Lent: It's My Party...

In Jesus day the Jews were in a real pickle.  The truth is, they had been, more or less, for nearly 500 years.  Rome was the power d’jour but prior to Jesus a long line of despots and thugs had ruled over them. First Assyria, then Babylon, next came Persia, followed by the Greeks and the Seleucids. In 141BC the Maccabean’s brought a few years of freedom (Hanukah tells this story), but soon even the Jewish leaders spiraled into corruption opening the door for conquering Rome. 

Which brings us back to the pickle.  Rome was a brutal regime whom the Jews were obsessed with overthrowing. Oppressive taxation, corrupt leaders, second or third class status it was all part of life in the empire. Apart from those who were in Rome’s back pocket, life under the tyrants thumb was anything but desirable.

And this is why the readings this week make so much sense.  This Sunday we come to Palm Sunday and in the assigned scriptures we read about the longings for freedom; the poetic and narrative pangs of a people who are aching for deliverance. The ache is particularly pronounced in the gospel reading where we read the familiar story of Jesus riding into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey. Lining the parade route are throngs of people, palm branches in hand, shouting the Psalm:

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

In the other Gospels we hear the rest of their cry:

“Hosanna!”

Which is what our Psalm for this week also proclaims, literally meaning, “Save us! Grant us success!”

A+B=C

It doesn’t take a professor of Biblical theology to put together what was at work here. When Jesus rode into Jerusalem a crowd of oppressed and beaten people were looking to crown a new king.  A king who was going to save them and grant them success. A king who was going to make them great again - as in the heady days of David, when they were the envy of all the world.  Which also explains the palms.  These were a recognized sign of triumph, what was waved to the Caesars on their triumphal processions.

To put this more plainly, what we have in this weeks gospel reading is a political rally,  not much different than the bizarre cavalcade that we read about south of the boarder. Throngs of people, cheering for a king (or queen?) who will “Make America Great Again!”.  Yes, that’s what we have here.  Crowds of people, with palms in place of placards cheering for Jesus to “Make Israel Great Again!”

The Laughing Turns to Crying

Which is why it’s so strange that directly after our reading Jesus starts to weep (imagine Trump breaking down like this at the Ohio primary!). Weeping? Why the weeping? This was his moment!  Finally the people had recognized him as King (which is no doubt what he saw himself as - Israel’s great Messiah king). But here he is, all blubbered faced and bent out of shape, sputtering back to the cheers:

“If you, even you, had only known what would bring you peace on this day - but now it is hidden from your eyes.  The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you, and hem you in on every side. They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls.  They will not leave one stone on the other, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.”

And here we understand the weeping. Jesus was crying because the people whom he loved, whom he came to save and grant success, did not recognize him and nor did they see they way to peace.  And because of this, as Jesus saw, as opposed to freedom and success and salvation - they were about to be hemmed in by their enemy and dashed to the ground. Their own revolutionary fervor would bring this about. Which is exactly what happened circa 63AD. 

Know Thy Enemy

“Oh, but they did recognize him!”, we might reply, “They called him king and Lord”.  True. But here’s the sticking point. They had confused their enemy and thereby had also confused what they meant by king and Lord. The most basic strategy of war is to, “know thy enemy”. And Israel had failed this strategy.  They had failed it miserably. Their enemy, as they saw it, was Rome and this enemy needed a certain type of king. It needed a military strategist, complete with chariots, cavalry and fighting men. And, oh yes, it also needed God to be on their side - which made Jesus the perfect pick because of all those neat God-tricks he’d been doing.

And so on this day, the God blessed Jesus became their official king. The anointed one!Ready to deliver them - sword in hand - from their hated enemy. It was perfect, except for one little detail: They had the wrong enemy.  If they had listened to Jesus they would have been startled that apart from the odd instruction to pay taxes to Caesar (a strange way to the rally the troops, to say the least) he was largely mum about the whole thing.  Which isn’t to say that Jesus didn’t care about Rome, or their evil oppression. He certainly did. It’s just that Jesus saw something else at work, another enemy, one that stood behind Rome. And from the opening pages of Jesus’ story, this was enemy the enemy he was fixed on. The enemy was sin, Satan and death. If Rome was the resultant symptom, this real enemy was the cause. The thing that left to its own makes people into selfish prigs and our empires into brutal regimes. And what the Jews failed to see was that this enemy was present in them as much as it was in Rome. 

Back to the Pickle... again.

To bring this full circle then, Israel was in a pickle - but it wasn’t what they thought it was.  It wasn’t a power outside them, it was the darkness within. So do you see now why there’s all this road side crying? These people Jesus loved so much had missed him.  He came to save them and grant them the success they longed for. He came to set them free from their true enemy. He came to deliver them. But he knew on this day that the king they were crowning him to be he could not be.  Eyes filled with rage for Rome betrayed that they had misjudged their enemy and so had misjudged him. 

“If you only you had have known on this day what would bring you peace.”  It wasn’t the overthrow of Rome, it was the overthrow of the darkness that was producing all the weeds in their garden. 

Father Abraham had Many Sons

The truth is, we’re not often far from Israel. Sometimes were worse. Looking here and there certain we know who our enemy is we pray for a deliverer to come; someone who’ll overthrow our hated foe. But as we pray, if we listen real closely it’s often not the sound of a distant cavalry we hear but the sounds of tears: If you, only you, had have known...

May the King save us and grant us success.

Readings:

Here's this weeks Lent readings:

Psalm 118:1-2,19-29

Luke 19:28-40