March 29, 2026

Indianola Presbyterian Church

" Strength in Numbers"
Sermon by Rev. Trip Porch

April 5, 2026                                                                                                                                    Based on Luke 19: 28-40  CEB

We have a way of telling history that I’d like to interrogate this morning.

We call it the Great Man theory, though of course it applies to people of all kinds, not just men.

The idea behind it is simple:
It’s the thinking that History only turns on the hinge of exceptional individuals.

Caesar.
Napoleon.
Martin Luther King Jr.
Albert Einstein.
Jesus.

The theory is less a strict rule and more a lens, a way of seeing the world. 

History unfolds as singular people
appear at singular moments and,
by the sheer force of their personality or their work or their vision or genius, they change everything.

It’s a compelling story. It’s how many of us unconsciously think about history.

It’s also not really how it works.

Martin Luther King Jr. did not march alone.

He was surrounded by Fannie Lou Hamer, by John Lewis, by Jesse Jackson, by Bayard Rustin, by Rosa Parks. The Montgomery Bus Boycott required tens of thousands of ordinary people to join in and walk to work for 381 days. No single person does that. That is a people deciding together that enough is enough.

When we flatten history into singular heroes, we do two things.

We make the past seem inevitable, like it was always going to happen because the right person showed up.

And we make the future seem impossible, like unless we are that kind of rare, once-in-a-generation person, we can’t be part of changing anything… so we all that’s left for ordinary folks to do, is hang around and wait.

Palm Sunday blows that story apart.

Because yes, Jesus is a particularly great figure. One of the most influential lives in human history. The one we declare not only rabbi, but messiah. 

But what would this day look like without the movement behind him? Without his disciples? Without the crowd?

Let’s slow down and look closer at what actually happens in Luke 19.

Its a pinnacle crescendo moment in Jesus’ ministry, something he’s been working towards all along… Building a following, gathering people together, and coming to Jerusalem, the seat of power, during the busiest part of the year… the Passover, when pilgrims from all over gather as well as all the authority figures, the religious leaders, the government leaders, and even Pilate, the representative of the roman empire, the highest earthly authority in their world.

And then there’s Jesus… this humble leader of the people’s movement, preaching a reordering of this world to better represent the kingdom of Heaven.

There’s a lot of coordinating to this day.
Jesus doesn’t just appear on a donkey. He sends two disciples ahead. “Go into the village,” he says. 

“You’ll find a colt tied there.”
This is deliberate and arranged. Someone in that village knows him. Someone left that colt where it could be found. There is already a network in place.

The disciples bring the colt. Others throw their cloaks on it. Jesus rides.

And then Luke tells us, “the whole multitude of disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice.”

Not a few. The whole multitude.

They have been watching. They have been following. They have seen the healings, the feedings, the teachings, the reversals. The way this man from Galilee kept insisting that the last would be first and the first would be last.

And now they are here, on the road into Jerusalem, and something in them knows this is the moment.

So they shout. “Hosanna, Save us!”

The same thing shouted to the roman emperors at their triumphal entries into a city.

It’s all a strategic dramatic display, all to provoke the leaders and cause a scene. And its all because there is strength in numbers. Here is where the people gather. 

Now here’s the question I want you to sit with:

What happens if they don’t?

What if the crowd isn’t there?
What if it’s just Jesus alone on a donkey, arriving quietly, with no one paying much attention?

A man on a borrowed donkey,
entering a city swollen with Passover pilgrims,
during one of the most politically tense weeks of the year, with no crowd, no shouts, no cloaks on the road?

That is not a statement. That is barely an errand.

The parade is the point.
The crowd is the sermon.

This whole scene is deliberately constructed to echo the arrival of a king, even as it subverts everything a king is supposed to be.

Kings come on warhorses, with armor, with soldiers.

Jesus comes on a donkey, with disciples, with shouts of praise to God.

Scholars like Marcus Borg imagine the two parades happening at the same time… as though across town there is another processional… the Roman governor Pontius Pilate entering Jerusalem from the other side of the city, with legions of soldiers, to remind the people who was in charge during Passover.

