Palm Sunday: Celebrating a Better Way of Peace

Palm Sunday is about the empire having its boot on the neck of many people, and we say no. We say there is a better way because that's what Jesus said. We need this Palm Sunday. We need a reminder that the empire is not where our allegiance lies. We need Palm Sunday to remember that the kingdom of God can and will be built right here and right now, not at some other time off in the future, but right here and right now. [00:56:32] (38 seconds)  #KingdomHereNow

Listen to what Jesus did on that first Palm Sunday. Jesus called out the empire, the Roman empire for the farce that it was. He said, no. No. No. There's a better way to do this, and it has nothing to do with swords. There's a better way to do this, and it has nothing to do with snuffing out your opponents. There's a better way to do this, and it's not snuffing out your opponents. It's loving your enemy. [00:52:59] (34 seconds)  #LoveNotViolence

And that is right, and that is good. We have to remember this day, but I think we have to do the first part too. I think we have to do what Jesus did too. I think we have to sit up, and I think we have to take notice of the injustice that fills our world. I think we have to sit up and take notice of the ways that the empire just doesn't work. [00:51:49] (30 seconds)  #WakeUpToInjustice

It's political satire to the highest degree. It's a complete and total parody of the parade that might have just happened earlier in the day or maybe the day before. It's a parody. It's political satire, and it is subversive, and it is dangerous. It forces the powers that be or the powers that were. It forces the Roman Empire to sit up and take notice of who Jesus is and what kind of threat he might be to their way of life. [00:49:55] (36 seconds)  #SubversiveSatire

Jesus is making fun of the Roman Empire to the Roman Empire's face. No wonder they wanted to kill him. And so today, we lift our palms, and we remember this great occasion. We remember the day Jesus sat up on a donkey, not a war horse. And the people put their faith and their trust in the way of love and in the way of grace and in the way of nonviolence and in the way of peace. [00:50:33] (34 seconds)  #DonkeyNotWarhorse

That's the better way. Jesus was offering a better way to the people. He called out the empire for the farce that it was. Jesus, on the busiest day in Jerusalem, maybe hours after they had their own show, he looked at the power of Rome in the face, and he laughed at them. Jesus, on the busiest day in Jerusalem, maybe hours after they had their own show, he called out Rome for being fake. [00:53:33] (36 seconds)  #ExposeEmpireFarce

And if there was going to be trouble, there would have been trouble when everybody was there. So they weren't coming to town to greet the people. They were coming to town to enforce Pax Romana, the peace of Rome. The peace of Rome that demands that every revolution before it even starts gets squashed. Every revolution before it even starts gets snuffed out. That's Pax Romana. [00:46:15] (38 seconds)  #PaxRomanaExposed

That's the peace of Rome. And so they were coming into town to make sure that you all knew who was in charge. And the ruler would come in in a military procession. And the ruler would be on the biggest, most intimidating, largest war horse they could find in the area, and he it was always he. He would ride in, and the people along the side, some of the soldiers that were not marching in the processional, would hold up their swords, and they would say, hail Caesar. [00:46:52] (53 seconds)  #ImperialParade