Let Go of Second-Guessing God
Philippians 2:5-11; Luke 19:28-40
You can order 150 of them on Amazon for $31.99. Little pocket-sized Jesuses. I have one that stays under my computer monitor. Then a few others showed up at my house. There’s one in the kitchen window, the family room. There he is on the night stand. He’s always watching! Maybe he is a good reminder that Jesus is indeed always with us, just as he said he would be. On this side of the Cross, we seem to accept easily a spiritual Jesus, a risen Christ, who lives in our hearts (or on our nightstand). I can only hope that we have all outgrown the children’s song that said, I wish I had a little gold box to put my Jesus in. I’d take him out and kiss kiss kiss, and put him back in again. What?! Put him back in the box?! The thing about making Jesus a tiny figure, or an object in a box or an invisible friend in our hearts, is that we risk diminishing the cosmic, multi-dimensional, everlasting and dynamic, Divine presence in the person of Jesus Christ.
I wonder if the disciples in today’s text wish they had a little gold box to put Jesus in where he would be kept safe and quiet for a little while longer?
Jesus’ procession into Jerusalem invites us to witness the praises of disciples along the road; all the while knowing “Hosannas” will deteriorate into heckling and insults in a matter of days. As we have said many times leading up to his arrival in Jerusalem, this is where everything will be asked of him.
This is where the road ends. This is his purpose.
He has made his way to Jerusalem via preaching on the hillsides; teaching from fishing boats; calling disciples along the seashore; storytelling in the streets; healing the sick in every town; praying on the mountain; gathering the children under his wing; and sharing meals and fellowship with the least likely of characters. This is the Jesus who is so beloved by his closest disciples and now praised by those who have heard his teaching, seen his healing, felt his welcome. They know him. Did these apostles, having heard the whispers that the chief priests were secretly trying to put him away (run him out of town, or worse) hope that he would lay low.
Luke’s gospel lays out a few signs here that affirm that Jesus has come to Jerusalem for such a time as this. Sending a couple of his disciples ahead of them into town, Jesus predicts how they will find a colt. And someone who is probably a follower of Jesus, will ask “Why are you untying this colt?” and they will reply, “Its master needs it.” And it all happened just as he said, not because of a prearranged plan, but because of Jesus’ divine knowledge. It all happened as the prophet Zechariah foretold:
Shout aloud, O daughter Jerusalem!
See, your king comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he,
humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
For sacred purposes young animals were used that had not previously been employed in other service.[1] This young colt was chosen to be included in a procession in which all creation is included. Even though Luke’s account does not mention palms or “Hosannas” for that matter, the final line of this passage points to Luke’s acknowledgement that all creation is groaning in this procession. If Jesus’ disciples hush their praises and go silent, as the Pharisees admonished them to do, “the stones would cry out”, Jesus says (vs 40)! Perhaps the Pharisees were concerned for Jesus’ safety. Perhaps they feared that calling Jesus, “King” would incite a harsh response from the Romans. And if the gathered were shouting, “Hosanna” which means “Save us” then the soldiers, who were always more visible during Passover, might have assumed they were protesting Roman occupation.[2]
Luke’s version of events is “less crowded and more subdued” than other gospels, but we know the atmosphere was fraught with tension. You may have heard other Palm Sunday sermons that preach the triumphal entry as a revolutionary ride, comparing Jesus’ humble entry from the North side of town to the theatrical pageantry of a governor of Caesar who would ride into town on mighty steeds and columns of soldiers from the opposite side. Luke has no interest in portraying events this way, hence the absence of palm branches that belong to parades with nationalistic overtones in Jesus’ day.[3]
But we waved palms and shouted Hosannas because we need Palm Sunday’s moments of praise for what they are, not what they will be in a few days.[4] We also long for revolutionary change in the world we live in. And we know that it takes disciples who are willing to step up and speak out against brutality and violence, oppression and injustice in the same way that Jesus did throughout his ministry.[5]
Some things simply must be said. Luke makes that point in Jesus’ response to the Pharisees request that the marchers tone it down a little. “If these voices were silenced, the very stones would cry out!”
Of course, this is a figure of speech, but the meaning behind it is the truth that must be said, all creation is included in the revelation and redemption of God. The bible tells us this over and over, think about it:
● In Genesis, the result of human sin brings thistles and thorns to the garden.
● Isaiah declares that a reign of peace will cause the lion and the lamb to lay downside by side.
● When Jesus was born, a star appeared in the sky.
● When he died, the earth quaked, and for three hours there was an eclipse of the sun.
“All this dramatic language,” Fred Craddock wrote, “reminds us of that which we sometimes forget: all life is from God, the whole universe shares together bane and blessing, life and death, and in the final reign of God the creation itself will be set free from its enslavement to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God (Romans 8:21).[6]
Our takeaway from Luke’s version of events: the Kingship that Jesus is riding in on is meant to overturn the ways of the world as we know it, not justify it - not accept the status quo – which means that some truths need shouting aloud.[7]
What truth is creation waiting for us to speak?
● Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. Life is full of affliction, but Jesus came to give us abundant life. (John 14:6, 10:10)
● Alabama’s population is a little over a quarter Black, but more than half the people in Alabama’s jails and prisons are Black. Black men and women disproportionately suffer the direct and collateral consequences of incarceration in our state.[8]
● 28% of LGBTQ youth (more than one in four) reported experiencing homelessness or housing instability at some point in their young lives. That’s one problem, but instability in where you can safely lay your head at night complicates everything else in your life.[9]
● Christian nationalism uses the veneer, the outward appearance, of Christianity to advance its own aims, which most often point to a political figure, party or ideology instead of Jesus. Nearly half the population of Alabama identify or sympathize with this way of thinking. White Christian Nationalism hurts everyone who is not white/Christian/straight…etc.[10]
● Raging wildfires and eroding coastlines beg us to examine our consumption and our stewardship of the air, land and waters.
These are all stones crying out if we have ears to hear.
Several weeks ago, Nadia Bolz Weber said to a room FULL of church folks like you and me, “Now is the time for us to live our faith out loud so the voice(s) of exclusion, Christian Nationalism, racism and bigotry are not the only voices that people hear!” We can’t keep Jesus in our pocket, or on our desk.
God has not given up on God’s people. And neither should we! This is the truth at the heart of Palm Sunday.[11] Don’t second guess God. Don’t second guess what God was doing through Jesus. Don’t second guess what God wants to do through you! If not you, who?!
Pray: Liberating Savior, you make us uncomfortable / so that you can lead us / into more life / and deeper wonder; so that God can take who we are/ and break us open, and bless us / and give us to the world. AMEN.
[1] Craddock, Fred Interpretation commentary series Luke
[2] Craddock, Fred Interpretation commentary series Luke
[3] ibid.
[4] Lewis, Karoline Against Passion Sunday 2011
[5] Butler, Amy “Can I Step Up?” Patheos 2016
[6] Craddock, Fred Interpretation commentary series Luke
[7] Neal, Jerusha Matsen Working Preacher commentary What truths is creation waiting for us to speak?
[8] https://alabamaappleseed.org/racial-justice
[9]https://www.thetrevorproject.org/blog/new-report-shows-homelessness-housing-instability-linked-to-increased-suicide-risk-among-lgbtq-youth/
[10] https://bjconline.org/christian-nationalism/
[11] Neal, Jerusha Matsen Working Preacher commentary What truths is creation waiting for us to speak?