Luke 19:29-40 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."
Did anyone get lost? An odd question, I know. But I wonder. It seems like a big event, a crowd formed, branches were broken, coats were tossed into the road, people were shouting. It was a big deal. How big? Who knows? Some of the gospel accounts make it sound huge, others make it sound like it was just a small gathering on one end of town. Big enough. Loud enough. Disturbing the peace enough that those annoying neighbors called the cops. Can you keep it down, they said? You’re making a racket. People are trying to sleep.
Actually the fear was bigger than that. It wasn’t just a passive aggressive neighbor battle. The Pharisees had genuine concerns. You gotta give them credit. They figured out what was happening here. All the shouting, Hosanna, that was all right as far as it went. I mean the Pharisees knew the scriptural reference here, they saw the connections. But to make sure no one missed it, they didn’t stop at Hosanna. No, they had to add in “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!” The king. This wasn’t just a re-enactment with vague religious meanings. Now, we’ve slipped over into politics. By declaring a king, anyone a king, that guy on the donkey a king, they were saying Caesar wasn’t their king anymore. They were making a political choice. They were in the polling booth and the Emperor lost the popular vote.
That’s just the kind of thing that the Romans got all tetchy about. The kind of thing the Pharisees started sweating about. They ruled by the good pleasure of Rome. As long as they could keep the people in line they could keep their power, their authority, their court side seats at the home games. But if the Romans had to step in and break up this little act of sedition, then it would all be over. Rome would pull off the velvet glove and smack them with the iron hand. No wonder they trotted alongside Jesus and told him, in between their panting to keep up with the skittish little colt, that He needed to turn the volume down. Don’t wake the neighbors, they told Him. His response was that the noise is world wide. The rocks are shouting, the trees are praising, the earth was declaring who the King really was.
The Pharisees dropped Him like a hot plate out of the microwave and backed away hoping the spillage wouldn’t splash on them, and when Rome showed up they might be able to avoid the stain of this messy meal of a parade. They heard, but stuck their fingers in their ears and sang la la la la, all the way back to safety. They heard, they saw which way this parade was going and they didn’t want any part of it. They didn’t want to go that way.
But others, the crowd, the branch pulling, coat throwing, hosanna shouting crowd were all in. They were ready, they were hoping, they were happy. They were ready to go the way of the King. They were ready for the new order, let’s throw the rascals out, let the little people rule, let there be blood running in the streets if necessary, this is revolution. We’re on the way. At last, we’re on the way.
Except was that the way? The King they proclaimed, was that His way? If I had included one more verse in that opening reading for this Palm Sunday weekend, we would have found that declared King weeping. Yes, weeping over the Jerusalem He loved because they had lost the way. His way. The way of peace. His way was different. His way was one of sacrifice. His way was one of surrender. He wasn’t riding that colt into a mob to stir them up into a revolutionary force. That wasn’t His way.
Did anyone get lost in that parade? An appropriate question, it seems. Because the answer seems to be, yes, they all did. The Pharisees weren’t the only ones who lost their way that palm strewn day. Even His closest followers, the ones who got to hear words from Him that no one else heard, the ones to whom He confided His deepest hopes and highest call, even they didn’t know the way. Didn’t know His way. They must have been grinning like Labrador pups that day, rustling donkey’s and waving branches and cheer-leading a crowd into singing some ancient enthronement psalms, they must have been bursting with joy. At last, they thought, after all the incomprehensible zen-like stories that seemed to conceal more than reveal, at last we get some clarity. He’s the king. We knew it, now we can shout it. He’s going to kick it into gear now, gonna ride hard over the enemies of the people. Right? Right!
Except then they stumble over Him weeping over Jerusalem as though this city has broken His heart. As if He was a jilted lover, left by the one who doesn’t really understand Him. If only, He said as the tears streamed down His face, if only you had known the way of peace. If only you had known the way. The disciples looked at each other with that practiced look of confusion. I thought we knew, each of them said in the silence of their own minds. I thought I knew the way.
John 14:1-7 "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. 2 In my Father's house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. 4 And you know the way to the place where I am going." 5 Thomas said to him, "Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?" 6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him."
We’re a few days on now. So much has happened since that hot mess of a parade with palms and shouting. Now we’re sitting in a room. A stunned and silent room. They’ve shared a meal, but only after He took a basin of water and washed their feet, as if He was some sort of slave, some sort of menial worker doing the dirtiest of jobs. And then while they ate He took a piece of bread and dipped it and handed it over to one of them, it could have been any of them, but it was one who was sweating as if under a bright light, and that one jumped up and ran out of the room pushing his way out the door into the darkness of the night. And now they sit there, without any words to say. So He speaks. A word of comfort. A word of grace.
Do not let your heart. He said heart. We translated hearts because that seems more grammatically correct. But He said heart. Do not, you do not, all y’all do not let your heart, your singular heart, your common heart, the heart of fellowship, the heart of shared hope, do not let your heart be troubled. Trust God. Trust Me. I know we translated it believe in, but trust fits better. Put your trust in God, in Me. Put your life in My hands. Go with me on this way. I know what I’m doing. I know where I’m going. And you know the way. Notice He doesn’t say you know the destination, but you know the way. Thomas blurts out what they are all thinking, “we don’t! We don’t know where you’re going, we don’t know the way. We don’t know anything. We’re just as lost now as we ever were. Don’t go. Don’t leave us. Just don’t.
I am the way. The true way, the life giving way. You know Me. You know the way. Trust me. Do we? Do we know the way? How can He think we know? The list of what we don’t know is so long. We get the shakes just trying to take a single step. How can He trust us that much? You know the way, because I am the way, and you know Me. That’s all it takes. Know Him and put one foot in front of another. And suddenly, we’re on the way. On His way. You know the way.
Shalom,
Derek
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