The day Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey it was a celebration, and there were crowds and palms. Crowds gathered and sang Jesus praise, and they cut palm branches and waved them in the air to celebrate the arrival of the one they hoped was going to be their king. Crowds and palms have always been part of this celebration, but not this year. There can be no crowds gathered together and there are no palms. This year’s Palm Sunday is very different, but maybe in the strangeness of this year's holy week, we can learn something important about who we are as we walk with Jesus, because regardless of our circumstance, who we are as we walk with Jesus, we are people who celebrate.
The reality is that Palm Sunday has never been a day to celebrate the palms but the person who rode into Jerusalem that day. We celebrate Jesus as our King and our Messiah, and we have never needed the crowds because we have Christ Jesus, the Anointed One who comes in the name of the Lord. So regardless of our circumstances, today we can celebrate, and this Palm Sunday we need to celebrate. In the midst of uncertainty, anxiety, confusion, and fear we need to celebrate Jesus who came that day and comes this day to be the one who comes with stability, peace, and God’s unending love and peace.
When we celebrate, we are really stopping to remember and give thanks. When we celebrate a holiday like Memorial Day or Thanksgiving, we remember the important events from the past that have shaped us. When we celebrate a birthday we are giving thanks for life and looking forward to the blessings to come. When we celebrate Jesus, we both remember all he has done for us and how he has shaped us, but we also give thanks for what he continues to do for us and what he means for us in the midst of life. So a celebration isn’t what we plan and do just happen when things are going well, in fact, we need to celebrate when things are difficult because it is in those moments that we need to remember and give thanks.
When we celebrate Palm Sunday, we are remembering that Jesus is still King, and that God’s kingdom still reigns in heaven and even on earth as we allow it to. We celebrate Jesus as king because when he rode into Jerusalem he was proclaiming himself to be the King, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. The donkey didn’t just happen to be there for Jesus to ride, Jesus made plans for the donkey to be provided to him, and he made the choice to ride it into the city on that day. Jesus knew that the people gathered in Jerusalem for the Passover would understand the royal implications of this parade because people knew the scriptures and they looked forward to these words of Zechariah being fulfilled.
Rejoice greatly, O daughter Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter Jerusalem! Lo, your king comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on a donkey.
His dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.
Jesus riding on a donkey into the city of Zion - Jerusalem - was Jesus' way of saying that he was this king who came with humility but also with victory. He was not only filled with grace but also power. And the kingdom Jesus was bringing was not an earthly kingdom but God’s kingdom, and it was going to reign over all and for all time. Jesus was clearly coming as the king and today we still celebrate Jesus as king. We remember that Jesus' life of humble love and life changing grace gave hope to everyone then and it gives hope to us now. We also remember that just as Jesus was in control of all the events of holy week from this parade to the resurrection - so is God in control of all the events we are going through today.
As out of control as things seem right now, we celebrate that God is in control. As uncertain as our future is, we celebrate that God holds our future as firmly as he holds us today. As unsettled as we are, we celebrate that the kingdom of God is firmly established in Jesus and nothing can prevail against it. Palm Sunday is a day to celebrate that Jesus is still king and God’s kingdom shall never end.
Palm Sunday is also a day to celebrate that God still loves us. That was part of Jesus’ message to the people as he taught in the temple. In the days between Jesus' arrival in Jerusalem and their celebration of the Passover, which began the process of Jesus' arrest, trial and crucifixion, Jesus spent most of his time in the Temple teaching.
One of the parables Jesus told was the story of a wedding banquet where a King set out a feast for his son and invited people to attend. When some refused to come, the king opened up the table and invited others. Everyone who wanted to come was welcome. Everyone who wanted to experience God’s love was included.
Today we still celebrate God’s love for us and for all people. In a world that grows fearful of what is going to happen during the next month or more, we need to remember that the disciple John said, there is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. When we are able to remember God’s love for us, and experience that love in the midst of this storm, it drives all fear away.
