Palm Sunday Sermon

It is Palm Sunday today and we hear of a crowd gathered together in celebration, raising their voices in joyful hosannas, pushing up against each other, caught up in a moment with one another and as we hear this story being told today, a story we hear every year, this time it probably sounds very different, it might even sound offensive. As we are confined to our homes, unable to gather for worship, some of us isolated and alone, at a time when crowds are dangerous and human contact is risky, this story at the very lease seems at odds with our experience. And if we feel that way today, if for some reason this story of gathering and celebration leaves us feeling alone, despondent, sad … we would do well to remember that on that day; the cheering of the crowds and the waving of the palms left Jesus feeling that way too. In the Gospel of Matthew, Mark and Luke, this moment of celebration is followed immediately by Jesus clearing the temple, angrily turning over the tables of the money changers and calling out the corruption he saw in what was both the centre of religious and political power for the people of his day. Luke adds an extra detail, before Jesus does this, he weeps. Passing through the cheering does not leave Jesus feeling uplifted, he is not comforted by the crowds praises, he sees what they cannot see and knows what they do not want to know … that things need to change and that they are not going to understand what is about to unfold … they will be disillusioned and even angered by the course of events that have been set in motion, real change, the kind of change that ultimately leads to our well being and our flourishing is hard and painful and costly. Change like that requires us to confront things we would rather ignore, it is challenging and requires us to become comfortable with uncertainty. Every year we approach the story of Holy Week with the certainty of Easter Sunday in the back of our minds, we know how all the threads of the story finally weave together into that moment of surprising hope; but maybe this year more than ever we need to remember that for Jesus and those who shared his journey this week held anything but certainty and maybe we need to be reminded of that in these uncertain times.

Every evening at 8pm here in Muizenburg and elsewhere in the city people come out onto their balconies and into their gardens and cheer; for a moment the silence is filled with the sound of people expressing their gratitude and acknowledging that in spite of our isolation we are still connected with one another. It is a beautiful moment that is being mirrored around the world as people find ways to express kindness and support in these challenging times. I don’t know about you but I am having far more contact with my family and significant friends than I did before the lockdown began, I am more conscious of making the call and sending the message, checking in on those I know are alone, just to make sure that something is happening, in the midst of the uncertainty, frustration and hardship, something is happening …

Those who have followed a monastic path have always known that solitude and connection are in fact two sides of the same coin and that in order for us to connect meaningfully with others we have to also know what it is to be alone. What the monastics have also known that it is in our solitude that we recognise that perhaps the greatest challenges we face lie within us rather than in the world out there. When the early mothers and fathers of our faith withdrew from the corruption of the roman empire around them and sought to live a more devoted life in the desert they soon recognised that they faced all the corruption that they were fleeing from within themselves, and in the solitude of the desert they had to face their shadows. Living in community with the same people day after day without being able to escape their shared life together they discovered how to confront themselves and find truer and more compassionate ways of being with one another.

In a way this lockdown has forced many of us into something of a monastic way of life, the world has suddenly changed and we are faced with the uncertainty of what lies ahead, maybe what we need to do is lean into that uncertainty a little and as difficult, frustrating or painful the next weeks or months may be, change always holds possibility as much as it causes anxiety. Steven Covey in his well known book, “The seven habits of highly effective people” talks about our circles of concern and our circles of influence. In the midst of this Covid 19 crisis maybe we can pull our energy away from that wide circle of concern and into our smaller circles of influence, doing what we can to live more healthy and connected lives with ourselves and one another.

Mark adds his own unique detail to the Palm Sunday Story, after the cheering crowds have been past by and night begins to fall, Jesus goes to the temple he will return to the next morning and he looks around, he sees it … his actions the next morning when he turn over the tables are born out of this contemplation … they are not an angry rant but rather a necessary moment of confronting what needs to be done differently, what needs to be done more justly … as we emerge from our lockdown into a world that will have been changed by this pandemic maybe we can emerge as people who are more mindful, who have learned to see, to see ourselves more clearly, to see others more clearly, people who see what needs to be different in order for our world to be a kinder and more just place for us all.

And so on this Palm Sunday when we would normally be holding palm leaves in our hands I invite you this year to maybe take a leaf out of Jesus’ book .. to allow yourself to look around, to see, to be mindful, to be in the now and while acknowledging the uncertainty, anxiety, frustration or loneliness you may feel maybe you can also just keep bring yourself back to the holiness present moment because if we attend to this moment we will better know what to do in the next.

As Gandalf said to Frodo in the Lord of the Rings, when Frodo is lamenting the task he has been given, Frodo says, I wish none of this had happened … and Gandalf replies … so do all who live to see such times, but that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.”