Readings: Matthew 21: 1-11, Matthew 27: excerpts from 11-54
‘The Gates of Jerusalem’
Prayer: Open our hearts and minds, living God, to
what it means for us to journey with you – speak to us of truth and endurance
and love and hope this day and into this week we pray. Amen.
As I pondered the
readings for today, it struck me that the gates of Jerusalem saw Jesus pass
through them in two very different processions.
The entry was full of hosannas and shouts of welcome and extravagant
gestures of honour and adoration. The
exit was painful, dragging a cross, soon to die, surrounded by soldiers and
exultant accusers and a crowd who had changed sides and bewildered, shell
shocked followers.
He came in those
gates in triumph and went out cursed.
They laid coats
and palms coming in and spit going out.
They called him
the Messiah but that changed to criminal.
They yelled
hosanna, later it turned to crucify.
Why?
It appears that
Jesus disappointed the crowds! He took a
wrong turn – he wasn’t meant to turn to the temple, to the cross but rather to
head for the political power and overturn it, free them from tyranny, set up a
new and better rule.
Well, he did that
but not quite in the way expected. And
when our expectation are not met, we can be quite angry, ready to accuse that
which we had such high hopes for. And so
the crowd turned from hosanna to crucify him.
And he probably
disappointed those who journeyed with him too – for all the teaching and the
preparation, they weren’t prepared for this, this horror, this seeming giving
up. It wasn’t right, it wasn’t how you
do it. Like the story of Lazarus – the
belief in the man they called Jesus didn’t quite make it past the gates of death. A step too far. Feel for his disciples, his family, his
whanau. The humiliation, the pain, the
anguish, the inability to stand alongside would have trampled hearts already
well broken.
I want to use the
words of Malcolm Gordon here from a post he titled ‘Doing Palm Sunday Justice’[1]
as he ponders the changeableness of we humans when faced with something that
doesn’t work out as we might expect.
There is this bizarre situation that
develops where Jesus understands he will die, and that his death will be the
way to salvation for his people. His followers reject that idea because they
believe he is the Messiah and dying isn’t part of their plan, while his
opponents reject his claim to being the Messiah and want to kill him for it,
and in the end, everyone conspires to kill the one true Messiah! It makes my
head hurt, and my heart ache.
And
so the gates saw Jesus leaving the city knowing that he is following the will
of his Father but journeying alone in the midst of the crowd, holding his pain
and suffering and knowledge of what was to come between himself and God,
deserted by those he had hoped would walk alongside him..
The
gates spewed out the crowd of accusers, come so that their wrath might be
satisfied, their disappointments placated.
The
gates felt the passing of the heart broken, wandering along the edges oblivious
of anything but that their hope, their love was to be crucified.
Between
the coming in and the going out there is five days.
I
wonder what those days are like for us.
It doesn’t do to just pick up the Sundays – palms and hosannas to empty
tomb – there is quite a bit missing in the middle there.
And
it is that missing bit that I want to encourage you to engage with this Easter
time – five days of turmoil, of farewells, betrayals, anger, expectations,
injustice, teachings, preparing, wine and bread, thorns, ridicule – and in the
middle, this man Jesus – the Messiah.
Are we prepared to journey with him all the way to the cross.
I
want to finish with a further piece from Malcolm – a poem I guess of
expectation – ours and Jesus’.
O Jesus our king, riding into the capital city
For the great show down with the powers of evil and corruption
You are known as a man of peace but you might want to think about that
For those you are up against are merciless and cruel
And the only place you’ll end up by turning the other cheek
Is high on a criminal’s cross.
O Jesus our king, riding into our hopes for redemption
Where is your sword and where is your army?
This ragtag rabble of rascals and rednecks from the sticks
aren’t going to fill any of your enemies with fear
Just say the word, and we’ll throw down our palm branches
And take up our spears, hidden away all these years.
Cast off the disguise of peace maker and we will rally to you in a heartbeat
For the great show down with the powers of evil and corruption
You are known as a man of peace but you might want to think about that
For those you are up against are merciless and cruel
And the only place you’ll end up by turning the other cheek
Is high on a criminal’s cross.
O Jesus our king, riding into our hopes for redemption
Where is your sword and where is your army?
This ragtag rabble of rascals and rednecks from the sticks
aren’t going to fill any of your enemies with fear
Just say the word, and we’ll throw down our palm branches
And take up our spears, hidden away all these years.
Cast off the disguise of peace maker and we will rally to you in a heartbeat
O Jesus our king, beware my friend.
There are rumours that some who are close to you cannot be trusted
That some want to force the fight you seem eager to lose
And this talk of taking up your cross
Its making the troops nervous
Give us victory, fire us up, we’re ready to fight and kill and die
We are like a storm cloud ready to burst
A wave ready to swell up and then break
Just tell us which way we should surge
Make it soon, or there’s no telling what we’ll do.
There are rumours that some who are close to you cannot be trusted
That some want to force the fight you seem eager to lose
And this talk of taking up your cross
Its making the troops nervous
Give us victory, fire us up, we’re ready to fight and kill and die
We are like a storm cloud ready to burst
A wave ready to swell up and then break
Just tell us which way we should surge
Make it soon, or there’s no telling what we’ll do.
O Jesus our king, you mock us
You refuse to claim the throne we offer
You’ve taken hold of our hearts,
But you have rejected our fists
And anyone can tell you that’s no way to rule
So we’ve no use for you, you peacemaking poet from up north
For the villains we face come with razor sharp swords
Take your stories and die, they’re no good to us
It’s going to take more to save us than your foolish love.
You refuse to claim the throne we offer
You’ve taken hold of our hearts,
But you have rejected our fists
And anyone can tell you that’s no way to rule
So we’ve no use for you, you peacemaking poet from up north
For the villains we face come with razor sharp swords
Take your stories and die, they’re no good to us
It’s going to take more to save us than your foolish love.
O Jesus our king, all the clamour and noise
For you to reign on high
For you to be cursed and die
Have all faded and gone,
Like seed that springs up in the shallow soil
But you were still like sleep
In the midst of the storm
You were the point of persistent peace
While we all wanted war
Now our rage is all spent
We wonder
Are you?
For you to reign on high
For you to be cursed and die
Have all faded and gone,
Like seed that springs up in the shallow soil
But you were still like sleep
In the midst of the storm
You were the point of persistent peace
While we all wanted war
Now our rage is all spent
We wonder
Are you?
Margaret Garland
based on Malcom Gordon’s Doing Psalm
Sunday Justice
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