Beyond a Flipped Script

Matthew 21:1-11

When they had come near Jerusalem and had reached Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, “Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, just say this, ‘The Lord needs them.’ And he will send them immediately.” This took place to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet, saying, “Tell the daughter of Zion, Look, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them; they brought the donkey and the colt, and put their cloaks on them, and he sat on them. A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of him and that followed were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!” When he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in turmoil, asking, “Who is this?” The crowds were saying, “This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee.” 

On that very first Palm Sunday, people gathered beside the road, not just with garments and branches, but also with all of the expectations they had been taught and learned over the years about who and what the Messiah would be.  They laid their garments, their branches and their expectations at Jesus’ feet.  They believed the Messiah should be a mighty general, raise an army, ride a giant white war horse into Jerusalem, throw out the unfaithful, turn the tables on the oppressors, become the new King, and make Israel great again!  Just like it was when David was king. 

Now, it wasn’t JESUS who gave them those expectations.  In fact Jesus regularly said that was exactly NOT what he was about!  But the people had trouble seeing how the Messiah could be anything else. They weren’t looking for a Messiah to change the way the whole world worked.  What they wanted is that instead of being on the bottom of the heap, taking the orders, doing the suffering, and paying the taxes, THEY wanted to be so on the top of the heap, GIVING the orders, INFLICTING the suffering and COLLECTING the taxes for a change!  

But that’s just NOT what Jesus was about then and it’s not what Jesus is about NOW either…  regardless of what today’s loud and angry religious leaders seem to think.  Jesus wasn’t then, and isn’t now, about just swapping THEIR oppressive regime for OUR oppressive regime.  Jesus is about putting in place a whole new way for EVERYONE in the world to live!  What Jesus was really about was creating a world which  embraced Radical Hospitality for all of creation.  An “us” vs. “them” system just doesn’t do that, no matter if we are the “us” or we are the “them.”  

Jesus also intended the world to be a place of extreme generosity.  The people lining those streets just wanted to swap the names and nationalities of those who were oppressed with those who did the oppressing. But Jesus wasn’t about just shuffling who played which role… He was about getting rid of oppression for everyone… period!  He was about creating a world where everyone was cared for equally and everyone shared a part in delivering that caring equally.     

The last thing, and maybe the biggest thing, that first Palm Sunday crowd wanted… was REVENGE!  The people of Israel had been hurt and oppressed for so long that they really wanted “THEM” to taste what oppression really felt like!  They wanted the Romans to feel what it was like to live on the bottom, be cheated by unfair taxes and to live on the receiving end of an abusive police force!  Fair and Even wasn’t what they wanted… they wanted payback!  But Jesus was never about revenge and payback.  Jesus was then and is now, always about Grace, Forgiveness and Justice.  That disconnect from what the people expected and what Jesus was REALLY all about, is what led the people from shouting “Hosannah to the Son of David” on Palm Sunday, to shouting “crucify him!” just a few days later.  

For us today as we wave our palms, we are called to work toward JESUS’ vision of the world… a world of radical hospitality and generosity rejecting the idea of making Jesus into a Messiah of revenge and “us” verses “them.”  Now, just like back then, there are people who line the streets in our day and say THAT sort of vision of hospitality and generosity is impossible!  But here’s the lesson of Palm Sunday…  Jesus’ vision for our world isn’t just possible… it’s as inevitable as Easter morning!  Amen.