Gospel readings for the day are Luke 19:28-40 (Palms) and selected verses from Luke 22-23 (Passion).
This morning we heard two stories from scripture, the Palms and the Passion… In these narratives, we see two different images of Christ, and two different images of power. When I was in seminary, my faculty mentor recommended that I read a book about power, called “Real Power” by Janet Hagberg. The book describes the different stages of personal power that we perceive ourselves as having. I’ll give you some examples:
Stage 1 is powerlessness: Do you feel helpless? Do you feel like you have no influence over your own situation? If so, you might be in stage 1.
Stage 2 is Power through association: do you feel powerful when you are with certain people? Do you think power is something that can be given to you? If so, you might be in stage 2.
Stage 3 is Power through Achievement, and this is the level where many people plateau… do you own things or buy things that make you feel powerful? Do you feel powerful because of your accomplishments or career? If so, then you might be in stage 3.
Now of course, these stages merely describe our perception, and the first three stages perceive power to be external and situational, coming from people or things. There are three further stages of this process that begin to see power as internal, not something that can be given or taken away. I would like you to keep this in mind when we explore the power in the images of Christ.
In the Liturgy of the Palms, we see an image of power. The central image is Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem. We call it triumphal, implying that he has overcome something, and he rides a donkey, a prophetic image of Kingship, entering Jerusalem as the conquering King. They hail him as powerful, based on the external, based on his “deeds of power” (as they said in our first reading): power based what they think he has done and what they think he will do. They see him as having power through achievement, and they feel powerful through association with him (remember stages 2 and 3?). Of course, this is an external and situational perception of power, so this will change in the course of a day, as his friends and followers fall away when he doesn’t look so powerful anymore… when association with him becomes undesirable.
In the Liturgy of Passion, the conquering King will is reduced to the suffering servant. He will be betrayed, accused, beaten, crucified, and he will not retaliate. He does not show the usual signs of power. The triumphant King not only refuses to fight, he actually takes responsibility for his enemies, interceding for them in prayer. What kind of power is that?
So let’s hold these two images of Christ in tension with each other:
Christ the King: he appears to enter in triumph and yet no one knows that he’s actually there to surrender, they celebrate a victory while he is preparing to die. Their idea of power is all wrong.
Christ the servant: he appears to fail, he appears to be defeated in the hands of his enemies, and yet he is clearly choosing this, he is doing what he wants every step of the way, and his enemies are baffled by this… he points out his betrayer and does nothing to stop him, they put him on trial in three courts and he won’t participate, they hurt him and he refuses to hate them. He shows his true Kingship. Their idea of power is all wrong.
There’s a description of power that I would like to share with you, it’s from a saint of the church named Julian of Norwich. I have loved her writings for many years, but I only discovered this week that she was a crazy cat lady. I mean, there are painted icons of her with cats. So it makes a lot more sense to me now, as to why I have her hanging on a chain around my neck. Julian lived in the 1300’s, and she was an anchoress (she lived a solitary life in a private cell attached to the outside of an abbey, like a barnacle on the outside of a ship). She was the first woman to write a book in the English language, and she wrote about having visions of Christ (and what they meant to her). Here is a provocative statement about power within her theology:
“sin wages war against love because sin is of its own nature violent, but love wages no wars at all, not even against sin, for love is absolute vulnerability. Love knows no other strategy than that vulnerability.” In other words, sin tried to engage love in a fight on sin’s own terms, and sin lost.
Now this all might sound strange, and we might think, “If love wages no wars then does that mean it’s indifferent, does that mean it doesn’t care?” But those questions are based on what we think power is. If sin’s strategy is violence, and love’s strategy is vulnerability, then let’s see how they hold up against God’s strategy:
“though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” Philippians 2:6-8
God is all powerful, he could have done anything, and yet his choice was vulnerability, to humble himself, to be totally vulnerable with us to the point where he let us kill him. Does this show indifference? Or perhaps, do we misunderstand power, since our human inclination is to assume that victory can only be won through violence and force?
We can sometimes see Christ’s coming as an act of war: the King of Love comes to slay the enemy… but if we weaponize love, then is it still love? Could it be, just maybe, that love needs no weapon? Could it be that Christ’s love prevailed even as sin waged war against it because there’s a whole different kind of power going on? When I read the passion story, I do want Christ to fight back, I don’t want to see him vulnerable or suffering, but Jesus even says this himself, “If my kingdom were of this world, my followers would be fighting for my release”. If he were an earthly King, he would use our earthly notions of power.
So we’ve been holding two images in tension, the King and the Servant. Christ lived them both, but we’re sometimes tempted to see him as one more than the other, so it’s worth asking yourself: do you primarily see Christ as the King or as the Servant? And which do you primarily see as an image of power?
The way that we see him shapes how we follow him. In our actions, in our words, in our relationships, do we speak words of triumph and power? Does our love persevere when sin wages war against us? When we see the state of the world, is our response to hold our Palms high and to say that our King is here? Do we believe he is triumphant?
It’s hard to believe sometimes, and I saw a stark reminder of this yesterday. I walked out of my back door, and the alley way behind my apartment had a row of trashcans that were filled with unwanted, discarded palms. It seemed ironic the day before Palm Sunday. But friends, we still have reason to raise them! We still have reason to shout “Hosannah!” Not based on what the news tells us, and not based on what our fears tell us, but because of who Jesus is. Who he is determines everything. Who he is determines who I am, and who I choose to be. Who he is makes a way for us to be who we’re meant to be.
His triumph makes a way for me; his love makes a way for you. His Kingship leads the way for me; his suffering paves the way for you. His crown lights the way for me; his thorns mark the way for you. Our Servant King… all through his life, and through his body the Church, Christ has been showing us a new and different idea of power. Not power as the world knows it, not pushing people around, not stealing it from others, not the kind of King that we’re used to… but the power of healing people’s hearts and bodies, and families and communities. The power of living from a source of love that can withstand evil, even when suffering on the cross, loving this world to his last breath.
We put so much stock into the powers of this world, of men and women stepping over one another, stepping on one another, pushing each other out of the way to be the first in line; to be the one with the money and the influence and the pride. My friends, that is not power. Our King, the one through whom we were made, humbling himself, taking the form of a servant, riding in triumph to be made totally vulnerable, because of his unconquerable love: that is power.
When we hold onto love more tightly than we hold onto fear; that is power.
When we give someone else a second chance; that is power.
When we choose to have faith, despite our doubts; that is power.
When we take time to pray; that is power.
When we choose to forgive; that is power.
When we see Jesus on the street, and we make him a part of this church family; that is power… not power as the world knows it, but power as Christ shows it. And it is here now, that palpable power of the Kingdom, growing and spreading in all of these sneaky ways, in all of these small acts of power, spreading like yeast through dough, growing like a weed in the garden, the Kingdom is here and we participate in it every time that follow our King, every time that the waves of fear and hatred crash against us and our love remains strong, and our faith remains strong.
Friends, you who are drowned and drenched and battered by those waves, take hope, raise your palms high, remind yourself that our King is here, and take shelter in his power, take shelter in Jesus. His love is the only power that cannot be shaken.