The reading
Matthew 21:1-17
1 When they had come near Jerusalem and had reached
Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, 2 saying to them,
"Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately you will find a donkey
tied, and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to me. 3 If anyone says
anything to you, just say this, "The Lord needs them.' And he will send
them immediately. " 4 This took place to fulfill what had been spoken
through the prophet, saying, 5 "Tell the daughter of Zion, Look, your king
is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a
donkey." 6 The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them; 7 they
brought the donkey and the colt, and put their cloaks on them, and he sat on
them. 8 A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut
branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 The crowds that went
ahead of him and that followed were shouting, "Hosanna to the Son of
David! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the
highest heaven!"10 When he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in
turmoil, asking, "Who is this?" 11 The crowds were saying, "This
is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee." 12 Then Jesus entered the
temple and drove out all who were selling and buying in the temple, and he
overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold
doves. 13 He said to them, "It is written, "My house shall be called
a house of prayer'; but you are making it a den of robbers." 14 The blind
and the lame came to him in the temple, and he cured them. 15 But when the
chief priests and the scribes saw the amazing things that he did, and heard the
children crying out in the temple, "Hosanna to the Son of David,"
they became angry 16 and said to him, "Do you hear what these are
saying?" Jesus said to them, "Yes; have you never read, "Out of
the mouths of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise for
yourself'?" 17 He left them, went out of the city to Bethany, and spent
the night there.
The message
Since Christmas, we have gone through the Gospel of Matthew. This biblical book can be divided into Jesus
5 major teachings and the Passion, the story of Jesus last days, death and
resurrection. There is the Sermon on the Mount, a message on the kingdom of God
and righteous living that has resonated with Christians and others since Jesus
first shares this vision near the sea of Galilee almost 2000 years ago. Then
there is the teaching on missionary work and the sending out of the disciples
to do that work (sharing the Good news of God’s love is not just something talked
about, it is something done with faith). There is teaching on the kingdom of
Heaven (God’s presence into our world, the subject that Jesus talks about the
most). After this there is a section on
the power, work and life of the church. Finally we have teachings on the end
times, God’s last judgment of humanity,
the eternal separation between heaven and hell.
.
All of that time has lead up to today’s reading and the ones
for the next week when will experience the events of Good Friday and Easter,
hearing of Jesus death and resurrection. Matthew is concerned with showing that
Jesus fulfills the promises of the prophets and old testament prophesies (we
have 2 examples today. Look your king is riding on a donkey and my house will
be called a house of prayer for all people).
Matthew is also concerned with holy living and community.
Today, we remember Jesus entry into Jerusalem. This place was the central city for the
Jewish religion (the faith practiced by Jesus and his first followers). By the time Jesus was born, Jerusalem was
already conquered by Rome but the Jewish religious authorities retained some
power and oversight. Jerusalem was the city
of God, the site of the first temple that King Solomon built (which was destroyed
by the Babylonians). It was the location
of the active, second temple rebuilt during the Persian Empire (which the
Romans destroy about 40 years after Jesus resurrection). This is where the prophets were killed to
shut them up and keep things the way they were.
This was the place of organized religion and major decisions. Jerusalem
was the home of the chief priest and religious authorities, important traders
and many religious pilgrims and visitors.
On a normal day, Jerusalem was a very hectic place. As Jesus approaches the city, the Passover
holiday was also approaching so it was even more hectic. Jerusalem reaches a scary level of hectic
with the arrival of Jesus. In verse 10,
we learn “ When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in turmoil”. I don’t remember seeing the word turmoil in
the bible too often and I wasn’t really sure what it meant. I made a rare decision to look at the Greek
word. ” Since this is about the 4th time in 10 years I am talking
about a Greek word, I double checked it with a friend. The Greek
word translated as turmoil is Seismos
meaning “to shake” In the bible it is often used for earthquakes (even today
seismology is the study of earthquakes).
Jesus arrival in Jerusalem is not just chaotic and messy,
it’s an earthquake, he shakes the city, the traditions, the power system and
the social order. When Jesus enters a
place, even one as powerful and important as Jerusalem (or our own hearts and
minds), it is never the same.
Here is a short list of some of things that Jesus shakes. He
changes what it means to be a king. Military
kings, ready for war, rode on war horses, kings who come in peace ride on
donkeys. People expected the messiah, the long awaited king to be a powerful
military hero, who liberates one specific people from another specific people’s
oppression (in this case the Jewish people from Rome). Instead, Jesus liberates all people from the
oppression of sin and death.
Jesus shakes, shuts down a whole industry with a few words,
chasing the money lenders and dove sellers out of the temple (they made their
profit by ripping people off in currency exchange)
Jesus shakes the religious authorities, wake up, can’t you
see what God is doing. Jesus challenges what is first in their work and
teaching.
Jesus shakes what it means to follow God. The religious
leaders worry about order and political matters and Jesus says things are going
to get messy. They worry “do you have a permit for this parade” and Jesus says “who
cares about that”. They ask “did you clear
it with the centurions, high priests, merchants and other officials” and Jesus
says “who cares about them”, They worry why not wait a few days so that things are
quieter, we already have 2 parades scheduled and Jesus says “plenty of room,
well figure it out”. They worry who is going
to clean up all that palm and collect all those cloaks and Jesus says “someone
or no one will, who cares”. They worry
and worry about control and Jesus says “this is under God’s control”
Jesus shakes up the lives of the ignored, discarded, the in
the way, blind and lame, they woke up in the morinng unclean, outsiders,
dependant and in trouble. They go home walking,
seeing, healed, fully restored. Jesus shakes up the lives of the people who did
the ignoring and discarding too, showing them all people are loved by God.
When Jesus enters our world at Christmas, Jesus shakes our
very relationship with God. When Jesus
enters our lives, everything is shaken. We
are not the same.
What does it look like when the church of Jesus enters Woodside. As part of our Palm Sunday procession this
morning, we stopped to paint over some graffiti on the 45th ave
overpass. It was not much but it’s a
small reminder that when the church of Jesus enters a community, things are
shaken.
Each Sunday, our disconnections from each other are shaken,
with conversations, with sharing this space,
Each time we open the doors of our school, who we serve is shaken, each time we encounter someone who
is different, annoying, strange, etc, who we care for is shaken. Each time we
pray with someone, things are shaken, each time, we walk with someone in their
suffering, things are shaken.
Next Sunday, on Easeter we will see sin and death itself
shaken to point of destruction.
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