Sermon Seeds: Sent

Sunday, April 13, 2025
Palm/Passion Sunday | Year C
(Liturgical Color: Violet)

Lectionary Citations
Liturgy of the Palms: Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29 • Luke 19:28-40
https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/texts/?z=l&d=33&y=384
Liturgy of the Passion: Isaiah 50:4-9a • Psalm 31:9-16 • Philippians 2:5-11 • Luke 22:14-23:56 or Luke 23:1-49
https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/texts/?z=l&d=34&y=384

Focus Scripture: Luke 19:28–40
Focus Theme: Sent
Series: Sound the Alarm: Toward Good Friday (Click here for the series overview.)

Reflection
By Cheryl A. Lindsay

There are a number of reasons and capacities that one may be sent by someone else. A courier delivers a package. A messenger shares communication. A personal shopper makes a needed or desired purchase. An emissary undertakes a special mission. Those sendings benefit the one doing the sending, but there are also times when one is sent for their own good. Parental figures may send their children on a foreign exchange trip or off to college. You may send your pastor on an extended vacation as a pastoral anniversary or retirement gift. You may send someone on another leg of their journey to explore a recommendation, to meet a new challenge, or to engage in a new possibility.

In their ministry, Jesus sends their disciples to engage with the world around them, to practice as apprentices, and to provide for the needs of those they encounter. As they enter Jerusalem, Jesus sends them to a particular place for a colt. They send them to fulfill the prophecy of the scriptures and to obtain Jesus’ transport for what will become known as the Triumphant Entry. But is that the extent to which they have been sent or is there a more significant mission involved?

The Palm Sunday narrative begins a section of Luke’s narrative that describes the fullness of Holy Week, including the entry into Jerusalem and the cleansing of the temple. These actions are not unrelated to each other or to the more dominant story of the Last Supper, trial, and crucifixion. The Passion narrative begins and ends in a repudiation of imperialistic systems.

Riding a donkey over his disciples’ clothes, Jesus parodies royal parades and reprises Zech. 9:9 (Luke 19:28–40). In connection with the preceding parable of the throne pretender, this caricatures military acclamations. On the basis of deeds of good news for the poor and oppressed (19:37; cf. 4:18), Jesus’ disciples ascribe a benediction to him as the king who comes in God’s name (Ps. 117:26 LXX) and chant a doxology of God’s peace (20:1). When some Pharisees protest, Jesus persistently follows the example of the blind beggar (18:38–39) and violates their objections (19:39–40). Jesus is grim. He weeps. Jerusalem has not recognized what makes for peace—but faces disaster under destructive imperial systems (19:41–44).
Robert L. Brawley

Some people believe that their peace comes at the expense of others. They have a scarcity mindset toward peace that makes it a reward for dominance, conquest, and victory. It’s a militaristic view that constantly puts humanity at war with each other. It turns humans into predators who must fight for survival and flourishing. Jesus enters into humanity to correct that view through tangible demonstration. The parade, in this case, comes before the battle, and the conquering hero refuses to fight. The fights, battles, and wars make losers of all who participate. The kindom will not be built on shed blood of the vanquished but on relentless commitment to the covenant and the resulting solidarity in both life and death that Jesus embodies.

The parade comes first as a declaration that the kindom had come, was coming, and will come in the form of a challenge to empire and imperialistic systems that cause the people to cry out “Hosanna” or “save us.” The parade was as much, if not more, a prayer meeting as it was a victory celebration. And as much as some may have hoped for a conquering king in the tradition of their ancestor David, it’s likely that most wanted relief from the oppressive rule of Rome and Caesar. At the same time, not everyone wanted deliverance as the events to unfold will clearly reveal.

