I
magine that most of us have been to the Rose Festival Parade at some time in our lives and sat along MLK and waited for the floats and bands to come along. Some of us have gotten there just before it started. Others have purchased seats from which to view it and still others of us have spent the night out there waiting. If you don’t know it already seeing a parade in person is a lot different from watching it on TV. The floats are bigger, more impressive and the colors brighter. The bands music can seep in your soul as the bass pounds in your chest. There is a sense of excitement as you wait for the “what’s next” to come around the corner.
Seeing a parade in person is LOT different than reading about it. But that’s what we have in the story of what we call Palm or Passion Sunday. The pilgrims, headed up to Jerusalem for Passover, climb a rocky, dusty roadway toward the city. Those who lived around the area would make this an annual trip. Yet thousands traveled from around Israel and elsewhere to be on hand for Passover in Jerusalem.
The emotions ran at a fever pitch as they climbed toward the city. Rome put extra troops in the city because of the likelihood of riots and attacks. As the people climbed the hill they sang. The praise songs of their day were what we call the Psalms. Psalms 120 through 132 proclaim the trust the people have in YWHW and their need for Him to act again in their lives. They proclaim God’s glory and the joy it gave them to worship at His temple.
That year someone else entered into Jerusalem. He bore the title “King of the Jews” although not everyone recognized it or admitted it. He rode rather than walked. Some of those close by him knew the miracles he’d done. Some, like Lazarus, may have been a recipient of a miracle themselves. Others had heard his teaching or knew people who knew people… With all of this going on Jesus fulfills Zechariah’s prophecy and as he enters the city astride an ass he proclaims his identity to any and all who will see.
This parade wasn’t practical for many of those entering Jerusalem that day. Some dismissed the man on the donkey. Others were caught up in the ritual of the psalms. Others were there because that’s where the excitement was. Others didn’t really know what a difference a Messiah could make even if this Jesus were who he claimed to be. And I would say that even today, sadly, there are still such folks all around us. People who don’t believe God can make a difference. People who are afraid God will make a difference. People who have just missed the importance and practicality of God’s parade of love.
What can be remotely practical about a parade? First I want us to see that our trust in Jesus isn’t misplaced trust. We can all think of things we’ve trusted in; people we’ve believed in and the like that have let us down and left us disappointed and hurt. We’ve waited for the big thing only to have it fizzle. We’ve saved to get that new toy only to have it be not all that great after all. Good news folks. Jesus is the one person who won’t let us down or stand us up.
As Jesus rides into Jerusalem he does something we’ve only seen with the disciples he accepts the praise of the people. He doesn’t shush them as he did demons early in his ministry. He doesn’t quiet them by saying, ‘it’s not my time.’ He lets them sing their songs of praise toward the city and accepts it as his own. As those with him recognized who he was branches and clothes were laid out before the entering King as signs of worship and adoration.
Not everyone was as understanding though. The Jewish leaders who witnessed this were upset. They were worried about what God would think with these people worshipping someone who was so obviously human. They were worried about what the Roman soldiers might think if the crowd’s belief in this Messiah once again took them down the road to revolution. “Shut these people up” they tell Jesus. And his answer is revealing. Creation itself cannot keep silent at his coming-the rocks plainly saw who he was even if these teachers wouldn’t.
A second practical side to this parade is that we see something of the way God approaches those who are dead set against God’s agenda in the world. It’s seen in the fact that Jesus entered Jerusalem on an ass, rather than a horse. This was a very common animal and the main way of moving goods throughout the Middle East. Conquering kings and generals as a way to enter a city and proclaim peace to those they had overcome. The alternative was to enter on their warhorse and bring destruction on the city.
Jesus enters bringing peace not unmerciful punishment and retribution. He comes to Jerusalem and us with love, forgiveness and friendship. But as we know from the rest of the events that week the audience wasn’t all that receptive for Jesus, a week later, has been executed and abandoned by some of the very same people who now sang praise to him.
Isaiah 50 shows how Messiah, Jesus, was loving and giving in spite of the open hostility and abuse of those he had come to save. This side of Easter, as followers of Jesus we need to be cautious of the animals we choose to ride into the lives of others. I believe God calls us to enter with offer of peace and love. He does not tell us to sell out what we believe or to compromise His truth but to bless those who would seek to injure us and who actively try to attack and destroy us. Admittedly, that’s not easy to do.
A third practical application of this parade is that as we recognize and worship Jesus we gain the power to do His work in our world. Christ gave us “the ministry of reconciliation” Paul tells us. What Jesus did on the cross and proclaimed in this parade has been passed on to us. We don’t have to die because Jesus already did that. But we do get to serve others so that Jesus’ message of love and reconciliation is spread to those who don’t know about it as well as to those who refuse to believe it.
Our world is full of hatred and danger and in the face of this world Christ’s disciples we enter into our schools, places of work, communities, and homes as peace-bringers and peacemakers. It’s not a simple ‘why can’t we all get along’ type of peace. It’s not a peace that says, ‘I’ll back down on this belief if it upsets you.’ It’s the peace that only Jesus brings when he is allowed to enter into hearts, minds, and souls of individuals and communities. It’s a peace that goes beyond non-violence to bringing about wholeness and a sense of ease in one’s life. In fact the peace we bring can kill us as it did Jesus. Entering into Jerusalem, proclaiming Christ Lord and Savior, is a dangerous undertaking
There’s more to discipleship than enthusiasm. The crowd was just as enthused when they yelled “Crucify Him” as they were when they shouted, “hosanna”. There’s more to following Christ than “experiences”. Promise Keepers, CPYA, Mission trips, a great concert, hearing Luis Palau or Billy Graham, saying a prayer, holding up our hand, speaking in tongues, being baptized or great worship does not make one a disciple. Here’s some sobering words from Matthew 7:21-24 “Not everyone who says to me ‘Lord, Lord’, will enter the kingdom of heaven…I will tell them plainly ‘I NEVER knew you. Away me from you evildoers.” We’re not talking about backsliders here because Jesus simply says he’s NEVER known them at all.
Discipleship is about making the hard calls for Jesus and against the world order of things. It is commitment to Jesus not curiosity about Him. Discipleship means obedience to Christ not just testimonies about Him. And these two aren’t easy. Can you list one or two commands of Christ that you have refused to follow this past week? True discipleship involves our living out the life Christ demands of us. It’s above all practical and it’s an act of our will.
If you travel up I-395 through Washington, D.C., and cross over the Potomac, you will likely cross the Arland D. Williams, Jr., Memorial Bridge. Who was Arland D. Williams, Jr.?
On January 13, 1982, he gave hope to five individuals at the cost of his own life. On that cold January day, Air Florida Flight 90 crashed into the icy Potomac. Ice on the wings prevented the plane from a successful take-off. Almost all of the passengers perished.
Five different times, a helicopter dropped a rope to save Williams. Five times, Williams passed the rope to other passengers in worse shape than he was. When the rope was extended to Williams the sixth time, he could not take hold, and succumbed to the frigid waters.
His heroism was not rash. Aware that his own strength was fading, he deliberately handed hope to someone else over the space of several minutes.
Jesus did not make a rash decision to give his life for ours. That Jesus would be an atoning sacrifice for us was his destiny from eternity past. We need only take the lifeline handed to us by his sacrificial death on the cross.
