Who is your "king"?

 

Reflection Palm Sunday 28^th March 2021

Make no mistake Jesus had everything planned for his entry into Jerusalem. It wasn’t by chance his disciples found a donkey tied up. And Jesus knew full well what his entry would mean.

He chooses to enter the city when there is a huge crowd making its way to Jerusalem for the Passover. And there is Jesus, riding on a donkey. People are singing His praises and throwing palms and cloaks before Him. The high priests and the Roman soldiers are watching. The modern church has taken the donkey as a symbol of the meekness and humility of Jesus, and so it was. Jesus said more than once that He came to serve, not to be served. But to the Jews of Jesus’ day, the donkey was also a symbol of kingship. The old Testament prophets had said that the Messiah would come riding on a donkey (Zechariah 9:9-10.) Jesus knew full well that by coming to Jerusalem in this way and at this time, He was using the symbolism of a king, even a Messiah. He knew full well what this symbol would mean in the super-charged atmosphere of Jerusalem.

How often is it said, "Don’t mix religion with politics," but here we see them mixed inextricably as Jesus enters Jerusalem. Archbishop Desmond Tutu said once “When people say religion and politics don’t mix, I wonder which Bible they are reading.” I agree with him entirely. And the story of Holy Week is political. 

Passover is the most political of Jewish holy days - the celebration of their liberation from Pharaoh. Here is Jesus, coming as the prophets had said He would, and here is the crowd cheering Him on.

On Monday, the day after His provocative and triumphal entry into the city, Jesus goes into the Temple and starts a riot in this most sacred of places. He picks up a whip and drives out the moneychangers: "My Father’s house shall be a house of prayer for all the nations, but you have made it a den of thieves!" (Mark 11:17). Then, because of the uproar He has caused, Jesus slips out to Bethany for the night, a few miles outside of Jerusalem.

Jesus comes back to the Temple on Tuesday and Wednesday and provokes the authorities even further. Listen to what He says: "Woe to you scribes and Pharisees! You load the people with heavy burdens, but you yourself do not lift a finger!" (Matthew 23:20. "Woe to you, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear clean and beautiful, but inside are full of the bones of the dead" (Matthew 23:27).

In four short days, Jesus has antagonized both the Roman political leaders and the Jewish religious leaders. He has united them in opposition to Him. If they feared or disliked Him before, now they want Him dead.

Jesus is the master of the tactics of nonviolent confrontation. (Ironically, as I write this, the right to nonviolent protest is currently a topic of much debate in the United Kingdom.) But by provoking the authorities as He did, Jesus is making sure that the inevitable conflict takes place, but on His terms.  It isn’t Jesus’ tactics in the Temple or His tactics against the priests and lawyers that get Him killed. No, what sends Jesus to the cross is one question, and one question only. It is the question asked by Pilate later in the week, when Jesus is on trial for His life: "Are you the king of the Jews?"

To claim oneself king of Israel is to deny the authority of Caesar; a crime of subversion that Pilate will not overlook. We think of Pilate as weak and indecisive as He faces Jesus. In fact, Pilate was a ruthless, ambitious, and blood-thirsty tyrant who made liberal use of crucifixions to put down insurrection. What Pilate is doing during the trial is manipulating the priests into saying what must be said, so he can put Jesus to death as a subversive. Pilate starts by saying he finds no fault in Jesus and claims he wants to release Him. But as the trial progresses, it gets more political. The turning point comes when Jesus finally speaks.

Pilate has said to Him, "Why do you not speak? Don’t you know I have the power of life and death over you?" And Jesus finally answers, "You would have no authority over Me unless it had been given to you from above" (cf. John 19:1-11). That’s the turning point! Jesus is putting Pilate and Caesar in their place. Rome says Caesar is a god who rules by his own divine right. Jesus says, "No, all authority comes from the God of heaven and earth. My kingdom is not of this world" (John 18:36).

Jesus holds ultimate authority. Jesus does have a kingdom, but it exists beyond the reach and power of Rome. In effect, Jesus is telling Pilate: "You have no claim on Me. My kingdom is far beyond even you or your Caesar." This is a test of wills and Jesus beats Pilate hands down.

The priests pick up on that: "If you release this Man, you are not Caesar’s friend. Everyone who makes himself a king sets himself against Caesar." In other words, the priests are saying to Pilate, "If you release Jesus, you are committing treason against Caesar. You are jeopardizing your office, risking your career, and failing in your duty to Caesar."

Now the priests are coming close to where Pilate wants them to be. Pilate says, "Behold your king!" Then the priests utter the most fateful words imaginable; the words which convict them, not only by Jesus, but by their own sacred Scripture. They cry out to Pilate: "We have no king but Caesar!" When Pilate hears this, he is satisfied. He turns Jesus over to be crucified.

"We have no king but Caesar."

That same cry echoes down the ages, as people claim other "kings" as their first loyalty, instead of Jesus Christ. We hear that cry today and maybe even say it to ourselves. We have no king but keeping up with the Joneses! We have no king but avoiding taxes! We have no king but hating immigrants! We have no king but cutting overseas aid! We have no king but patriotism - my country, right or wrong! All other claims of love, justice, mercy, or faith must take a back seat, because we have no other king but ... Fill in your own. There are so many to choose from.

Jesus was a Man with a tough mind and a tender heart. He shows how serious the struggle is between good and evil and what a formidable force God’s Spirit must be in this fallen world. Here we see Jesus standing face to face with human authority, with the salvation of the world at stake, and Jesus wins the day. This friend we have in Jesus - make no mistake about Him! In the cosmic contest between good and evil, this kingdom and the next, this Friend of ours is tough as nails and that is the side of Jesus I have tried to show you today.

Of course, this same Jesus rides into our town and into our lives on this Palm Sunday morning and He is forcing some questions on us, as He did in Israel so long ago. As we cheer Him riding by, with palm leaves in our hands, and hosannas on our lips, are the Caesars and Pilates of this world worried? Do they worry about a church whose "kingdom is not of this world," or is the church a comfortable partner with secular authority, fitting its worldly purposes like a hand fits a glove? Does Jesus have in His church a disciplined, "underground" organization - people who are alert to His purposes and ready to put themselves on the line for Him, like the keepers of that donkey did so long ago? When Jesus sends someone to us and we hear the password, "The Lord has need of you," do we respond no matter what the cost or risk?

Or do we stand with the priests shouting, “We have no king but Caesar”? This is the most important. Who or what is your king? This is the fundamental question Jesus forces on us this morning. Today we cheer Him, but soon our true loyalties will be put to the test. Soon we will have to choose between Christ and the many Caesars of this world.

"Hosanna to the Son of David!" Jesus is riding into your heart today, and He wants to know ... who is your king?