April 10, 2022: Full to the Brim: Even the stones cry out
Full to the Brim: Even the Stones Cry Out
Luke 19:28-40 & Luke 23:13-25
April 10, 2022
Palm Sunday / Passion Sunday
Rev. Rhonda Blevins
After he had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. When he had come near Bethphage and Bethany, at the place called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of the disciples, saying, “Go into the village ahead of you, and as you enter it you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ just say this, ‘The Lord needs it.’” So those who were sent departed and found it as he had told them. As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the colt?” They said, “The Lord needs it.” Then they brought it to Jesus; and after throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. As he rode along, people kept spreading their cloaks on the road. As he was now approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen, saying, “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!
Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven!” Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, order your disciples to stop.” He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.”
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Pilate then called together the chief priests, the leaders, and the people, and said to them, “You brought me this man as one who was perverting the people; and here I have examined him in your presence and have not found this man guilty of any of your charges against him. Neither has Herod, for he sent him back to us. Indeed, he has done nothing to deserve death. I will therefore have him flogged and release him.” Then they all shouted out together, “Away with this fellow! Release Barabbas for us!” (This was a man who had been put in prison for an insurrection that had taken place in the city, and for murder.) Pilate, wanting to release Jesus, addressed them again; but they kept shouting, “Crucify, crucify him!” A third time he said to them, “Why, what evil has he done? I have found in him no ground for the sentence of death; I will therefore have him flogged and then release him.” But they kept urgently demanding with loud shouts that he should be crucified; and their voices prevailed. So Pilate gave his verdict that their demand should be granted. He released the man they asked for, the one who had been put in prison for insurrection and murder, and he handed Jesus over as they wished.
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Dr. Bruce Banner was a genius in the field of bioscience. He focused his studies on the effects of gamma radiation on humans. A general with the United States army became interested in Banner’s work, and without Banner’s consent, channeled Banner’s research to develop weaponry for the military. When Banner decided to test this research on himself, something profound and terrifying happened—he transformed into a green behemoth that we know as “The Incredible Hulk.”
“The Hulk” is kind of a modern-day Jekyll and Hyde story. Bruce Banner is a diminutive, mild-mannered, brilliant scientist. His alter-ego, The Hulk, is massive, rage-fueled, and barely able to string together two words.
In the beginning, the uncontrollable Hulk manifests against Banner’s will. When Banner becomes angry or stressed, he transforms into the green beast, destroying whatever clothes Banner is wearing at the time (save for the top of his pants to keep it rated PG). The Hulk destroys more than Banner’s clothes—he wrecks things and hurts people. But as time goes on, Banner learns more about himself. Banner discovers what his triggers are. And by the time Marvel brought The Avengers to the big screen, Banner can control the appearance of his alter-ego, and the Hulk becomes a powerful force for good.
Dr. Bruce Banner and The Incredible Hulk represent two natures inside of one man. The mild-mannered scientist is the way Banner wants to appear in the world, but there’s a part of him that is big, green, ugly and mean. It’s a repressed part, but it’s there nonetheless.
The Apostle Paul noticed two natures inside of himself—two seemingly competing desires within one man. Here’s what he wrote about that in Romans 7:15-23 (Message):
What I don’t understand about myself is that I decide one way, but then I act another, doing things I absolutely despise. So if I can’t be trusted to figure out what is best for myself and then do it, it becomes obvious that God’s command is necessary.
But I need something more! For if I know the law but still can’t keep it, and if the power of sin within me keeps sabotaging my best intentions, I obviously need help! I realize that I don’t have what it takes. I can will it, but I can’t do it. I decide to do good, but I don’t really do it; I decide not to do bad, but then I do it anyway. My decisions, such as they are, don’t result in actions. Something has gone wrong deep within me and gets the better of me every time.
It happens so regularly that it’s predictable. The moment I decide to do good, sin is there to trip me up. I truly delight in God’s commands, but it’s pretty obvious that not all of me joins in that delight. Parts of me covertly rebel, and just when I least expect it, they take charge.
—Romans 7:15-23 (The Message)
Do you ever feel this way? Like you know what you should do, how you should think, what you should say, but other thoughts and words and actions are so . . . tempting?
Just this week my mom and I were talking about something, we were exploring options about how to handle a situation, and I was conflicted. Someone had been ugly to my mom, and it’s one of those things where I felt like: “you can mess with me, but you’d better not mess with my mama!” I recognized these two natures at work in me. I recalled cartoons from when I was growing up in which an angel would appear on one shoulder of a character, representing the “good/nice/kind” thing, and a little devil in a red suit with a pitchfork appearing on the other shoulder representing the “bad/mean/ugly” thing. I felt this tension rise up in me between good and evil. I told my mom, “There’s an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other!” (True to form, my mom asked “what’s the devil telling you to do?”)
There’s a Dr. Bruce Banner and an Incredible Hulk inside each of us.
Why all this talk about the Hulk and two natures inside us on Palm Sunday? Well, the Hulk is green, and so are palm leaves (but that’s not why!) Here’s the real reason: in the stories we read each year on Palm Sunday and Good Friday, there are seemingly two crowds with competing natures: one that shouts “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”, and another crowd that shouts, “Crucify him!”
What’s up with this crowd?
