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What was really happening on that day when Jesus rode into Jerusalem?

What Was Happening? - Luke 19: 28-40 -- March 16, 2008 - Cicero United Methodist Church - Everett J. Bassett

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            What was really happening on that day when Jesus rode into Jerusalem? What, for example, was happening in the crowd? Part of the answer to that, it seems to me, is on the surface, and part is deeper, below the surface.

            On the surface, Palm Sunday was a party stirred up around a celebrity. And we certainly know what that is all about. Being a long-suffering New York Giants fan, I can't help but think of the victory parade down Broadway after this year's Super Bowl. It was ticker tape instead of palms, but it still was a huge party gathered around heroes. Is that what Palm Sunday was like? Bible scholars tell us that in Jesus' time, the waving of palm branches might be the reception for a king, or a general returning from war. Maybe a victorious Super Bowl team could be our substitute for that today.

            But we surely have no trouble identifying with a celebrity party - we idolize celebrities today. A woman wrote about the time she was standing at an ice cream counter, and looked up to realize that Paul Newman was standing next to her. For the next few minutes, she was transported somewhere into fantasy-land, because when she got out of the store, she realized she didn't have her ice cream cone. She went back in, and told the attendant he had forgotten to give her her cone. And he said, "Actually, I did give it to you." "Then where is it?" she demanded. And he handed her a stack of napkins and said, "Check your purse."

            We live in an idol-worshiping society, and our idols are actors, singers, sports figures - people we elevate to riches and fame. We have celebrities that defy definition - some of them it's impossible to say exactly what they do, and why they are famous. But they break into the boredom of life somehow; and for some people on that Palm Sunday, surely that was what was happening - a celebrity was coming to town, so the routine of the day could give way for a few minutes of palm-waving and yelling.

            Of course, such diversions don't last. Celebrity crowds are notoriously fickle, and many sermons have pointed out that the same crowd that shouted Hosanna! on Sunday was back to shout Crucify! on Friday. That probably wasn't literally true, but the spirit of it is certainly not hard to imagine. We love to pour our adulation on our idols, but we

also watch spellbound when they fall, and the gossip papers sell like hotcakes.

            Still, it would be wrong, I think, just to dismiss Palm Sunday as a superficial party. There was something happening below the surface - spiritually. The arrival of Jesus probably touched people in different ways. Some probably just went back to work or play - the party was over. But others, I imagine went to prayer, and felt they had had a spiritual experience that had affected their lives. And I think that is still the choice we have today on Palm Sunday - a party that touches us on the surface, or something that affects our lives and leads us into a holy walk with Jesus?

            That was the crowd. What was really happening in the religious leaders that day?

Again, there is what you see on the surface, and there is what you imagine beneath. On the surface, they had to look out for the welfare of the people. So they would worry that the people were being led astray. They would worry that Jesus was another false messiah who would get people hurt, or even killed. They would worry that the true faith would suffer, and that the Romans would be upset, and clamp down on the Temple worshipers. These leaders of the Jews had a very precarious relationship with the Roman occupiers, and someone like Jesus could stir things up and make it difficult. And indeed, about forty years after Jesus was crucified, the Romans got fed up, and totally destroyed the Jewish Temple. That's the kind of thing the religious leaders of the Jews wanted to prevent at any cost. On the surface, they were trying to protect Israel and the people from a disaster.

            But, as the story is told, there was a deeper level. It's not hard for us to imagine - as Lord Acton taught us, power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Even if these leaders may have once been sincere in their desire to serve God and the people in their charge, by this point in time they were far gone down the road of jealousy, greed, and selfish fear. They wanted to protect what they had, and Jesus was a threat.

            It is so important that Christian people understand the pervasiveness of evil in this world. Some of it, of course, is obvious. But the rest of it is beneath the, surface. We have been reminded once again, in the stunning events this past week involving our governor, that evil can hide and lurk in unexpected ways and unexpected places.

