Sunday: Palm Sunday A
Reading: Matthew 27:11-54
Preacher: Peter C. Lane

We are practicing the faith today-this week. We practice so that we invest ourselves. We practice to join with the saints through the ages. For this is an ancient practice. An early pilgrim, not a black hat and shiny buckles at thanksgiving pilgrim, but a woman on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem named Egeria described the observance of Palm Sunday in Jerusalem about the year 381. This is how she describes it. People would go to the Eucharist in the morning where they would hear the story we heard outside of Jesus Triumphant entry into Jerusalem. Then the faithful would hurry home for a quick lunch before gathering with the Bishop on top of the Mount of Olives. Two hours of singing, prayers and readings later, they moved spots for another two hours of singing, prayers and readings. Four hours! Phhhw. At five o'clock the same passage from Matthew was repeated and the group made their way down to Jerusalem. The procession, with Children and the elderly included, moved slowly. The people waved Palm Branches, sang psalms, and shouted, "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord." That procession is what we replicated today. When they finally arrived at the place of the Tomb they held a service of worship for evening and went home. For us then, the Church here is the tomb. We're holding a service in this tomb and then we will go home.

The ancient Palm Sunday observance changed over the centuries. In pre-reformation England, that Palm Sunday observance was jammed together with an observance of the passion like we have today. You might have noticed the actual title of today's liturgy: The Sunday of the Passion: Palm Sunday. See, the Sunday of the Passion was added because the church thought people needed to hear the passion, the story of the crucifixion, before Easter. We'll tell it again on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, but not every single person will be here.

You know, the hymn we sang, "All glory laud and honor" is a ninth-century hymn has been sung on this Sunday for hundreds of years. It is the beauty of the Episcopal Church, the Catholic tradition that we practice our faith as much as we believe it. We jump in and learn to swim in the roiling waters of faith. What are we practicing this week?

We are practicing being fools. Our gospel ended today with Jesus in the tomb. If Jesus is still in the tomb, we are fools. Our Patron, St. Paul, says, "The message about the cross is foolishness..." and "If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile..." Today, this week, we contemplate foolishness and futility-Jesus still in the tomb. How could the people in Jerusalem have thought this man was king. This was no glorious revolution, no one takes over a city unarmed. It couldn't have been that big a celebration anyway. Do you think the Roman Garrison would have sat idly by while a pretender to the throne paraded through the city? The picture that Matthew paints is certainly influenced by a similar description in Zechariah. Well, I don't know how those people could have thought he was the king. I do know that we just joined right with them in procession, proclaiming with them, "Hosanna to the highest. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord." Foolish really. For I didn't even get a chance to preach before we finished practicing Hosanna and started practicing, "Crucify him." As fervently as we praised we cursed. Our text ends with Jesus claiming God has forsaken him and then dying. No resurrection this week. We need more practice before that. We need more at bats, more scales, more drills at being fools, having a futile faith. We are practicing what it would mean if our Jesus, the very revelation of God, is dead. What would it mean if we realized our little play acting march around the Church was prelude to nothing but this giant tomb.
Liturgy is the work of the people. We believe that steeping ourselves in a fool's potion will flavor us next Sunday when we practice resurrection. We believe that juxtaposing kingship and crucifixion will impact how we view rulers and how we view capitol punishment. That foolishness will remind us of the radical idea that true kingship is found in weakness. When we practice our faith the specifics of history fade behind the reality of action. When we practice, we invest ourselves.

We tried out what it would be like if Jesus had indeed been King-parades and singing and palms trees. "Hosanna in the highest." We tried out joining in the hysteria of those who couldn't stand Jesus' message. "Crucify him." It's our work, it's our calling, let's practice the faith, let's be fools together this week.