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Rev. Dr. Sandra Stevens Poirel - "Both" · Belin Memorial UMC

• Belin Memorial UMC: Today is Palm Passion Sunday, and are going to share two parts of scripture. One is beginning of the story, ⁓ and the other leads to closer to the conclusion ⁓ of Holy Week. ⁓ And I'm going invite you to stand for the reading of this gospel. ⁓ The Liturgy of the Palms, Jesus triumphal entry into Jerusalem. When they had come near Jerusalem and had reached Bethphage at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples saying to them, go into the village ahead of you and immediately you will find a donkey tied and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, just say this, the Lord needs them and he will send them immediately. The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. They brought the donkey and the colt and put their cloaks on them and he sat on them. A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of him and that followed were shouting, Hosanna to the son of David, blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest heaven. When he reached Jerusalem, the whole city was in turmoil asking, who is this? The crowds were saying, this is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth and Galilee. And then the liturgy of the passion. Barabbas or Jesus? Now the festival of the governor was accustomed to release a prisoner for the crowd, anyone whom they wanted. At that time they had a notorious prisoner called Barabbas. So after they had gathered, Pilate said to them, who do you want me to release for you? Barabbas or Jesus who is called the Messiah. And they said, Barabbas. Pilate said to them, then what should I do with this Jesus who is called the Messiah? All of them said, let him be crucified. This is the word of God for the people of God. You may be seated. Well, today we will consider both in a very short time frame. This is the close of Lent. So this is the story with which we are faced in this holiest of weeks. There is a story that I heard from, I want you to hear this. I heard this story from a seminary professor. Do we have any seminary professors with us this morning? If we do, I just wanted you to hear, that's where I heard the story. Two professors were sitting at a table in a fast food restaurant and they were just chanting loudly and sort of pounding on the table and they were saying, 40 days, 40 days. And then three more joined them and then five more joined them and then they all joined in this chant together. Forty days and it got louder and louder and they were getting more excited and it became so disruptive that the manager came over to see what this uproar was all about and to ask them could you keep the noise level to a dull roar? Well the professors just continued chanting and finally when the manager got their attention they pointed to the center of the table. And the only thing the manager saw in the center of that table was a child's puzzle that had been perfectly assembled. Well, the manager was annoyed and he looked at these professors and said, okay, what is the big deal? It is a puzzle. Finally, the chanting subsided and one of the professors explained. He said, we have heard that there are some people who think seminary professors have no common sense and that they're out of touch. Now nobody's ever said that about preachers, right? Okay. So we are here to set the record straight. As a team, we assembled and we have been working on a project and as a team, we put this puzzle together perfectly. And the manager said, okay. So, so the spokesperson for the group said, well, look at the side of the puzzle box and it clearly bears the inscription, two to four years. We assembled it in only 14 days. and the chanting began again and the manager bowed his head and murmured, Lord give me strength and disappeared. Well we have come to the end of the 40 days of Lent and that illustration reflects sort of where we find ourselves today. We've concluded the 40 days of Lent and today is the opening of Holy Week. And welcome, welcome to the day that stands at the center of the church year. Today is both Palm and Passion Sunday, so today we will celebrate both. There is always a question because time is limited in a worship service, well which one will you focus on? Will we focus on the palms and the triumphal entry or will we focus on the passion as Jesus is preparing to go to the cross? Well today as every Palm Passion Sunday we are confronted with and we face what is the paradox of our faith. We have riotous hopes and we have inconsolable despair and they collapse both together into one moment. But at the same time, while all of that is happening, we remember we are post-resurrection people. We know the story and we remain Easter people of the resurrection knowing that beyond the story of Holy Week is the resurrection. And even during Lent, which is why the Sundays of Lent are not counted in the 40 days. While we recognize this season, we always hold that every Sunday is a little Easter because we live the resurrection. But first, this is an important week and it is a fundamental part of the story of our faith, the procession of the palms, ecstatic entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, and then the opening of the passion of Jesus, the story of suffering and crucifixion. So today you will notice that the tone of the service will shift, the tone of the music will shift, and just as the mood and tone shifted that day, it will happen throughout the week. Today opens with the procession of the palms. It commemorates Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem, but within a short time, those shouts of Hosanna, which translates to, save us, we pray, the same group, many of them will shift from Hosanna to crucify him. Throughout all of that, Jesus remains obedient, being exalted by God. Now, Jesus was very aware that when he left to go into Jerusalem, he knew the entrance He knew the entry. He knew that there would be a parade. He knew he would be welcomed, but he knew it would be short lived. But you see, we too have heard the story before and we know how it ends. And we know who wins. We know God wins. Today begins with a parade of palms and praise for Jesus and concludes with the reality of the passion and the suffering of Jesus. But the story opens. Interestingly, the story opens not with the waving of the palms, but the story opens with Jesus preparing his followers, his disciples, for what will unfold in the week ahead. He knows it has become widespread belief, and the word is out. It is being murmured by everyone, even small children. that this Jesus is the promised Messiah. So why would that be such an issue? Well, in the first century, the Romans even were very familiar with Messiahs with a lowercase ⁓ There were many of them. But the people were waiting for this one with a capital ⁓ and they had waited a long time. and they are so excited and they are thrilled. This is the Messiah and a parade breaks out. Not everyone, the Pharisees in particular and the leaders were not nearly as excited unless we called being threatened a kind of excitement. And even to this day, we participate as we should in the celebration of the coming of the Messiah. You all waved palm branches and didn't you love seeing those little children wave those palm branches? Did you all see them smiling? I saw some parents and grandparents getting some footage. You all know my Facebook stays down most of the time. I Facebook. So somebody will need to send me