Mathew 21.1-11
Evidently, John Wesley, famous as the co-founder of methodism used to sit in many different seats in church to see what the view was like and how audible the preacher was so that when it was his turn he could do his best to be seen and heard.
Well I think I’ve sat in virtually every pew space in Seal church yet in around 18 years of preaching this is the first time that I don’t benefit from visual contact with those I’m preaching to. Speaking to my laptop isn’t quite the same, but I’m grateful for the technology to give this a go.
So wherever you are sitting, standing or even laying lend me your ears and your imagination as we move to a crowded place, the hectic streets of Jerusalem, as Jesus arrives riding on a donkey.
Can you recall times when you’ve been in a crowd or at least a group of people and there’s been an atmosphere which has heightened your senses and tapped into your emotions in a way that being on your own can never do?
Maybe your team has won a trophy and you line the streets to celebrate as they pass through on an open top bus, I’m sure some will remember doing this for Kelly Holmes after she won gold medals at the Olympics and processed through Tonbridge. Sometimes you have to get there early and wait a long time for your moment to wave and cheer, it can even be hard to stand still as excited people jostle for position.
It reminds me, when ‘social distancing’ first became a thing a colleague suggested it would be OK for matches to continue at the club I support, Arsenal, as the crowds had become so sparse it should be easy for fans to sit at least six feet apart!
Back in more crowded places perhaps it’s a political cause has brought you together with hordes of like-minded people determined to make their views known or possibly it’s smaller scale, forming a human tunnel at a wedding cheering and congratulating the happy couple as they pass through.
Whatever the event we are motivated to be there for a good reason. As we find ourselves being jostled in Jerusalem with the crowd waving palms and throwing coats onto the dusty road it’s a question that we can’t ignore. Are we just curious onlookers, in the city anyway for the annual Passover celebration or are we deliberately in this crowd to see Jesus, to cheer him as he passes shouting ‘Hosanna to the Son of David’?
Hosanna literally means deliver us or save us and King David of Israel had been promised that one of his offspring would rule forever so it’s clear that we have high expectations.
All this commotion has ensured that Jesus won’t go unnoticed, his followers know who he is but his profile continues to rise among those who oppose him as well. Those who are bemused by this great parade ask ‘who is this’ but most in the crowd already knows who he is and tell them ‘this is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee.’
He’s certainly fulfilling the words of the prophet Zechariah ‘ 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’. Familiar words to the people of Israel who believed that this king would come for them.
Could it really be true, Jesus is the Messiah, has he come to set us free? Is this the moment that generations have been waiting for? Will he be a great king who will overthrow the Roman Empire and free us from oppression?
When Pilate would ride into the city it was on a fine military stallion, so Jesus sitting on a few cloaks thrown over a borrowed donkey ridiculed all this pomp and pointed to a new way, a new kingdom. The trouble was that the Romans weren’t renowned for having a great sense of humour when the ridicule of their ways was highlighted like this.
It’s possible that the Roman procession was even taking place around the same time so its clear that the time had passed for subtle persuasion, rival processions, rival ideologies and theologies. This overt mockery was intended to highlight the gulf between the ways of Jesus and the ways of the Roman Empire.
Jesus is truly a king, but he entered Jerusalem as one truly subversive to the establishment be it Roman or the religion of the temple. He understood how the Romans used religion to further their own ends and posed a direct political challenge to them.
As those of us who have shared and pondered many Palm Sunday readings over the years know, the crowds were to be disappointed, the hosannas are heard and answered by God but not in the instantaneous vengeful way that the crowd was hoping for.
As we endure ‘lockdown’ in an effort to protect those serving the weakest in our society ways in which crowds can come together which don’t require physical presence come to the fore. We were already using technology to unite for common causes from everything from crowd funding to lobbying sites such as change,org which unite people in a cause regardless of their geography and social backgrounds in a way that calling for a meeting or rally can’t.
It’s worth keeping this in mind as our procession through Jerusalem leads us to Holy Week. We can share resources and virtual worship but time alone with God is also to be cherished and used wisely.
In just a few days the crowds will turn against Jesus and where do we find ourselves then? Would we who were in the crowd melt away silently into our homes and keep quiet about injustice as he enrages the temple authorities turning tables over, challenging their economic systems and highlighting their hypocrisy? Or are we brave enough to stick by him whatever the cost?
Enjoy the imaginary procession and celebration of Palm Sunday but let’s focus ourselves to journey on through the forthcoming days to the foot of the cross, one day at a time, discovering anew the love that God offers us.
Amen
Kevin Bright
5th April 2020
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