The Rev. Jimmy Abbott
Palm Sunday
March 24, 2024
Mark 11:1-11, Mark 14:1-15:47

They say that expectation is the mother of resentment.¹ Expectation is the mother of resentment. That’s the dynamic that we just played out. With great expectation, the people of Jerusalem welcome Jesus on Palm Sunday. Joyfully, they welcome him as their king, their leader, their hope. They expect him to do what the kings of old had done; they expect him to gather the people, raise an army, fight the foreigners. They expect him to defeat their enemy – the hated Roman Empire.

But expectation is the mother of resentment. In the course of just a few days, the mood swings wildly, and suddenly the people are clamoring, “crucify him! Crucify him!” On Sunday they hail him as king, and by Friday they want his blood. Why? Because Jesus did not do what they expected him to do.

This is not simply a religious dynamic, it’s a deeply human one. We seem to be living through a period of resentment politics, don’t we? When our leaders don’t do what we expect them to do, we resent them. I see this in school, too. Parents and teachers expect this or that from each other. And when those expectations aren’t fulfilled, there is resentment. You expect your spouse to do the dishes, they don’t, and you resent them for it. Don’t tell me it hasn’t happened to you. Expectation is the mother of resentment. 

But it doesn’t has to be that way. See, what happened on Palm Sunday, what happens with our social issues, what happens in our relationships, is the same. Rather than listening to each other, we create our own delusional expectations. We don’t listen to what our kids’ teachers say, we expect our precious little ones to all be geniuses with perfect behavior. We don’t listen to what our leaders actually say, we listen to what the pundits say about them because that’s how we get our emotional fix. We don’t listen. We create our own expectations for other people.

Just as the people of Jerusalem didn’t listen to what Jesus was actually saying. Jesus never said that he planned to raise an army. Jesus never said that he would command troops against the Roman legions. But the people of Jerusalem didn’t hear that, because they weren’t listening to what Jesus actually said. Jesus said, if you live by the sword, you will die by the sword. Jesus said, take up the cross and follow me. Jesus said that he came to not to be served but to serve and give his own life as a ransom for many. Jesus said that he would be betrayed, suffer, and die. If only the people had listened, they would have known, their expectations would have been more accurate. They would have known that yes, Jesus came to fight their enemy, but that the true enemy was not the Roman Empire. The true enemies that Jesus has come to defeat are sin, loneliness, and death. It’s not so much that expectation is the mother of resentment – it’s that false expectation is the mother of resentment.

The key then, both to Palm Sunday and to healthier human relationships in the name of God, is to listen. Sure, we hear all the time, we don’t have ear-lids. But more often than not, we only hear what we want to hear. And that’s not listening.

This is why Peter refuses to acknowledge that he, too, will deny Jesus. This is why Judas decides to betray Jesus. This is why the crowd chooses Barabbas instead of Jesus. They have an expectation, it is does not come true, they’re resentful, and so they act bitterly.

But it doesn’t have to be that way. Palm Sunday shows us another path we could take. The centurion, the Roman soldier in charge of the execution, who listens to Jesus breathe his last, says, “truly this man was God’s Son.” The women also listen – Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary, and Salome all listened to Jesus – and they stayed with him to the end. Joseph of Arimathea, who had been expectantly waiting for the kingdom of God, he had listened to Jesus, too. All of them, the centurion, the women, Joseph – instead of coming with their own expectations, they listened to Jesus. And because of it, they were not resentful. They were faithful. And they are the heroes of Palm Sunday. 

So in the midst of all the noise and drama and passion of Palm Sunday; in the midst of all the noise and the talking past each other and the resentment in our lives; the message is simple – listen. Don’t listen to your social media feeds, don’t listen to the talking heads on cable news. Most especially, do not listen to the expectations that you create for other people. Those false expectations will only disappoint you, and hurt your relationships with them. Instead, listen to each other, even when it is uncomfortable. This is the key to fostering healthier human relationships. And listen to the Holy Spirit, who even now is speaking into your heart. This is the key to fostering a healthier relationship with God. Palm Sunday is both a warning and a hope. We don’t have to give in to our bitterness, we don’t have to be resentful. Better relationships are possible, a healthier civic life is possible, we can be gracious and empathetic and kind, opening wide our arms in a loving embrace as on the cross, if only we would listen to each other, and to the Lord Jesus. 

1.  Julian Treasure, “How to Speak so that People Will Want to Listen,” Great Courses. ↩︎