Sermons

« March 02, 2008 - March 08, 2008 | Go Back to the Main Index of Sermons | March 23, 2008 - March 29, 2008 »

March 16, 2008

Parade to Procession

Palm Sunday, March 16, 2008
Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29, John 12:12-19

Lent is early this year. And for the first time in many years, there have been numerous debates in towns, suburbs, and cities across the US about when to hold the St. Patrick’s Day parade. Catholic Bishops across the US encouraged, and in some cases demanded, parade organizers hold the parade before the 17th. The bishops did not think it would not be a good idea to hold a parade, let alone the St. Patrick’s Day parade during Holy Week. Holy Week is THE most sacred week of the Christian year. And, well, St. Patrick’s Day does have the reputation that large quantities of liquor and green beer are consumed in celebration that day. I would think that for some people, this problem of when to have the parade has been a good thing for them. Now they could celebrate St. Patrick’s Day over the course of two week and really party it up. I’ve been known to have more than my fair share of liquid refreshments on St. Patrick’s Day. Everyone wants to be Irish, or at least celebrate with the Irish, on this day where their patron saint is remembered.

Martin Schultz and his Boy Scout Troop from Moline Illinois are with us this morning. They came to Chicago to march in the parade and stayed here at the church. We’re glad to have you with us. Thank you for escorting Pilate on to the scene this morning. This is a piece of history that often doesn’t get discussed as we look at the event of Palm Sunday. We remember with fondness Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem on a donkey, surrounded by adults and children waving Palm Branches and shouting, “Hosanna, glory to God in the highest!” But how many of us know about the other parade? Pilate’s entrance to Jerusalem.

According to Biblical scholars Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan, “The two processions (by Pilate and Jesus) embody the central conflict of the week that led to Jesus’ crucifixion.” (1) There is a tendency in some Christian circles to put the blame on the Jews for Jesus’ crucifixion. Before we make that determination, allow me to take us back to first century Jerusalem for a moment to get a sense of the times.

In the 5 Century b.c.e. (before the common era, i.e. before Jesus was born), the Jewish people had returned from exile to their homeland, the country we know to be Israel or the Holy Land. For several centuries after their return, the Jewish people were ruled by foreign empires. Throughout the years, the temple in Jerusalem was the center of the local government. The high priest and the temple authorities were in effect the rulers of the Jewish people, as long as they kept their allegiance to their imperial rulers by paying the necessary monetary taxes and keeping the peace.

The Jewish people gained their independence for a brief one hundred year period under the leadership of a Jewish family known as the Maccabees. This independ-ence stretched from 164 b.c.e. until the Roman Empire came to rule them in 63 b.c.e. Like the conquering empires before them, Rome ruled the Jewish people through the high priest, the temple, and the local Jewish aristocracy centered in the temple. This was the normal course of action for them. Throughout the Roman Empire, indigenous people were set up to rule on Rome’s behalf. The primary qualification to be set up as local collaborators was wealth. Rome trusted wealthy people. Why? The wealthy had much to lose if they did not stay in power and this worked in Rome’s favor.

Between the time of initial occupation by the Roman Empire and Jesus’ birth there was some infighting among the Jewish ruling class. Rome appointed relatively new Jew by the name of Herod. Herod was ruthless and early in his reign he executed many of the traditional Jewish aristocracy who had been the ruling families for generations. Herod did this to secure his power. The executed families’ land and other assets were either swallowed up by Herod or given to what we would think of as “new rich.”

The new rich who were given the spoils of Herod’s actions were then indebted to him. Herod’s power and position, and thus Rome’s power, was secured by Herod’s actions. He reduced the competition from old traditional Jewish families, built alliances with the newly rich and powerful, and increased his wealth. Most of the Jewish people hated Herod because what he had done to them. And he was easy to hate. They called him “Herod the Monstrous.” (2)

Herod died in 4 bce four years before Jesus was born. Two key historical events help set the stage for Jesus and the events, teachings of his life. First, after Herod’s death, there were revolts throughout the land. Rome sent in legions of soldiers to get things under control. After Jerusalem was retaken, the Romans crucified 2,000(3) “rebels” en masse. This suppression of the Jewish revolt after Herod’s death was the first direct Jewish experience of Roman military power in several decades. It was still on the people’s minds when Jesus was born.