And here comes Jesus, from the opposite direction, with a borrowed donkey and a crowd of ordinary people making noise. This is a counter-procession. This is a protest.. This is an act of collective witness.

And it only works if people show up.

That’s what I want us to feel today.

Not just the boldness of Jesus, but also the courage of the crowd, to show up in the face of authority in this group effort to provoke the empire.

Because here’s the thing about that crowd: they are not naive.

They know how this could go. They have seen what happens to people who challenge Rome. Crucifixion. Public Execution.
And They know what crucifixion is for. It is not a private execution. It is a public warning. 

A message from empire that says: this is what we do to people who disturb our order.

And yet still they show up. And yet still they shout out.

They lay down their cloaks, which is not a trivial gesture. A cloak is one of the few things a poor person owns. You lay it down, you are putting your one good coat in the dirt for someone else to ride over.

That is solidarity in the most concrete sense.

They are saying… This is going to cost me something,
and I am doing it anyway,
because I believe in what we are doing together.

The Pharisees say, “Teacher, make them stop.”

And Jesus says, “even If they were silent, the stones would still cry out.”

This moment does not belong to him alone, its about more than Jesus.

Jesus is saying… even if the people didn’t show up, creation itself would take their place to shout out the truth.

If the crowd refuses, the truth will still demand a voice.

But notice what he doesn’t do.

He doesn’t silence them.
He doesn’t step forward and say, “This is about me.”
He doesn’t claim the spotlight.

He receives what they are doing.
He depends on it.

Jesus, the one we are used to placing at the center of everything, chooses to be part of something larger than himself, he defers glory to God, he defers power to the people.

And that’s what makes him so great.

Not that he stands above the crowd,
but that he stands with them.

Not that he does it all himself,
but that from the very beginning of his ministry to the very end, he is always gathering people, forming community, sending them out, trusting them, empowering them.

Again and again, he is saying:

You are part of this.
This does not happen without you.

And I can’t help but think about what we’ve seen in our own time, what we saw yesterday on streets around our country.

People gathering together in public spaces, showing up not because any one of them is “the one,” but because together they are refusing to be silent about the injustice people are experiencing at the hands of authority.

No single person carries that moment.

It only works because people show up. Because they lend their voices. Because they place themselves, quite literally, in the road.

So maybe the question isn’t:
are you great enough to change the world?

Because if that’s the question, most of us already know the answer.

Probably not.
And certainly not on our own.

And that’s the lie the Great Man story tells us.

It makes us feel that unless you are extraordinary,
unless you are uniquely gifted,
unless you are the kind of person history books remember—

you don’t really matter.

You are not enough.

But Palm Sunday tells a different story.

It tells us that the moment doesn’t happen without the crowd.
That the procession falls apart without ordinary people showing up.
That even Jesus chooses not to go it alone.

Which means maybe the good news is this:

Even if you feel you are not enough… by yourself, maybe its because you were never meant to be.

Because together,
a group of people who each feel a little unsure,
a little underqualified,
a little like what we have to offer isn’t quite enough—

together, that becomes something else entirely.

A pile of cloaks becomes a road.
Scattered voices become a chorus.
A handful of disciples becomes a multitude.

That’s the kind of “good enough” we are talking about.

Not perfection.
Not individual greatness.

But participation in community.

Showing up with what you have.
Adding your voice to the voices already rising.
Trusting that what feels small in your hands
might become something holy when it is shared.

Because the truth is, the kingdom of God has always been a group project.

And the miracle is not that any one of us is enough on our own.

The miracle is that somehow,
by grace,
we are enough
together.

Amen

WE GATHER IN AWE AND PRAISE

PRELUDE                                                                      “Preludio Divertimento”                                          John S. Dixon

WELCOME                                                                    Rev. Trip Porch

One: This is the day that the Lord has made

All: Let us rejoice and be glad in it.

*CALL TO WORSHIP  

One: We wave our branches and make noise,

Many: because sometimes praise just can't be kept quiet.

One: We come as disciples who have seen what love can do,

Many: and we can't help but shout about it.
One: We come together, because that is the only way we come,

Many: not alone, not perfectly fine, but together and alive.

