Grace Congregational UCC

“Responding Like We’ve Always Wanted to Respond”
Philippians 2:5-11
Luke 19:28-40

April 1, 2007 - Kim M. Henning

I was raised in a church that celebrates Confirmation on Palm Sunday. It’s always been that way, as long as I can remember. Confirmation is always a grand event, and the size of that small church usually doubles on a Sunday like today.

On Palm Sunday, youth publicly confess their faith in Jesus Christ and everyone seems to know what a grand event that is. Moms and Dads always plan extravagant celebrations. Neighbors, friends, and family fill the pews in support of our youth as they courageously take on the name of Jesus Christ.

Palm Sunday, back home, has always been Confirmation Sunday. Hence, the story of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem is not the focus of the day.

I am glad for the opportunity we have to give Palm Sunday our undivided attention.

The story begins with Jesus and his entourage coming to the Mount of Olives, just outside Jerusalem. Now Jesus gives a mysterious order to two of his disciples. He tells them to go into the village. They will find there a colt that had never been ridden. They are to untie and bring it to him. And if someone asks, “hey, what are you doing?”, they’re to respond, “the Lord needs it.”

So with a little courage, they do as Jesus tells them. They go into the village. They find the colt, they untie it. The owner says, “Hey....that’s mine, what are you doing?” They respond, “Our Lord has need of it.” They bring the colt to Jesus.

And with that Jesus began this parade into Jerusalem on the back of a colt....and a crowd appears, a ‘multitude’–in the words of Luke—lots and lots of people.

They were not just spectators—let’s begin with that. People of faith are never to be spectators. Spectators sit back and watch—as if being entertained. That’s not Palm Sunday. According to one telling of the story, people ran ahead of Jesus and behind.

That is faith, isn’t it? Active participation. Those who welcome Jesus were extravagant and outrageous. They praise God joyfully without so much as a printed liturgy in front of them. They were loud—that is what the scripture says---they were commotion-makers, they wanted Jesus to know and they wanted God to know and they wanted others to know that they had to respond to this tremendous person in their midst.

Some----spread cloaks on the road. Can you imagine! Some----break branches off of trees----. And others, were just shouting, “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven!”

Palm Sunday is an event onto itself. There is not another story from Jesus’ ministry that comes close to this one.

In part, it feels something like a worship service—with some Pentecostal fervor. Outright exuberance. They’re praising God. I read a story this week of Dietrich Bonhoeffer from a collection of letters he wrote. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was taken prisoner during WWII for being an active-resister to Nazism. As he approached Easter, Bonhoeffer mused that what he missed—was the singing of hymns. Without singing, the soul goes flat. Without singing, we miss the music, the sound of others lifting their voices to God. Bonhoeffer’s grief was the absence of music.

We don’t know if there was singing on Palm Sunday....we know that many individuals were praising God, and along the way I presume that the praise of God must erupt into singing. The human being fully alive is the human being in worship. The human being, created dust, cannot help but “praise” in response to Jesus.

I treasure the celebration of Palm Sunday. The crowd, on Palm Sunday, responds as they had always wanted to respond. Psychologists tell us that when we suffer a great loss or when we suffer great injury, it is vital that we put into words, verbal expression what we feel, what we experience inside. Without expression, grief and injury and loss, become like a pressure cooker inside us. It needs to get out.

So too with worship. Something inside just needs to respond to the grace and goodness and beauty and miracle of God Among Us.

I have to believe that some of those commotion makers along the pathway......had seen the miracle of the feeding of the 5,000. And now they respond with, ‘praise God.’

I have to believe that some of those commotion makers along the pathway.....had heard Jesus preach, “Blessed are the poor, for theirs is the kingdom of God.” And now they needed to respond So they take off their coats. Worship.

No one is named in this story, other than Jesus Christ. I suspect there was a good chance that Zacchaeus might have been in that crowd because Zacchaeus knows that the good life is a life that is lived in sacrifice to the poor.

I suspect there was a good chance that Mary was in that crowd.....Mary who had purchased that expensive, expensive perfume and poured it over Jesus’ feet. She had long ago gotten over any sense of embarrassment for loving Jesus Christ and seeing that his life was her all in all.

There are no spectators in that Palm Sunday crowd. These are worshipers. These are men and women who were convicted that this Jesus is the great “I Am”—and they simply, absolutely, positively have to respond.

I love Palm Sunday. Palm Sunday reminds me that worship is never a ‘have to’ or a ‘guilt thing.’ Palm Sunday explodes with an awareness that life is infused with the glory of God.

There is a common saying that we should spend all the time we can surrounded by those people who we believe have a clue to the kingdom of God. Along the way, I have discerned that the residents of Emmaus Home....a home for the cognitively challenged....have discerned the kingdom of God.

A story. Every Sunday at Emmaus Home, a service of worship is held in the church which is at the top of a hill. Every Sunday, worshipers at Emmaus need to trek up the hill. And every Sunday, in addition to the regular collection, a special offering is always received. A few years ago an offering was received for Heifer Project. The need was described. The offering was received. After worship, Pastor Ruth Renne retreated to her home.

Mid-afternoon a resident appeared at her door step. He came with an offering. He said something like, “I didn’t have money with me today, I think Heifer Project is very worthwhile. And then, without saying anything more, he handed Ruth $50. $50. Do you know how much $ that is at Emmaus? Probably a month or more of savings. Ruth felt uncomfortable. So much? But she also knows that the secret of the kingdom is about giving in response to the grace of God.

So she took the offering and promised to send it along with the rest to Heifer Project. The next day, a worker said, “Pastor Ruth, I hear that one of our residents stopped over at your home with his offering.” She became a little tight. ‘What do I do?’ The person said, “I just want you to know that Ed didn’t have any money. When he came home, he took his boom box, and sold it to another resident.” I just need you to know that that offer cost him something.

That day, in Jerusalem, there were some Pharisees standing near Jesus, and they said to Jesus, “you’ve got to quiet these people down.” And Jesus responded, “I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.”