Mark 11:1-11
I think this is my 49th Palm Sunday sermon. The story of Jesus entering Jerusalem, welcomed by people who had heard rumors of his teaching and his healing is a great story. It’s certainly worth reading every year. Besides that, it calls us to celebration about how important Jesus still is in our lives. We like celebrations. Waving palm branches makes us feel young again. It honors the fact that we’ve signed on to something important. It’s a good thing.
If you’re going to preach about something 49 times it has to mean something. So I ask myself, “Why does this matter?” In order to answer that question, we have to ask, “Why did it matter to the people who first remembered it and to those who wrote it down a couple of generations later?” It’s a fun story to remember, and it certainly was part of what drew enough attention from the authorities to get Jesus executed. But it has to be more than just the explanation of why Jesus was in trouble for every gospel writer to include it in their stories.
In the past few years scholars have suggested that this story is more than just an event. It takes on mythological dimensions in the context of Passover week in Rome. We’ve talked before about how Jesus is riding into Jerusalem from the east on a donkey, a symbol of peace, about the same time Roman legions are marching into Rome from the west, leaders on war horses, to keep peace by threatening violence as the crowds gathered for the Passover celebration. It’s a stark contrast between peace and war.
We’ve also learned that the earliest Jesus followers formed communities of support to help them deal with the violence of their era during Rome’s conquering of most of their world. They gathered together, shared meals and conversation, and talked about living in Jesus’ way as an antidote to the horrors of their daily lives. If this story is about the contrast between Rome’s control of life through violence and Jesus’ way, what are some of the principles it would have represented to his early followers? What can we lift up and apply to our world today?
Jesus honored everyone and treated them with dignity and respect. We see him hanging out with the peasants who were his people, his neighbors for his whole life. Fisherfolk and farmers. We also see him welcoming women, who were almost always separate from whatever important was happening in the world. He broke with custom to speak directly to women he didn’t know, and we are told that some women traveled with his band. They were disciples. Jesus healed those who were ostracized from the villages because of illness – beggars, lepers, the mentally ill and more. Jesus is often criticized for befriending tax collectors, representatives of the hated government. We love the story of how he helped Zacchaeus turn his life around. Leaders of the religious community came to talk theology with Jesus. He challenged them to use their power and influence to help people rather than to make life harder for them. Some of them also became disciples. Jesus tells us that the whole of the law people can live by is love God, love your neighbor, love yourself. In a world where it’s popular to emphasize difference and separation, to fear those who are strangers, Jesus gives us a new basis for community. He asks us to look for our common humanity with all people and to treat everyone like a friend. He often disagreed with some influential people; he challenged their thoughts and actions; he did so respectfully.
Jesus advocated for economic equality and generosity. One of Jesus’ critiques of his own society was the heavy economic burden carried by the poor. The peasants eked out a subsistence living because most of what they produced went to wealthy land owners. Fishers owed a portion of every catch to Rome, who owned the waters. Slaves worked for food. The 1% lived in luxury. Their life expectancy was double that of ordinary folk. Jesus fed people and told those who had something to share with those who lacked basic necessities. The Jewish people were used to the concept of owing a tithe of their crops and livestock to the Temple to support the priesthood. It was an obligation. But Jesus isn’t asking people to feel obligated to share what they have. It wasn’t a requirement, it was a way of supporting each other. If you have two coats, share one because you can. The community that formed became its own safety net. If you share now, when you are in need, someone else will share with you. It’s like when we feed LaGrave or Christus Rex or when we use the community fund to help those who have no where else to turn. We do it because we can, not because we’re forced to.
When that principle of community comes into our century, it doesn't look like putting everyone on welfare, as some assume. It looks like economic equity. Labor unions advocating for a fair wage for workers. A minimum wage that actually covers expenses for those who work a 40 hour week. For a few months our country had a child tax credit that lifted millions of children out of poverty. Then we let it go. Giving children the security of a place to live and enough food to eat is an investment in the future for all of us. When children thrive, they become adults who contribute their abilities to us all. It’s good that we help those who are in urgent need, but it would be even better if we advocated for policies that meant no one was one illness away from poverty.
Jesus called for peace in the face of violence. One of his best-known teachings is to turn the other cheek. Remember he lived in a time when no one could fight a Roman soldier and win. Everyone was at the mercy of their bullying. But to turn the other cheek gives dignity to the one struck. It gives control. And it de-escalates the situation. When the Empire is always at war, living in peace is an act of defiance. It challenges violence.
Standing for peace in the 21st century is complicated. I called Senator Hoeven’s office and asked for funding for Ukraine as a way of bringing peace. My friend there suggested that billions of dollars in armaments was an odd way of peacemaking. He’s right. How do we stand up to aggressors without violating our commitment to peace? Maybe it’s giving Israel defensive armaments and insisting they end the destruction of Gaza. Maybe it’s negotiating a two-state solution. Or a nuclear deal with Iran. Maybe it’s choosing not to be the largest manufacturer of arms in the world. Maybe it’s ending the threat of gun violence in our schools. Maybe it’s learning how to talk with people whose politics differ from ours with respect.
Palm Sunday is a celebration about Jesus standing up to Rome and showing people a better way to live. We get to decide what that means today. And then we get to work together to make it happen.