Second, Rome returned to the dominion system that had been in place before Herod. The new ruling elite put in place by Herod were instructed to collect the taxes from the Jewish people and pass those tributes on to Rome. At the same time they were instructed to keep the peace among the people and thus keep Rome from doing worse things than they did in during the uprising after Herod's death. Rome let the Jewish leaders know who was in power. Although Jewish law mandated that the high priest serve for life, Rome installed 18 high priests in a 60 year period—that’s an average of 3.33 years per person.

A Roman Governor was there to represent Roman interest and exert Roman dominance when necessary. However, the day to day dominance over the Jewish people was done by the Temple authorities and ruling elites. They legitimized their work and role as the center of the domination system through theology. This is how God wanted it. The temple as the dwelling place of God. Forgiveness was mediated here. It was the center of power. And so those in positions of power saw themselves as acting on God’s behalf. After all, hadn’t God left their beloved Temple in place and set them up as rulers through the Roman government?

I find this information so compelling and hope you find it interesting as well. It’s helpful for us to have an understanding of the context that surrounded Jesus. It helps us to understand Jesus actions. (pause and stand up).

As he had since becoming governor, Pilate rode into Jerusalem just before the Passover holiday to remind the crowds of Jewish people who were streaming into Jerusalem to behave. Imagine the grandeur of Pilate’s parade.

The horses and riders all decked out in their finest silks and armor. The prancing horses, the proud riders. The colorful flags. The trumpets announcing the coming parade. The drum beating time and the clomp, stomp, clomp of foot soldiers marching in straight line after straight line after straight line. The governor, decked out in gold and all his finery with his wife beside him. He probably did not walk as our stand-in governor did this morning. He was probably in a chariot or carriage of some sort.

Who knows if he even took the time to look at the people as he went by? Was he concerned about being liked by the people he was sent to rule? Pilate’s forceful show of domination paraded through the streets of Jerusalem and up to the Roman Garrison permanently stationed to overlook the Jewish Temple and courts. Roman imperial rule is watching. Don’t even think about acting up. Pilate represented power, glory, and violence.

In contrast to the warlike governon, Jesus walks from Bethany to Jerusalem. As he approaches, the city gates he sits on a donkey and rides it down from the Mount of Olives and into the city. This is reminiscent of what the prophet Zechariah foretold regarding the Messiah’s coming. “Shout aloud, O daughter Jerusalem! Lo, your king comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on a donkey…He will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the war-horse from Jerusalem” (Zechariah 9:9-10).

Jesus the Jewish teacher knew his Hebrew scriptures. And Jesus was a master at making a point. This contrast to Pilate’s parade was no accident. And John reports that Jesus’ disciples did not understand Jesus’ procession at the time. But John goes on to report the disciples remembered what had been written of Jesus after he rose from the dead. Then they understood.

Unlike Pilate’s parade, where people would never dare to encroach, Jesus’ parade was more like a procession. As the people went out to meet him with their palm branches, imagine them turning back toward Jerusalem and leading Jesus into the city—shouting, “Here is our king! Here is the one who raises men from the dead, who heals the sick, who feeds the hungry. Here is the man who cares about us. Here is our king!” Picture this crowd. It was not the rich, aristocratic crowd. It was not the priests and scribes in their layered robes and special vestments.

