“Landscapes of Lent: Palms” by Rev. Cody Sandahl – April 9, 2017

Introduction
We are still looking at the different landscapes in Jesus’ journey toward the cross. We’ve looked at ashes, the wilderness, water, wind, mud. Now we see the final landscape – the palms waved by an energetic and expectant crowd. We already heard the story. We have our own palms. But as the crowd shouted to Jesus, they took their cues from our other text today, Psalm 118.
Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29
1O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his steadfast love endures forever! 2Let Israel say, “His steadfast love endures forever.” 19Open to me the gates of righteousness, that I may enter through them and give thanks to the Lord. 20This is the gate of the Lord; the righteous shall enter through it. 21I thank you that you have answered me and have become my salvation. 22The stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. 23This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes. 24This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. 25Save us, we beseech you, O Lord! O Lord, we beseech you, give us success! 26Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord. We bless you from the house of the Lord. 27The Lord is God, and he has given us light. Bind the festal procession with branches, up to the horns of the altar. 28You are my God, and I will give thanks to you; you are my God, I will extol you. 29O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.
Can I Get a Helping Hand?
In my previous church we had a week-long family camp, and part of the festivities involved a shortened triathlon. Swimming, biking, and running. When the high schoolers heard I was going to do it this year, they were sure I was going to clean up – smoke everyone – win big. To which I replied, “I…wouldn’t hold your breath on that.”
If it had been running and basketball and computer programming, watch out. But the problem was the swimming and the biking. At this point I hadn’t swum any kind of distance since swim team in elementary school. And I hadn’t been on a bike since middle school. I just didn’t want to over-train, you know.
I also didn’t exactly come prepared – no goggles for the open water swim. No bike – had to borrow one from the camp. But I had running shoes, so there’s that.
We gathered at the start for the swim, I awaited my group’s start time, and then SPLASH! Into the water. I didn’t trust my goggle-less navigation skills so I went with the breast stroke for starters. But you know after a while that gets tiring. So I rolled over to do some back stroke. And then I decided to chance that freestyle after all. On and on and on I went. I had to keep switching strokes because my muscles hadn’t been swimming in…a couple of decades. And so at about the 3/4 mark I realized that I wasn’t as young as I used to be. I couldn’t just jump in and do well. I wished I had some goggles. Or some floaties. Or a boat.
It didn’t get any better after that, either, because on the opening leg of the bike I saw that either the land was getting taller or my bike seat was getting lower. I had to fix the borrowed bike in the middle of the race. At least that gave me an excuse for my bad overall time on the race.
Now contrast my experience with one of the high schoolers. Unlike me, he rode his bike a lot, so he was good there. But he hadn’t done anything like an open water swim. Whereas I decided to just jump in and hope for the best, he decided to endure the derision of his peers and wear a life jacket. In a real race you can’t do that, but at a family camp it’s all good. And you know what? He never got tired. Because the life jacket was carrying his weight – he just had to propel himself forward. While I was struggling, he was scooting along in the water.
He realized that he was going to need some help. He planned accordingly. And he did great. I tried to pretend that I was going to be able to handle it on my own, and I struggled mightily.
Hosanna
Our Psalm today says, “save us, we beseech you, O Lord!” The crowd as Jesus enters Jerusalem shouts, “Hosanna,” which means “Save us!” They were excited because they knew they were in trouble. They knew they needed saving. And here came the man they thought would save them!
So I wonder, do you need saving? Do you need help? Could you use a life vest on a long swim, but you’re pretending that you’ll make it on your own?
That’s not always an easy question to answer for us. I mean almost everyone – not 100% but almost everyone in this room has access to enough food and water and adequate shelter. You know we work with our partner churches in Zimbabwe, and they told us needed access to water. So we’re building wells. That’s pretty easy to understand. Or when there’s a snowstorm at night, it’s pretty obvious that shelter is an issue for the homeless persons who are in our area.
So for almost everyone in this room, the basic necessities to live are taken care of. You have to move further up the hierarchy of needs to find a problem area. What about safety? We found out at my previous church that one of our maintenance employees couldn’t afford to do maintenance on his own home because he was having to support three generations of his extended family. It was dangerous at his house. Sadly ironic. We had no clue. When we finally found out, we helped him fix up the place a little bit.
Or maybe it’s not a house thing, maybe it’s a dangerous, damaging, or abusive relationship. That’s a threat to your safety. Are you trying to swim alone with that? There are life vests available, but someone has to know.
Maybe instead of safety you are in need of love or belonging. Maybe you’re all alone. Or maybe you feel alone or forgotten or taken for granted in your marriage. I often tell couples that one of the biggest warning signs in a marriage is an internal feeling of bitterness. When you feel that creeping in, it’s a blinking neon sign like on the Las Vegas strip saying “Get help now!”
