April 13, 2003
Sermon preached by Rev. Donald Ng at the First Chinese Baptist Church in San Francisco.
Everyone loves a parade! One of the biggest parades in San Francisco is the annual Southwest Airlines sponsored Chinese New Year Parade that is so significant that city officials decided to keep the scheduled day for the parade this year instead of heeding it to a nationwide protest against the war. Coming down to Union Square, we see marching bands from different states, decorated floats with corporate sponsors, beauty queens, and of course, Chinese lions and dragons that snake around and around at the sound of the beating of Chinese drums and gongs. And no Chinese lion dance would be complete without the ear deafening strings of firecrackers blasting away. Our own Jimmy Yee is involved in this annual celebration.
There’s an assortment of annual parades that help us to mark the calendar of our lives. We watch the Tournament of Roses parade in Pasadena and marvel at how the flowers can create spectacular pictures. One time when I was in Pasadena, I was curious at how the float drivers were able to stay on course. So the pastor of the Pasadena First Baptist Church took me out in the middle of the street and showed me this painted red line. The drivers all hidden underneath the floats only needed to follow the red line on the parade route.
At Thanksgiving time, we look forward to the grand celebration in New York City with the Macy’s parade. We look on in awe as scores of handlers grasping the ropes of notable inflatables, such as Garfield, Snoppy, and Spiderman. The culmination of the parade, of course, arrives at the end when Santa Claus makes his appearance to begin the holiday shopping season.
Even in the smallest rural villages and towns, we see parades. In Sausalito on July 4th, we have our Independence Day parade featuring local bands and fire trucks blowing off their sirens. Parades are held to honor heroes. Sometimes parades are held simply to give a community an excuse to come together.
In Chinatown we have our own style of parades too. We hear the familiar Green Street Mortuary Band playing Onward Christian Soldiers as they lead the funeral possession through the streets of our community to announce the passing of a friend. For the out of town tourists, the band calls them to the edge of the curb and sidewalks for a snap shot to capture a “visit in Chinatown memory” to show friends back home.
Almost everyone loves a parade. For those who participate in it, the event is often remembered for a lifetime. And for those of us who line the sidewalk and cheer and clap with every amazing entry, we are thrilled with the production.
In fact, about the only people who don’t like a parade are those who see the parade as an obstacle to where they want to go. There is an episode of Seinfeld in which Jerry, George, Elaine, and Kramer are attempting to go home. Little do they realize, however, that the street they are driving on leads them to Fifth Avenue, which is completely barricaded for the annual Puerto Rican Day parade. Throughout the show, the four of them vent their anger and frustration at being blocked from going where they want to go. Despite their most creative attempts to get through, they find themselves stuck where they are.
At the end of the half-hour, you’re left to wonder what would have happened if they had simply decided to make the best of the situation and tried to enjoy the parade. Instead, by insisting that the parade was running against where they wanted to go, and refusing to change their attitude, they ended up seeing the parade as a kind of enemy than a celebration.
Palm Sunday
Today is Palm Sunday to celebrate Jesus’ triumphant parade into Jerusalem. We waved our palm branches and shouted “Hosanna!” as we began our worship. For a large number of people, they spontaneously joined the event by casting their garments on the pathway in front of Jesus and laying their palm branches on the road before him. Some marched before Jesus shouting,
“Hosanna!
Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!
Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David!
Hosanna in the highest heaven!”
The throng of people saw Jesus’ parade as a joyful event that they wanted to make sure they were a part of. They came to the edge of the sidewalk and took snap shots to make sure they will remember this day.
One characteristic of every parade is that it’s always moving. It may stop momentarily in front of Macy’s known as a “parade rest,” so that the TV broadcasters can comment on the background of the band or float, but it moves on. In fact, the definition of a parade is “an organized procession or march.” When you come to a parade, you expect it to move on.
When you enter most restaurants in Chinatown, you would see a Chinese Buddha. It is serene, elegant, eyes closed, hands held out gracefully as a sign of peace, but seated upon a lotus pad. It’s not going anywhere. It’s sitting down.
Jesus is not seated upon a lotus blossom. He is bouncing upon the back of a borrowed donkey, moving toward the city where by the end of the week, he will face betrayal, torture and death. Today, the parading Jesus comes to us, bouncing on the back of a donkey.