The crowd that led Jesus into Jerusalem was bigger than his band of 12 apostles. It was larger than the group of disciples that had grown up around him that included the numerous women we have come to know. Remember that all faithful Jews went to Jerusalem for the Passover. John’s opening and closing sentences to this section give us some indication as to the size of the crowd—“The next day the great crowd that had come to the festival heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem”

If we were hovering above the crowd maybe we’d see Nicodemus, the blind man whose sight Jesus restored and his parents, the paralyzed man who Jesus healed and his friends, the child of the woman who came begging Jesus to heal her daughter, the temple beggars Jesus had spoken to, the demon possessed man Jesus cured, the young man whose 2 fish and 5 barley loaves Jesus used to feed the 5,000, some of the 5,000, Mary, Martha, Lazarus, Zacchaeus…do you get the picture? The Pharisees who saw the procession said to one another, “You see, you can do nothing. Look, the world has gone after him!”

The King of Peace rode into Jerusalem on a donkey in what we might call a peaceful demonstration. Have any of you ever marched in a peaceful demonstration? I’ve always wanted to but have yet to do it. I imagine the energy is palpable. Non-violent resistance is a strong and powerful force. You do not have to respond to violence with violence. If done correctly, non-violence actually makes the authorities more nervous because they don’t know how to respond. They are used to dealing with violent offenders.

Today, we don’t understand the risk Jesus was taking by processing into Jerusalem. We live in a free society. Our constitution gives us the right to assemble and to peacefully demonstrate. Not so back in Jesus’ day. Peaceful or not, his actions were “in your face” to the dominating forces of the time. It was the straw that broke the donkey’s back…

Jesus told the people who would listen, don’t act like the religious leaders of the time. They are corrupt. Follow the new ways of God--the ways I’ve been trying to teach you and the way I’ve lived my life. Trust in God for everything. Love God with all you have and while you’re at it…love your neighbor as yourself. The people in positions of power don’t love God and they certainly don’t love you. But if you follow me, I will teach you how to love your neighbor. Even if that neighbor is the occupying army or the beggar at the Temple gates. Love your neighbor as yourself even if that neighbor is the migrant worker who works your fields or is a Greek not a Jew.

Jesus knew what the Romans were doing. Like any successful domination systems, the Romans found a way to turn the indigenous people against each other. They had the wealthy Jews fearful they would lose what they had if they didn’t keep the lower classes in line. They had the high priest, priests, and Temple elite afraid to lose their position so they worked for Rome by collecting money and snitching on people. The lower classes felt as if they had little to no power so they lived in fear and did as they were told. When systems of domination have their subjects living in fear, they have them right where they want them—afraid of each other and thus unable to work together against the dominating system…

We know what happens to Jesus throughout the course of this week. We can’t do anything about that. But this Holy Week, I want us to think about the people in our world who are victims of corrupt or dominating systems. Ask yourself, “Am I part of a system that is skewed toward the wealthy and against the poor?” “If so, am I using my position of power to help someone else? Or am I afraid that what I have will be taken from me so I help perpetuate the system? Or let me say it another way…

• Maybe instead of fighting with other religious organizations about whose God is the true God
• maybe instead of denominational infighting about who should be allowed in and who should not
• maybe instead of worrying about ourselves…
• maybe Jesus is asking us to lay it on the line…for God and for our neighbor.

There is evil in this world. In fact, evil leads most often in the daily news and on the front page of the newspapers. In his article entitled, “Confronting Evil” Robert Radcliff writes, “Christians must remember that at the core of our faith lies God’s decision to overthrow the power of evil—not by exercising power as the world understands it—but by laying that power aside. The confrontation with evil will require more, much more, than a violent response to violent acts.” (4)

Maybe instead of fearing the “other” in our society we need to be working together, with our neighbor, with each other, against systems of domination in our world. Systems that treat people as dispensable, third worldly, deserving of their station in life because they have broken the rules. You know which rules, the ones set by those who have been appointed by God—or rather the current dominating system.

(1) The Last Week, Marcus Borg & John Dominic Crossan (pg. 2). © 2006 published by Harper Publishing.
(2) Ibid (pg. 14).
(3) Ibid (pg 15).
(4) “Confronting Evil” by Robert Radcliff in Circuit Rider Magazine, March-April 2003, Vol. 27, No. 2. © United Methodist Publishing House.

Posted by vickie at 10:00 AM