some video. We participated in that glorious part of the story. And some even will take those palms and weave them into little palm frond crosses. Some of the fronds are dried and they are burned and they will be the ashes that we use next year on Ash Wednesday. As we continue to tell the story and it is always connected. So in the processional gospel, Jesus and his disciples are traveling from Bethpage to the Mount of Olives. Jesus carefully makes the provisions for this entry. He knows what lies ahead and he already knows how it's going to play out. So he sends two of his disciples to a village, that's all we're told, it is an obscure village. And there they are to find a donkey tied with a coat. He instructs them, untie them and bring them to me. Now think about this. Jesus has not suggested, he has command, this is an imperative in the scripture, he has commanded them to go to a place they don't know, that people probably really don't know them, they may know who they are, they may not, we're not told, but they're to go to this place and take possession of a donkey, a beast of burden that would have been very valuable to them and a coat, untie them and bring them to me. And they did. And there's the first miracle. They find everything just as Jesus said it would be. They go untie them. There is no evidence. They had to explain anything. That is one of our signals of Jesus' knowledge and authority. And then when Jesus arrives, the crowd is ecstatic. Shouts of Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest, save us we pray, are being bellowed out. People are lining up, cutting the branches, putting their cloaks down. This was an act of reverence in that time. This was a red carpet welcome beyond any celebrity we could ever come up with for him to enter Jerusalem, the holy city, the center of the faith. This is a powerful moment in the story and it's a powerful moment for us and we can connect with the story. We have our own petitions. We have our own hosannas. Save us, we pray. It's a parade of celebration, but it's a parade of need. It's a parade of requests. At this point, it is a parade of trust. Save us, we pray. We trust you to do this, but it is so temporary. Because the reality is both are going to happen. Jesus rode into Jerusalem and was welcomed. but the cross and the crown are connected. We are reminded that life and death starkly stand side by side. That same crowd will now be calling for his crucifixion as they answered the question. Pilot asked, as was their custom, I have two before me. Which one do you want released? Now Pilate's wife had already come to him and basically told him, you need to have nothing to do with this. But he was the governor and this was their custom. And here they are. I have two, but I can only release one. Which one shall we release? And they all said, Barabbas. Then what shall I do with this one? Jesus. the Messiah. The answer came clearly, crucify him. Jesus is silent in the story, at this part of the story. And even in all of that, there is good news. There's good news in both scenarios and everything in between. See, the good news of the gospel is there all along. It never checks out. God never left. God was still present and it is in Jesus' humble and merciful willingness to enter death and resurrection for you and for me and for the entire world. You see, the cross of Christ is not a one and done event. Jesus still accompanies us. Jesus still goes to crosses with us. I would dare say every person in this room, everyone watching online, and people whom we love and care for are dealing with something. Everyone is dealing with a cross of something. It might be a personal issue or a concern, suffering, illness, health, death, shame, embarrassment, grief, loss, frustration. anxiety, rejection, being an outsider, looking in. The list is endless, but everybody deals with something sooner or later and whatever it is. Here's the good news of the gospel. When we are on the mountaintop riding into Jerusalem and there is a red carpet and things are going so well, God is there. But when we're dealing with the crosses of life, God is there. And this story reminds us that God brought Jesus forth from the grave. And we believe that there is hope in adversity, there is salvation in suffering, and there is redemption and rejection and everlasting life through the cross. We are not left to cope with it all on our own. it will happen. So the context, you knew it was coming sooner or later, the context of this day and this week is that Palm Passion Sunday is not an event that took place in the past. It is about the living gospel of the future. Jesus knew what was coming. He knew the chairs were temporary. He knew a cross awaited him. He knew his disciples didn't want to hear it. They didn't want to believe it. But he rode willingly into Jerusalem. He orchestrated the arrangements himself. He offered no protest, no defense, no resistance. He took the blows as they came and his face was set. The direction and the task had been given him by his father and he. had set his face to Jerusalem. And we know that salvation is always, has been, and will always be with God, and we know who wins. God wins. So during this holiest of weeks, the crucified Christ does what Jesus does. Jesus turns the world upside down and then holds the world together again. with the twisted leaves of palms, the nails of a cross, a triumphal entry and a resurrection. So this is a glorious and important day, but it is a day of both. God reveals what it looks like to follow Jesus. God's gift to us through self-giving love, we are redeemed We are healed, we are restored, but it doesn't stop there. We are all of those things. But you see, beyond that, we too are called to do exactly what Jesus was teaching his first disciples to do. We are then called to take that message into a broken and hurting world. We have been entrusted to carry the most important message to the entire world. world will ever hear. So on this day of both we have joy to claim, deep and abiding joy that comes in willing obedience to God's call upon our lives and that Jesus still prepares and still shows us the way no matter what the situation. So today begins the week of both when Jesus turned the world upside down again. and then put the pieces back together and changed the world forever. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen. Let us pray. ⁓ God, as the psalmist reminds us, open to us the gates of righteousness that we may enter through them and give thanks to the Lord. This is the day that you have made. Let us rejoice and be glad in for we give thanks for your son Jesus whom we confess as the Messiah, our Lord and Savior who has become our salvation. Our Savior comes to us humbly, proclaiming a message of peace, sustaining us by his word even when we grow weary in faith. Thank you God for never leaving us, for standing with us. for being with us. You are our Redeemer, our source of hope, and the author of our assurance. O God, as we approach you with boldness, with acceptance through the promise of new life, through Christ's entering rejection and the cross, he is the name above all names. He is the one who enables and frees our tongues to confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to your glory. in your mercy. Enable us to share in obedience to your will and in the glorious victory of the resurrection of the one who lives and reigns with you in the Holy Spirit and who taught us to say when we pray, our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.