April 2, 2023 - Palm Sunday
Matthew 21:1-17
Deborah Laforet
Thy Kingdom Come
Let us pray. May the words from my lips and the meditations of my heart be guided by your Spirit and be words of wisdom for this day. Amen.
I learned this week that on Saturday, May 6, King Charles III and his wife, Camilla, will be crowned king and queen of the United Kingdom. There hasn’t been a coronation in England since June 2, 1953, 70 years ago. There will be a lot of pageantry - parades, music, horses and carriages, and everyone dressed in their very best. A lot of money will go into this coronation that will be watched around the world.
Let’s imagine that to the east of Westminster Abbey, where the coronation will take place, there is another event occurring. Some rabble rouser from rural England, who has worked up a lot of people, who sometimes speaks against the royal family and sometimes against this United Kingdom, is travelling along the Thames, riding a bicycle, with a dog on a leash running alongside, and with hundreds of followers running ahead to make way for their leader. It’s nothing like the crowds who have come to see the coronation, but to the people who live on the east side, they are watching this spectacle and wondering what in the world is happening and who is this person. As the new king and queen are travelling along their royal route in the historic Gold State Coach, with millions watching along the way and praising their new king, the other person, on an old, borrowed bicycle, is being praised by followers of all kinds, making quite a scene, and making some people very angry that this demonstration is occurring on Coronation Day.
What Jesus did that day, 2000 years ago, was similar and it was intentional. He knew the Roman commander, Pontius Pilate, would be making his way into the city, surrounded by soldiers, war horses, loud marching and flag waving, to mark this most important entrance. Jesus was making a point. Crowds of followers loved him for it, while the people in the city wondered who this person thought he was. The crowd answered, “This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee.”
Jesus knew this was the final chapter for him. He had already predicted his death three times. His grand entrance into Jerusalem would not end with a coronation, but with his death.
Would Jesus have wanted a coronation? Would he have wanted to rule kingdoms? In the beginning of Matthew’s gospel, during Jesus’ time in the desert, Satan offers Jesus the rule of all the kingdoms of earth, and this is what the Jewish people expected of their Messiah. They expected their Messiah to be like the King David from their past, someone who would conquer kingdoms and unite all of Israel. Jesus, though, turned down this most generous offer, possibly because it came with too heavy of a price tag. It would be given to him only if Jesus would bow down and worship Satan, but I don’t think Jesus would have accepted this offer, even without the price tag?
Some might wonder why not, sure that Jesus could do much better than many of their current rulers of the earth. He could use his wisdom to bring forth justice, and his power to bring down the corrupt.
In the Godly Play curriculum, we tell the children that Jesus was not that kind of king. He came into the city after years of itinerant living, probably dusty, thin, and worn. He was not wearing royal purple robes, and unlike King Charles, he was not travelling in a chariot, gold or otherwise, but on the coats of his disciples upon a donkey.
And his first stop was the temple, where he turned over tables and make accusations of the temple being a den of robbers. When the chief priests became angry that he was healing the blind and lame in their temple and that children were calling him, “Son of David,” they said to him, “Do you hear what they are saying?” Jesus pretty much dismisses them by saying, ““Yes; have you never read, ‘Out of the mouths of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise for yourself’?” I’m not sure what this means, but it kind of reminds me of the phrase, “out of the mouths of babes,” meaning a child has said something surprisingly wise. After these events, he leaves the city for the night. By his actions, we can be certain that Jesus was not trying to get on the good side of the temple authorities or chief priests, or even of the Romans, entering the city with their own fanfare. If anything, this probably made the chief priests feel even more strongly that this was a rebel that needed to be stopped.
What does all this mean for us today? I mean, it’s an interesting story with lots of intrigue and politics, but our scripture, the reason we study and read it during worship, is because it provides meaning for us still today; so what do we hear now in 2023?
Whenever we talk about Jesus, we talk about his followers, the disciples who dropped everything to follow him. Those same disciples were always meant to continue the work of Jesus after his death. Jesus said the kingdom of God is coming and the kingdom of God is here, now. Jesus was never meant to be a king or a ruler who ruled over earthly kingdoms and all the corruption, greed, and misused power that wis inevitably included in that rule; he was meant to teach others how to build God’s kingdom on earth.
This is what he struggled to teach during his three years of ministry, travelling from village to village. His words told of this heavenly kingdom. His healing acts showed the compassion of this kingdom. His friendship with the marginalized and oppressed showed the power of justice and belonging in this kingdom. His non-violent resistance showed a new way of bringing peace into the world.
God’s kingdom is here, now, because we are here, now. God’s kingdom is also coming because it is our work to bring this about. Jesus, and many of the prophets we read of in the bible, and many justice seekers since that time, have taught us and are teaching us how to care for the vulnerable, how to make spaces where all can belong, how to speak up and stand up, in non-violent ways, when we fight against injustice.
With these actions, we are sometimes at risk. Sometimes we will be threatened; sometimes we will be mocked; sometimes we will be ostracized; and sometimes our very lives may be at risk. Jesus showed us that. He gave the ultimate sacrifice to show us that, to show us what it looks like to live in this current kingdom and what it looks like to bring about God’s kingdom.
As we move into Holy Week, we remember Jesus and his followers. We remember their last meal together. We remember Jesus as he struggled with what he knew was next. We remember the arrest and trial of Jesus. We remember the betrayal and abandonment of his disciples. We remember his execution by the Roman state in collaboration with temple authorities.
Jesus was alone at the end. Jesus even felt God had forsaken him. Friends, we are not alone. We have each other, but even if everyone does abandons us, we have our faith, we have Christ giving us guidance and filling us with what we need, and we have God, who never forsakes us, even when we feel forsaken.
This world we live in is not even close to a heavenly kingdom, but every step towards creating a space where all belong, towards a world where conflict is settled non-violently, towards a world where the vulnerable are treated as kindly and equitably as the powerful, is a step towards God’s heaven on earth. Will we take those steps together, following the example of Christ, knowing we are never alone? May it be so. Amen.