This dialogue sermon was written for Palm Sunday 28 March 2021. It canvasses the question about what changes in our world from protest and actions made in faith.
I Hosanna!
Father: It was a
beautiful sound. I could hear the voices of the children, rising over the top
of the deeper sounds of the adults. Hosanna they chanted. ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord’. A verse
with immense power. For me, it still evokes the excitement of the day, the
crowd, and the anticipation in the air.
It
wasn’t the first sound that I remember from that day. Before that, Jesus was on
a donkey – he had mounted it in the village of Bethphage, and he was riding it
towards the city. As he came into the city, a great cheer went up from the
people. Now that they were inside the city, the feeling grew; the anticipation
rose. Hosanna to the King. Some of the people along the side of the road
were joining in with them. It all pointed to a great celebration – that’s what
we thought, at first.
Child:
Papa, do you remember the Fortress next to the Temple? The Roman soldiers were there.
Lots of them.
Father: That’s
because there is always trouble at Passover. Crowds of people. Heaps of
worshippers, queueing to offer their sacrifices. The Zealots, underground
rebels, looking to protest Roman rule.
Child:
Was Jesus protesting?
Father: Jesus
always supported the poor. Thought they deserved equal rights, and to have a
say in things. Maybe he was.
Broadcast: HERE IS THE
9.00AM NEWS.
The NY Times
reports
Myanmar’s Protests,
Explained
March
13, 2021. Unrest has gripped Myanmar, with demonstrators pouring into the
streets in a challenge to the country’s powerful military after it overthrew
the fragile democratic government in a coup d’état on Feb. 1.
Military
leaders’ initially restrained response to the first waves of protests, civil
disobedience and work stoppages has grown more forceful over time, escalating
into a brutal effort to put down the movement that has so far left hundreds
injured and scores dead.
Weeks
of relatively peaceful protests quickly turned deadly on Feb. 20 when two
unarmed protesters were killed by security forces in Mandalay, one of whom was
a 16-year-old boy.
https://www.nytimes.com/article/myanmar-news-protests-coup.html
II The children
Child:
I was singing with the children, we were so excited; soon we were close to the
holy place. I could see the soldiers holding their spears. Then when we reached
the Temple, everyone got excited! Our song became louder: Hosanna to the King.
Hosanna! Hosanna!
Father: I quickly noticed
we were being monitored by the stoney-faced soldiers. Faces scrutinised,
distinguishing features noted, building up a dossier of trouble-makers.
Some
of the crowd began to vanish. Better not risk it, you could see them thinking.
This is far enough. We’ve enjoyed the excitement; let’s just fade away, now.
There is always the chance of trouble at Passover; let’s leave before it goes
too far and we get arrested.
So
dropped their palm branches, buried their faces in their cloaks, and
disappeared into the background.
Child:
But not us children, though – we sang on, we were smiling. I ask, Papa – those
soldiers, Papa – they would never do anything to hurt children, would they? Surely
they would not hurt us. We children don’t like the Romans occupying our land
either.
News Broadcast:
Israeli
authorities killed seven Palestinian children last year. Their parents are
calling for justice.
ABC News
Tuesday,
19 January 2021. [Ali Abu Alia] was shot and killed in the centre of his small
West Bank village, 200 metres from his home, on December 4.
Ali
was the fifth child allegedly shot by Israeli forces in three weeks and the
second from his village, Al Mughayyir, to die in the last two years.
Ali
was shot in the abdomen during a confrontation between soldiers and villagers.
The
clashes have become a regular feature of village life since Jewish settlers
founded an outpost on a nearby hilltop.
Villagers
throw rocks and burn tyres, and in response, soldiers fire rubber-coated
bullets and tear gas.
A
further 127 children were wounded by rubber-coated bullets and 28 by live fire,
according to the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-01-19/israeli-authorities-criticised-over-palestinian-child-shootings/13047688
III A prayer for freedom
Father: Jesus was
walking a dangerous path; I suspect that he already knew it. The cry of Hosanna!
which rang forth through the countryside signaled a desire for freedom, a
protest against Roman rule of our holy land!
Child:
Papa, tell me some stories about men in the past who tried to lead the people
to rise up against the Romans.
Father: Yes, there
was Simon, of Peraea, a slave of King Herod, who managed to burn down the royal
palace at Jericho; he was captured by Gratus, the commander of the royal
infantry, and had his head cut off in one fell swoop.
And
there was Judas, of Gamala, a village in Galilee; just a few years later, he
almost succeeded in staging a successful uprising. But in the end the movement
dwindled away. The Romans always knew how to deal with these local uprisings.
So Jesus
was walking a dangerous path; he was allowing the claim that he was king! The
choice of psalm that they were singing was not accidental. Hosannah! Blessed
is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Words that every Jew knew well.
Child:
We sing the words from Psalm 118 every year at the feast of Tabernacles, as
well as at the feast of Passover. It celebrates the coming of the king and we
praise the Lord for setting us free from slavery in Egypt!
Father: After we
had been conquered by other nations, these festivals became times of prayer for
freedom, prayer that the Lord would again set us free, free to live the way we
wanted, with proper rights for all our people.