Just like the Puerto Rican Day parade messed up the Seinfeld characters from getting to where they wanted to go, the Parading Jesus unlike a sitting Buddha is coming into our lives and changing all of our plans. Just like sometimes we hear firecrackers going off outside the church while we are trying to worship quietly, the Parading Jesus is coming into our world and disturbing what we had planned. The Parading Jesus intrudes, invades, our settled arrangements of what we think life ought to be and we can’t help but to notice.
Changed Lives
Today, Jesus parades into Jerusalem. He could have stayed away. In fact, his disciples urged him to avoid the trip. They knew his enemies were there, plotting against him. They knew that Jerusalem almost certainly would be a place of his death. And yet, Jesus instructing two disciples to find him a borrowed donkey parades into the capital city.
So what do we do with this image of God? Or better, what does this image of God do with us?
In response to a Jesus who comes into our lives with the message of God’s love, we profess Jesus is Lord! In all the times when we have come up short in God’s expectations of us and that God has forgiven us, we profess Jesus Christ is Lord! When we know in our hearts that Jesus suffered and died on the Cross for the sins of the world, we profess Jesus Christ is Lord!
For Jackie Ma and Dan Kushner who were baptized today, they heard the excitement of God’s parade and decided that they want to follow the Parading Jesus too. They professed Jesus Christ is Lord!
For Lauren Ng Kushner, Betty Tseng and Tim Tseng, who have been following Jesus for some time now, discovered that First Chinese Baptist is faithfully following the Parading Jesus. They want to join in the parade as well! As faithful disciples, we can take off our cloaks and cut palm branches to spread on the road for the Parading Jesus.
Holy Week
With Palm Sunday, we began what we call, Holy Week. We will realize that not everyone in Jerusalem approved of Jesus’ parade. Like the Seinfeld characters, Jesus’ foes saw that the parade is running against the way they wanted to go.
Jesus’ parade was heading in the direction of inclusion and acceptance. But his enemies preferred the direction of exclusion and purity.
Jesus was marching in the way of mercy and forgiveness. Yet some of his opponents were intent on pursuing revenge and vengeance.
Jesus was parading toward the goal of humility and service. But those who plotted against him were more concerned with status and privilege.
If we were marching with the Parading Jesus, we might be playing “Hark, the Herald Angels Sing.” We often associate this carol with the Christmas season instead of Good Friday or Easter. Yet some of the words of that carol get to the heart of what Jesus was trying to tell us. “Hark, the herald angels sing, glory to the newborn King! Peace on earth and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled!” God and sinners reconciled—this is truly the crux of the Holy Week message.
We all come to the parade as sinners. And by the end of the week, when the Palm Sunday parade eventually turned into a solemn funeral march to Calvary—when Jesus had every right to unleash the wrath of heaven against those who beat him, ridiculed him, spat upon him, and finally pierced his body with nails—Jesus chose forgiveness over revenge. He chose mercy over vengeance. That’s the beat of the drum that Jesus marches to.
On Calvary, the Parading Jesus does come to a “parade rest.” Crucifixion stopped Jesus from moving on. He could have bypassed the Jerusalem parade route and avoided this parade rest. But he didn’t and as he hung on that Cross, bled, and gasp his last breath, the whole world stopped marching too. This is the reason why we are inviting you to a 12-hour fast on Friday—for us to come to a “parade rest” so that we may pray for forgiveness and thank God for his grace and mercy.
But like any “parade rest,” Jesus’ stop was only for a few days. The risen and Parading Jesus is moving on. On this Palm Sunday, will you join the parade? Do you see this parade as an obstacle to what you really want to do? Or will you let the parade pass you by?
We might have thought that we have tucked God safely in his baby cradle since last Christmas. But this God is on parade. God is not hunkered down sitting on a lotus blossom but is transforming people’s lives as we sit here. The Parading Jesus is invading our city.
Let us go out with our palms, our voices, our lives and welcome Jesus as he comes to us! It’s going to be a spectacular parade!
Let us pray.
Gracious God, though we did not know how to come to you, you came to us. Help us to mourn our sins and to know our need, that we may welcome you on this Palm Sunday, may receive you into our lives, and follow your way to the cross. Thank you, O God for Jesus who is parading into the world to save us for your kingdom. Lead us to join the parade of the Lord in our words and our deeds. Amen.