In our gospel readings for Palm Sunday, we hear of Jesus' glorious entry into Jerusalem at the Festival of Passover, to the shouts of the crowds and palm branches in his path. But Jesus is not the liberating king to free his people from the Romans, he is the Son of Man who will be lifted up on the cross. And despite all of the signs he has done, many will refuse to confess their belief in him, because they value the approval of the jealous Pharisees, more than the glory of God....
It happens every time there is a victorious hero – crowds line the streets to give their glory and praise. It happened to Octavian in Rome in 29 BC for the annexation of Egypt. It happened to the Red Army in Moscow in 1945 for the defeat of Germany. It happened to the Florida Panthers in Fort Lauderdale in 2025...AND 2024...for the vanquishing of the Edmonton Oilers. Those who conquer, return home, to the shouts of their names by admiring throngs, with flower petals or ticker tape or other such things strewn in their path....
Jesus enters Jerusalem in our first reading today having recently performed a sign it was thought only the Messiah could – raising Lazarus from the dead after four days in the tomb. So a sizable portion of the population believed that Jesus WAS the Messiah, the Saviour that would deliver Israel from slavery to the Romans. Where and when would this happen? Of course, it would occur in Jerusalem, the seat of power. And what better time than the Festival of Passover – the celebration of delivery from slavery to the Egyptians, so many years ago. With Jesus the presumptive Messiah coming to Jerusalem for Passover, liberation was imminent – the hero was about to be victorious. Cue the palm branches and shouts of Hosanna!
And once Jesus arrived in Jerusalem, the glory from the people continued. Some Greeks, who wouldn't have the time of day for a Galilean fisherman ordinarily, humbled themselves before Philip, just for a chance to see Jesus. The world was going after him, such was his potential and his reputation.
This drove the Pharisees crazy! They were jealous of how Jesus was glorified by the people, and they responded with the power they had available to them – access to the synagogue. Confess that Jesus was the Messiah, and you were out – cut off from your family of faith, and stripped of glory in the community. For many, that was enough of a threat to keep them non-believers...or at least, silent believers....
This same threat – the threat of other humans withholding their glory from us – shapes our church and our witness today. We want our church to be popular, so that means we cannot proclaim any truths that are unpopular in the moment. We want our church to be relevant in the world, so that means we cannot proclaim “just Jesus”, because the world has already classified Jesus irrelevant. We want our church to feel “new” for the new people, so that means we cannot continue to use the traditions handed down to us over hundreds of years of faithful witness. We, as a church, need – are addicted to - the short-attention-span human glory of today, and that means clicks and likes and hype and rizz – not the patient and sacrificial service that the Father will honour.
The honour of the Father was always the highest value for Jesus – he came to do the Father's will. And when human glory came his way, like when the crowds were cheering or the Greeks came to Philip, that was his signal to focus on the Father. He told the crowds straight up that he was not going to be the Messiah they were clamouring for, not the conqueror of the Romans. Instead he was going to be lifted up on the cross, to draw all people to himself. He would die, to conquer their sins, to save their souls, as the Father wished, so that they could experience eternal life. And the Father would then glorify Jesus by raising him from the dead on the third day, as an affirmation of everything he said, and a foreshadowing of the resurrection to come.
We who believe in Jesus are those to whom the arm of the Lord has been revealed. We strive to walk in the light of Christ, and we seek the honour of the Father, not the honour of the world. For while the glory that comes from the world is fickle and fleeting and comes with parades, we know that the glory that comes from God is hard-won through the blood of Jesus, and it is a glory that will be permanent.
Gracious God, help us to witness even when it is unpopular, and enable us to serve even when it is unexciting, in Jesus' name. Amen.