Matthew 21:1-17
This is a passage which those who have spent
year after year in Church services, know all too well. Well, in truth we
probably know some amalgamation of how each of the gospels tells this story. The
story we have in our heads has bits and pieces of the way each of the Gospels
record the event and then we have most likely thrown in some imagined details
that perhaps we don’t even realize are not even in scripture.
As someone who has preached Palm Sunday year
after year now, this is really hard for me. When I see the scripture reference,
I can instantaneously identify which “Triumphal Entry” passage this is, before
I even open my Bible. Before I even read one word, I already know what I think.
I already know the preaching points, which ones I have used over the years and which
ones like the best and which ones I tend to skip over. I know the
socio-political background for the passage. I know all about what it meant for
Jews to be pouring into the city that day and what they were celebrating. I
know all about how there was probably also another nearly simultaneous
procession of Romans coming into the city to “keep the peace” during the Jewish
holy days. I know about the Romans, I know about the Jews, I know about the
Passover and the various meals and celebrations that took place around it. I
know what is going on in the temple, what is going on in the streets and what
is going on in homes all across that city. And if I can’t bring the information
to the forefront of my memory, I know where I can find the information. The
fact may very well be that I KNOW TOO MUCH. I am not just familiar with this
passage, I already know what I think about it, what I am supposed to think
about it and even before I read the passage this week, I was already cycling
through the different angles I could take on it.
With this passage and so many like it, it would
be nice to come to it not really knowing what to expect, seeing it as if it
were for the first time, so I can perhaps really see it. But I can’t, I can
just look at it, read it, listen to it and try to really hear it and I tried this
week. I really did make a valiant attempt to look at the passage, to allow the
passage to just be and, not forget, but put on the back burner what I know, or
I think I know and just live with this passage, what it says and what is going
on here on this day, at this time and what Matthew has to say about it.
So let’s begin by reading it again. Listen to
it, really listen to it. There are perhaps things that are different than you
think they should be. There are strange things going on. And I might not end
the passage where you would expect me to end I keep going and read what Jesus
did for the rest of the day. What did he do next? Does that change your what
you think about what is going on? What do people say? What questions are raised?
Listen, really listen. Pay attention.
Read passage again.
What did you hear? What was different? What stood
out? Is there anything that you never thought to question before but have
questions about now? Think about it.
When I was in
college, Rachele, my roommate, and I would often go into the North End, it was
our favorite part of town. One day we went into town and the street was full of
people. And they were cheering; it was kind of like a parade. And coming down
the street were people caring a figure of some kind on platform of some kind.
The figure was covered in dollar bills, almost completely obscuring its body.
And there were ticker-tape papers flying in the air. The figure came down the
street and turned down another street and everyone followed it cheering, the
ticker-filling the air where ever it went. And then it was over almost as soon
as we had happened upon it. We stood there in awe wondering what it was we had
just witnessed.
This was before
people went to the internet to find the answers to all their unanswered
questions, so all we could do was speculate about what we had seen and what we
thought was going on. This is kind of where we are in this passage. Something happens
and then we are left to try to figure out what happened and why.
This week as I read
and studied this passage I tried to make believe I was a stranger visiting a
strange town and I happened up this procession. And tried to ask myself the
same kinds of questions Rachele and I asked ourselves when we came up on that
procession in the North End so many years ago.
The first thing I notice
is that almost sounds like Jesus is riding two mounts. Now that’s weird. No seriously
look at the passage.
Why two mounts?
The easy answer is, well because Matthew is
quoting: Zechariah 9:9
9 Rejoice greatly, O daughter Zion! Shout
aloud, O daughter Jerusalem! Lo, your king comes to you; triumphant and
victorious is he, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a
donkey. 10 He will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the war-horse from
Jerusalem; and the battle bow shall be cut off, and he shall command peace to
the nations; his dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the
ends of the earth.
Zechariah is speaking of a king coming in peace
and humility. The passage uses a Hebraic redundancy of wording which when used
was supposed to highlight the point being made. The King will come, triumphant
in humility and victorious in peace and this is pointed out by the fact that he
is riding a “colt, a foal of a donkey,” and not a war horse, not even a horse, but
a donkey.
But two animals?
There is also an historical/cultural answer. It
was also common practice for a military leader to ride in a procession with a
secondary mount, one which was there just in case your primary mount went lame,
or if it was a particularly long procession, to ride when the primary mount was
tired and needed to rest. To process in riding a donkey, not a particularly
grand mount and to have a colt or a foal as your secondary mount would further
emphasize the humility and peaceful nature of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem
Did Jesus really ride two animals?
I don’t
know. Matthew is the only one which includes two animals. He could be right,
Jesus might have come in with two animals, but none of the other gospel writers
thought it was important enough to mention, or Matthew could just be trying to
make a point about the nature of Jesus’ procession into Jerusalem. I think it
is alright to not know for sure.
What is going on with the palms and cloaks?
It is Palm Sunday; we all have palms branches
in our hands. This is what we do right. But have you ever really looked at the
Palm branch in your hand and wondered why? So, why palms and why cloaks?
