A homily delivered at Open Table, St John Waterloo on Sunday 13 April 2025 on the Palm Gospel (Luke 19:28-40, Jesus’s Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem).
Opening Prayer: Loving God, we gather today as your beloved people, fearfully and wonderfully made. As we remember Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, fill our hearts with your radical love. Let us hear the voices in this story not only with our ears, but with our lives. Speak to us now, that we might follow Christ in courage, compassion, and justice. Amen.
In Luke’s version of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, there’s a unique moment that stands out. It’s different from the other Gospels. Yes, there’s a colt. Yes, there’s a crowd. But Luke doesn’t mention palm branches or the word “Hosanna”.
Instead, there’s something else—something powerful.
As Jesus rides in, the people begin to shout with joy:
“Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven!”
And then the Pharisees, some of the religious leaders, tell Jesus to quiet his disciples:
“Teacher, order your disciples to stop.”
And what does Jesus say?
“I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.”
“If these were silent, the stones would shout out.”
And he says that because it’s not just about volume, it’s about truth.
It’s about the kind of truth that can’t be silenced, not by fear, not by shame, not even by systems of power that try to suppress it.
This moment in Luke’s Gospel is all about who gets to lift their voice, and who tries to silence them.
Sound familiar?
Throughout history, the voices of the marginalised have often been told to be quiet.
We know that don’t we? It’s probably been said to everyone here this evening:
- “Don’t speak up.”
- “Don’t be too loud.”
- “Don’t be too gay.”
- “Don’t be too different.”
- “Don’t mention your race or your gender or your disability.”
- “Don’t talk about justice in church.”
- “Don’t question the rules.”
But Jesus says, no. Let them speak.
- Let them cry out.
- Let them celebrate.
- Let them testify.
Because this is a moment of truth, and truth cannot stay silent—not even if the people were quiet. Jesus says the stones would shout out. That even creation itself longs for liberation.
For many of us in the LGBTQ+ community, we know what it feels like to be told to be quiet.
To be told our love or our gender is “too much.”
That our truth is “controversial.”
That our existence is “a distraction” from the Gospel.
But Jesus says: our voice matters.
Our praise matters.
Our witness to joy and justice and love—it matters.
And if someone tries to silence us, the earth itself will rise up in our defence.
Palm Sunday is not just a joyful parade – it’s a protest. It’s a public declaration that something new is coming, something rooted in love, peace, and equity.
And it’s loud.
Loud enough that the powerful get uncomfortable.
And let’s not forget how Jesus enters the city: not on a warhorse, not in a chariot, but on a borrowed donkey.
It’s a reminder that God’s power doesn’t always show up the way the conventional world expects.
- God’s power looks like compassion.
- God’s power looks like choosing the way of peace.
- God’s power looks like riding into the heart of danger, surrounded by misfits and dreamers and outcasts, and refusing to be afraid.
Sound familiar?
I think that’s our story too.
When we show up fully as ourselves – when we love boldly, speak truthfully, and live without shame – we are following Jesus into the heart of the city, into the heart of systems that say, you don’t belong here.
And we say, Oh yes we do.
And if we’re told to be silent, remember—we’ve got the stones, the very earth we stand on, in our corner.
Today, we wave palm crosses. We shout our praises. And we remember that what we celebrate today is not just a parade: it was the beginning of a movement.
A movement of courage.
A movement of truth.
A movement of people the world tried to silence, rising up in joy and saying:
“Blessed is the One who comes in the name of the Lord!”
And for us here at Open Table, we are part of that movement. We are LGBTQ+ Christians and allies who know God’s love and can embrace that blessing and proclaim proudly that
- Blessed are the queer ones.
- Blessed are the trans ones.
- Blessed are the survivors.
- Blessed are the allies.
- Blessed are the brokenhearted.
- Blessed are the dreamers.
- Blessed are you.
- Blessed are we, us, all of us, together.
So let’s raise our voices.
Raise our truth.
Raise our heart.
and proclaim that Jesus is our saviour, that we are all beloved children of God, no matter what others may think.
Amen.
C. E. Lord OBE 