Parades and Purposes - Palm Sunday 2009 A Haggadah

Sixth in a series based on "Christianity for the Rest of Us" by Diana Butler Bass

Mark 11:1-11
As they came closer to Jerusalem, they rested at Bethphage and Bethany near the Mount of Olives. Jesus sent two disciples ahead, and told them "Go to the village ahead of you. Just as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it back. If anyone asks you why, say that 'The Lord needs it and will send it back here shortly.' " They went, and found a colt outside in the street, tied at a doorway. As they untied it, some people asked, "What are you doing?" They answered as Jesus had told them to, and the people let them go. They brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks over it so he could ride it. Many people spread their cloaks on the road, while others spread branches they had cut in the fields. Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted,
"Hosanna!"
"Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!"
"Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!"
"Hosanna in the highest!"
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Jesus wandered away from the others into a small field and sat down wearily under a tree in the shade. Two disciples had gone off to look for the colt, the others were flopped about, tired and napping a little. He needed some space to collect his energy. The time was coming, events were moving inevitably to a violent end. He knew some of the disciples had already figured it out, but were hoping against hope that something would happen which would change everything for the better. He also knew they weren’t expressing their fears to him. He had tried to speak to them, but it seemed like they didn’t want to hear it. He felt so alone, as if even God had left him. He wanted to go to Gethsemane, where he was always at peace, and just clear his head.

He thought back over the short three years of ministry. What a struggle that had been. He had spent years trying to avoid the call, but God would not let go. In that insistent way, God kept nudging him. John, his cousin, was executed, and someone had to step in - and he knew John expected it would be him. The religious leaders had become too accustomed to the power they wielded, the politics of living under Roman rule. They had to be called back to the law of God. When he finally accepted the call, and went to be baptised, it was the hardest thing he had ever done. Yet he knew in his heart that it was the right thing to do. He had a call. It would require all his strength and courage. It would mean working from the ground up to encourage people to re-assess their lives and their ways. The religious leaders would not be happy. They enjoyed a position and power, which Pontius Pilate and Herod allowed to continue so long as they didn’t try to rock the political boat.

As he sat there thinking, the faces of people in his life rose in front of him - a blind man who learned to see, a leper who learned to live beyond the restraints of an ignorant society, a woman by a well, a woman who touched the hem of his cloak, people on a hillside sitting in the sun listening, Peter, Mary - dear Mary who stayed by him when everyone else questioned. The people everywhere, wanting part of him. He never really understood the strange power he had to make things happen, but he didn’t doubt that it came from God. Nevertheless, sometimes he wished it would go away, so he could just return to Sepphoris and Nazareth, keep on working as a builder and have a normal life. Ministry on the road was anything but normal.

He fell asleep in the warmth and the gentle air.
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The two disciples returned with the colt, but not wanting to wake him, set out some water from the well, and tied the colt again under a tree.

As Jesus awoke, and saw the colt there, the whole of reality came rushing back in on him again. As he glanced at the angle of the sun, he realised it was time to move so he could get into Jerusalem and see the temple before going out again for the night.

As usual, as soon as people knew he was around, the crowds began to gather. The disciple spread a couple of cloaks on the colt, and Jesus mounted. Peter led the colt, and the others walked alongside. People by the road began to spread their cloaks in the path. Some of the people cut branches off the trees and bushes along the road, threw them in the road, and waved them in the air as he passed, with shouts of “Hosanna!” and “Blessed is the one who comes in God’s name!” and “He is the one who will save us!”

Listening to the crowds, he wondered. He had thought ministry was about transforming lives. He thought some had been transformed - at least, certainly the people he had touched, and who had touched him. But the temple and the leaders, would they have been transformed? Would they remember to live the spirit of the law rather than hiding behind their own interpretation of the letter? Would they put their own safety and comfort first, or would they listen and reach out to the community around them?

He knew that even as he came into Jerusalem through the lower gate, the equivalent of the servant’s entrance, Pilate and his centurions would be riding in on their huge horses through the upper gate, making as big an impression as possible, making it clear to the Jewish population that no insurgency would be tolerated this Passover.

So here he was, in a parade. Riding into the city, up to the temple, being cheered and hailed as a messiah, the one who would free people from the Romans and take back the city. Why had he ever started out on this strange journey called ministry? The road ahead was murky - oh he could see literally to Jerusalem, but would it end with violence? Or would it end with transformation of lives and people? What was really the purpose? He had touched many lives, he knew that. But people being people tended to drift into comfort zones rather than pushing the edges. He had thought his purpose was transformation, and yet he couldn’t see it really happening. In three short years he had worked hard to heal people’s pain, bring them hope and optimism, give them purpose. How could he do that if he wasn’t sure of his own purpose? And when he left them, would they unite as one? Would they understand what he had meant as he taught them? Would they be able to carry on, or just wander off to their own lives again?

Sighing again, he put those thoughts out of his mind, pushed the doubts away, and smiled at the crowds.