Episcopal Church of Our Savior

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The Rev. Ajung Sojwal Palm Sunday, Year C, Sunday April 1, 2007 As we begin to walk through the holiest week in our Christian Calendar, we will find that one of the most dominating features surrounding Jesus’ Passion is the presence of “the crowd.” It is quite amazing how we can actually attribute one single word to describe the mood of a crowd, given the fact that it comprises a lot of people. We use words like, “joyous” “sad” “jubilant” “hostile” “angry” so on and so forth to describe crowds. If you have ever been in a crowd gathered for something significant, you know how one can be easily swayed by the mood of the crowd. And if you happen to be the focus of the crowd, I cannot even begin to imagine how one could deal with the pressure of it all. In Jerusalem, it was the beginning of the week of Passover, and the population of the city would have doubled or tripled with pilgrims and tourists. As in any city expecting a big influx of people from outside, there would have been extra security measures taken by the ruling authorities, which meant more soldiers on the streets. So under such a highly-strung atmosphere Jesus enters Jerusalem. A jubilant and celebratory crowd greets Jesus as he enters Jerusalem on a humble donkey. It says, “As he was now approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen, saying, "Blessed is the king Who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, And glory in the highest heaven!" They spread their cloaks and palm branches on the ground so He could ride in like the King they proclaimed him to be. The palms and the cloaks were exactly what our present day red carpet signifies; the welcoming of royalty, heads of state or governments, and the importance of the occasions. For the next few days in Jerusalem, various crowds constantly surround Jesus. While Jesus moves with the crowd, the Jewish religious authorities are also constantly trying to find the opportune time to kill him. Finally, it is in the night when he finds time to withdraw from the crowd that Jesus is arrested. And even then, it is a crowd that comes to arrest him. Scripture says, “While he was still speaking, suddenly a crowd came, and the one called Judas, one of the twelve, was leading them.” And it goes on to say that they seized him and led him away, taking him into the house of the high priest. The crowd that had welcomed Jesus into Jerusalem with such fanfare suddenly disappears from the scene. Another crowd turns up with great persistence and strength in accusing Jesus of being a traitor, both politically and religiously. Politically he is perceived as a threat to Rome and religiously the Jewish leaders see him as a blasphemer. One of the main reasons for the crowd not coming forth to defend Jesus was because, in so many ways he disappointed them in their expectations of the promised Messiah by not picking up the sword and marching against the ruling authorities. The crowd in Pilate’s courtyard shout with fervor to get Jesus executed. And scripture says, “they kept urgently demanding with loud shouts that he should be crucified.” I presume that we have all seen and also been part of a big crowd gathered for a common cause, and you can just imagine the great energy of the crowd. There are the instigators in the crowd leading the slogans and making sure the crowd is riled up to produce all the force it can, and slowly many get into a frenzy demanding a climax. The climax is reached for the crowd when the Gospel writer says, “their voices prevailed.” Jesus is condemned to die the death of a criminal. It is a trial with just the prosecutor’s voice being heard, while the defender, His closest disciples and the crowd that listened to his teachings remained silent. From then on, regardless of where one stood in Jesus’ case, the crowd becomes just spectators. The Gospel describes this sad indifference when it says, “and they cast lots to divide his clothing. And the people stood by, watching.” Jesus is hung on the cross, he is taunted and mocked, while the crowd continue to watch. Through all these, not once does Jesus react with anger, bitterness or judgement. In fact, even in all his agony and humiliation, Jesus reaches out to one of the criminals hung beside him with forgiveness and the promise of paradise. All through Jesus’ trial, torture and death, his closest disciples actually seem to be withdrawing from Him. They stand on the periphery of the animated crowd and watch everything, probably scared, confused and dejected. It is as if they have blended into or been sucked into the madness of the crowd. If you have ever been in a situation where you have been accused falsely of doing or saying something wrong, and if in that situation your dearest friends or you family does not believe your innocence, you know that the pain of your loved ones not believing you is so much greater than the false accusation itself. The loneliness of that moment when your loved ones don’t have the courage to believe in you is something that captures the meaning of solitude in all its painful aspects. It is no wonder that Jesus feels forsaken. There is the very overwhelming presence of the crowd, but Jesus is truly alone when he stands in front of the crowd, when he carries the cross to the hill, when he asks for water, when he looks down at his grief stricken mother and when he finally dies. It is easy for us today to look at the fickleness of the crowd that followed Jesus and pass judgement and condemnation on them and it is easy for us to dramatize the actions and decisions of the power brokers of Jesus’ time as something sinister and evil beyond compare. What we need to realize is that we are never really outside the crowd, for every time we decide to define God’s Kingdom or Jesus’ Kingship in our own terms we express our disappointment in God and His way of doing things. Every time we allow ourselves to judge and condemn others for not being like us we stand with the crowd that judged and condemned Jesus. If we are honest with ourselves we know that there is no way we can ever be above and beyond the crowd, whether it is as a part of the crowd that failed to stand by Jesus, or the crowd that arrested and condemned Him. In fact, it is good for us to know that we can never be outside the crowd, because then we might be able to develop some insight into our tendency to be swayed by seemingly loud and powerful voices. As Christians we will also always be part of the crowd that shouts, "Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!” because we do want God’s Kingdom to come on earth. However, God’s Kingdom on earth does not necessarily unfold in quite the way we anticipate or imagine. It is after all, God’s Kingdom not ours, and His ideas are certainly not ours, but we forget that and knowingly or unknowingly we turn with the crowd to shout, “Away with this fellow! Release Barabbas for us!” because we are impatient and limited in our understanding of God’s ways. I am not saying that God is totally unknowable, or that we are forever doomed because of our connection to the crowd. Rather God is knowable precisely because He is all that we are not, and there is hope for us precisely because it is the crowd that Jesus was referring to when He said, “Father forgive them for they know not what they do.” We can understand and receive Jesus’ words of forgiveness only in the context of the crowd. Only God can look with compassion and forgiveness at the crowd that condemns or rejects Him, only God can make the Cross, which was a symbol of humility and shame into the glorious symbol of redemption and hope, and God alone has the capacity and love to transform the fickle crowd into his faithful children. May God give us the faith to hope in His Kingdom and may He give us the grace to stand with Him and believe in Him as He brings redemption to this broken world. Amen.

