Luke 19:28-40

Peace sayings from various traditions

Hindu tradition
Oh God, lead us from the unreal to the Real, from darkness to light, from death to immortality.  God’s peace, peace, peace to all.

Buddhist tradition
May all beings everywhere be happy, Peaceful, and free.

Jain tradition
Peace and universal love is the essence of all the teachings.
Forgive do I creatures all, and let all creatures forgive me.

Confucian tradition
First there must be order and harmony within your own heart.
Only then can there be peace and harmony in the world.

Native American tradition
Give us the wisdom to teach our children to love, to respect and to be kind to one another that we may grow with peace in mind.

Muslim tradition
Praise be to the Lord of the Universe. Who has created us and made us into tribes and nations, that we may know each other, not despise each other.

Have you ever heard a story that you thought you knew so well, only to discover that you really didn’t know it at all?

It happens all the time, actually. We remember events or moments in our lives and tell stories about them. But often the details of those stories change, according to the new experiences we have had in life and because we’ve had time to interpret what happened. This is very, very human and actually helps us to grow as people and to develop new perspectives and worldviews.

So Palm Sunday, at least the idea of it, is all about a story and how we tell it. Honestly, I understand why some Christian traditions do not observe Palm Sunday, because they are taking the stance that it has become an institutional holiday and not something that inspires us to develop our spirituality or to serve others. Perhaps in some cases that is true, but you could say that about most if not all of Christian traditions. A tradition is only worth something if its purpose is to inspire us to be better people and to treat others better. Otherwise, it’s just a story that we keep making up to serve our own purposes.

So let’s look at the story we always read on Palm Sunday, this time in Luke’s Gospel. Alert: though we’re looking at Luke, we’re really looking at Mark. The Gospel of Mark was the first Gospel written and so the other Gospels often borrow from Mark’s story. In this case, Luke borrows a lot of Mark’s original version of Jesus finally getting close to Jerusalem. There are a few subtle changes, though, that are worth noting. First, I have mentioned before that Luke uses the word “journey” in some way shape or form many, many times. So here again, Luke changes the story to say that Jesus was journeying ahead and going up to Jerusalem.

Jerusalem is the climax of Luke’s story and the author of Luke refers to Jerusalem more than any of the other Gospels. But before Jerusalem, Jesus journeys through Bethphage-Bethany-the Mount of Olives. Though geographical markers, these places were also significant symbols. In the OT book of Zechariah, the Lord approaches Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives [14:4]. So right away, we get some king and lord references.

And it continues. Jesus sends two of his pals to a village nearby to find a little donkey that has not been ridden. Yet another reference to Zechariah: Lo, your king comes to you, triumphant and victorious is he; humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey [9:9]. So they do find the colt and bring it to Jesus and then they put their cloaks on the colt. Again, Luke says that Jesus is journeying—this time on the donkey.

Along the way, people start spreading their cloaks on the road. Another royal kind of sign. Notice there are no palms in Luke’s version. We’ll get to that in a moment. The people are shouting things, but not hosannas.

Luke has them shout out a portion of Psalm 118, though Luke changes it. The people don’t say, as the Psalm does, blessed is the one, but they say: blessed is the king who comes in the name of the lord. So now that Jesus is journeying towards Jerusalem, Luke finally acknowledges Jesus as some sort of king. And just in case we have forgotten Luke’s story that we read at Christmas, Luke calls the cloak throwing crowd a “multitude of disciples” rejoicing and praising God in a loud voice for mighty works, and in heaven, peace, and glory in the highest!

Cue Linus.

Cue Gloria in Egg-Shell-Seas-Day-O

Cue Christmas carols that you know you don’ t want to hear EVER again….

Luke’s entry to Jerusalem seems happy. A little TOO happy?

At least, for one brief moment. Luke adds verses 39-40, as they don’t appear in Mark’s story.  Some Pharisees speak. They call on Jesus to make his disciples stop their affirmation of him as king.  Jesus responds: “I say to you, if they will hold their peace, the stones will cry out.” The use of the future tense here indicates Jesus’ role as a prophet. This is consistent with Luke’s story, for Luke presents Jesus as a prophetic voice much more than a king or religious ruler. In this story, those who follow Jesus are speaking joyfully of the peace they have found in him. If Pharisees or anyone else try to silence that joy and peacefulness, nature itself will chime in.

I hope the details help you discover some meaning in the story or at the very least, they help you see another perspective about this think people call Palm Sunday.

Because maybe buying palm branches and waving them around sanctuaries, taking them home and pinning them up until they rot and then throwing them away isn’t leading us anywhere special. Maybe we should pay more attention to the people who spread their cloaks and coats on the ground, and even on the back of a donkey. Perhaps they were “all in” for this peaceful and joyful journey in a world that was not so peaceful and joyful.

For there were no trumpets or choral anthems or pretty palms. Jesus journeyed to Jerusalem with the sounds of only a few enthusiastic people. The rest were skeptical, angry, jealous–even violent about this idea of breaking down the walls of separation to create peace within people and peace around the world. And yet, that was this prophet’s wish and all he taught and lived asserted this path to peace.

To close, here these words from Frederick Buechner:

That is what the palms and the shouting are all about. That is what all our singing and worshiping and preaching and praying are all about if they are about anything that matters. That you and I also, each in our own puny but crucial way, will work and witness and pray for the things that make for peace, true peace, both in our own lives and in the life of this land. Despair and hope. They travel the road to Jerusalem together, as together they travel every road we take – despair at what in our madness we are bringing down on our own heads and hope in the one who travels the road with us and for us…approaching every human heart like a city.[1]

May we continue to journey towards peace—peace within ourselves, peace with others, peace around the world.

 

[1] Frederick Buechner, “The Things That Make For Peace” from A Room Called Remember: