TAS / WSM 17-04-2011
Palm Sunday 2011
This morning’s Gospel reading is the beginning of one of the most momentous weeks in Antiquity – in AD 29.
Indeed one of the most important weeks in history.
We know the story so well that it is hard to find something new to say.
So I would like to ask you a question this morning:
“Why do you think that in the space of one short week Jesus could go from being the most popular person on the planet to public enemy number 1.”
The key to the answer can, I believe be found with the ownership of the Donkey.
I wonder if you have ever thought about the ownership of the donkey!
In our Gospel reading today, St Matthew records
“Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me. 3 If anyone says anything to you, say that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away.”
And St Luke provides more detail about the ownership of the donkey when he records this:
33As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, "Why are you untying the colt?"
PAUSE
I’ll explain that later.
1. Background
But let me start with the background to the political situation in Jerusalem at the beginning of the third Decade of the First Century AD
The Jews had been waiting a long time for a Messiah – someone who would free them from the oppression of a foreign ruler.
They looked back in history about 200 years to BC 167 the time when Judas Maccabees threw off the yoke of the Seleucid kings of Syria - and reclaimed Jewish independence.
For the Jews THAT was the type of Messiah they were expecting at the beginning of Holy Week.
However in Holy Week Jesus dispels their illusions.
Why did the crowd change in one short week from worshipping Jesus to baying for his blood?
I would like to suggest to you it is because Jesus brought unacceptable CHANGE to their thinking
He challenged their concept of the Messiah m- and as with change – religious people didn’t like that
In fact if the crowds had been watching carefully they would have realised that - even on Palm Sunday itself - something wasn’t quite right.
Why?
Because if Jesus was coming as an all conquering King, he would not have ridden into Jerusalem on a donkey
Instead had he come as a political Messiah, he would have ridden into Jerusalem on a white stallion – the symbol of power.
But he came to Jerusalem riding on a donkey – the symbol of servanthood.
You may recall earlier in my sermon, I said that the key to understanding why the crowds turned on Jesus lay in the ownership of the donkey.
Let me explain now why I think that
2. Riding in on the donkey was a well planned operation
I believe that Jesus had purposely planned riding a donkey into Jerusalem – that was no mere chance.
Why do I think that?
3.1 Jesus instructions
My evidence starts with Jesus’ instructions (given more clearly in Luke’s Gospel but it also appears in part in Matthew’s too):
Let me read them to you. He tells his disciples
30"Go to the village ahead of you, and as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 31If anyone asks you, ’Why are you untying it?’ tell him, ’The Lord needs it.’
Clearly the disciples did not know the donkey’s owners – otherwise Jesus would have simply said “Go and get the donkey from whatever the owner’s name was".
St Luke then records that when the disciples did go and fetch the donkey, its owners asked them, "Why are you untying the colt?"
NOTE: Plural owners
This is important because if the donkey had at least two owners you can be sure they were poor.
The donkey didn’t belong to some rich landowner for whom the donkey was just an other possession and he wouldn’t be too worried if one of his donkeys when missing for a week.
The donkey, I would suggest to you was a prize possession for at least two poor people
So the donkey would have had to be a sizeable investment for each owner.
So WHY would the owners would have parted with such an investment to complete strangers - the disciples.
The only reasonable explanation is that the expression “The Lord needs it" was a pre-arranged codeword.
If this is so, Jesus has put a lot of meticulous planning into riding the donkey into Jerusalem
3.2 So what was Jesus saying by using a donkey
So if Jesus has planned the event, what is the point that He is making by riding into Jerusalem on a donkey.
Jesus was well versed in Scripture.
And he would have been well aware of Zechariah’s prophecy – given four centuries earlier that said one day the true King would come - not on a charger but on a donkey
The prophecy reads like this:
9 Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. (Zech 9:9)
But the crowds couldn’t hear the statement Jesus was making when he came into Jerusalem riding on a donkey.
They were too caught up in their own preconceptions of the Messiah and what Messiah meant to them
They weren’t listening to the change in their thinking of Messiahship that Jesus was making
For the donkey reflected the servanthood of the Messiah encapsulated so well in Isaiah 53, where
When Jesus rode into Jerusalem, there was an air of expectation
The crowds were simply waiting for Jesus to give the word and they would rise up and storm the Roman garrison
But he didn’t.
Instead St Luke records:
Jesus ….entered the temple area and began driving out those who were selling. “It is written” he said to them “My house will be a house of prayer but you have made it a den of robbers” (Lk 19:45, 46)
Instead of leading a revolt to throw out the Roman secular power, Jesus goes into the Temple to “clean up shop” there.
Why – because he came to CHANGE their expectation of what Messiah meant
He attacked the corruption in the Temple. God’s people need to be reformed first before those who have no allegiance to God.
He took the Jews - not the Romans to task.
And instead of listening to the change Jesus brought – they turned on him.
When what Jesus was saying finally sank in – the religious Jews rose up in fury
For it was when He went into the Temple that they began to realise how different Jesus’ mission was to their expectations
Conclusions
Holy Week was a well planned operation – as the ownership of the donkeys shows – and indeed the preparations in the Upper Room for the last Supper on the first Maundy Thursday support.
The preparations were done in secret.
If Jesus had not acted clandestinely, his enemies would have confiscated the donkey and the prophecy from Zechariah could not have been fulfilled
But the High Priest and his supporters in the Pharisees were “caught on the hop”
Passover was a happy time – and the crowds were in a good mood.
And here was Jesus – the long awaited Messiah coming into town.
But the mood started to change when at the end of the procession - he went into the Temple to clear out the moneychangersand traders (as Luke’s Gospel reports) rather than lead an uprising against the Roman Garrison.
However by the time of the first Good Friday, Jesus’ opponents had realised what a threat he was- and had rallied the troops
The High Priest speaking prophetically said: One man must die for the good of the people”
By Good Friday, Jesus’ enemies had had time to stir up trouble in the crowd.
Jesus knew this – and as a careful reading of all the Gospels shows – he knew that the Cross lay at the end of it.
So what can we take from our Gospel reading this Palm Sunday
Jesus’ mission rocked the folk religion of the day.
Jesus came to change the mindset of those who called themselves God’s chosen people.
And he comes to challenge our “religion” today – because the rules and regulations of a religion bring death, but a relationship with the risen Lord brings life.
But the way they reacted showed that they weren’t God’s people.
Let us – as God’s Church - be careful not to miss the changes that the donkey of Christ heralded.
Let us ride lightly on our “traditions” if they have no Scriptural warranty.
For if we do not, we may find ourselves opposing - rather than co-operating with - the plans that God has for his Church here on the Fens. Amen
Let us pray:
Father, during this time of Lent and Passiontide, may you give us ears that are willing to listen to what you want to say to us.
May we keep the Cross of Christ before us – realising that we need to crucify our own carnal nature and take on the nature of Christ
May we be willing to embrace the changes you wish to bring to our lives
We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord.
