Rev. Cathy Cox<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Palm Sunday, 2022 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Holy Week begins today with a protest movement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jesus rides into the royal city of King David accompanied by songs, and branches being pulled down and thrown on the ground before him \u2013 protesting the pagan Roman rule within the holy city \u2013 the land of God\u2019s people \u2013 the Holy Land. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But Jerusalem, is administered, often brutally, by the Roman occupiers. There are no more kings in David\u2019s line. And no more kingship at all. No freedom. No independence. No right to peaceable assembly – <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And it is seditious, dangerous, and wildly exciting to see someone riding in on a donkey – the sign of a king entering the city of God \u2013 to chants of \u201cHosanna!\u201d<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n It is dangerous to shout, \u201cBlessed is he king who comes in the name of the Lord!\u2019<\/em> That is highly subversive. And every Roman administrator knew it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n So did every Jew \u2013 both those how supported Jesus, and those who opposed him. Some of those who shouted \u201cHosanna\u201d<\/em> hoped, even expected, that Jesus would bring political freedom, the end of the Roman occupation and later turned on him when he failed to meet those expectations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n And those who opposed him feared that he might try exactly that \u2013 the overthrow of Rome, and fail \u2013 and then all Israel would suffer the consequences. The Romans did not tolerate dissent. And the right of Jews to exist as a people free to worship in the Temple, to make sacrifices to God \u2013 and not to the emperor \u2013 was always at risk. <\/p>\n\n\n\n And yet \u2013 the ordinary people came. And Jesus did. And Jesus didn\u2019t stop their cries of enthusiasm. He didn\u2019t deny what they claimed him to be. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This story is our story. Every year the Church all around the world gathers to tell it again. But why do we do it? <\/p>\n\n\n\n We do it for the same reason that Jews gather at the Passover to tell the story of God\u2019s people journeying from slavery to freedom – It is the central story of the Old Testament, reflected in the Psalms, and in the other scriptures \u2013 Every event of God bringing new freedom, new life, fresh deliverance is understood in terms of the Exodus. <\/p>\n\n\n\n And so we tell our story \u2013 because for Christians, everything centers in, and begins with the Jesus story, and the freedom and new life we insist that God brought to us in Him. It is a kind of global Exodus. And it starts with this protest movement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n For us, it is not just his teaching, his preaching and healing and compassion, but the story of these last days \u2013 in which we see most clearly our universal \u201cExodus\u201d – a movement from the bondage of slavery to the freedom of forgiveness, from darkness to Light, from death to life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n We sing that what God did for Israel, God has also done for the entire created universe \u2013 that God has brought us all out: Jews and Gentiles alike <\/p>\n\n\n\n And that part of the story begins with today. <\/p>\n\n\n\n We sing it and we tell it, and we wave these palms, because what God did in Jesus, God is also doing in us \u2013 and has done in the lives of all our ancestors in the faith who also sang this story \u2013 and waved palms, and celebrated Jesus\u2019 entrance into Jerusalem, where they \u2013 and we \u2013 proclaim him king. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s listed as an Advent hymn (74) \u2013 but listen to these words and see how they fit today\u2019s story as well: <\/p>\n\n\n\n Blest be the King whose coming is in the Name of God!<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n For him let doors be opened, no hearts against him barred!<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n Not robed in royal splendor, in power and pomp comes he;<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n But clad as are the poorest, such his humility.<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n And yet \u2013 we sing about that poor itinerant preacher riding on a colt, (155) <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAll glory laud and honor to thee, Redeemer, King!<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n to whom the lips of children made sweet hosannas ring.<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n Thou art the King of Israel, thou David\u2019s royal Son,<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n Who in the Lord\u2019s Name comest, the King and Blessed One. \u201c<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n And here is why we sing that \u2013 because this is where this procession ultimately ends up \u2013 with Jesus crowned with thorns, on a cross, where his kingship is declared \u2013 and won (156) <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cRide on, ride on in majesty! <\/p>\n\n\n\n Hark! All the tribes \u201chosanna\u201d cry; <\/p>\n\n\n\n Thy humble beast pursues his road <\/p>\n\n\n\n With palms and scattered garments strewed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Ride on, ride on in majesty! <\/p>\n\n\n\n In lowly pomp ride on to die; <\/p>\n\n\n\n O Christ thy triumphs now begin <\/p>\n\n\n\n O’er captive death and conquered sin. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Rev. Cathy Cox Palm Sunday, 2022 Holy Week begins today with a protest movement. Jesus rides into the royal city of King David accompanied by songs, and branches being pulled down and thrown on the ground before him \u2013 protesting the pagan Roman rule within the holy city \u2013 the land of God\u2019s people \u2013 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":2654,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2792","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stalbansbolivar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2792","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stalbansbolivar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stalbansbolivar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stalbansbolivar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stalbansbolivar.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2792"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stalbansbolivar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2792\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2793,"href":"https:\/\/stalbansbolivar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2792\/revisions\/2793"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stalbansbolivar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2654"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stalbansbolivar.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2792"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stalbansbolivar.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2792"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stalbansbolivar.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2792"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}