Palm Sunday

If you pay any attention at all whatsoever to the news, you will have heard in recent weeks of new problems in the Congo and the terrible consequences of war in Bakhmut, Ukraine. You would have heard about the earthquake in Turkey and Syria. You probably heard about harrowing scenes at the borders of various countries, where people want to escape either dangerous conditions or crushing poverty. We’ve seen people suffocating in rail cars at the Texas-Mexico border and capsizing boats on the Mediterranean. And let’s not forget the long forgotten but still ongoing wars in distant parts of the world like Yemen. I mean, the hits just keep on comin’! If we’re at all paying attention we will have long since realized that there are no limits to all the terrifying ills that befall ordinary people around the world.

Today is Palm Sunday, the day that stands at the entrance to this still, silent week. These are reflective days. The days when it is time to go into ourselves. Jesus comes to Jerusalem riding on a donkey. Slow, strong, steadfast, and yes, stubborn, the donkey always symbolized the arrival of a King in the ancient Middle East. But rather than arriving with royal pomp, Jesus arrives clothed in humility. It’s important for us to reflect upon that this week. There’s a big difference between coming in thundering with the death and destruction of the modern machines of war and approaching very slowly and humbly with the strength of a donkey. Like Jesus. Now, as then, there are multiple ways to accrue power in society. The two extremes are pretty clear: With the use of violence and force, or with humility.

The stories about Jesus preceded him and there were certainly those who were aware of his “special gifts”. He could change water into wine! He was able satisfy thousands of people with five loaves and two fish! He could heal diseases and infirmities!!  Surely, he also had the power to chase away the hated Roman occupying power. Surely it would be nothing for him to provide for order and goodwill amongst the people in Jerusalem. Undoubtedly, he, finally, would be a king worthy of this title. I wonder how many people were secretly thinking that maybe a donkey wasn’t quite up to the task. Maybe he’s got a few missiles tucked away in his saddlebags. A secret stash of swords? Maybe some slings? Maybe? And a big bag of rocks. At the very least make a good impression by flexing some divine power and strength and downplaying the whole humility angle. At the very least, if you’re going to arrive like a King, on a donkey, like all previous kings in the history of Israel, then act like a king and get to solving some problems. Read the room, Jesus! Just like us, the people wanted to have their concerns taken care of immediately. “What are you going to do in the first 100 days, Jesus??” People wanted to get their way as fast as possible. That's why people shouted hosanna when Jesus rode into town on his humble donkey. "Hosanna" simply means, "Save us. Save us!" They saw that Jesus as a King, the one expected to fulfill prophecy.

But Jesus is, of course, different. He does not fly in on an F-16, with violence and destruction. He arrives slowly, without weapons. Humbly. And it takes time for his kingdom to come. It cannot be bombed into existence or fought for. Now it's not as if we in the church want to enforce our goals by brute force. But we must not forget that we all have that in us. The ability to hurt others. The ability to injure others. The ability to put ourselves before others. The ability to do what we want, regardless of the needs of others. The ability to violate principles of community or love. The ability to convince ourselves that what we want is best for everyone.

Good and evil are fighting a constant battle everywhere, and especially within each and every one of us. This realization dawns slowly to us that day in Jerusalem with the man riding on the donkey. The kingdom he brings cannot be bombed, because it comes from within. It grows from the seeds he has sown in us. The seeds that foster our longing for peace and love; the hope that we have for communion and togetherness. The faith sparked in us that the created world, despite all that seems to prove the contrary, is good because it is willed by God. The same God who finds honor in humility.

The kingdom of Jesus is not of this world and has nothing to do with the tumult of this world. The peace which Jesus brings in not a magic trick, that miraculously bestows peace upon the world. We just need to look around us to see the evidence of that. Peace is not yet a reality, if what we mean is a world without the weapons, a world without invasions, without oppression, or the demon of hunger. This was not the peace which Jesus brought with him at his entry into Jerusalem. The peace of Jesus is rather a peace for each and every person. We might well think to ourselves, “What good is that in a world full of problems and strife?” I mean, gentleness and humility are not exactly in demand on the job market, where instead things like effectiveness, initiative, speed and a certain amount of cockiness and cold-bloodedness are the virtues that are rewarded. Imagine a resume where the applicant writes that they are very humble. One guess as to how that ends. Jesus can say as much as he wants that he is king, but what employer is going to listen to that? The peace Jesus brings is the peace of to the kingdom of God. But what does that even mean? What are we to do with such an intangible peace?

The answer is as simple as it is difficult: We can do anything with it! The peace of God is not a physical ingredient that can be scattered with a gentle hand over South Sudan, Ukraine, Syria or Jerusalem. The peace of God is an interior peace, residing in individual human beings through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit. God's peace is what is given to us so that we can discover hope in life despite everything. God's peace is what helps us up again when we have fallen and we think we can't go on. God's peace is what gives us strength to fight against all that which prevents us from being good to our sisters and brothers in the world.

As long as the world exists, the Word of God will tell us about a living, growing reality that God has sown in us. God's Word - in the figure of the man on a donkey - brings comfort to those who are afraid, hope to those who are imprisoned, and fellowship to those who are lonely. God wants nothing more than to see us reconciled and restored to one another and to God. As the embodied living Word, God has worked in all manner of ways. God has followed people into the limits of existence with his peace. God has gone with us into the deepest darkness and has brought light there. (We’ll hear more about this in about a week!). God has held on to us in the worst storm.

This is the peace with which Jesus came to Jerusalem that day. This is the peace with which he comes to us today. This is the peace he grants to us in baptism and when we receive the Holy Communion. And we share in the cry from Jerusalem: “Hosanna! Save us!” God does all this, even if we often wish otherwise. God does it so that we may have the courage, despite everything, to go out and live our lives - for our neighbor and for ourselves. Working as God’s agents of peace and reconciliation, manifesting and embodying the peace we wish to see in the world.

Amen.