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Palm
Sunday – March 20, 2005
Matthew 26:14-30
It is a sobering reality to know that this year’s palm branches will be next year’s ashes.
Our Catholic friends know this, of course – that the ashes dispensed on Ash Wednesday at the beginning of Lent are created from burning the palm branches from the previous Palm Sunday. When I was a kid, the only thing that mattered to me about this fact was that all the Catholic kids would show up at school with a big black smudge in the middle of their foreheads. That provided fuel for us Protestant kids making all kinds of jokes about the Catholics having holes in their heads, or their brains leaking out of their heads. Now that I’m older, its not so funny as it once seemed. But it does provide some fuel for thought.
Palm branches…into ashes. Triumph…into tragedy. Life…into death.
It seems to me that we miss something when we think of Palm Sunday – with all its loud Hosanna’s! accompanying Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem – as anything resembling a triumph. The disciples, of course, thought that Jesus was coming to overthrow the Roman government – that’s why they waved the palm branches, which were a symbol of freedom and defiance – that’s why they shouted “Hosanna!” which means “Save us- or liberate us - NOW!”
But the triumphal entry does not end in triumph. It ends at the Cross - in Jesus’ crucifixion.
Palm branches…into ashes. Triumph into tragedy. Life into death.
That’s a strange itinerary, don’t you think? We religious people like to think that the way of faith always leads us in the opposite direction - from tragedy to triumph, from death to life. It would make much more sense to us if the ashes of Ash Wednesday were turned into the palm branches of Palm Sunday, instead of the other way around.
But they’re not. Today’s palms are tomorrow’s ashes.
And Jesus shows us today that the journey of faith is a journey into ashes.
A few days after Kerry died, a
handful of her friends gathered together to say goodbye and to scatter her ashes
into the sea that she loved. Her friend Dan – a pastor – led the little
ceremony. As Kerry’s son Kincaid poured her cremains into the water, Dan said, “These
gray, gritty particles were borrowed from the stuff of the universe. They once
had been muscle, bone, tooth, hair, nerve. Before that, they had been bread,
milk, fruit, vegetable. And before that, they had been soil, mineral, rock,
rain. And before that, billions of years before that, they had been part of the
substance of the stars. And before that, the subatomic particles that
constituted these ashes had emerged from the big bang, the flash of energy that
flowered into our universe at the very beginning.”[1]
In other words, Kerry had come from God. And to God she returned.
This is the story of our lives. We are dust to dust. Ashes to ashes.
And the revolutionary truth that we see here in Holy Week, as Jesus walks slowly but steadily toward the Cross, is that in life and death alike, we need not fear stepping into the ashes. Jesus is showing us that faith is always about giving our lives back to God.
Most of us live just the opposite way. We are uncomfortable with ashes, so we wave palm branches instead. What I mean by this is that we take life into our own hands. We make ourselves responsible for the outcome of our days and of our years. The palm branches the disciples waved on that day long ago were symbols of freedom and liberation. The disciples thought of themselves as revolutionaries, marching into Jerusalem with their leader to take down the government and gain control for themselves.
And that’s how most of us try to live life.
By being in control – strong – willful – determined – capable – captains of our own fate.
But it doesn’t work.
Our Scripture reading from Matthew begins with Judas Iscariot making the decision to betray Jesus. Why would he do such a thing?
Judas isn’t such a bad guy, you know. He just sees things he doesn’t agree with. The most recent controversy is what Jesus did during a dinner party at the home of a man named Simon the Leper. Now every decent Jew was aware that you didn’t go anywhere NEAR a leper, let alone into his house. Leprosy was a sign of God’s disfavor, like some people today think about AIDS. So Judas was angry that Jesus welcomed and loved someone like Simon.
But then it got worse. While at dinner in Simon’s house, a woman came in. In some of the Gospels she is portrayed as a woman of ill-repute, and she has a jar of very expensive perfume – probably a gift from one of her Johns. And she pours the priceless ointment onto Jesus’ feet, and wipes them with her hair. And not just Judas, but all the disciples become angry. “Why this waste? The perfume could have been sold at a high price and the proceeds given to the poor!” You see, they see things differently than Jesus sees things. He sees a gift of love! They see waste! And they are indignant that their way is not his way.
And after that, Judas goes out and makes arrangements to betray Jesus.
