Lent 6 - Misguided (Palm Sunday)

04.10.2022

Scripture: Luke 19:28-40

Luke 19:28–40 NRSV

28 After he had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. 29 When he had come near Bethphage and Bethany, at the place called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of the disciples, 30 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. 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. 36 As he rode along, people kept spreading their cloaks on the road. 37 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, 38 saying, “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven!” 39 Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, order your disciples to stop.” 40 He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.”

Lent 6 - Misguided (Palm Sunday)

04.10.2022

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GPS Intentions

It was the moment everyone had waited for with patience and perseverance. The disciples had been waiting 3 years for this moment for 3 years. Mary, the mother of Jesus had waited for it for 33 years. And the people of God in Israel and in exile all over the world had waited for this day for over 500 years. Why? Because God had promised them that He would come back and rescue them from their enemies long, long ago.

This week was Passover week, which was very much like Easter for the Jews. If they had used GPS to get around 2000 years ago, everyone would have programmed their phones to take them to Jerusalem along a way that avoided the camel and donkey traffic jams. The roads would have been busy coming in and out of the city.

They remembered that God sent Moses to them and that he challenged the political powers in their lives to set them free and allow them to start their own nation together, under God's leadership. They waited and hoped for a new leader, a Messiah, to come and set them free from Rome and restore their nation again. They were again overtaken by their enemies and wanted to be set free.

I can easily give you a list of who is considered the good guys and the bad guys in the world today. All we have to do is look at the television or phone. There is no shortage of bad people or at least people who hurt others. However, it is more difficult to call someone my enemy just because they do wrong. There are people who believe and behave differently... but I would not consider them my enemy. I don't know many of them well enough for me to call them my enemy. To have an enemy seems to require a more personal connection.

The Jews on the other hand knew their enemies. The oppression of the Roman Empire would cause them to see most Romans as enemies. Yet, we know they could also tell the difference between a Roman soldier or leader who was specifically oppressive and those who were just keeping the peace. In fact, some of those Roman soldiers would be heralded as heroes of the faith in the gospels while some of the Jewish leaders were vilified as anti-Christian despots. These people knew their enemies, and some of them they knew by name.

Some of the people were making plans to get rid of their enemies. Many were willing to fight and some were willing to lay down their lives for freedom, to put someone in leadership who would let them live the way they wanted to live. It was more than freedom though. It was the ability to be obedient to God. That's a strange concept: the freedom to obey God.

They had good intentions for wanting Rome gone. They had good intentions in bringing Jesus in to lead them. They were all misguided though, despite these good intentions. Following even our best intentions can lead us away from God.

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Disciple GPS

We learned last week that the disciples were all over the map. Mary was constantly at the feet of Jesus. Judas was planning a betrayal. Peter was confessing Jesus to be the Messiah in one minute and blocking his way the next. Philip and Thomas were taking the teachings of Jesus too literally. There were more than 12 disciples by the time they reached Jerusalem. There were over a hundred, with many more connecting to this movement each day. They followed the miracles with excitement and wandered away when the teachings got tough. Jesus had their GPS's continually recalculating where they were going, and shifting their intentions of what they wanted to do with Him. But today, they were out in full force.

The Jewish citizens in the countryside saw this as a political rally. The disciples ran ahead to prepare for a grand entrance through the Golden Gate of the city that led to the Temple Courts. It was the path traditionally and ceremonially laid out for the king to return home from travels and give thanks to God in the Temple for all that God had done for Israel: successful battles, good visits with the people, and a safe return home.

On this day, after more than 500 years, their king was returning home and the disciples were out getting the parade started. They encouraged people to line the streets, wave their palm branches, sing and shout patriotic sayings the way we say “God bless America!”. Because the followers of Jesus were such a mixed group of people, it would be foolish to claim that everyone was leading this day with all the right motives. But Jesus already modeled a peaceful introduction of God’s kingdom, through healing, teaching, and other miracles. Those with violent intentions were out of place with Jesus.

However, this parade, this party of people hailing Jesus as a returning king would have looked very different to others.

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Pharisee GPS

The Roman soldiers would have seen this as a public demonstration against Roman rule, and perhaps even as a riot. The Jewish leaders in Jerusalem, who worked hard to maintain peace with the Roman military and rulers, knew this looked like a riot as well, and they were afraid. They were not afraid of the disciples. They were not afraid of Jesus. They were afraid of Rome, their enemies.

