Matthew 21: 1-11 Palm Sunday
March 20, 2005
I love a Parade!
Want to join the parade? A lot of people are!
Have you ever happened upon a parade and not known what it was for… but there were lots of people and they all seemed excited and joining in something worth following?
That’s the way Christianity is today…. It’s a parade. Just read the newspapers, watch TV, listen to the radio, even go to the movies. There is no purview where Christianity has not invaded. It’s a parade!
There are men, women, children, politicians, movie stars, pundits… all in the parade… and each one is saying join the parade!
They’re telling movie theaters what to show. They’re telling voters how to vote. They’re telling school boards what to put in text books.
And they all say “I love a parade… don’t you… come join us… we’re on the winning side.”
Parades are fun. I’ve watched my share. In Albany they had the annual Veteran’s Day parade. It had a theme: Veterans. But under that theme there were many diverse groups. Some were there as veterans.
Some were there because of Veterans… some were there, like my daughters, because they played an instrument and their Band teachers said it was a requirement for their grade.
It was a great parade. We sat on the street curb in our coats on our fold-up chairs, with our thermoses of hot chocolate, and watched all the groups going by: the boy scouts, girl scouts, Daughters of the American Revolution, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the car dealerships, the Harley Davidson folks, the POWs, even those against the war were all marching in the parade… all throwing candy… all smiling.
When the parade had finished its course, everyone went home, saying that was a great parade… a little colder than last year … the marching bands were great …. What’s for lunch?
Parades are like that. They’re short term. People join or people watch because it’s showy… it’s fun …
What was in Jesus’ mind that day he set out from Bethpage to Jerusalem on a donkey? Was it to have a good time? Gather a lot of folks into a parade? Make a name for his self?
Or was it to fulfill something that started a long time ago…something foretold by his prophetic ancestors? Was it to mark his last time coming into the city he loved, but who hated him? Did he know that all this excitement would be created? Was he a captive in a scene run amuck?
Jesus never tried to “start” anything.
He revealed the Kingdom of God… the way God saw things, and wanted us to be. That’s so counter to how human beings naturally are, that Jesus only met resistance.
Think about how “counter” intuitive Jesus is:
§ We live in power struggles with each other;
· Jesus says we’re to be each other’s servants.
§ We hold grudges;
· Jesus says forgiveness is a non-negotiable.
§ We justify our anger;
· Jesus says that is the same as murder.
§ We pride ourselves in getting ahead and consuming;
· Jesus says to sell all we have and follow him.
§ We want to be winners;
· Jesus says we have to loose our lives … to find them.
The list goes on.
And so does the parade.
Christianity is big business these days, and it’s politically correct.
Jesus threw the money-changers out of the temple and he was never politically correct. He was never on the winning side…. because “the way” he showed was too narrow for very many to fit through at one time…. Not good for parades.
X There is a youth organization that promotes Christianity. Parents love it because they see their children getting religion in a positive environment.
Hundreds of teens will show up, pay hundreds of dollars to go to phenomenal camps in amazing places. But a closer look at this organization’s techniques, gives me pause. Their leaders find out who the “popular” kids at school are, because they reason, if they get the popular kids, others will follow.
Is that what Jesus was about … when he picked the woman about to be stoned off the dirt pile? Is that what Jesus was about when he called the cheating, lying, hated Zacheus down from the tree? Is that what Jesus was about when he went to eat at the homes of the religiously incorrect? Is that what Jesus was about when the first person he told was going to heaven was a condemned criminal?
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Q Clarence Jordan was the founder of the Koinonia Farm near Americus, Georgia. It was set up to be an interracial community before anyone knew what civil rights were all about. Jordan himself was a pacifist as well as an integrationist and thus was not a popular figure in Georgia, even though he came from a prominent family.
The Koinonia Farm, by its very nature, was controversial and, of course, it was in trouble. In the early ’50s Clarence approached his brother Robert Jordan (later a state senator and justice of the Georgia Supreme Court) to ask him to represent legally the Koinonia Farm. They were having trouble getting LP gas delivered for heating during the winter even though it was against the law not to deliver gas. Clarence thought Robert could do much through a phone call. However, Robert responded to Clarence’s request:
“Clarence, I can’t do that. You know my political aspirations. Why, if I represented you, I might lose my job, my house, everything I’ve got.”
“We might lose everything, too, Bob.”
“It’s different for you.”
“Why is it different? I remember, it seems to me, that you and I joined the church on the same Sunday, as boys. I expect when we came forward the preacher asked me the same question he did you. He asked me, ‘Do you accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior?’ And I said, ‘Yes.’ What did you say?”
“I follow Jesus, Clarence, up to a point.”
“Could that point by any chance be — the cross?”
“That’s right. I follow him to the cross, but not on the cross. I’m not getting myself crucified.”
“Then I don’t believe you’re a disciple. You’re an admirer of Jesus, but not a disciple of his. I think you ought to go back to the church you belong to, and tell them you’re an admirer, not a disciple.”
“Well now, if everyone who felt like I do did that, we wouldn’t have a church, would we?”
“The question,” Clarence said, “is, ‘Do you have a church?’”
(Stanley Hauerwas, cited in “When we don’t ‘carry’ Jesus far enough”)
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Today we celebrate Palm Sunday. It’s a parade… and we all love parades. But look closely; the one at the front of the parade is not laughing; he’s crying. Everything he stands for; everything he wanted to get across in three short years… everything is about to end tragically, and no one understands.
§ He feels the failure… but the crowd is laughing.
§ He dreads the end… but the crowd enjoys this beginning.
§ He tastes death… but the crowd smells victory.
§ He sees a cross … but the crowd wants a crown.
What must Jesus be thinking today? The parade is getting bigger. Everyone is following and joining. Leaders are at every street corner, hawking their parade route. Who is leading the parade? Like the children’s picture book “Where’s Waldo?”, we strain to see “where’s Jesus?”
There are Cadillac’s and Harleys; tissue-papered floats and unicycles. But where is Jesus?
Could he be ….. at the back… on a donkey?
And who is following? Looks like lots of leaders all doing their own thing; saying their own thing; pushing their own agendas.
And Jesus says:
Blessed are the poor and those that mourn; forgive and pray for your enemies; sell all that you have and follow me….
And the music gets louder. Everyone is laughing and making speeches.
And Jesus turns his donkey down a side street… and the sign says: “the way of pain” …
He knows what this week holds for him:
It’s not ticker tape, and majority reports;
it’s not stickers in text books and plaques in court houses; ….
§ This week means saying goodbye too soon to his family;
§ It means being sold-out; and dragged through the political-religious mud;
§ It means being stripped down naked, beaten, called all the hate names in the book, and then being executed … all in the name of …
…… What was it in the name of?
But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. We’re in the middle of a parade.
I love a parade!