Cry "Hosanna!"

A narrative sermon preached on Palm Sunday

O Lord, how much longer?

Hosanna! Hosanna!

I mean we’ve been doing this for hours now. Two steps forward, one step back, wave that palm branch and, all together now, Hosanna!

And the crowd pushing and shoving. Everyone’s having a grand old time, shouting and screaming, laughing and carrying on as if there’s no tomorrow. A grand old time of it, except for those whose feet are trodden on, or whose cloaks are borrowed without permission and tossed for the donkey to walk on, and the donkey itself don’t look too happy about it all. And I wish I were somewhere else.

I know, shameful ain’t it? Me, Judas son of James, one of the Twelve, would rather be somewhere else than trying to push a way down this street towards the Temple.

Hosanna! Hosanna!

Save us, Lord. Save us. Save us from hysterical crowds and save us from smelly armpits and palm leaves in the eye.

I mean, it’s all right for some. Some are in their element. Look at Simon Peter there. Hosanna-ing away as if he’s fit to bust. And James and John – “Sons of Thunder” all right. Those two are a crowd all on their own. And Simon the Zealot. My, but don’t he love it all. Any moment now I reckon he’ll start up:

Whadda we want?
Freedom!
When do we want it?
Now!

And they’ll all join in.

Except for me.

Whadda we want?
Peace and quiet!
When do we want it?
Now!

What do I want?

A nice cup of wine.
When do I want it?
Soon, please.
And then a nice lie down in a darkened room.

Anything to get off my feet.

I didn’t know I was signing up for this. I mean, what’s it all about? Look at them. Half of them have never even heard of Jesus, let alone want him for king. And the other half? I’m not sure what they’re on about.

Jesus – king? Not likely. Anyone who’s spent five minutes with him knows he’s not interested in kingship. Him – king on a throne? Not on your life.

But look at them, listen to them:

Hosanna! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David!

They want a Messiah. They want someone to get the foreigners off their backs and get ‘em out of the Temple and back to their heathen country. They want a Messiah. They want a rebellion.

They’re nuts. They think Jesus is going to turf the Romans out? They think it’s back to the good old days of King David?

I tell you, they don’t know Jesus the carpenter from Nazareth. He’s not interested in kingship so much as compassion. He doesn’t want an army; he wants us to love our enemies.

Save us! Save us!

If this keeps up, we’re going to need saving, because the guard will be here in double quick time and palm branches aren’t much use against short swords and spears. Yarmulkes and fringed shawls won’t do us any good against a cavalry charge.

Hosanna! Come and deliver us!

It would be quite comical if it weren’t so serious.

At least Jesus don’t look so amused. He looks fit to burst into tears, he does.

Where does he think this is all heading? Does he reckon this is happy ending material?

To hear him speak the last few days, you wouldn’t think so. It’s all, “when I go to my Father’s house” and “the time is coming for the Human One to be lifted up”. It’s not that he’s miserable; it’s just … somehow, he sees that some things are inevitable. He sees that doing what he’s doing is never going to make him popular in the long run. At least, not popular with the bods who’re currently running the show, nor with the rich who are going to find it hard to get into heaven according to him. And not popular with those who don’t get what they want either.

I mean … Hosanna! Deliver us!

What? Deliver us from having to pay our taxes? Deliver us from having to get on with our neighbours. I mean look at that pair: He looks like it’s, “Deliver us from nagging wives” and she looks like it’s, “Save us from bone idle husbands”!

For goodness sake … This isn’t what Jesus is on about. I mean, he wants to deliver people all right. You only have to see him with the sick to know he wants to deliver people. You only have to hear him talking to those on the outside to know how passionate he is about saving people. When Blind Bart cried, “Hosanna” Jesus heard that all right.

Come and deliver us! Oh, yes. Come and deliver us from our pettiness and our smugness and our looking down our noses at anyone who can’t claim a lineage back to David. Oh, and come and deliver me from being such a cynic.

Hosanna indeed.

I remember when I was little, and anytime there was shouting and yelling and people getting all excited like this, and my mum would say – I can still hear her – she’d say, “There’ll be tears before bedtime.” And like as not she’d be right.

And, funny thing, she said it the day she met Jesus. Oh, she said lots of other things as well: “Wonderful to meet you, sir. Such an honour to have you in our house, sir.” And, to my great embarrassment, “Thank you so much for taking on our young Judas.” As if I was still a kid in Sabbath school. And then, watching him eat his dinner and laugh with some of the ragbags he invited in – and she never even said a word about that! – then she says all quiet like, “There’ll be tears before bedtime.”

Hosanna! Come and deliver us! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!

But I can’t help thinking she might be right. There’ll be tears before this lot’s all over.