What If Palm Sunday Was Never About Power?
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Bishop Jim Swilley uses this Palm Sunday message to draw a sharp contrast between the way Jesus entered Jerusalem and the way modern religion often chases power. He frames the triumphal entry as a protest, not a coronation, arguing that Jesus rejected political domination, nationalism, and exclusion in favor of a kingdom built on spirit, faith, and radical inclusion. The heart of the message is that the blessing of Abraham is not about protecting a nation-state, but about walking by faith, manifesting hope, and recognizing that Christ is in all.
Main takeaway points
1. Palm Sunday is presented as a protest against power, not a celebration of empire.
Bishop Swilley says Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey was a direct rejection of earthly kingship and domination. He ties that to Jesus’ repeated refusal to become a political ruler and to the statement, “My kingdom is not of this world.”
Scriptures referenced: John 6, John 18:36, Matthew 21
2. The message argues that Christian nationalism stands in opposition to the spirit of Jesus.
A central claim in the teaching is that nationalism, especially when presented as “Christian,” distorts the message of Christ by replacing love, humility, and inclusion with control, exclusion, and political power. Bishop Swilley insists that Jesus did not come to build a national government, but to reveal a spiritual kingdom poured out on all flesh.
Scriptures referenced: John 18:36, Joel 2:28, Acts 2:17
3. Genesis 12 is framed as a blessing on faith, not a blank-check endorsement of nationalism.
One of the strongest teaching points is his reading of Genesis 12. He argues that “I will bless those who bless you” was spoken to Abraham personally and that the deeper promise was about faith, not modern geopolitics. In his view, the blessing of Abraham is realized whenever people walk in faith and manifest the impossible.
Scriptures referenced: Genesis 12:1–3, Romans 4, Hebrews 11:1
4. Jesus’ gospel is reduced to its clearest center: love God and love your neighbor.
Bishop Jim repeatedly pulls the focus back to what Jesus actually emphasized. He says if the gospel becomes more complicated than loving God and loving your neighbor, it has drifted from Christ. This becomes his measuring stick for evaluating religion, politics, and public theology.
Scriptures referenced: Matthew 22:37–40, Mark 12:29–31
5. Inclusion is treated as evidence of the kingdom of God.
The sermon leans heavily into the idea that Christ is not confined to one ethnicity, nation, gender category, or religious in-group. Bishop Swilley uses Paul’s language to argue that “Christ is all, and in all,” making inclusion a direct expression of the gospel rather than a compromise of it.
Scriptures referenced: Colossians 3:11, Galatians 3:28, Ephesians 3:14–15
Quote from the message
“If you make the gospel any more complicated than that. If you make the gospel exclude anybody, that’s Antichrist.” — Bishop Jim Swilley
In this powerful Palm Sunday message, Bishop Jim Swilley challenges the idea that Jesus came to build political power or religious nationalism. Instead, he points back to the triumphal entry as a prophetic act of resistance and a call to remember the true message of Christ: love God, love your neighbor, and stop confusing faith with domination. Drawing from Genesis 12, the teachings of Jesus, and Paul’s vision of inclusion, Bishop Jim reframes the blessing of Abraham as the blessing of faith and reminds listeners that the kingdom of God is bigger than nationalism, exclusion, or fear.
Bottom line
The big idea of this episode is that Palm Sunday is not about crowning Jesus as a political ruler. It is about recognizing that he rejected empire, rejected exclusion, and revealed a kingdom where faith, love, and Christ in all people are the true signs of God’s reign.