The Promise of a King and a Lamb

Sunday is April Fools' Day, technically not a holiday recognized by the church. But I think there is something to the fact that Palm Sunday is falling on April Fools' Day this year. Who do you think of when you think of fools, of something foolish? Today, in the workplaces or at school or even at church, we feel shame and humiliation if we say the wrong thing or do the wrong thing. We don’t want to be fools – on April Fools' Day, we want to be the ones playing the tricks, not the ones being made a fool!

Read Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29 and John 12:12-19.

The Gospel reading this week shapes how our Palm Sunday feels. It is mostly a joyful celebration of Jesus as the promised King, Jesus as the one to fulfill the covenant, Jesus as a miracle worker, who can bring life out of death. The people offer a welcoming parade, pledging their loyalty to Jesus as the King of Israel, running after him, stampeding after him. And yet, we end not with their joy, but the Pharisees as they continue to plot, their current plans being foiled yet again. Their presence, however, seems to be an ominous sign that reminds us of what will come later this week: a meal, a betrayal, a trial, a cross, a tomb.  

And yet, somehow, Jesus plays us all. Jesus takes on the role of the fool on Palm Sunday – riding in not on a warhorse but a young donkey, his feet probably dragging on the ground. Jesus the king rides the animal of peace, not the Messiah the people expected to violently overthrow Rome. Jesus lets the people call him king, knowing that later in the week they would be calling for his crucifixion. Jesus turns everything upside down, making wisdom foolish: emptying himself that we might be filled; saying that the last will be first and the first will be last, to save your life you must lose it; feeding multitudes with a couple loaves and fish; healing those who were said to be beyond help; and bringing life out of a dead Lazarus in a tomb. 

In a court, the fool or jester was the only one who could actually speak truth to power, who could actually criticize the king or queen or government, who could mock those in power through the gift of humor. It is said that Queen Elizabeth once threatened her fool because he did not criticize her severely enough! That is the role of Christ on April Fools' Day, on Palm Sunday: to subvert the Roman concept of Lord, to speak to the power of peace instead of violence, to find value in the people who are marginalized and oppressed. As a fool, Jesus invites people to see and live in the world in a different way. For Jesus himself is the stone that the builders rejected – only for that very stone to become the chief cornerstone, the foundation of it all. Jesus fools us, as we are promised a king and are given a sacrificial lamb. As Paul writes in 1 Corinthians, “God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong.” Thanks be to God for responding to our Hosannas with the foolishness of the Messiah, the only one who could really save us once and for all.

Grace and peace,

Pastor Kate