Let us ignore for a moment the fact that Palm Sunday is a fairly misunderstood holiday. (The crowds at the triumphal entry were cheering Jesus on as a nationalistic savior, clearly misunderstanding him and worshiping him as something he wasn’t. This makes children’s Palm Sunday parades kind of ironic as part of our worship services.) I have two stories about Palm Sunday.
Story #1
Because I teach 3rd grade Sunday school, I got to participate in the Palm Sunday parade. We have about an 4-1 ratio of boys to girls in our class, so things are always high energy in our room. But today was particularly rowdy, even before the palm branches were passed out. When we did get our palm branches, I went around and tried to get the kids into it. A lot of kids are shy and not that enthusiastic when they walk through the adult worship service. So, I went around and made sure my kids would “wave it like they mean it!” We all practiced waving our branches in big, sweeping motions over our heads, instead of just shaking it a little down by our sides. We were all lined up in the hall way, and I was getting the kids psyched up to go upstairs to the main worship service. The energy, and therefore noise, was high. But it was for a good cause, we were going to honor Jesus the King.
Then, the 2nd graders came out to the hallway, and one of the 2nd grade teachers did not enjoy our enthusiasm. I don’t think she saw that I was the one stirring up the kids, so she yelled out, “Boys and girls! In second grade we talked about why we are doing this. We are doing this to worship Jesus. And that means you have to calm down and be quiet!”
It took a lot of effort for me not to yell back, “You are in for a rude awakening in the Kingdom, lady! I have a feeling the worship is going to be pretty loud.” Or even quote Jesus at her, since when someone told his students to shut up on Palm Sunday, he said: “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.” (Luke 19:40)
Story #2
After the parade, I was teaching table time. I was telling the story of the triumphal entry. I told the kids how not everyone was happy that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. I told them how the Pharisees wanted the people to stop cheering. And how Jesus refused to stop his disciples from celebrating. In the course of the story, I was paraphrasing Jesus and said, “Jesus said, ‘I’m not going to tell my followers to shut up. If they shut up, the rocks will worship me!’” That was a mistake. As soon as I said, “Shut up!” The kids all gasped and one kid said, “He said the S-Word!” And to think, their Sunday School teacher didn’t just say the S-Word, but Jesus did.
