Mark 11:1-11 11 When they were approaching Jerusalem, at Bethphage and Bethany, near the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples 2 and said to them, Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately as you enter it, you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden; untie it and bring it. 3 If anyone says to you, Why are you doing this? just say this, The Lord needs it and will send it back here immediately. 4 They went away and found a colt tied near a door, outside in the street. As they were untying it, 5 some of the bystanders said to them, What are you doing, untying the colt? 6 They told them what Jesus had said; and they allowed them to take it. 7 Then they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it; and he sat on it. 8 Many people spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut in the fields. 9 Then those who went ahead and those who followed were shouting, Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! 10 Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David! Hosanna in the highest heaven! 11 Then he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple; and when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve. 1
03.29.2015 The Road Least Traveled Two roads diverged in a yellow wood And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth; [SLIDE] Then took the other, as just as fair And having perhaps the better claim, Because it was grassy and wanted wear; Though as for that, the passing there Had worn them really about the same, [SLIDE] And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black. Oh, I kept the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back. [SLIDE] I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood and I I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference. The Road Not Taken just might be the most famous poem written in the English language, at leastq from an American author. The author himself, Robert Frost, is virtually synonymous with American poetry. Reading the poem is a rite of passage for American high school students. Beyond the schools, the poem has even been used in a commercial to sell cars. These days that s how you know a poem has entered the public consciousness when it can be used to sell something. The commercial wanted to appeal to consumers to buy a certain brand of car and therefore drive the road less traveled. Ugh! Cheesy. 2
In the poem the narrator comes upon a fork in the road while walking through the woods. Unsure of which of the two roads to take, he deliberates and then considers taking the road that has more grass on it. Because the road is grassy, fewer people have walked on it, leaving the grass free from much wear. The narrator at first seems like a nonconformist, willing to take the less popular road. Yet no sooner does he make up his mind to take that road than he reconsiders. Even his description of the roads themselves changes. He tells us that the roads were actually about equally worn. In fact, on that morning, both roads [SLIDE] equally lay in leaves no step had trodden black. The narrator then tells us that he changed his mind and [SLIDE] kept the first road for another day. He will take the one road and then someday later will return and take the other [SLIDE]. Yet knowing how way leads on to way, i.e., how choosing that one path will lead to still more paths with more forks in the road and more decisions to be made about which way to go, he doubts that he will ever come back [SLIDE]. He then pictures himself in the future and describes how he will tell people, with a sigh, that when he came upon two roads that diverged in a wood, he took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference. It is primarily those last three lines that have made the poem famous. In popular culture the poem is often read as though it is a statement for individualism, i.e., for nonconformity. That was what the car commercial was appealing to. The roads represent different paths that our lives can take. Rather than taking the safe and popular road, this interpretation goes, the narrator took the harder, less-traveled road. Therefore, we should not be afraid to take risks, to go our own way, even if it is not the safe and popular way. The problem with that interpretation, however, is that that s really not at all what happens in the poem. The narrator doesn t take the road less traveled because, as we ve already noted, both roads looked equally worn. Later in his life he will tell people, with a sigh, that he took the less-traveled road. The sigh reflects his own hesitation at the decision that he made. In choosing one road versus the other, he 3
wonders whether he made the correct decision. He s not sure, but he will justify his decision by telling himself and others that he took the road less traveled, and that has made all the difference. The poem is not about nonconformity but about possibility. It s not about the road that we take but the road that we don t take. It s about that other road and what might have happened had we taken that road instead [SLIDE]. The meaning of the poem can be found in the title, which is not The Road Less Traveled, as people often think, but The Road Not Taken. When I searched for the poem on Google, I even entered The Road Less Traveled and still had no problem finding it. The road not taken focuses our attention on the other road. The narrator, having made his decision, knows how things turned out. Yet he wonders what would have happened had he taken the other road. I think we can all relate to the point that the poem is making. We all have had moments in our lives that required us to make decisions that affected the course of our lives. We wonder to ourselves, Did I make the right decision? What if I had taken the other road? In the scripture today Jesus also has a decision to make regarding which road to take [SLIDE]. He is literally on the road, which in this case would be the Jericho road, which led from Jericho to Jerusalem. Jesus is approaching Jerusalem from the east. He and the disciples have just come from Jericho, where Jesus healed a blind beggar named Bartimaeus. The account of Bartimaeus healing can be found at the end of chapter 10 in Mark, just before today s passage. Before reaching Jerusalem Jesus and the disciples arrive at the villages of Bethphage and Bethany, which lie immediately to the east. It is there that Jesus gives two of the disciples a rather curious command. They are to go into the village, where they will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden. Then they are to bring the colt to Jesus. If anyone asks what they re up to, they are to say simply, The Lord needs it. We ll bring it back. We promise, or words to that effect. The disciples then go into 4
