It is hard to believe that with so many examples of God’s power in the Gospel, and the stories of the Church throughout history, that so many still refuse to believe God. The Feast of Palm Sunday gives us the chance to believe God as our King, even in those moments that we don’t agree with Him. We all like the idea of a king when we agree with the King. Once we no longer agree, like the Pharisees and Jewish leaders, we refuse to believe Christ is our King. If we ask God, He will give us the strength to have faith.
My brothers and sisters on Palm Sunday, I’m going to suggest to you that we witness a miracle. A miracle not of healing, but a miracle of misunderstanding. It was just yesterday that we celebrated the raising of Lazarus from the dead. And thousands of people, according to the Gospel, they all came out to see the man who Jesus raised from the dead. He had done all of these miracles up until now. Even just speaking a word and Lazarus was brought back to life. You would think there’d be no reason left to doubt. It seems to us so simple. Christ gave us evidence after evidence, example after example, miracle after miracle, and still many did not believe Him, especially the leaders.
The Gospel says the crowd didn’t come out just to see Jesus, but they came out to see Lazarus, because they themselves couldn’t wrap their mind around who this Jesus was. Even though they welcomed Him in Jerusalem as their king. Hosanna, blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, the king of Israel. And I have to admit to you, as I was preparing for this morning’s sermon, I realized just the other day, our country had a No King’s Day. People all over the country protesting that we don’t want a king. And here we are on Palm Sunday declaring that we have a king. You see, my brothers and sisters, we want a king, but we only want a king that we agree with. This is the misunderstanding in the Gospel. All of these people were willing to believe in Jesus Christ so long as they agreed with the message.
But when things got tough, which we’re going to see in just a few days, when Jesus is arrested and the crowds are chanting, “Crucify him. Crucify him.” The same people that declared Him as king. Why? Because it was no longer comfortable for them to admit that Jesus was their king. You see, my brothers and sisters, the miracle of our doubt is what I’m calling it. For some reason, we choose only to believe the things we agree with. The moment the message in the Gospel goes against what we believe, we refuse to accept it. We refuse to believe it is true simply because it rubs us in the wrong way, or it forces us to change our perspective on life. And so we refuse to believe. The Pharisees, the Sadducees, all faithful men all learned it in the faith. The moment the faith turned against what they were wanting, it says, “They even went to seek to kill Lazarus.”, because people were believing in Jesus because of what He had done for Lazarus.
You see, my brothers and sisters, it is that simple. It is that easy for us to slide away from faith into doubt. And so my brothers and sisters, when we celebrate today, and we come each night this week for Holy Week, I invite you. Ask God to remove your doubt. Ask God to give you the strength of faith, the strength to believe, and yes, even to change our life, to conform to the Gospel. Real faith, my brothers and sisters, does not require proof from God. Real faith, my brothers and sisters, is willing to accept that God is telling us the truth, and that even when we do not agree, we are the ones willing to change our hearts, to change our minds. This is the word repentance, metánoia. We change our mind to conform to God and His Gospel and the church. Not to change God to conform to us.
This is what happens on Palm Sunday. The crowds refuse to change their hearts just three days later. Let’s not be like the crowd. As we wave our palms today, as we sing praises to God, we will not be the ones who betray Him. We will be the ones who remain loyal to Him, faithful to Him, even going to the cross with Him and for Him, because He loves us and because we can always trust what He says. When God speaks, it is always the truth.
So Kalo Pascha, have a blessed Pascha this week. Have a blessed Holy Week. A journey, my brothers and sisters, that if we allow our hearts and our minds to open, we will find ourselves in the comfort and the joy of Christ, much greater than any lambada we might light on Pascha. The greatness of the kingdom of heaven. Glory to God for all of things.
