CLOAK OF

UNION HILL PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF DENVILLE PALM SUNDAY APRIL 14, 2019 LUKE 19: 28-40

Unlike my children (or most of their generation), I did not read the seven-book series of . Instead, I watched all the movies and gleaned as much as I could from incessantly asking questions as the films played. “Is that good or bad?” “What does that mean?” “Wait! I thought he was on Harry’s side,” or, alternatively, “I thought he was out to get Harry!”

Some people, many well-intended Christians among them, criticized the whole Harry Potter enterprise under the assumption that it promoted and sorcery. While, obviously, the story is about a boy-wizard, when we dare to investigate, Harry Potter is yet another of the countless book or movie series that look at great conflicts and themes of life: good vs. evil, love vs. hate, community vs. power, death and resurrection…

Among the fantasy items in Harry Potter is the “Cloak of Invisibility.” Along with his and his broomstick, the cloak is an essential part of his life. When Harry needs to sneak somewhere to see something without being seen, he throws the cloak over himself… and disappears! What, you may be asking, do Harry Potter and his escapades of have to do with Scripture, especially as we start Holy Week with the Triumphant Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem?

Well, for one thing, notice what is conspicuously absent from Luke’s version of Palm Sunday. That’s right: PALM BRANCHES! According to Luke, if the cheering crowds are waving anything along the route, it is the palms of their hands, not palm branches. According to Luke, the red carpet treatment afforded Jesus is constituted by laying their – you guessed it - cloaks on the roadway, not palm branches. As far as Luke is concerned, one thing that is quite invisible from our story is…palms! (I’m guessing that our deacons, Jack, and many of us here are scratching our heads thinking, “Gee, we could have made today a lot easier!”)

As we make our way through Luke’s version of this story, look with intention and wonder at how the colt is procured for Jesus. The animal was in the village ahead of them, presumably someone else’s. At mention of the Lord needing it, any suspicion of it being removed disappears. As far as we are told, there has been no arrangement made, no call ahead reservation at Avis or Hertz Rent-a-Colt. Still, invisible is any protest, any dubious questioning of its being taken. The Lord needs it. Once his transportation was in place, Jesus is ready to make his way down from the Mount of Olives, Jerusalem in his sights. Jesus knew what lay ahead of him there. He has been trying to tell his disciples. On this day, however, we do not sense that any among them share his awareness.

Even as we are told about the saddle made of cloaks, even as we envision the humble and gracious gesture of people sacrificing their cloaks by laying them on the road before him, we have the sense that this crowd is unaware of what will transpire in the coming week. If they had a glimmer of insight, this was not the time to show it. As much as their cloaks lined the road, any doubts or fears they had were shrouded under a cloak of invisibility. For them, this was not the time for such fears.

The awful reality of what lies ahead is hidden from their minds in this moment. In jubilation, the imagery from the Hebrew Testament continues. With Jesus riding on an animal that recalls Zechariah 9, the crowd sings and shouts the words of Psalm 118: Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the LORD. Luke makes sure we know that this is not only one who comes in the name of the LORD, but the King who comes!

At this point in our story, Luke has the Pharisees try to intervene. Amidst all this festive revelry, some among them appeal for Jesus to get his followers to cease and desist. “Make them stop!” they insist.

Those who beseech Jesus to silence the crowd are not at all comfortable with the spectacle that is happening. “This could all blow up into a disaster, Jesus,” they seem to be saying. “Don’t you see the Roman guards nearby? Don’t you know what kind of attention a scene like this will draw? Let’s make this whole situation invisible and avoid any trouble, OK?”

Where might you be in this familiar story, on this familiar day in the year of the church? Chances are, we are not strangers to coming to church on Palm Sunday. Instead of our merely letting this Scripture roll past us, find yourself in its drama. If you must, shroud yourself under the cloak of invisibility so as to avoid being seen, but come. Come!

Are you those disciples, those followers, sent to return with the colt? What is your conversation on the way to get it? How nervous were you when you dared to repeat the instructions Jesus gave you: The Lord needs it? How surprised were you when, upon those words, you were able to take it so easily? Were you surprised that it went so smoothly? Relieved, maybe? Where are you along the road? Who put down their cloak first? Is that yours making the saddle, or is it on the road? Chances are, you don’t have much: is part of you wondering if you just got swept up into the mob mentality and volunteered a piece of clothing you can ill afford to sacrifice? How will you explain such devotion when you get home?

Maybe you have been safely been keeping quiet for weeks. You have heard about this Jesus – teacher, preacher, healer. Who IS he? What is he? Has your interest been secretly under a cloak of invisibility all along? Is that where it is still, or have you found yourself in the midst of today’s cheering, chanting the Psalms?

How high is your anxiety in this moment? Have you had enough of this display and find yourself among those preferring Jesus keep under wraps, for fear of trouble?

Wherever you are in the story, here you are…

To those insisting that today’s scene be silenced under a cloak of invisibility, the Jesus of Luke continues referring to the Hebrew Testament. Quoting Habakkuk, Jesus frustrates the naysayers by pointing out how hopeless it would be to think they could be stopped. If the voices of the faithful ceased shouting, the stones would take up the cause in their place. “Bring it on,” Jesus says. Justice, love and mercy will not give domination the final say. To do God’s will is a commitment that will not tolerate injustice. Life sometimes demands us to speak up for what is just. It is not always easy. In fact, in most cases, it is decidedly challenging. Still, life challenges us to take a stand.

I was witness to such a moment this week when word spread that my town’s Board of Education was leaning toward terminating Kate’s gymnastics team. Within 24 hours, people mobilized. Calls were made. Many of us confronted the Board with determination, tenacity, and conviction, none more moving than the young women themselves. Life demands we step out from under the safety of the cloak of invisibility.

We know this Gospel story. We know what happens. Within days, those who herald Jesus will have abandoned him. Within days, those who chant his praises will turn on him. Within days, those whose cloaks lined today’s streets will shrink back under their cloaks of invisibility. As we make our way, along this march of Holy Week and beyond, let us lift our voices in faith, even as we humbly acknowledge when we have let the stones speak for us.