Lenten Blog – Day 34 – Sixth Sunday in Lent

Luke 19:28-40

 

When he had come near Bethphage and Bethany, at the place called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of the disciples, saying, ‘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. If anyone asks you, “Why are you untying it?” just say this: “The Lord needs it.” ’ So those who were sent departed and found it as he had told them. As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, ‘Why are you untying the colt?’ They said, ‘The Lord needs it.’ Then they brought it to Jesus; and after throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. As he rode along, people kept spreading their cloaks on the road. As he was now approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen, saying,
‘Blessed is the king
   who comes in the name of the Lord!
Peace in heaven,
   and glory in the highest heaven!’ 
Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, ‘Teacher, order your disciples to stop.’ He answered, ‘I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.’

It’s kind of obvious that I’m not a biblical scholar. I can quote maybe 10 verses from the bible and that’s if you spot me seven of them to begin with. But I do know this: the bible was written a long time ago by many different people. Stories that were passed down from the ages. I don’t believe that people were in a ‘trance’ when they wrote the bible and were holy stenographers for God. I do believe that a lot of the stories can influence our minds and actions today. How often have we wanted to throw stones at those we feel unworthy? How often have we wanted to remove the speck of dust from our brother’s eye while leaving a plank in our own? How often have I not helped the poor, the suffering, the destitute, the outcast? But as these stories have filtered out over the many years, they begin to take on a life of their own.

We’ve heard the story of Palm Sunday many many times. What a fun parade welcoming Jesus into Jerusalem. Cloaks and branches and leaves covering the ground as he rides a donkey. People cheering him on like he’s a top 10 Wide Receiver for your favorite football team.

Over the years our church has paraded around our block marching and singing and ringing bells and annoying the neighbors for 15 minutes.

My job, during these processionals, was to be “traffic control.” Nick and I with walkie-talkies in hand would make sure no cars would go down the street while people were walking. It was an important job and someone had to do it. This meant that Nick and I didn’t get to “march and sing” but brought up the rear.

Before one of these marches/processionals, one of the priests of the church used the word “riot” instead of processional. His reasoning, probably through years of study, was that this processional of Jesus into Jerusalem was not a lovely parade but, in fact, a riot.

If it was a riot, how does that effect the story? Kind of makes it less “Arbor Day Fun” and more “oh crap.”

As I read this passage again, I see the riot more clearly. I also see how the people in power would suddenly, logically, move quickly to crush this rebellion and their “king” Jesus.

If you put yourself in the minds of the Roman Authorities and Pharisees’ they’ve heard about this Jesus guy roaming the countryside performing miracles. Sure. No problem there. Yeah, he’s friends with that crackpot John the Baptist, no problem there. Fed some people with some loaves and fishies. Still, no problem. Raises Lazarus from the dead. Seriously?! Oh no he didn’t! And now, showing up like a King, riding a donkey and everyone cheering him on and treating him like a king and praising his miracles. THIS we need to put a stop to. Before he starts too much trouble.

I imagine during this time in Jerusalem, there were many insurrections against the authorities. “Judean People’s Front” and the “Peoples’ Front of Judea,” if you will - and I had heard that crucifixions were common - not only as a way to torture, punish and kill rabble-rousers but also as a way to keep everyone in line.

If you’re traveling to a city and you pass by a hundred or so crosses with dead and dying people on them as you enter said city - you might think twice about stepping out of line. The act of crucifixion was both a death sentence AND a warning.

People had to know this. The crowd cheering Jesus on had to know this. The authorities certainly had to know this. So when this is all going down - imagine what Jesus and the disciples are thinking. Imagine what is going through their heads as people are yelling and screaming to the point where the authority is asking Jesus to have them “pipe down” and Jesus refuses.

If you look at this as a riot directed against the ruling authority of Jerusalem at the time it loses some of it’s lovely quaintness of palm branches and donkey riding and you realize things are about to get very, very real.