the trails and hills around Jerusalem. A kin or commander riding a donkey is sending the message that things are so peaceful and secure there is no need for war or rampage.

Remember, Jesus didn’t get a donkey by accident. Its not like the Rental Transportation Dealer was out of stallions so they gave him the only donkey on the lot. Jesus set this up before hand and sent his disciples to fetch the donkey from the man who was to give it to him. Jesus rides into a crowd of people waving the palm flags of Jewish war – on top of a symbol of peace.

It tells a few things to remember:
1. Peace must be planned for. It doesn’t just happen.
2. Peace is slower, but less likely to falter off the rocky cliffs of humanity. It’s the better way.
3. The Jesus movement was first and foremost a peace movement. He is not interested or willing to plunge the country in war. His goal, even surrounded by flag waving potential soldiers, is the goal of peace.
4. The best way to create peace is to come through the door with it already in your heart.
So there we have a few new windows on the old story of Palms and crowds, dirty coats and cheering crowds.

This Easter I pray you will begin to see Jesus as the maker of peace in your heart, and in your world. Let go of your agenda, and cry to him to save you from whatever keeps you down. Then expect him to enter or re-enter your life riding the donkey of peace.