Palm Sunday--Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem!   Are we following those donkey tracks as we travel the way of our lives, on the journey from Lent to Easter? 

Ann Weems, in her book Kneeling in Jerusalem,  writes of “The Way”:

The way to Jerusalem looks suspiciously like Highway 40, and the pilgrims look suspiciously like you and me.  I expected the road to Jerusalem to be crowded with holy people…clerics and saints… people who have kindness wrinkled in their faces and comfort lingering in their voices, but this is more like rush hour…horns blowing, people pushing, voices cursing…This is not what I envisioned!         

O God, I’ve only begun and already I feel I’ve lost my way.  Surely this is not the road and surely these are not the ones to travel with me.  This Lenten journey calls for holy retreat, for reflection and repentance.  Instead of holiness the highway is crammed with the cacophony of chaos.  Is there no back road to Jerusalem?  No quiet path where angels tend to weary travelers? No sanctuary from the noise of the world?   Just this?   Can this hectic highway be the highway to heaven?”  

This sounds amazingly like the Prescott area and Yavapai County—without even considering, as we must, that we are in a world of war!   Whatever happened to that vision held by the founder of the Methodist faith, John Wesley, a vision of “going on to perfection?”   Whatever happened to the variation on that theme, “Toward Perfect Love in God,” the Lenten theme for this church?   Where are we on the journey of our lives? 

Surely there are times when the path before us is seen with great clarity…   I remember when each of our children was born; I just knew what I must do.  When I began serving this church 17 years ago,  I received a clear message that this was exactly where I was to be at that time of my life—and again when I responded to my call to ministry some nine years ago—and went back to school to begin the process that led to my ordination almost three years ago.  Those were times that my path seemed clear, yet so many other times I never could figure it out!   

I know I’m not alone in this.  Catherine Fluck Price tells the story of a friend of hers who was recently ordained an elder in the Western North Carolina Conference of the United Methodist Church, beginning a whole new chapter in her life.  Six years earlier the friend had been the wife of a United Methodist minister.  It was then that her husband of almost 30 years died of a malignant brain tumor.  She shares that “Amazingly, it was in the midst of that incredible pain and suffering around his death that Sandra began to feel the call to be a pastor.  At a time when it would have been so easy, so understandable, to feel abandoned by God, God began to say a new thing to her.  What she heard was nothing like she had ever heard before, but she trusted in what she knew was right, deep within herself.” 

Have you had times in your life when you were doing what you knew you must do?  Going in the direction you knew you must go?  Stopping and turning where you believed you must turn?  Why are you here, in this church, today?   

What was Jesus doing that day when he instructed two of his disciples to borrow a colt that had never been ridden, so he could then ride the donkey colt to Jerusalem, enter that city and go into the temple?  Why did the bystanders just accept it when the disciples untied the colt and told them “the Lord needs it”?   We’re told the disciples then threw their coats on the donkey, many other people threw their coats on the road before him, while still others spread “leafy palm branches” that they had cut in the fields in front of Jesus and the donkey.  Jesus was just riding down the road, if in a somewhat strange way, so what was going on here?   Some of the people ran ahead of him while others followed behind, and they were all shouting, excitedly, “Hosanna!  Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!  Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David!  Hosanna in the highest heaven!”   

What did this mean then?  And what does it mean for us now, we who just did essentially the same thing here in this church sanctuary?  Why is Palm Sunday such a special time right before Easter? 

For one thing, we cannot assume that the people who got so excited that they called out and threw their coats and palm branches down knew exactly what they were doing in their role in this scene!   They had no way of knowing what was to come in the week ahead—too much had not yet happened.   And yet, with the very words we are told they used, we do have an idea of what they believed.   They called out “Hosanna!” which means “Save me!” so we know they had some idea of the saving power of this man.  They described him as “…coming in the name of the Lord,” more evidence of his strength and power.   He chose to ride on a donkey, indicating humility and that he, too, was being led as he was now leading others—a humble King led by God?   In their great excitement, they referred to the “coming kingdom…” which tells us they were hopeful for a positive outcome to this event, believing it to be that which was predicted by the prophets of old—hopeful while they still had so many questions. 

In Jewish tradition it was also Passover, the holiest of holidays, a time when it was the custom to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem to celebrate their freedom from bondage, and then to sacrifice an animal in atonement for sin and in thanksgiving for God’s gifts.   Our rider Jesus had already been heavily criticized.  He was hated by the Jews for defying their system and recognizing the hypocrisy of their religious life, while the Romans had a desire to keep peace at any cost, so saw him as a troublemaker, all of which meant his future was tenuous at least.  His course was set.   Jesus knew the way he must go.  For him, there was no turning back.   

Our Sunday School children are now studying the “way to the cross.”  Because children sometimes get confused about things, we adults may need to clarify a situation.  Hopefully we don’t confuse the issue, but one of our members, Virginia Williams, shared some excuses that parents sent to teachers when their children had to be absent from school or a class:

            “My son is under a doctor’s care today and should not take P.E. today.  Please execute him.”

             “Please excuse Lisa for being absent.  She was sick and I had her shot.”  (Harsh!)  “

“Dear school:  Please ekscuse John for being absent on Jan. 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, and also 33.” 

“Please excuse Roland from P.E. for a few days.  Yesterday, he fell out of a tree and misplaced his hip.” 

