Palm Sunday
Year A, RCL
March 17, 2008
All Saints’, Bentonville
Gospel: Matthew 27: 11-54
Our grand and joyful procession from the lawn in front of the church, through the parking lot, and into the nave was meant to call to mind Jesus triumphal entry into Jerusalem – an entry in which Jesus came riding a donkey through the streets with large crowds of people shouting “Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven.” And then, once we arrive at our pews we are greeted, as we are every Sunday, with another image of Christ triumphant – Christ the King, crowned, in flowing robes, glorious.
Our procession here this morning is reminiscent of the scene we experienced a few weeks ago at the Diocesan Convention, when delegates from All Saints’, surrounded by a throng of supporters from area churches, stood in front of the assembled convention and received a standing ovation, an outpouring of love and applause, and appreciation for our work. It was a proud and historic occasion – the designation of All Saints’ as the newest mission of the church. I wish that you all could have shared that triumphal moment with us.
But now that we have entered the church and have read the passion of Christ together, that sense of triumphalism seems to have evaporated. The reality of the moment has settled in – the reality of Christ’s crucifixion surrounds us. And the realization that the Christian life is not always triumphant is inescapable. Certainly there are high points. Christ’s entry into Jerusalem was glorious. And watching All Saints’ flourish and grow and find its identity has been joyful. But, as today’s passion gospel reveals – the way of the cross is not an easy one and can not be characterized as simply one victory after another.
The passion narrative we just heard contains a full cast of characters. I want to bring to your attention one almost insignificant character called Simon of Cyrene. Simon was the bystander conscripted by the Roman soldiers to help Jesus carry his cross to Golgotha. We’ve not heard from this man before and we don’t hear from him again. But Simon of Cyrene had a part to play. He wasn’t one of the noted disciples. As far as we know he didn’t spread the gospel from nation to nation. There are no books in the New Testament named after him. He simply carried the cross for Jesus.
Simon carried the cross, not at Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, but during that long, slow, uphill climb to the summit of Gogotha. When I look back, from our vantage point, at the role that Simon of Cyrene played, I’m tempted to say, “Wow, what a privilege to carry the cross for Christ.” But I imagine that Simon saw the soldier’s demand that he shoulder Jesus cross as, at best inconvenient, and most probably, painful, humiliating, and utterly thankless. It can’t all be triumph, sometime we simply have to carry the cross, do the job we are asked to do.
Palm Sunday is filled with such contradictions. Images of Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey – the transportation of the poor, clash with the image of a road strewn with palm branches – a royal welcoming. The mocking sign “King of the Jews” placed above the head of the crucified, and decidedly unkingly, Christ.
The day is a reminder to us that the choice to follow Christ is filled with ironies and contradictions. A reminder that in every moment of triumph there is a little moment of death. As Christians we hold in our hearts the image of the resurrected Christ. But we also know, as Jesus followers, that we don’t get to Easter without first bearing the cross.