Brief synopsis of the readings: The readings for Palm (or Passion) Sunday are long. We begin with Luke’s account of Jesus entering Jerusalem shortly before Passover and instructing his disciples to find a tethered colt and bring it to him. Jesus mounted the colt and rode into Jerusalem while his disciples chanted: “Blessings on the King who comes, in the name of the Lord!” Some of the Pharisees asked Jesus to rebuke his disciples but Jesus replied that even if his disciples were silent the stones would the stones would cry out. After that we have a reading from Isaiah where he (Isaiah) proclaims that God has given him the ability to speak, to hear, and to endure physical trauma. Finally we have Luke’s account of Jesus’ Passion. It begins with Jesus at the Last Supper consecrating the bread and wine. But he then states that one of those at the table will betray him. His disciples began to wonder who that was but it soon devolved into a dispute about which of them was the greatest. Jesus scolded them over this and told them that the greatest of them will be the one who serves the others. He then tells Simon Peter that he will deny Jesus three times by sunrise. Judas then arrived with the chief priests who arrest him and take him to high priest’s house. There someone recognized Peter as a disciple of Jesus but Peter denied knowing Jesus (three times). Jesus was then taken to the Roman official Pilate who condemned him to death. Jesus was then crucified between two criminals.

Most preachers, in a moment of candor, will talk about the difficulty of preaching the different liturgies of Holy Week. It’s not for the lack of content: it’s because there’s too much content. The events of Passion Sunday, Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter give us details that are both specific and well read. Jesus rides into Jerusalem. A few days later he celebrates Passover with his disciples and predicts that Peter will deny him. Peter promises he will do no such thing. Later that night he went out and prayed while his disciples slept. Then Judas showed up with authorities who arrested Jesus. During the night Peter does, indeed, betray Jesus. Jesus then appears before Pilate who reluctantly sentences him to death. Jesus is crucified the next day between two criminals and his body is taken to a tomb and buried.

So where do we begin? I suggest this year that we focus on Jesus and what he expected to happen when he rode into Jerusalem. Did he know about Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday? Did it go according to his plan or did it spin out of control for him?

This side of salvation we’ll never know but I believe that Jesus deliberately chose a few “throw downs,” knowing his actions could not be ignored.

The Romans who occupied Jerusalem could overlook many things, including their worship of a single God, but on no level would they tolerate anything that even hinted at insurrection. And yet Jesus allowed, and even encouraged, his disciples to chant that Jesus was their King. When the Pharisees asked Jesus to rebuke them they did this out of fear that the Romans would use this as justification for persecution. They had a point but Jesus refused.

We don’t read about it this year but in Matthew’s Gospel (Mt 21:12-13) Jesus soon entered the Temple and threw down against the Jews. Jews who came to Jerusalem for generations exchanged Roman coins for Temple coins and used that currency to purchase animals to sacrifice. It fulfilled Jewish requirements that they carry no graven images (the Roman Emperor’s likeness was on Roman coins) and sacrifice animals (according to you wealth). All Jews took that as a given.

But Jesus disrupted this with violence and clearly angered the Jews who depended on this commerce for their livelihood and the learned Jews who decided that his commerce was allowed by the law.

The late civil rights activist and Congressman John Lewis often spoke about “good trouble” and he experienced it first hand. In 1965 he ignored an order to disperse while on a civil rights march. He was beaten by the police and suffered a fractured skull.

Realistically none of us are going to have our skulls fractured by our courageous actions and none of us will be crucified but I think there are times in our lives when we are called to “good trouble.” There are times when we are called not to be Peter. Peter’s denial was public but I think he hoped he would “fade into the background” and find safety

Do we ever want to “slip into the background? I think so. I used to work for a agency that was well led and incredibly successful. It was a good place to work. But a change in leadership led to a downward spiral that ended in bankruptcy its demise. Those few of us left were offered positions in another agency. But that agency was poorly led from its first day and soon many of us talked about which managers had “drunk the Kool Aid.” A few of us became a thorn in their side and were told in subtle and not so subtle ways that we needed to shut up. Fortunately that agency went out of business before they could fire us.

I tell this not to brag but to acknowledge that it’s hard to cause good trouble. Some of my coworkers counseled me to shut up but others quietly agreed but refused to speak up out of fear. In the end all of us lost our jobs but some of us could look back recognizing that the agency’s demise was not our fault. Instead, had we been listened to we could save the agency.

In fairness Peter later redeemed himself and we now revere him as our first Pope. But I wish he had the courage of Jesus or John Lewis to cause good trouble.

As we enter Holy Week and look forward to the resurrection of our Lord, let us pray for the courage to cause good trouble.