Jesus was processing in a humble, peaceful
manner, but the crowds were seeing this as something else. The crowds were
welcoming a conquering king. They were showing signs of reverence and
celebration that was common when the new ruler came to town. You put your
cloaks on the ground to show reverence and respect for a dignitary. You waved
branches and sung praises to let the new ruler know that you loved and adored
him and welcomed him and his rule into the city. He is coming to set up a
Davidic kingdom; to set things “right;” to restore their nationhood and set
himself up on its throne.
What does Hosanna mean?
It means “save us.” It is a prayer, a cry to God. Save us! They are crying, but they are celebrating
this prayer, this cry. They are saying it as if their cry has been heard, as if
their prayers have been answered.
But save us from what? What do the Jews feel they need saving
from? Why have they been crying out to God?
The Romans: at this time the people of Israel
identified most with their ancient ancestors in Egyptian slavery. They wanted
to be released from Roman oppression. They were crying out to God from their
“enslavement,” Hosanna, God save us, release us from our Roman tyrants.
This is happening at the beginning of Passover
week, when they are about to celebrate how God used Moses to bring them up out
of Egyptian slavery, to “save them.”
Does knowing that they are saying these words
at the beginning of Passover week add any meaning to this?
This is a huge celebration in which the Hebrews
celebrate how they won independence from the Egyptians how they were saved from
their oppressors.
Let’s say that someday, the United States falls
apart and various parts of it are now a part of other countries and New England
is annexed into Canada. What if as the New England providence of Canada
continued to celebrate Independence Day – July 4th? The officials of Canada put up with our
celebration because it is mostly harmless and they just increase police
presence in its capital Boston, where all the “Americans” like to go every year
to celebrate together with picnics along the Charles and fireworks. For three
days Boston is full. There are reenactments all over town of various
“Independence events”. We reenact the Tea Party, the Massacre, the first shots
fired on Bunker Hill, the lanterns lighting, it is HUGE. And then on July 4th
both sides the river are lined with people picnicking, cooking on small grills,
children running up and down the grass, families gathered together, it is a
wonderful celebration when we remember when we were once a fine nation and we
once won a revolution.
But imagine one year a man from Western Mass or
perhaps Northern Vermont, comes to town. Some of us have heard of him, he has some
interesting things to say. He seems harmless in and of himself, but some people
seem to think that he has come to bring about a new revolution to set us free,
so that New England can be the seed of re-envisioned, re-instated United States
of America!
What do the people say about what is going on?
Jesus is coming in riding a donkey (and a
foal?) he is processing as one who is coming in peace, who is coming in
humility. The people are welcoming him as a military hero, as a new king, as a
revolutionary.
But they say that he is a prophet. Their
actions say he is coming to set things “right,” in the way they see things
being set right and then they say he is a prophet. So he is one of those
radical prophets who have come to stir things up and make trouble for the
status quo, to shake up the regime and turn everything on its head, over throw
the empire and set up a Davidic dynasty. They had a lot of expectations of
Jesus. They really thought they knew what was about and what he was about to
do.
What is Jesus trying to say with his entry into
Jerusalem?
I think we are all away that Jesus was not trying
to come as a military or a revolutionary hero, or even a rabble rousing prophet.
Jesus was not telling the people that he was their conquering King coming to
regain the Kingdom and set himself up of the new country of Israel. And we can know
this by what Jesus does next. He does not come into town and storm the castle.
He does nothing that could lead me to believe that he is a revolutionary
attempting to overthrow the Roman regime.
I know this as an outside observer because,
nothing he does next does not do anything to accomplish these goals. He rides
into town and he goes into the temple and dive out those who are buying and
selling in the market place, quoting Isaiah and saying, “My house shall be
called a house of prayer,” and then he goes on to declare, but you are making
it a den of robbers. Now that is harsh.
Who is
Jesus driving out? Why is he so mad?
In the outer most court of the temple merchants
set up booths, to do several things, change money, and sell animals that would
be needed by those who had come too far to bring their own, to make their
sacrifices. For the Jews who have come to Jerusalem for Passover, money
changing and having animals to purchase for their sacrifice, are much need
amenities. Jesus is not upset about people needing to do this, he is upset that
it is happening in the temple court.
In theory there is nothing wrong with these people
doing these things. But it was also pretty common practice for money changers
to short change their customers. There was no standard rate of currency
exchange. There was no central body determining how many Roman gold pieces
equal a denarii. So the money would determine how gullible or knowledgeable
about what the exchange rate should be they believed their client to be, and
would change the rate accordingly. Then at the animals stalls it was common for
the price of the animals to have gone up steeply right about the time of
Passover, when there were more people
“from away” who would not know
that a pigeon cost half as much last week. So Jesus is upset on hand that
“robbing” people was common practice in the temple court.
But that is not all he is upset about. You may
or may not remember that the temple is set up in a series of courts. The inner
most section is the Holy of Holies, only the high priest went in there once a
year. Outside of that is the Holy Place where only the priests were allowed.
