Luke 19:28-40
“Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.” This verse is not original to the gospels. The people are quoting Psalm 118. “Save us, we beseech you, O Lord! … Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.” The followers who gathered around Jesus as he processed into Jerusalem sang this excerpt from Psalm 118 “affirming that God will rescue God’s chosen people.”[1] It was a song of deliverance … a peace song. And “like many peace songs, the psalm provokes anxiety.”[2]
A story is told about legendary folk singer Pete Seeger. In the 1970s, Pete Seeger was invited to sing in Barcelona, Spain. Francisco Franco’s fascist government, the last of the dictatorships that started World War II, was still in power but declining. A pro-democracy movement was gaining strength and to prove it, they invited America’s best-known freedom singer to Spain. More than a hundred thousand people were in the stadium, where rock bands had played all day. But the crowd had come for Seeger.
As Pete prepared to go on, government officials handed him a list of songs he was not allowed to sing. Pete studied it mournfully, saying it looked an awful lot like his set list. But they insisted: he must not sing any of these songs. Pete took the government’s list of banned songs and strolled on stage. He held up the paper and said, “I’ve been told that I’m not allowed to sing these songs.” He grinned at the crowd and said, “So I’ll just play the chords; maybe you know the words. They didn’t say anything about you singing them.” He strummed his banjo to one song after another, and they all sang. A hundred thousand defiant freedom singers breaking the law with Pete Seeger, filling the stadium with words their government did not want them to hear, words they all knew and had sung together, in secret circles, for years. What could the government do? Arrest a hundred thousand singers?[3]
Perhaps that’s why some of the Pharisees in the crowd told Jesus to make the crowd stop. The peace song made them nervous. What if the Roman government heard? Pontius Pilate was, that same day, entering Jerusalem on the other side of town. And Pilate was known for having his soldiers mingle among the Jews in disguise so they could kill anyone who was stirring up trouble.[4] And here was the crowd quoting a peace song, calling for deliverance? They were asking for trouble!
No, actually they weren’t. They were asking for peace. The line “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!” was followed by “Peace in heaven and glory in the highest heaven!” Does that sound familiar? Does it ring any bells? Seventeen chapters earlier in this same Gospel, some angels appeared on a hillside, saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace.” In other words, when Jesus was born, the angels pronounced, “Peace be with you!” And when Jesus entered Jerusalem, the crowd responded, “And also with you.”
“Heaven sings of peace on earth. Earth echoes back, ‘Peace in heaven.’[Or as one writer puts it:] As the church gathers this day, we are caught in the crossfire of blessings.”[5]
Our country is currently caught in a crossfire, but it certainly does not feel like blessings. Our political discourse has sunk to a level that is both appalling and terrifying. Now, let me be clear. Sometimes ministers are accused of preaching politics when they preach about feeding the hungry or caring for the orphan, about welcoming immigrants or making room for the outcast. But that is not preaching politically. That is preaching biblically.
Preachers are called to be prophets, but we do try not to be partisan. So I cannot and will not publicly endorse a candidate. But I cannot and will not ignore hatefulness and bigotry, whether in the name of God or country.
Because this is how it is spreading: The name of a candidate who could become our next president is now being used in racist taunts. At a high school basketball game in Indiana, students at a mostly white school held up posters of this candidate while shouting “Build a wall” to the heavily Hispanic rival school. “Two Northwestern University students have been charged with vandalizing a chapel on campus with spray paint, writing a swastika, slurs against black and gay people—and the word [insert candidate’s name here]. Days later, two students at Wichita State University—one Muslim and one Hispanic—were attacked at a gas station by a man who shouted the candidate’s name, followed by “We will make America great again. You losers will be thrown out of the wall.”[6] The attitude has even infiltrated elementary schools, where this week in one class the white children told all the children with brown skin that they would be kicked out of the country once this man becomes president.
One could say these are isolated incidents, and most of this candidate’s supporters would not do such things, and I’m sure that is true. And this problem is bigger than one candidate—or he wouldn’t be successful. This rhetoric is bringing out the very worst in us as Americans. And when a candidate for president of the United States wants to register everyone who belongs to a particular religion, we as Christians had better take a stand. We know what that looks like. We must never forget those were our brothers and sisters in the ovens.
