As Hope Rode In 3-24-24
As Hope Rode In
Ps 118:1-2, 19-19; Mark 11:1-11
Ps 119:1-2, 19-29
O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his steadfast love endures forever! Let Israel say, “His steadfast love endures forever.” Open to me the gates of righteousness, that I may enter through them and give thanks to the Lord. This is the gate of the Lord; the righteous shall enter through it. I thank you that you have answered me and have become my salvation. The stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. Save us, we beseech you, O Lord! O Lord, we beseech you, give us success! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord. We bless you from the house of the Lord. The Lord is God, and he has given us light. Bind the festal procession with branches, up to the horns of the altar. You are my God, and I will give thanks to you; you are my God, I will extol you. O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.
Mark 11:1-11
When they were approaching Jerusalem, at Bethphage and Bethany, near the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples and said to them, “Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately as you enter it, you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden; untie it and bring it. If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ just say this, ‘The Lord needs it and will send it back here immediately.’” They went away and found a colt tied near a door, outside in the street. As they were untying it, some of the bystanders said to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?” They told them what Jesus had said; and they allowed them to take it. Then they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it; and he sat on it. Many people spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut in the fields. Then those who went ahead and those who followed were shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David! Hosanna in the highest heaven!” Then he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple; and when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve.
Prayer – God of showing up and bringing hope – as we gather today on this Palm Sunday we frankly need to be reminded that there is hope in our world. It seems that the daily news, our feeds on the internet, social media, friends and family reflect nothing but sadness, sorrow, violence, poverty, hopelessness. Remind us once again that hope tends to come as a small seed, a glimmer of reminding, a shoot emerging from the ground, a sunrise, a child’s laughter. Grant us that which we need to see hope in all of its simply existence – amen.
This is the moment you have been waiting for . . . generations have placed their hopes in the coming king from the line of David to restore the nation you claim to its proper position. Your hope rests on a conquering king with a heart after God. A warrior would meet your expectations, your hope, for assured victory. Of course, a warring king means a people are going to war. It’s not the Amalekites, Ammonites, Edomites, or the Moabites you would be fighting. You’re living under rule of the great Roman Empire, and that would be your opponent. To win this battle would require divine intervention . . . a miracle similar to David’s miracle. Yet, you’ve held onto hope, and you dare to believe the moment has arrived to declare the arrival of a new king . . . as Jesus enters Jerusalem along with countless others to celebrate the feast of the Passover.
Perhaps you observe from a distance or you have joined in with the ‘great crowd’ waving branches from palm trees you have quietly stripped and then placed on the ground as you realize a king deserves a carpet laid before him. You weren’t prepared for it to happen, yet you’re still ready to give Jesus the honor that he is due.
I find it interesting that all four gospels recount the story of Jesus entering Jerusalem at the start of the Passover observance. He is accompanied by his disciples and ends up riding a donkey or young colt depending on which gospel story you are reading. The assembled crowd lays palm branches to carpet the road he travels. They cry out with hopeful anticipation, “Hosanna!,” and bless his name as if Jesus’ name needs blessing. In John’s remembrance he connects Jesus’ entrance to OT prophecy where Jesus enters not in a militaristic manner mounted on the back of a war-horse, rather as the king of peace sitting on a donkey. I suppose for John, it was in conscious fulfillment of this prophecy Jesus entered Jerusalem on a donkey to show he was . . . not the militaristic Messiah of popular expectation and hope, but indeed the Prince of Peace.
We don’t know for sure how many people lined the road where Jesus rode in, we do know there were many people gathered lining the road. And although Mark doesn’t capture the magnitude of the crowd in numeric terms, to some degree I can imagine in my mind this moment was epic. As if Jesus and his disciples had won the World Series in surprising fashion a la the Texas Rangers and their celebratory crowd could certainly be described as many people showed up cheering on their conquering heroes for the parade several days later.
Yet, if that were the case, would not the Roman Empire have been alerted at that moment to a seditious threat? Why would it take so much bargaining from the religious leaders to convince Herod that Jesus deserved to be tried and convicted as a treasonous enemy of the state? He who rode in to hopeful Hosanna’s is about to be railroaded right to Calvary.
Jesus orchestrated for himself a provocative, royal entry to the city. His entry represents a significant shift in his self-presentation to Israel and perhaps sheds light on this trial before Pilate and his impending crucifixion. Nevertheless, despite its dramatic tone, it was modest in size and easily overlooked by the Roman authorities gathered on the other side of town to celebrate Pilate’s entrance into the city.
Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, though filled with hope for his Jewish brothers and sisters, was as humble as his birth. In both cases, there were witnessed who recognized his significance and power. From the shepherds and wise men to the festive crowd, Jesus was revealed to a few to testify to his identity and acknowledge his sovereignty . . . quietly. Any other leader saddled on hope riding in to Jerusalem, the center of power, would have staked claim or begun a military assault to overthrow the Roman oppressors. But, Jesus doesn’t come to depose a government but to restore and reestablish the kingdom of God on earth as in heaven, so the entry is quiet and actually small in scale. And still, with Jesus, hope road in that day.
The crowd cried out for salvation as Jesus, hope rode into Jerusalem that day. Remembering that the many people who gathered as Jesus rode into town that hoped for a ‘warrior king’ to ride in on a powerful steed, I’m pretty certain that the donkey may have dashed their imaginings. The people of Jerusalem were not looking to join forces with Jesus, they hoped for deliverance from their Roman oppressors. They wanted Jesus to do the work, to fight the battle, and to bring them victory like a gift they could receive without having to put forth any effort of their own. Unlike other instances when Jesus was followed by a crowd that wanted to coronate him as King of the Jews, there is no evidence that Jesus tried to withdraw from them or rejected their efforts, their hopes, their desires. Yet, it seems that their hopes and desires fell quickly because it doesn’t appear that the crowd stayed with him as he entered the temple courts. The many who gathered which may have been not that many in the first place, didn’t last long as it might have taken to sweep up the palm branches.
In our passage this morning, two unnamed disciples are asked to join forces and go into town and secure Jesus’ ride into town. I suspect they were more afraid than hopeful because they were directed to commandeer, a nice way of saying, steal a donkey, and bring it back. Reluctantly they did so, which may be a commentary of a lot of followers who want Jesus to provide the hope, the work, while we aren’t asked to put anything of ourselves on the line.
I can equate Jesus riding the donkey or young colt into town like the Old West watched a traveling Marshall come into town to rescue them from a group of gunfighters. The townspeople watched quietly and hopefully that the Texas Ranger would take care of their shoot and ask questions later problem. Inevitably, the Marshall or Texas Ranger would find himself in a gunfight with lots of shooters and calmly clean up the town. No one was willing to join forces and help, they wanted deliverance without getting dirty or bloody themselves. Perhaps just like the people who shouted Hosanna on Sunday and Crucify Him on Friday, we want deliverance on our terms and not God’s.
I can’t begin to count the number of times in my work in the hospital when patients and their families would pray, believe, hope that Jesus would come riding in and save the day. At times it seemed almost like a test to see if their faith and hope and belief was enough to get the Divine to touch and heal their loved one. Other times, it seemed as a comfort in asking Jesus to simply ride in and bring hope based on his going on the journey with them. Hope shows up in all kinds of different ways and sometimes not in the ways we want or hope for.
I certainly understand the hope that Jesus will ride in and save the day for any number of people – we find, create, count on hope everyday in every way. Hope arouses, as nothing else can arouse, a passion for the possible. (William Sloane Coffin) And perhaps that is why hope is right up there with faith and love – it is something that doesn’t always make sense – hope – and it never abandons you. We may not always have a comfortable life and we will not always be able to solve all of the world’s problems at once, but don’t ever underestimate the importance that . . . hope can take on a life of its own. (Michelle Obama)
We all know that hope can take on a life of its own. From a mustard seed to enormous bush, hope can grow and change all of our perspectives. Jesus, hope, rode in to Jerusalem for the highest and most important feast of the Jewish people. On the other side of town, Pilate rode in on his war-horse and you almost knew that something powerful and important was going to come to a head. I still find it interesting that Pilate, the governor, tried every maneuver possible to get out of a situation that for him, may have been hopeless. Jesus knew what he was riding into town that day to both accomplish and demonstrate – a different kind of hope that was eternal and spiritual and life-giving. It wasn’t hope for new leadership in the country; it wasn’t hope to overthrow the Romans and deliver the people as a nation. Jesus, hope, rode in to Jerusalem that day to bring a different kind of deliverance – one that can never ever lose. When hope rides in with Jesus at the helm – a promise becomes a certainty and life springs forth from death and oppression and hopelessness. That is what happens as hope rides in – thanks be to God – amen.