Palm Sunday

Matthew 21:1-11
James McTyre
Lake Hills Presbyterian Church
April 9, 2006

Palm Sunday is kind of a kids’ Sunday, so let’s do something the kids did about 2000 years ago.
Let the choir say, “Praise God!”
Let the section of pews between the choir and the aisle say, “Hosanna!”
Let the center section say, “Praise the Lord!”
Let the section on the left-wing say, “I’m on the left-wing?” (“Alleluia!”)

Did you ever have an argument like this with your kids?
Or when you were young, did you ever have an argument with your parents that sounded like this?
“Mommmmm. Do we have to go to church? It’s so… [say the word] boring.”
The kids are always the ones who convict us of our sin.
Knowing what Jesus said about the religious leaders of his day, I wouldn’t be surprised at all if as a boy he had said something similar to Mary.
“Mommm. Do I have to go to synagogue? It’s so… boring.”
The Bible doesn’t tell us that.
But the Bible does tell us that when he grew up and became a rabbi, people flocked to Jesus because he was anything but boring.
“He speaks as one with authority,” they said about him.

Palm Sunday is the last road sign before Easter.
Palm Sunday tells us in a big, bold way to, “Listen! Something amazing is going to happen. Something so wonderful, so outrageously anti-boring, you’re just not going to believe it.”
Palm Sunday clears a path to Easter.
Palm Sunday clears a path not by chastising us for having a boring, hum-drum, dull, same-old same-old existence.
Palm Sunday clears the way to Easter by showing us how to praise.
And by showing us there’s more to praise than just saying, “Amen.”

His disciples borrow the colt of a donkey.
And Jesus rides into Jerusalem during Passover, looking probably very much like the picture Megan drew for the cover of your bulletin.
The crowds hail Jesus as their new king, the Messiah they’d been promised who would break the chains of their political oppression.
They sing, “Hosanna! Save us, now!” and they drape their cloaks and palm branches before his path.
Did you ever stop to consider what an incredibly dangerous political act this would have been?
A dangerous religious act, too, for that matter.
It’s as if Jesus is making a mockery of how Caesar would triumphantly ride a tall stallion into a conquered land.
A donkey’s colt that’s almost too small for a grown man to ride.
It must have looked almost humorous.
For a crowd to hail this as king, would be as insulting as you could get, if you were Caesar.
Imagine what someone like, say, Saddam Hussein would have done if some upstart Jewish cleric rode into Baghdad to the sound of cheering crowds.
Probably about what the Roman Empire would have done, just more efficiently.
So on Palm Sunday, we – the church – hand our children palm branches and tells them to praise Jesus, just like the children did on the road to Jerusalem.
But we don’t think about the implications of teaching them to praise.

Palm Sunday’s kind of a problem for mainline, Protestant, Presbyterians like us.
We come to church, we expect it to be decent and orderly.
We sit in church with our hands folded, smiling politely at the children with their palm branches.
We enjoy Palm Sunday, but we’re not gonna start rolling in the aisles or anything.
The problem is that there’s almost nothing polite or hands-folded about the Palm Sunday story in the Bible.
Palm Sunday in the Bible is more like one of those Gaza Strip political and religious demonstrations we see on TV.
Palm Sunday in the Bible is THIS close to spiraling out of control, into some sort of crazy crowd mentality uprising where citizens clash with the government, and rocks are, and tear gas is launched, and nightsticks are swung.
Palm Sunday in the Bible is nothing like a decent and orderly church service.
Praise – Praise of God – Praise of Jesus Christ as King of Kings and Lord of Lords – Praise is a dangerous act.
We don’t think about it that way.
We’ve watered down praise so there’s nothing political or dangerous about it at all.
The popular churches these days are “Praise” churches, that have “Praise” services, and sing “Praise” songs.
Praise is “hip,” praise is “cool.”
Praise is safe.
But praise – as it appears in the Bible, especially on Palm Sunday – praise is bold; Praise is risky.
The Bible’s idea of praise yanks us out of our comfortable seats and says, “Put your hands up!” – from reverence or from arrest, or both.
Saying, “Praise God,” or saying, “Jesus is Lord,” – singing “Hosanna!” could get you killed in the Bible, and still can in certain places.
But instead of being a revolutionary act, we hand our children palm branches and tell them to remind us how it might have looked.
We’ve got to be really careful what we’re teaching our children.
Because some of them, like Megan and Roddy, take us seriously.
They take the gospel truth as, well, gospel truth.
Someday, these children who look so cute holding palm branches are going to be more than ready to hold us accountable for what we’ve taught them.
The same kids who wave the branches around us someday will very likely wave them in our faces.
Because when they hit 18 (or younger) they’re going to want to decide whether they want to keep coming back to church, or if the praise we sing doesn’t match the praise of our actions.
Is church boring? Or is it a place of praise?

