This way to God's Kingdom

saintcolumbakent
Mar 20, 2016
5 min read

The Rev. Alissa Newton

Palm/Passion Sunday

I don’t know if you have noticed, but there is some political stuff going on in our country right now. Politics are everywhere, and I am willing to bet that most of us here harbor an opinion or two about them. Some of us are fervently, passionately supporting a particular cause, or candidate. Others are as yet undecided, or generally disappointed with the options presented, or trying to do our best to stay above the fray and to keep a little distance. Don’t worry – I am not going to endorse anyone from the pulpit this morning or any other time I am standing here. But I do want to talk about what it feels like to be a person in our country right now, in the midst of this emotional and fraught political campaign season. It feels tense, right? I am torn between the desire to throw my hat in and belong to one of the movements behind this candidate or that one, and a sort of defensive impulse to stay out of it and away from it. We’re at that point where ideological voices are very loud and people who may even agree politically at other times are fighting tooth and nail with each other. It is both exciting and terrifying. Anything could happen. And some of us are going to be very, very disappointed when it all shakes out in the end.

Why am I talking about this? Well, because today is Palm Sunday. Today we remember the most public and brazen thing that Jesus did – and that’s saying something. Remember this is God-with-us – God who has come so close to human beings that God is a human being, with all the indignities that come with being human, as well as all the glories that come with humanity at our best. Jesus is God here, in the muck of growing up, being in a family, having a cultural identity, participating in and being influenced by all the things that human beings all participate in and are influenced by. That is, in and of itself, a pretty brazen thing for God to do. And then, in a big public way, Jesus takes everything his culture knows about politics and power and he flips the script with this huge symbolic entry into the holy city. He enters on a donkey, without armor, surrounded by everyday people shouting that he is the messiah. Great generals were known to make such entries into the city – but they did it on war horses, surrounded by soliders, and packing heat. So Jesus’ entry is a huge challenge, a mockery even, for that political system. Palm Sunday is not Jesus picking a side, or throwing his hat in the political ring. Palm SUnday is Jesus rejecting all the sides, powers, and candidates of his day in favor of the upside down, completely different kingdom of God.

So, Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem is symbolic of who he is. That is, the brave, foolish, provocative, comical, peaceful way he enters into Jerusalem is an event that points beyond itself, like an arrow saying “that way!” to the Kingdom. In God’s Kingdom kings ride donkeys instead of war horses and are surrounded by regular people – men, women, children – instead of soldiers. In God’s kingdom we wave palm branches, not weapons. And holy week doesn’t stop pointing to God’s kingdom on Palm Sunday. Scripture tells us that in the early part of the week Jesus spends time in the temple, he notices people that no one usually sees, and he offers some commentary that isn’t friendly to the people with wealth and power. His words and actions continue to point to a kingdom where there is enough for all, and no one has to step on another person for profit, or ignore the poor in order to protect their own interests. In the kingdom of God-here-with-us I don't have to choose between protecting my own, against your own because we are all God's own. In God’s kingdom we do not need human Empire, governmental power, domination, and might. This is not a political movement, but it does have political implications - implications that brought our Jesus to a cross. Those poltical and religious powers, they killed him for this. Palm Sunday and the week that follow it is Jesus declaring who he is and in doing so, opening himself up to the consequences of that role.

So everything that happens during this week that we call “Holy Week” points beyond itself to God and God’s kingdom, and calls to us to look in the direction that this arrow is pointing. It also calls us to move in the direction that this arrow is pointing. The way we worship together this week is part of that invitation – we also wave our palm branches and parade around together, a thing that most of us would not do on any other day of the year. This week we will wash feet on Maundy Thursday, spend time with the image of the cross on Good Friday, and stay up late with candles, stories, and songs as the sun goes down Saturday night and we celebrate the Great Vigil and the triumph of God’s kingdom in Jesus, that is, our Easter. We do this to get as close as we can to the mystery of God in Jesus Christ. We do this because the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus is a constant invitation to us in our own lives to become little arrows in the way that Jesus was – living lives that step out of sync with our world’s powers and politics in order to point to something beyond. We celebrate Holy Week, and Easter, and the feast that happens at this table every week, so that our lives can become something that says to others “this way to God's kingdom! This is the way to a kingdom where nations are peaceful, where everyone is fed, where hope and love trump hate and fear, and where people know how to be both completely themselves and completely together.

So this is the invitation to us today: to take the risk of coming close to this week, this story, this brazen, peaceful, dangerous Jesus. Accepting this invitation may be emotional or difficult. We may feel the desire to keep Holy Week at arm’s length, to watch these things, as some of Jesus’ acquaintances did, from a distance. If you are like me, there are many things in our world clamoring for your attention this week. It may feel safer, easier, or more comfortable to leave a little room between you and this week of ritual and worship. But, however you do it - inside this church or outside of it - allow yourself to come close to the cross this week. Let your heart be shaped, formed and affected by this central story of our faith, the story that shapes who we are called to be both individually and as a community. Let’s point the way together to the new thing, the bright hope that is waiting for us at the end of this holy week.