Their messages do get more theological: 

“Please excuse Jim for being.  It was his father’s fault.” –and-- 

“Please excuse Jennifer for missing school yesterday.  We forgot to get the Sunday paper off the porch and when we found it Monday, we thought it was Sunday.”   

No wonder the people of Jesus’ day may have had trouble getting a clear message about that infinitely deeper concept—the way to the cross.  Maybe we today get confused about the direction we’re going—and about where we are, in relation to the cross!  Soren Kierkegaard in his book “Stages on Life’s Way” has described three stages of life: 

1)      the “aesthetic stage”  -- the “I want it and I want it now!”  stage, a desire for immediate gratification.

2)      the “ethical stage”  --  will deny one’s self for a lofty goal or cause; obeys existing laws.

3)      the “religious stage”  --  will embrace suffering and/or sacrifice

to achieve a supreme goal; the “distinguishing mark of religious action.” 

He describes a true disciple of Jesus Christ as “dying away from immediacy.”  Sounds a lot like going beyond the Jewish and Roman authorities, a lot like Jesus as he rode into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, with everything he had done and represented—and was about to do!  Because we know the “rest of the story,” we know that he had a vision of the cross, a vision of what he must do because of what he had done, an inner sense of knowing that came from the source!   It was a vision that the authorities were all caught up in because of who they were and who Jesus was.  Even the disciples were so imperfect.  The world had just not gotten the message that our God would have us get!  Yet Jesus knew his destiny, knew that he would undergo suffering and sacrifice, yet did not waver from his path. 

Jesus’ vision was one of extraordinary love, for “God so loved the world…”  So Jesus’ rode to Jerusalem on the donkey while the disciples and crowd called, “Hosanna!” not knowing fully what it meant, yet being full of hope and anticipation, and the knowledge that they needed to be saved.   Jesus—and all the people--were truly at a time of crisis.   

Because of Jesus’ example of riding on where we all need to be led, others have followed his way.  

It was halfway around the world in Japan where Toyohiko Kagawa was jailed for his Christian criticism of Japan’s aggression in the Pacific military Theater of 1940.  When the war was over, he spearheaded relief efforts for refugees and was considered with Gandhi and Schweitzer as a hero of the faith, for his compassion, faithfulness and action.   

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the most famous Christian prisoner of World War II, was already a well-respected theologian when he began studying the Bible and taking his Christian faith to heart.  He found a tremendous division between his beloved country, Germany, and the beliefs of his Christian faith.  Yet he saw other “Christians” giving strong support to Hitler.  Disagreement and turbulence arose among Christians and many pastors were jailed.   Believing God had called  him to do so, and under the auspices of conducting legitimate business, he proceeded to work for the overthrow of the Third Reich while attempting to smuggle Jews out of the country.  Upon being discovered, he served 18 months in a military jail, another half year in a Gestapo cell and was executed shortly before the Allies liberated the Flossenburg prison camp.  Meanwhile he had written much about Discipleship and prayer as ‘finding the way to God.”  He believed that to find our way to God it is important to find out what God wants us to pray.   We love because we are loved.   

The poet Dante shared his insights in “The Divine Comedy.”  He tries to climb a mountain, but learns from his guide Virgil—who represents human understanding—that he must first go through Hell itself.  Before he goes up he must go down, down to experience life apart from God.  Only by climbing across the body of Lucifer himself (representing pride), and looking evil straight in the eye, can they begin the ascent toward hope.  After extremely precarious experiences and much travail, paradise is reached.  The epic ends with Dante gazing into God’s light, discovering that he is home, that he belongs.  Dante completed his poem right before his death, after living 20 years in exile on bogus political charges.  His work has been described as a spiritual autobiography for every person. 

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Toyohiko Kagawa, and Dante were just three who understood how much God loved them, three who found the way to the cross, as they helped to free people from oppression and suffering.   With Jesus Christ as their leader, these disciples suffered much because of their beliefs,  yet changed the world as a result, giving hope to all of us because of the hope that began that day when Jesus rode the donkey into Jerusalem and they followed alongside in the donkey tracks.   

These believers understood that following a path is clearly not standing still.  It’s a moving, changing and growing thing.  It is believing in a way that explodes into the ultimate possibilities for here and now, and for the hereafter, leading to a fullness—a wholeness—that takes us toward perfect love in God.  It’s the “way to go”—in our cheer of today--and we are all in the procession, with Jesus Christ as our leader.   

We have our own stories, not yet completed.  There is still war and suffering in our world… and this story of Jesus is not yet completed.   We can continue to travel along the path that Jesus took this next week as we experience Holy Week in this church, with both  Maundy Thursday and Good Friday Tenebrae services planned, leading then to glorious Easter services celebrating the resurrection of our Lord…  We are on our way to the kingdom; let us hold our palm crosses high, waving them to keep our sights on the cross while listening to our God who loves us so much, with hope in our hearts.  Can you hear the crowd cheering?  Hosanna!  Save us! Way to Go!  Way to Go! 

Let us bow our heads for the prayer of the psalmist:

“Almighty God, at waking, at table, at work, study, play, prayer, service--   all times—we seek your way.  Before caring less, before deciding, before forgetting your precepts, behind our commitments, between beginnings and endings—we seek your way.  Continually, consistently, With my whole heart I seek you; do not let me stray…”  Amen.