Palm Sunday

We have found the ONE - Palm Sunday John 12:12-19 Rev’d Brad Henley (In 2014 NT Wright wrote an ar cle “On Palm Sunday, Jesus Rides into the Perfect Storm” in ABC Opinion piece, 11.04.14 - this sermon is inspired by his ar cle) If you’re like me, most of you have travelled to this Palm Sunday in your motorised chariots, not on a donkey. Jesus subverted expecta ons and challenged preconceived no ons. Bishop Tom Wright likened Jesus’ entry to Jerusalem on Palm Sunday to the shing boat Andrea Gail in the middle of the so called Perfect Storm. On the 30th of October, 1991, three large weather systems collided in the North Atlan c Ocean o the coast of the American-Canadian border producing what the Na onal Weather Service called “The Perfect Storm”. It was such a rare and bizarre turn of events that it has been described as the meteorological equivalent of the “Big Bang”. So how did this all come about? From mid-October to mid-November, every year in New England, there are quick and drama c changes in the weather as it transforms from Autumn to Winter. In 1991 a powerful Nor-easter weather system developed out of two main components: 1. A massive low-pressure system moving south-west from Canada… with an -clockwise winds. … As it moved south it encountered… An Arc c high-pressure system with clockwise winds which was moving north. 2. The two systems collided over the Atlan c Ocean to create what was named the Halloween Storm. It caused waves of up to 100 feet on October 30 and led to extensive ooding and damage. 3. Then in a freak of nature, like adding petrol to the re, a hurricane coming in from the Atlan c brought some tropical energy to the mix. There were ferocious winds of 120km/hr, and colossal waves. Meanwhile, as the storm developed, the crew of the 70-foot shing boat Andrea Gail was shing for sword sh in the North Atlan c. Their crew of six, along with 7 others on land, died in the storm. The Andrea Gail and its crew were never recovered, with only small debris being found. On the mainland of America, there was $200 million damage as hundreds of houses were destroyed or were severely damaged. — As Jesus entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, he rode into the perfect storm. The crowd was ecsta c with an cipa on… at last their dreams were going to come true. They had found the One! They were singing and dancing and shou ng. Imagine the carnival atmosphere that would’ve been there… Palm branches waving, making a “red carpet” from cloaks and palm leaves. There was singing and shou ng, dancing and cheering. ti ti fi ti fi ti ti ti fl fi fi ti ti ti ti ti ti ti ti ti ti fi ti ti ff But amidst all the celebra on and joy… Jesus wasn’t singing and dancing. He was in tears. Luke records Jesus weeping over Jerusalem. The truth is, the people’s dreams were coming true, He really is the One, but not in the way they expected. So what were the 3 elements of the perfect storm that Jesus rode into on a donkey? First - the storm sweeping in from the West. The superpower - Rome - with its increasing social, poli cal and military reality. Julius Caesar’s assassina on 70 year before threw Rome into a long, bloody civil war, from which Caesar’s adopted son, Octavian emerged victorious. Octavian took on tles that meant “majes c”, and “worthy of honour”… and he declared that his adopted father, Julius Caesar had become divine… that meant Octavian became o cially “son of god” or “son of the divine Julius”. Octavian’s son, Tiberius, took on the same tles, including “chief priest” and “son of god”… And now, Tiberius’ Roman army, a super power with its new social, poli cal and military reality was spreading across the Middle East to claim its raw materials of grain - not unlike the oil-based con icts we see today in the same region. So Roman military control in Jerusalem… Tiberius’ soldiers were loyal to their ruler, the “chief priest” and “son of god - the divine”… You can see how Jesus is walking into the eye of the storm. How will this military force respond to the real Son of God, the real High Priest? The second component, the high pressure system… is Israel’s history and what the Jews around Jesus thought was about to happen ful lling scriptural promises. Throughout the OT, there was a strong narra ve of God delivering the Jews out of hard mes, out of the hands of their enemies to the appointed goal. This was most clearly seen in the story of the Exodus - soon to be celebrated at the Passover in a few days me. This reminded the Jews who were living in hope that God would deliver them from their captors and tyrants. Israel’s history must soon confront the tyranny of Rome. This is no me to be out in a small boat on the water… or riding into Jerusalem on a donkey. The westerly wind meets the high-pressure system. We have the Halloween Storm. But what about the hurricane that adds fuel to the re? 3. Throughout Israel’s story as recorded in the OT - there was one, highly unpredictable element God himself. God is always free and sovereign… over and again, the way that Israel thought their story was going was very di erent from God’s plans. Jesus knew that was happening again. God had promised to come back and return his people in power and glory and establish his kingdom on earth as in heaven. They hoped it was in a military way to establish the physical na on of Israel. But all the prophets, including John the Bap st, warned that God would come in power and in person on his own terms, with his own purpose, and that his people would also come under his judgement if their goals didn’t line up with His. ti ti ti ti ti ti ffi fi fi ti ti ff ti fi ti ti ti ti fl Jesus knew he was ful lling the prophecy recorded in Zechariah 9: See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey… He will proclaim peace to