Matthew 21: 1-11

            Our scripture lesson is about a party. This week we saw a lot of parties going on - St. Patrick's Day, with its parades and speeches, and, unfortunately, in many peoples' opinion, its excessive drinking. Also unfortunately, at least from the perspective of Central New Yorkers, was the green party that took place in Vermont on Friday night - we had hoped it would be an orange party, but Vermont beat Syracuse in the NCAA basketball tournament. But across the nation, winning basketball teams will have parties - we call it March Madness. So we know what a party is all about.

             What kind of party was Palm Sunday? For some, no doubt, it was simply a break in the daily grind. They saw some kind of hoopla going on, and they dropped their routine activity and joined in the Jesus parade. For others, it may have been part of their religious holiday. They had traveled to the big city for the Passover, and they were ready to join in any big event, and suddenly here is this big parade -let's see what this is all about. For the children, it may have been simply fun.

            But from our perspective, and perhaps for some who were there, it is a moment of great significance in the life of our Lord, and in our faith For followers of Jesus, it is about the long awaited moment when Jesus rode into Jerusalem. And it is surrounded with symbolism. First of all, there was the gate he entered - the gate was the Eastern gate, where the messiah was expected to arrive some day. Then there was his manner of entering -- on a donkey, which the prophets said would be the seat of a long-expected hero. Whatever the reason, the people seized the moment. They stopped what they were doing, and they joined the parade. They paved the road with their garments, shouted Hosanna! and waved palm branches in the air. It was a parade fit for a victorious general or a returning king.

            We are left to wonder what it means in the great scheme of things. This is the beginning of Holy Week. This week we will gather for Maundy Thursday, remembering the Last Supper of the Lord with his disciples. We will keep prayer vigil over Good Friday, the hours of Jesus' passion and death on the cross. We will gather for Good Friday remembrance, and note with sorrow the crucifixion. And then we will observe the joy of Easter and Resurrection.

            So with all that drama to come in the week ahead, what does this brief Palm Sunday party mean? Was it simply a moment of diversion for a restless, bored crowd? Was it a fleeting recognition of who Jesus was, only to be forgotten four days later? Part of the answer has to do with what we make of it, and whether or not we are truly on this journey with Jesus. Some people will observe Palm Sunday, and then Easter, and hardly give the dark moments in between a thought. They will go from party to party. This is to miss the very heart of what Jesus is accomplishing this week. We need the whole story to truly understand the message of life after death, light after darkness, God's glory overcoming human degradation.

            Because while others were having their party, shouting and waving and parading - Jesus was putting his life on the line. He was putting himself in harm's way. Think of it this way. If you were him, and your journey through the little villages of Galilee, and toward the dramatic walls of Jerusalem had grown more and more controversial and intense - if you had a very good idea that powerful and deadly forces would greet your arrival- wouldn't you have preferred a quieter entrance? A big burst of fanfare in front of your prospective enemies was the last thing you needed at this time. But it turns out Jesus did not come this far to back off in any way. It turns out, this was exactly the moment for him to step forward, and meet head on the world that awaited him, that challenged him, that crucified him.

            What, exactly, put him in harm's way? Jesus had said some radical things - things that didn't sit well with some powerful people. He had talked about a kingdom beyond this earth that had dominion over every earthly power - that made him unpopular with the political leaders. He talked about a level of truth that exposed every shred of religious hypocrisy and self-righteousness - that made him unpopular with the religious leaders. He talked about a new standard of generosity that made earthly wealth an obstacle in the path of God's project - that made him unpopular with the rich and economically elite. And he talked about a standard of personal conduct that took away the guilty pleasure of revenge, backbiting, envy - that made him unpopular with just about everybody else.

            In other words, Jesus was a threat to the politically, religiously, and economically powerful; and he expected much of the powerless as well. He held everybody accountable to the standard of love that was the foundation of God's new realm of possibility - and when he rode into Jerusalem, to the very center of the nation - he was riding into harm's way - and within a week he was killed.

            We know the rest of the story. We have the perspective of Easter, when Christ rose from the dead. We have the perspective of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit descended upon the disciples, and the Church was born. And we have the perspective of twenty centuries of Christian ministry in this world, and so it would be a much different world - a more receptive world - if Jesus came today.

            Would it? One of the great deceptions we play on ourselves is to imagine that the world is a different place now. The devastating truth is that it's not a matter of how backwards they were back then, and how enlightened we are now. It's a matter of realizing that exactly the same powers are in place today as the ones that put Jesus on that cross. In fact, they may be stronger than ever.

            Political powers still hold sway - back then, the world power was called Rome; today it is called America. And we kid ourselves if we don't admit that we have many of the same pitfalls as the Roman Empire, including many of those that led to its demise. Jesus would still find much in this nation to hold accountable, and he would still be very unpopular to the political leaders. It would, for example, be very difficult to listen to Jesus' teaching about peace and forgiveness, and then maintain a nation on the basis of superior military might. It just doesn't fit, and Jesus would be very unpopular for saying it. But he would say it.

            Many religious leaders wouldn't be much more receptive today. There are still plenty of religious teachers today who want to promote legalism instead of mercy - it's about following this or that rule, rather than about striving for a God-like heart. Many religious people have a strong vested interest in keeping things the way they are - not rocking the boat. Jesus exposed the hardheartedness and hypocrisy in the religious organizations of his time - and he would today. And we're kidding ourselves if we think we would like it. I have a feeling we would be just as resistant as the Pharisees.

            Now imagine the rich. Imagine Jesus walking into the boardroom of a major corporation an telling the CEO and the vice-presidents and so on that they are accountable for the poor in this world, and that it is easier for a camel to crawl through the eye of the needle than for a wealthy person to get to heaven; and you cannot serve both God and money. How long before they call security, and have him removed from their sight and hearing?

            But it's easy to take shots at the powerful. What would Jesus say to each of us that would challenge the assumptions by which we pat ourselves on the back? Love your enemies? Okay, except for these people on my short list. Forgive seventy times seven? Okay, except for... Share what you have, no matter how much.

            All the forces that rose up against Jesus and took him to the cross are still in place. Heaven help us. Thank God, heaven does. All the forces that killed Jesus are still in place, but the difference is that because of who Jesus is and what he did, we can choose a different outcome. The cross shines a light on the brokenness and sinfulness of this world - exposes it for the corruptible world that it is - and thereby makes a different world possible.

            What we have to do is admit it. We have to admit that we are prone to national pride, and to a tendency to want to put America in the place of God. We have to admit that we are prone to religious smugness, and the belief that we have it right and others don't. And we have to admit that we like money and what it buys. We have to admit that we want to have things our way instead of God's, and we want to hold on to our grudges and prejudices and dark thoughts. If we can confess those things before God, and sincerely seek a new heart of love within us, then by the power of the cross and Savior who died there, we can be saved. New life is possible.

            We come to the end of the Lenten season. The invitation has been to examine over this season who we are, and what might change in our lives by the power of Jesus. The fact is, that's about the only way things will change. We try it on our own, and the same old temper, the same old procrastination, the same old prejudices hang on. We simply can't overcome sin on our own. But by the power of the cross, by the power of Christ, God overcomes sin. And makes healing possible. The apostle Paul writes, "If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation..." And that's what this day, I this week, offers us. Those people in the streets on Palm Sunday sensed something new and glorious happening. The events of the next week would define just what that was. And we know those events. And Jesus is inviting us to new life through his death and resurrection.