             Let us worship God 

*HYMN 199                                                                        “Filled With Excitement”                                                          HOSANNA

*PRAYER OF CONFESSION                                                                                               Jessica Riviere

God of the parade and the palms, we confess that we have rehearsed our independence until we believe it. We say "I'm fine" when we are not. We say "don't make a fuss" when someone wants to show us love. We shush the parts of ourselves that need help, and sometimes we shush each other. We have missed you in the faces of those who needed us to show up and make some noise for them. Forgive us for the times we have chosen comfortable silence over costly solidarity. Remind us that you made us for each other, that the stones themselves would cry out if we forgot. Amen.

*ASSURANCE OF PARDON

*RESPONSE 851    “Come, Bring Your Burdens to God”    Woza Nomthwalo Wakho

*PASSING OF THE PEACE                                       

     One:   The peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all,

     All:      And also with you.

WE LISTEN FOR GOD’S WORD 

ANTHEM                 “Hosanna to the Son of David”               Tomas Luis de Victoria

CHILDREN’S MESSAGE                                                                  Jeremy Carroll

PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION

SCRIPTURE    Luke 19: 28-40      CEB

As Jesus came to Bethphage and Bethany on the Mount of Olives, he gave two disciples a task.  He said, “Go into the village over there. When you enter it, you will find tied up there a colt that no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here.   If anyone asks, ‘Why are you untying it?’ just say, ‘Its master needs it.’”  Those who had been sent found it exactly as he had said.

 As they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, “Why are you untying the colt?”

 They replied, “Its master needs it.”  They brought it to Jesus, threw their clothes on the colt, and lifted Jesus onto it.  As Jesus rode along, they spread their clothes on the road.

 As Jesus approached the road leading down from the Mount of Olives, the whole throng of his disciples began rejoicing. They praised God with a loud voice because of all the mighty things they had seen.  They said,

“Blessings on the king who comes in the name of the Lord.     Peace in heaven and glory in the highest heavens.”

 Some of the Pharisees from the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, scold your disciples! Tell them to stop!”

 He answered, “I tell you, if they were silent, the stones would shout.”

SERMON                                                                                               Rev. Trip Porch

WE RESPOND TO GOD’S WORD

*HYMNINSERT                       “Lord What a Parade”                                                          LYONS

Text by Carolyn Winfrey Gillette

1. Lord, what a parade! The crowd quickly grew;
What noise they all made in welcoming you.
"Hosanna!" they shouted. "It's David's own son!
Hosanna! Come save us! God's reign has begun!"

2. They welcomed you in, a conquering king,
Yet what kind of reign would you really bring?
It wasn't a war horse you rode on that day;
A creature of peace carried you on your way.

3.0Did those in that crowd expect something more
Than one who reached out in love to the poor?
Did they think a savior with armies was best,
Or did they remember: the peaceful are blessed?

4. Lord Jesus, it's true — we give you glad praise,
Yet living for you will challenge our ways.
So may we be open and welcome your reign.
Hosanna! Come save us! Renew us again!

TIME OF OFFERING   online giving is available at  www. indianolapres.org/give

OFFERTORY                          “They’ll Know We Are Christians”                                        Peter Scholtes

                                                                                                                  Sanctuary Bells                                           arr. Michael E. Akers

COMMUNION

INVITATION TO THE TABLE

GREAT PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING

SHARING OF BREAD AND CUP      525            “Let Us Break Bread Together”                         LET US BREAK BREAD

    PRAYER AFTER COMMUNION

God, take what we offer, not because we have it all figured out, but because we want to be part of something larger than ourselves. Use these gifts to lay cloaks for people who need a soft place. Help us be the crowd that keeps showing up. Amen.

*HYMN 198                            “Ride On! Ride On in Majesty!”                                                          ST. DROSTANE

TIME OF COMMUNITY SHARING

CHARGE & BENEDICTION 

CHORAL RESPONSE         “The Lord Bless You and Keep You”            James D. Wetzel

POSTLUDE                            “Lord, What a Parade”                                            arr. Alex Zsolt

Acknowledgments: Unless otherwise indicated, all texts and music are printed and broadcast under OneLicense.net license #A-702452