Outside that was the Inner Court where only the Jewish men came to pray and to
worship. The court directly outside of that was the Outer Court, or the Court
of Women, which is where the Jewish women came to worship and pray. The outer
most court of the Temple was the court of Gentiles where Gentile followers of
God, known as God Fearer, were allowed to worship.
All this money changing and all these animals
and all these booths and all the hub bub and commotion of a marketplace and of commerce
was located in this outer most court. The only place that people who were not
Jews, but who had come to know God as the one and only living God of the
universe, we allowed to worship. They were basically told the only place they
were allowed to worship and was in the chaos and commotion out on the corner of
Prospect and Mass Ave, out there in Central Square. I am sure if you or I
wanted to do that we could figure out a way to worship and pray there on one of
the benches, but it would not be ideal.
But that is not what is happening here, what is
happening here, is that the chaos and hub bub of the square has been allowed to
come into the sanctuary. Think about it this way. We host several other
congregations here in our building. Bethel is upstairs right now worshipping,
we can hear them singing and worshipping when we are quiet. It would be like we
invited the hub bub and chaos of the square into our building and said, you can
all go upstairs where you won’t bother us down here worshipping, in fact
sending them up into the space set aside for others to worship. It would not be
kind, it would not be polite and it would not be the right thing to do for one
set of worshipping people to do that to the space set aside for others to
worship. That is what has happened here in the temple. And that is why Jesus is
angry. Is that some people are blatantly disregarding the needs of another.
What
does Jesus do next?
After this Jesus heals people. He heals the
blind and the lame. He comes into town, is received like a conquering hero and
then he heals people. Again this does nothing to set him up as a the new king,
it does nothing to start a revolution, or anything like that.
But
then what is with the conversation between Jesus and the Chief priest and
scribes?
Jesus is the temple healing people and
something interesting happens. The chief priests and the scribes, who seem to
not be able to keep up with Jesus, and what he has been doing, come in
questioning him about what the people had been singing when he was outside. I
mean he just kicked some people out of temple and they are still upset about
the songs the crowd was singing. It is almost as if they are just as confused
about who Jesus is and what he is all about as the crowd who were thinking they
were welcoming their conquering hero.
Passover, at this time was the most volatile
time period in Jerusalem. Jews from all over the Roman Empire come to Jerusalem
to celebrate the time when God emancipated the Jewish people from a ruling
empire. There were extra soldiers in town to “keep the peace” and there was all
this pressure from the government for the Jewish leaders to keep “their people”
under control. The last thing they needed was some kind of rabble rouser to
incite the people to a revolutionary riot. That would not go well for anyone.
So they ask, “Jesus do you hear them out
there?” You can’t do this, it is not going to end well. You need to get them to
stop before this all goes south and we stuck in it and have no way out.
And Jesus’ answer is odd. He quotes a psalm
declaring that even the smallest children, infants and babes will give praise
to God. Jesus is choosing to interpret the singing as worship and praise. And
is not too surreptitious way of saying that he is God, and is thus deserving of
such worship and praise.
But
then he just goes away?
Then Jesus just goes to Bethany (presumably to
the house of Mary and Martha, since that is where they live and we know from
other gospels that he spent some time there about this time doing something,
you know mildly remarkable. But that is another passage in another gospel) Jesus comes into town, does all these things
and then leaves. Leaving those of us who witnessed these events, what has just
happened? What is going on? Who is this Jesus person anyway?
We are there this series of events this morning?
Who ar we most like? Whose thoughts and feelings most align with ours? If we were
in the streets of Jerusalem that day, with whom would we most relate? Are we a part of the gathered crowd who sees Jesus
as a conquering hero coming to fulfill our hopes and our dreams. Is Jesus, for
us, a prophet who proclaims the words we want to hear?
Are we one of chief priests or scribes; he is a
trouble maker going to create a bad situation with the authorities and the
powers that be, when all we want to do is to keep our heads down, be good
citizens and live peacefully, making due the best we can with the situation we
are currently in?
Are we money changers, trying to get ahead the
best we can and see him as an impediment to our livelihood and messing up our
way of living?
Are we just another Jewish person there for the
Passover, who change our money and buy our Passover lamb from the merchants in
the temple, not thinking about or even realizing we are participating in a
broken system that is allowing us this convenience while disregarding the
humanity, and the needs of others, whom we many not even realize are
disadvantaged by our activities, and here is this man who is disrupting OUR
lives, OUR way of doing things, making things more difficult so that others are
no longer disadvantaged by our activities? Are we here to be healed?
We are there this morning; we are someone in
this story. How do we see what he is doing, what he has done?
And however we see Jesus’ activities in this
passage, what does it mean for our conquering hero, the prophet, the rabble
rouser, the trouble maker, the weird guy over throwing a broken and oppressive
system, whomever we presume him to be; what does it mean for him to die? What
if he really is God as he himself more than kind of implies here? What does is
mean for God to die? What does it mean for the Jesus we find in this passage,
who we know and understand, or misunderstand to shortly die?
And Jesus goes off to Bethany to spend the night
and we are left to wonder who do we think Jesus is?
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