Dramatic Reading (sermon part 1)
What a week it was. I saw people starting to line the streets one day and soon heard the crowds get louder and louder. As I elbowed my way to the front, I saw a man riding on a donkey. Most people were waving palm branches and shouting “hosanna” and something about a King. Some were putting palm branches on the dusty road. They were indeed treating him like some sort of King. I caught a glimpse of the Temple leaders, and they sure weren’t looking very happy about how this man was being welcomed. I didn’t know who he was, but I enjoyed the drama of the scene.
Over the next few days, I asked around about this guy who was creating all the fuss. His name was Jesus. He was born in Bethlehem but was really from Galilee. He was some sort of magic man, doing many amazing things in the last few years, even including bringing back a man from the dead! People called him a prophet, and some even declared him to be the Messiah! If he was the Messiah, his message and behaviour was quite different than we had heard from the Temple. No wonder the High Priests were upset. This Messiah was not what they expected!
I heard that they ended up arresting him and somehow got him in front of the Romans. Usually, the Romans let the Jewish Leaders do their thing and they in turn stayed out of the Romans’ way. If the Jews wanted a favour from the Romans, there would be equal or more favours wanted in return. The High Priests must have wanted to get rid of this man Jesus badly!
Late one night, there was a pounding on my door. That’s never a good sign. I knew the men at the door were connected to the Temple and I knew I was in trouble. They had a lot of power and when you did things that didn’t fit with their view of the world, it never ended up good for you. It soon became clear that they wanted something related to this Jesus. They told me some awful things about him, most as unbelievable as the things other people had told me about him during the week! In the end, all they wanted me to do was to help get the crowd riled up the next day outside of Pilate’s palace. They wanted to make sure that there were a lot of people there to balance out the crowd. Jesus had a lot of supporters, and they wanted their version of the story to drown them out. It didn’t take long for me to agree. First of all, you didn’t ever disagree with these men. They could make life very miserable for you. They could force you out of work and even out of the city quite easily. They also insinuated that there would be some kind of reward, and I knew the temple safe was overflowing. This was a chance to get some of my money back from them, plus some. I didn’t know this Jesus guy and I didn’t know the truth about him, so I would do what they told me to do. After all, what would one voice in the crowd do anyhow?
The next day was crazy. I had never seen so many people gathered downtown. At one point Pilate came out on his balcony and tried to settle down the crowd. His guards attempted to disperse the crowd but soon retreated to defend Pilate’s palace. As far as I could tell Pilate didn’t really want to deal with this Jesus. When he saw that most the crowd seemed against Jesus, he had his soldiers beat the poor man! I thought that would be enough for the crowd and the High Priests but clearly it wasn’t. The crowd was getting a little quieter and maybe a bit tired so I could start to hear some of the Jesus Folk defending their man.
One of the guys who visited me the night before caught my eye, and I knew I’d better start holding up my end of our agreement. I started shouting bad things about Jesus. When Pilate couldn’t settle down the crowd by reminding them that he could either set the murderer Barabas or this man Jesus free, that seemed to give the crowd pause. Before I thought much about it, I yelled out loudly. “Free Barabas. Crucify Jesus! Crucify Him!”. I even shocked myself and held my breath a bit when it looked like Jesus looked right at me with piercing eyes. But when the High Priests were clearly pleased with my words, I kept yelling it and many others were yelling it too! Soon that’s all Pilate could hear, and it was clear he had enough! I saw him nod to the guards holding up Jesus and then wash his hands, as if he truly believed he was sending an innocent man to his death.
An innocent man to his death! What had I done? I know I was only one voice and I’m sure many others who were yelling with me had been pressured too but still I felt a deep sense of regret. I even went to the high priests and told them I think we made a horrible mistake, and they should put a stop to it. They had made their point and whatever Jesus had done to them in the past, I was sure he had learned his lesson. They dismissed me immediately and told me to shut up and go home. I never even got paid, even though I saw many others get their rewards. I found a group who I knew to be followers of Jesus and listened to them from the shadows. It didn’t take me long to see their love for him and somehow, I knew that everything they had told me about Jesus was true. He was definitely a man of God, maybe even the Son of God as they had claimed. What had I done?
I went back into the streets and caught up with the processional on its way to Golgotha. Now it seemed like most of the crowd lining the streets were against Jesus. Some that had cheered his entry into the city only days before were now jeering and spitting at him as they followed him out of the city to that horrible hill of suffering and death. I pushed my way forward once again, just in time to see Jesus fall from the weight of the cross he was dragging and from the beating he had endured only hours before. The Roman soldiers pulled someone from the crowd to carry his cross and Jesus ended up kneeling right in front of me. I looked into those same eyes that looked at me earlier, and I fell to my knees, bowing my head. “It was me who called for Pilate to crucify you. Forgive me, Lord”. Before Jesus could even try to answer me, the guards pulled him up and prodded him forward with their spears.
I stayed as close to Jesus as I could the rest of the day. I collapsed while the nails pierced his hands and feet. I saw the guards cast lots for his clothes. I saw some of his followers and someone who appeared to be his mother weep at the foot of the cross that held him.
