A Journey Into Covenant: The Storm (Palm/Passion Sunday)

Photo by Levi Hernández on Unsplash

Mark 11: 1-10 (click here to read the scripture)

Roger Lynn

April 5, 2020

Palm/Passion Sunday

(CLICK HERE for the audio of this sermon)

Throughout this Lenten season we have talked about journeying into covenant with God. It is a nice sounding phrase. It is a noble idea. It is not, however, an easy undertaking, and, at least some of the time, we don’t really want to embark on such a journey. Living into that kind of relationship with God can take us places we would really rather not go. 

This Sunday is a prime example. When I was growing up we called this day Palm Sunday. The focus was almost exclusively on what we sometimes refer to Jesus’ “Triumphal Entry” into the holy city of Jerusalem. But in more recent years I have come to understand that a fuller and more honest way to approach this day is to recognize it as Palm/Passion Sunday, because the parade was only the beginning of a week that took Jesus through experiences of conflict, betrayal, suffering, and death. His entry into Jerusalem might more accurately be described as walking into the storm. I do not want to dwell on the dark side of this week, but I believe it is important to acknowledge it. Otherwise we simply move from celebration to celebration without understanding the ways in which Jesus’ journey relates to our journeys, filled as they are with both celebrations and struggles. Journeying into covenant with God doesn’t ignore or avoid the struggle. It takes us through the struggle to the transformational celebration on the other side.

Jesus had turned his face towards Jerusalem some time back and had been moving deliberately in that direction ever since. He did so in the face of growing unrest about his mission and his message. Jerusalem was an increasingly dangerous place for Jesus to make an appearance, but that did not stop him. He understood it to be part of his mission, his calling, to confront the religious authorities of the day with the Good News message that God was alive and present right here in the very midst of us. And that was a message which some folks found threatening. Jesus made his decisions based not in fear but rather in the powerful awareness that the God with whom he shared a deep and intimate covenantal relationship was calling him. When we choose to follow Christ’s leading into that same sort of relationship with God, we embark on a faith journey which is guided by that same principle. 

Why should we undertake such a life? For the same reason Jesus did – because God calls us. The Apostle Paul put it this way in his letter to the Romans – “If God is for us, who is against us?” (Romans 8: 31) In the story of his entry into Jerusalem, Jesus finds himself almost immediately faced with the disapproval of the authorities. The pharisees tell him to quiet his followers. There is a veiled, unspoken “or else” which lies just beneath the surface of their words. Jesus responds with a confidence which can only be born of God. “I tell you, if these were silent, the rocks and stones themselves would cry out.” His is a message which will not die and cannot be killed, because it is a message rooted in love which comes straight from the heart of God. So why undertake such a life? Why follow Christ’s example, when doing so can lead us into the storm? Because when we are in relationship with God we discover that where God calls God also empowers. In the words of the beloved Psalm 23, we can walk through the valley of the shadow of death and fear no evil, because God is with us. 

For Jesus, following God’s leading meant walking into the storm which was brewing in Jerusalem. It meant discovering first hand just how cruel and inhumane humanity could be. It meant finally being executed as a common criminal. That doesn’t mean God chose for such things to happen or caused them to happen. It simply means that sometimes following God’s leading puts us at odds with the culture around us. And being in covenantal relationship with God means trusting that ultimately such a life is worth it, because it allows us to experience life, right here and now, in the very midst of whatever challenges we might be facing, with the profound awareness that in every moment we are fully, richly, and completely in the ongoing presence of God.

As individuals and as the Church, we can walk into the storm with our heads held high, because we have the confidence that we do not do so alone. Nothing less than the life-giving, transforming, empowering presence of God walks with us every single step of the way. Living in such covenantal relationship with God allows us to move beyond safe faith and begin to risk living the kind of larger, fuller, richer lives which God desires for us, no matter what challenges we face along the way. May we continue journeying into that kind of life, with each other and with God.