“The Palm Branches”
“The Palm Branches”
John 12.12-16
John 12.12-16
What a moment it would have been, that original Palm Sunday! Our procession this morning has reenacted it in a small way, but it’s hard to capture the original. I want to paint the picture for us if you’ll allow me.
First, there’s the crowd. Thousands upon thousands of pilgrims have streamed into Jerusalem for the Passover, many of them from Jesus’ own Galilee. The pilgrims shouting “hosanna” are different than the caustic cadre from Jerusalem who the High Priest stirs up to cry for Jesus’ death. The reading of the Passion account we just heard makes this clear. No, the Palm Sunday pilgrims, welcoming the Lord into Jerusalem, look to Jesus for victory and deliverance.
Then there’s the Palm Branches. Taken from the abundant date palm of the region, the waving of this branch had become the Jewish nationalistic symbol of liberation. A little history adds some context: Two centuries before, when the Maccabean revolt freed Jerusalem from the Seleucid Empire, the Jewish people waved the same common Judean palms in celebration. Later, during their revolt against Rome, they minted palms on their coins as a symbol of independence. The Romans knew the power of the palm for the Jews, for when they destroyed Jerusalem in 70 AD, they minted in mockery a commemorative coin featuring a captured man and a weeping woman, both enslaved under the Judean Palm tree. The Palm Branch was an evocative symbol indeed.
Next, we’ve got that exclamation, “Hosanna!” Full-throated shouting from thousands echoes in the Lord’s ears: “Salvation Now!” or “Victory Now!” or “Save us Lord!” It’s got new meaning for us because of its liturgical use, but the original comes from Psalm 118 and meant one powerful thing: fight valiantly fight for us, God, against the enemies that surround us.
Then there’s the blessing, so familiar to us: “Blessed is the one coming in the name of the Lord, even the king of Israel.” The “one” they’re greeting is Jesus; and they’re naming him king come from Yahweh.
Lazarus marches with him too. (Yes, that Lazarus, four days dead but now living proof of the power of the Lord.) A crowd from Bethany, where he was raised, swells the pilgrim throng, and won’t stop witnessing to this seismic, earth-shaking sign: the voice of this Jesus calls forth death from life. Who better to “hosanna” us from tyranny and oppression?
The Pharisees too are there and measure the moment. The mechanism for Jesus’ murder is already engaged, but now the energy and enthusiasm of the pilgrim crowd brings new urgency to their plot: Jesus will be dead by Passover, as our Passion reading this morning makes clear.
And finally, there’s Jesus himself. We’re not told his innermost thoughts, but the one action he takes tells us all we need to know. He has his disciples find a colt, and the Lord rides in on it. Only later through the Spirit’s power do the disciples rightly interpret this, but we know it now fully. By placing himself on that young donkey Jesus placed himself into a powerful prophecy of the Old Testament prophet Zachariah. Six centuries previous, Zachariah prophesied, “Rejoice greatly… Shout aloud. Behold, your king comes righteous and having salvation, humble, humble on the foal of a donkey.” (Zachariah 9.9)
Oh, what kind of king is this, my friends, for whom we wave our palms? No war horse he rides. No political movement he leads. No earthly battle he fights. He’ll mint no coins, sit on no earthly throne, and the only crown he’ll wear is one of thorns, this saving king. But preach on, Zachariah, and tell us about Jesus’ rule: no more chariots, or warhorses, or battle bows, but “he shall speak peace to the nations; his rule shall be from sea to sea… and for you also, because of the blood of the covenant… [he] will set prisoners free.” (Zachariah 9.10-11)
You see, my brothers and sisters, here is our king: both so different than they “hosanna”-ed for, but also greater than they could have imagined. I tell you that a greater crowd of pilgrims gather in worship of him this day—from the ends of the earth, all tribes and nations and tongues and languages. We wave palm branches, not for the political liberation of one particular people, but because of the greatest liberation he has brought us over sin, death, and the devil. We shout “Hosanna, salvation now!” because of the eternal kingdom he has established. We call him the blessed one, the one who comes in the name of the Lord, because he comes to us in his body and blood. We bear witness about him because, like Lazarus, his powerful word has summoned us from death to life for all eternity.
Be at peace, my friends, and rejoice. Wave those palms today for your king comes to you this week. He comes this week in humility. He comes this week to die. He comes to liberate from sin. He comes to conquer death. He comes to raise us again, ushering in a new order of freedom and life which extends across the whole globe and even unto eternity.
Hosannah in the Highest!
Come soon Lord Jesus. Amen.