A Sermon for Palm/Passion Sunday
The Rev. Patricia Gillespie
Mark 11:1-11a
Isaiah 41:21--25
Psalm 22
Phillipians 2:5-11
Mark 14:32--15:47
Were you there? At the cross on that first Good Friday? Or in the crowd celebrating the arrival of one who will save us? Are we there in the crowd that follows Jesus?
A crowd is a dangerous thing. How quickly they change. How easily the victorious palm is turned into the deadly cross.
Riot squads and high priests both know the dangers of the crowd, both know the danger when we anticipate a riot. Yet Jesus says there's nothing we can do about crowd control, nothing can be done to stop the shouting. If these were silent, the stones themselves would shout. We anticipate a riot. The crowd still cries out our version of the Hosanna from Jesus Christ Superstar: "Hey, JC, won't you fight for me? Hey, JC, won't you die for me?"
A crowd is a dangerous thing. Yet we often see it as a safe thing
It is usually easy to hide in the crowd. In a crowd, when the question is asked, "Whose job is it?" the answer is vague: "Everybody, somebody, nobody?"
Yet, some in crowd are noticed and are singled out. Crowds have their superstars, whether athletes or saviors. "Hosanna" announces Jesus as savior. Simon of Cyrene is singled out to bear the cross. A tap of a Roman spear on his shoulder makes separates him from the crowd.
And some who are unimportant and usually unnoticed in crowd may become important. The women remain. They have not run with the rest of the crowd.
And others hiding in crowd will be found and confronted. Peter hears the cock crow and weeps. He is then forgiven and called to be a superstar in God's service. The one who denies Christ is forgiven called for God's glory.
We, too, are there in the crowd, in the gathering that is the church. The "crowd" coming together for communion. But are we using the church to hide in the crowd? Beware in this crowd of the tap of spear – You too may be called to serve.
What is asked of you? We are not asked to follow the mind of the crowd, but rather Paul tells us, "Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ... Christ who although he had the power of God humbled himself like and obedient slave."
What can this mean, "Having the mind of Christ"? Service? Suffering? It means BOTH. That's the message of cross. It's the message that the path to our hopes for our salvation --the path on which we shout our victory cheers for a new life of freedom -- that same path is the way of the crucifixion. The way to life and love leads through agony and self-giving through mockery and abandonment. We wave our palms and carry our cross along the same path. It's a path we may walk alone in a crowd.
Why is it asked of you? God knows; the mystery is beyond my understanding. But the Gospel may suggest that part of the answer is that the Lord needs you.
That sounds close to heresy. What could we have that the Lord might need? How could God need anything? Anyway, you are not Simon, or Peter, or Mary Magdalene. THEY might be needed to build God's kingdom of love and life, but not us; We're the insignificant, useless ones here in the crowd.
But God, the all powerful one, has need of even the unimportant & seemingly useless, need of the foolish and stubborn.
Remember where we heard that sentence this morning? "The Lord needs it." Just what is it that the Lord needs? God needs a donkey?. The donkey is, in its own way, made a superstar in the service of God.
If the Lord needs something as ordinary and simple as a donkey perhaps then, even the small offerings of our broken lives and our shaky faith are needed by the Lord.
Were you there waving a palm branch? Were you there at the cross?
Yes, we are there, like the others: cheering for victory and betraying the victor, mocking the king or bearing the burden. We want to be part just part of the crowd, to be an anonymous "Everybody," yet Jesus keeps calling us to be "Somebody."
Sinners and servants, nobodies lost in the crowd, all are asked to become superstars. Because the Lord has need of us. So, my friends, Take up your palm AND your cross Turn to God and be saved.