Palm Sunday 2008
Luke 19:28-40

The man simply will not be king.
You can put him on a donkey
And ride him regally into town
Looking for all the world
Like a king on a peaceful mission
Which riding a donkey symbolizes
But still he will not be king.
You can throw garments of honor in his path
Take off your coats
And put them on the road
Like rolling out a red carpet.
You can wave symbols of political power in his face,
Wave palm branches like political banners
Gather with excited crowds cheering him on,
Praise him in a loud voice
Proclaim him king shouting
“Blessed is the king
who comes in the name of the Lord.”
Still he will not be king.
You can think the kingdom has come
And try to shout it into being,
Rejoicing that someone has finally come
To save you and your country
You can shout and celebrate in the streets.
And if someone insists you be quiet
If you and all the multitude of believers
Are told to keep silent,
The very stones under your feet will cry out.
Some things simply must be said.
But what would they cry?
Would they cry, “The king comes.  Long live the king?”
Or do they know the time is right
for a different kind of savior?
He rides into Jerusalem confidently, regally.
But you see, he rides not a royal steed of war
With all its appalling pomp and power
Accompanied by charioteers and armor
But instead he sits astride a donkey
He rides in like a king coming in peace.
O he could be king, you know.
He has the popular support of the people
The crowds are ready to draft him
They are hundreds of years past ready
To draft him as a nationalistic hero
Who will save the people
Who will liberate them from the hated Roman oppression
Who will see that they no longer have to
live under occupation
Who in the wave of a royal wand
And in the signing of a royal decree
Could solve all their problems
They are ready for someone to take over, to rule.
By his miracles and signs and greater vision
You can just tell he is the one.
You can feel the possibilities of the kingdom
When you are with him
He even talks about a kingdom
But it doesn’t sound like this one, this earthly one.
Yet it seems certain that all you need to do
To bring his glorious reign on earth is
To put him on an earthly throne.
But he will not.
Even some of the chosen twelve are set to call his hand
To force him to take charge, to take over.
He could be king.
He should be king.
The crowds are ready.
The disciples are ready.
But he seems not.
What’s the matter?
Has he no  ambition?
Doesn’t he care?
Will he not take hold of the authority being offered him
If not for himself, at least to save the people?
Why doesn’t he exert himself?
Use some power?
Doesn’t he know how desperately the people need him?
He could be king but he will not.
You can try to force him.
You can shove a crown on his head
Until its thorny sharp points lodge in his flesh
Holding it firmly in place.
You can drape a regal purple over over his shoulders
But then if you ask him, “Are you king?”
He will only softly say, “You have said so.”
But then no one would call king
A man who instead of taking charge
Willingly crawls up on a cross
Who stretches out his arms in sacrifice for others.
You do not expect a king to die for others;
You expect others to do that for a king.
You cannot force him to be king,
That is unless you want to nail his hands down
While you tack a sign
A scrawled, tacky, scorning, totally unregal sign
Above his drooping crucified
Now thorn-crowned head
A sign in three languages
Saying Jesus of Nazareth, king of the Jews.
No, he will not be king
At least not the kind we’d expect.
He could be.
He is the only begotten Son of God
And could rule in power and glory and majesty.
He will instead be crucified one.
He will be suffering servant.
He will be wounded healer.
On that day when he headed the borrowed donkey
Straight into Jerusalem
He knew who he was to be.

On that day when crowds hailed him king
And expected a political overthrow
He knew he was headed not for insurrection
but death and for resurrection.
He knew it on that day
when the branches waved in his face
and all seemed triumphant and glorious.
When possibilities seemed full
He knew that he was instead headed
Obediently to the emptying station
where he himself would be emptied
His life blood poured out.
The apostle Paul said it.
For he did not regard equality with God
A thing to be exploited but emptied himself
Taking on the form of a servant
He became obedient even to the point of death
Even death on the cross.

So that is who he was, who he is.
He will not be king for us but will be
A regular human being, the humblest of humanity
The most unkingly of humanity
That is what he chooses to be
A servant for our sakes
A servant
The Son of man came not to be served
But to serve
And give his life a ransom for many.
He rode into town triumphantly
like a king of peace
on Sunday
And by Thursday he had taken off his tunic
And was down on the floor
With towel and basin
Washing the dusty feet of his disciples
Like a common household servant
Telling them to do the same
Telling them to be like servants, too.

This man, this Jesus
Where does he fit into our images of success?
Of leadership?  Of Power?
And we who have stood along the paths
And cheered him on
Waved our palm branches
Shouted “Hosanna, at last he has come to save us.”
Chanted “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.”
Do we still think we want to follow him?
Do we still want him to be our leader?
Are we to be standing on the side of the road
Waiting for a royal parade?
Palm Sunday, branch-waving-coat-tossing,
Long-live-the-king crowd?
Or are we to be the get-in-there
Empty-yourself
Take-on-the-form –of –a-servant disciples?
I suspect we are.
I heard his words “I have set you an example.
You should do as I have done.
For the servant is not greater than the master
Nor the messenger than the one who sent him, sent her.”

So how shall we do as he has done?
How shall we serve others in his name?

I invite you to turn to the back of your bulletin and consider the possibilities of service.
Would you choose at least one discipline to serve in the name of the Lord
Or determine your own
and write it on the bottom of your bulletin
so you don’t forget
you are called to serve.

Are we not called to go in a direction
We were not particularly ready to go
When we first joined this Palm Sunday parade?
Are we not called to be faithful followers
Even when the branch-waving cheering crowd
goes home?

We are told to have this mind in us
which was in Christ Jesus
To also be servants
Making a difference
By pouring your life out for others.

It seems as if somebody somewhere has turned
The whole thing upside down
As if something about the cross
Sounds like a contradiction of everything
We have ever learned about success
And making something of your life
And making a real difference with your life.

And if it seems that way that’s because it is.
That is the way God planned it.
And once we understand that
Once we understand that
Then perhaps we can begin to understand
Why the man who would be king
Simply would not
But would ride a borrowed beast of burden
Into Jerusalem
Pausing long enough to heal and to serve and
Then to head for the cross.

Amen

Sermon preached by Dr. Charlotte D. Nabors
Central Congregational Church, Dallas, Texas
Palm Sunday, March 16, 2008