This past week, the bishops of The Episcopal Church put out a statement called “A Word to the Church.” “The leadership of the United Church of Christ spoke out in support for and solidarity with” this statement.[7] It says, in part: “On Good Friday the ruling political forces of the day tortured and executed an innocent man. They sacrificed the weak and the blameless to protect their own status and power. On the third day Jesus was raised from the dead, revealing not only their injustice but also unmasking the lie that might makes right. In a country still living under the shadow of the lynching tree, we are troubled by the violent forces being released by this season’s political rhetoric. Americans are turning against their neighbors, particularly those on the margins of society. They seek to secure their own safety and security at the expense of others. There is legitimate reason to fear where this rhetoric and the actions arising from it might take us…. The current rhetoric is leading us to construct a modern false idol out of power and privilege. We reject the idolatrous notion that we can ensure the safety of some by sacrificing the hopes of others. No matter where we fall on the political spectrum, we must respect the dignity of every human being and we must seek the common good above all else. We call for prayer for our country that a spirit of reconciliation will prevail and we will not betray our true selves.”[8]
I agree wholeheartedly with this statement, and I would add that we cannot stop with prayer. Remember those dangerous peace songs? When Pete Seeger died two years ago, President Obama “noted that Seeger had been called ‘America’s tuning fork’ and that he believed in ‘the power of song’ to bring social change.” The president said, “Over the years, Pete used his voice and his hammer to strike blows for workers’ rights and civil rights; world peace and environmental conservation, and he always invited us to sing along.”[9] That’s why peace songs are dangerous. They make people in authority nervous because they invite us to sing along, to be part of the proclamation of peace.
Earlier I pointed out that the line from today’s scripture, “Peace in heaven,” is the response to the angels’ declaration of “Peace on earth.” I said we were “caught in the crossfire of blessings.” Actually, so was Jesus. Our scripture reading for today ended with verse 40, but the very next verse says: “As he [Jesus] came near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, ‘If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace!’”
“His words interrupt the echo. Peace on earth, peace in heaven—yet in between, Jesus says there is no peace. His words offer a chilling premonition of what will happen later in Holy Week. For all its joyful hosannas, Palm Sunday is a day of contrasts. We hear it in the hymns, pivoting as they do between happy triumph and inevitable crucifixion. We see it in Jesus, as the ruler of the universe chooses to ride a borrowed colt. The contrast is clear in the destination, as the city that welcomes him will later scream for his blood…. We have our own contradictions, of course. Someone tells us the best way to create peace is by initiating a war. The strong are strengthened by holding off the weak. Parents confront fear by buying a handgun for the dresser drawer…. Governments and businesses seek to win at all costs, even if it bankrupts them. [And] Jesus rides his lowly farm animal through all of it.”[10]
We worship in the crossfire of blessings. We live in the space between, where it seems there is no peace. But we stand. We stand for justice. Stand with me if you will stand for justice. And we keep singing. We keep singing the songs of peace. We keep singing the songs of justice. We keep singing “We shall overcome” and “Let there be peace on earth.” We keep singing from our hymnal: “God of justice, God of mercy, make us merciful and just. Help us see all your creation as from you a sacred trust. And when people cry in anguish for their own or others’ pain, Show us ways to make a difference. O dear God, make us humane.”
Then we can raise our palms and cry together, “Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!”
[1] Carter, William G. Feasting on the Word, Year C, Volume 2, p. 153.
[2] Ibid., p. 154.
[3] http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/01/31/1273976/-One-more-Pete-Seeger-Story
[4] Concepts from Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan’s book The Last Week.
[5] Carter.
[6] Loge, Josh. “Trump as a Taunt.” InsideHigherEd.com.
[7] http://www.ucc.org/news_as_holy_week_approaches_a_word_to_the_church_03172016
[8] Ibid.
[9] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Seeger
[10] Carter, p. 154.