Sunday Service: 29 March 2026 Palm Sunday
PALM SUNDAY
A worship service was held at 10.30am in the church on Sunday 29 March. The service will simultaneously broadcast on the Church Facebook page. For the next 4 weeks, you can watch the catch-up video here.
The Bible passage was Matthew 21:1-11 and Duncan led and preached.
Palm Sunday, when we remember Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey as a crowd acclaimed his arrival. Meanwhile, entering the city on the other side was the Governor Pontius Pilate, symbol of Roman domination. He came accompanied by a procession of Roman soldiers, to remind citizens who was in control, and to nip in the bud any potential uprisings during the Passover Festival.
John writes: Duncan took as his text Matthew 21:10 from the New Revised Standard Version:
When he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in turmoil, asking, “Who is this?”
The city was in turmoil! Duncan’s sermon explored the thought that Jesus both comes into situations of turmoil, and in some sense brings turmoil with him. Do listen on catch-up – the sermon starts at 34:30 in.
I guess Jesus brings turmoil to Jerusalem because he stands in contrast to the oppressive regime of power-hungry Rome, and presents a different way of being, focussed on humility, love and service. He presents those in the city with an implicit choice: will they seek freedom through mimicking the power of Rome and taking up arms, or through embracing the quiet, costly revolution of the Prince of Peace?
It seems that the source of turmoil specifically mentioned in the text is the turmoil occasioned by Jesus himself. They were asking ‘Who is this?’ Who rides into Jerusalem on a donkey of all things? What’s this man’s agenda? What’s his game?’
Each Easter, we share the great story of humility, death, resurrection. It’s a story with the potential to turn lives upside down as we encounter for the first time or the thousandth time the identity of Jesus and the miracle of Easter Sunday. He is the one we follow and love.
One of the reasons we experience turmoil as we stand watching the Palm Sunday procession is that we face a choice. ‘Will I commit myself to this man and his agenda? Will I take a stand with him against the misuse of power, against pride and arrogance and self-seeking? Will I humble myself and identify with this Jesus whom I believe identified with me in his death and resurrection?’
It’s also the case that Jesus came into a city where there was turmoil, under Roman oppression. And he did not flinch from the conflict, but embraced it fearlessly, passively resisting it and taking a stand for truth and light, confident in his identity as the unique son of God.
And in this he models our task of going out into conflicted situations – in church, family, community, workplace, nation, world and taking a stand for Love, conscious of our identity in Jesus as God’s children. Is there some situation of conflict which we are avoiding, which we feel we should be addressing? What would it mean to us to follow Jesus’ example, riding gently into the turmoil?
But sometimes, the turmoil is in our own hearts, the turmoil of pain, sorrow, sadness. Jesus seems very far away. There is no triumphal palm-waving procession. Martha and Mary grieved while Jesus inexplicably delayed coming to them after the death of their brother Lazarus. In the end, he came, and wept with them and then restored Lazarus to life. ‘In our turmoil of spirit, Lord Jesus, we look out for your arrival. Bring us we pray, peace, healing, forgiveness, reassurance. Remind us that you are Lord of Life.’
And finally, Jesus brings us hope in an age of turmoil. A quiet, assured hope that Light will triumph, that peace will come, that there will be an end of evil, that there will be dancing in the streets of a new, spiritual city, and dancing in the streets of a re-created world. And it is this hope, and the Jesus in whom it is rooted which inspires us to live faithfully as children of light and peace.
