On Palm Sunday we celebrate again the triumphal entry, the day when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, as the crowds shouted, Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! But did they get what they were expecting? For we know that Jesus was later arrested, tried and executed by the Roman authorities. And we know that there were those who saw him still alive on Easter. If he was the Messiah, he seems not to have been the one they were expecting. But then again, Jesus was never quite what his followers were expecting. He was a teacher, but with a startling teaching, a prophet, but with a challenging message. Some said he was the Messiah, but how so? At the Garden Church we remember that he ate with everyone, even with the outcast and despised, he healed when he wasn't supposed to, and touched the untouchable. Since then empires have come and gone. Revolutions have come and gone. Oppressors have come and gone. Liberators have come and gone. We have had war and peace, droughts, floods, whirlwinds, wildfires, earthquakes, eruptions, famine and plague. In fact, we have experienced all of these since Palm Sunday 2020. And yet, this Sunday we will again shout with joy, Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! But I pray this time with the wisdom and humility to realize that we might not be able to anticipate how That One will appear to us. We do, however, have a hint as to where to look. Two of his followers on Easter afternoon saw Jesus in the breaking of the bread. Join us this Sunday as we break bread together, and rejoice in the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessings, Rev. Jonathan
