Today we begin Holy Week. Having walked the 40 days of Lent we’ve been reminded of who Jesus is and who we are. We’ve spent this Lent in the Gospel of John with all of his “I am” statements. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life.” He said, “I am he, the one who is speaking to you,” when the Samaritan woman at the well says she knows Messiah is coming. He said to Mary at Lazarus’ grave, “I am the resurrection and the life.” We are learning who Jesus is and he is one with the great "I am" who spoke to Moses at the burning bush and liberated the people from oppression.
We’ve learned more about who we are. We are people seeking a savior and not feeling ready to receive him. We are people hoping and doubting at the same time. We are people who are yearning and yet can’t understand the far-reaching love Jesus brings. We are people who want to control God and tell God who is loveable and who is redeemable. We are people not sure if we want a changed life or if we can find room in our hearts for a shepherd who suffers.
But even if we aren't ready, God is ready for change, so we come to this day. It is a crossroads kind of day. Jesus is coming into Jerusalem. This moment has been anticipated. Jesus has spoken of it with hope, love, dread, and kindness. He has asked people to keep quiet about his identity so the timing would be right. Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem is something that all four Gospel writers describe, which is quite rare. They differ on some details such as whether palm branches are spread or cloaks. Much of what they share is the same, which is that Jesus rides on a lowly beast, a donkey or the foal of a donkey. The people line the way and shout “Hosannah” meaning God save us. They greet him with hope. This event fulfills prophetic scripture.
Jesus is on the road into Jerusalem and it is Passover week, a time of remembering the people in the desert learning to trust God. It is a time of high expectation of God’s presence and a time or remembering how far the Israelites have come as a people.
On Palm Sunday the people celebrate a king and all their expectations of a king. They want security. They want prosperity. They want strength. So as Jesus comes into the city, they are celebrating him and who they think he should be. But God has different goals than the people. God wants to be with those who are bowed down. God wants the captives to be freed. God wants people to share what they have. God wants to be present in the weak and helpless. So on this road the people’s expectations of God are clashing with what God is doing in that moment.
What we’ve done in the season of Lent is to go from one mountain at the Transfiguration down to the valley and back up to the temple mount in Jerusalem and our emotions have followed this track. On the mounting of the Transfiguration, Peter’s expectations are for Jesus to be in his glory and to stay there, for him to take his place with Moses and Elijah and stay comfortable there. But Jesus heads right back down into the hurting people to heal and give new life and head toward Jerusalem. Now Jesus has walked through these valleys with different people revealing himself with all his “I am” statements which show his priorities: To give himself away, to be with the lowly, to share his love and good news as widely as possible. Jesus’ emotions have reached the depths as he stands outside Lazarus’ grave where he is deeply disturbed in spirit and begins to weep. He is with the people in their pain and having raised Lazarus he takes all those emotions to Jerusalem, a place he has wept over, a place that crushes prophets, the place where heaven and earth meet, where power and influence are used to control people instead of to release people from their chains. Jesus goes there and is celebrated.
It is beautiful and hopeful that he is celebrated. We get a glimpse of what could be if we would all follow him . But praise is not what Jesus wants. He doesn’t want all our expectations placed on him as if he would do our bidding, as if we could use him as our personal wishing well or genie. Jesus came that we might all give ourselves away like him. He came to change us. He came to give us new life when what we wanted was comfort and riches and security. Jesus came to give us relationship, love, community and he came to walk with those in deaths darkest valley. Jesus can never be the King we wish he was, telling us we’re right and the people we don’t like are wrong.
So this crossroads could have been a temptation to Jesus to change who he was, but he has already proven that he will never waiver. So it becomes a crossroads for us. Do we worship a king if he gives us what we want, wields power over our enemies, and doesn’t ask us to change. Do we come to church and worship him here with our songs and words and then go home and live the same as we always did? Or will we follow him to the cross and die there with him, letting go of all of our expectations of glory and power and be changed by him to seek his priorities?
This is a week that we follow Jesus through the adoring crowds. For those of you who can join us at Gethsemane Lutheran Church on Thursday at 7, you will see how this meal continues to reveal Jesus’ depth of emotion, his giving himself away, his love for his enemies, and his commandment to us to become servants of each other. If Portland is too far, worship at one of our nearby congregations offering Maundy Thursday worship. This Most Holy week, find a way to follow the path that Jesus is traveling and what you might find in it. On Good Friday you can join Covenant Presbyterian at noon for the Stations of the Cross or come back here at 7 for the 7 last words of Jesus and the dimming of the candles.
Jesus knows this praise is temporary and that he will disappoint his followers, but the ultimate goal of giving life to the world is his focus that he can’t be distracted from. When we find ourselves crying out, "Hosannah! God save us," let us examine what we mean. Are we asking God to make us strong, make us great, make us comfortable, make us win. If we mean any of those things, we find God emptying us of our temptations and distractions, walking with us as we face disappointment, anger, and fear, and when we are ready with empty outstretched arms, God will be there with us, with all our siblings and all of creation to die with Jesus and rise again to share abundant new life
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