Pastor's
Weekly Sermon
SERMON “Pandemic Palms”
I don’t believe that the scriptures contain any two texts that are less alike than these! Both of them describe the city of Jerusalem, but the descriptions are as different as night and day. In the text from Luke, we see the city of Jerusalem full of people who are crying out with joy, welcoming the one who claimed to be the Messiah; while in the text from Lamentations, it is as empty and desolate as a graveyard. It’s the difference between Times Square in New York on New Year’s Eve when it is crammed with people celebrating, and Times Square at this very moment, when it is nearly deserted. But it should be filled with people now, shouldn’t it? After all, today is Palm Sunday! Millions of people should be out waving palm branches welcoming Jesus into their churches! But they aren’t; and we aren’t either. All around the world, Christians are intentionally staying away from one another to curb the spread of coronavirus. Church sanctuaries are vacant. European cathedrals echo with emptiness. Even St. Peter’s Basilica, one of the largest Christian churches in the world, is deserted where Pope Francis prays alone. How can we celebrate Palm Sunday this way? How can we praise God when we cannot gather in our holy places to worship?
The people who lived during the time that the book of Lamentations was written asked the very same question. The educated people – the priests and the members of the royal court – had been dragged off into exile in Babylon. The only temples in Babylon were the ones dedicated to their own gods: Anu, Enlil, Ninurta, and Inanna. Those who were left living in Judah fared no better. The Babylonians had ransacked the Temple in Jerusalem, carried away all of its furnishings, and destroyed much of the city. In Babylon or in Jerusalem, there was no holy place where God’s people could gather to worship. Our question today was theirs, too: How can we praise God when we cannot gather in our holy places to worship?
Even in the midst of exile, though, God’s people found a way to worship. Where once they had gathered in the Temple; now they began to gather in their homes. Once they had believed that God lived only in the Temple; now they came to understand that God was not confined to a structure or to a city. Once they had believed that the only acceptable worship was Temple sacrifice; but over time, they began to realize that other kinds of sacrifices might be even better than burning an animal on an altar. Was a sacrifice of time acceptable as they studied the Holy Scriptures? Could they honor God by gathering at home and reciting the ancient words of worship there? Was God still with them even in such a strange place and under such difficult circumstances? 2,500 years this side of the Exile, we know the answers to those questions. God is delighted when we sacrifice of our time and really listen to what God has tried to tell us for millennia. God is honored any time that we gather to remember God’s acts of grace and salvation – even if we gather in front of our computers to worship through Facebook. God is here with us even if our churches are empty; because God is not confined to a place, even a holy place. And we don’t need palm branches to celebrate the coming of Christ on Palm Sunday!
But we want to wave palm branches today! On this day when we cannot safely gather together physically in worship, what can our palm branches be? Well, if you are a doctor or a nurse, your palm branch might be the IV that you put into the vein of a critically ill patient who needs medication. It honors Jesus by showing your love for others. If you are a health-care worker, that palm branch might be the sponge that you use to bathe the aged body of a resident in your assisted living facility. It honors Jesus by showing your love for others. And if you are an ordinary Jill or Joe, then your palm branch is the face mask that you wear whenever you go out for groceries. It honors Jesus by showing your love for others Waving real palm branches on Palm Sunday is a beautiful way to honor Christ; but an even more beautiful way to honor him is to use whatever we have available to show our love for others. Those are our palm branches today. When we use them, we cry, “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!” And God just might be more pleased with those palm branches than with any that come from the florist!
I don’t believe that the scriptures contain any two texts that are less alike than these! Both of them describe the city of Jerusalem, but the descriptions are as different as night and day. In the text from Luke, we see the city of Jerusalem full of people who are crying out with joy, welcoming the one who claimed to be the Messiah; while in the text from Lamentations, it is as empty and desolate as a graveyard. It’s the difference between Times Square in New York on New Year’s Eve when it is crammed with people celebrating, and Times Square at this very moment, when it is nearly deserted. But it should be filled with people now, shouldn’t it? After all, today is Palm Sunday! Millions of people should be out waving palm branches welcoming Jesus into their churches! But they aren’t; and we aren’t either. All around the world, Christians are intentionally staying away from one another to curb the spread of coronavirus. Church sanctuaries are vacant. European cathedrals echo with emptiness. Even St. Peter’s Basilica, one of the largest Christian churches in the world, is deserted where Pope Francis prays alone. How can we celebrate Palm Sunday this way? How can we praise God when we cannot gather in our holy places to worship?
The people who lived during the time that the book of Lamentations was written asked the very same question. The educated people – the priests and the members of the royal court – had been dragged off into exile in Babylon. The only temples in Babylon were the ones dedicated to their own gods: Anu, Enlil, Ninurta, and Inanna. Those who were left living in Judah fared no better. The Babylonians had ransacked the Temple in Jerusalem, carried away all of its furnishings, and destroyed much of the city. In Babylon or in Jerusalem, there was no holy place where God’s people could gather to worship. Our question today was theirs, too: How can we praise God when we cannot gather in our holy places to worship?
Even in the midst of exile, though, God’s people found a way to worship. Where once they had gathered in the Temple; now they began to gather in their homes. Once they had believed that God lived only in the Temple; now they came to understand that God was not confined to a structure or to a city. Once they had believed that the only acceptable worship was Temple sacrifice; but over time, they began to realize that other kinds of sacrifices might be even better than burning an animal on an altar. Was a sacrifice of time acceptable as they studied the Holy Scriptures? Could they honor God by gathering at home and reciting the ancient words of worship there? Was God still with them even in such a strange place and under such difficult circumstances? 2,500 years this side of the Exile, we know the answers to those questions. God is delighted when we sacrifice of our time and really listen to what God has tried to tell us for millennia. God is honored any time that we gather to remember God’s acts of grace and salvation – even if we gather in front of our computers to worship through Facebook. God is here with us even if our churches are empty; because God is not confined to a place, even a holy place. And we don’t need palm branches to celebrate the coming of Christ on Palm Sunday!
But we want to wave palm branches today! On this day when we cannot safely gather together physically in worship, what can our palm branches be? Well, if you are a doctor or a nurse, your palm branch might be the IV that you put into the vein of a critically ill patient who needs medication. It honors Jesus by showing your love for others. If you are a health-care worker, that palm branch might be the sponge that you use to bathe the aged body of a resident in your assisted living facility. It honors Jesus by showing your love for others. And if you are an ordinary Jill or Joe, then your palm branch is the face mask that you wear whenever you go out for groceries. It honors Jesus by showing your love for others Waving real palm branches on Palm Sunday is a beautiful way to honor Christ; but an even more beautiful way to honor him is to use whatever we have available to show our love for others. Those are our palm branches today. When we use them, we cry, “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!” And God just might be more pleased with those palm branches than with any that come from the florist!
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