Luke 19:28-40 28 After he had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. 29 When he had come near Bethphage and Bethany, at the place called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of the disciples, 30 saying, Go into the village ahead of you, and as you enter it you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 31 If anyone asks you, Why are you untying it? just say this, The Lord needs it. 32 So those who were sent departed and found it as he had told them. 33 As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, Why are you untying the colt? 34 They said, The Lord needs it. 35 Then they brought it to Jesus; and after throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. 36 As he rode along, people kept spreading their cloaks on the road. 37 As he was now approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen, 38 saying, Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven! 39 Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, Teacher, order your disciples to stop. 40 He answered, I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out. 1
2016 03.20 Blessed Are the Peace Breakers So often in the Gospels we see the disciples just not get it. They say the wrong thing. They do the wrong thing. They misunderstand Jesus. If they re not arguing over who among them is the greatest or preventing little children from approaching Jesus (which they actually tried to do; see Matt. 19:13-14), then they re falling asleep when he asks them to pray with him, as we will hear in the Gospel reading on Good Friday. The disciples make a lot of mistakes. In other words, they re just like us. So, on those rare occasions when they do get it right, as they do in today s passage from Luke, it deserves our attention. Today s reading finds Jesus and the disciples at the village of Bethany [SLIDE], which was only a few kilometers outside of Jerusalem. Jesus has finally reached Jerusalem, which he has been journeying toward since the middle of Luke s Gospel. The early part of the Gospel takes place in the north of Israel, in Jesus home region of Galilee. However, beginning in chapter nine, Jesus turns for Jerusalem. In chapters nine through nineteen Jesus and the disciples are traveling on the road to Jerusalem. In today s reading from chapter nineteen they finally reach their destination, the holy city. There Jesus ministry will reach its climax as he comes into conflict with the Jewish religious authorities and the Roman civil authorities. In just a few short days he will be arrested, tried, and executed. This day, however, is not one of mourning but celebration. The first sign that this day is different is when Jesus tells two of the disciples to go into the village up ahead, where they will find a colt, i.e., a young horse or donkey. They are to untie it and bring it to him. If anyone asks them why they are taking it, they are to say simply, The Lord needs it. It s an unusual command, but this is not a usual day. Jesus is clearly planning something. Luke doesn t share with us the disciples reaction. Maybe they re curious 2
to know what this is all about. Whatever they re thinking, they do as Jesus tells them. They go to the village. They find the colt. When they are asked by the owners why they are untying the colt, they say exactly what Jesus instructed them to say: The Lord needs it. Then they bring it to him. It s when they bring the colt to Jesus that it suddenly clicks for the disciples. They get it. No words are exchanged, at least Luke doesn t share with us any, but the disciples now see what s going on: Jesus is preparing to enter Jerusalem. They may even recall the prophecy of Zechariah [SLIDE]: Rejoice greatly, O daughter Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter Jerusalem! Lo, your king comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. (Zech. 9:9) Jesus is about to enter the holy city of Jerusalem in fulfillment of Zechariah s prophecy. Israel s king will ride into town triumphant and victorious, humble and riding on a donkey? Wait what? Triumphant and victorious but riding a donkey? Those two things don t go together [SLIDE]. A donkey is a humble beast, a working animal. It stands low to the ground and moves slowly, which is perfect for carrying heavy items but doesn t look so impressive at the front of a victory parade. For these reasons and probably many more a donkey was not the preferred mode of transportation of a triumphant and victorious monarch [SLIDE]. They rode a war horse, an animal that stood tall and proud and ran with speed and power [SLIDE]. Yet Jesus rides a donkey. While there is certainly some irony in this image of Israel s king riding a working animal, the disciples are quite sincere in going along with it. They throw their cloaks on the donkey and then place Jesus on the animal. The crowd that accompanies Jesus welcomes him like royalty as they spread their cloaks before him along the road. 3
