Palm Sunday/Passion Sunday – April 2, 2023

Luke 18: 28-40

I want to report on a parade…this morning…that took place over 2000 years ago.

The parade was as jubilant as any parade you can imagine.
Full of hope and excitement and enthusiasm.
Yet…as the parade made its way into the city…a cloud of disaster began to take shape in the crowd.
The parade to which I refer is the oldest parade in our current eon of history…AD…in the year of our Lord.
The event we call Palm Sunday.

This Sunday has two names in our church calendar:

Jesus had become a very popular figure.

Whether he was talking in a village…a small city or out in the countryside…great crowds gathered to hear him.
To witness still another miracle or to hear him answer the questions that many people asked him.
And they came increasingly to feel that he was going to be Israel’s new king.
The one who would lead their nation out of their bondage to the Roman Empire.

When Jesus and his disciples came to the capital city…Jerusalem…a few days before the great Passover feast…his followers could hardly wait.

And when he chose to ride into the city of Jerusalem on a donkey…the mood was electric.
People threw their coats on the ground to make a carpet before him.
Others cut branches from nearby trees and spread them as part of their makeshift highway.
People shouted…praising God for all the wonderful deeds Jesus had done.
And then their shouts took on a different tone:
“Blessed is the king…who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven…and glory in the highest heaven!”
These were the voices of joy…of hope…of unbounded expectation.
The mood was electric.
If we had been there…we would have joined in the shouting and singing.

But there were other voices in the parade route.

They were voices quite in contrast to the crowds that were calling for Jesus to be their king.
These voices were those of political operators.
And they were ominous voices.
There was an edge in their tone.
Even in the careful…controlled way in which they spoke.
They were unhappy with the way the crowds were responding to Jesus.

They did not shout their opinions.

Why did these intelligent…sincere men want Jesus disciples to stop?

These elite Jewish leaders were doing their best to keep peace with the Roman government.

So that the government would allow the Jewish people to have more freedom and less oppression.
The Jewish leaders feared that if the crowds surrounding Jesus got carried away…the Roman government would send in more troops.
And the Jews would lose the few freedoms they enjoyed.
So…they said to Jesus: “Teacher…order your disciples to stop.”

It is because of this other voice that we refer to this day not only as Palm Sunday but also as Passion Sunday.

Because on this day…the week of Jesus’ suffering began.
And so…we call it passion week…the days leading up to Jesus’ trial and crucifixion.

But there was yet another voice at that parade.

Only Jesus could hear it…because its tone was so high that ordinary ears could not detect it.
But it was the strongest voice of all.
When the Pharisees asked Jesus to stop his disciples from their celebration…Jesus answered:
“I tell you…if these were silent…the stones would shout out.”

Jesus was declaring that God’s kingdom was coming and that nothing could stop it.

If Jesus’ followers did not shout the Good News…nature itself would make a statement.
And this was so big…so huge…so massive…
That the voice of nature would go beyond the traditional voices of the songs of the birds or even the roar of the wind and the sea.
The stones…the most tongue-tied objects of nature…the stones would make their announcement.

And that’s what happened at Easter!

A stone got a voice.
The stone that was rolled back from Jesus’ tomb was a voice declaring throughout the ages that Jesus Christ is Lord.
Lord over sickness and death and hell.
That stone at the tomb got a voice.
He was declaring that eventually the purposes of God will be fulfilled in our world.
And that nothing can stop God’s ultimate purposes.
God will give a voice even to the stones.
When all the tides of power seem opposed to the purposes of God…God can speak through the stones.
God can find a voice in unlikely places…and often in unimpressive people.

My daughter told me about a Marine recruit who was in boot camp at the same time she was.

He was different from the other recruits…so he was constantly being picked on.
The young men in the barracks he was assigned to were particularly cruel.
One day someone came up with the idea of throwing a disarmed hand grenade in the middle of the floor and pretending it was about to explode.
The young man would be petrified with fear…and they would have a good laugh at his expense.
So…at the appointed time they tossed the hand grenade…and everybody began shouting:
“Get out! Get out! It’s a live grenade! It’s about to explode!”
But instead of running away the odd young man fell on the grenade and yelled to the other recruits:
“Get out of here! You’ll be killed if you don’t! Run for your lives!”
The barracks fell silent.
Shame was in the air.
The other recruits realized that this young man had thought the grenade was live.
But instead of running away he had been willing to give his life to save the others.
God can and will give voice to the stones.

If the elite Jewish leaders with their political and religious power miss the purposes of God and grow silent.

And if threats silence the crowd along the parade route…pay no fear.
God can give voice to the stones.
The purposes of God are at work in our world.
All we need are eyes to see and ears to hear.
It is our work to further those purposes…by our prayers…our love…our service…our thinking…our living.

By being one of God’s lively stones.