Immediately
Matthew 21:1-11
April 17, 2011
In many parts of the Christian Church, today, Palm Sunday, has been cancelled. Many other churches in Regina observe Passion Sunday instead for a variety of reasons. One is the honest recognition that most people will be here today and not back until next Sunday morning, Easter. They will miss the essential elements of the betrayal and arrest, trial and crucifixion of Jesus by which the resurrection can only be fully understood. So the Passion is inserted into today’s Lectionary, so that we aren’t seduced into believing that everything is a parade, Palm and Easter Sundays. In fact, many see all the children waving palms and the pomp and circumstance of a proper parade to be a false parody of what is coming in Holy Week. After all, Palm Sunday did not work.
But work at what? Can any of us honestly say we know how it should have all worked out? The whole point of this final week is that things went terribly wrong so that it is clear how incredibly right it worked out on Easter morning. But, to try to right the wrong is to wrong the right. I hope that is perfectly clear! We are the people of a Story we call the Gospel and for some of us to determine that an important part of the story – all four Gospels include this entry into Jerusalem – doesn’t properly fit our interpretation, doesn’t work, is on the edge of naiveté and arrogance. Besides, Palm Sunday on the surface is a lot of fun, and we need some about now, remembering that most of the time fun defies our control. Fun refuses to be orderly and predictable, and therefore doesn’t fit, which is why it is fun.
You know how so many United Church people think they are being deeply theological when they wrinkle their noses at any Christmas carols being sung during Advent? Can’t have the joy of Christmas before Christmas. It’s pretty much the same thing here – we cannot celebrate before Easter, even though it was Jesus who was leading the celebration. Celebrations are fun and sometimes out of control and sometimes yes, we celebrate too soon.
As the Jesus company was winding its way into Jerusalem for the Passover celebrations, he sent ahead two unnamed disciples into the next village to fetch a proper steed for Jesus to enter triumphantly into the Holy City. Two by two they went to liberate an animal to be Jesus’ ark. Immediately they found the animal in plain view, and naturally somebody yelled at them, “What do you think you’re doing?” “The Lord has need of it” seems to have been the password and immediately he relinquished the animal. No wasted effort here, this is an efficient operation.
I don’t know whether Matthew was fully aware of it, but this is the first bit of fun, for apparently he didn’t understand Hebrew poetry which instead of rhyming likes to repeat an image with different vocabulary. So they actually fetch two animals, no steeds they, a couple of donkeys, and the disciples put Jesus on both of the donkeys at the same time and that must have been quite a balancing act, but I assume Jesus could handle it. I think it is safe to say from the other Gospels that Jesus rode into Jerusalem on only one donkey.
We never really hear the entire context, but Jesus experienced a tumultuous reception: palm branches and coats laid on the road to soften the path for the donkey, a first-century ‘red carpet’ treatment, and plenty of jubilant cheering and hosannas. There were elements of Monty Python here at play with the donkey in place of the usual mighty steed, but make no mistake, this was a blatant political demonstration that nobody in the crowd, nobody in power would have mistaken. It was a parody of a conquering general entering the city with his entourage, only the donkey symbolized an anti-militaristic motif. Jesus was playing at being triumphant the way it was usually done, and most of the people there caught on. It was fun, but at the end of the relatively short ride, everybody was all shook up, asking, “Who is this guy?” What was that all about? This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth of Galilee, his defenders answered. The politicians and police wrote down his name. Our particular calling as the Church is to poke fun at the political process when its participants are so serious they cannot see beyond their own noses and miss, avoid, and neglect the matters about which we are all concerned.
As unexpectedly, as immediately as it began, the parade ended and the fun was over, for Jesus lit into the temple driving out the moneychangers, but that’s for another day later this week.
Palm Sunday obviously didn’t take, it didn’t work and wasn’t supposed to work. Jesus did not end up assuming the throne, as the parade’s format implied. Its merriment simply mocked the religious and military leaders of the day and focused their energies on eliminating this dangerous demagogue. For Christians, it seems like a false alarm that gets everybody out on the street but there’s no fire.
We need to keep waving the palms and singing all the hosannas with inner and outer gusto, because whereas Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem doesn’t fit, it belongs. We know that all the shouting and joy is warranted, just in a different key from the tune the powers-that-be were singing. There is something suspicious about a religious faith that insists that we remain sombre and anguished until the proper time. There’s always something suspicious about a piety that rejects joy and celebration and fun except at the times that piety sanctions. It’s not surprising then that when such a sombre faith decides it’s OK to have fun, nobody knows how to have fun, they just play at having fun. Fun and celebration break out most joyfully in the midst of the worst times, and you cannot stop it.
We crave ‘immediately,’ whether it be fast-food restaurants or our desire for instant faith that requires no mixing or cooking. Sure, the disciple duo found the colt and the ass immediately and once they had said the password they were immediately given use of the animals. But what was the good of immediately on this day? The word is not used, but certainly is implied, that when Jesus and company arrived in the city, immediately the parade ended and people scattered. They had to think about what had happened and most of the standers-by at the parade forgot about it immediately. Authentic faith is not always immediate, and when we insist that it has to be instantaneous we are putting our faith in something else. It’s a slow ride.
God on a donkey, as Arnold Kenseth points out, reminds us of Paul’s declaration, “the foolishness of God is wiser than our best wisdom.” There are dark clouds and trouble ahead in this Holy Week, but we are foolish and now is the right time to celebrate and have fun no matter what those wiser people say.
Preached by Robert Kitchen
Knox-Metropolitan United Church
Regina, Saskatchewan