It’s about that time again for many of us to dust off our “nice” church clothes for our semi-annual trip to “formal” worship. For some, Christmas Eve and Easter mark their only church outings on the calendar, but even for those of us who go almost every week—Easter is one of the Sundays we are supposed to care about.
Yet, before we get to the empty tomb and ultimate ascension of Jesus in Luke 24, before we can sing “The Hallelujah Chorus”, we must first make our way through the ups and downs of Holy Week. While many may be familiar with the common practice of waving palms on Palm Sunday, or leaving in silence on Good Friday, these things still seem little more than a formality—a hoop we must jump through to get to Easter.
In a way that’s a good thing. As Christians, we know the outcome. Unlike those people in first century Jerusalem, we aren’t wondering what kind of amazing sights will accompany Jesus as he rides through town on a donkey, we aren’t even left wondering “what now?” after Jesus death on Friday. Instead, we take comfort in the certainty that Jesus will be raised, and the vaults of heaven will resound. In fact, it is impossible for us to look at any Sunday, or anything without acknowledging Easter’s miracle. Yet, we ignore the importance of these other days leading up to Easter morning.
In Luke 19, we hear a tale of Jesus entering Jerusalem to chants of “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord.” Palm Sunday marks an important shift in Jesus’ ministry from keeping his role private, to publicly announcing his arrival in Jerusalem—his disciples request the donkey with the phrase “the Lord needs it.” It is this shift in acknowledging his authority—the same one that leads him to turn over tables in the temple and rebuke the Pharisees—that confirms the peoples’ suspicions that Jesus is the messiah. Yet, many of those same people would quickly turn.
What the people expected was immediate establishment of God’s kingdom, an overthrow of the current regime, a restoration of God’s reign—things they would soon come to find out weren’t part of Jesus’ messianic plan. They would find their messiah to be one of suffering and death. That is not the king they had envisioned, or that the world told them to expect. So, many abandoned Him.
Are we so different? We celebrate Palm Sunday and Easter, but do we celebrate the messiah that Jesus is, or do we celebrate the messiah we think Jesus should be? Furthermore, do we celebrate Jesus’ work—the restoration of God’s kingdom—as something that is already accomplished, much as those cheering his entry to Jerusalem did, or do we look at Christ’s work on the cross as an ongoing process that the Spirit enables us to be a part of?
These questions and reflections can lead us to many hours of discussions. So why celebrate Palm Sunday, if it was the day people didn’t get the messiah they expected? Ultimately, we celebrate Palm Sunday, because although Jesus did not come as the one expected, he did come as the messiah we all needed. I pray that this Palm Sunday, we might all celebrate just how wrong many of our expectations are, and just how right God’s actions are. We invite you to join us in that celebration at Memorial Lutheran in Afton, with worship at 8:30 and 10, and Palm Sunday Brunch from 9:30-11:45.
Nick Bannon-Minister of Faith Formation