"The Stones Would Shout Out":
Complaint and Affirmation in the Triumphal Entry

April 10, 2022 • Palm/Passion Sunday
Scripture Reading: Luke 19:28-40 (NRSV)
Pastor Alexis Lillie

[You can view the full worship video recording at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhRQw-qSRlo

On Palm Sunday we often hear the word, "Hosanna!" which means, "save us!" But in the Lukan version of the triumphal entry, the crowd is declaring, "blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!" The people shifts from hoping for salvation, to joyfully affirming the unique work of Jesus. Their conviction in this affirmation is so strong, Jesus says that if they don't give it voice, the stones will cry out! Join us Sunday as we consider how this story offers clues to our own joyful expression, even as we continue to call for salvation.

I. INTRO

• Fun biblical fact -- the readings we just heard were a composite of the slightly different Palm Sunday stories that you get in the different gospels.

  • interesting, that taken separately, some texts focus on "Hosanna, save us"!

  • and the text in the gospel of Luke focuses on the cry, "Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the lord!"

• We put them together here, to highlight these two seemingly opposite feelings:

  • Hosanna, save us! ... from injustice, suffering, oppression ... AND ...

  • Joyful blessings!

• sometimes, you feel two feelings at the same time - and that's ok!

  • But ... how does it become possible to feel both the dire need for salvation ... and an overpowering sense of joyful blessing -- so strong that if the procession doesn't cry out, the rocks will!?

II. "SAVE US NOW"

• So there are these two pieces at work here ...

  • hosanna, save us now

  • and blessed is the one ...

• First, there's hosanna ... which is tied to how Jesus addresses power, and oppression, and dispossession.

  • less of a triumphal procession, more of a statement

  • juxtaposing ruling power, as they would march (and some historians say, were likely marching around the same time), into the city after a victory.

    • warhorses, money is thrown, flowers, the whole thing.

• Jesus' entry is ... not that. HA. Almost pointedly NOT THAT.

  • Jesus' behavior - and the writer's portrayal of that behavior - was intentional.

  • he's offering a counterpoint to the display of power that many are being oppressed by.

  • The gospel authors are generally interested in the marginalized and dispossessed.

    • for these authors, salvation is bound up with the status of Israel as the people of God.

    • the authors want to show that Jesus has come to bring restoration to Israel - to save them from the display of power that he is counter-acting.

• So yes, Jesus is showing that he is familiar with the parlance of power -- familiar enough to mimic it in this so-called "triumphal entry" of his own.

• AND ... through this mimicry, Jesus offers a different type of power -- a powerful way to operate outside of expectation, outside of the system.

  • certainly, some reforms happen within, and there is good work to be done there.

• Aren't some of our own protest cries today an exercise in looking outside the system? ... A total reimagining of what is possible?

• Not to just consider how some slight adjustments can be made, but to shift the framework entirely?

  • To point out a totally new way?

  • End Mass Incarceration!!

    • not: can we make incarceration more just, or stop the school to prison pipeline, etc -- which, yes, are noble goals. But shifting the lens says -- what if we abolished prisons?

  • Forgive Student Debt!

    • or: what about not just cracking down on predatory lending but ... forgiving student loans?

  • Healthcare is a human right!

    • or: what about not only insisting healthcare is a human right but also implementing free universal healthcare, accessible to everyone?

• Jesus is up to this kind of work. He is seeking to make things right in the world by offering a very different framework for salvation than the one his community operated within.

III. "BLESSED IS THE ONE"

Ok. If the first piece is a cry for salvation ... and how Jesus addresses injustice and suffering by shifting the lens ...

• then, the second piece that is at work here is the joy, the "blessed is the one."

• which at first, taken alongside protest refrains, and shifting the framework, and uprooting the system ... might not make sense.

• how can the folks in Jesus' orbit be lifting up their own chants -- their cries for salvation from oppression -- AND be in a place to also call out a blessing??!

  • And not just any blessing!

  • they're not just saying - "Blessed is the one who comes in the name of God"!

  • they're apparently experiencing it as something so powerful and infused with joy ... that we are in danger of inanimate objects crying out, if they don't give it voice?!

• ok, Daniel Tiger, you can feel two feelings at the same time but ... I'm back to my original question ... THESE two feelings?

  • the feeling of being wronged and needing salvation ... AND a feeling of joy?!

• Here's how I want it to work:

  • There's a problem -- an injustice, a wrong -- that you want out of your life, or out of the lives of the people you care about. You want salvation from it, essentially.

  • So you seek to understand it so you can control it, obviously.

  • You confront it, manage it. Maybe make a list about it. And RESOLVE IT.

  • Then, you're happy about it. And things seem right in the world, and you can be happy about THAT.

  • And joy abounds!

  • Address injustice - CHECK!

  • on to joy - CHECK!

  • Linear. Understandable. Manageable. First one then the other.

  • my Type-A's, first-borns, Enneagram 8's, you feel me?!?!

• But WHOA is life not like this!!!

  • and here's what I've found -- trying to MAKE it like this only causes more suffering. That you then want to be saved from -- maybe with control and lists and resolution -- and that just perpetuates the whole problem.

• SO.

• what is Jesus up to when he addresses suffering and offers salvation?

• He is shifting the whole framework.

  • perhaps for some of us, shifting it away from this linear view.

• How can we live into that? ... perhaps more than a shifting, it's actually of a widening ... a widening of our perspective

  • expanding our awareness to see where and how we might experience these things alongside each other

  • So we want to give space to our honest feelings of suffering, when that's happening

  • and create space for joy, when that's happening

• When we look at it this way, perhaps suffering and joy don't seem to be so mutually exclusive.

• I venture to guess ... if we widen our awareness right now, we'll find that we're already giving space to both suffering and joy.

  • We all have things that are painful - personally, collectively, etc. and, hopefully, we are all experiencing joy in some measure ...

• this is reality, so unless we want injustice to rob us of joy, we have to figure out how to hold these two.

  • not a luxury - can't just wait til XYZ is over, and THEN move into joy.

    • once x happens I'll get to experience y ... sometimes, yes, but much of life is a mish-mash.

    • princess bride - life is suffering

    • that's a little grim, but ... there's some truth, it's much more interwoven and if we think we can't experience joy till we're done with suffering, well, we're really hurting ourselves.

IV. LIFE AS IT SHOULD BE

so ... we've come to agree with Daniel Tiger - that, if we follow Jesus' example, shift our perspective, widen our awareness ... we can and do experience joy alongside Hosanna.

• THIS is daring to speak life as it should be.

  • Because it's not just a complaint about injustice (Hosanna!) ... it's also an affirmation about what is impossibly possible (blessed be!) even while we wade through that injustice.

• This is the kin-dom of heaven on earth ... refusing to live in the linear narrative of our culture that tells us we have to pick one or the other.

  • refusing to believe we have to give up the fight against injustice if we want to experience joy ...

  • Or that in joyful times we are somehow turning our back on work that needs to be done.

• As Jesus arrives "in the name of the Lord," he brings with him a crowd that is deeply committed to both these things:

  • to refuting oppressive displays of power ...

  • and rejoicing in the blessing of Jesus' presence.

• May we be aware enough of our circumstances to join with this crowd ... both in the work of salvation, and the work of joy.

  • And may we engage both so powerfully that if we are silent, the very stones will cry out!

Amen.

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