Christ Episcopal Church
April 1, 2012
Palm Sunday
When I was a child, my mother would spend weeks, if not months, preparing for major holiday celebrations. Well before Thanksgiving, Christmas, or a major birthday, the guest list would be drawn up and the menu planned. The guest list was always something of a challenge. Our dining room table had chairs for four, but could seat 6 without much difficulty, 8 in a pinch, and 10 if we were creative. But my mother’s way of thinking was never "We can get 10 people around this table; who shall we invite?’ My mother’s thought was always "There will be 25 of us for dinner. The table seats 10. How are we going to make this work?" Then there was the matter of the menu and what could be made ahead and frozen, and what could not. As much cooking as possible would go on for days ahead of the celebration. Then there was the planning for the creative use of the stove, oven, and grill so that everything could be ready on time. Every detail was meticulously well organized, and with the exception of the time there was a power failure, everything always went off without a hitch. After weeks of planning and cooking, the guests would finally arrive, the eating and drinking would begin, and two hours later, the food and drink would be gone and the celebration would be over. The ratio of time spent preparing verses time spent partying was a matter of days to minutes. However, from the amount of time spent preparing, we knew what our mother valued: good food, and hospitality. Anyone who had not witnessed the weeks of preparation might have thought that good food and hospitality were easy to come by. Those of us who lived in the house all those weeks knew better.
Mark’s account of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem reads about the same way as an account of one of my mother’s great holiday parties. Jesus spends eight verses preparing for his entry into Jerusalem. Only three verses describe the trip itself and of those three verses, most of two verses is spent quoting psalms. The planning Jesus did for this event seems to be at least equally important to the trip into Jerusalem itself. What do we learn about Jesus from all the verses leading up to the actual procession into Jerusalem?
The first thing Jesus does is arrange for a colt. Jesus sends two disciples off on this errand and says to them "Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately as you enter it, you will find there a colt that has never been ridden." Jesus knows exactly where the colt will be and that the animal has never been ridden. Why a colt? If Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem is supposed to be a triumphant entry, riding a colt is a rather peculiar way to act triumphant. In fact, Jesus’ feet may well have drug the ground as he entered Jerusalem on the back of the young animal.
Then Jesus says "If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ just say this ‘The Lord needs it and will send it back here immediately.’" The people were used to having Roman soldiers co-opt their property on a moment’s notice. The promise that Jesus will return the animal is something new. Jesus is on a different kind of mission from one the Roman soldiers would typically engage. Jesus’ mission is not of a military nature. He has to borrow a colt. Jesus is not organizing an event that will highlight power and wealth, but an event that will show humility.
Next we hear that everything goes exactly according to plan. The disciples find the colt, respond to the bystanders’ query, and are allowed to take the colt. Jesus’ plan is coming off without a hitch.
If Jesus was planning a military procession into Jerusalem to satisfy the longings of those who wished for a Messiah to over throw the Romans, now would be the time to acquire some weapons. Instead, we hear that the people threw their clocks on the poor unsuspecting colt that has never been ridden. Then Jesus sat on the colt and the people spread their cloaks and leafy branches on the road. Quite frankly, this sounds like a recipe for disaster. One young animal, never ridden, Jesus sitting on cloaks on the colt, and riding over more cloaks and leafy branches. However, Jesus makes his way toward Jerusalem according to plan.
So we have Jesus, riding a colt, completely unarmed, traveling over streets of some sort that have been filled with cloaks and leafy branches. If this is some sort of military procession, there is little chance of success. But the people are undaunted. In fact, they are energized. They break into song, singing a piece of Psalm 118, which we sang this morning. "Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord" which reads a lot like an enthronement psalm. They did not sing the line before that "Hosanna, Lord, hosanna! Send us now success," but that sentiment is at the heart of the people’s longing. Now is the moment the people have been longing for. Success is just around the next corner. Jesus is coming into Jerusalem like a mighty king, ready to take Jerusalem. Or is he? On a colt? Unarmed? Picking his way slowly over cloaks and branches? Once Jesus enters Jerusalem, he looks around, and then goes out to Bethany with the twelve. All that planning, all that work, to march into Jerusalem and all he does is look around and leave?
And so we are plunged into Holy Week. On the one hand, as disciples of Jesus, we know that we are called to walk this journey with the one who rode into Jerusalem on a colt to turn our notions of power and success upside down. On the other hand, I can identify with the crowds who say "Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord" and the Psalmist who says "Hosanna, Lord, hosanna! Send us now success!" Can’t we just fast forward to Easter?
The truth is that Easter will come next Sunday whether we journey with Jesus or not. But if we leap from "Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord" to the great Easter acclamation which involves the use of the word we buried before Lent began, we are thinking like the crowds. We will move from the request for a great display of military power to the great display of God’s power without allowing our idea understanding of real power to be transformed. The details of the Palm Sunday story tell us that Jesus is about something other than claiming raw power. As we walk through the events of Holy Week, the mighty power of God will be revealed in ways that are consistent with the arrival in Jerusalem of an unarmed Messiah on the back of a colt.
Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment