As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples, saying to them, "Go to the village ahead of you, and just as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, 'Why are you doing this?' tell him, 'The Lord needs it and will send it back here shortly.' "
They went and found a colt outside in the street, tied at a doorway. As they untied it, some people standing there asked, "What are you doing, untying that colt?" They answered as Jesus had told them to, and the people let them go. When they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks over it, he sat on it. Many people spread their cloaks on the road, while others spread branches they had cut in the fields. Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted,
"Hosanna!"
"Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!"
"Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!"
"Hosanna in the highest!"
Jesus entered Jerusalem and went to the temple. He looked around at everything, but since it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the Twelve.
The United States has become less religious in the past twenty years. Or so says a new survey by Trinity College in Connecticut. The most startling statistic is that 27% of Americans do not expect to have a religious funeral service when they die. Barry Kosmin, the study’s author, commented, “Traditionally, people are interested in salvation, heaven, and hell. If you don’t have a religious service you probably aren’t interested in heaven and hell.” The Americans who identify themselves as Christians dropped from 86% to 76% while the number in the “none” category- agnostics, secularist, and atheists- almost doubled from 8% to 15%. New England has surpassed the Pacific Northwest as the most secularized or new “none” zone. Other conclusions are that brand loyalty is gone. Most believers call themselves “Christians” instead of Baptist or Lutheran or Catholic. Many believers across all denominations prefer to distinguish themselves as “born again Christians”. Some don’t like the cultural baggage of “Christian” so they go with “follower of Christ”.
What do we make of these trends?
First, it certainly reinforces the urgency to reach out, the imperative to share the gospel. We as Lutherans, tend to work under the broad, unwritten assumption that the conversion to personal faith in Jesus Christ has already occurred in people’s lives elsewhere and that church growth merely involves assimilating those “already converted” into the life of the congregation.
Second, living in a world that is so practical, we want God to be relevant. We live in a society where there’s tremendous peer pressure to reduce God to fit immediate needs and expectations. The above study seems to indicate religious consumer dissatisfaction. I would say most of us here have felt that way ourselves. Some of us feel God hasn’t been living up to all that mercy and might the bible brags about. Yes, we need God & want to welcome salvation. But we have divided hearts. Even if you don’t recognize biblical reality of sin there is still disease & disappointment, injustice & inhumanity, catastrophe & corruption, inside & outside of the church.
So Jesus comes into Jerusalem today, Palm Sunday 2009. The religious trends are still unfavorable. The city was divided back then, too. The people were divided. There were people along the streets who owed to him the sight of their eyes, the clear reason of their minds, the renewal of their faith in God, & even the raising of family members from the dead like Lazarus. The old streets echoed with shouts of welcome. But, there were others who Jesus had disappointed and defeated. He had trampled on their traditions, contradicted and even condemned their teachings. When Jesus dared to question their commerce and mess with their way of life, they booed & cursed him. During his triumphal entry, Jesus was both intruder and king.
Phillip Brooks writes, “What a confusion! The city was divided against itself. Both cursed and welcomed, Jesus held on his way, claiming the town because it was his Father’s. Jesus comes as both Intruder and King. And so Jesus claims our hearts.”
So Jesus enters Jerusalem. Is it coronation or comedy or contradiction? Jesus the Son of God rides into the holy city on a colt. The crowd waves palm branches and spread their garments before him. Today they embrace Jesus as their Messiah, the second coming of King David, and as the answer to what ails them. Won’t some of these same admirers turn around and call for his crucifixion on Good Friday when they decide Jesus has disappointed them? The parade proceeds into a city divided. As Jesus advances to the threshold of Jerusalem, people must decide because Jesus will not turn back. Brooks brings this home for us, “An Intruder and a King at once He seems to our hearts as he stands on the threshold. There is something in every one of us that says to him, “Come in, come in!” There is something, too, in every one of us that rises up at his coming and says, “Begone, begone!” We will not have this man rule over us. But through our tumult, our struggle, Christ, whether He be King or Intruder, whether He be welcomed or rejected, goes on his way, pressing on into the heart’s most secret places, claiming always he alone is the heart’s king.
At weekly text study, a colleague shared an exercise that he has used on retreats. He places a chair in the middle of the room that symbolizes the throne of God. Then he asks the participants to place themselves in the room relative to the chair. In other words, where you do see yourself in your current relationship to God? He said the responses are wide ranging and incredibly revealing. He has had a few people clinging to the legs of the chair for dear life. Others will put themselves at various distances from the throne. The most haunting experience with this exercise was when a man cowered in the furthest corner of the room away from the chair and covered himself with newspapers. What does that mean for him? Is he afraid of God or afraid God will find out something he has done or had done to him? What about those who cling to the throne? Are they full of faith and hope or are they afraid of death so they cling to God? It is a revealing exercise. Where would you place yourself in your current relationship to God? Is Christ Intruder or King?
For me, it depends on the day. Sometimes I am so filled with wonder & gratitude, I will cling to the throne. I want to wave a palm branch & shout hosanna to the king for Jesus has restored and resurrected me a time or two. Other days, I am concealed in the corner trying to look and be invisible. I don’t hide myself with newspaper but distractions, busyness, & details. Some days it feels as if the throne is empty, just a chair. Where is God? How can God permit injustice and inhumanity? Maybe I’ll join the none zoners. So I pretend the throne is not there. Filling out my survey, I vote God off the throne. Then I don’t have to deal with God. Other times, I feel like God has trampled on my traditions, messed with my way of life, disappointed me, failed to live up to my expectations, so I boo this would-be Messiah. You and I have divided lives. Like Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, we both accept & reject Jesus.
To deal with our human contradiction, call it our bipolar belief disorder, I want to reintroduce two Old Testament practices. The first is Fear-of-the-Lord. This is the stock biblical phrase for the way we live responsively to the mysterious world opened up to us. We find ourselves walking on holy ground and living in sacred time. Fear-of-the-Lord is not a combination of fear- look it up in the dictionary- a feeling of apprehension plus God – a divine being worthy of worship. Fear-of-the-Lord is one word, impossible to simply define, not limited to a code of conduct, but shows up 138 times in the Old Testament. Fear-of-the-Lord comes to us through worship and prayer. It is being overtaken with the mystery of God-given life, like at the birth of a child. W.H. Auden declares; “I love to sin; God loves to forgive; the world is admirably arranged”. Fear-of-the-Lord is a being there with & doing what God calls us to do.
Fear-of-the-Lord does not just come with baptism, it is acquired. Earlier this week a few of us were helping feed some of the homeless in Seattle. Coordinator of the program on Capitol Hill told us about a man who’d been homeless for a few years. Finally, through some community support he obtained an apartment that was his, what you think would be the answer to prayer, realizing a dream. Interestingly, for the first few weeks he would not sleep in the house. His apartment had a balcony. Soon he was sleeping on the balcony. A few weeks later he was now comfortable enough to sleep on the living room floor but he had to have the balcony door open. It took several months before this homeless man could actually inhabit his home.
I can’t classify the psychology of this man but I think we can relate. Haven’t we been bounced around by life, have failed relationships, secret sins, and shattered dreams? We have God-avoidances and God-intentions that keep us God-homeless.
No matter, Jesus comes to claim our hearts by crucifixion and make his home here.
The second Old Testament practice is the celebration of the salvation meal. On Wednesday, April 8 Jews will gather with family and friends to celebrate the Seder, marking the beginning of Passover. On Thursday, the church remembers Maundy Thursday. Eating is important, especially for Jews and Christians. It binds us together and helps us relive defining salvation history. In Mark’s gospel, Jesus is on the way with his disciples to the Passover celebration. Today as we receive the body and blood of Christ at the Lord’s Supper, there are Passover echoes. From Exodus, Lamb is a Passover tradition to remember the blood of the lamb on the doorposts that saved the Hebrew people. So Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away our sins and the sins of the whole world. The Seder Meal also includes bitter herbs to remember, to taste again the bitterness of slavery. Jews will also have apple relish to recognize the sweetness of freedom. Both are present at the meal as both are present in our lives. With salvation present but not complete, it is a mixed meal.
Wine is a sign of Jesus present joy and gladness, looking to the final homecoming.
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