Worship, Not Politics

Introduction

We find ourselves once again at Palm Sunday and the entrance to the city of Jerusalem. This is a significant moment in Jesus’ ministry not just because it begins the road to the cross but because this scene has much to teach us today. So much is happening in this moment that if we don’t stop to look at the details we can miss what Jesus is saying and not saying about His ministry and its startling relevance to 21st century American politics.

Jesus is here to set the record straight in the two areas of life that we supposedly can’t bring up in polite conversation: worship and politics. These are sensitive issues because we tend to wrap our identity both personally and as a group around them. Both are actually important. Jesus has a role to fill in both of them, but we will be able to see which one Jesus prioritizes and will guide our thoughts for the rest of this week.

This week we are going to look at hope and where it is found. We will look at one area that we tend to find hope because that is our cultural default, and see how Christ offers the better alternative. Today, we are going to see that our hope is not in politics but in worship.

Hope not in Politics

Our passage begins with Jesus fresh off of raising Lazarus from the dead, and now He is heading into Jerusalem, the holy city during the holy celebration of Passover. All of this is a calculated move by Jesus. He isn’t getting swept up in a frothy enthusiasm, but He is executing on ancient prophecies in a very precise way.

The people had an expectation of a coming King during Passover. In fact, the Roman authorities would increase security around these things because of it (Keener, 492) While certainly there will be those who are brand new to seeing Jesus as a king, those who are shouting “hosanna” and “Son of David” leads one scholar to say that these people are effectively saying, “God save the King” (Keener, 494).

I can imagine what it must have been like in that moment when Jesus rides into Jerusalem. The timing of everything couldn’t be more perfect. Jesus has just raised a four-day-dead man, one of the most impressive miracles in His ministry, and is now actively fulfilling prophecy of a coming king as the Son of David. He is doing so at Passover, a festival celebrating the first time Israel had been delivered from an ancient super power, Egypt. Could this be the deliverance from the last super power, Rome? If so, this means that Israel is about to become the final—eternal—super power. The Messiah is, after all, supposed to live forever. His rule is from sea to sea. It will be marked by unparalleled wealth and prosperity.

And seeing Jesus’ ministry unfold, He would be able to do this in literally miraculous ways. Food shortages are a thing of the past now that He can just multiply food. Sickness is a non-issue as a simple touch of his garment, or even a word spoken by Him can heal from a distance. Even death, as Lazarus has just demonstrated, is now on notice. There is a level of excitement that I don’t think we who live in modernity and thus used to antibiotics and superstores of food can even understand.

So why does Jesus do this? Why does it look like Jesus is teasing them with this idea?

Well, for one, He’s not. He pretty quickly explains to them in John that He is going to be lifted up, and it looks like the people understand that he is speaking of death. Their question, “I thought the Christ lasted forever” points towards their understanding. The donkey riding should have also clued them in that Jesus isn’t a political revolutionary (you’d be riding a mighty steed for that message) but rather one humble, riding on a donkey.

Second, Jesus really is a king. The prophets weren’t kidding that this is the triumphal entry. This isn’t named this way to be ironic. Jesus really is ascending a throne by first filling a cross and tomb. Only after that does He ascend to heaven and rule from His Father’s right hand. It is a real rulership, just not the way people are expecting it to be.

Political revolution is on its way, but that is for the second advent. That is for Christ’s return. But that doesn’t mean Jesus isn’t busy building the kingdom. Where does He start the building? Worship. Fellowship with His people. That is where they find their chief joy and purpose.

But where is the people’s focus? They want the Romans out of here! They want the state cleaned up, for dang’s sake!

Are we not the same?

We often have a lot of opinions on how politics should be conducted, but very little daily reflection is spent on worship. You can see which Jesus prioritizes. It’s not that politics isn’t important. It isn’t that Jesus is and will be King in immensely practical ways, but where is your focus in your day to day life? What is the thing you should be most concerned about? Worship! Why? Because worship is the foundation for everything else. If you worship wrongly, anything else you do correctly in life will be despite you.

What I worship, anyway? Living a sacrificial life that is fundamentally oriented towards another. If you live this way towards anything or anyone but God, you will spend your life on something that can’t hold that kind of pressure and will fail on you. You need something to worship because that is what you’ve been created to do. 1 Cor 10:31

1 Corinthians 10:31 ESV

So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

Romans 11:36 ESV

For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

Psalm 73:25–28 ESV

Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. For behold, those who are far from you shall perish; you put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you. But for me it is good to be near God; I have made the Lord God my refuge, that I may tell of all your works.

So how do we worship incorrectly?

Hope is Found in Worship

Look at what was happening here. Worship in the Temple was starting to be done based on convenience. Why do I say that? After all, there are those who say that the main problem was that the money changers were cheating people, hence the description that the Temple was being turned into a “den of robbers”! Well, look carefully at verse 12. One scholar points out that Jesus drives out both the sellers AND buyers (RT France, cite in Keener, 497). And while this seems to be happening in the court of the Gentiles (where the nations could come and pray but now have to do so being bumped into by animals), Matthew doesn’t seem to emphasize that point (Keener, 500-1).

