Looking Ahead to March 29, 2026 -- Palm Sunday

 The Scripture Readings this week are:

• Zechariah 9:9-10
• Matthew 21:1-17

The Sermon title is The King Arrives!

Early Thoughts: What if it is a loyalty test? Where would we land in such a test? Which king-ship, which brand or expression of power would we line up beside/behind?

The Palm Sunday story carries with it many images fit for a King. Matthew tells the story, it appears, with the words of Zechariah in his head (even if Matthew reads it as though the victorious king is riding in to the city on two animals at once). There the imagery is clearly victorious and yet even there we find a disconnect. The victorious king proclaimed by Zechariah is humble rather than proud, riding on an ass instead of a war horse. So it is with Jesus. And yet the crowds cheering and laying branches and cloaks on the roadway certainly give it a triumphant, even royal feeling. Are the branches and cloak the equivalent of rolling out the red carpet?

So it is a royal welcome, a victory march, perhaps a coronation processional. But one meant for a very different king. One that lifts up a very different understanding of power. One that challenges how we understand 'the way the world works' -- a challenge made evident as Jesu immediately goes to the Temple and upsets the business happening there..

In their book The Last Week Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan suggest that there are two parades happening this day. As one king enters the city to great acclaim but humbly riding on a donkey the Empire enters the city through another gate with a great show of military Imperial power. Which model of power will win?

Source and Description

To be a Christian, or at least one definition of that, is to become more Christ-like, to align our lives and priorities with Jesus. In that case how we answer the loyalty question becomes easier and, at the same time, more complicated. Obviously we would choose the power of the one on the donkey, the one who says things like "blessed are the meek, the peacemakers, the merciful, those who huger for righteousness", the one who calls us to love our enemies, the one who tells us not to hoard what we have, the one who tells us to serve all our neighbours because then we serve him. That must be the answer right? But doing that is hard. Doing that goes against the flow. Doing that seems, at times, foolhardy. Certainly it is no way to get ahead in the world.

This week the king arrives in town. As the next week progresses the full cost of his understanding of king-ship and power and the world will be put to the test. The powers around him will fail the test. His closest friends will scatter out of fear for their own survival. 2000 ears later we still parade and sing and cheer. But how will we do on the test? In a world where empire still strikes hard and fast. In a world where power is defined as 'might makes right' or 'greed works', a world where being different often leads you to the edges of society is there a place for the power of a king on a donkey?

What if it is a loyalty test? What brand/understanding of power do we choose?
--Gord