We, the people

 

Luke 19: 28-40
New Ark United Church of Christ, Newark, DE
April 13, 2025 – Palm Sunday

Photo of a wooden sign that reads "We the people must take care of each other".

When wilt thou save the people?
Oh God of mercy when?
The people, Lord! The people!
Not thrones and crowns,
But men!
God save the people
For thine they are
Thy children as thy angels fair
God save the people
From despair
God save the people!



When Jesus entered Jerusalem for the last time, when the crowds shouted “Hosanna”, there was nothing sweet about it. They were saying “God save the people”, “God save us”. We call it sweet and place it on the lips of children, and indeed, our children are calling out for us to save them. We call this Jesus’ triumphant entry as though he is a conquering hero and yet he enters on a colt rather than a warhorse; the people spread their cloaks on the ground as they would for a king rather than a poor rabbi who is riding not to a throne but to his death. Over the centuries of what was once Christendom, we have sentimentalized what was actually a political demonstration against empire.



People who had heard Jesus speak, witnessed him heal the sick, or who had gotten wind of the stories going around about him were fixing their hopes on Jesus as the one who could save them from oppression and the suffering that comes from living under empire’s boot. But Jesus was not the messiah, the savior they were hoping for. They cried out, “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord” but we know who the political enemies are of such as king as this.



Empires will inevitably fall because the abuse of power and the unlimited hoarding of wealth and resources is not sustainable. Jesus was building an anti-empire movement of mutual care, one that would create community and sustain people no matter what the power structure of the day, that would care for the most vulnerable of God’s people. Most vulnerable as in those deemed expendable, like the poor, which included the sick and disabled, widows, orphans, and foreigners, who were dehumanized because of who they are.



In order for people to be saved, salvation must be tangible in the here and now, in how people live. “Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.” “Give us this day our daily bread.” Pastor Carlos Rodriguez reminds us that when we pray “thy kingdom come” we are also praying that we let our kingdoms go. We cannot rely on empire to take care of its most vulnerable because empire is often the one responsible for their suffering and ensuring that it continues. Capitalism cannot be tweaked or reformed to abolish the slavery of poverty simply because it relies heavily on cheap labor and exploitation.



We keep coming back to the same problem: We want things to change but we want to keep what we have. Resisting the current power structure while benefiting from it at the same time cannot be sustained for long. We can’t pick and choose which parts of empire we want to keep because empire is a cult of self-interest. And we wonder why younger millennials and Gen Z folx aren’t marching even though they did all the things we told them to do for a successful life only to still be living with us or barely able to make the rent on a climate-endangered planet.



I, like many others, keep pointing out the problems we are facing because it’s hard to stay woke to them when we’d rather go back to sleep. Jesus’ disciples were awake for that last supper but later that night in the garden—good, complicated, scared-for-their-lives people—they betrayed and deserted him in their sleep.



These days there are times it is hard to know what to do or who to trust. Like those crowds in Jerusalem so long ago, we too wish we could pin our hopes on someone to not only lead us but save us. At the very least we want someone or a group of someone’s to pin our anger and fears on. We want to worship or blame someone but in truth, we all got us to where we are now and it will take all of us to move the needle in a direction other than destruction.



It was poet June Jordan in her “Poem for South Africa” who wrote, “We are the ones we have been waiting for”, when over 40,000 women and children who, on August 9, 1956, marched in protest against the apartheid pass laws in Johannesburg.



“And who will join this standing up
and the ones who stood without sweet company
will sing and sing
back into the mountains and
if necessary
even under the sea
we are the ones we have been waiting for”



In a transactional society, the question is, “What do I get?” In an ethical society the question is, “Is it right?” In a moral society the question is, “What will we tell future generations of how we responded to evil?”



We are coming to realize that disrupting our lives for others is more than a spiritual practice – it is required of our daily living. Because what else does love your neighbor mean if not this?



Resistance, disrupting our lives, interrupting the cult of empire can mean more than marching. Resistance is learning our whole history and owning up to it. Resistance is reparations and land back. Resistance is peaceful non-compliance or civil disobedience. Resistance is emailing or getting on the phone with our elected officials. Resistance is using our local library, reading a book from a banned book list. Resistance is sending a few dollars to a mutual aid fund, volunteering at Hope Dining Room or Friendship House or the Empowerment Center or Meeting Ground or the food bank. Resistance is buying second hand and donating what we don’t need. Resistance is checking on our neighbors, building networks of care. Resistance is rest and play and dance and music and joy. We can’t always stop bad things from happening but we can multiply the good stuff as much as we can.



Shall crime bring crime forever
Strength aiding still the strong?
Is it thy will, O Father
That men shall toil
For all wrong?
Oh, no, say thy mountains
No, say thy skies
Man's clouded sun shall brightly rise
And songs be heard, instead of sighs
God save the people!



God save the people. Who will save us if it’s not God through us saving each other? We, the people. Amen.

Benediction

So, friends, every day do something
that won't compute. Love the Lord.
Love the world. Work for nothing.
Take all that you have and be poor.
Love someone who does not deserve it.
Be extravagant with those who cannot repay you.
Be lavish with your love, not counting the cost.
Be joyful though you have considered all the facts.
Practice resurrection.

Amen.