Before the Passion Narrative (chs. 22–23) reveals all, Jesus has a challenge to set before the powers that steward the temple and govern the city and the people of God. His triumphal procession into Jerusalem garners public attention and provokes divided response (19:28–40), prompting him proleptically to mourn the city’s future demise (vv. 41–44). Then he disrupts temple commerce (vv. 45–46), teaches the people (vv. 47–48; 20:9–18), and engages in debate with a variety of rival teachers and elite leaders: chief priests and scribes (20:1–8, 19–26), Sadducees (20:27–38), and scribes (20:39–44). In a final public statement addressed to disciples with “all the people” overhearing, Jesus condemns an exploitative economic system that fosters status-seeking even as it oppresses the poor (20:45–21:4), then presents a prophetic preview of the conflict, crisis, decisive judgment, and liberation that will usher the people toward the end of history, along the way clarifying the place of the coming siege of Jerusalem and destruction of the temple complex in that eschatological scenario (21:5–38).
John T. Carroll

Too often, consideration of Palm Sunday fixates on the frenzied response of the crowd rather than the message to which they responded. Perhaps it’s not the David that conquered tribes and nations they wanted to return. It might have been the young, unlikely hero who slayed Goliath. In this scenario, they do not look for war, they look for a demonstration of power that will counter the prevailing idea of how power, strength, and might manifest in a leader. Their hope rests in Jesus, who exercises their authority unlike the powerful and privileged to which they are accustomed. This leader despairs over the plight of the people, responds to human need, and glorifies God. And when they send their emissaries to secure the mode of their grand entry, they instruct them only to take what they need and to be transparent and accountable to any who might question them.

The beginning of this section mimics the start of the journey section (“to go to Jerusalem” [9:51] → “[going up] he went into Jerusalem” [19:28]; cf. 18:31); Jesus finally reaches the goal of his journey. The spatial adverb emprosthen ([he went on] ahead) makes clear who is leading the company. Approaching Jerusalem from Jericho to the east, the travelers come to the foot of the Mount of Olives, an impressive hill that overlooks the temple mount across the Kidron Valley, and a site that has eschatological import (see Zech 14:4). The small villages of Bethphage and Bethany lie just ahead, on the eastern slope of the Mount of Olives (Bethany, about 3 km [2 miles] east of Jerusalem, appears again as the site of the ascension in 24:50–51; Bethphage’s location is otherwise unknown). Jesus dispatches two disciples to secure a colt for his use in riding into Jerusalem (vv. 29–31). Which of the two villages they enter remains an unimportant, unmentioned detail. What matters is that Jesus directs the action and anticipates events to occur, and the disciples faithfully obey and find everything exactly as Jesus has predicted (vv. 32–34). The narrative therefore portrays both obedience to the sovereign Lord and fulfillment that confirms his prophetic discernment. So, on cue, a colt’s owners (kyrioi) question why the disciples have untied it, and they learn that “the Lord [kyrios]” needs to use it.
John T. Carroll

In this passage, Jesus sends his disciples. He has done it before and will do so again in the way of commissioning them in the service of the kindom. Eventually, they will lead the movement, call others into discipleship, and send them out into ministry in the world. In this, they follow Christ, who was also first sent.

In Trinitarian theology, no hierarchy exists. Naming the Parent God as the First Person of the Trinity, Jesus as the Second, and the Spirit as Third is more for convenience in identification than articulating a pecking order. They are mutual and equal expressions and manifestations of the divine. Yet, Christian theology and the biblical testimony of Jesus’ own confession claim that the First Person sent the Second into ministry in the world. They are equal and yet yielding and accountable to each other.

Palm Sunday, also celebrated as Passion Sunday, reminds the church of the purpose for which Jesus was sent. It was not to die, even though their death was inevitable and instrumental. It was more than just to live, even though their life was exemplary and healing on its own. It was to declare the reign of God, liberate the oppressed and all creation from the bonds and evil systems of empire, and to embody Jubilee.