            And the reason we need to be aware of how pervasive evil is, is not so we can judge and condemn others, or despair about how bad things can be. We need to be fully aware of evil because it knocks on the door constantly. Some houses crumble because of a storm or a catastrophe from without; but many more crumble because of slow rot from within. Or, to put it another way, Noah not only had to worry about the storm outside the Ark; he also had to worry about the woodpecker inside. Jealousy; bitterness; selfishness; prejudice - what were the woodpeckers that chipped away inside those high priests who plotted against Jesus? What are the ones that chip away inside you and me?

            And then thirdly, what really was happening to Jesus on Palm Sunday? On the surface, he was receiving the enthusiastic adulation of the crowd. There is no reason to imagine that this was anything other than a happy occasion for our Lord. There were times when Jesus seemed to grow exhausted and needed a break from the crowd. But most of the time, he had compassion for them, and he sought them out to minister to them and to teach them. To come into Jerusalem to such a welcome must have been gratifying.

            But what was going on beneath the surface? It was strange to consider the Palm Sunday story this past week at the very time our governor was going through the agonizing events that caused his resignation. Certainly while we don't condone the sins of his downfall, we pray for him and his family, at a time when great healing is going to be needed. And heaven forbid for any of us to be held up to Jesus as a standard; that's hardly fair for anybody. And yet, there were parallels. Governor Spitzer too rode into the capital with great fanfare, preceded by his reputation, with record-setting popularity, and with a mandate to clean up the city. All of that might be said of Jesus, as well. So it's important to see what's below the surface - because that is what separates Jesus from other flesh-and-blood saviors who prove all too human.

            In the middle of that Palm Sunday parade there was a very visible and very important symbol - and that is the donkey (and I don't mean the Democratic donkey!) The prophet Zechariah had said that when the victorious king came to Jerusalem, he would not come on a great steed, but would come humbly, riding on a donkey. And so came Jesus. And so, despite the shouting of the crowd, there was beneath the surface humility and lowliness. That's what separates Jesus from so many messiahs that are lifted up as the next great leader. It was humility befitting one who in just a few days would break bread and share wine as a sign of his body and blood given in love for others - who would not claim his kingship when he was on trial for his life, and who went to death wearing the mocking crown of thorns, and with the ridicule of the crowds ringing in his ears.

            Beneath the surface for Jesus was a mission of love and salvation that was the very reason he came to earth. And in this world where people in all walks of life prove again and again that we are failed human beings in need of a Savior, that Savior rode into Jerusalem, putting himself in harm's way for us.

            I heard someone say once how in tune to our deepest needs God was. If our main need had been for knowledge, God would have sent an educator. If it had been for health, God would have sent a doctor. If it had been for wisdom, God would have sent a philosopher. If it had been for beauty, God would have sent an artist. Of course, in some way, Jesus was all of those things. But none of them define our deepest need. Our deepest need is connection with God; and for that, God sent His Own Beloved Son.

            And that's why Jesus was not turned aside from his mission by the adoring crowds of Palm Sunday. His mission was too essential. He was here to bring the forgiveness that could reconnect us with our God. He was here to make the greatest demonstration of love the world had ever seen - so that we could be drawn to God's very heart of love. It was a mission for our salvation and peace, and it is the most powerful and beautiful thing anyone has ever done for you and for me.

            It is what makes this next week holy. On Thursday evening, we will join at table with the Lord, and share the symbols of his self-giving love. On Friday evening, we will contemplate the meaning of his death, joined by some of the people whose lives he touched. Between those services, and throughout the week, we will keep a vigil of prayer. This does not end with palm branches; it continues on with a journey of prayer.

            And the peace we long for, the sense of purpose, the hope in a despairing world, the saving love - those will be God's gifts to this week. If we do our part, God will come through. Because the Savior has entered the city, and is ready to walk with us through those dark days. On that path with Jesus - even through the terrible agony of the cross - ­we will find strength for the journey, peace for our troubled minds, and the promise of Easter - the promise of new life. Surely you and I search for those things - and if we continue to journey with Christ, surely we will find them.