Psalm 118: 1-2, 19-29 (New Jerusalem Bible)
Matthew 21: 1-11 (Common English Bible)
In the famous 1970 musical, “Jesus Christ Superstar,” Jesus enters Jerusalem with the crowds singing, “Hosanna, hey JC won’t you fight for me.” “Hosanna” means “save us.” Save us from the oppressive Roman Empire.
This is the background for Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem. The Jewish people had waited for this moment for generations. The God of the Cosmos is up to something among his chosen people and they want to be part of it. This is a production from God, a production in which Jesus has the starring role. He was at this moment Jesus Christ Superstar!
The people of Jerusalem were not strangers to important people coming into their city. But this time was different. The atmosphere was loaded with tension. Something climatic was about to happen. The same week Jesus enters Jerusalem from the east on a donkey, the Roman Prefect (Gov.) Pontius Pilate arrives in Jerusalem from the west on a powerful horse, a steed appropriate for the wealthy and the commanders of war. It was very much a contrast between humility and power.
There rarely is a powerful ruler that shows humility. There are two I want to mention who did, one from around 1,000 years ago and one very recent. The first was King Canute, a monarch most have never heard of. He was a Danish monarch in the early 11th century who ruled not only Denmark, but also all of England, Norway and parts of Sweden. His was called the Empire of the Northern Seas. To demonstrate the limits of a king’s power, Canute instructed his court to follow him to the ocean’s shore to see if he could hold the tides back. When King Canute’s command to stop the tides failed, he is recorded as saying, “Let all people know how empty and worthless is the power of kings, for there is none worthy of the name, but He whom heaven, earth and sea obey by eternal laws.” After failing to hold back the tide, King Canute removed his crown, hung it from a crucifix and never wore it again in honor of Almighty God. Yes, that was humility.
My second example is more recent. As a matter of fact it happened this past Thursday (March 30, 2023). It was when the Vatican by Pope Francis’ urging decided to reject the 15th century Roman Catholic “Doctrine of Discovery” which gave full rights to European explorers to conquer and exploit the Indigenous lands and people of North and South America and other places. This meant all lands taken by Christopher Columbus and other European explorers that followed him were immoral and sinful. Again, another example of humidity, this time by a Pope the leader of one of the largest faith communities in the world.
Humility and leadership is the picture of Jesus in the gospel of Matthew. The writer of Matthew wrote his gospel for a Jewish audience. Just by contrast, John wrote his gospel to a Greek Hellenistic audience. Matthew portrayed Jesus as a figure in the tradition of Moses, a great deliverer, the long awaited king whose arrival will usher in a new era, a New Exodus and a Great Jubilee where all debts will be forgiven. But later Jesus is met with rejection, just like many of the prophets before him.
When you read Psalm 118, it was written as a processional hymn for the Feast of Shelters. The event was a commemoration of the time the Hebrew people left Egypt in their 40 year journey through the desert. They had to build shelters to survive during that long period. The Feast of Shelters was a worship of gratitude the Jewish people showed God for God’s guidance during that 40 year time. Such was their gratitude, the name of God, YAHWEH, is mentioned 13 times in the reading. It is also a blessing of judgment that God has given as a standard to live by.
Judgment of injustice is also God’s sovereign way, so that all that acknowledge Christ as the Messiah must also realize his mandate includes the entire Universe, whether human or elsewhere. Foremost, God wants us to pursue justice and equality for all. This is why the PC USA involves itself in social issues, not because it is politically correct, but because it is also advocated by our own Book of Confessions in the Presbyterian Church.
The idea of might vs. justice were about to collide with a force greater than the crowd during that Palm Sunday in Jerusalem could imagine. Yet, for the rest of the story, Jesus was the one person that Rome could not destroy.
How do we 21st century Christians deal with Palm Sunday today? It seems no matter how you look at the story of this amazing procession into Jerusalem 2,000 years ago, you cannot but see the image of Jesus who offers us to choose between two parades. The attraction of power and might of Pontius Pilate’s military parade and all its glory and power is still there to tempt us. Think “Thunder Over Louisville” as an example. The temptation to use force and violence, military power, nuclear deterrence plus assault weapons still exists.
Humans went from the ancient Sumerian war chariots to the Sheridan Tank in 3,500 years. By contrast, it was only 86 years from the Wright Brothers’ airplane to the Stealth Bomber. According to the Associated Press (AP), gun makers have made more than $1 billion from selling the AR-15 style assault weapons just during the past decade. Yes, that is the same type of weapon that slaughtered the victims at that school in Nashville last week. And this type of weapon has slaughtered more people at other schools and places in recent years. If you think “slaughter” is too strong a word to use, just look at a photo of a victim of one of those weapons. Why do we allow this? Why do we tolerate political leaders who will not only do nothing about it, but also don’t even want to talk about it?
Jesus bears witness to the evil of misused power that glorifies violence and war. This same Jesus who said, “those who live by the sword, will perish by the sword.” Jesus preached God’s peace, God’s shalom and pointed to his disciples to follow that way. The Kingdom of God is nothing like the kingdoms or empires we have been familiar with. The Kingdom of God receives its power from love and justice. While Pontius Pilate entered Jerusalem with intimidating power, Jesus proceeded unarmed and unprotected on the back of a borrowed donkey. It is up for all of us and the society we live in, which parade do we really choose?
AMEN
