1 At any rate, on this particular day, there. Screenshot from the Paramount Pictures film Ben Hur (2016)

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1 What Are We Celebrating? March 25, 2018 (Palm Sunday) Mark 5:1-20, Luke The First U.P. Church of Crafton Heights Pastor Dave Carver To hear this sermon as preached in worship, please visit Did you go to the St. Patrick s Day parade last weekend? Not me. I saw some photos of you at least, the captions claimed that it was you. Most of the bodies I saw were pretty bundled up. I m telling you, it was cold that morning! In all probability, it was pleasant and sunny on that spring day in Jerusalem 2,000 years ago. It usually is at this time of year. Maybe the residents of that city, unlike our own, have a preference for scheduling their parades on days when it s fun to be outside. 1 At any rate, on this particular day, there were two separate processions that came into the Holy City. The gates of the western wall are flung open and the population greets the Imperial procession of Pontius Pilate. He lives in Caesarea by the Sea, but today, accompanied by hundreds of his security force, he makes the sixty mile journey to Jerusalem to be present for the beginning of the Jewish Passover. He s not interested in atonement or hearing the ancient stories. He has come on this holy day to remind the people who is really in charge. The streets are lined with thousands of people, some of whom are throwing garlands and flowers, all of whom are eager to have some brush with real power. It is a massive display of military might, designed to bring awe, respect, and fear to the inhabitants of this occupied town. And it does. 1 Screenshot from the Paramount Pictures film Ben Hur (2016) 1

2 2 Meanwhile, at the other end of the city, there s a small procession arriving through the back gate. An itinerant Rabbi arrives to the shouting of a few dozen, or maybe even a couple of hundred hardy souls. He s planned it out to be just about the exact opposite of Pilate s grand entry, however. He s sitting on the back of a young donkey, wearing no armor, carrying no weapon. It is an intentional, subversive act that is designed to remind everyone that there is indeed a king, but that the king is neither Pilate nor Caesar. This Rabbi points to incredible power, but proclaims that it comes not from Rome, but from the One who created Rome, Jerusalem, and indeed the entire cosmos. The local religious leaders see this procession led by Rabbi Jesus, and they try to stop it before it can gather much steam. Which, when you come to think about it, ought to strike you as odd. The Pharisees worship the Lord. They knew that Caesar s claims to divinity were invalid; they recognized that the religion of Rome was in direct contrast to faith in YHWH, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They and Jesus had memorized the same scriptures, participated in the same festivals, and shared the same history of God having called his people to be a blessing in the world. Except Except that they were afraid Of what? The Romans had an interesting view on religion. Officially, they claimed that the Caesar was the son of the gods. Officially, they pointed to the twelve great gods beings like Jupiter, Apollo, 2 Jesus Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem, Oleksandr Antonyuk 2

3 Diana, and Mars as worthy of worship. And yet when the Roman Empire took over a new territory, it permitted the practice of any ancient religion. If you and your neighbors have a faith, and Rome conquers your nation, you re free to continue with your tradition, so long as you a) offer a pinch of incense to the emperor once a year, and b) don t start any new religions. Which meant that when the Romans occupied Palestine, the Jews were not forced to adopt the Roman religion. In fact, Rome made it easy on the Jewish leaders. According to the Jewish law, priests were not to own any property, but rather to subsist on the provision of God and the hospitality of God s people. But Herod, the Roman-appointed King of Judea, built an incredible Temple for the Jews. He gave the priests land on which to build their own houses. Herod provided the upper echelons of the religious leadership with incomes, and respect, and power. And all he asked in return was that when the time came, they simply remember who gave them all that great, shiny stuff. Not God. Him. 3 These religious leaders weren t bad people but they had sold out, and they lived in fear of losing what they d come to love. And so when Jesus comes into town, quoting the ancient prophecy of Zechariah, telling people that YHWH is the source of all power and authority, pointing out that God alone is to be revered, and reminding them that the Kingdom of God is the only Kingdom that truly stretches from shore to shore well, you know that s going to raise some eyebrows. To make matters worse, he s bringing with him a ragtag assembly of disciples a collection of unlettered fishermen and those who are blind, poor, excluded, and marginalized. 3 Jesus Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem, mosaic in the Palace of the Normans in Palermo, Sicily. 3

4 It s no wonder that the religious leaders show up as soon as Jesus enters town yelling, Hey! Rabbi! Ix-nay on the ingdom-kay alk-tay! What are you trying to do, get us all killed? Ruin this for everyone? And Jesus, essentially, replies, Look, fellas, if you won t see or recognize when God is on the move in such powerful ways, well, maybe you re already dead Maybe the rocks and stones that pave this highway have more life than you do. And he continues his procession or counter-procession, if you will. Processions and gatherings are in the news a lot these days. As we mentioned, last week Pittsburgh hosted what is according to the organizers the second-biggest St. Patrick s day parade in the world. Yesterday, millions of people participated in what was called the March for our Lives to counter gun violence in schools. Some of you hope for a Stanley Cup parade in June. And the President is talking about putting together a big military parade with tanks and guns and all kinds of power. Some of those things are called parades, while others are deemed to be protests. What would you say the difference between those things is? Is there a difference between 22,000 of your neighbors putting on shamrocks and walking through town, and groups of citizens carrying signs about gun legislation, and the US military strolling through the nation s capitol? I d like to suggest that a parade is designed to celebrate one particular aspect of a people s culture, history, or achievement. A protest, on the other hand, is meant to offer a critique of the status quo a plea, or a demand, that we do better. Jerusalem, on that spring day 2000 years ago, had both. Pontius Pilate, barging in the front door, put all of Roman power and wealth on display in what was unmistakably a parade. And 4