Maybe instead of love you are in need of feeling confidence, feeling that you matter, that you have worth. Are you wondering if anyone would really care if you’re gone? Do you feel that your employer sees you as a number or a cog in the machine? Do you feel that everyone is always looking for what you’re doing wrong?
Or maybe you have your physical needs met, your world is decently safe, you have a sense of belonging, you feel respected and valued. But you lack purpose. Or you think you could do better, or be better, but you’re not there. You have a sense of your potential, but you’re only firing on two cylinders right now.
Do you have any physical needs? Do you have any safety concerns? Do you feel a lack of love or belonging? Do you feel disrespected, devalued, taken for granted? Do you feel aimless or like you’re not using your potential? Where do you need saving? Where do you need to shout “Hosanna” to Jesus as he rides by on a donkey?
Getting Help
I like to ask people how I can pray for them specifically. I would much rather pray for their cousin Justin who is going through a rough time in his marriage than praying for God’s blessing generally. And I’m surprised how frequently people don’t have anything for me to pray. Everything’s fine right now. I think some of that is an unwillingness to share. And some of that is probably just thinking narrowly. Because I doubt that so many people have every physical need, they’re safe, feel a sense of belonging, feel respected and valued, and are maximizing their potential in life. And I REALLY doubt that applies to them and everyone they know. There are far more needs in our world for that many people to feel maximally blessed and on top of the world.
It reminds me of when I was a kid, and we were at my friend’s house one summer afternoon. And his house had a deck that stretched out over Lake Austin, so you could jump off his deck and land in the water maybe fifteen feet below. So we liked to play outside on the deck, watching for boats to pass by. And then we would run at top speed, leap onto the top of his deck railing, and fly into the air doing flips and twists and other tricks for the passing boats. Great way to pass a summer day. But one time I was swimming underneath his boat dock to get to the ladder so I could go back up for another jump, and the waves from the passing boat picked me up and bumped my head against the dock. It hurt a little bit, but I kept climbing the ladder and asked my friend if he was ready for another jump. He looked at me strangely, pointed to my head, and said, “Umm…you’re kinda bleeding…a lot.” That was my first clue that I needed help. When I touched my head and it came away crimson, that was my second clue. And when his mom came outside and started shrieking in fear, that pretty well solidified it.
Left to my own devices, I would have just jumped off the dock again, unaware that I was bleeding profusely. You can’t get help if you don’t know there’s a problem. You can’t get help if you won’t ADMIT there’s a need. If you aren’t willing to shout “Hosanna,” you’re going to be on your own.
My mom is a counselor, and she often has people come to her for help because they’re feeling like they can’t get everything done in a day. They have a purpose, a direction. They know what they’re supposed to do. They have lists upon lists. But they can’t get it all done. Do you know what her first question is? “How much sleep do you get each night?” And usually it’s 2, or 3, or maybe 4 hours on average. And her reply shocks them, “You can’t get everything done on that little sleep. You’ll be more productive if you’re rested.” It’s counter-intuitive, but it works every time. They never would have thought of that on their own.
If you aren’t willing to shout “Hosanna,” you’re stuck with your own solutions to your problems. You might miss out on the counter-intuitive solution someone else can provide.
Where do you need saving? Where do you need to shout “Hosanna” to Jesus as he rides by on a donkey?
Jesus is the Solution
Of course, we know the great irony of Palm Sunday. This crowd that knew they needed saving, this crowd that shouted “Hosanna” on Sunday was the same crowd shouting “crucify him” on Friday. This crowd thought Jesus was the solution on Sunday, but they thought he was the problem on Friday. What happened?
Well they knew they needed saving, but they didn’t know the true problem. They thought they needed saving from Roman oppression, but they didn’t realize they needed saving from their own hearts. They thought they needed a revolutionary, but they didn’t realize they needed forgiveness from God. When Jesus’ solution didn’t match their expectations, they were done with him. It would be as if someone heard they needed more sleep from my mom, and they decided, “Well I’m not going to do that! I’m just going to keep working harder and staying up later!” The crowd didn’t trust Jesus’ solution.
Once we have admitted our need, once we have shouted “Hosanna,” we then have to trust that Jesus is the solution. And his solutions are rarely what we expect. His solutions are rarely WHEN we want. So the question is, will you continue to trust that Jesus is the solution when it’s taking a long time, or when it’s going off in a different direction than you wanted? Or will you take things into your own hands like the Jerusalem crowd? I’ve done it plenty of times, trust me.
Summary
Sisters and brothers, almost all of us have our basic necessities taken care of. But we all have reasons to shout “Hosanna” to Jesus as he rides by on a donkey. It might be safety. It might be feeling loved or a sense of belonging. It might be respect or value. It might be purpose or fulfillment. We all have reasons to shout “Hosanna.” But we have to be willing to admit it.
And once we admit it, do we have the faith to trust that Jesus is the solution even when his way is so different than ours? When his timing is so different than ours?
Shout “Hosanna.” Don’t just whisper it. Shout “Hosanna.” Amen.