Before long it will be camping season here in Kentucky. Years ago I learned the golden rule of cub scouts - leave the place better than you found it. That is one of those rules that applies to every part of our life. However, there is another incredibly important rule of camping that I did not learn in cub scouts, but I learned from every story, movie, and comic strip about camping.

If you happen to come across a sleeping bear in the woods - DON’T POKE THE BEAR!

Pretty simple, but it often can mean the difference between life and death. If you want to live a long, healthy life, DON’T POKE THE BEAR.

To the Pharisees and the Jewish leaders, Rome was the bear, and when those disciples started gathering a crowd chanting out “Hail to the King!” they saw a giant stick reaching out to poke the bear of Rome that was already irritated and agitated by the crowds gathering for Passover. So what do you do when the neighbors camping in the tent find a sleeping bear and go to grab a stick to poke it? You either try to stop them as quietly as you can, or you run for the hills.

“Teacher, order your disciples to stop.”

The GPS of the Pharisees was bouncing between Jesus and the Roman military, trying to find a way to prevent the inevitable crash that was about to occur. Rome had the strength to wipe Jerusalem and all the Jews off the map forever and the Pharisees were fearfully aware of this and they wanted it to stop before the whole city faced the wrath of Rome.

“Jesus, Teacher, for goodness sake, think of the people who will be killed if this continues! Don’t you see? Don’t you care?”

And Jesus responds, “I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.”

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Jesus GPS

Jewish tradition for the Messiah directed that Jesus should go to the Temple to worship and offer sacrifices to God and then remove the enemies from Jerusalem. After 500 years of enemy rule, many of the Jews may have switched the order of these in their minds, not caring if Jesus fulfilled all those prophecies or not. Jesus, however, had a completely different intention than any of the other people on this day. He was going to the Temple, but not to do what the people thought. He would kick out the merchants and teach some very pointed parables to the very people that stood in the crowds around Him. The Temple was not His final destination either, it was just a short stop on his own God-given GPS route.

He would get a short tour of the palace, but not with a Jewish army by His side. He would get the interrogation tour after being stripped, beaten, whipped, and mocked. Jesus the Messiah approached the Roman Empire broken and in chains. Jesus brought so little resistance to these enemies of the Jews that the Roman soldiers and leaders could have simply ignored Him and gone about their business. They barely flinched. There was no showdown in the palace the way Moses brought down Pharaoh with miraculous signs and plagues in the original Passover. Jesus offered nothing in the face of that enemy.

That was because Rome was not the enemy that Jesus came to conquer.

Jesus came to conquer sin and death, which means that his GPS was not set to the Temple or the Palace. It was set to the cross, outside the city. The Hill of the skull, where prisoners were condemned to die. I wonder if Jesus turned His head to the south part of Jerusalem as He rode in that parade into town. There they had another road into the marketplace rather than the Temple, where a paralyzed man sat beside a pool waiting for healing and a tower had fallen and killed 18 people some years past. The Romans crucified people along that road to remind them who was in charge and what to expect if they broke the law.

I wonder if there were any crosses along the road that Jesus was on. Everyone would all have grown so used to them that they may not have even seen them. They may have just blocked out the sound of the nails and the screaming and cursing of those hung there. Sin, violence, death… it was all just a part of everyday life to them, and most of them thought it was not their problem until it happened to them or one of their own.

But Jesus saw it. God’s city, the Holy City, crucifying God’s people outside it’s gates. Was this what God had intended the His people to become? No. Jesus saw them. Jesus knew them.

And Jesus responds, “I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.”

Jesus intended to become them, to go pay a visit to His enemy: Death, and there He would not be ignored.

Everyone else, with the best of intentions, was misguided. They were going the wrong way, and they were going the wrong way because they could not tell their real enemy from those with whom they were in conflict. They had ideas in their heads that sounded good, but they were not following God. They were following themselves or others who were leading them astray.

Who are you following?

Where is it taking you?

If you put God in charge of your GPS would you be on track or would it be recalculating, perhaps telling you to turn around and go back another way?

As much as we would like Jesus to take the wheel, we are not just passengers in our lives. We make choices. We lead others around us. We are drivers. But that doesn’t mean that we can’t put God in charge of our GPS and follow where He leads. If you want to find God’s will, you need to be Scripture-Based and Spirit-led together, not just one or the other, and then, you have to make the choice to follow where He leads. Knowing God’s will is only half of the work. Doing it is what makes us complete.

Will you follow where He leads, even if it is not to the Temple or to the palace, or to vanquish your enemies?

Will you follow Jesus if He leads you to the cross?