5 Jesus, sliding down the hill and into the back door, led a protest that raised a hope for a different future. We remember both of those processions as we turn to the next installment in our ongoing study of Mark s gospel a reading which, at first glance, seems to have nothing in common with the events described in your reading from Luke. I would suggest, however, that there is a connection with some striking parallels. When we last saw Jesus and his followers, they were out at sea in the middle of the night. They d survived the storm (but barely, if you d ask some of them) and were now headed over to what Mark has euphemistically referred to as the other side the place where those people live in order to proclaim Jesus Gospel message of the nearness of God s kingdom. And you might think that that d be great, but look at what happens next. As soon as they make landfall which just about has to be in the darkness of the night they find themselves in the graveyard. And it s not just any cemetery, but it s the place where the local madman has taken up residence. He s incredibly strong, he s rejected (or been rejected by) society, and roams the tombs as he grapples with his demons day after day, night after night. When he lays eyes on Jesus, he tries to send him away. Jesus, however, heals the man however unwilling he may appear to be and allows the demons to send a herd of 2000 pigs careening off the nearby cliffs. It s neither the procession of Pilate through the Western gates nor the triumphal entry of Jesus through the Eastern gates, but there s a parade all the same that night as this herd runs to its death. 5

6 4 And early the next morning, the town council comes out to see what all the fuss is about. You can imagine that perhaps there were those demanding a study about the environmental impact of 2000 dead pigs in prime fishing waters, or a police report concerning the theft of property or services. When all of that is completed, these local leaders issue a firm request that Jesus get out of town as soon as possible. It s not necessarily a bad thing to have found this man clothed and in his right mind, but it s surely caused more problems than it s worth. Mark tells us that they begged him to leave. It would seem that in the country of the Gerasenes, as well as in Jerusalem, Jesus is bad for business. He is at least a challenge, if not a threat, to the status quo. And here, on the other side, he accepts their verdict. He tells his followers to get the boat ready because they re shoving off and now it s someone else s turn to beg Jesus. The man who has been healed wants more than anything to go with Jesus. And look at what happens: the man who didn t want to be healed, but was, is now pleading to be allowed become a disciple and he s told to stay put. Spoiler alert: we ve not seen the last of this guy. You can believe me when I tell you that we ll talk about him in the weeks to come. So that s the story. Two gospel readings a couple of parades in Jerusalem and another off a cliff to the north. Here we are in Pittsburgh, 2000 years later and it seems to me that all of this could have happened yesterday. Presidents and Prime Ministers still insist on barging through the front gates, eager to display their power and to have us satisfy 4 The Gerasene Demoniac, Sebastian Bourdon (1653) 6

7 their egos. Nations still routinely kill their own citizens and support the interests of the few at untold cost to the many. Refugee camps are crowded beyond capacity because nobody wants those people anywhere near their homes. Banks and corporations plunder the poor and pillage the environment because, well, there s money to be made there. And over here, by the back gate, are the ones who are left out, shot up, shouted down, or beaten up. Where is Jesus now? The events of this week that is to come demonstrate that our world, and God s own people, don t always treat prophets well. Whether this is your first Palm Sunday or your eighty-first, it should come as no surprise to any of us that the Son of God is hanging on a tree by Friday afternoon. Oh, we try to do our bit for the cause. Maybe some of you marched yesterday, or contributed to the kids who are away on their famine fund-raiser. Some of you might have set aside some time later this month to do a little work for the less fortunate, and a few of us will even post about it on social media. 5 But let s not kid ourselves. Sooner or later, we are going to have to make a choice as to whether we are going to raise our voices, risk our bank accounts, and offer ourselves. Are we willing to stand in front of Pilate s weaponry armed only with hope, love, and the message of a Kingdom of peace? As we said last week, we are called to become the righteousness of God in a world that doesn t want that righteousness any more than the Gerasene demoniac wanted to 5 Waving Palms, Cora Yee 7

8 be healed or the people of that region wanted to hear what Jesus had to say for himself. We are called to do the work of Christ in the places we are in the time that we ve been given. What will we do? What will we say? I hope to God that I will find the courage to echo once again, Ain t no rock gonna cry in my place as long as I m alive I ll glorify his holy name. May we have the courage and grace to look beyond ourselves to the One who claims us, calls us, and sends us in his name. Thanks be to God. Amen. 8