Palm Sunday

Matthew 21:1-11

Grace and peace to you.

Throughout Lent we have been in the wilderness, exploring what it means that we worship a God of new beginnings, a God who asks for our obedience and commitment, a God who invites us into life together with our neighbors, and a God whose Word speaks against the death that we experience in our brokenness. And we have looked for the places where God shows up in the wilderness.

One of the places I see God is when the lectionary texts connect to our current events. The texts for today were chosen nearly forty years ago, long before anyone could have foreseen Holy Week happening in the midst of a global pandemic. And yet, listening to Mathew’s account of Jesus entering Jerusalem, we hear, “The whole city was in turmoil.” If we were hearing from Mark, Luke or John today, we wouldn’t hear those words.

There may be a lot about the first century life in Israel that we don’t know or can’t understand, but Matthew’s words connect immediately to our current experience, and we can say, “oh, yeah, okay, I know something about turmoil these days.”

God speaks to us where we are. And that is Good News in turbulent times.

I was caught by this particular word we hear in Matthew’s gospel; the word translated as “turmoil” comes from a Greek word that means “to shake, agitate or cause to quake.” It can be a physical shaking, but it can also be mental or spiritual agitation.

Matthew’s Gospel begins with one of the infancy narratives that tell us how Jesus was born into the world. And how the birth of the One who was called the Messiah frightened King Herod and when the wise men tricked him, he was angered and infuriated. The king and his understanding of both kingship and kingdom were shaken by the birth of Jesus, the incarnation of God’s own Son. The assumptions he had made and what he thought he knew were changed.

According to Matthew, more than thirty years later, the world was still in turmoil, shaken and out of sorts. This year, for us, I think it matters less why that was the case. It is simply reassuring that God’s people have lived in turmoil throughout the ages, and we have witnesses throughout the centuries that God’s people, and God’s church, have survived.

Later this week, on the afternoon of our Lord’s crucifixion, we’ll hear that the world was shaken again. Matthew tells us that after Jesus breathed his last, the curtain of the temple that separated the holy of holies from the nave or sanctuary is torn in two, the earth shook and the rocks were split. And yet, we know that isn’t the end of the story.

For today in the midst of a world in turmoil and shaken by uncertainty and having to let go of expectations, may we remember that Jesus still leads on.

Jesus, the Son of God who came and lived among us because God so loves us, leads the crowds into Jerusalem on this Palm Sunday, triumphant not because he has fought wars and won,  but because he has announced a new kingdom and new life for all who follow him.

He is, as our next hymn says, the one who guides us by our hands into the promised land. He is our comforter and consoler, leading us home.

Thanks be to God.