"What Were They Thinking?" The Rt. Rev. Andrew Smith
Posted on
Palm Sunday
April 13, 2014
Trinity Church Hartford
The Rt. Rev. Andrew Smith
Assist us mercifully with your help, O Lord, God of our salvation, that we may enter with open hearts upon the contemplation of those mighty acts whereby you have given us life and immortality, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
The Biblical witness says that, in spite of the outburst from Peter, Jesus took his followers far away from home, south from Galilee along the length of the Jordan Valley, through Jericho, and then up to take on the powers of Jerusalem.
For Jews, and Jesus and his followers were Jews, Jerusalem was the absolute center of the world. The City of (King) David. Home of MountZion, where God permitted Solomon to be the first to build God a house. For a thousand years, that mountain had been the place of God’s dwelling, God’s home on earth, and therefore the center for all worship and learning.
In Jesus’ day, the Temple area had been rebuilt by Herod the Great: on the expanded mountaintop its area now encompassed the equivalent of thirty football fields. Retaining walls covered in gleaming white marble. Monumental staircases leading up from the valley below. Colonnades and courts. The huge sacrificial altar. And the Temple itself, looming over everything, of white marble and adorned with gold. Thousands and thousands gathering daily in the Temple courtyards. Such a stunning contrast to the villages of Galilee; the disciples were overawed; it must have been their first visit there as a school, the disciples of Jesus.. To the center of the world.
It was the time of Passover, the annual solemn festival of remembrance of how God in Egypt passed over the houses of the Israelites during the slaughter of the firstborn of every human and animal.
So, huge crowds were gathering in Jerusalem; the population of the city swelled; there was the crowded chaos of visitors and the marketplace and troublemakers, especially those who wanted now to throw off Roman oppression as their ancestors had thrown off Egyptian oppression. Rebellions had been constant; Judea was perhaps the toughest Roman province to govern in all the empire. Retribution was swift, without trial, sure, and ugly.It was the time of the Jews’ central festival, and the festival was a time for trouble.
In Jerusalem was the highest religious authority and power also. It was there that sat the Sanhedrin, the elite, Jewish collaborators who were appointed by the occupying Romans and given authority to decide and rule for the people. They had heard of Jesus from the north, and were on their guard.
And the Roman Prefect for Judea was there in the city then, too, because of Passover, to keep order at all costs. Normally the he would have been at his home on the coast, in the magnificent (pagan) city of Caesarea Maritima, but, knowing the tensions and the things that could happen at Passover, Pontius Pilate too was in Jerusalem, to oversee the Antonian Guard which was on red alert
Jerusalem at Passover: Into this explosive mélange, Jesus came. He didn’t just arrive: he ARRIVED.
The Mount of Olives is along a high ridge to the east of the city of Jerusalem; it’s higher than the city, higher than the TempleMount. From there one can look down, over Jerusalem, below. It’s the ridge from which they say invading generals and kings controlled sieges of Jerusalem, and from which they rode in victory processions down into the KidronValley and up to the city, to claim it as their own.
So it was that Jesus, having ascended the desert road from Jericho, looked over the city from the top of the Mount of Olives – some say he wept for what was to happen -- and then, like invaders of past centuries, he rode on a donkey down the mountain and up to Jerusalem to claim his place as a triumphant king.
What was he thinking?
I think there must have been some advance work for that day by the disciples. Had they set up a prior “code word” understanding with owner of the donkey? Who put out the word and mustered the crowd?
I wonder what were the disciples thinking, each of them, as Jesus of Nazareth, carpenter’s son, , improbably trotting along, surrounded by disciple body guards, some of them armed. as a conquering king, headed directly down in an assault on Jerusalem? Were they caught up in the moment, believing the new kingdom really was about to happen? Did they again hope for and expect the fire from heaven? Did they have doubts and foreboding about what was in reality inevitable?
The crowds. What were the crowds thinking? They were shouting to Jesus, “Hosanna” which being interpreted means, “Save us.” O mighty king, Save us. Were they serious? Were some joining this little procession as a lark, a joke, mocking, having fun at Jesus’ expense? Shouts, palm branches and cloaks – a royal carpet -- laid out before him. Were some maybe caught up in the fervor, hoping? Some just not sure what it all was about?
And the Pharisees, pushing in, demanding that Jesus hush the throng and to call off the charade: what were they thinking? That this is too ridiculous? Blasphemous? That unless they managed to stop this shouting and waving of palms, the merciless might of Rome would descend on them all? Were they concerned that Jesus was signing a death warrant for them all?
Down into the Kidron Valley went the procession, up the hill to the TempleMount. As they approached the Temple, Jesus created another scene as he waded into the market where the sacrificial animals were sold, and where currency was exchanged for payment of the Temple tax, and – John says with a whip he made – upended the money tables and chased out animals, and loudly condemned the buying and selling in the holy place. He began to heal the blind and lame. Little children crowded around and took up the cry, “Hosanna!” “Mighty King, Save us.” The chief priests and scribes were now also furious, and more so as Jesus stood up to them and answered them back.
Quixotic demonstration? Absurdity? Passion? Ugly confrontation? Danger? Jesus walking into the valley of the shadow of death? Truth? Yes, to all.
Would you have gone along with him? As a follower of Jesus?
He asked it, expected it, of them that day.
Will we go along with him today?
Wherever he leads, with him, may we go, our Hosannas, like theirs, ringing clear.
Assist us mercifully with your help, O Lord, God of our salvation, that we may enter upon the contemplation of those mighty acts whereby you have given us life and immortality, through Jesus Christ our Lord.