
Palm Sunday is our celebration of Jesus' way of disrupting and confronting the Empire and its accommodating Jewish religious leaders. The shouts of praise, "Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord," are treasonous. Everything is contrasted: the Empire and the establishment vs. the Kingdom and the good news. It's totally dangerous, sure to bring an arrest, and yes, Jesus knows it.
Disruption itself is neither good nor bad - it's a fact of life. Sometimes it's just what's needed to achieve forward motion, to move things from a static idle.
In Zechariah, the prophet outlines a vision that shows God disrupting everything that's expected and accepted, particularly in the political alignments. This vision shows the way that God will bless his people and fulfill God's promise. Zechariah's vision has the king entering Jerusalem on a donkey. It isn't as much about humility as it is a device to bring attention to God's fulfillment of an ancient promise.
Jesus' entry into Jerusalem is one conflict after another. It ends with his antagonists realizing that they'll have to wait for an opportune time to sweep him up and take him away. We should know that disruption is a key part of God's Kingdom agenda. Jesus' good news has a sharp edge to it, on full display on his entry to Jerusalem. It's a reminder that Christianity ought to always have that sharp edge to it. Otherwise it becomes a gooey amalgam of maudlin sentimentality, feel good spirituality, and happy talk. Jesus' good news challenges the Empire, always.
And yes, that's a depiction above of Jesus' entry into Jerusalem by an artist from Cameroon. Disruptive? Of course.
Check out the sermon video below and the downloads below the video panel.
Disruption itself is neither good nor bad - it's a fact of life. Sometimes it's just what's needed to achieve forward motion, to move things from a static idle.
In Zechariah, the prophet outlines a vision that shows God disrupting everything that's expected and accepted, particularly in the political alignments. This vision shows the way that God will bless his people and fulfill God's promise. Zechariah's vision has the king entering Jerusalem on a donkey. It isn't as much about humility as it is a device to bring attention to God's fulfillment of an ancient promise.
Jesus' entry into Jerusalem is one conflict after another. It ends with his antagonists realizing that they'll have to wait for an opportune time to sweep him up and take him away. We should know that disruption is a key part of God's Kingdom agenda. Jesus' good news has a sharp edge to it, on full display on his entry to Jerusalem. It's a reminder that Christianity ought to always have that sharp edge to it. Otherwise it becomes a gooey amalgam of maudlin sentimentality, feel good spirituality, and happy talk. Jesus' good news challenges the Empire, always.
And yes, that's a depiction above of Jesus' entry into Jerusalem by an artist from Cameroon. Disruptive? Of course.
Check out the sermon video below and the downloads below the video panel.

03-20-16-ff-answers.pdf |

03-20-16-celebration_of_disruption.pdf |