Sermon - Rev Judith Perry
Were you really, carefully listening to John? Did you catch that the evangelist has Jesus riding on two animals at the same time? Of course not, because it is too absurd, but there it is:
John read: The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them; they brought the donkey and the colt and put their cloaks on them, and he sat on them.
He sat on both of them, why? Mathew says it is to fulfill the prophecy:
This took place to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet; “Tell the daughter of Zion, Look, your king is coming to you, humble and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”
But here’s the thing, when the Hebrews were writing verse, they put two phrases together that said the same thing, like: O Lord make haste to help us. O God make speed to save us.
So, in the Hebrew passage that Matthew quotes: mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”
It is just repetition. There are not two animals. But Matthew didn’t understand Hebrew verse, so he had Jesus mounted on two donkeys. Which we never notice because it makes no sense.
But if you pay attention to Matthew’s gospel you will see that he constructs his story to prove that Jesus’ legitimacy came from his fulfillment of centuries- old Hebrew texts.
Enough, let’s look at the Palm Sunday story. At the beginning of the service, I read the psalm traditionally sung on Passover. We know that the psalms were all sung, but we don’t know the tunes.
The thing is that everyone knew the words. Did you catch that some of the words are repeated in the gospel passage?
The psalm reads:” Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the LORD.” and this is repeated in Matthew: "Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!"
Now the “Son of David” means that Jesus is in the line of succession, the next king. No wonder the Pharisees are a bit perturbed. This smacks of rebellion.
Rebellion would bring out the wrath of the Romans, and then everyone would be in grave peril. This was a legitimate fear. When later on some Jews did rebel, the Romans flattened Jerusalem.
If you go to the forum in Rome, you can see the triumphal arch of the Emperor Titus.
On that arch is an immense stone relief depicting the triumphal march into Rome following the put down of the Jewish rebellion. There it is on the slide.
It shows a parade withthe spoils of war including the great menorah, or ceremonial candelabra, from the temple, and the Jewish captives who would be sold into slavery.
It commemorates the Roman victory in the Jewish War (66-73 CE), particularly the capture of Jerusalem and the looting of the Second
Temple in 70 CE.
When I first saw it, I just stood there staring at it. I was witnessing a contemporary account of the destruction of Jerusalem.
No wonder the authorities were on edge. This is what they wanted to prevent, and it did happen in the end.
The Pharisees had a right to be suspicious of anything that reeked of rebellion and suggesting that Jesus was a king was inflammatory.
At Jesus’ time, under Roman domination the elites, pharisees, scribes, priests, were not badly off.
The lower class who was being heavily taxed and often had to provide forced labour, were restless and looking for a Saviour, a Messiah, who would lead the rebellion against the occupying force.
The privileged upper class needed to suppress any inkling of unrest.
Were you really listening to the gospel passage? Also, did you realize that not once were palm branches mentioned? Matthew’s rendition does not mention palms at all.
The passage reads that the procession is outside the city on a path going down from the Mount of Olives.
When he enters Jerusalem, it reads that the whole city was in turmoil.
Somewhere Jesus gets off the donkey. Because next he goes into the temple and drives out the traders in the temple’s outer court. That compounds the tension.
The children have taken up the chorus and are shouting that Jesus is the Son of David, that is the heir apparent. The authorities confront Jesus, but he seems to be on the side of the children.
It’s getting really messy. By the end of the week, he’ll be dead. But in the intervening days he taught in the temple, The officials questioned his authority, and his replies out foxed them. This was not good public relations.
But it seems that these people who were enthralled by Jesus, subsequently turned on him and demanded his execution.
Or maybe they just remained silent and decided not to get involved when a mob shouted for Jesus’ killing.
It could be that the crowd on the Mount of Olives did not participate in the mob by Pilate’s government house. But maybe they did.
Just think about the volatility of opinion pools.
Take Justin Trudeau for example.
Three elections ago he swept the Maritimes, the next election not so much. Then near the end of his tenure, he and the Liberals bottomed out.
And then along came Mark Carney.
People are often fickle, and the circumstances change.
The thing about Jesus coming into Jerusalem, the Pharisees who see the danger confront Jesus, whether or not he is still on the donkey,
It had got out of his control
Public opinion is very fickle. Whether you support the Liberals or not, just think about their rollercoaster public opinion.
So, you may be thinking that you never would desert Jesus. You would not have been part of the lynch mob. You would have stayed with him.
So, are you better that his disciples? Only some women stuck around watching the crucifixion from a distance. In Matthew none of the men were at the cross.
They went into hiding. They were terrified, and for good reason.
But we are an Easter people. We know that whatever happens, we are loved beyond measure.
Whatever we did when under the threat or danger and when we reacted in panic, our humanness is understood. While we are fallible, we are cherished. Our Lord is risen and is with us, despite all our mess ups.
Jesus was not executed on account of the Pharisees quibbling about healing on the sabbath, or any of their other issues. He was executed because he was a political liability.
He was a threat to the Romans, and the religious elite were trying to avoid trouble for the population.
He was openly hailed as Messiah and King. This was a direct threat, and they wanted to nail it as soon as they could.
In a kingdom the king has full authority. It was not like the constitutional monarchy that we know today. Although Trump seems vague about those details.
There is the beginning line in Psalm 37: Fret not on account of evil doers.
When Jesus is interrogated in the early hours of Friday morning he is asked the question directly, are you a king. He hedges the answer and then says that his kingdom is not of this world.
They had no idea to what he was saying or alluding. They were baffled. The kingdom of God flows from our lips. We know what it means, but his questioners had no idea what he was talking about.
In more modern thinking we are talking about a sovereign nation. There is the idea of our being sovereign country. We are particularly attached to it, and we have shown how we can rally and stand together when it is threatened.
But we have another higher allegiance. The old baptismal liturgy tells us that we are inheritors of the kingdom of heaven There is our physical, temporal home and there is our eternal spiritual home. We are dual citizens.
We live in tempestuous time when our territorial nation, our Canada, is being threatened. In our unease, never forget that we are also citizens of a heavenly kingdom. Our kingdom is not of this world.
The Sunday that the prime minister called the last election he went to church first, and then he went to see the Governor General to ask her to dissolve parliament.
Two kingdoms, and we hold both in the prayers.