And God truly does love all of us. The love that Jesus poured out during his life touched everyone from Pharisees like Nicodemus to unnamed outcasts and notorious sinners. Jesus' love welcomed the rich like Zacchaeus and the poor like a widow who gave her only two pennies to God. Jesus' entry into Jerusalem wasn’t just for some people, it was for all people, and today we celebrate that the love of God still reaches out to all people. We may not feel worthy of God’s love, our fear and anxiety might lead us to think that we don’t love God enough or trust him at all, but none of that matters because God loves us.
At the very beginning of his ministry, long before any parade with donkeys, crowds, or palms Jesus said, God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son so that whoever believes in him might not perish but have everlasting life. Think about it, God loved the world. Not his people, not the faithful, not the righteous, not those who were good, but the world.
It’s God’s love for the world which is why Jesus entered into Jerusalem in the first place, because it was going to be in Jerusalem, at the time of the Passover, that Jesus was going to offer himself as the Lamb of God who would take away the sin of the world. God’s love for the world is seen most powerfully in Jesus who died to set us free and that love stands as strong today as it did then. Today we remember and give thanks for that love, but we also need to receive. God’s love is for us and if we can embrace it then it will not only cast out fear but it will fill us with everlasting life.
So today we don’t need palms or crowds to celebrate that Jesus is still King, God is still in control, and God’s love for us remains strong. But there is one more truth we need to celebrate today, and it is the truth that God’s kingdom calls us to walk in love. Another teaching we hear from Jesus during this time between his arrival in Jerusalem and his crucifixion a few days later, was when one of the religious leaders asked Jesus this question: “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” And Jesus replied, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”
With these few words, Jesus has summed up the entirety of what life in the kingdom of God is all about. We love God and we love others. That’s the kingdom mentality, that’s the kingdom of lifestyle, that’s the kingdom Jesus rode into Jerusalem to establish, and that’s the kingdom we still celebrate today. But celebrating this kingdom doesn’t mean we just remember it and give thanks for it, celebrating also means living it out day by day. Celebrating Jesus means making this way of love for God, and love for others our own personal way of living.
Love God. All of our lives and schedules have been turned upside down these past few weeks and we are looking at several more weeks of new routines, so maybe now is the time to work in an intentional time for expressing our love for God. Can we add in a prayer in the morning before our Zoom meetings? Can we give thanks during an afternoon walk? Maybe we need to read a psalm in the evening to give us hope, strength, or peace. The key is to find some time right now to simply love God with all our heart and soul and mind and strength.
And I would invite you to love God as a family. If you have young children, pull out a children’s Bible, or your Bible, and read together. Pray together. As you walk and play together, give thanks to God and invite your children to do the same. I also hope one of the blessings of this stay at home order is that families are eating more meals together. If you are, pray before you eat.
Remembering and giving thanks to God during a meal was the celebration that brought Jesus and the crowds to Jerusalem. They came for the Passover and the Passover was a meal where the family gathered at a table and remembered all the ways God had blessed them in the past. It also reminded them that God was still with them and loved them and always would. Each meal we share together can be that kind of celebration and an opportunity for us to love God together.
Love your neighbor. With all that is going on around us, we have opportunities right now to do this. There are people facing real fear and anxiety about their future and we can love them through words of support and encouragement. We can love our neighbor by giving to the food bank, both financially and with donations of food. While we can’t visit people, we can call them, send notes, texts, and emails to say that we are thinking of them. And if there are people with a need that we can meet, we should allow God to show us what to do and how to do it during this time of social distancing.
Love doesn’t stop just because we can’t gather together or be close to each other, the Bible says that love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things. Love never ends. So the love God has for us doesn’t end, and the love God gives us to share with others doesn’t end, we just have to be creative and find new ways to share it.
Palm Sunday is a day to celebrate, and yes we can do this without crowds and palm branches, because what we celebrate is that Jesus is still King, God’s love still reigns, and the call to love God and love others is still the foundation of our lives and faith. I’m thankful for this very strange Palm Sunday because, in a very odd way, it has focused our minds not on the palms but the person of Jesus, and it has set the eyes of our hearts not on the movement of the crowds but the love of Jesus Christ, the blessed one who comes in the name of the Lord.
