WRideout
03-08-2016, 09:08 AM
Luke 19:28-44
In this victory parade, a lamb rides a donkey, through an adoring crowd, to his ultimate destination. I have often said that God has a sense of humor, but I think that he also has a sense of the ironic, if not the absurd. The Palm branches, mentioned in the Gospel of John, but nowhere else, were certainly a sign of military victory, and honors bestowed by the civil authority. The donkey, well, that was something else again. A military leader would have ridden a horse; and not just any horse, but a large powerful stallion of beautiful appearance. Jesus rode to Jerusalem on a small, peaceable donkey, certainly no war horse.
For months he had been trying to show his followers what he was really there for. He talked to them about the future of Jerusalem, but they did not understand. He told them as directly as possible what his future would be, but they could not hear it. Sometimes we don’t hear until God wants us to hear.
But Jesus knew what was coming. The second person of the Trinity, the Son of God, knew exactly what would happen to him and to the city of Jerusalem. His prediction that no stone would be left on top of another would be carried out only decades later. The destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD by the Roman army was documented by a Jewish writer by the name of Josephus. He had ingratiated himself to the Roman leaders, and made himself indispensable by writing volumes that extolled the virtues of Imperial Rome. One of those works, The Jewish Wars, told the story of the Roman response to rebellion, and the destruction of Jerusalem. In those days, annihilation of the enemy was a reasonable political objective, and the Romans practiced it with thoroughness. Jerusalem and the rebels were utterly destroyed. What had happened that this catastrophe came to pass? I believe it was because Israel had forgotten to be Israel, God’s chosen people.
When Jesus came to Jerusalem in a triumphal parade, the power elite of the Israelites felt very threatened. They had already pretty much sold out to the Romans. Herod, partly Jewish, had been installed as a puppet by the Romans, to keep order, and insure that the taxes rolled in. The Romans had adopted a policy of letting the locals do what they wanted, in terms of culture and religion, so long as it didn’t interfere with the orderly administration of the Roman government. In this atmosphere, the priests, scribes and Pharisees, the power players, kept their mouths shut, and played along. These power players did well for themselves. They did so well, in fact, that Jesus was outraged when he saw their tables set up in the temple, to sell sacrificial animals to the penitent. In his anger, Jesus turned over the tables, sending a message that this was one who would challenge the status quo; one who threatened a privileged way of life. I’m not sure what sins Israel may have committed. Assuredly they were not always just, did not always follow the Ten Commandments, and placed other gods above Jehovah. In spite of all that, I think that the worst thing they did was to not recognize the Anointed One, the Messiah, when he was in their midst.
It is still difficult for us to accept the living Christ in out midst. We can accept the happy Jesus; the one who comforts and protects us; the one who is our buddy. We have trouble with the other Jesus; the one who turns over the tables of the moneychangers, who demands that we give him our all. The one who demands that we accept, and even love the unlovable. The one who tells us to take up our cross.
In this victory parade, a lamb rides a donkey, through an adoring crowd, to his ultimate destination. I have often said that God has a sense of humor, but I think that he also has a sense of the ironic, if not the absurd. The Palm branches, mentioned in the Gospel of John, but nowhere else, were certainly a sign of military victory, and honors bestowed by the civil authority. The donkey, well, that was something else again. A military leader would have ridden a horse; and not just any horse, but a large powerful stallion of beautiful appearance. Jesus rode to Jerusalem on a small, peaceable donkey, certainly no war horse.
For months he had been trying to show his followers what he was really there for. He talked to them about the future of Jerusalem, but they did not understand. He told them as directly as possible what his future would be, but they could not hear it. Sometimes we don’t hear until God wants us to hear.
But Jesus knew what was coming. The second person of the Trinity, the Son of God, knew exactly what would happen to him and to the city of Jerusalem. His prediction that no stone would be left on top of another would be carried out only decades later. The destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD by the Roman army was documented by a Jewish writer by the name of Josephus. He had ingratiated himself to the Roman leaders, and made himself indispensable by writing volumes that extolled the virtues of Imperial Rome. One of those works, The Jewish Wars, told the story of the Roman response to rebellion, and the destruction of Jerusalem. In those days, annihilation of the enemy was a reasonable political objective, and the Romans practiced it with thoroughness. Jerusalem and the rebels were utterly destroyed. What had happened that this catastrophe came to pass? I believe it was because Israel had forgotten to be Israel, God’s chosen people.
When Jesus came to Jerusalem in a triumphal parade, the power elite of the Israelites felt very threatened. They had already pretty much sold out to the Romans. Herod, partly Jewish, had been installed as a puppet by the Romans, to keep order, and insure that the taxes rolled in. The Romans had adopted a policy of letting the locals do what they wanted, in terms of culture and religion, so long as it didn’t interfere with the orderly administration of the Roman government. In this atmosphere, the priests, scribes and Pharisees, the power players, kept their mouths shut, and played along. These power players did well for themselves. They did so well, in fact, that Jesus was outraged when he saw their tables set up in the temple, to sell sacrificial animals to the penitent. In his anger, Jesus turned over the tables, sending a message that this was one who would challenge the status quo; one who threatened a privileged way of life. I’m not sure what sins Israel may have committed. Assuredly they were not always just, did not always follow the Ten Commandments, and placed other gods above Jehovah. In spite of all that, I think that the worst thing they did was to not recognize the Anointed One, the Messiah, when he was in their midst.
It is still difficult for us to accept the living Christ in out midst. We can accept the happy Jesus; the one who comforts and protects us; the one who is our buddy. We have trouble with the other Jesus; the one who turns over the tables of the moneychangers, who demands that we give him our all. The one who demands that we accept, and even love the unlovable. The one who tells us to take up our cross.