One explanation (the explanation I’ve grown to prefer over the past few years) is that the two crowds were composed of two different sets of people. The thought is that the majority of Jesus’ followers were there in the Palm Sunday crowd. They were not, however, in the Good Friday crowd because they had celebrated Passover with their respective families. If you recall, Jesus was arrested late Thursday night after the Passover meal and tried under the cloak of darkness, walked to Calvary in the morning. The Good Friday crowd was asked Friday morning whether to release Jesus or Barabbas. Most of Jesus’ followers were completely unaware of what was happening. Jesus’ closest followers, his disciples, had scattered for fear after his arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane. It seems plausible the violent revolutionary, Barabbas, had followers too. It is entirely possible that the followers of Barabbas were there in the Good Friday crowd, demanding his release: “Release to us Barabbas! This makes the most logical sense to me.
The traditional way to look at this text, however, is to assume that the “crowd” is the same crowd on Palm Sunday and on Good Friday, and that this crowd changed their thinking between Sunday and Friday. The same people shouted “Hosanna!” on Sunday and “Crucify him!” on Friday. If this is the case, either this crowd suffers from multiple personality disorder, or the angel on the shoulder wins out on Sunday and the devil on Friday.
With either interpretation, my point today remains the same: we can find ourselves in both crowds.
We recognize that there are two “crowds”—two competing natures inside each of us. We each have in within ourselves:
· From Marvel: Bruce Banner and the Incredible Hulk
· From the Apostle Paul: God and sin
· From cartoons: An angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other
· From Holy Week: A “Hosanna!” and a “Crucify him!”
So what do we do with this information . . . this recognition of two natures inside of us?
Here are some options:
· Give in to the “devil” on your shoulder. Let your inner Hulk run wild. Let the sin nature win out. That’s an option (though not one I recommend because it runs counter to our faith.)
· Stuff down the “devil” on your shoulder. Don’t let your inner Hulk ever come out. Push that sin nature down and pretend it doesn’t exist. Lock it up and throw away the key. A lot of Christians, in trying to be “good,” repress their beast, but this is terribly unhealthy. The repressed beast tends to find a way out . . . and it’s usually pretty ugly: a quick temper, judgmentalism, greed, bad habits, substance abuse, even deviant behavior.
· Bring along the “devil” on your shoulder. Notice and identify the Hulk . . . the beast within. Accept the fact that it’s there. Name it. Psychologists sometimes call this “shadow work,” a term coined by Carl Jung. Shadow work helps you integrate and accept all parts of yourself. The idea is that if you do this “shadow work,” you can thrive—you can live more freely with greater authenticity.
It seems that the Apostle Paul was doing some “shadow work” in the passage from Romans I read. Acknowledging the presence of his own beast and not trying to hide it from those he wanted to influence (the recipients of the letter in the church at Rome). Shadow work is happening every time someone sits over in classroom three and says, “Hello, my name is John and I’m an alcoholic.” No pretense, no stuffing down the beast with that introduction! Wouldn’t it be awesome if we were all that honest? If we walked around with the “devil” on our shoulder obvious all? “Hello, my name is Rhonda. Meet my devil, Roxy. She likes to cuss sometimes, and drink a little bourbon. And other things, but oh my, look at the time.”
University of Virginia psychologist Jonathan Haidt offers an analogy to help us understand our two natures—the rider and the elephant. We each have a rider and an elephant in us. The rider is akin to Bruce Banner or the “angel”—representing rational thinking, analytical planning, evidence-based decision-making. The elephant is like the Hulk or the “devil.” The elephant is our emotions, acting instinctually—sometimes staying put, sometimes backing away, or sometimes charging when stressed or triggered. The elephant’s actions are like automatic pilot—the part of the brain that chooses to eat the ice cream even after the rider decides to go on a diet. The rider holds the reigns and seemingly leads the elephant. But the elephant is a six-ton beast. The wise rider must find a way to motivate the elephant, appealing to some felt need the elephant has. Otherwise, the elephant can go wild, and overpower the rider at any given moment. But the elephant, when motivated and directed, can aid the rider in getting the rider where he or she wants to go.
Bruce Banner, through shadow work, discovers that the Hulk within can be called upon as a force for good in battling evil.
Back to finding ourselves in both the Palm Sunday and the Good Friday crowds.
When we acknowledge that we can shout “Hosanna!” in one moment and “Crucify him” the next, we move through this world with more humility and authenticity. We recognize that we can act ways both helpful and harmful. And, and this is the tricky part, even our sin nature can be used by God to accomplish God’s purposes. Let me explain.
Without the crowd crying “Crucify him!” Jesus may have been set free instead of Barabbas. What then? The story of Jesus and God’s redeeming love might have been lost for decades, centuries, millennia. Who knows?
God used both crowds . . . the one shouting “Hosanna!” as well as the one shouting “Crucify him!” to accomplish God’s purpose of redemption.
Knowing this, that God can use us whether we’re shouting “Hosanna!” or “Crucify him,” we no longer have to live in shame. We can look our beast in the eye, grow comfortable knowing that just like the Apostle Paul, we have a sin nature that causes us to do things our rational, faithful selves may eschew.
God redeems us anyway.
Not the just good parts of ourselves we show to the world. But our shadow selves too. The ugly parts we hope no one ever sees.
This is how we become a part of the unfolding story of God’s redeeming work in the world! Were we all “angels” all of the time, Christ’s work would be in vain. God’s love and redemption covers us—every despised, secret, hidden, repressed part of us.
What are you hiding? God redeems that too.
On Friday, we will shout “Crucify him!” But today is Sunday. Today we shout, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” Why? Because we know, in our bones, that we get to be a part of this unfolding, cosmic story of reconciliation! God redeems us on Palm Sunday, on Good Friday, on every day of every year, our angel and our devil, our rider and our elephant, our Bruce Banner and our Incredible Hulk. Thanks be to God!
So shut up, stones! You don’t need to cry out. Because we’re doing our part to shout our praise. Shut up, stones! We got this.