The underlying concept of today's Gospel readings is – Expect the unexpected … Jesus and his disciples spent weeks drawing closer to Jerusalem. Jesus spoke to them in parables and stories to prepare them for what lay ahead … he offered them teachings that would make sense in the fullness of time when they looked back and remembered all those little lessons and tid bits he offered so off handedly as they journeyed through Galilea then along the highways and byways leading to Judea and on to Jerusalem …
We can assume that Jesus understood the stand off that was about to happen. He knew that the enthusiasm and hype of the crowd would eventually give way to the power and harsh response of the authorities who would use whatever means necessary to maintain the status quo … Jesus would know that the Temple authories who ruled Jerusalem under the complete control of the Romans would allow nothing to question the authority of Caesar.
History tells us that the Temple authorities cowed to the Romans in the vain hope that they could continue to rule over The Temple and Jerusalem while appeasing the demands of the Empire … History tells us that this Pax Romana lasted until 70 AD when the Romans laid waste to the temple, the city and every last vestige of the Jewish civilization.
That cataclysmic event is still thirty or so years in the future when Jesus approaches the city … the authors of the texts recording the triumphant entry in Jerusalem likely still have the stench of a burning city in their nostrils as they put pen to parchment … Their minds are reeling at the notion that a city as big and vast as Jerusalem could be laid waste in such a complete and catastrophic way.
This event radically and dramatically changed the understanding of the cosmos for Christians and Jews alike … for the follower of Jesus looking back to his life time, every pronouncement, every teaching, every lesson, every step of his journey was made embracing and anticipating the fall of Jerusalem …
Jesus' prophecies about the temple being laid waste where more about the buildings of the Temple mount, then they were about his physical person … The temple was central to the entrie world of the Biblical era Jew – the passing of the seasons, the religious life, the political power, EVERYTHING rested in the temple. The final authority in all aspects of life in Israel as a Jew emanated from the temple … so it's loss left a vacuum that is unfathomable.
Looking back it was hard to re-envision the shift that happened with the loss of the temple … so the story of Jesus confronting the temple authorities with his God given authority and power was comforting and prophetic …
Jesus approaching the temple at the head of a procession being welcomed in by the waving of palm fronds and chanting and laying down their garments and robes was a dramatic moment – a moment of history – a moment that foretold the reign of Christ that Jesus entry into Jerusalem represented …
But then, we pause and we know how it turned out … in less then a week we move from the loud and boisterous Hosannas ringing out in the narrow alleys and streets of the city, to the poisoned chants of “crucify him, crucify him ...” from the SAME crowd who so quickly turned on this Jesus …
The last days of Jesus life are a powerful series of events that challenge us and in the process also remind us that life seldom goes as expected and anticipated, but even in those twists and turns and stumbles, we WILL find holiness, and we will experience a resurrection …
The challenge for us, as people of faith is to NOT jump from the Hosannas of Palm Sunday to the Hallelujahs of Easter Sunday, but to boldly, daringly, and courageously make the journey step by step, moment by moment … if we are to stand in the blinding light of Easter Morning before the empty tomb dancing and celebrating that “He is Risen!” we must first have the courage to journey through the darkness of the week that follows his triumphant entry into Jerusalem.
(Holy Week by Ann Weems – page 67 Reaching for Rainbows)
The movie The Last Temptation of Christ has a powerful scene in the moment when Jesus stands in the temple … the crowd quietens itself as the Priests and the temple authorities arrive, bolstered by armed guards … Jesus is questioned - “what do you think you're doing? You're putting all the people at risk … you will cost ALL of us …”
And quietly Jesus confronts them and their cowardly ways … BUT, the status quo is faltering … the way things were is in danger of collapse … a new way is about to unfold …
In the movie, the disciples are standing poised for an armed coup to overturn the rules of the priests and to drive out the Romans … they are EXPECTING Jesus to lay the sword to Temple and the Romans and bring into being the anticipated Eschatological Reign of God that had been dreamed of and hoped for since the return from the Babylonian exile …
The people were sure Jesus was the one to bring this rule into being … they KNEW IT … they were SURE OF IT … but it didn't happen … in the Movie, Jesus collapses and retreats … in the Scriptures, Jesus enters the temple, drives out the money changers and begins to DIRECTLY challenge the authority not only of the temple, but of the priests and scribes and all those who support it … Jesus engaged in active treason … and in the days and hours that followed, the plot to eliminate him so he didn't bring the wrath of the Romans down on the temple, the rulers and the people …
So, where this leaves us – the Church today – is in the unenviable position of having to stand in a world that too often looks more like Holy Week, then East Sunday … a world that begins with shouts of Hosannas, and quickly spirals into cries of horror and pain … and holds us back from experiencing the transformative power of the the Hallelujah that breaks through the darkness … Our job then, is to move forward not only boldly – but with the courage of our faith that tells us that EVERY step of the journey – ever step we take is one made with the strength and protection of God …
Our calling today as a people of faith – as a church is to go into the world facing the fullness of life – and trusting in God.
… and for the journey that lies ahead this week – we have the words of Ann Weems :
(In Search of New Resurrection pg 91 - Reaching for Rainbows)
May it be so – thanks be to God … let us pray …