At one point, Jesus spoke to his mother. At another point he looked right at me for the third and last time that day. He said, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do”. I think those words were partly for me. When he told the man to his right that he would see him in paradise after that man showed his belief in Jesus, I finally felt some forgiveness. I vowed that day to find out about the real Jesus and try to follow his message the rest of my life. I stayed with him until I saw him take his final breath after whispering, “It is finished”.
I went home with a heavy heart but somehow hopeful in my soul.
Main Sermon – March 29, 2026
On a personal note, the first sermon I preached here was on Palm Sunday 1998…many years ago. I spoke about being a “fan or a follower” of Jesus in that sermon. I asked whether we were just people who cheered Jesus from the sidelines or whether we were true followers of Jesus in our actions. I still believe most of what I said in that sermon but likely lean more towards an inward connection with Jesus, with God and the Holy Spirit today. This soul connection will inevitably lead to action but is the source of our faith. In the past I may have focused a little too heavily on discipleship, on living properly and maybe came across a little judgemental. I am thankful for this community of faith that has allowed me to grow in my faith over these years.
So today, many years later, what do I say on this Palm Sunday? Well, I’ve titled my sermon, “It makes sense – doesn’t it?” In the end, you will be the judge of that.
The story I read to you this morning I wrote many years ago too. When I re-read it after Kandace asked if I’d be willing to preach today, I thought it fit very well. I like to think about specific characters in the Biblical story. They may not have been real people or key people in the Bible, but they help us see truths in a new way. I call them the Minor Keys of the Bible.
In this story, we see the dissonance of Palm Sunday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday. I’m not trying to get ahead of the Easter story this morning, but the guidelines for today’s service asked us to consider the contrast of that jubilant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem with the darkness of his crucifixion just days later. Could the same person have been at both events? I think it’s quite likely.
This minor key of the Bible went from curiosity about Jesus, to helping to get him convicted, to wondering who Jesus really was, to sincere and complete dedication to the ministry of Jesus for the rest of his life. All within days! Does that mirror our faith journey in any way?
My own faith story starts with being born into a Christian home and thus being immersed in the story of Jesus my whole childhood. I never really strayed far from the straight and narrow path we were told about and at some point, I claimed my own faith, was baptized and decided to follow Jesus in my life. Contrast that with stories I was told or movies that I saw that told of very bad people, druggies and killers, who had almost miraculous conversion stories of coming to their faith in Jesus. Sometimes I wondered if their experiences were somehow more valid than mine. They were like the prodigal son in that parable. I am grateful that I had the opportunity to choose Jesus early in my life, not needing to hit rock bottom before finding my path, clearly as the elder brother to the prodigal son.
What’s your story? Or doesn’t it really matter how we came to believe? And what does it mean to believe in Jesus? Does it mean we have to agree on everything? Does it mean that slight differences in how we dress or act in church really matter? Does it mean that some sins of others are bigger than any of our own sins? Does it mean we need a long, detailed confession of faith that we can all agree on…every single word? I hope it doesn’t shock you when I say that I don’t believe every single word of our current Mennonite Church confession of faith. We’ll get to that shortly.
The worship guide for today asks us to consider the particular dissonance between Expectations and Openness. Expectations in this context means being so sure of something, so sure of our own feelings/beliefs that we can’t be persuaded to take another view. Some people have a tough time changing because they are so certain of something. So sure, that nothing else can be true. They expect all things to be black/white and based on facts they can prove. They expect the Bible can be taken literally without discernment with the Spirit. They expect everyone in a church or denomination to believe the same thing. They expect the Messiah to come into Jerusalem in a certain manner. They expect Jesus to be triumphant in a worldly way. They see everything with the interpretation of their own existing expectations. I see an example of this within the Mennonite Church recently. It’s been in the Canadian Mennonite news and it’s been bothering me.
I attended Mennonite World Conference in India in 1997, and it was a wonderful worship experience to be with Mennonites from around the world in that setting. Many of you have also attended Mennonite World Conference, the most recent one acknowledging 500 years of Anabaptism in Zurich, Switzerland. The next MWC in 2028 was to be in Ethiopia but now has been cancelled due to differences in beliefs. The host church of Ethiopia could not accept the openness other Mennonites around the world had for members of the LGBTQ+ community. Partly because their country still sees homosexuality as illegal and mainly due to their interpretation of Scripture. Now, I know this is a difficult topic for many in the Mennonite Church and people on both sides of this issue have some certainty of their position. I know it’s a complicated issue at Mennonite World Conference and even in our Canadian Mennonite churches. A few years ago, I had some email discussion with the pastor at Mapleview Mennonite Church and realized that both Mapleview and SJMC had worked hard at discerning our positions, and we reached very different conclusions. I just think it is sad that we can’t be together as a Mennonite Church, even if we disagree on this issue. As important as it is for many, surely, we can all agree that our sexuality is not the main reason that God loves us and it’s not the main thing that shapes our faith. Could we look at the seven shared convictions of Mennonite World Conference and unify around those, rather than get caught up with details that divide us today? I’m not trying the trivialize or patronize or avoid, but when God calls us together in love, isn’t that enough without agreeing on all our expectations of each other?
