A Worthy Procession
Tony E Dillon Hansen
9 April 2017
Sermon based upon Luke 19:29-44
Will you pray with me?
Let God guide our senses, our hearts and our ears to receive the lesson
given to us. May the words of my mouth
and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight O Lord, our Rock,
Our Redeemer.
Well
folks today, with Palm Sunday, Easter candy is almost sold-out in some places
we are
on the last-leg of our journey through Lent!
How
many of you that made Lenten promises made it this far? one week? A day?
You
should give yourself a round of applause for making it this far!
Since
Jesus instructs the disciples to get a donkey …
I
would like to tell you a story about a peculiar incident involving a mule.
These two friends Sven and Ole just bought a
mule,
but for some reason they cannot seem to get it
into the barn.
Sven says, “I know the problem. He won’t fit
through the door; his ears are too long!”
Ole thinks a bit, then says, “I know what we can
do. We can raise the barn by a foot so he’ll fit.”
Sven thinks a bit and says, “Wouldn’t it be
easier to dig a ditch for to walk in?”
Ole says, “Oh don’t be a goof! It’s his ears
that are too long not his legs!”
I
Now
that I have your attention,
Let us
carefully consider what is so important about Palm Sunday celebration.
Luke
characterizes the story of arrival that sounds like grand and jubilant parade.
Listen
to the sights and sounds.
Let us
consider how and why parades usually form.
In our
day, there is probably a festival (e.g. July 4th, St Patrick’s).
Thus,
most are planned well in advance.
Many
floats line up ready for the procession.
Parents
and gleeful Kids line up with open bags at the ready.
“Candy,
Candy, Candy!”
Imaginations
go wild with excitement and “Candy, Candy, Candy!”
Incidentally,
when I was younger and my parents moved our family to Kansas,
We learned
about a parade celebrating Dodge City Days –a Western festival.
Like
any Iowa kids, my brother and I were excited
and
thinking, “Candy, Candy, Candy!”.
We lined
up ready and with our bags at the ready!
Wouldn’t
you know it,
not one
piece of candy was thrown our way,
Instead,
we were given a couple wooden nickels—oh yea…
Turns
out that Kansas does not believe in candy-tossing parades like Iowa.
Back
to our lesson, In First century-Rome (including Palestine),
parades
were long processions often thrown in celebration of
installation
of new governor or emperor,
or
some recent Roman triumph.
I am
not sure if candy was tossed out.
There
would the vanquished, exotic animals (yeah a traveling circus), followed by
troops and officers
In
stark contrast, however, Jesus has a much simpler approach
On a
solitary donkey,
with a
ragtag band of followers,
no
fancy robes,
no
generals around,
no
trumpets blaring, and no emperors,
Things
looked little less “imperial”.
Jesus
makes way with subdued appearance.
As
Jesus arrives, however, people around the gate were lining up
Many with
their own emptiness and cloaks waiting.
One
must ask why do people line up for this small procession?
If you
think about it,
some
did this to witness, for themselves, what they heard about Jesus.
Remember,
“A whisper in the ear can be heard for miles”
We know
how that “whisper” story can change.
Our
people have a lot they would like to see
changed.
Theologians
tell us about some tales preceding Jesus here
and
some are even argued to this day-- like:
1)
Some heard that Jesus is a great king: one from the line of King David.
a.
This is likely a reason many throw down their cloaks
b.
also, we know this is used by the Romans later to mock Jesus.
2)
Another, some heard Jesus could invoke the will of God
a.
(maybe a Disney World-style Magic and Light show was coming)
b.
A people sarcastically make fun of Jesus for this while on the
cross.
3)
Perhaps some thought that Jesus would fill their bags
a.
with gold or fish and bread --like in his previous ministry.
4)
Some heard about being a great miracle worker with great wisdom
filling people with hope.
a.
(a Messiah)
b.
Luke makes a specific point about arriving from the East.
Let me
ask Which of these were you looking for?
Those
are some big perceptions of Jesus as we approach the city gates.
With
these kinds of expectations and stories,
People
did not care about grand fanfare, trumpets or soldiery, royalty.
They
instead start shouting A Christmas Carol for praises
“Blessed is He who
comes in the name of the LORD!
Peace in heaven,
And glory in the
highest heaven!”
What
they saw was that whisper become reality,
they
saw that Jesus is real and is one of us!
They
witnessed, they believed and the hope was rising.
II
Even
so, there were others that also heard these rumors
But with
envy and jealousy in their hearts.
They
heard the excitement
And
maybe a few were a little too jealous of this reception.
What were
these people saying, conjuring and plotting?
Instead
of the rays of hope that many have heard about Jesus;
These
cohorts perceive Jesus as a threat to order and tradition.
So, They
complain to Jesus that the people are noisy
This little-horse
parade is too exciting for them.
Again,
these cohorts are more interested in “order” than “justice.”
Jesus
reminds the whiners
that
for too long people lived without hope,
saying
“if these [people] were silent, the stones would shout out!”
For
Jesus continues his mission.
There
is some cleansing to do in the city
Many wrongs
to make right,
Much
corruption to correct.
He has
more homeless shelters to visit,
More
compassion to teach,
More sick
to heal,
more
lives to comfort,
and
more justice to seek.
Jesus
recognizes how corrupt our cities have become,
how careless
of basic human decency
cynical
of protecting women and minority rights
forsaking
God’s call to compassion
and
weeps.
Regardless
of the threats against him.
Jesus
arrives proud.
Jesus knows
He has to take on powerful Rome and Herod.
As
people too easily overlook “things that make for peace”
Instead
of military efforts to solve or to distract from the issues
--a
point that one could make about recent attacks in our present conflicts.
Jesus
is going to bring the mission to Herod.
With
the jubilance of the crowd,
Maybe
they would finally listen to the pleas for justice.
Yes,
we are irrational people and
Jesus
probably knows that we are willing to turn
against
the greatest mission in our world.
Still,
Jesus is coming to fulfill the scriptures for salvation of the people.
III
Thus,
we have a small parade.
Jesus
bringing these appeals to the powerful.
This
coming week, we observe the final days,
The horrendous
Passion of our LORD and
We
know the powerful will not listen and our people turn.
We are
reminded of the serious nature of what Jesus has done for us
as we are
reminded of the path of pain, torture and execution.
Despite
these coming events,
This day is a remarkable
time for Jesus.
For all
the suffering Jesus must endure during the next few days,
Jesus is
praised-- and hope is rising.
Despite
the speculations,
Despite
our suffering,
we do
not have to wonder aimlessly.
Instead,
we know about the triumph that comes from this suffering.
Because
of this Passion,
we
know that Jesus knows and shares in our suffering,
that experience
transformed the lives of billions to give us Hope,
that
we can have faith that there is a purpose,
and
that there is a life for us when we believe in the possible.
We can
live in this moment.
We
know that this is the one moment where our people
personally,
reward Jesus with the jubilation so well deserved.
For
once jubilation is given to the One who has given so much to us.
Let
this jubilation fill your heart with hope and love of Christ!
Today
we rise with hope, waving branches,
anticipating
something and someone
bigger
than we can imagine.
We do
not have to worry about
Holding
an empty bag
Because
Christ came to fill our hearts with hope and compassion
For this
day, yes this day!
we can
give proper praise and thanks
That
this is the day the Lord has made
Let us
rejoice and be glad in Him!
Thanks
Be to God!
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