WSMM West Walton 24-03-2012
This morning’s Gospel reading describes Jesus’ Triumphal entry into Jerusalem - which marked the beginning of one of the most momentous weeks in Antiquity – in AD 29.
And we remember this as Holy Week in the Church’s Calender
But first let me set the background to story of Palm Sunday:
Jesus decided to go into Jerusalem, even though it was a dangerous place for him.
In one of the other synoptic gospels - Saint Matthew wrote that Jesus came to Jerusalem to fulfil Zechariah’s prophecy
That prophecy had been written about four centuries earlier and basically stated that one day the true King would come, not on a magnificent war stallion, but on a young donkey.
Zechariah wrote this:
9 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.
It was recognised as a Messianic prophecy.
Now Jesus had to keep his plan secret from the Pharisees and Sadducees.
Because if they had realised what Jesus had planned – and being well versed in Scripture - they would have stopped him.
Why – because they saw Jesus- as a false prophet
And so would do anything to stop his legitimising his claim to be the Messiah by fulfilling Zechariah’s prophecy.
So Jesus had to blind-side them.
Jesus’ Triumphal Entry didn’t simply HAPPEN.
I think it was well planned.
Why?
Well the evidence could have come straight out of a Sherlock Holmes novel.
It all hinges on a small detail.
Let me read to you again Lk 19 29-35
29 When he had come near Bethphage and Bethany, at the place called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of the disciples, saying,
30 ‘Go into the village ahead of you, and as you enter it you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden. Untie it and bring it here.
31 If anyone asks you, “Why are you untying it?” just say this, “The Lord needs it.”’
32 So those who were sent departed and found it as he had told them.
33 As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, ‘Why are you untying the colt?’
34 They said, ‘The Lord needs it.’
35 Then they brought it to Jesus; and after throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it.
Did you notice that the donkey had owners (plural).
The donkey had more than one owner
That meant the owners had to be poor.
And given that they were poor, the donkey would have had to be a sizeable investment for each owner.
So have you ever wondered WHY the owners would have parted with the donkey to complete strangers - the disciples.
The evidence that the disciples were strangers to the donkey’s owners – is simply this.
Jesus would have told them to pick the donkey up from “Joseph the carpenter” or “Ben the blacksmith” if the disciples had known the owners. No need for the elaborate ruse.
No, it seems to me that the most likely explanation Jesus telling the disciples to say ““The Lord needs it!” has to be that it was a pre-arranged codeword.
A further clue that this was a prearranged code is that when they tell the owners this – there is no great discussion
You would have expected at least “Well who is this Lord wanting our donkey!”
Story: For example, can you imagine if David Baddley (or Peter Gagen WSMM) was driving his Rolls Royce in the village and two complete strangers came up to him and asked for the car saying “The Lord needs it!”.
Can you imagine his reply?
As that great detective Sherlock Holmes is reputed to have said,
"eliminate the obvious and whatever remains, however improbable, must be the answer."
(The Supreme Court and Constitutional Theory by Ronald Kahn. 1994.)
If my hypothesis is right, then Jesus must have put a lot of meticulous planning into this event.
And so Jesus’ entry to Jerusalem wasn’t something that happened by chance.
Jesus wasn’t swept into Jerusalem by the euphoria of the crowds at Pentecost.
He could easily have turned the other way and returned to Galilee
He could have waited to come into Jerusalme for a time that was a less volatile.
But he didn’t – he sought to do his Father’s will.
And so, if I am correct it show me two things
1. Jesus was challenging the folk religion of his day.
Popular religion of Jesus’ day was looking forward to a Messiah who was going to be an all conquering hero throwing the Romans out and re-establishing Jewish sovereignty.
Indeed that was probably one of the reasons that the crowds turned out
Indeed this might well have been part of Judas Iscariot’s motivation when he betrayed Jesus.
He might well have been trying to force Jesus’ hand – and make Jesus the leader of a Maccabean style revolt.
Judas Maccabees had in 167BC led a revolt to throw the Syrian overlord, Antiochus IV out when he committed the ultimate sacrilege of sacrificing a pig in the Temple in Jerusalam.
And the Jews of Jesus day were yearning for a fresh Messiah to do the same and throw the Romans out.
But Jesus did not fulfil the wishes of Judas or the crowds in Jerusalem.
Instead of leading an armed revolt against the Romans, he turned on the Temple and overthrew the moneychangers.
For He came to reform those who claim to be Religious ahead of the Romans.
And he will reform his Church ahead of secular society
But the second more significant thing that the triumphal entry into Jerusalem shows us is
2. Jesus has a servant heart
Throughout the Gospels we see Jesus seeking His Father’s will.
Even at late stage in Holy week in the Garden of Gethsemane Luke records Jesus praying to his Heavenly Father;
42 “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” (Luke 22:42)
Now if I had been Jesus, my sense of self preservation would have led me to run the other way.
We see throughout the preceding Chapters to Luke 19 Jesus being well aware of his Father’s will and telling His Disciples about his ultimate purpose here on earth, which was to lead Him to the Cross.
We read for example in Luke 9 that Jesus Predicts His Death
22 And Jesus said, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.”
Jesus did not shirk his responsibility as the Son of God.
He had been sent by his heavenly Father into the world to save sinners.
He came as a servant – a suffering servant, to fulfil his Father’s will
His death on the Cross was – in the words of the Book
of Common Prayer – a “propitiation for our sin”. (that is to make atonement for our sins).
He is the ultimate Hero; he is our ultimate friend
And so what does that mean for us
Well St Paul put it well, in Philippians 2
5 Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,
6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited,
7 but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form,
8 he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death – even death on a cross.
We too are called to have a servant heart.
We are called to follow the will of our heavenly Father.
And the scandal of Holy Week for many remains this.
That Jesus - God in human form - didn’t come as
an all conquering hero to kick judge the Romans out.
And He didn’t come to sort all the injustices of the world out either
Rather He came to enable us to come back into a living relationship with God through His death on the Cross
Did you know that?
Palm Sunday is the beginning of one of the most important weeks in the history of the world
For it was in that week that Jesus opened the door to allow us to come back into a relationship with God that Father.
St. John puts the simplicity of the Gospel like this:
12Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name,
he gave the right to become children of God-- 13children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
We now have the right of being a child of God – we just simply have to receive Him
As the hymn writer Mrs Alexander wrote in her famous hymn: “There is a Green Hill far away” these words
He only could unlock the gate
Of heaven and let us in
Or as St Paul puts it in Eph 2:8-10
8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
May I leave you with this thought
Once we are Christians, we are called to do the good works he has for us
May I leave you with a question: Do you know what good works God has called you to do?
Amen.
