“Palm Protest”

Palm Sunday

March 29, 2026

Mark 11:1-11

As I was making my signs for yesterday’s No Kings protest, I began to wonder what the people of Israel would have written if they had held signs instead of palms. So, I googled it. Illustrated Ministry didn’t fail me. They had lots of sign options, but one created specifically for today. It said, “Hosanna, Save Us From…” Duh. Of course that’s what their signs would have said. Because that what the people were saying. “Hosanna!” Which means, “Lord, save us!” So, I printed the signs. Several are in the Atrium for your own creative ideas. I put several up here, as well.

We have, “Save us from…Despair, Oppression, Greed, Sin, Hunger, etc.” What am I missing? What should our signs say as we gather around Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem?

My colleague was telling us how one of her confirmation students asked her, “What’s the deal with Palm Sunday? Like, what difference does it make? What does it mean?” Naturally, kids are better at asking the questions we’re all thinking but are too afraid to ask. What IS the deal with Palm Sunday?

So, my colleague came up with a great analogy. We’re currently in basketball playoffs. I know—sore subject. So, let’s talk about state basketball. And imagine that two teams come into town to face off. The first team comes from a well-funded school. They have the newest jerseys and shoes, high-end coaches and fancy buses. They have the tallest players, all members of club basketball all year round. They play rough and likely have the refs in their pockets.

And there’s another team that rolls into town. They’re from a small school. Half their coaches are volunteer. They spend more time playing street ball on outdoor courts, often inviting little kids to play with them rather than just watch. They have one star player who is humble and kind. They just enjoying playing together and have somehow managed to get this far.

The first team sees the second team show up in their old yellow bus. Their whole little town has followed them here, showing their simple but joyous school spirit. And the first team scoffs. Look at them. They’re a mess! But they do have this star player. All we need to do is take him out, and we’ll have the game in the bag. They just need to get him off alone and make sure he never makes it to another game—or another day.

Her student responded, “That’s cold, Pastor.” Yeah. But that’s how it was. That’s how it is. That’s the world without faith in something better than power.

Theologian Debie Thomas asks the question: What did Jesus accomplish on Palm Sunday? In response, she says, “It was the will of God that Jesus declare the coming of God’s kingdom. A kingdom of peace, a kingdom of justice, a kingdom of radical and universal freedom. A kingdom dramatically unlike the oppressive empire Jesus challenged on Palm Sunday.”

That’s what Jesus did. He flaunted the grace of God in the face of the Roman empire. Which became the final nail in his coffin, so to speak. She goes on, “He died because he unflinchingly fulfilled the will of God. He died because he exposed the ungracious sham at the heart of all human kingdoms, holding up a mirror that shocked his contemporaries at the deepest levels of their imaginations. Even when he knew that his vocation would cost him his life, he set his face ‘like flint’ towards Jerusalem. Even when he knew who’d get the last laugh at Calvary, he mounted a donkey and took Rome for a ride.”

The thing about Jesus is that people expected him to be a new king that would obliterate the Romans and take over as the reign of God. Except, he didn’t. Because his idea of a kingdom had nothing to do with hierarchy and blind obedience. Instead, as Ellen Jewett suggests in her article at usacatholic.org, “God is about family, relationships, and kin—not hierarchical structures and kings.” She points out that God’s reign turns our ideas of kings and leaders upside down. “Those who are oppressed are placed at the center, listened to, and are given say in their own liberation.”

Because no one is free until all are free. And we have a very long way to go.

But we begin with one foot in front of the other. We begin in worship over a newborn in a manger trough. And we walk the path that leads through healing and abundance, hope and blessings, release of captives and unbinding of death clothes. We walk the path that takes us to Jerusalem following a ragtag king on the back of a donkey. We walk the path in protest, crying “Hosanna, save us!” and “No Kings, Only Kin.” We walk to the foot of the cross, refusing to turn away as love dies. And we walk to the tomb carrying herbs and oils to anoint a body that is no longer there.

Because we walk the path of a God who defeats death and sin and hunger and greed and hate and fear and oppression and all the things that keep us bound. We walk the path that God has created—through the shadows of death, through the dangers of corruption and the temptations of self-indulgence. We walk the path trusting that God always goes with us, inspiring us to keep going. One foot in front of the other. One day at a time. One protest at a time. Ministering to one person at a time.

This is Jesus’ upside down kin-dom. You are welcome here. You are needed here. You are home here.

Pastor Tobi White

Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church

Lincoln, NE