the na ons. His rule will extend from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth… The Sovereign Lord will sound the trumpet; he will march in the storms of the south, 15 and the Lord Almighty will shield them. They will destroy and overcome with slingstones…. The Lord their God will save his people on that day as a shepherd saves his ock. They will sparkle in his land like jewels in a crown. But it was a di erent kind of power and glory than the Jews were expec ng. Their limited goals of na onal pride didn’t even scratch the surface of the kind of REAL POWER and REAL GLORY that Christ was heralding. As Jesus rides into Jerusalem, he weeps… he says, “If you had only known on this day what would bring you peace” (Luke 19) … he’s saying - you have it all wrong! You’re excited because you think I’ll establish a na on for you? Your dream is so limited and so far o -track from what God is doing here! He says, you will face judgement and punishment because you did not recognise the me of God’s coming to you. This was the key moment… the turning point in Israel’s history - but they were all looking the other way. Their dreams of na onal libera on, pursuing a head-on collision with Rome - were not God’s dreams. Not God’s plans. God called Israel so that through Israel he might redeem the world. But Israel itself needs redeeming too. Jesus as God, rides in to Israel on a donkey, ful lling the Zechariah prophecy, announcing a peaceful kingdom, but also announcing God’s judgement on the city that has gone o with its own hopes and dreams and forgo en about God’s. Throughout Jesus’ public life, he demonstrated the rescuing, redeeming love of Israel’s God - but Israel’s leaders and Israel’s capital city couldn’t even see it. They “did not recognise the me of God’s coming”. The divine hurricane sweeps in from the ocean, and to accomplish its purpose, it must collide with the cruel western wind of the secular empire and the high-pressure system of Israel’s na onalis c ambi ons. Jesus seizes the moment - the Exodus, Passover moment - to demonstrate the sovereign freedom and presence of God over his rebellious, uncomprehending people, as much as over the tyranny of Egypt in the original Passover. So as we approach Holy Week, we consider the place where the hurricane of divine love collided with the cold might of the Roman empire and the overheated dreams of Israel. Re ec ng on this combina on helps us to understand the meaning of Jesus’ death. To understand how the True Son of God, the True High Priest has indeed become the King of the world. And this, in turn, helps us to understand all the things that preoccupy us as we consider Christ on the cross. We nd ourselves caught up in our own li le Perfect Storms. ti ti ti ti ti ff fi tt tt ti ti fl ti ti First, we face the pressures of the world around us… the winds of the age… To “get on” in the world, we have to play by the world’s rules, and in doing so, we can lose our integrity. ff ti ti fi fl ti ff 1. 2. Second, we all have our own hopes, dreams and expecta ons. We want to have our family close by, have some money, enjoy the respect and renown of those around us, have our life experience and wisdom recognised. But as our hopes and dreams meet with the winds of the age around us, how do we make sure that our own hopes and dreams don’t become just selfcentred idolatry…? As we enter Holy Week and begin to consider what Christ accomplished on the cross, we should be praying for the third element… 3. Where is God in all of this? We don’t want to be like the Israelites in Jesus’ day and just call upon God to back up our own hopes, dreams and expecta ons. Heaven forbid if we think we can just nd God amongst the winds of the age and the culture around us… without considering the truth of Christ. These are the two weather-systems we live within all the me. But in this moment, and as we approach this week, we are called to open ourselves up to the third weather system. If we try to follow Jesus in faith and hope and love on his journey to the cross, we will nd that the hurricane of love, which we tremblingly call God, will sweep in from a fresh angle, ful lling our dreams by rst sha ering them… bringing something new out of the dangerous combina on of personal hopes and cultural pressures. Let’s not be surprised if during this process, there are moments when it feels like we’re being sucked down to the bo om of the sea, miles and miles from shore, under hundred-foot waves, weeping for the dream that had to die, for the kingdom that isn’t coming the way we wanted. I’m sure we can all relate to those experiences - this is our experience of human su ering on this earth - and the great longing we all share, that God will reach in and do things the way we want, not according to His own plans. That is part of the real experience of being caught up in Jesus’ perfect storm. But remember, a er Jesus’ resurrec on, when He met with the disciples on the road to Emmaus, They said, “We had hoped… We had hoped … but now it’s all gone wrong.” When our hopes are dashed, we may well be on the very verge of hearing the fresh word - the word that comes when the storm is s lled, and in the new great calm we can see a way forward we had never imagined… that is so much bigger than what our small dreams had been. Let’s open up to the vast possibili es beyond anything we could dream or imagine… we can’t even fathom what might happen if all of us were to approach the coming week praying humbly for the powerful fresh wind of God to blow into that combina on of the cultural pressures and our personal hopes and dreams… so that each of us might share in the su erings of the Messiah and come through into the new, and be er life he longs to give us. fi fi ff ff ti ti ti ti ti ti tt ti tt tt ft ti fi fi Let us pray…