WEBVTT 00:00:00.980 --> 00:00:16.100 So in today's reading from Mark, it's for Palm Sunday, and it records the event that we've come to call the Triumphal Entry, which is Jesus riding a donkey into the city of Jerusalem, starting off Holy Week. 00:00:16.100 --> 00:00:30.440 This was the final week of Jesus's life before he was betrayed by Judas. He was arrested and he was put to death on a cross. And then he rose from the dead on Easter Sunday, one week later. 00:00:30.440 --> 00:00:51.520 And for Jesus, it's all been coming towards this point, this culmination. We've heard stories time and time again of his miracles, displays of his divine power, his teaching and how he interacts with other people, especially the outcasts and people on the margins. 00:00:51.520 --> 00:01:02.460 And also, as he's predicted his death, the disciples still don't really understand it, but he's predicted his death several times. 00:01:03.700 --> 00:01:07.500 And now we come to the story itself, and there's a lot going on. 00:01:09.120 --> 00:01:15.760 Jesus and his disciples arrive at the villages of Bethpage and Bethany, just outside of Jerusalem. 00:01:15.760 --> 00:01:19.240 And it seems that Jesus has planned well ahead. 00:01:19.239 --> 00:01:28.939 He knows that there's a cult of a donkey that the disciples will find tied up outside somebody's house in the nearby village. 00:01:29.839 --> 00:01:33.859 And he knows what those people are going to say when the disciples go and get the donkey. 00:01:35.119 --> 00:01:37.539 And he tells them how to respond to them. 00:01:38.140 --> 00:01:40.959 And all of these things happen, just as he said. 00:01:41.739 --> 00:01:49.219 So maybe he was planned and organised, or whether this just shows how divine he was and that he knows everything about what's going to happen. 00:01:49.239 --> 00:01:50.839 Maybe it's both. 00:01:52.059 --> 00:01:58.919 But anyway, the two disciples bring the cult, throw their cloaks over it, and Jesus climbs on the back of it. 00:01:59.339 --> 00:02:03.500 And he rides along and makes his descent into Jerusalem. 00:02:04.839 --> 00:02:14.060 There's lots of people lining the road, both sides, crying out, laying their cloaks on the road in front of him, 00:02:14.459 --> 00:02:16.819 along with their palm branches that they've cut. 00:02:16.819 --> 00:02:21.500 Now, I wonder what this actual scene was really like. 00:02:21.579 --> 00:02:22.680 How do you picture it? 00:02:23.639 --> 00:02:28.859 From a child, I've really pictured it as a time of joy and celebration, a bit like a carnival, 00:02:29.239 --> 00:02:36.180 with Jesus getting on his donkey and riding the short distance, pretty much in a straight line. 00:02:36.180 --> 00:02:45.760 And then going back a little way into the city and then hanging out in the city with the people as they're celebrating and chanting. 00:02:46.580 --> 00:02:47.980 And it being very joyful. 00:02:48.340 --> 00:02:51.620 And everybody's happy to see him there, bar the religious leaders. 00:02:51.620 --> 00:02:55.759 But I actually wonder what was going through his mind. 00:02:57.259 --> 00:03:01.680 Was this journey intended to reveal his divine kinship to the world? 00:03:02.080 --> 00:03:03.439 Or was it just a coincidence? 00:03:04.480 --> 00:03:07.700 We can guess, but we don't actually know. 00:03:07.699 --> 00:03:16.699 The distance he had to go on this journey wasn't very far, maybe five or six hundred yards, it says. 00:03:17.659 --> 00:03:26.419 However, in order to get there, he had to go through a really dark and steep valley called the Kidron Valley now. 00:03:26.419 --> 00:03:30.859 And today, each side of this valley is actually filled with graves. 00:03:31.079 --> 00:03:33.379 It's literally a place of death and a graveyard. 00:03:34.500 --> 00:03:36.239 So Jesus would have looked across the valley. 00:03:37.299 --> 00:03:39.379 I think it would have been nearly evening. 00:03:39.639 --> 00:03:44.799 The sunlight used to be going down soon and the valley probably getting darker with every moment that passed. 00:03:45.759 --> 00:03:49.919 So this wasn't going to be an easy and a simple journey that he was going to make. 00:03:51.179 --> 00:03:54.339 And I wonder what was going through his head when he saw all of this. 00:03:54.340 --> 00:03:58.200 Was he full of joy and expectation or was he concerned? 00:03:58.900 --> 00:04:07.439 I wonder whether he was afraid yet because he knew that in five more days he was going to die on that cross and sweat with blood and agony. 00:04:08.000 --> 00:04:09.840 I wonder if he was thinking about that. 00:04:10.659 --> 00:04:11.439 And you know what? 00:04:11.480 --> 00:04:16.780 It would have been so easy to say, I don't want to do this and just get off the cult and walk away. 00:04:17.459 --> 00:04:18.280 But he didn't. 00:04:18.939 --> 00:04:22.459 He knew what he had to do, regardless of the consequences. 00:04:24.339 --> 00:04:27.599 So he rode down into that deep, dark valley. 00:04:29.199 --> 00:04:31.819 And then he came up to go into the city. 00:04:32.339 --> 00:04:39.419 He'd just got enough time to have a look around the temple and then to walk right back out the same way he came. 00:04:39.420 --> 00:04:47.060 And what about the people that were following along behind and in front and the side of him crying out Hosanna? 