Compelled To Testify

Lots of people are testifying these days. We’ve got trials in California and New York and Georgia and Washington D.C. Politicians and government officials and even just ordinary people caught up in things are all either pouring their hearts out or nowhere to be found. Some are practically begging for a chance to tell their story while others have to be dragged kicking and screaming to the witness stand under threat of subpoena or fear of being brought up under perjury or obstruction of justice charges. There are as many motives for mouthing off as there are people and positions, policies and passions. And some are just going along with the crowd.

Jesus was heading for a trial of his own. And when the time came for people to testify, it’s amazing how many people were nowhere to be found. The same people, mind you, who were shouting their heads off as he came into Jerusalem that long ago day at the beginning of the Passover festival. It’s easy to speak up when there aren’t any consequences, isn’t it. It doesn’t take a whole lot of motivation to join the crowd shouting “Hosanna! Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven!” [Lk 19:38]

Many people lined the roads that day who hadn’t a clue about who Jesus was. Jews came from all over the world for the three great pilgrim festivals, and it was the custom to line the roads to greet all the people who were coming up to Jerusalem to celebrate. But there were enough of Jesus’ disciples there for them to start shouting a different shout, one especially for Jesus, identifying him as a king. And that’s when the Pharisees started to object. Because mobs are dangerous. Now, this wasn’t a hostile mob, mind you, and so the danger wasn’t like the protesters the people of Minneapolis saw in 2020, or the riots in Paris earlier this year. But things can all too easily get out of hand, as they do during spring break and after soccer matches. And if people actually started believing that the prophecies of the Messiah were coming true, why, who knew what chaos might occur!

So the Pharisees try to get Jesus to reject the applause, to defuse the potential for a riot, to keep things on an even keel, to maintain the status quo. They might not all have even been actively hostile, either... just worried about the potential for mob violence, worried about what might happen if the Romans decided to crack down on the festivities, worried about - well, worried about losing control.

What they didn’t know was that things were very much under control.

Jesus had set this up just so that the people seeing him come into town would begin to get the idea that something important was happening. He was riding on the donkey just the way the prophet Zechariah had described, and the disciples were shouting praises to a king. This was a time for people to get on board, or at least to start paying attention to what God was doing in their world.

Timing is everything. There are times when God seems to be absent, times when we wonder, “God, why don’t you do something about this?” And the people of Judea had been wondering where God was for quite some time now. They hadn’t had a genuine, bona fide prophet for over four hundred years. The short-lived Maccabean kingdom had been crushed a hundred years before and the Jews were once again living under a brutal and greedy occupation. Where was God?

The time was now. The time had come for God to act. Jesus wanted the crowds to notice him. The time was now, God was in control, and people were going to sit up and take notice whether the authorities were able to silence the people or not.

Some of the people were just shouting because everybody else was. When the parade was over, they went home and took up their lives again, the way I might after cheering myself hoarse over a game. Believe it or not, I have done that - the year my high school basketball team went to State, and twenty years later when the Minnesota Vikings went to the Super Bowl. I sat on the edge of my chair and hollered out loud. I got caught up in the excitement. But it didn’t really matter to me when they lost. And I’ve not done it since. There are more important things in my life. (Sorry, guys, but it’s true!)

Some of the people were shouting because they believed Jesus was the Messiah. They had heard him teach, seen him heal people and cast out demons, maybe even had heard about Lazarus being raised from the dead. And now with him actually riding a donkey into Jerusalem, why, that must be the sign! That was the promise coming true! They were going to get rid of the hated Romans and be in charge of their own destiny again. Of course they shouted “Hosanna!”