As a progressive, I believe there are many names for God and many ways to God; this article reflects one of those ways. Take from here what works for you. Celebrate life with joy and peace!
Spring is a time for planting, and it can also be an intentional season of spiritual preparation allowing God to till the soil of our souls. Planting seeds of love, joy, peace and patience.
There’s a familiar story of Palm Sunday. People waving their palm branches. They are shouting with joy, lining the streets, some leading the way, some bringing up the back with everyone excited about this man, Jesus.
You can almost feel the energy; the hopes and dreams and possibilities the people are imagining are contagious. You can almost see the joy and optimism in their faces as they’re collectively thinking, could this be the one who is finally going to liberate us from oppression and the occupying forces?
This story takes place almost 2,000 years ago, but these scenes still take place today. Think back a few years; do you remember where you were when Barack Obama was sworn in as the 44th president of the United States? Oh, there was excitement in the air that day. It was the highest attended inauguration in history, with estimates between 1.1 – 1.8 million people. Over a million people lining the streets, waving flags and holding signs that read CHANGE.
Live news broadcasts, updates on Facebook and Twitter made it clear there was an overwhelming sense of hope, optimism and a desire to see change happen. People were lining the streets, after the inauguration for the parade just to get a glimpse of this man. They were shouting with joy, some leading the way, some bringing up the back; everyone excited about this man.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not comparing Barack Obama to Jesus but I think picturing this event helps us connect with the crowds that day; to imagine the sheer excitement they must’ve been feeling as they watched Jesus come into Jerusalem that day.
The Palm Sunday story is one that many are familiar with; the donkey, the palm branches, Jesus entering Jerusalem, the joyful celebration. And this story wouldn’t be complete without a donkey. Why do you think Jesus told his disciples to go and get this donkey for him to ride on? What kind of statement was he trying to make?
Michael Lindvall, a New York City pastor, writes about this story and says that the donkey, palm branches and the whole entrance into the city was Jesus’ way of “engaging in a form of political street theater.”
All around the world, people use street theater as a way to make a point. To point out something about the status quo. To get across a message sometimes political, sometimes not. Not for the sake of causing a riot, but to maybe show how things could be different, to show an alternative reality to the way things are.
As Jesus was getting ready to enter Jerusalem, many people were there, waiting. They had heard about this amazing teacher, this powerful man coming to the city and it’s easy to understand why they might have been so filled with hopes and dreams of a better tomorrow. They wanted liberation.
It’s easy to understand why there were waiting for the coming Messiah; a king who would ride into town on a powerful stallion prepared for battle; a true, mighty king who would bring soldiers with him, someone who would be prepared and able to defeat the oppressors.
And instead, Jesus comes into the city with his own form of street theater. Michael Lindvall writes: “The Palm Sunday reality was a living parody on that dream. There was no stallion for this Messiah, just a donkey on loan. There was no army for this Messiah, just a rag-tag assortment of unemployed fishermen, an errant tax-collector and some vaguely disreputable women. And this Messiah was no vanquisher of Romans; he was just a Galilean rabbi.”
Through this way of entering the city, Jesus shows the people that he is not going to be the type of Messiah they had imagined, the type of Messiah they were hoping for, the type of Messiah they had created in their minds.
Yes, Jesus is bringing liberation and change and hope and transformation, but not in the way they had imagined. As they were laying down their palm branches and their cloaks before Jesus, they would also have to lay down their ideas of who Jesus was and what his purpose was in their lives.
And my dear friends, we are still called to do that today to lay down our own ideas of who Jesus is. Look around in the world today: Christians disagree and have completely different ideas of who this person Jesus was and is and what he cares about and the core message of his life. There are so many ideas and teachings going on, that it’s easy to get sidetracked and stuck in a rut of our own ideas of God.
It’s scary how easy it is for us to allow our vision of God to become so narrow that we don’t allow ourselves to realize that God is so much bigger than we could ever imagine.
Maybe you find yourself in the crowd yelling and cheering and waving your palm branch as Jesus enters into Jerusalem so hopeful that liberation has finally come! And yet, when the donkey approaches, not the stallion we had imagined, but a donkey we tighten our grasp around our cloaks, and we don’t want to let go. We don’t want to lay our cloaks down before Jesus.
Yet, that is what we are called to do. We are called to lay down our ideas, and thoughts, and understanding of Jesus; we are called to lay down our perceptions of how Jesus is going to bring about change and transformation in your life and simply be open to God’s spirit. To let go, and let God.
Palm Sunday, and the rest of the events we will remember this Holy Week all point to hope and change. Maybe not the way we have imagined it or planned it out in our minds. That’s why we are called to lay down our preconceived perceptions down before Jesus; to set aside our assumptions, our hopes, our own plans for change and give ourselves space: space to see the Messiah in our midst.
When we do this, when we lay down our cloaks, we give God a place to work transformation in our lives and it’s not going to look the same for every person.
Jesus says in the Gospel of John, “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” We are all on a journey.
We celebrate Jesus and the teachings of Jesus because he came that we may have life and have it abundantly. When we are free to be who we truly are, and free to live the lives that God has called us to live, we are able to experience restoration and transformation to God and others.
So, what’s stopping us from laying down our cloaks before Jesus? Why are we holding on so tight? Would it really be so bad if we let go? Would it really be so bad if we trusted God more than we trusted ourselves?
As we’re able to do this, we just may be one step closer to experiencing the joy and excitement of all that God wants to give us … today and always. Amen.
