Blakeney/Stiffkey/Langham 24-03-02
“On a donkey, you must be kidding!” Matthew 21:1-11
There was a curate who used to preach on his pet subject "Love" every Sunday, until one day the Churchwarden collared him.
“ Curate” the churchwarden said “You preached a good sermon today but can’t you give us something new.”
So the curate agreed to preach the following Sunday on the book of Revelation.
The following Sunday he got up into the pulpit and started on Revelation but was soon lapsed back to his favourite topic of "Love".
The Churchwarden in desperation picked up a copy of the Book of Common Prayer and hurled it at the pulpit.
Unfortunately his throw was not strong enough and he hits a young lady in the front row on the back of the head.
As she went down, she was heard to say: "Hit me again, I can still hear him."
With that in mind, I decided to ask Philip what I should preach on this Sunday and he said: “Follow the lectionary”.
So I looked up the Gosepl reading and sure enough it was Mt. 21:1-11.
As I read the passage through, I thought it could only happen in church. Jesus rides into Jerusalem ON A DONKEY and they call it a “Triumphal Procession”
On a donkey – you must be kidding!!
Story: I read recently of the story of a modern-day “triumphal entry”. The splendour of it was mind-blowing. Let me read you what the article said.
“On 4th December 1977, the world witnessed the coronation of his Imperial Majesty, Bokassa I, in Bangui, capital of the Central African Empire.
The price tag for that single event was phenomenal - $25 million. And remember that was 25 years ago.
At 10:10 a.m., the blast of trumpets and the roll of drums announced the approach of His Majesty.
The procession began with eight of Bokassa’s twenty-nine official children. They processed down the royal carpet to their seats.
They were followed by the heir to the throne, Jean Bedel Bokassa II - dressed in a white admiral’s uniform with gold braid. He was seated on a red pillow to the left of the throne.
Catherine, the favourite of Bokassa’s nine wives, followed. She was wearing a $73,000 gown, strewn with pearls.
Then the emperor arrived in an imperial coach bedecked with golden eagles and drawn by six matched Anglo-Norman horses.
And as the Marine Band struck up the hymn "The Sacred March of His Majesty,” Emperor Bokassa strode forth. He was cloaked in a thirty-two pound robe decorated with 785,000 strewn pearls and gold embroidery.
He wore white gloves and pearl slippers on his feet. On his head, he wore a gold crown of laurel-wreaths, similar to those worn by Roman consuls of old. A symbol of the favour of the gods.
As the "Sacred March" came to an end, Bokassa seated himself on his $2.5 million eagle throne.
He took his gold laurel wreath off. And – like Napoleon 173 years earlier – he placed the $2.5 million crown - topped with an 80-carat diamond on his own head.”
Here was a new emperor, a new king. Now isn’t that the way a triumphant king should enter his capital?
Well Jesus didn’t seem to think so!
Conventional wisdom dictated that he should have entered Jerusalem on a white charger – Bokassa style.
In contrast, Jesus entered Jerusalem - seated on a donkey in a procession that has been known down the centuries as the “Triumphal entry into Jerusalem”.
Why did Jesus enter Jerusalem triumphantly – on a donkey???
What was God trying to say or was it simply chance that all Jesus could find was a donkey??
Matthew tells us that the Triumphant Entry into Jerusalem ON A DONKEY was no mere chance.
It wasn’t bad luck that there was no white charger about- so Jesus had made do with second best!!
No, this had all been prophesied 500 years earlier - in the OT in the book of Zechariah. in a prophecy. Let me read it to you:
"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." (Zec.9: 9).
It was an important part of God’s plan.
So, if it was an important enough part of God’s plan for God to reveal it prophetically 500 years earlier, I asked myself - Why?
Why did Jesus enter Jerusalem triumphantly – on a donkey? Seems a bit of a paradox doesn’t it? What is God trying to tell us?
1. Background
I think that we can find an answer to this conundrum by considering the tensions in Jerusalem at that time.
What do you think it have felt like to be a Jew in first Century Palestine?
Perhaps very much like being French in occupied France during the Second World War. There the Germans not the Romans were the hated masters of the country.
The Jews hated the Romans and were expecting an ALL CONQUERING Messiah/ King. Someone who would boot the hated Romans out.
After all, God has done it before, so why shouldn’t he do it again.
In 167 BC, the Jews had successfully risen up against the Seleucid ruler, Antiochus IV.
Antiochus had rather foolishly triggered a Jewish rebellion by defiling the Temple in Jerusalem by sacrificing a pig on the altar.
Under the banner of the Maccabees, the Jews retook Jerusalem in 165BC and rededicated the Temple. And the Jews- to this day - remember this event as the Feast of Hanukkah.
They had once again become an independent kingdom, with the house of Maccabees as king.
However, in 63 BC, Pompey - the Roman general was invited to settle a dispute between two rival Jewish claimants to the throne of Israel.
But instead of settling the dispute, Pompey took it as an opportunity to conquer Israel. And so in 63 BC he took Jerusalem and from then on, the Romans had imposed their rule.
The Jews were pinning their nationalistic hopes on a Messiah/King – very much in the Maccabean mould.
But this the very point that Jesus is making - when he enters Jerusalem “in lowly pomp” as the hymn writer put it.
“SUPERMAN” is not “what the doctor prescribed”.
Jesus’ solution was different. He was a king all right, but his kingly mission was to give his life
For his followers. He was truly the Servant King.
As an aside, it is interesting to note that in the Old Testament, donkeys were used by judges and kings to get around on for errands of peace. In contrast, a charger was primarily used in battle and signified power and might.
Again by using a donkey, Jesus is making a statement.
His kingdom is a kingdom of peace not a kingdom of war and domination.
2. So what is God trying to tell us?
I think the key can be found towards the end of the previous chapter – a chapter that focuses on what it takes to be “great” in the Kingdom of God.
Jesus called them and said: You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them and their
superiors oppress them, but with you it is different.
Whoever among you wants to be great must be your minister and whoever would be first shall be your servant, just as the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many (Mt. 20:25-27)
In other words, whoever wants to be greatest in the Kingdom of God, must be servant of all. (Mt. 20:27)
And indeed Jesus modelled that himself.
We see him doing this at the Last Supper as he washed the disciples feet –a job for the servant and not the master of the house. (Jn. 13;4).
So what can we take home from the triumphal entry in Jerusalem for ourselves today?
We are called to love God and our fellow man – and a willingness to serve one another should spring from that source.
So as we remember Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem, let us remember that the
Kingdom he ushered in.
It was not a kingdom like the world was used to – where the ruler lords it over his subjects. Rather it is a kingdom where the ruler serves his people.
For Christ’s kingdom is not a kingdom of domination and fear but of love and servanthood.
Let our prayer today be that we can shine as light in this world for the Kingdom of God. As St. Francis of Assissi said: “Preach the Gospel all the time – and use words if necessary”.
People will be attracted to the Christ we preach of we live as HE wants.
In 1972, I became a Christian. It all started in 1971 because I saw a boy in my house at Charterhouse living the Christian life.
And I said: “He has, what I want.”
I was so intrigued thatI started to go to the Christian Union. And just in the Christmas holidays of 1971, I went on a Christian Union houseparty.
On the evening of the Thursday of that week at the houseparty, I went up into my bedroom and said: “Jesus, if you exist like my friends say you exist – I want to know you. “
And immediately I felt the presence of God in my room.
I became a Christian because this one lad LIVED the Christian life.
The challenge of Palm Sunday is, I believe for us to follow in our Master’ s footsteps.
No disciple is greater than his master.
And our Master is Jesus, the Servant King. Amen
