Where Are You Headed?

Rev. Debbie Cato
Matthew 21:1-11
Fairfield Community Church
April 2 , 2023 

Holy God, Sometimes it’s hard to hear you over the hosannas. Sometimes it’s hard to hear you over the noise of traffic on streets. Sometimes it’s hard to hear you over our racing thoughts, our mental to-do lists, or our desire to fit in. Sometimes it is hard to hear you in this noisy world. So just as you stopped traffic in Jerusalem, stop traffic here. Pause the rush. Open the gates. Dwell among us, until your Word is all we can hear. We are listening. We are laying down our cloaks. Amen.

 

Where Are You Headed?

 

Lisle Gwynn Garrity, the artist who did the painting on the front of our bulletin, says that in their book, The Last Week, theologians Marcus Borg and John Crossman allege that there were actually two parades occurring simultaneously in Jerusalem on this day. From the east, Jesus entered Jerusalem on a donkey. From the west, the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, entered with an imperial guard. They write: “Jesus’ procession proclaimed the kingdom of God; Pilate’s proclaimed the power of the empire. The two processions express the main conflict of the week that leads to Jesus’ crucifixion.”[1]

Pilate enters with a pompous display of armor, accompanied by soldiers. For him, power is displayed by superiority, elitism, and weaponry. Later in the week, he will use his power to satisfy the crowds willing Jesus to be crucified, despite not finding any offense to justify it. He uses his power for violence, to satisfy the status quo.

 Jesus enters the city on a donkey with her young colt in tow. He wears no armor, only soft linens. In Jesus’ processional, members of the crowd lay down their coats as a display of humility and honor. Jesus expresses power through a posture of vulnerability, through caring for those who desperately need love.

Jesus must decide whether to go to Jerusalem, where he would be rejected and killed, or to continue his ministry elsewhere and live. In a sermon Howard Thurman preached in 1962, Thurman explains the crossroad faced by Jesus as a dilemma, because this moment reflects the "agony" of any dilemma in that one must choose either between competing good or competing evil. Jesus knew going to Jerusalem would mean meeting his fate. If he did not go, it would mean quieting the revelation of God within him. Going to Jerusalem may mean taking a stand and being bitterly judged and grossly misinterpreted.  In the choice Jesus makes to go to Jerusalem, Thurman recognizes the crowning example of faith to trust God and follow His divine will.[2] 

Jesus entered Jerusalem with an agenda — a dangerous one. He and his disciples chose to confront the Roman Empire during the festival of Passover. In his book Jesus and the Powers: Conflict, Covenant, and the Hope of the Poor, Richard Horsley highlights how the potential for the Passover celebration to turn into an uprising was not lost on the Roman authorities. Throngs of oppressed and indignant people, gathering for a festival commemorating the Israelites’ liberation from the bondage of foreign oppressors, could quickly spark and spread an angry protest. Extra troops were stationed in Jerusalem during Passover, posted atop the porticoes of the Temple, they demonstrated a show of power meant to control and intimidate.[3]

This tension in our Palm Sunday narrative is often downplayed; Jesus is portrayed as heading to Jerusalem as a Passover pilgrim. But it would have been rare for a Galilean like Jesus to embark on the multiple-day journey to Jerusalem for the Passover. He only would have gone for a special reason, to fulfill the traditional role of a prophet called to confront the rulers and the ruling institutions.

If you continue to read in Matthew, you will see that the first thing Jesus does after arriving in Jerusalem is go to the temple. He drives out all the  people who were selling and buying in the temple and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. Jesus makes a scene.  He makes the business people who used the temple, God’s holy place of worship, to make money, really mad.  This was not what the temple was intended for and Jesus wasted no time to set things right.

Then Jesus proceeds to heal the lame and the blind inside the temple and in the process, he upset the chief priests and scribes.  It’s as if Jesus is putting up a banner, “The Messiah has arrived in Jerusalem”. 

So while we celebrate Palm Sunday by waving our Palm Branches and marching around the Sanctuary, we have to recognize that Jesus’ triumphant entry was much more than just his entrance into Jerusalem.  It was his continued attack on the things that were wrong with the established religion and culture of his time.  It was his continued ministry of love and compassion toward those needing the touch of God.  It was his continued presence of vulnerability and humbleness.  Yet Jesus was fearless when it came to doing and saying what was right, even when it involved ruffling the feathers of those in authority and risking his own well-being.

And while we celebrate Palm Sunday by waving our Palm Branches and marching around the Sanctuary, there are questions we must ask ourselves.  Which parade would you follow?  Jesus’ humble parade riding on a donkey as he enters Jerusalem or Pilate’s as he enters with a pompous display of armor, accompanied by soldiers. Would you risk your well-being for the principles that are important to Jesus or would you feel most comfortable protected by the armor and weaponry of Pilate?  What principles that were important for Jesus, do you need to risk standing up for today?

 Which parade you would join in Jerusalem has a lot to say about your definition of power. It defines which leader you will follow.  Jesus’ journey to the cross should always catch us off guard. As dismayed as the disciples, we ask, “Jesus, are you really headed this way, straight to your death?” Many of our weekly questions throughout the season so far should  have helped us prepare spiritually for Holy Week. Now we examine if our beliefs have changed our behaviors. Has your path changed?  In the midst of opposing forces, which way will you go?[4]  Where are you headed?  Are you headed where you intend to go?  

I'd like to end by sharing a poem.

PALM / PASSION SUNDAY

seeking: Where are you headed?

where are you headed?

 

We are trains on a track,

moving through life at warp speed.

Please keep all arms and legs

inside the moving vehicle

at all times.

 

The years pass like a flipbook,

faster than we can absorb,

but the train does not stop.

We press our faces to the windows

to try and get a good view

and we ask each each other,

Where are you headed?

And there on the train

we decide—

 

we want to head toward

the promised day.

We want to head toward crowded tables

and long, healthy lives.

We want to move in the direction of joyful children,

and hopeful communities.

We want to move closer to God

with every mile of track,

and that does not happen by accident.

 

So it’s time to ask,

Where are you headed,

and who’s driving that train?

written by: rev. sarah speed | sanctifiedart.org |

Amen.

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[1] Sanctified Art.  Palm Sunday.  power play by Lisle Gwynn Garrity Inspired by Matthew 21:1-11 Silk painting with digital drawing and collage.  Artist’s Interpretation.
[2]“At The Crossroad, 1962 September 15” by Howard Thurman. Published by The Howard Thurman Digital Archive. Emory: Candler School of Theology. thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/33
[3] Presbyterian Outlook.  Looking Into the Lectionary.  Teri McDowell-Ott.  April 2, 2023.
[4] Sanctified Art. Palm Sunday.  Theme Connections. Sanctified Art Creative Team.