Luke gives us an idea of the size of the crowd. It s not merely the twelve disciples who are there to witness Jesus entrance into the city a whole multitude of disciples is present. In response to the arrival of Israel s king they burst into praise [SLIDE]. They praise God for all the deeds of power that they had seen (Lk. 19:37). Deeds of power? What deeds of power had they seen? Certainly not military power. Jesus hadn t led Israel to victory in battle. He wasn t a military leader at all; he was a teacher. He was accompanied not by an army of soldiers but by disciples. Nor did he have any political power. He wasn t a politician. He didn t make deals to increase his authority and extend his influence. Financial power? Jesus didn t own any land, slaves, animals, or anything at all. He wasn t worth any more than the value of the clothes on his back. Well, then, what were these deeds of power that his disciples had witnessed? From the beginning of Luke s Gospel Jesus is associated with a particular kind of power the power of the Holy Spirit. Even before Jesus is born, his mother Mary is told by an angel that she will conceive by the Holy Spirit and the power of the Most High will overshadow her (Lk. 1:35). When Jesus begins his ministry in Galilee he is filled with the power of the Spirit (Lk. 4:14). When he heals a man who is paralyzed, Luke writes that the power of the Lord was with him to heal (Lk. 5:17). As word spreads of his power to heal, great crowds come to him for healing of their diseases and from unclean spirits. Luke writes, And all in the crowd were trying to touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of them (Lk. 6:19). Jesus was conceived and led and filled with the power of the Holy Spirit. It was with the power of the Spirit that he healed, bringing wholeness, reconciliation, and peace to people with troubled bodies, minds, and souls [SLIDE]. He healed the body, but he also restored people to spiritual and social wholeness. He extended forgiveness to a sinful woman who washed his feet with her tears. He healed a woman who had been bleeding for twelve years, a condition that would have made her perpetually unclean and therefore an outcast from society. He ate dinner with a tax collector, a 4
member of a despised social group. Jesus would often end these encounters by telling people to go in peace. Israel s king enters the holy city as someone who has brought peace to people whose inner lives and external relationships were beset with turmoil and brokenness. He did so by overturning the natural order of society. Before Jesus overturned the tables of the moneychangers in the temple (which he does next in Luke 19), he had already overturned the tables of Israelite society. Israelite society distinguished between clean and unclean, sinful and righteous, insider and outsider, but Jesus made no such distinctions. He healed those whose bodies were broken because of blindness, deafness, and paralysis. He restored to wholeness those whom society had rejected because of their sin, both real and imagined. He brought to them peace. This is not a worldly peace that Jesus brings. It is an otherworldly peace. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives Jesus says in the Gospel of John (Jn. 14:27). How does the world give peace? The world of Jesus day meant those lands that surrounded the Mediterranean Sea [SLIDE]. This was the world of the Roman Empire. Therefore, peace was established by Rome. The Romans had an interesting way of establishing peace; they killed or enslaved anyone who opposed their attempts to expand the borders of the Empire. Peace came at the point of a sword. The peace of Rome, or Pax Romana as it is known in Latin, was a period of relative stability in the Empire. It lasted for more than two hundred years. It began with the first emperor, Augustus. Augustus established peace by defeating his rivals for the throne. This is the same Augustus who was emperor when Jesus was born. The Pax Romana continued under Tiberius, who was emperor when Jesus was crucified. So, Jesus was well aware of what the Roman world understood by peace. What the Romans meant by peace was defined by an absence the absence of conflict. If Roman legions were not invading and conquering, then there existed a 5
state of peace. But the peace that Jesus brings is altogether different. The peace of Christ is not defined by the absence of conflict, especially the absence of conflict that comes from crushing one s enemies. Peace doesn t mean simply the absence of open war. The peace of Christ is not defined by an absence at all but by a presence the presence of God s reconciling love and justice. As I said, the peace of Christ is an otherworldly peace, which means that it s a heavenly peace. That s why the crowd of disciples that accompanies Jesus on his way into Jerusalem shouts [SLIDE]: Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven! (Lk. 19:38) But not everyone welcomes this heavenly peace. Luke tells us that Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, Teacher, order your disciples to stop (Lk. 19:39). Some of the Pharisees are greatly troubled by the shouts of praise coming from the crowd. They re so bothered that they insist that Jesus silence his disciples. Why? What do the Pharisees find so disturbing? Knowing the politics of the day will help us see what so disturbed the Pharisees. The Pharisees were no friends of Rome or of Rome s chosen king for Israel, Herod. One of the ways that Rome maintained peace in lands that it conquered was to appoint a local ruler to govern. The thinking was that that way a conquered people would feel a little less conquered and therefore less inclined to revolt. That s why Rome appointed Herod, himself a Jew, to rule as king of the Jews. As interpreters of the Law, the Pharisees were religious purists and Herod was an impure king, i.e., not a descendant of David. If he was not an heir of David, then he had no business sitting on the throne of David. But despite their religious purity, the Pharisees understood politics. They were realists. As long as Herod, Rome s 6
chosen king, left them alone, then they would not object to Roman rule. They didn t like Herod, but they would accept him to maintain peaceful relations with Rome. Then you can imagine the Pharisees concern when they hear Jesus disciples say of him, Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! No! No! No! No! No! What are you doing, Jesus? What are your followers saying? Israel has a king! His name is Herod. Your disciples are stirring up trouble. Teacher, order them to stop! You can see what some of the Pharisees are thinking. If Herod finds out that someone with a multitude of followers has just entered Jerusalem and that this person s followers are calling him king, then Herod will not be pleased. He will be all the more concerned because he knows that he sits on the throne not because he is descended from David but because he is obedient to Rome. Remember the setting for these events. It is the season of Passover. People from all around Israel are crowding into Jerusalem for this holiday that has nationalist overtones. After all, Passover commemorates the liberation of the Israelites from captivity in Egypt. It had been a long time since the Israelites were slaves in Egypt, but in their present reality they are not free. They are ruled by an occupying power Rome. And Rome is vigilant about watching for any sign of rebellion, and ruthless about stamping it out. The environment in the city is combustible. All it would take is a spark to light the fire a spark like a new king riding into the city when there is already a king sitting on the throne. The Pharisees, therefore, don t want any trouble. They ve made their peace with Rome. They don t want Jesus to disturb the peace of the status quo. How often do we accommodate our faith to the status quo (the way things are)? How often do we think that it s easier to go along with the way things are than to upset the order of things? Jesus, as we ve already noted, disturbed the natural order of his world. He touched and healed those whom society regarded as unclean and 7
untouchable. He ate with sinners and outcasts. He was a friend of tax collectors and prostitutes. He forgave a woman who had been caught in adultery when the law called for her to be stoned. He broke the rules of his own religion by picking grain and healing on the Sabbath, a day of rest. He challenged religious authorities who valued principles over people. In other words, Jesus disturbed the peace. In doing so he redefined for us the very meaning of the word. Peace was no longer defined in terms set by the Empire [SLIDE]. To the Empire peace meant merely the absence of conflict. That is a passive peace. The peace of Jesus Christ is altogether different. It is not passive, it is highly active. It breaks down walls. It redeems, reconciles, renews, and restores. It brings down the haughty and lifts up the humble. It is not defined by an absence but by a presence the presence of God s reconciling love and justice for the poorest of the poor, the sickest of the sick, the most desperate of the desperate, the most sinful of the sinful. The peace of Christ is the peace of heaven. Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven the disciples shout. It is a peace that greatly disturbs the so-called peace of the world. Not everyone welcomes such a peace. In fact, this Friday we will be reminded that the road that Jesus took down the Mount of Olives led not only to Jerusalem but also to the cross. When the disciples realize that, they lose their enthusiasm for following him. They abandon him. Peter denies even knowing him. Like the disciples we sometimes get it right and recognize Jesus as king and Lord of our lives and all of life. Like the disciples we often get it wrong and are captive to our fears, in particular the fear of where Christ may be leading us. But let us take courage in knowing that in following Christ, in being disturbers of the peace, we are blessed. Yes, blessed, for blessed are the peace breakers. 8