There is evidence to suggest that this practice of buying animals used to take place outside the Temple in the mount of Olives, a few miles away. But there was risk in this. Remember, an animal to be sacrificed has to be unblemished, and while you’re walking down the road with thousands of other people and animals, there is a real risk your animal gets damaged along the way, meaning you spent all that money for nothing (Keener, 497). That is an understandable hardship that you would want to offload. But note how we are trying to minimize sacrifice as much as possible in this approach. The people want it easy, and the leaders of the Temple are more than happy to accommodate, even if that means turning the Temple into a place of commerce. This is something that Jesus opposes in quite strong terms.

American Christians are unfortunately susceptible to this as well. If we are honest, worship is something that we try to fit into the rest of our lives rather than something we build our lives around. We look at worship as something that we need to do rather than something we need. We assume worship is one of our purposes and not the main purpose. We assume that we can get by with once a month worship at the church. We assume that we don’t need to worship as a family. We assume that as long as we get to our Bibles occasionally as individuals it’ll all sort out in the end. And then we wonder why we are so anxious about the coming week and confused about how to live life generally.

Even if we have the basic answers to life’s questions we lose the reminders, the motivations for why we do them. Perhaps this is why we have so many joyless Christians. We do understand what we have to do, but it just feels like a thing we have to do because we have to do it. There’s no grander vision to it. We approach the work of participating in the rescue of our neighbor’s eternal souls, an activity done hand in hand with God like we approach filing our taxes. It’s just something we have to do, like it or not. We approach family formation, the most critical sphere of society both for Church, State, and eternal Kingdom, the most profound discipleship in all our lives with the same amount of thought as grocery shopping after a long week. We wake up profoundly concerned at the direction of the American empire as if we aren’t citizens of an eternal kingdom with God Himself on the throne. Why? Because we’ve lost worship! We aren’t a house of prayer. We don’t look at God’s face unless we can fit it in, unless it is conveinent.

Now, I get it. Life is busy. Modern life has you running in 10,000 directions at once. Your calendar is full! But if you want to live the way Jesus wants you to, you might have to take a meat cleaver to the calendar. Guys, Jesus rose from the dead. He is actively building His Kingdom right now, you’ve been invited to help build it. Don’t miss that!

I’m not asking you to withdraw from society to become a monk or a nun. I’m not saying you have to quit every activity that isn’t church (In fact, quite the opposite; you’ve got some souls to minister to at T-Ball), but don’t forget what you are a part of here on Earth. Don’t forget what Jesus has done. Don’t look at your life like it is your empire that you are building with Jesus along for the ride. No, JESUS is building His Kingdom and it is you along for the ride. By all means build your small business, but never forget that you aren’t working for yourself. By all means raise and enjoy your children, but never forget whose they really are.

And do you know how to not forget? At least once a week, you stop everything you are doing and set aside time to come together and worship. Stop and rest. You need to stop long enough to remember what you are really doing, and you rest because you need it. You know what, your children need reminding every day. Dinner is a great time to read something, pray something, and sing something. Boom! Family Worship. The time invested is dependent on how old they are. Mine are good for a verse or two, a prayer, and a quick Psalm we are learning to sing. We’ve been singing the same one for weeks, and we’ve finally got the first verse memorized. You need reminding every day, too. “Oh, I don’t have time for all that!” you may say. You’re telling me you are facing physical exhaustion of parenting, the soul drain of a florescent-lit cubicle, and the mental strain of a schizophrenic American economy without reminding yourself and your family that King Jesus is coming to redeem and recreate all things in splendor? How are you doing that? I’d be impressed if it wasn’t sinful.

I’m not saying these things to make you feel guilty. I’m not even thinking that we will be able to do this perfectly every day; I don’t. But I am publicly asking all of us why we would deny ourselves this? We’ve tricked ourselves to think that we can slack our thirst with ocean water, that our souls will do just fine without worship. That doesn’t seem to be Jesus’ opinion. He walks in to see what worship has become, worship of Him, and starts flipping tables over. Jesus, meek, mild, humble, gentle, lowly, all until worship is threatened. If that’s Jesus’ opinion, then that should be ours as well.

I encourage you this week, as we all are attending more services, going through devotionals, and generally thinking about this more, see that you do have time. If you are taking some time this week to stop, reflect, and pray more than you might otherwise, just notice the difference it makes.

You need worship. You need the reminder that you aren’t the end all, be all of the universe. You need to stop and rest. Don’t think of Sunday as a day of restriction full of a ton of “don’ts” and “wasted time.” Look at it as the Divinely given opportunity to do the things that we say we wish we could do more of, prayer, singing, and physical rest. How much more productive might you be if you took time once a week to stop, reflect, and be reminded that whatever your job is you will return to on Monday is filled with eternal possibility. That you are an immortal soul with a one day eternal body on your way to heaven guided by the Good Shepherd. Do that for a few weeks, and I defy you not to want to share that with your children around the dinner table. Do that for a few months and see if your soul is still disturbed by the news on TV. Do that for a few years and see if you don’t become a joyful soul that attracts others to Christ. Do that for a lifetime, and on your deathbed tell me that it was wasted time and that it hasn’t given you the deepest hope, the only hope, you could have ever imagined.

I want that for you. Jesus wants that for you, too. Your King commands it. Your Father gifts it. You enjoy it.