Cam Vale Benefice Palm Sunday Service, 13 April 2014
(after a procession with donkeys)
They shouted, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” – meaning “King of the Jews”
Jesus was “King of the Jews” – but a funny sort of king….
What sort of place would you expect a king to be born in? (… Jesus born in a stable… )
What sort of friends would you expect a king to have? (… Jesus friends were ordinary people… )
When a king comes into town, what sort of vehicle would you expect them to travel in (or on)? (… Jesus came on a donkey… )
Why did Jesus come into town on a donkey? What was he trying to say? (… That he was not like any other king, his kingdom was different… )
Jesus came into Jerusalem by the back gate. Pilate came in by the other gate, the main gate.
Jesus’ procession mimicked, critiqued Pilate’s…. and – in the world of kings like Pilate and Herod – staked a claim for the Kingdom of God.
Jesus was making a very clear statement: the Kingdom of God is opposed to the kingdoms of this world.
Not a kingdom of power, wealth, military might, but a Kingdom of love, joy and peace
This is the claim which got him crucified;
This is the reality in which everyone who believes in him now lives….
And so the Psalm Sunday message for us today is:
The Kingdom of God is here! Hosanna!
Jesus – a funny sort of king
He was born nowhere near a palace
With nurses and soft white sheets;
He was born in a barn in the cold of the night
While people passed by in the streets.
His parents were not at all noble,
His mother was really a girl;
His father, a carpenter, made things in wood:
Theirs was an ordinary world.
Of what he did in his schooldays
All we know is this one fact:
He spent lots of time in the temple,
A strange way for a young boy to act.
You’d expect a young ruler to go training
With the army to learn how to lead;
But this young king went around healing
And comforting all those in need.
He was an unnoticed guest at a wedding
In Cana most of the time
But at the end of the night they all knew him:
He’d turned lots of water to wine.
The friends of this young king were normal,
Not famous or gifted or rich.
Some spent their days catching fishes,
And others just lived in a ditch.
His kingdom, he would tell the people,
Is free of all fighting and crime.
It is one you can’t see, but can grow in your heart
And is everywhere all of the time.
He didn’t come into the city
In a carriage horse-drawn and gold
He came on a donkey he’d borrowed
And people waved palms in the road.
But the people soon turned on this young king;
He wasn’t the fighter they sought
One to smash all their foes and bloody the nose
Of the emperor and all of his court.
This king became the victim
Of the worst crime in all history:
The innocent king who loved everyone
Was killed on a cross-shaped tree.
But this king was someone so special
That his story didn’t end that dark day.
He came back alive and forgave all those
Who had murdered and put him away.
A king full of love and forgiveness:
It’s wierd how the world could reject him.
He went up to heaven but his spirit’s on earth
In the hearts of all who accept him.
His kingdom has no anthem
But still the people sing: hallelujah,
Hello, hail, to Jesus,
A funny sort of king.
(Poem oringinally written for the children of Lydford and Boasley Cross Schools, West Devon, in 2011 and posted here)
