For over five weeks we have been
traveling with Jesus toward Jerusalem. Now we are, finally, almost there. We
can feel the excitement of this glorious day, there is momentum! But they
pause, unexpectedly, near Bethany and Bethphage. There are a few final details
to take care of.
Jesus turns to two of his disciples:
“Go ahead into the village. You will find a colt tied up. Untie it and bring it
here.”
And here we might wonder a few things,
including: Is this really okay? That they should just go in and take a colt
that belongs to someone else? Might someone object to this?
Yes, actually, Jesus anticipates this,
for he also tells them, “If anyone asks you what you are doing just tell them
this: ‘the Lord needs it.’”
So they went in and they found the
colt. They untied it and, sure enough, someone asked them what they were doing.
They followed his instructions to the letter, saying, “The Lord needs it,” and
apparently that was good enough.
The whole scene has an air of mystery
to it, where somehow Jesus knew just where to find a young donkey. It is an
intrigue where there are code words that need to be spoken: The Lord needs it.
Well, so it shall be. They come back with the donkey and the procession into
Jerusalem begins.
It is a boisterous procession – a
parade! As he comes down the road, crowds of people are flocking to him. Many
of them lay cloaks out on the ground before him, pretty much like laying down
the red carpet for a celebrity. Jesus is a star!
Multitudes came near and “began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the
deeds of power that they had seen, saying, ‘Blessed is the king who comes
in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven!’”
Careful listeners might have noticed
that there are no palms in this version of the story. Nor are there any
hosannas, which means “save us!” Those elements we will find in the other
gospels. But, no matter, Luke’s version of the entry into Jerusalem is just as
triumphant. Maybe a bit more political than divine. A message is being sent and
received. Jesus enters the city like a king –
Something that is particularly
dangerous for Jesus. Because Jerusalem already has a king and his name is
Herod.
This was the time of the Passover,
which was a huge event in Jerusalem. It was a time when Jews from all over the
diaspora were making their pilgrimage to Jerusalem. The city was packed, and
tensions were high.
The Roman authorities were there, too.
As much as the Jews loved Passover, the Romans hated it. Too many people
milling about, too high a risk for a disturbance of the peace – the Pax Romana.
The Romans prized peace above all
things. But for Rome, peace meant something different than what it means to me
and you. For Rome, peace was their unquestioned, unchallenged authority. For
Rome, peace meant that there was no dissent, that there was total obedience and
loyalty to the empire. Rome prized their peace and was more than willing to use
violence to keep this peace. The irony of this should be self-evident.
The Romans dreaded the Passover – because
of the large crowds, of course, but also because of its meaning. The Passover
is Israel’s remembrance and celebration of their liberation story. At this time
of year Israel remembers that many centuries ago God freed them from the bond
of slavery in Egypt. Many centuries ago God chose Moses to lead them out of
Egypt, through the wilderness, and to the promised land. They remembered that
God had given them freedom. But how could they celebrate this freedom, while
suffering under the oppressive boot of the Roman Empire, and not be inspired to
resistance? Rome dreaded the Passover for very good reason; they knew there was
a heightened risk of uprising.
Around this same time, King Herod was
also arriving in Jerusalem. He made a grand entrance through the northern city
gate, on a war horse, with his soldiers, armed and astride their horses. He was
not there to celebrate the Passover; his presence there was to ensure law and
order.
Imagine King Herod making his grand
entrance on one side of the city, representing the might of the empire, while
Jesus makes his entrance from the eastern gate, near the Mount of Olives, on a
donkey.
Everyone knew that this was a
dangerous time in Jerusalem. Jesus knew that this was a dangerous time in
Jerusalem. Yet he and his entourage entered the city gates, boldly, singing
their praises to God and songs for peace – not the peace of Rome, but the peace
of heaven.
These are the voices of resistance
rising up.
Some of the Pharisees lose their cool;
the tension is rising too high. Jesus shouldn’t be making an entrance like
this. There are already reasons enough for the Roman authorities to be
tightening the screws on the Jews, they don’t need another reason. The Pharisees
order Jesus to quiet his disciples. But he says to them, it would make no
difference.
It would make not one bit of
difference, because the stones would shout out, all of God’s creation would
shout praises to God, shout prayers for peace. This is what the Lord needs: the
crowds, the shouts, the blessings, the parade, the song of all creation rising
up –
Blessed be the king who comes in the
name of the Lord! The king.
Now pause for a minute as we look back
a few verses. Just before this entry into Jerusalem, Jesus tells a parable
about kings:
There was a nobleman who was traveling
to a foreign land hoping to be granted a kingdom for himself. He was a
despicable man, and the people of his own country went to the trouble of
sending a delegation to testify against him.
Before departing he called together
his servants and distributed his property among them, instructing them to carry
on his business while he is away.
Sometime later, he returned triumphant.
He was granted the kingdom he desired and was ready to rule. He called his
servants to whom he entrusted his money to find out how profitable they had
been for him. The first two had success stories to report. He rewarded them, in
exact proportion to how much he profited from them.
But the third man made no profit for
the detestable new ruler. He honestly told the ruler that he was afraid,
because he knew him to be a harsh man. The king took the money back from this
man in disgust, then he ordered all his enemies, of which there were many, to
be brought before him and slaughtered in his presence. Proving just how harsh
he was. Vengeance is the order of the day.
It is a story that his listeners
recognized, because they had seen many such cruel kings. The king in this
parable had many names, and the people knew them.
As Jesus continued walking toward
Jerusalem, an uneasy question hung in the air: Do you understand the difference
between a king of this world and a true king? Will you recognize a true king
when you see him? Or will you content yourselves with the kings of this world?
The crowds shout out songs of praise
toward Jesus as he rides into the city. They scatter their cloaks on the ground
to honor him and lay them on the donkey’s back to make a saddle for him. They
sing praises to God and they turn to Jesus and cry out blessings to the one who
comes in the name of the Lord. It is a joyful moment.
They shout, even in defiance of the
Pharisees who order silence.
At the end of the parade, Jesus sees
the city of Jerusalem before him, and he weeps. “O Jerusalem, if you had only
recognized the things that make for peace – but now they are hidden from you.”
Now it is too late. The lamb will be
sent to the slaughter.
Sometimes all you can do is bear
witness. But bearing witness is what we must do.
Now we bear witness to dreadful things.
In our nation we are seeing massive, erratic, sometimes sloppy changes being
made, all for the sake of improvement. It is a choice our leaders have made, a
choice that some of us call necessary and good. I do not disagree that change
can be very good, that problems ought to be fixed when possible. I like change
and I like making things work better. But in this process, there are things we
are witnessing that are very wrong.
We see vengeance and greed and gleeful
cruelty. We see lives carelessly cut down. We see our neighbors haphazardly
picked up by authorities and taken away to places unknown. We see our friends randomly
fired from their jobs, without notice. We see the very notion of treating
people with dignity regarded as a sign of weakness.
We have seen these kings before. This
king has many names. But is this the kind of king we choose? Is this the kind
of king we need?
Two thousand years ago, on the day
they approached Jerusalem, the Lord needed the colt, and he needed his
disciples to go and get it for him. He needed the people lining the road with
their cloaks and shouting, making a loud noise for him, proclaiming the arrival
of the king. He needed this loud and insistent act of bearing witness to the
world.
And if that failed, he needed the
rocks and stones to take up the shouting on his behalf. The Lord needed all of
creation to proclaim his name. Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the
Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven!
Many bad things have happened, and
more bad things will happen. Will we bear witness to the suffering? Or will we
be silent?
What does the Lord need from us?
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