Reflection from Voices of People of African Descent
The 33rd General Synod adopted a Resolution to Recognize the United Nations International Decade for People of African Descent (2015-2024). As part of its implementation, Sermon and Weekly Seeds offers Reflection from Voices of People of African Descent related to the season or overall theme for additional consideration in sermon preparation and for individual and congregational study.
Within moments of chatting, Hélène asked me why I was in their little remote village. As soon as the words Vierge Noire left my mouth, joy erupted on her face. Unleashing a flurry of Frenglish, Hélène interrupted me.
Did I know that their Vierge Noire had been stolen and returned? Did I know that after being missing for seventeen years, She resurfaced at an art auction in Madrid? Did I know that, by then, She had exchanged hands five times and would need to be bought back? Did I know that the people of Saint-Gervazy fundraised and sold valuables and shared their inheritances so that, together, they could bring their Vierge Noire home? Did I know that people who had grown up in Saint-Gervazy and moved away years ago had returned in order to help bring their Vierge Noire home? Did I know that now the global children of Saint-Gervazy, who were once scattered by urbanism, are reunited by their collective love of their Vierge Noire? Did I know these things? Had I seen Her?
Hélène finally paused, swallowing about a gallon of fresh, country air. Her joyful reminiscing had produced droplets of tears that slowly rolled down her face and pooled at the end of her jaw.
With tears starting to sprout in the corners of my own eyes, I smiled at Hélène and in my own dialect of Frenglish told her that I had known about the theft and return, but not about the way that the community had gathered from near and far to collaborate on the Vierge Noire’s homecoming. I told her I hadn’t known that the Vierge Noire birthed a reunion among Saint-Gervazy’s scattered family. I told her I hadn’t known that the Vierge Noire’s return enabled them all to return. I told Hélène that I too loved the Vierge Noire of Saint-Gervazy and had come all the way from the United States to see Her and to meet the people who loved Her. I told her that, in my own way, I too was returning home to Saint-Gervazy.
Hélène nodded and, with the abrupt matter-of-factness of a French woman who has spent her entire life running a country farm, said, “Then you are part of Saint-Gervazy too. You are one of us.”
Christena Cleveland, God Is a Black Woman

For Further Reflection
“Receive this cross of ash upon your brow
Brought from the burning of Palm Sunday’s cross;
The forests of the world are burning now
And you make late repentance for the loss.
But all the trees of God would clap their hands,
The very stones themselves would shout and sing,
If you could covenant to love these lands
And recognize in Christ their lord and king.
He sees the slow destruction of those trees,
He weeps to see the ancient places burn,
And still you make what purchases you please
And still to dust and ashes you return.
But Hope could rise from ashes even now
Beginning with this sign upon your brow.” — Malcolm Guite
“Perhaps we are not following Christ all the way or in the right spirit. We are likely, for example, to be a little sparing of the palms and hosannas. We are chary of wielding the scourge of small cords, lest we should offend somebody or interfere with trade.” — Dorothy L. Sayers
“Be grateful for whoever comes, because each has been sent as a guide from beyond.” — Jalal ad-Din Muhammad ar-Rumi

Works Cited
Brawley, Robert L. “Luke.” Gale A. Yee, Ed. Fortress Commentary on the Bible: Two Volume Set. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2014.
Carroll, John T. Luke. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2012.

Suggested Congregational Response to the Reflection
During the season of Lent, let us take on practices that strengthen our communal capacities. Consider where the Holy One needs the presence and ministry of your faith community, and consider yourself sent.

Worship Ways Liturgical Resources
https://www.ucc.org/worship-way/palm-passion-sunday-april-13/

The Rev. Dr. Cheryl A. Lindsay, Minister for Worship and Theology (lindsayc@ucc.org), also serves a local church pastor, public theologian, and worship scholar-practitioner with a particular interest in the proclamation of the word in gathered communities. You’re invited to share your reflections on this text in the comments on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/SermonSeeds.

A Bible study version of this reflection is at Weekly Seeds.