Zechariah 9:9-12; Luke 19:28-40
Palm Sunday 2013
Jesus paused. He paused amid the olive yards, fig orchards
and palm groves that sat on the sloping hillside some two hundred feet above
and immediately to the east of Jerusalem.
He had traveled round this way many times before -- especially when
heading to Bethany, the village where his good friends Lazarus, Mary and Martha
lived.
On this day, He paused
in prayer and in deep sorrow. The
devastating sin of all God’s children and the sad, sad conquered state of the
holy city compressed his holy heart like an accordion sounding a slow, soulful
lament. He alone understood what lay
ahead after this final, faithful descent into the valley of Kidron and then up
through the great gate. Many a mighty
prophet before him had passed this way, had looked down from this Mount of
Olives ridge where Ezekiel had proclaimed the glory of the Lord stood (Ezekiel
11:23). But none had gone as far as he
was about to go.
The pause was not just
to take a personal and historic inventory.
It had the purpose of propelling his divinely and carefully prepared
plan further into motion. He did so by
sending two of his closest disciples ahead into a village to secure his
ride. This would be a ride downslope through
a massive gathering of faithful people eager for his mission – as they
understood it – to commence.
Jesus had eternal
understanding of their pregnant human expectations. He knew that he needed just the right ride for
his most sacred journey. He didn’t
factor things like comfort and speed into this decision. This
wasn’t going to be a royal race to some grand finish. It was going to be a carefully measured
parade toward his full passion as the Son of Man. His ride needed to be about powerfully symbolic
impact. And so he chose a young donkey
that had yet to ever carry a passenger.
The disciples were to
find this colt waiting for them, untie it, and guide it back up through the
hopeful to the hilltop haven. This was
no random act, Jesus had made careful arrangements. So when the disciples were asked by the
owners of the colt why they were untying it, they did as Jesus commanded them
to do by replying, “The Lord needs it.”
Perhaps that was some agreed upon password between the owners and
Jesus. It worked. After untying it, they brought it to Jesus
so He could climb upon its cloaked back and ride on, ride on into his Holy Week
journey …
I haven’t set foot in
the ancient holy land. I’ve seen lots
of pictures, and I quite enjoy studying, visualizing and describing what Jesus
and the disciples directly saw in their day.
And I’m particularly grateful for small but significant details provided
by the Gospel writers. This week, a zoom
lens closed in on how Luke tells us the detail about untying a donkey.
I love that we are told
this because of what that donkey symbolized (which I’ll mention in a minute)
and because Jesus’ holy journey to fully reconcile us with God did not commence
until his disciples were obedient to the specific task given to them. It inspires me to wonder … what should we be
untying as we make our way with Jesus to Easter 2013? I’m
inspired to answer that we need to be untying human expectations, unhealthy
pride, and any reluctance to call and
present ourselves as Jesus’ disciples.
Jesus did not choose to ride
through the fanatical throng astride the back of a majestic warhorse. Had it been the holy plan to lead a very
this-worldly, violent, bloody overthrow of Roman rule, this would have been the
appropriate ride. Again, he knew the human expectations he was
going to be passing through … how, from their palm waving, royal parade
perspective, his arrival was supposed to be the opposite experience of the
inglorious day King David fled from Jerusalem as his third son, Absalom, was
trying to assassinate him. He knew the
people saw homecoming in him, the triumphal arrival of their new and glorious
God-appointed king, the One to save and restore Jerusalem and the
Israelites. He knew they completely
counted on God’s long-promised Messiah and on their notions of what power this
would bring.
What a surprise it must
have been to see Jesus’ ride. His
being astride the colt was contrary to their rather violent expectations. He had chosen to fulfill the five hundred
year old prophecy of Zechariah (9:9), to pass through them in a way that
symbolized sacrifice, humility and peace.
He was indeed their new king, their Messiah, but they weren’t really prepared
to untie their culturally conditioned expectations so as to grasp hold of and
trust the fact that God alone had the true plan to secure their salvation. We
know this to be true because they soon felt betrayed, and so they in turn
betrayed. Within days they were
demanding to have Jesus crucified. There’s no word on what became of the poor
colt.
This week, let us untie any
of our expectations about God’s power being aligned with the emotionally, physically
and systemically violent power-playing ways of this world. Let us instead parade great humility and
choose to follow paths of peace as we ride along with Jesus toward Easter
morning.
Every such step helps us
to untie our unhealthy pride. Of course, having a certain amount of pride
in ourselves is a vital part of daily living.
It gives us our sense of purpose, bolsters positive self-esteem, empowers
us to build on our life accomplishments and contribute to the greater
good. The trouble is, our human pride,
saturated in sin like a cucumber in a jar of souring brine water, so often
slips into disrespectful arrogance. 19th
century theologian Soren Kierkegard defined our being in this pickle quite well
when he wrote that “The proud person always wants to do the right thing, the
great thing. But because he wants to do it in his own strength, he is fighting
not with man, but with God.”
Want to check the
spiritual health of your pride? Return
to this morning’s lesson from Luke and picture yourself standing in the crowd
as Jesus passes by you. As you go
about waving and lying down royally symbolic palm fronds as well as welcoming
cloaks, ask yourself – Do I truly want
and trust God’s way of sacrificial love and unifying peace to completely rule
my heart and absolutely reign across this world?
This would have been the
right question to ask a couple thousand
years ago for rightly welcoming Jesus as the Messiah-King. It’s still the right question in 2013. This week, untie any unhealthy pride and reconfirm
your utter allegiance to the broad, bold amazing grace of God in Jesus Christ.
The third and final
thing I’m inspired to ask us to untie this week is any reluctance to call and
present ourselves as Jesus’ disciples. Notice how in the story of Palm Sunday,
Luke very clearly identifies as disciples
the two who helped Jesus secure the colt and as well as all those in the
crowd welcoming him on his sacred journey.
They weren’t more loosely identified as faithful folks, or followers, or
friends, or members, or volunteers.
The Greek word used by
Luke for disciple means learner, a student. He
was referring to people on a real world learning curve, committed to constantly
seeking knowledge of God through Jesus and to intensively practicing to the
point of good habit all the things about God’s kingdom that Jesus taught by
word and example.
In your mind and heart,
as well as before others, can you recall the last time you’ve first and
foremost identified yourself as a disciple, as a devout student of Jesus
Christ? I’m thinking most of us have
at least some reluctance to state this.
It’s more comfortable to generally call ourselves Christians,
Presbyterians, church members, and such.
There’s nothing at all wrong with this, but I do believe more specific
biblical language can help inspire and challenge us to grow in our commitment
to Christ. This is one of the reasons
our bulletin says FPC stands for more than just Fairmount Presbyterian Church …
it also means we are Faithful People in Christ! This
week, may we also untie any reluctance to be true disciples – to study and to
stand with and to be sent out by the One who leads us to bear divine kingdom
building witness in this world.
By
God’s grace, let us untie our way to Easter 2013. I pray
our faith and unity and holy passion will be strengthened through this
morning’s worship and fellowship, as well as through our beautifully moving
service of Maundy Thursday and Tenebrae.
I pray that as we shout hosannas from our hearts, that God’s way in
Jesus Christ our King will indeed be greatly praised – even as it is revealed
to be counter to our human expectations, as it convicts our unhealthy human
pride, and as it holds our discipleship to account. Amen.
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