Palm Sunday 2021

At the service, my father gave a rousing sermon.

And I kind of didn't even listen to the first

part of that gospel we heard because I'm thinking,

what's it have to do with anything on Palm Sunday?

It's just that bad news stuff. Judas is going

to betray and, you know, that whole part of the

story. But St. John is filling in the details.

He's telling us the realities of this world.

What we don't understand, we're afraid of. And

maybe we even hate. And we find an ideology that

is going to oppose that thing. The whole day

was set by the raising of Lazarus and the people

heard about it. The 1 .5 million extra pilgrims

in Jerusalem hearing about that. And the leadership

is thinking, we have to put this man to death.

And Lazarus too, because he's a symbol of all

that movement. And the Romans are going to take

away everything otherwise. Jesus doesn't sneak

into the city. He had left earlier because they

were trying to kill him. And he comes back even

though there's a bounty on his head. He doesn't

sneak in. He rides in. On a donkey. After that.

Glorious raising of Lazarus. We say the raising

of Lazarus. It sounds so casual. But can you

imagine. The incredible intensity. And the feeling.

Of awe. Incredulity. How could this be? This

man was dead four years. We say the raising of

Lazarus. It is incredible, an incredible thing.

As the hymn says, it's a sign also of the general

resurrection of our raising. And the Lord comes

into the city and all the people hear about this.

St. Gregory Palamas tells us how, just following

what the scripture says. Your king, your king,

because that's what this is about today. Your

king does not arouse fear in those who see him.

nor is he an oppressor or an evildoer, accompanied

by shield -bearers and spearmen. His banner is

humility, poverty, and lowliness. That's the

kind of king we have. That's the way those who

love this king are expected to be. They are empowered

to be. They are taught to be. They're given every

chance to be that way by the grace of the Holy

Spirit, which the hymn last night says, has assembled

us. Today, the grace of the Holy Spirit has assembled

us. Our King. We say, blessed is the kingdom

at the beginning of the divine liturgy. We say,

thy kingdom come. Thy will be done. We say, in

thy kingdom, remember us, O Lord. when thou comest.

The catechumens yesterday were asked, do you

believe in him? And their answer was not, well,

yes, obviously, why would I be here? The answer

was to the question, do you believe in him, is

I believe in him as king and God. Because even

the demons believe God, but they don't give him

their fidelity and love. Our celebration today,

there's so much that one could say, but let me

boil it down to what our response ought to be.

At least I think from reading those who know

more than I do, the Holy Fathers, those preachers

that have come before me. Our celebration today,

the commemoration of the entrance of the Lord

into Jerusalem is certainly not about ancient

history. It happened. It happened, but it's happening

right now, and we are there. We are with Christ

today. Why do you think we sing those hymns that

say, today the Lord comes to Jerusalem? Is it

just some kind of strange poetic device? No,

it means that the ceremony, the ritual of the

liturgy has brought us to that place, and we

are with Christ today. That's why we're holding

poems too. By our presence today. Our prayers.

Our hopes. This is the Lord's entrance into our

homes. The entrance of the Lord in Jerusalem

is the Lord's entrance into our souls. Because

we are members of his kingdom. What does that

mean? It sounds kind of religious and interesting,

but what does it mean? That we are members of

his kingdom. That he has come into our soul.

When I survey, just briefly, the world, the news,

I can see how easy it is to unite people against

something. Hatred's very easy to pull together,

to hate an opponent. Unity is pretty impossible

in this world. It's easy to create opposition.

One against the other. Our world's full of it.

So what does the entrance of the Lord into our

souls mean in light of that? What's my response?

Yes, I say Jesus is my king. I say, oh Lord and

master of my life. But I ask myself, really,

who's the king of my life? Mostly myself. I suppose.