Judas, like many of us, just wanted to be able to call the shots. That’s how most of us are, even with our religion. We want to decide who can be loved and who shouldn’t be loved, whose gifts can be accepted and whose can’t. We – like Judas - have a certain idea of what a religion should look like, and more and more, Jesus’ religion offended him. Judas was a palm branch waver, you see, wanting to gain control over life. He was not willing to become ashes – to give himself and his values and his outlook and his relationships – back to God and let God’s will take over his life. No, Judas wanted to be in charge!
And this is how many of us live – seeking to be the general manager of the universe. Are you like that?
But Jesus calls us to a new kind of living. In life as well as in death, we can give our lives back to God.
And then trust God to make it all work!
Not palm branches. Just ashes.
And this is what we see on Palm Sunday. While the disciples wave their branches and shout that happy days are here again, Jesus rides along on a humble donkey. And make no mistake about that donkey. It is a powerful symbol signifying that Jesus has decided to climb aboard the will of God even though the crowd has a will of its own. They want to overthrow the government. Jesus wants to give his life back to God.
Ashes. Not palm branches.
It takes faith to trust God like this – to give ourselves and our lives back to God, and to take God’s will over our own will. We all come to that moment in death. But that kind of faith is learned in life!
I was moved this week while reading about Ashley Smith, the woman taken hostage by the young man involved in the court shootings in Atlanta. Like every one of us here today, Ashley Smith began that day with a full agenda of things she had to do. There were duties to be fulfilled, responsibilities to be kept, relationships to be nurtured, enjoyment to be had. We all awaken every day with a full plate of life’s demands.
But Ashley is a person of faith who has been learning about giving her life back to God. Inspired by what she was reading in Rick Warren’s book “The Purpose Driven Life”, Ashley was trying to live a faith that believes that every day we have belongs not to us, but to God. Each day is a gift that comes from heaven! And in every day given to us, God has a purpose for us. So Ashley was learning the discipline of returning every day to God, so that God’s purposes could be met along with her own needs.
I suppose such a day might begin
with a prayer that says something like, “Thank you, Lord, for the gift of
today. I’m giving it back to you now, so that your will can be done in my life.
Even while I do the things I need to do, bring into my life those situations
where you need me to be and those people you need me to love.”
Ashley says she thinks God led Brian Nichols to her door so he wouldn’t hurt anyone else. I don’t know about that, but God certainly used Ashley to break through Nichol’s desperation and violent behavior. She told him about her faith. She even read to him from the book – the chapter on how we all have a purpose in life. When she was done, Nichols asked her to read it again. She did. Then she asked him what he thought his purpose was. Nichol’s said, “I think it was to talk to people and tell them about you.”
She had given the day to God. And God transformed the moment and both their lives. Nichols gave up without any more violence. What a miraculous thing God did through Ashley Smith.
Now, if it had been me, I’m sure it would have been different. I’m sure I would have thought that I had better things to do with my time than be held hostage all day long! What about my tee time? And getting my sermon ready for Sunday? And what about my LIFE? My goodness, it would be so unfair to be killed at such a young age! I’m sure that I’d be reaching for palm branches in a moment like that – palm branches in the form of a butcher knife or a candlestick or SOMETHING that would neutralize this sicko person who deserves to go to hell in a handbasket! Oh, and I’m pretty sure I’d tell him in no uncertain terms just exactly what God thought about him. And it wouldn’t be complimentary. Oh, I’d tell him a thing or two!
That would be me.
But she had taken the day – in fact, she had taken her life – and given it back to God. Dust to dust. Ashes to ashes.
And now it was all up to God to transform both the day and her life into the good purposes of his will.
How do you think God did?
At the end of this Holy Week – on Good Friday – we will see Jesus face death by giving his life back to God. That is a moment we will all come to in due time. Dust to dust. Ashes to ashes. It is the true story of our lives.
But before we ever come to that moment, you and I will face many Palm Sundays of our own when the noise of the crowd and the needs of the moment tempt us to take up palm branches in search of gaining some measure of control.
And those are the days when we have a choice to make.
To claim the day as our own, to do with as we please.
Or to give the day – and all that is in it - back to God who gave it to us in the first place, and who is able to do with our days – and with our lives – and with our families – and with our relationships - far more than we ever dreamed possible!
The Gospel of Jesus teaches us to not be afraid of life’s ashes.
We come from God. And to God we shall return.
And God can be trusted all the way!