A sermon by Senior Minister John B. McCall, March 28, 2010
Micah 6:6-8
Luke 19:28-48
There’s no telling what might happen when people take to the streets. I was recalling that during a wonderful conversation recently with a group of 7th graders at King Middle School who are working on an oral history project. They wanted to talk with me about my experience in Selma, Alabama, 45 years ago this past week, on the famous Selma to Montgomery voters’ rights march with Martin Luther King. I had a lot of nostalgia as I looked through the old clippings and keepsakes that reminded me of the power of non-violent resistance to the powers of racism and segregation. It was a dramatic moment in history that tipped the scale toward justice.
There’s no telling what might happen when people take to the streets. I also was remembering as a kid seeing a parade with the President Eisenhower riding in the open standing in his black convertible limo, waving to the cheering crowd. He was both a courageous General and the most powerful leader of the free world. The crowd was happy and positive – with no sense of tension or dissent.
Compare that to the crowds that will gather this coming Thursday when President Obama comes to Portland to promote the recent health-care reform bill. There will be two groups to greet him – those who cheer and those who jeer. There’s no telling what might happen when people take to the streets
And Bill Nemitz, in this morning’s Portland Sunday Telegram, reports another kind of parade that’s scheduled for Saturday afternoon. A group of about 20 women had quietly planned to walk bare-breasted down Congress Street to demonstrate their right to be “topless” in public, Maine being one of the few states that doesn’t prohibit such a display. Now that the word is out, you can bet there will be big crowds… and I will not be among them!
But the crowd that matters most this morning gathered on Palm Sunday, as Jesus of Nazareth entered into the city of Jerusalem some 2,000 years ago. Scholars and preachers have long wondered just what was going on that day. Each of the four Gospels tells it a little differently, with different slants addressed to different audiences.
But it’s important to know that this parade was typical of the way ancient peoples greeted kings and military victors into their cities (New Interpreters Bible, Vol. 9 – Luke/John, pg. 366). Luke tells us the crowds were made of “a whole multitude of disciples,” folks who wanted to believe he was Messiah, the anointed One, the fulfillment of the scriptural promise of the One who would be a great military commander in the tradition of King David. When they saw him on a donkey maybe they imagined he was in disguise and any minute would throw off his robe and reveal his armor and sword. And they were ready to follow the King into battle to free their nation from the occupying armies of Rome.
So Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey – humble and almost silly in his appearance, but so shocking that no one could ignore what they saw. I believe Jesus knew very well what he was doing, what he was facing, and what his appearance elicited in the people. He was there to make a point, to push the envelope, to taunt the authorities who were so sure they’d buttoned up the capital and that they could contain any problems just as they always had.
What’s confusing to me is that Jesus acted in two distinct and opposite ways. First, he refused violence or even self-defense, acting humbly and gently. But then he broke into a rage and chastised the money-changers in the temple who were just trying to make a living. Which are we to consider the true nature of Jesus. Why couldn’t he just be nice and behave himself?
Part of the answer comes when we imagine what Jesus saw from the top of the Mount of Olives where the parade began. When he looked across the Kidron Valley toward the ancient Temple he would have seen it was literally in the shadow of the larger, more recent building called the Antonia fortress – a garrison for the Roman legions.
Everyone knew that at Passover the troops were on high alert in part because the city swelled to almost five times its usual number of inhabitants. There were some inns, and a few rooms would have been available, but most of the pilgrims were pushed into the crowds, flowing down narrow, clogged streets and then pouring out into the public squares.
It was also pretty common for street preachers, self-appointed prophets, and just plain rabble-rousers to show up in Jerusalem at Passover time to see what they could stir up. It was an explosive environment, a powder keg just waiting for someone to touch the match.
So did Jesus come as a trouble-maker or a peace-maker? It’s hard to tell, isn’t it… and just as hard now in this polarized, angry, anxious chapter in our world and in our nation. But we know Jesus’ became angry at injustice and unrighteousness.
Jesus made it clear that his mission wasn’t really about one man and his disciples. It had much larger meaning. Luke tells us (and Luke alone) that when the people in the streets were calling out and shouting to the savior on a donkey, some Pharisees said “Teacher, can’t you make your disciples calm down? They’re too stirred up, something terrible is going to happen.” And his answer? “If they were silent, then the stones would cry out!”
Creation couldn’t keep silent in the face of such injustice. There was an unseen hand at work. This wasn’t a chance meeting of the political power of Rome and the religious power of the Temple doing battle with some two-bit, crowd-pleasing pretender who’d soon be silenced on the cross like all the others who’d gone before.