The Rev. Ajung Sojwal

Palm Sunday, Year C, Sunday April 1, 2007

As we begin to walk through the holiest week in our Christian Calendar, we will find that one of the most dominating features surrounding Jesus’ Passion is the presence of “the crowd.” It is quite amazing how we can actually attribute one single word to describe the mood of a crowd, given the fact that it comprises a lot of people. We use words like, “joyous” “sad” “jubilant” “hostile” “angry” so on and so forth to describe crowds. If you have ever been in a crowd gathered for something significant, you know how one can be easily swayed by the mood of the crowd. And if you happen to be the focus of the crowd, I cannot even begin to imagine how one could deal with the pressure of it all.

In Jerusalem, it was the beginning of the week of Passover, and the population of the city would have doubled or tripled with pilgrims and tourists. As in any city expecting a big influx of people from outside, there would have been extra security measures taken by the ruling authorities, which meant more soldiers on the streets. So under such a highly-strung atmosphere Jesus enters Jerusalem. A jubilant and celebratory crowd greets Jesus as he enters Jerusalem on a humble donkey. It says, “As he was now approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen, saying,
"Blessed is the king
Who comes in the name of the Lord!
Peace in heaven,
And glory in the highest heaven!"
They spread their cloaks and palm branches on the ground so He could ride in like the King they proclaimed him to be. The palms and the cloaks were exactly what our present day red carpet signifies; the welcoming of royalty, heads of state or governments, and the importance of the occasions.

For the next few days in Jerusalem, various crowds constantly surround Jesus. While Jesus moves with the crowd, the Jewish religious authorities are also constantly trying to find the opportune time to kill him. Finally, it is in the night when he finds time to withdraw from the crowd that Jesus is arrested. And even then, it is a crowd that comes to arrest him. Scripture says, “While he was still speaking, suddenly a crowd came, and the one called Judas, one of the twelve, was leading them.” And it goes on to say that they seized him and led him away, taking him into the house of the high priest. The crowd that had welcomed Jesus into Jerusalem with such fanfare suddenly disappears from the scene. Another crowd turns up with great persistence and strength in accusing Jesus of being a traitor, both politically and religiously. Politically he is perceived as a threat to Rome and religiously the Jewish leaders see him as a blasphemer. One of the main reasons for the crowd not coming forth to defend Jesus was because, in so many ways he disappointed them in their expectations of the promised Messiah by not picking up the sword and marching against the ruling authorities.