00:04:47.960 --> 00:04:50.500 I wonder what they were thinking when they cried out Hosanna. 00:04:51.220 --> 00:04:54.120 This word is still important 2000 years later. 00:04:54.819 --> 00:04:57.080 It's a word of praise and excitement. 00:04:57.920 --> 00:05:03.139 And also one that maybe makes us think of children running around the church waving palm crosses. 00:05:03.139 --> 00:05:07.500 But the word Hosanna means save us now. 00:05:08.699 --> 00:05:12.240 So they were saying save us now, you in the highest heaven. 00:05:13.300 --> 00:05:15.279 These people were the Jewish people. 00:05:15.639 --> 00:05:17.159 They were lining the streets. 00:05:18.180 --> 00:05:21.560 They were going to celebrate the festival of Passover. 00:05:21.560 --> 00:05:28.740 And this festival was celebrated every year to remember the action that God had taken so long before in Egypt. 00:05:29.480 --> 00:05:35.019 That God took in response to 400 years of crying out in agony for God's mercy and deliverance. 00:05:35.899 --> 00:05:47.199 And now, many generations later, these descendants of those people who'd experienced for so many years enslavement from the empire after empire. 00:05:47.740 --> 00:05:49.680 They're shouting save us now. 00:05:49.680 --> 00:05:56.560 Perhaps they hoped to be saved from the Roman army and Roman control. 00:05:57.220 --> 00:06:03.500 Perhaps they saw this man entering triumphantly and thought, at last, God's chosen ones are here. 00:06:03.920 --> 00:06:07.360 He's going to get rid of the Romans and beat them and we're all going to be free. 00:06:08.079 --> 00:06:09.780 So were they joyful in this moment? 00:06:10.600 --> 00:06:14.040 Was it the big parade or the carnival that we often think about? 00:06:15.040 --> 00:06:18.860 Or were these cries of Hosanna actually full of pain and sorrow? 00:06:18.860 --> 00:06:22.100 Were they begging God to set them free? 00:06:23.639 --> 00:06:25.840 Perhaps this man could set them free. 00:06:27.060 --> 00:06:28.520 Maybe it's both. 00:06:30.020 --> 00:06:33.060 Maybe both happening at the same time. 00:06:33.060 --> 00:06:43.939 So these two different responses, maybe of joy and of sadness, I think they're examples of what it means to be human. 00:06:44.420 --> 00:06:46.060 Because nothing is straightforward. 00:06:47.439 --> 00:06:52.300 Within any crowd, there's going to be some people there who are feeling joy and happiness. 00:06:52.300 --> 00:06:59.579 While at the same time, there's going to be other people there that because of their circumstances are experiencing pain and sorrow. 00:07:00.280 --> 00:07:04.560 And maybe there are some who are feeling both at the same time. 00:07:04.560 --> 00:07:09.720 And for all of us here joined together, watching online in our different places. 00:07:10.540 --> 00:07:14.000 We're all in different situations and we've all got different things going on. 00:07:14.160 --> 00:07:17.480 And I'm sure that's the same for us as it was for them. 00:07:17.480 --> 00:07:25.480 So as Holy Week starts today, some of us are going to be going into it feeling joyful and some are going to be feeling sorrowful. 00:07:26.480 --> 00:07:29.819 Some are going to be excited and some are going to be feeling pain. 00:07:30.420 --> 00:07:31.540 And you know what? 00:07:31.600 --> 00:07:32.860 That's completely fine. 00:07:33.080 --> 00:07:34.180 That's to be expected. 00:07:35.520 --> 00:07:40.920 Feeling this mix of emotions and thoughts shows that we're alive, that we're human. 00:07:40.920 --> 00:07:45.420 We know that Jesus laughed and we know that he cried. 00:07:45.759 --> 00:07:49.420 We know that he felt both amazing joy and terrible agony. 00:07:50.500 --> 00:07:55.740 And we know this because Jesus was fully God, but he was also fully man. 00:07:57.680 --> 00:08:01.300 And we're going to remember that as we actually move through this week. 00:08:02.540 --> 00:08:05.480 Jesus came to bring the kingdom of heaven near to us. 00:08:05.480 --> 00:08:13.340 A kingdom that was going to be filled with love and delight that God feels for all of creation, for all of life. 00:08:14.080 --> 00:08:21.080 Because to God, all life is precious, even that of brokenness and pain. 00:08:22.460 --> 00:08:27.800 So through Jesus, God was showing the world the perfect way of love. 00:08:28.500 --> 00:08:30.160 But the world said no. 00:08:30.160 --> 00:08:39.920 On that Good Friday, we'll remember that in the literal face of love, the world rejected him and killed him. 00:08:40.560 --> 00:08:44.840 But then on Sunday, God says, it's not finished. 00:08:46.139 --> 00:08:52.800 Now Easter is not yet here, though we do celebrate him rising every day. 00:08:52.799 --> 00:09:00.899 So today, allow yourself time to be human and to feel whatever it is that you need to feel. 00:09:01.779 --> 00:09:06.339 Think what you need to think, even if it's joy or even if it's pain. 00:09:06.899 --> 00:09:08.099 Or maybe it's both. 00:09:09.120 --> 00:09:20.799 Remember too, that we have a God who can and does continue to willingly enter into the places of pain and death and darkness and brokenness. 00:09:20.799 --> 00:09:25.740 In order to bring us the light of new life. 00:09:27.819 --> 00:09:28.339 Amen.