Covenant: Arrival Mark 11:1-11 A Sermon by Rev. Bob Kells This morning is the fourth installment in a sermon series I call Covenant. For those of you who missed some of the previous sermons, we are tracing God s relationship with human beings through the major covenant agreements found in the Old Testament. We ve looked at the covenants God made with Noah, with Abraham and with the people of Israel in Sinai that gave us the Ten Commandments. What all these covenants tell us about God is this: More than anything else, the covenants in the Bible reflect God s faithfulness toward human beings and God s desire to be in relationship with us. The climax of God s covenant with Creation is Jesus Christ. The title of this morning s message is Arrival. It refers, of course, to the arrival of Jesus in Jerusalem on the first day of the last week of his life on earth. Before we get to that story, I want to share the story of another well-known arrival with you: On the night of February 22 nd, three men slipped out of a hotel and made their way through the darkened streets to the train station. One of them wore a soft felt hat instead of his recognizable stovepipe hat, and draped an overcoat over his shoulders and hunched over slightly to disguise his height. The three mean boarded a sleeper car and arrived in Baltimore in the dark of night. They crossed town to another station where they got on a train that took them to their final destination: Washington, DC. When they got off the train at 6 a.m. on the 23 rd of February, they were surprised when a voice boomed out: Abe, you can t play that on me. The Abe, of course, was Abraham Lincoln. The two men with him included Alan Pinkerton, his chief of security. 1
And the man who called out to him was a congressman from his home state of Illinois, who then promptly escorted President-elect Lincoln to the Willard Hotel. 1 So this was how Abraham Lincoln arrived in the capital. He had traveled to Washington under cover because there had already been one attempt on his life and his security detail feared there would be others. It was early 1861, and the nation was in the midst of its greatest political crisis: - The Southern states had threatened to secede if Lincoln was elected. - Seven of them had already made good on the threat, and more were sure to follow. In this picture of Lincoln s arrival, nothing could be further from the pomp and circumstance you would expect when a new chief executive arrived in town. There were no bands, no parades, no people lining the street. But the fact of his arrival was a key event at a momentous time in our nation s history. This morning s lesson from the Gospel of Mark recounts another arrival at another momentous point the most important point in human history. It was the festival of the Passover, the biggest celebration in the Jewish religion. During this holy time, devout Jews remembered the God who brought them up out of Egypt, through the wilderness of Sinai and into the Promised Land. At this particular Passover, they also remembered, yet again, that they were not free. New oppressors the Romans had come to rule their land. 1 Lincoln Arrives in Washington, February 23, 1861, This Day in History, The History Channel, article online, http://www.history.com/this- day- in- history/lincoln- arrives- in- washington, accessed 26 March 2015. The congressman was Elihu B. Washburne. 2
Over the centuries, through the prophets, God had promised a deliverer the Messiah, the Holy One of God. Most Jews believed that one day, the Messiah would come to set God s people free, once and for all. More than that, this Messiah would set the whole world to rights by putting an end to sin and death once and forever. And so there was an air of expectation among some of the Jewish people in Jerusalem. They had heard that Jesus of Nazareth, the prophet from Galilee was on his way to the city. Rumors were already circulating about his strange teachings, the miracles he performed and the crowds that followed him. No one knew for sure what to make of all this. But a few began to wonder if this could be the liberator, the long-promised Messiah of God. And the signs in the events of this day all pointed toward something big: - Jesus made his way to Jerusalem from Jericho. This was the traditional route taken by Israel s kings when they came up from Jericho to be crowned. - His route toward the city took him over the Mount of Olives. According to the prophets, this is the mountain where God would appear in the final days to liberate God s people. (Zechariah 14:4) - The colt that Jesus rode refers to another prophecy, in Zechariah 9:9, about how the Messiah would ride into the city on a donkey colt. - The animal itself was probably symbolic of a new thing God was doing. It was young and had never been ridden it was new. The donkey was a tool of agriculture, not war. It was a humble mode of transportation. (We might get the same effect today if we think of an official riding through town in a Ford Pinto instead of a bulletproof limo. We owned a Pinto back in the early 1970s, believe me, it s a humbling ride). And yet, the donkey colt was chosen by Jesus to 3
bring him into Jerusalem. Perhaps this, too, pointed toward the new kingdom God was ushering in. - Then, as Jesus rode the donkey into town, the people greeted him with the welcome accorded a king: with cloaks and branches placed along the way (2 Kings 9:13), and shouts of Hosanna! Save us now! (Psalm 118:24). So we have this huge buildup. Jesus enters the city with great fanfare among his followers and some of the population of the city. These people hailed him as King. He went to the Temple the place that was the religious and economic center of the Jewish world of his time. He has arrived at the power center of the Jewish faith. Jesus looks around, and then he leaves the Temple, goes out to Bethany, about two miles outside of the city, and spends the night with his disciples. Seems like kind of a let down. It s almost like Abraham Lincoln arriving in Washington, pulling into the station on a train; he steps out onto the platform, is recognized by one person, and then he goes to a hotel. But what seems to be a break in the action is setting the stage for what comes next. And what s next is a drama filled with passion and hope, betrayal and persecution, humility and love, death and something beyond death that seems almost too wonderful to imagine. We will observe these events throughout the coming week, and we will remember: - Jesus entering the Temple and chasing away the moneychangers with a stick. - The Jewish religious leaders, fearful of his popularity, plot to kill Jesus and find a willing accomplice in one of those closest to him Judas Iscariot. 4
- The Last Supper, when Jesus gathers with his friends for a final Passover meal together before going out to the Garden of Gethsemane. - The arrest of Jesus in the garden; Peter s denial; the trial before Pontius Pilate; and the final leg of the journey to the Cross. All of this lies ahead. Today, though, we have our own parade of palms as we recall Jesus entry into Jerusalem. We will sing Hosannas as we rejoice in the coming of the King of Kings. And like Mark s story of Jesus entering into Jerusalem, we will end on a different note: our parade of palms is at the end of the service today instead of the beginning. We will end the day, as Jesus did, by going to our homes for the night. Let s make this an opportunity to reflect on our discipleship and ask: - Are we ready to follow this donkey-riding King, no matter where the parade route takes us? - Are we prepared to put our whole lives everything we are, and everything we own into His hands? - Are we ready to live for the one who lived, who died, and who lives again for us? Hosanna! Save us now! Blessed is the One who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest! Amen! 5