"Signs" - Palm Sunday 2020

5 April 2020 – Palm Sunday

Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29; Matthew 21:1-11

Writing to a dear friend this past week, I came to realize how completely consumed many of us are with the Virus – or maybe it’s just me ...  Reading through the prescribed Palm Sunday text (Matthew 21:1-11), I thought of the irony of Jesus riding into Jerusalem to a cheering and welcoming crowd even though we know they would soon turn on Him.  My mind immediately altered verse 8 without much thought: “A very large crowd … was called out on social media for being careless and inconsiderate idiots and were soon arrested and fined for violating stay-at-home orders”. 

Aside from my sarcasm, I have often wondered how we would react if we knew the Messiah were riding into town – especially today.  Would we gather?  If we gathered, would we practice “social distancing”, being more mindful of those around us than of the One coming into town?  Or would we stay home and hope someone live-streams or records it?  You know, someone from among the crowd we would still call out and curse for not being socially responsible …

I don’t mean to make light of what we face, and I certainly do not wish to diminish the importance of the reasonable precautions we must always take.  Yet even with our reasonable precautions and awareness, there is still this awareness that gets past many of us: we do not know when He is coming – only that He is.  We also do not know what He will look like.  By this, I refer to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus whose “eyes were kept from recognizing Him” (Luke 24:13-16). 

The people gathered in Jerusalem knew, or knew of, Jesus of Nazareth.  Some had only heard of Him, but it is also reasonable to assume many in the crowd had been touched by Him in some way.  It is reasonable to believe many were only excited about the prospect of the warrior-king “Son of David” driving the Romans out and reestablishing the Throne of David. 

It is also reasonable to assume many of those who had been touched and healed by Him were also among those who would demand His life only a few days later.  It is the harsh reality of being mortal – AND – impatient.

Sometimes we sanitize Bible stories to the point of convincing ourselves we would not turn so quickly in such a barbaric way, knowing Jesus as we think we do ... Yet a quick glance through some social media posts, many by known Christians - and what we surely know about “mob mentality”, reveals we do indeed have the capacity to be just as cruel, just as barbaric now as they were then – if not in deed, most certainly in word.

 We must be willing to find our own places in these stories as they unfold in the Bible.  Christ is indeed the Living Word, but the Word itself comes alive when we take our places in the stories and be honest with ourselves about where we would actually stand.  We cannot be disinterested or disconnected as though these stories are from so long ago that they no longer have any real meaning for us now.  And if we think we would recognize Jesus now as they did then, we’re really not paying attention.  Or we’re not being totally honest.

Yes, the angels did tell the apostles The Lord would return the same way He went (Acts 1:11), but did The Lord not also tell His apostles He would be with them (with His Church) until the end of the age (Matthew 28:20)?  Did our Lord not also say that whatever we do to “the least of these” is a direct action toward Him (Matthew 25:40)?

My point is this.  I’m not sure what the “coming in the clouds” will look like exactly, but our Lord has taught that He is with us now.  Our Lord looks like any number of persons who struggle just to get through each day.  He looks like the millions who have lost their jobs.  The Lord has starved to death in the streets of slums throughout the world, and I am quite certain The Lord went to bed hungry and alone right here in Arkansas just last night.  I’m also pretty sure that if He looks like He did when He walked the earth some two-thousand years ago, being of Middle Eastern descent, we might more likely look upon Him with suspicion rather than welcome Him with open arms.

It is not always easy to know the right thing to do, and our impulses often deceive us.  Even adults, who are well versed in the Scriptures, struggle with navigating day-to-day obligations to our employers (if we’re still fortunate enough to have one), to our families, to our churches, and to those in need.  We want safety and security for ourselves and for those we love, but sometimes our fears and suspicions drive us to such extremes that our faith becomes strictly an internal feeling separate from our external lives.  As we should know, that is not faith.  Not even a little bit.

These are not unprecedented times we are faced with even as our reaction to this crisis is.  This country has struggled in the past through two world wars, the Great Depression, numerous recessions, and other pandemics – some deadlier than this one.  Each time we came out with the determination to remember the lessons learned, but it is not long before we forget, things get good again, and we go back to business-as-usual as if nothing happened – or will happen again.  This is portrayed by the welcoming crowd in Jerusalem that turned into a jeering and mocking and blood-thirsty crowd only a few days later. 

I am not prepared to suggest this pandemic is The Lord’s judgment on our nation and the world.  Maybe it is.  Truth be told, I have not asked Him directly more than I have only prayed for mercy, for wisdom, and for guidance. 

If it is Judgment, we are compelled to ask why and to be open and prepared to receive the Answer honestly.  If it is another Test, as one of many Israel faced in the wilderness, we must ask if we are only residually caught up in the sins of the many, or if we are among the many and refuse to acknowledge our part. 

We must be honest with ourselves and with one another because, on this Palm Sunday, this may be the real challenge we have yet to face: who is riding into town to announce His presence and to give us hope?  Caesar with “stimulus checks”, or The Lord who asks us to trust Him?  To whom are we looking for answers?  In whom do we hope?  And which will we turn on in only a matter of days when things don’t turn out the way we hope?

There is always a measure of triumph and hope on Palm Sunday.  What is expressed and conveyed by Jesus riding into town, however, is not always what is received.  The challenge for us always is to ask and to measure where our true hope resides; in Washington DC … or in the Eternal Kingdom?  Our honest answer may surprise us – and may also chart the course for the coming days.

In Jesus’ time, He rode into town to face what He would have to face for our sake.  In the time to come – perhaps in our own time - He will ride into town to collect His own for the sake of the Kingdom.  It is our challenge always to determine where we will be standing when – WHEN – He does.  And if we are being as honest as we are human, we can only pray - Lord, have mercy.  Christ, have mercy.  Lord, have mercy.  Amen.