Praise is more than just saying, “Amen.”
Praise is more than wishing for safety.
Those of you who went to Mexico on mission trips before we got smart and started going to the equally foreign land of Kentucky –
Do you remember how the congregations in those Mexican churches sang?
If two hundred people came to worship, they sang in at least two hundred different keys.
And they didn’t care.
In fact, the more off key they were, the louder they sang.
It was awful.
It was beautiful.
It was music to God’s ears.
And it was anything but boring.

Praise is more than just being happy and saying, “Praise Jesus,” when we get a good parking space, or hit the traffic lights just right.
Praise, by its very nature, has to have an element of danger; otherwise it’s just… boring.
Do you ever think about what you’re saying when you sing, “Praise God from whom all blessings flow?”
Not the government, not your credit card company, not your work, not your grades – God is the place from whom all blessings flow.
Do you ever think about what you’re saying when you praise Jesus Christ as King of Kings and Lord of Lords?
Not the government, not the teachers, not your mom – Jesus is King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
If you’re not getting in trouble for saying these words, someone’s not paying attention.

Psalm 34 says, “I will bless the LORD at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth.
My soul makes its boast in the LORD; let the humble hear and be glad.
O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together.”

Psalm 148 says, “Praise the LORD! Praise the LORD from the heavens; praise him in the heights!
Praise him, all his angels; praise him, all his host!
Praise him, sun and moon; praise him, all you shining stars!
Praise him, you highest heavens, and you waters above the heavens!
Let them praise the name of the LORD, for he commanded and they were created.
He established them forever and ever; he fixed their bounds, which cannot be passed.
Praise the LORD from the earth, you sea monsters and all deeps, fire and hail, snow and frost, stormy wind fulfilling his command!
Mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars!
Wild animals and all cattle, creeping things and flying birds!
Kings of the earth and all peoples, princes and all rulers of the earth!
Young men and women alike, old and young together!
Let them praise the name of the LORD, for his name alone is exalted; his glory is above earth and heaven.
He has raised up a horn for his people, praise for all his faithful, for the people of Israel who are close to him.
Praise the LORD!”
And the Psalm (Psalm 118) we read earlier said,
 Save us, we beseech you, O Lord!        O Lord, we beseech you, give us success!    Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.        We bless you from the house of the Lord.     The Lord is God,        and he has given us light.

That’s so much deeper, so much more challenging than looking around and rolling your eyes while singing, “Praise God. From whom all blessings flow.”
Praise isn’t just an act of joy.
Praise isn’t just an act of rebellion.
Praise is a holy, a defiant act of life.
And if we feel praise, if we sense the danger and even the foolishness in praise, we can sing God’s praise when life is good, and when life is just plain awful.
We can sing praise in an oncologist’s waiting room.
We can sing praise when we lose a job.
We can even sing praise at the grave.
And we sing God’s praise in those times not because we’re denying the sting of life’s arrows, but because the life that flows from Jesus Christ is stronger, the power that comes from God is greater, the courage breathed into us by the Holy Spirit is more triumphant – than anything else in life or in death.
The good people of Jerusalem took their scripture seriously on that first Palm Sunday.
I would like for God to know that we did as well on this one.
Instead of concentrating on disappointments… instead of being distracted about what we’re going to have for lunch… instead of falling into the deadly trap of boredom… can WE praise?
Can we set our hearts and minds on Jesus Christ?
Can we welcome, praise, his entry into our life?
Can we sing and pray, and live and breathe, with enough hope, with enough confidence, with enough radical faith – that we don’t care how silly, or how childish, we might look?
Can we stand in open defiance of the powers of this world that separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord?
Can we?
Can we praise that dangerously?
Instead of relying on our children to show us how to praise, can we show them how good it is – before they dismiss yet another generation of church-goers as pleasant, but boring old people?

I conclude with the words of the Apostle Paul (Phil 4:8):
“Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”

Praise God!
Praise the Lord!
Hosanna in the highest!
Amen.