Sunday of the Passion/Palm Sunday - Mark 11

Sunday of the Passion/Palm Sunday
Mark 11.1-11

As worship begins this Sunday, many congregations will re-enact Jesus’ march to Jerusalem in some fashion, often with children waving palms, people singing.

As the writer of Mark’s gospel tells it, Jesus’ entire ministry has been leading to Jerusalem. The crowds have been following Jesus from Galilee, about a hundred miles north. Jesus’ procession into Jerusalem, at the beginning of the Passover, the most sacred festival in the Jewish year, is not a spontaneous event. Jesus has planned the details of this street theater beforehand and send

Jesus did not invent the procession. Everyone was aware of imperial processions—Pontius Pilate the Roman governor riding at the head of the cavalry and soldiers carrying the golden eagles mounted on poles, the grand display of weaponry and the beat of the drums—it happened every year at the beginning of Passover, to bring reinforcements to town to augment the Roman garrison at the Antonia Fortress in case of an uprising. This Passover celebration of freedom from slavery in Egypt was a dangerous time for their new masters.s his disciples to carry out the arrangements he has made.

On this particular Passover, Jesus’ followers line the roadway to welcome Jesus, giving him the reception that royalty and military leaders usually received—the cloaks and leafy branches symbols of royalty and signs of loyalty and praise. Their response is a political statement against the religious and military leaders who were oppressing the people and a sign of the threat that Jesus posed to the good order of the Roman Empire and the religious establishment in Jerusalem.

This week, Palestinians and their supporters around the globe are also preparing for a procession—assembling the people, providing transportation, notifying the press. The march commemorates Land Day March 30, the day in 1976, when Palestinians protested Israel’s plan to confiscate Palestinians’ lands for the expansion of Israeli settlements.

Some of the history: “On 11 March, 1976, the Israeli regime published its expropriation plan to confiscate Palestinians’ lands in order to further expand their illegal settlements and build military training camps. Quite interestingly, on 29 March, they also imposed a curfew in a bid to stop Palestinians from voicing their anger over the confiscation of their lands. However, on 30 March, Palestinian activists called for protests and people took part in demonstrations. Israeli regime’s forces killed at least 6 people and wounded over 100 Palestinians. Hundreds of Palestinians were also arrested.” More….

People are coming from many countries, for a march planned to converge on Jerusalem. Organizers say they are not interested in confrontation with Israeli authorities. Organizers of this year’s march have announced a peaceful, non-violent demonstration of solidarity with the Palestinian demand for an end to Israel’s occupation of their lands and with their hope for a Palestinian capital in East Jerusalem. “We are after all not an army, but popular peaceful international forces aiming to show solidarity with Palestine and with Jerusalem,” according to Zahir Al-Birawi, spokesman of the Global March to Jerusalem, which lists Noble Laureates Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Mairead Maguire as advisers. Read Israeli reports on the march in the Jerusalem Post and in Israel Today magazine.

God of justice and peace, protect your people as we struggle to live our lives in safety and security. Amen.

Evening, Palm Sunday, 2010

Luke 19.28-40

“When he had come near Bethphage and Bethany, at the place called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples….” (Luke 19.29)

As we lifted palms in church and heard the familiar words of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem and shouted “Hosanna!” we were reenacting, as many Christians have done through the centuries, the event that begins the holiest week in the Christian calendar. Each year, Christians from all over the world retrace Jesus’ steps, processing down the Mount of Olives and into the Old City of Jerusalem. Palestinian Christians from Bethlehem and the rest of the West Bank have participated in this procession for many years.

Even in Luke’s account, there are mixed reactions to Jesus and the adulation of the crowds. As they shout for joy and throw their cloaks on the path to welcome him, “some of the Pharisees” are worried and warn that this public acclamation should stop.

Not much has changed in the past two thousand years. The procession of palms in Jerusalem—Christians parading through the streets, praising God and marking this holiest of weeks, are still seen as a threat.

Although pilgrims from Ireland, the Philippines and Utah walked in the Jerusalem procession today, most Palestinians from the West Bank were denied entry into Jerusalem. In spite of the efforts of Palestinian church leaders who have been working with Israeli officials for weeks, no permits were given for their congregations to travel to Jerusalem, and Palestinians do not travel anywhere without permits. The five or so miles from Bethlehem to Jerusalem have become a divide that cannot be breached.

In Bethlehem today about 150 Palestinian Christians, with their Israeli and Muslim supporters, (along with two donkeys and a horse) did manage to get past the checkpoint. But they were quickly stopped by soldiers who piled out of their jeeps—beating and arresting the marchers. Eleven Palestinians were arrested at the main tourist checkpoint between Bethlehem and Jerusalem, the place our tour buses go through when we visit. (See photo with the palms and the soldiers arresting one of the marchers.) Four Israeli peace activists who were also detained were later released by the Israeli soldiers. See more photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/activestills/ Read the story from Ma’an news agency: http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=272253 ; more details from Dr. Mazin Qumsiyeh’s blog: http://www.qumsiyeh.org/rightsblog2010/

Other Palestinians did manage to celebrate Palm Sunday at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. And others walked with palms in the village of Al-Zababdeh near the West Bank town of Jenin (see AP wire photo at top).

Even Jesus would not have been able to walk today from Bethany to Jerusalem. The Israeli security wall cuts off the main road, between Jericho and Jerusalem, the road that goes through Bethany. (photo shows where the wall blocks the Jericho road).

Today we marked Palm Sunday, not only with readings and reenactments of the procession, but also with the reading of the story of Jesus’ passion—the suffering he endured at the hands of the Roman empire, his arrest, the beating, the insults of the soldiers……….

Gracious God, you sent your son to show us your way of liberation and peace. Help us, who call ourselves by his name, to be messengers of peace and reconciliation in your world today. Help us break down the walls that divide us—to find one small thing we can do to bring reconciliation to the places where we live and work. Amen.