As Jesus
rode into the city that day, you could be sure that the fervent prayer of many was
for freedom from the Roman empire, the occupying power. Freedom from crippling
taxes and freedom from all kinds of oppression. That’s what the cry of Hosanna
was really saying. Save us! Save us again Lord!
News Broadcast: ITV News Saturday 20 March.
Hundreds of campaigners have gathered in Lemon Quay in Truro to
protest the Police, Crime and Sentencing Bill.
The bill would change how protests are policed and making some
aspects of the Coronavirus Act permanent.
The new bill would mean permission for protests needs to be
granted in advance and protesters could be fined £2,500 if they go ahead with a
protest without permission.
Protest
organiser and civil liberties campaigner Emily said: "So many of the
rights that we take for granted have been won by disruptive protest and so
criminalising this further is a real attack on our fundamental rights that we
have in this country.
"But the
Government doesn't seem to care about that, they seem to just want to be able
to really try and scare and intimidate people off the streets.”
https://www.itv.com/news/westcountry/2021-03-20/campaigners-take-to-the-streets-for-kill-the-bill-protest-in-truro
IV Retribution in the holy war
Father: Hosanna!
Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord. When they sang this
out loud, the crowd was really saying, "At long last, here comes the one
who will lead us in rebellion against the Romans."
We were
ready to follow a leader, we were ready for God's mighty act of salvation, right
now. We hoped those Romans were finally going to get what was coming to them. Look at the way they treated us, treated our
women. Jesus told them we could not be silenced! Even the stones would sing in
protest with us!
News Broadcast:
Australia March 4 Justice: Thousands march against sexual
assault
BBC News 15
March 2021
Tens of thousands of people have turned out to marches across
Australia, protesting against the sexual abuse and harassment of women in the
country.
They were spurred by a recent wave of allegations of sexual
assault, centred around Australia's parliament.
The cases in parliament have shone a light on sexist cultures and
how sexual assault and harassment is dealt with more broadly across all areas
of Australian society.
Organisers suggested it could be the "biggest uprising of
women that Australia's seen".
Many attendees carried placards and wore black in protest. In
Melbourne, protesters carried a long banner listing the names of women killed
in acts of gendered violence in the past decade.
Protesters have also argued the government's treatment of those
who have spoken out so far has been unacceptable.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-56397170
V Call yourself a Messiah ?
Child:
I love to sing our Psalms. We all do. Many of these Psalms are symbols of our
national pride; symbols of what we hope for as a people.
Father: At this
point, things could have got very nasty. The Romans knew there is always
trouble at Passover. Jesus only had to say the word, and an full rebellion could
have ensued. On that day, as he entered the Temple courtyard, he held in his
hand the power of the mob, the power to unite us all against a common enemy.
But
just as it seemed that he would pull it off; it just faded away. A few days
later, he was seized him and dragged off to see the despised governor, Pontius
Pilatus. Those cheering, excited followers abandoned him. Their leader was
gone. Their hopes were dashed.
Child:
Papa, is it true that Jesus was brought back out from Pilate, in chains, to be….killed?
Why did the crowd turn against him?
Father: Maybe they
were afraid. Maybe they were disappointed he didn’t raise an army to fight the
Romans. Or maybe it was another crowd of powerful people with vested interests,
who didn’t want the poor to be raised up, who called for his death.
Child:
Did they really mock him?
Father: Yes, they
did. “Call yourself a Messiah?”, they said. “What use is a Messiah in chains?” “Call
yourself a prophet”, they said? We watched our hopes die that day.
News Broadcast:
Alexei
Navalny: 1,000 arrested after protests over jailing of Russian opposition
leader
The
Guardian
Wed,
3 February 2021
A
Moscow court has sentenced Alexei Navalny to two years and eight months in a
prison colony in a landmark decision for Vladimir Putin’s crackdown on the
country’s leading opposition figure.
The
move triggered marches in Moscow and the arrest of more than 1,000 protesters.
In
a fiery speech from a Moscow city courtroom decorated with portraits of Cicero
and Montesquieu ahead of the sentencing, Navalny had accused Putin of ordering
his assassination with the poison novichok and said that the Russian leader’s
“only method is killing people”.
He
called the court case a “performance”. “This is what happens when lawlessness
and tyranny become the essence of a political system, and it’s horrifying,” he
said.
VI Final reflections
Father: How easily
human hope is extinguished. How easily adoration becomes hatred.
It
might have been easier if he had gone down fighting,
if he'd argued in his defense, if he had pulled off some amazing escape,
if he had called down legions of angels to free him from his captors.
But
who respects a man who just marches to his death, with no rousing speeches,
seemingly with no stomach for a fight? What sort of protest is that?
Yet,
we remember him; he has not faded into the mists of time.
We remember him, and we recall his determination, his passion, his zeal. We
remember him because his cause is one which tugs at us,
which calls us to move out of our comfort, to walk along the pathway with him,
to step out for the values and principles which we honour and respect.
Child:
And so, we have to sing and join in the cry: Hosanna! Indeed, if we do
not cry out Hosanna! would not the very stones themselves shout forth
this word of praise?
After
the cheering has stopped and the parade is over, what then? Do we continue to
follow Jesus and pick up our cross, or do we pick up where we left off, and continue to live in the
old way? Do we toss our palm branches aside, forgetting that we are called to
be faithful in a broken the world? How much does history repeat, and repeat and
repeat itself?
