Pete's Reviews and Sermons: Jesus starting a revolution?

Preached 24 March 2024 at Christ Church, Billericay

Reading Psalm 118:1-2+19-29; Mark 11:1-11

Revolution

I think we need a revolution. With climate change out of control and almost nothing being done about it, with the enormous over overconsumption we have – it is said we need one and a half earths just to keep our lifestyle going sustainably. That’s without allowing for any improvement in anyone’s lifestyle or prospects. With our current system, no-one is going to succeed in cutting everybody back to use two thirds of the resources that they are using today. If it was suggested – would you vote for them, the vast majority wouldn’t.

Who is the leader

Who would you choose as the revolutionary leader – Ernesto "Che" Guevara, or perhaps Wolfie Smith – “Power to the people!”. Maybe you’d prefer someone less violent (although I don’t remember Wolfie every harming anyone but himself!). Someone like Mahatma Gandhi, perhaps? There are plenty of others you could choose to get behind, but all the ones that come to my mind are dead, I can’t think of any leader today that I believe can deliver what we need.

Galileans

The Galileans, wanted a revolution, too – their revolution was the removal of the Roman occupying force that had run their county for years. They knew who they wanted as their leader, too. They were very clear about it – they had seen what He could do, they knew He would make a great king. They’d almost tried once before, but John 6:15 tells us that Jesus was aware of their intentions:

Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself.

It was not the right time then – He had a lot more work to do before He was going to be willing to accept that title.

King Now?

Now though, in our reading today, things have moved on. Now, the time is right for Jesus to show more openly His true nature.

Passover

It’s Passover, people from all around are heading to Jerusalem for the festival. Everyone within about 20 miles was expected to attend, but many more visited Jerusalem at this time. One estimate I read suggested as many as two and a half million may have been on their way, or already in the vicinity.

To give an idea of how many that is, the population of Essex was only one and a half million in the 2021 census. That’s a lot of people.

Staying outside the City

Most of them would stay outside the city, in the surrounding villages. That is what Jesus and the Galileans were doing, they stayed around Bethany and Bethphage. Those villages are on the Mount of Olives, about 2 miles from the city. It was the place these Galileans stayed every time they came from Galilee for a festival, probably three times a year. So, most of them will be very familiar with their surroundings and probably familiar with each other too.

Time to go public?

Jesus is ready to go public in a bigger way than He has before. Mark’s gospel is full of instructions not to tell what Jesus has done. Now things are changing as Jesus comes to the end of His mission.

Now, He needs to be seen, He needs to do something that will get the attention of the majority of visitors, they may not see it, but they will definitely hear about it.

Zechariah 9:9

So, the procession is planned, Jesus has even found a donkey, so that He can ride into Jerusalem. He is going to fulfil an old prophecy, it’s found in Zechariah 9:9

Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion!

Shout, Daughter Jerusalem!

See, your king comes to you,

righteous and victorious,

lowly and riding on a donkey,

on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

Normally, the conquering hero comes on a large white stallion, adorned with various decoration to make it look even grander than it is, he sits above everyone and is easily visible.

But this prophecy has the hero on a donkey, he will be only slightly higher up than those around him, who are walking. The prophecy is as much about the kingdom that the king brings as it is about the ideal, Davidic king that heads it up. The kingdom and the king conform to the divine standard of morality and ethics, particularly as revealed in the Mosaic legislation.

As importantly as it being what God wants, it is what the people want – well those that are travelling with, or around Jesus anyway.

Getting the Donkey

So the donkey is arranged and Jesus sends a couple of unnamed disciples to get it. They are given some words to say, so that if challenged, they can still get the donkey without causing a problem. If you thought passwords were new, welcome to the 1^st century, where they have been in use for some time.

Colt

It’s a colt, a foal that has never been ridden, That’s a sign of purity, an animal that is suitable for offering to God.

Procession into Jerusalem

Now the procession starts, and immediately the crowd are laying their coats on the ground for the donkey to walk across. They cut branches from the fields and lay them on the road too. (They don’t have to be palm branches, only John mentions palm branches, so, any branches will do.)

This is reminiscent of the welcome given to Jehu when he became king (2 Kings 9:13) and the celebration when Simon Maccabees threw the foreign occupiers out of Jerusalem. Both actions are symbolic of welcoming a new king.

The procession proceeds with shouts of

“Hosanna!”

and

“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”

and

“Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!”

Their revolution is underway!

These shouts are taken from Psalm 118, that was our Old Testament reading this morning. The psalm was used as liturgy in the temple worship, and would have been very well known to all the visitors in Jerusalem.

This was not the time it was usually sung though, so the crowd following Jesus, and cheering and praising God, would have caused quite a disturbance.

Effects of the procession

Word would have spread quickly through the crowd that something unusual was happening, so soon almost everyone around would know about it. That would include the religious leaders, who were no doubt well aware of who Jesus was. They would now be nervous about his intentions. After all, if he creates trouble now, with all these people around, and the Roman overlords feel like they are losing control, all sorts of bad things could happen.

In the temple

Once in Jerusalem, Jesus heads for the temple. He is not concerned about the effects his procession and the celebration that has happened outside has had, He was clearly there to be noticed. Arriving at the temple fairly late in the day, Jesus just looks around at everything and then returns to Bethany.

What was the point of going to the temple?

What was He looking around for in the temple?

If we read what happens next, we might get some idea. The next day, he enters the temple and begins to disrupt the trade that is taking place. He would not allow the normal temple trade to continue. That definitely got the attention of the religious leaders. So, we can assume that He took a good look around to see if the temple was functioning as it should and decide that it was not. So, was planning what He would do the following day.

Palm Sunday

We have re-enacted the Palm Sunday procession today. We have done it symbolically, inside the church building. We do it to help us remember who Jesus was when he was alive on earth. It is difficult for us to really understand what a king is like. King Charles does not have any real power, that exists in our parliament.

Palm Sunday raises the question for us about whether we are simple following a ceremony, or whether we are prepared as followers of Jesus to welcome him as our true King.

Are we really prepared for a revolution, not perhaps causing trouble on the streets, although it may come to that, but personally, in our own attitudes?

Are we ready to put our possessions at his disposal, to obey his orders even when they puzzle us? Are we ready to go out of our way to honour him? What are our equivalents of cloaks to spread on the road before him, and branches to wave to make his coming into a real festival? To draw attention to His presence with us.

Or have we so domesticated and trivialised our devotion to Jesus himself that we look on him simply as someone to help us through when our lives get tough, someone to provide us with comforting religious experiences?