Readings: Isaiah 50:4-9a; Philemon 2:5-11; Luke 19:28-40 or John 12:12-16
My memory is not what it used to be, but I can remember as if it were yesterday the time I first saw a man riding a donkey. It was twenty years ago in Israel on the road to Tekoa, and there was this guy astride a donkey with his feet almost touching the ground. I just stood and stared. I had always envisioned a donkey in terms of a mule - something that a person could really ride but a donkey in terms of the middle east is a much smaller animal. What I saw was laughable, demeaning and ridiculous. There wasn`t a palm in sight as I realised I had been misled as far as Palm Sunday was concerned. As I watched this guy on a donkey I saw the significance of Palm Sunday for the first time. Indeed, if I had my way it would be called `Donkey Demonstration Day`. To see today as a crowd joyfully accepting Jesus as a personal saviour is to completely miss the point.

Two processions entered Jerusalem that day. One was the one of which we read. It came down the Mount of Olives. Half way down the slope Jesus breaks down and weeps over the hypocrisy, the materialism, the power and the poverty of the city. `Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem ! How often I would have gathered you under my wings as a hen gathers her chickens and you would not. ` It is, incidentally, my favourite spot in Jerusalem. It brings tears to my eyes every time I go there. On one occasion there was even a hen and her chickens. The procession goes down the hill and into the city through the eastern gate.

Through the western gate that day came another procession, an imperial procession, a troop of soldiers led by Pilate (probably on a prancing stallion), a troop of soldiers in their jangling armour, carrying the golden eagle banners and marching to the sound of drums. Each Passover time Pilate and his troops would come from Caesarea Maratima on the coast to Jerusalem. It was the standard practice for the Roman governor to be in Jerusalem at that time. The Passover festival was a time of unrest in Jerusalem. It celebrated the Jewish people`s liberation from an earlier empire and it needed a strong hand and a show of force to keep the peasants under control.

And, as Borg and Crossan point out, Pilate`s procession was not only about imperial power but also imperial theology. The Emperor was believed to have been conceived by the God Apollo and was described on coins and plaques as `Son of God`, `Lord and Saviour` and one who had brought peace on earth. `Pilate`s procession embodied not only a rival social order but also a rival theology.` (p3 The Last Week)

Are you starting to think what I am thinking? The procession of Jesus into Jerusalem has all the marks of a well organised demonstration - a counter demonstration to the procession of Pilate. The gospel writers are
at pains to point out it was well planned with the availability of a donkey arranged ahead of time and with Jesus going into the city the night before to suss out the lay of the land. It was well planned and well thought out. They were all aware of Zecharia`s prophecy that the coming king of kings would come riding into Jerusalem on a donkey, a king who would bring peace to the nations. The chanting too is reminiscent of a demonstration. `What do we want?` ` Freedom!` `When do we want it?` `Now!` One part of the crowd shouting out `Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. And the other part of the crowd responding with `Hosannah in the highest`.

Two processions, one about the kingdom of God and one about the Empire of Caesar. Two processions, two theologies , setting the scene for what I see as the most momentous week in the history of the world.

Let me however emphasise and make it perfectly clear I am not suggesting Jesus was a political revolutionary. His concern was ` the consciousness that undergirded and made the system possible`. His purpose was far more radical than social change; it was to change the consciousness that underlies the situation. I almost exploded last week when the government made bullying an offence under the Fair Work Act. They passed a law against bullying! I wish them well but I have the feeling that it is not going to do much to remedy the situation. It is the consciousness that underlies bullying that is the problem - as it is with most of our problems - and, to coin a phrase, God only knows how we deal with that.

Perhaps it is by having Palm Sunday processions. Indeed if you asked me what I think was one of the proudest moments of this congregation it would be of taking part in the Hillarys demonstration in 1995. Let me remind you of the details.

On Sunday 2 April 1995, the Defence Forces planned a `Defence Spectacular` at Hillarys Boat Harbour. The idea was that there would be a display of military might and the troops would come ashore in landing barges in a simulated attack. We decided that we would have a counter demonstration. We would display a large banner saying `War Kills Kids` to highlight the reality of war and the inescapable fact that more civilians than soldiers are killed in war. To have children being shown how to operate automatic weapons and taking turns in `gunning down the enemy` doesn`t exactly fit with my ideas of child rearing. Without any delusions of grandeur I went out there the night before to assess the situation. On the day, a small number of us walked with our banner on to the beach as the landing craft approached. The assembled crowd didn`t exactly call out `Crucify` but they made clear their displeasure at their ritual being disrupted. We were duly arrested and carted off to be charged. There were no palms, no donkey, no chanting but I would submit that all the essentials of that Palm Sunday were there - the day we remember and celebrate today. Forget about the palms. They are what lawyers call `minutiae`. They are of little or no importance. What is important is the man on the donkey - God`s man from tomorrow, the saviour of the world, the prince of peace, who was crucified dead and buried but who rises and rides again in the lives and actions of his followers.

The other question today is, of course `to where was the procession proceeding?` It was to the Temple where there occurred another demonstration with Jesus driving out the animals and overturning the tables of the money changers. The Temple really had lost the plot! It functioned as a central bank, where loans were negotiated and was the place where all the mortgage documents were kept. Its governing council, the Sanhedrin, were wealthy aristocrats who had a vested interest in maintaining the status quo. The house of God had indeed become a den of thieves. It had become the money market of the country. And Jesus demonstrated in no uncertain manner what he had spoken of at length - that the worship of money is very different to the worship of God. In the material at the door there is an account of some of the things that a number of us have done to celebrate Palm Sunday and Easter, things like overturning tables outside the Stock Exchange, erecting a cross on the roof of Australian Defence industries. They were great days.

`Why aren`t you out doing something today?` you well may ask. There are two reasons. One is that I am old and starting to lose it physically and mentally. The other is because `demonstrations` today are of little consequence. We do not have freedom of the Press in Australia. Any freedom of the Press we have is per kind favour of Rupert Murdoch and Kerry Stokes and their approach to life is, to say the least of it, somewhat different to that promoted by Jesus. During the visit of Hilary Clinton there were at least two demonstrations held. Neither of them received any coverage in the media. When we disrupted the Defence Spectacular we received top billing in the evening news on four of the TV channels. One is tempted to say `Things aren`t what they used to be`.

What then, in a couple of sentences, is the significance of Palm Sunday? It is the day when Jesus threw down the gauntlet and confronted the powers of the day. It was the portrayal of a clear alternative: the culture of the day or the way of life portrayed by Jesus of Nazareth. Palm Sunday was a confrontation with the culture of the day and, just as the centrality of love touched Jerusalem two thousand years ago, so we believe it can touch our city today. This is of what we remind ourselves and liturgise today.

Neville Watson 24/3/2013