This was God at work through a human life shaping a promise for all humankind. Even if Jesus had decided to sneak into town and hide under cover for the Holy days, the Powers would have been watching. It was inevitable. Human power, human evil was challenging God’s holy will that day. And it’s always true:
Nothing can keep it from happening if God’s hand is guiding it.
Nothing can make it happen if God’s hand is not guiding it.
And where is God guiding Creation? Toward justice. The prophet Micah said it succinctly said: “God has shown you, O Mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with your God.” Kindness or mercy is how you treat the individual next to you. Justice is how you help shape the society to reflect the same on a larger scale… God’s “shalom” or wholeness.
Over the past two week there’s been an interesting skirmish between talk show host Glenn Beck and Jim Wallis, who’s leader of the Christian action group called “Sojourners.” In a few quotes from his radio program Beck said:
“Where I go to church, there are members that preach social justice as members–my faith doesn’t–but the members preach social justice all the time. It is a perversion of the gospel. … You want to help out? You help out. It changes you. That’s what the gospel is all about: You.
“Social justice was the rallying cry—economic justice and social justice—the rallying cry on both the communist front and the fascist front. That is not an American idea. And if we don’t get off the social justice economic justice bandwagon, if you are not aware of what this is, you are in grave danger. All of our faiths–my faith your faith–whatever your church is, this is infecting all of them.
“I beg you, look for the words ’social justice’ or ‘economic justice’ on your church Web site. If you find it, run as fast as you can. Social justice and economic justice, they are code words. Now, am I advising people to leave their church? Yes!
http://blog.sojo.net/2010/03/16/love-glenn-beck-as-you-would-love-yourself/
At first I thought it was a joke. Then I realized how many people agree with him – that the Gospel is about YOU, and that Jesus came primarily to heal individuals but not to challenge the evil that causes the harm. That’s certainly not what I see in the scriptures.
It brings to mind the remark by the late Brazilian Archbishop Dom Helder Camara who understood the reality: “When I feed the poor they call me a saint,” he said. “But when I ask why the poor are hungry they call me a communist.”
I completely understand a person saying “I’m this kind of Christian and not that kind of Christian.” People of faith will emphasize different aspects of discipleship. But it’s wrong to say “I’m this kind of Christian, and if you’re not, you’re a Nazi or a Communist.” That’s mean-spirited and ignorant – but terribly common.
Jesus himself, and all the prophets before him, did in fact advocate treating our neighbor with mercy and engaging the unjust powers that make people suffer. Our Teacher healed the one right in front of him, and confronted the power of the Roman Fortress and Temple Mount. I consider his example to be a moral commandment. How about you?
• When you go to the soup kitchen to serve meals, do you also ask why there are so many who are hungry right here in our fair city?
• When you hear how our own Community Crisis Ministries helps a neighbor pay for shoes or groceries or medical or dental services, do you wonder why there are so many who have so little?
• When you hear the debates in Congress about health care do you find it indefensible that thousands of honest hard-working people go bankrupt because of illness?
The prophet says: “Do justice, love kindness, walk humbly with God.”
• Kindness is how you treat the person right in front of you.
• Justice is how you seek a better system in which there is less suffering, less disease, less poverty.
• Both are in our commission as followers of Jesus.
That’s what I believe it means to be a disciple of Jesus. You may see it differently. That’s OK. But let’s also ask about future generations. A few weeks ago we sang hymn #116 from Songs of the Spirit, entitled “O Jesus Christ, Life of the Earth,” with a text by Jane Parker Huber. It includes the line “Let Justice be the measuring rod of our devotion to our God – life of the world, and our life.” One of this year’s Confirmands, Barry Quinn, was doing a class assignment of commenting on the Sunday message that day and was listening carefully and wrote in his report:
“Unfortunately in our world justice is a rarity. It seems as if no matter what the outcome is someone believes it an injustice. Maybe the only place that true justice is found is within God and Jesus.”
God and Jesus seeking true justice… so it was as the drama played out in the streets of Jerusalem as he entered; in the upper room as he shared the last supper; in the Garden of Gethsemane as he was arrested; and in courts of Caiaphas as he was tried, convicted, and sentenced to the cross.
It may be he barely spoke a word but his life cried out for justice. His disciples couldn’t be silent. If they had the stones would have cried out. The time was at hand. God was ready to act decisively, to judge, to free, and to save the people who had watched and waited with faith.
Jesus’ very presence was God’s cry for justice and call for peace.
And so it is for us. So much in our world cries out. There are deep divisions, with People of God unable to agree on the priorities and the approaches. But let’s refuse to label each other or dismiss each other and resolve instead to dig deep in scripture be clear what God has commanded. Then align yourself with that holy will, remembering to do justice; love kindness; and walk humbly with our God.