The crowd in Pilate’s courtyard shout with fervor to get Jesus executed. And scripture says, “they kept urgently demanding with loud shouts that he should be crucified.” I presume that we have all seen and also been part of a big crowd gathered for a common cause, and you can just imagine the great energy of the crowd. There are the instigators in the crowd leading the slogans and making sure the crowd is riled up to produce all the force it can, and slowly many get into a frenzy demanding a climax. The climax is reached for the crowd when the Gospel writer says, “their voices prevailed.” Jesus is condemned to die the death of a criminal. It is a trial with just the prosecutor’s voice being heard, while the defender, His closest disciples and the crowd that listened to his teachings remained silent.

From then on, regardless of where one stood in Jesus’ case, the crowd becomes just spectators. The Gospel describes this sad indifference when it says, “and they cast lots to divide his clothing. And the people stood by, watching.” Jesus is hung on the cross, he is taunted and mocked, while the crowd continue to watch. Through all these, not once does Jesus react with anger, bitterness or judgement. In fact, even in all his agony and humiliation, Jesus reaches out to one of the criminals hung beside him with forgiveness and the promise of paradise. All through Jesus’ trial, torture and death, his closest disciples actually seem to be withdrawing from Him. They stand on the periphery of the animated crowd and watch everything, probably scared, confused and dejected. It is as if they have blended into or been sucked into the madness of the crowd. If you have ever been in a situation where you have been accused falsely of doing or saying something wrong, and if in that situation your dearest friends or you family does not believe your innocence, you know that the pain of your loved ones not believing you is so much greater than the false accusation itself. The loneliness of that moment when your loved ones don’t have the courage to believe in you is something that captures the meaning of solitude in all its painful aspects. It is no wonder that Jesus feels forsaken. There is the very overwhelming presence of the crowd, but Jesus is truly alone when he stands in front of the crowd, when he carries the cross to the hill, when he asks for water, when he looks down at his grief stricken mother and when he finally dies.

It is easy for us today to look at the fickleness of the crowd that followed Jesus and pass judgement and condemnation on them and it is easy for us to dramatize the actions and decisions of the power brokers of Jesus’ time as something sinister and evil beyond compare. What we need to realize is that we are never really outside the crowd, for every time we decide to define God’s Kingdom or Jesus’ Kingship in our own terms we express our disappointment in God and His way of doing things. Every time we allow ourselves to judge and condemn others for not being like us we stand with the crowd that judged and condemned Jesus. If we are honest with ourselves we know that there is no way we can ever be above and beyond the crowd, whether it is as a part of the crowd that failed to stand by Jesus, or the crowd that arrested and condemned Him. In fact, it is good for us to know that we can never be outside the crowd, because then we might be able to develop some insight into our tendency to be swayed by seemingly loud and powerful voices. As Christians we will also always be part of the crowd that shouts, "Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!” because we do want God’s Kingdom to come on earth. However, God’s Kingdom on earth does not necessarily unfold in quite the way we anticipate or imagine. It is after all, God’s Kingdom not ours, and His ideas are certainly not ours, but we forget that and knowingly or unknowingly we turn with the crowd to shout, “Away with this fellow! Release Barabbas for us!” because we are impatient and limited in our understanding of God’s ways.

I am not saying that God is totally unknowable, or that we are forever doomed because of our connection to the crowd. Rather God is knowable precisely because He is all that we are not, and there is hope for us precisely because it is the crowd that Jesus was referring to when He said, “Father forgive them for they know not what they do.” We can understand and receive Jesus’ words of forgiveness only in the context of the crowd. Only God can look with compassion and forgiveness at the crowd that condemns or rejects Him, only God can make the Cross, which was a symbol of humility and shame into the glorious symbol of redemption and hope, and God alone has the capacity and love to transform the fickle crowd into his faithful children. May God give us the faith to hope in His Kingdom and may He give us the grace to stand with Him and believe in Him as He brings redemption to this broken world. Amen.