Occasionally Jesus. But that's not good. We can't

put Jesus occasionally. Do you recall the first

commandment, the greatest commandment that a

disciple is to follow? Do you remember when Jesus

was asked that? And he quoted Exodus and Deuteronomy,

and then he added something more. Of course you

know this. Love the Lord thy God with all thy

soul, with all thy mind, thy heart, thy strength,

and thy neighbor as thyself. Love. That's Jesus'

kingdom. Not, quote, love is love, unquote, which

is a slogan, which I think means well, but it's

too general, it's very superficial, and now it's

political. Love is love. One can love all kinds

of things that are not proper or healthy, and

that's obvious. St. John records Jesus saying,

and this is the condemnation, that light has

come into the world, and men loved darkness rather

than the light because their deeds were evil.

Yes, one can love all kinds of things, and it

could be extremely dysfunctional and harmful.

Friday morning, we had the last Lenten Matins.

It was wonderful. We did Matins every day, Tuesday

through Friday. And this hymn grabbed me by my

neck and was a warning to me why I love, sometimes,

darkness more than light. Why the world is in

the situation it is in. Listen to what that hymn

said. Despising the divine commands, my soul,

thou hast become easy prey to the snares of the

enemy. And by thine own choice, thou hast surrendered

thyself to corruption, sunk in slumber through

thy many trespasses. Thou hast covered with filth

the garment that God wove for thee. This is me

talking to myself. I've covered with filth the

garment that God wove for me, the garment of

light, of joy, of beauty, the garment of truth,

honesty, justice, those things that St. Paul

mentioned in the Philippians today. But cry to

the Savior, the hymn says, O dread eye of God,

thou hast become what I am. You became man, O

Lord, without ceasing to be who thou wast. Before

thy crucifixion for my sake thou hast worn a

robe of mockery. Tear in pieces my sackcloth

and clothe me with gladness. Deliver me from

the outer darkness and eternal weeping and have

mercy on me. That's the hymn that took me by

surprise finally when I really started to listen.

It only took 40 days of matins for me to start

listening. This hymn revealed the state of my

soul. This hymn reveals the state of our society,

those in power and those in governance. Why?

Because without Christ, without his love, his

specific love, because God is love, it's hopeless.

Members of the kingdom of God, that is you, brothers

and sisters. We are invited and led inevitably,

inescapably, necessarily to be like our king,

to put on that robe of humility first so we can

receive the glory of his love, to be full of

love, the love supplied by God. And it's going

to come. Through that humility in prayer, when

we enter to the low gate, the low gate, the church

in Bethlehem built by Justinian in the 6th century,

the front door is like this high. You have to

bow low to get in. So we learn by prayer, by

prayer more deeply, by prayer knowing that perhaps

today is my last day as a member of his kingdom

on this earth. That I might possess as a gift

that love toward my neighbor that the Lord says,

a new commandment I give to you, that you love

one another. How? Even as I have loved you. To

the end. Not just the neighbor. But the neighbor

you can't love. That's the enemy. Jesus says,

love your neighbor, sure. He also says, love

your enemy. The one that's impossible to love.

The one that's not achievable to love in this

world. It's the radical thing. But it's essential

because as soon as you identify someone who is

not your neighbor, then all talk of love, you

might as well forget it. and it becomes opposition

again. Our Lord commands us, love one another

even as I have loved you. We are so deeply desirous

of this love, but we continually fall away from

Christ. Today, and I use that word meaning truly

today, we are with him as he enters Jerusalem,

as he goes to Jerusalem. his passion to the cross

this is our path to if we want to love if we

want to have godly love that's the sign of his

immeasurable love for us that cross so let's

beg for love from above things we like from below

that's easy but love from above that's a consecration

of our heart our mind that's a crucifixion of

our passions It's a cleansing, a washing, a renewal

in us of God's love. For God, as we heard yesterday

in the epistle, is a consuming fire, and he will

burn up all that is not love within us. If a

man loved me, and this is the promise, he will

keep my words, and my Father will love him, and

we will come unto him. and make our abode with

him, what more wonderful destiny could we possibly

hope for?