SUNDAY SERMON: Ain’t no rock!
By Rev. Stephen Baldwin
OT: Psalm
NT: Luke 19.28-40
Did you ever wave palm branches as a child in the church? I remember the experience vividly. A trusted adult handed me a palm branch, just as they did to all of the children, and told us to parade around the sanctuary.
I remember feeling confused. Am I supposed to sit quietly and be good, like every other Sunday, or do you really want me to run around…the church…waving tree branches? Ok, you asked for it!
If you didn’t have the experience yourself, you’ve probably seen the wheels turning in the mind of a child on Palm Sunday, as they parade around the sanctuary, smiling brightly, palms waving, proud of something, though they are not precisely sure what. After all, how many times do you get to parade around the church without making your mother angry? Once you do it, there is something liberating about it. Something meaningful that sticks with you over time.
Palm Sunday makes most of us feel similarly, I think–it makes us smile and feel proud, though we aren’t exactly sure why.
Most years I look for the answer in the familiar characters of the Palm Sunday story–the donkey, the palm branches, the crowds, and the unassuming king who rides ever closer to his own death. By the time I preach about all of that, the Baptists will beat us to Chico’s and they’ll run out of chips and salsa. No bueno! Not good! So I’ll get to it.
Palm Sunday is supposed to be a time when things turn around. The weather usually begins to turn around. The people turn back to church. The grass turns back to green. The bare branches on the mountainside turn back to trees. Yes, this is a time when things turn around, and I want to turn the story around by beginning at the ending.
After Jesus mounts his donkey, greets the crowds, and goes down the road to Jerusalem alongside his disciples, he hears a complaint from the Pharisees.
“This is all a little much, Rabbi–the crowds and the animals. It feels too much like a parade. Tell your people to cool it.”
Jesus’ response is as forceful as it is curious. He says, “Listen! If the people were silent, the stones would shout!”
That wasn’t the response the Pharisees wanted, but it was the truth. The entire Creation was so attuned to one another in that moment–the moment when its savior had come to die that it might live–that it couldn’t help but shout! If the people would’ve quieted down, you would’ve been able to hear the animals. If the animals quieted down, you would’ve been able to hear the wind! If the wind calmed down, you would’ve been able to hear the stones shout! All of creation recognized the magnitude of that moment when Jesus rode into town. Like a child running through the sanctuary on Palm Sunday, they were happy and proud, though not altogether sure why.
There’s a song called, “Ain’t No Rock Gonna Shout for Me!” Some of you may have heard it before. Written based on the Palm Sunday story, it has a different take on Jesus’ words. The chorus says: “If the people don’t shout, the rocks will cry out! Ain’t no rock gonna shout for me!”
The song makes the point that Palm Sunday is a time to turn things around. A time to worship the true king, not all of our imagined ones. A time to celebrate faith, not to lament our lack of it. A time to be with God’s people, not allow our differences to keep us apart. A time to turn things around. And it’s time to do that because God calls us to.
The rocks will cry out. The whole creation celebrates our salvation today. But ain’t no rock gonna shout for me! Say that with me! Ain’t no rock gonna shout for me!
I’m not going to leave the job to someone else when I can do it myself! Ain’t no rock…
I’m not going to put off until tomorrow what I can do today! Ain’t no rock…
I’m not going to assume someone else will do it for me! Ain’t no rock…
I’m going to take responsibility! Ain’t no rock…
I’m going to claim my faith for the whole world to hear! Ain’t no rock…
I’m going to shout! Ain’t no rock…
If the people don’t shout, the rocks will cry out. This is Palm Sunday, and we have much to shout about. Take a moment for joy this day. Celebrate. Shout! Rejoice!
Our Lord continues to ride the donkey to Jerusalem for us everyday, getting down and dirty in the muck of life with us whatever we face. He continues to march towards his death so that we might have life and have it abundantly.
I’ve always been fascinated to think about the walk Jesus took into Jerusalem throughout the week ahead. I have no way of knowing what it was actually like, but I imagine that the closer Jesus got to Jerusalem, the smaller the crowd became. The farther down the road he went, the softer the shouts became. Palm Sunday is a time for turning things around, for everyone…but Jesus. He refused to turn around, even though he knew what he faced inside the walls of Jerusalem.
Holy Week begins tomorrow. It marks the most sacred span of days in the Christian church. You can bet that the rocks will cry out this week; they always do, for they know the magnitude of the moment. What I wonder is whether we will too? Will we shout like children nervously parading through the church aisles? Will we leave it to the rocks? Or will we shout like the wind, acknowledging Jesus as savior? Amen.
