Bread for the Road - Palm Sunday
Bread for the Road
John 12:12-16, Luke 19:28-29, 36-40
April 13, 2025 Palm Sunday Lent Series – Bread of Life
Rev. Cynthia Cochran-Carney, First Presbyterian Church, San Rafael, CA
The next day the great crowd that had come to the Passover festival heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, shouting, "Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord— the King of Israel!"
Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it; as it is written: "Do not be afraid, daughter of Zion. Look, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey's colt!" His disciples did not understand these things at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written of him and had been done to him. John 12:12-16
After he had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. He came near Bethphage and Bethany, at the place called the Mount of Olives…..
As he rode along, people kept spreading their cloaks on the road. As he was now approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen, saying, "Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven!"
Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, order your disciples to stop." He answered, "I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out." Luke 19:28-29, 36-40
Jesus is on the move. Sometimes when we read passages from the gospels, we imagine him teaching on a hillside or sitting at a table with Mary and Martha or his disciples, or stopping outside pointing to the birds overhead or lilies of the field.
But today he is on the move. In fact, Luke emphasizes a move downward, from Mt of Olives down into the city. In the church we imagine movements & scenes throughout Holy Week – entering through a gate into Jerusalem, at the temple overturning tables of money changers, the last supper, the garden, the arrest, the trial, the walk to Golgatha, death.
Today we begin this annual journey, but let’s review how we have traveled in this season of Lent. This year we have explored what sustains us as we move through life, what is the bread of life for us. The first week we focused on Jesus and his teaching when he says “I am the bread of life.” Following his ways offer sustenance for our journeys. Then the kindom of God is like yeast in the dough or even sourdough starter – growth and transformation from the ordinary. Then Daily Bread - daily practices, the Lord’s prayer, and more. Then the experience of being welcomed and welcoming others to the table, a great feast. Mark Yaconelli’s stories about people reaching out in faith for freedom and healing. Those stories of finding ourselves and helping others experience wholeness and grace.
All of those we take with us into this week. We need the bread of life today and every day.
We read two accounts of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem. John – people shouted Hosanna! And palm branches on the road. Luke – no hosannas but cloaks on the road. But they both echo - "Blessed is the king who comes….”
Luke reports that the people spread their cloaks on the road before Jesus, shouting, “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!” Really?! Blessed is the king?! These are people who already have a king. They have King Herod, Herod Antipas, the puppet of the Roman Emperor Caesar. Which means these ancient Judeans have both a king (puppet or not) and an emperor. “Blessed is the king”? Throwing cloaks on the road, as one does for a king? This is a call for regime change. (Joanne Whitt)
This helps explain why Jesus was arrested and crucified.
He entered Jerusalem just before the Passover celebration, and even without his kingly procession, Passover was tricky for the Romans. Passover is all about deliverance from slavery, and freedom from oppression. It was about the bread of life, unleavened bread, taken in a hurry, so they could eat as they fled. Passover wasn’t good for the Empire.
He proclaimed another kingdom – the kingdom not of Herod or Caesar but of God – and called people to give their allegiance to God’s kingdom first. In other words, he was a real threat. He was a threat to the way the Romans and their puppet king led, ruled, and lived.
And he was a threat to the religious establishment. He preached and taught and healed on the Sabbath. And talked with Samaritans and respected women – spiritual wisdom. And he was gaining a following.
Those who shouted “Hosanna” Save us – who wanted a Messiah who was going to overthrow the Romans be force. He did come as God’s Messiah. But many misunderstood what that meant – not “regime change” by violence, but rather the love of God poured out upon the world in a way that dissolved all the things we use to differentiate ourselves from others and the formation of humanity that knows itself – and all those around them! – as God’s beloved people.
Nonviolent Protest Palm Sunday was a nonviolent protest. It makes me think about the thousands, millions who marched last week around the country, objecting to those in power who abuse that power and act in ways that are unjust, cruel. The movement toward Authoritarian power must be stopped—and that those who are aiding and abetting it must be held accountable.
Jesus rode on a donkey as a symbol of a different kind of power. Jesus was a threat to the way the Romans and their puppet king led, ruled, and lived.
For that matter, he is still a threat. He threatens systems that dominate with intimidation, violence, coercion, and manipulation. He threatens our obsession with defining ourselves over and against others. He threatens the way in which we seek to secure our future by hording wealth and power. He threatens our habit of drawing lines and making rules about who is acceptable and who is not. He threatens all these things and more.
There is a sense that Jesus who rides on the donkey, the Christ that is the larger, ongoing presence, with all the symbolism and threats, is not only entering Jerusalem in today’s passage but is entering us as the reading that Beth read suggested.
Where are we in this story? Are we leaning into this story? Do we feel that jubilant hope when we wave our palm branches? As we look to the week ahead, what kind of sustenance, bread of life, do we need on this road as we anticipate this week that is Holy? And how may it also feel unholy and chaotic as more events reported in the news are unjust and actions cause more suffering and harm?
Confusing and Chaotic
We may want to stay in this jubilant parade a little longer. The Palm Sunday also known as Passion Sunday. Palm/Passion Sunday is one of the more cluttered and confusing liturgical days of the church year. It was an incredibly confusing and emotionally wrenching week in the lives of the disciples. Here we are - it has been another confusing and at times emotionally wrenching week and season for us in our own lives and in our nation and world. So let’s acknowledge that.
And we take time to see that Jesus, the humble prophet, is up against the powers and the principalities. Jesus will lose. That’s the truth of it. Jesus rides into the city to confront a corrupted Temple in cahoots with an indifferent Empire. He has no army, no armor, no evidence of physical force. He could not win such a battle.
There were two parades into Jerusalem that day. Jesus, coming through one gate from the east, on a donkey. The other, from the west came Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor, riding a warhorse and flanked by armed soldiers in the full pageantry of an oppressive empire. His arrival wasn’t ceremonial; it was tactical — a calculated show of force. There was not contest between these two. Jesus could not win any contest or battle.
And yet, in the biblical narratives and in our faith and in our spiritual lives this losing will ultimately be winning and a hope. This is a most unusual truth. Consider the mystery of it all, which begins on Palm Sunday:
Jesus will win by humility, not by force.
He will win by gentleness, not by brutality.
He will win by truthfulness, not distortions and lies.
He will win by willing self-sacrifice, not by defiant self-protection.
He will win by love and compassion and empathy, not hate and bigotry and cruelty.
He will win by the grace of forgiveness, not the ugliness of retribution and revenge
All the world’s false values are flipped on their heads. All the empty virtues of corrupt religious leaders will be cancelled. All the Empire’s brutal efficiency will be exposed as a sham.
Jesus rejected and offering a foundation of what it means to be human and holy. That is the mystery at the heart of all who seek to follow the ways of Jesus. So let us move through this week, knowing there is bread of life, sustenance, for us. Let us remember the stories and power of Holy Week. Then come back next week and find out the rest of the story, the never-ending story. Amen.
Resources
Lenten 2025 worship/sermon packet by Illustrated Ministry “Bread Of Life” https://www.illustratedministry.com/breadoflife
Rev. Joanne Whitt, ‘Nonviolent Protest,” 4.8.25 Solve by Walking blog https://solve-by-walking.com/2025/04/08/nonviolent-protest/
Rev. Bill Carter, “Acclaimed Yet Unnoticed,” 3.23.24 BillCarterSermons https://billcartersermons.blogspot.com/2024/03/acclaimed-yet-unnoticed.html
Rev. Andrew Thayer, “Palm Sunday Was a Protest, Not a Procession,” NYT Opinion 4.13.25