by Danielle Shroyer
New Testament Reading: Revelation 7:9-17
For Sunday, April 21, 2013: Year C—Easter 4
I know it’s a long-standing Christian tradition to bring out palm branches for Palm Sunday, but honestly, this scene from Revelation is much closer to the victorious celebration we envision than the one that happened on the streets of Jerusalem in the gospels.
What are you waving for?
For starters, the crowd that is gathered in John’s vision is a crowd with clear motives. They are not there for some sort of popularity parade. They’re not gearing up for an uprising. They’re not counting the days until their enemies get their just deserts. They are not hanging their hopes on the Lamb of God being the next political ruler. They know exactly who they are worshipping. They know what happened after the parade (Calvary), and then what happened after that (Easter). They are worshipping the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help them God.
Traditional Palm Sunday ought to include a footnote to remind us that their waving of branches was a little “off” to say the least. It’s not an action that hits us clear between the eyes, so to speak. There was a lot going on with the people in that street, and most of it had very little to do with what would actually happen to Jesus in the days to follow. They were waving for victory, but it was a victory they wanted for themselves rather than the victory God would give them.
Third Time’s a Charm
The vision in Revelation is actually the third time palm branches are waved in the biblical story. The first happens in the apocryphal books of Maccabees during the rededication of the Temple (1 Macc. 13:51, 2 Macc. 10:6). After Antiochus Epiphanes, the Seleucid ruler, outlawed Jewish religious practice, a revolt began. Antiochus did a number of things to desecrate the Temple, which only escalated things further. The Maccabees eventually prevailed, and as they marched into Jerusalem to reclaim and cleanse their Temple, they waved palm branches in victory. It was a military victory, one that celebrated the end of persecution, not to mention cruel and grotesque defamation of their religious traditions.
Even if this scene isn’t readily paralleled to Palm Sunday in our own minds, it certainly would have been to the people in the streets that day. And both of these scenes should come to mind when we read this vision in Revelation.
So, To Summarize...
The palm parade for the Maccabees was one of military victory, which gave them religious freedom. The palm parade for Jesus was one of anticipated military victory, which would give them religious power. In Revelation, the palm parade is the culmination of God’s promise from Genesis on, Abraham’s blessed and gathered family from every nation and tribe, standing before the throne of God.
Here we see a beautiful vision of the fullness of God with God’s people—salvation, the river of life, no more hunger or thirst, no more tears. If ever there was a victory scene to trump all victory scenes, it wouldn’t be the one in Maccabees or in the gospels. It would be this one. Hands down (and palms up)!
If palm branches should be waved for anything, this is surely it.
The Hardest Question
So I’m wondering: Why do we only bring out the palm branches on the event where it makes the least sense?
Danielle Shroyer is the Pastor of Journey Church in Dallas, TX. She is the author of The Boundary-Breaking God: An Unfolding Story of Hope and Promise (Jossey-Bass, 2009) and blogs at www.danielleshroyer.com. Danielle lives with her husband, two children, and two wild and crazy dogs in Dallas.
