The journey into Jerusalem
began with waving palms and adoring crowds shouting, “Hosanna!
Blessed is he
who comes in the name of the Lord!
Blessed is the kingdom
of our father David that is to come!
Hosanna in the highest!”
At that triumphant moment,
there was nothing the crowd would have denied him.
Nothing
they would begrudge him.
Nothing
they would have withheld.
Power…
Riches…
Adulation...
A throne.
The rowdy crowd
was as eager to “get”
as to give.
They were hungry—
hungry
for whatever Jesus could give them.
Political status
Power to crush the Roman army
Comfort
Miracles
The crowd was hungry
and what they dreamed of
was suddenly within their grasp…
or so it seemed.
But God had a different plan.
This warrior,
this ruler,
this King,
this anointed one,
rode into Jerusalem on a borrowed colt.
On his back was homespun,
not polished armor.
His hands wore calluses,
not jewels.
He spoke of sin and redemption,
not national sovereignty or imperial might.
He claimed forgiveness and mercy,
not status and wealth.
He would be betrayed
Handed over
Denied
Condemned
Mocked
Forsaken
Nailed to a cross.
His broken and battered body
would be wrapped in borrowed linen
and laid in a borrowed tomb.
The jubilant crowd lining the road to Jerusalem
knew they were seeing a “winner”,
but they were blind to
God’s vision of success.
They didn’t see
that Jesus came to conquer
not just Rome,
but the world.
They didn’t understand
that Jesus entered the holy city,
not to deal death
avoid death
or trick death,
but to meet death head-on.
He would conquer the world
and death itself…
by dying. *
The crowds that ripped branches from trees
and screamed with excitement,
didn’t understand
that their hunger would be eased
and their emptiness filled,
not by conquest
or power
or wealth,
but by a broken body, poured out for them.
No scripture study or theology class
can explain the cross completely.
No homily or lecture
fully outlines its meaning.
Yet, each of us who follow Jesus
will eventually find ourselves
walking along a dusty path
to our own Calvary--
to our own cross.
Jesus said,
“whoever wishes to come after me
must deny themselves,
take up their cross and follow me.”
From a marketing standpoint,
this message is a disaster.
Imagine how many followers Jesus might have
if he had avoided the cross—
If he had invited,
“Lay down your cross and follow me.”
“Ignore your burdens
and I will make them disappear.”
“I will not suffer,
and if you believe in me,
you will never suffer, either.”
That’s a message
designed to keep the palm branches waving!
As Barbara Brown Taylor says,**
Suffering can be the great killer of faith.
It can compress the human soul
into a knot of bitter pain
and explode our lives
into a thousand brittle pieces.
Or
Suffering can be the way we discover
the depth of our humanity and faith--
our capacity for love and beauty--
our ability to forgive--
our kinship with God and each other.
For the difference between these two options,
look at the cross.
The cross teaches us
that suffering can be redemptive,
that burdens can be shared,
that sins can be forgiven,
and that darkness can be illuminated
by the power of a loving God.
The cross dares us to believe
that life is more powerful than death
that love is more enduring than hate
that hope is stronger than despair.
The cross reminds us that, like Jesus,
much in our lives
is borrowed.
We live on borrowed grace
and borrowed time;
borrowed strength
and borrowed hope.
The cross reminds us that
our views of “success” and “defeat”
"power" and "riches"
might just differ from God’s,
and that sometimes,
God holds out a different plan.
This week, we have journeyed to the city gates,
palm branches waving,
agendas in hand,
wish lists ready. *
As we welcome the King into Jerusalem,
what are we wishing for?
*Byron L. Rohrig, Christian Century, March 9, 1988, p. 236.
**Barbara Brown Taylor, God in Pain: Teaching Sermons on Suffering, Abingdon Press, 1998