Isn’t what matters, what really matters, is the connection we feel to God in our deepest soul? Like the minor key in my story, we don’t necessarily need church, or words, or an alter call to believe. We need to feel called to God. We need to feel that the message of Jesus makes sense and we need to feel that it is for us! We need to accept God’s call and then we will live in God’s love as the spirit leads.
My working life in Information Technology at Home Hardware Stores and most of my education were based on logic and facts. I used to say that in contrast to that logical view of the world, my faith was based on feelings and a spiritual call. I thought that my faith was true, but it really made no sense. It made no sense in the way of logic and facts that could be proven and seen with our own eyes. That’s what faith is, right? Believing in something we can’t really prove, based on human terms. But humans are so much more than facts and logic. We have feelings, we have spirits, we love, we sense and we were created with souls. We can’t really logically explain falling in love with another person, why we have empathy for those who don’t deserve it, or why we pray for and try to love our enemies. But we know and we feel these things to be true. So, faith does make sense in that manner. I recall hearing a motivational speaker, Art Berg who wrote a book called “The impossible just takes a little longer”. He spoke of perseverance he needed to overcome his physical and mental challenges of being paralyzed in a car accident. I would change his motto to say, “What appears impossible is possible with Faith.” If we limit ourselves to human or physical abilities, some things are impossible. If we have faith and are spiritually driven, God’s will is possible.
The man in my story – Jesus drew him in and it made sense to him. Even though miraculous and hard to fully comprehend, in my soul, in my being, the story of God and Jesus just makes sense! I feel God’s spirit among us and within us.
As we think about the crowd that day when Jesus entered on the donkey, there were a variety of people and a variety of experiences. Some were just caught up in the fanfare of the entry of Jesus. We sometimes call it the triumphal entrance of Jesus, but it was really quite toned down from the normal military parades of the day, on purpose. Some knew of Jesus, others didn’t and some were followers, most weren’t. Some became followers that last week of his life while others would turn on him. People watching the same thing, with their own eyes, saw different things. Sounds familiar to current events, right? People watch the same video of someone being shot by ICE, one sees it as a criminal tragedy and another sees it as justified force, both mainly due to their own biases and expectations. At the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, each person there was created by God and called by God to be part of the greatest story ever told. Each had the same ability to see as Jesus asked his followers to see, not see based on biases or assumptions. Some heard the call from Jesus, felt that call and answered that call, while others didn’t.
That’s where Openness comes in. We need to be open enough to at least consider our current belief (expectation) might be wrong. We have to have enough uncertainty to allow for other facts or feelings to change us. We need more curiosity, even doubt. Could Jesus triumph even while dying on the cross? Could the ministry of Jesus carry on within each one of us after he’s gone physically? Could we focus on our common core beliefs instead of the differences we may have? Can we continue to grow in our faith, many years after our baptism? Can we share our doubts and questions so we can all grow in our own faith and as part of a faith community?
Can we hold our human expectations lightly and be open to new ways of thinking, of feeling, and of being? Can we believe that God’s will is possible with Faith? With the help of God’s Holy Spirit, we can. Yes, we can.
I resonate with a phrase I’ve heard that states “the older I get the more I’m not sure of anything.” I think that’s a good thing. Life is not black or white, right or wrong, my way or the wrong way. It is grey, it is uncertain and it requires all of us to have faith in something that we can’t really be 100% certain of. That’s true faith. That’s being open to what makes sense to us in our hearts and in our souls.
Today, we can’t know how we would have reacted as Jesus entered the city to palm branches, or in that crowd calling for the crucifixion of Jesus or in the handful watching his death on the cross. Today we have the benefit of hindsight and can make our own choices, with no fear of major persecution or negative impact from our choices.
We may still hold onto expectations of what faith in God means or what God will do for us or will allow to happen to us. We need to have the openness to find out life doesn’t always work out as we expected. God’s plan doesn’t always make sense to us in human terms. God knows when our expectations are out of sync with God’s will. We may not yell “crucify Jesus” in the streets, but we do deny God often…and God loves us anyways. We can be certain of this. God is always with us. God loves us and God’s spirit is among us.
Thanks be to God for that. Thanks be to God for continuing to call us to follow the example of Jesus with the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Thanks be to God for a community of believers who have faith, who have doubts, who have hope and who are open to change as we strive to follow God’s call. May we continue to hear that call. May we continue to answer that call. May we continue to support each other here in St. Jacobs, also in the church of Ethiopia and around the world. May we continue to feel, and act based on the love of God that is given to us, to share with all. When Jesus was asked for the most important commandments, people may have expected some specific rule to follow. Instead, Jesus said,
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind and all your strength, and love your neighbour as yourself.” (Mark 12:30-31)
Now, that makes sense, doesn’t it?
May it be so.