Palm Sunday 2024

A Sermon from the Church of  

Bethesda-by-the-Sea in Palm Beach, Florida

Preached by the Rev. Timothy E. Schenck on March 24, 2024 (Palm Sunday)

There’s an old blues standard written by the late great T-Bone Walker called Stormy Monday. If you’re a fan of the blues, as I am, you surely know it. It’s been covered by everyone from B.B. King to the Allman Brothers, Etta James to Muddy Waters. Stormy Monday’s been ringing in my ears this week as we begin our journey into Holy Week, and prepare to walk the way of the cross.  Because dark storm clouds are forming on the horizon. As we hear and participate in the story of our Lord’s Passion, a sense of foreboding has arisen in the midst of our Palm Sunday celebration. The events of the coming week have been set in motion. 

One of the hallmarks of the blues, and certainly Stormy Monday, is the concept of the blue note. Musically speaking, it’s a note that goes lower than what you might expect based on the standard scale. So it stands out. In the hands of an old blues master the blue note is arresting, sounding a note of melancholy even in the midst of an upbeat melody.

On Palm Sunday, the Passion gospel provides a liturgical blue note, as the entire tone of our worship shifts from the euphoria of “Hosanna!” to the agony of “Crucify!” One moment we’re waving our palms and participating in a parade, and the next we’re confronting our complicity in the death of our Lord. 

The thing is, the Christian faith is not ultimately about pomp and circumstance, and public displays. It’s not about big crowds cheering on the arrival of a celebrity. It’s about the transformation of lives. It’s about God’s love moving hearts and changing the world. Faith is not merely performative; it’s personal. And the story of the crucifixion embedded within our worship serves as a stark reminder of this.

The blue note has sounded, storm clouds have gathered, an element of foreboding has been introduced. And we can’t go back. We can’t pretend we didn’t hear it. Because beneath the exuberance and jubilation of the Palm Sunday procession, lies an undercurrent of sorrow and sacrifice, of suffering and sadness. Joy and sorrow coexist on this day, as they so often do in our own lives.

And this blue note sets the tone for all that follows in the week ahead. The emotion, the intensity, the opportunity to walk with Jesus through his last days. Things have shifted. And the events that lead to the redemption of the world will rapidly unfold, both here at Bethesda and throughout the world. 

In music, the blue note also evokes a sense of yearning, a longing to once again be made whole. And for us, Christ’s passion isn’t merely something to push past on the way to our Easter celebration. Hope is embedded within the agony of the cross. For it is through the cross of Jesus that we emerge a people forgiven and loved. Not for anything we’ve done or achieved, but simply because we have been marvelously made in God’s image. 

I encourage you to embrace the fullness of the Christian story this week. Come to the liturgies of Holy Week — especially if you’ve never participated in them before. Allow yourself to be transported and transformed by your relationship with Jesus Christ. We can’t live parade to parade, Palm Sunday to Easter Day, without acknowledging the blue note of our Lord’s passion. And recognizing that only by walking through it, rather than around it, can we fully embrace the meaning of the resurrection celebration that is to come.