the village and find things just as Jesus said they would, including even the people who question them about why they re taking the colt. The way this story is often presented to children can make it seem as though Jesus is using one of his, for lack of a better word, superpowers. Along with the power to turn water into wine, to multiply loaves and fishes, to walk on water, to heal the blind, deaf, ill, and lame, Jesus sees into the future. He knows that the colt will be there tied up and waiting for the disciples. He knows that there will be people there to ask the disciples exactly what they think they re doing taking a colt that doesn t belong to them. While I m not sure that I would describe it as a superpower, Jesus does know that the colt will be waiting there for the disciples. In fact, Jesus knows much more than this [SLIDE]. He knows what will be waiting for him when he enters Bethany and later Jerusalem. He knows that he will be greeted by shouts of praise and acclamation. Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! He knows that he will be greeted as a hero, for the people will think that their longawaited savior has come. They will cheer Jesus because they will think that he has come to liberate them from their Roman occupiers. Even more than this, Jesus knows what awaits him after the triumphal entry. He knows that those shouts of Hosanna will soon turn to shouts of Crucify him! when he does not present himself as the type of messiah they are expecting. He knows that the same people who welcome him as liberator will mock him and despise him as a pretender to the throne an imposter unworthy of being mentioned in the same breath as the warrior king, David. King of the Jews? Nonsense! The only king we have is the emperor. Hail, Caesar! Jesus knows all this, not because he has any superpower, but because he has been commissioned by the Father with a special task. He will give his life for the life of the world. Jesus knows what he has been sent into the world to do. His ministry has been all about this. It was always about this. He has tried to tell the disciples, but 5
they either could not or would not understand [SLIDE]. The Gospel of Mark shows Jesus three times trying to tell the disciples of what he know must come if he is to fulfill God s mission. In chapter 8, when Jesus and the disciples are still in Galilee, he tells them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering and die, before rising again. In chapter 9, after they have passed through Galilee and are headed to Jericho, he tells them that the Son of Man will be betrayed and killed but will rise again. The disciples, however, don t understand what he s saying and are afraid to ask. Finally, in chapter 10, shortly before arriving in Jericho, Jesus tries to tell them a third time [SLIDE]. 32 They were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them; they were amazed, and those who followed were afraid. He took the twelve aside again and began to tell them what was to happen to him, 33 saying, See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death; then they will hand him over to the Gentiles; 34 they will mock him, and spit upon him, and flog him, and kill him; and after three days he will rise again. (Mk. 10:32-34) They were on the road going up to Jerusalem. That road would be the Jericho road that I ve already mentioned. The road would have led them to the Mount of Olives, as mentioned in verse 1 of today s passage [SLIDE]. The Mount of Olives was a high hill to the east of Jerusalem. It dominates Jerusalem, rising higher than even the temple of Jesus day. One wall from that temple still stands and can be seen in the picture. From the Mount of Olives Jesus would have been able to see the temple where he would soon confront those who were conducting business in a house of prayer. His actions at the temple would set in motion the events that would lead to his death. He also would have been able to see Golgotha, the hill near the temple where he would be crucified. In other words, from the Mount of Olives Jesus could see all the signs that pointed to his own death. 6
Like the narrator of the poem, Jesus comes to a fork in the road. There are two roads before him [SLIDE]. There is the road that will lead to the cross. It is a road of undeserved humiliation, suffering, and death. It is a narrow road not easy to enter. In fact, no one had ever traveled down that road. Jesus can see that road all too clearly. But there is also another road a road that will avoid the cross entirely. In contrast to the narrow road of the cross, it is a wide road, easy to take, and well traveled. Jesus could have taken that road. He could have chosen to be the type of messiah that the Israelites were wanting and expecting the type of messiah that even some of his disciples wanted him to be. He could have led a popular uprising against Rome. Or he could have spared himself the wrath of Rome entirely and returned to Galilee to live a quiet, normal life, perhaps even marry and have children. This temptation to avoid the cross whether through political or personal means is the last temptation that Jesus will face. It is the temptation that he confronts head on immediately before his death. As recounted in Mark 14, Jesus prays by himself in the Garden of Gethsemane. Mark writes [SLIDE]: 35 And going a little farther, he threw himself on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. 36 He said, Abba, Father, for you all things are possible; remove this cup from me; yet, not what I want, but what you want. Not what I want, but what you want. Jesus chooses the road that leads to sin and death. He does not want to go there. He is not on a suicide mission. But in his love for God and in his faithfulness to God, he chooses the road marked with suffering. Although he knows what waits for him on that road, he remains faithful to God s mission to rescue sinners like us. This is a difficult road a road impossible for any of us to travel ourselves. Because of that, it is the least traveled road, for it is the road that only Jesus can take, and he takes that road for us. 7