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“TROUBLED WATERS”
With all of this suffering, we could sure use a savior right now…
The first people who had that thought were probably the Hebrew slaves in Egypt. You know the story – Moses took on the job of getting his people, the Israelite (or what today we would call the Jewish people) – free. He pleaded with Pharoah. Nothing. Then God sent plagues. Still enslaved. Finally, it is said that God killed the firstborn of every Egyptian family, but “passed over” the Israelite homes, and so Pharoah agreed. They fled. Through the dead sea which God a la Moses parted in half. Pharoah’s armies took chase but couldn’t catch them and they were free.
Many years later the Jewish people were enslaved again. Occupied, the Romans called it. Not as bad as forced labour but not free by any means. They had a king named Herod, but he was useless. The Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, ruled all of Israel for Caesar.
But the people never forgot that day when God passed over their homes in Egypt, sparing their first-born children. So every year they got together for a big festival which is still celebrated to this very day. They called it “Passover” because God passed over their homes and led them from slavery into freedom.
It was a pretty big deal. Symbolic food like unleavened bread (as there was no time to wait for the bread to rise that morning before they fled Egypt), plus wine, song, comradery and generally a good time.
We are looking at our story from the book of Matthew today. In Matthew, Mark and Luke, Jesus’ ministry is only one year long. He starts on a journey that begins with his baptism as he travels through the countryside teaching, healing, and gathering followers. His year ends with Passover – Jesus and his disciples are headed to Jerusalem, the holy city. Only in the gospel of John does Jesus go three times to Jerusalem. Let’s go with the most popular story today because it really emphasizes the importance of the Passover festival and Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem.
Of course you know how it is when there’s a huge conference in town or the Olympics…if you forget to book early…good luck getting a hotel room. Jesus and his friends had to stay in the nearby village of Bethany. That’s ok – they had friends there like Lazarus whom Jesus raised from the dead. I figure he owed Jesus a pretty big favour for that…lodging for him and 12 of his friends which always included food, wine and a foot-wash. Martha and Mary mixing bread furiously in the kitchen. Good wine and good times though.
The next morning they’re headed to Jerusalem with literally thousands of other people. Matthew tells us that Jesus sends his disciples to get a donkey and a colt, and he would ride them into Jerusalem. The text actually says, “he sat on THEM.” Now you may not have noticed that funny little bit when you heard the passage read because you’ve seen the pictures. One donkey. Matthew is saying that Jesus fulfills the prophecy in the Hebrew bible, and like many of our own evangelical conservative brothers and sisters, he takes that literally.
Here's the passage from the book of the prophet Zechariah:
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.
Well it does say “riding on a donkey” AND “on a colt”. The thing is, Zechariah, writing in Hebrew, was using a literary device called a “hendiadys” [hen-DIE-a-diss] which means you say the same thing twice, in slightly different ways with the word “and” in between. Like “nice and warm,” for example. In Hebrew, it was a form of poetry, and clearly Matthew, writing in Greek, doesn’t understand it so he does the best he can.
But I wonder if you noticed anything else about that Zechariah passage. [read again, with the Matthew]
“Triumphant and victorious is he” – well Matthew just left that line out and scholars are pretty sure he did it on purpose. That’s because this story would have been told to members of the early Christian church who, like you and me, knew the ending of the story. If you’re a movie-goer it’s like this Palm Sunday story is a PREQUIL, to the big story, which happens Friday, and Sunday. They knew that this big parade and huge crowd shouting “Hosanna” (or “save us!) would be shouting “crucify him” in just a few more days, and the next big procession would be the long walk to Calvary with a cross on his back.
So there’s no point in saying “triumphant and victorious is he” for as far as the crowd was concerned he was neither. Ended up just a common criminal. They wanted a SAVIOR who would save them from the Romans. Ride in on a great white steed with armies behind him, swords drawn, and take over the city and the whole country. Restore it to the great time of King David. If they could have, they’d all have caps and T-shirts that said “Make Israel Great Again.” But it was not to be, as we – with Matthew’s readers – know all too well. This Jesus would be crucified dead on Friday. In 40 more years the Holy City of Jerusalem would be destroyed. The people never again had their own country called Israel until one thousand, nine hundred and forty-eight years later.
With all of this suffering, we could sure use a savior right now…
There was no shouting “triumphant and victorious is he” with these people, that’s for sure. In their minds he was no savior at all. Big parade. Then just….dead.
Matthew writes that when Jesus entered on a humble donkey, a humble king of peace and not a victorious king of war that “the whole city was in turmoil.”
Turmoil! There’s a word. Same word they used for earthquakes. Shook up. The whole city was shaken. KJV says “moved” but that word in English doesn’t even begin to describe it. It could also be translated “the whole city was STIRRED UP.” Reminds me of a healing that Jesus did when the handicapped man lay by the pool of Bethdesa for years. The pool could only heal you when angels came down and “stirred up” the water.
“Troubled” the water. That old African-American spiritual – wade in the water. God’s gonna trouble the water. Another group of people suffering for centuries, screaming at God to be free. They sang it so God would do some miracle and part the waters of the Red Sea so they could wade through that water and finally be free. Didn’t happen. Their lives were either a continual Good Friday of pain and torture, or at the very best, the longest Saturday ever known. The day you just …. Wait. Saturdays that last a lifetime. Children born into slavery; lived their lives in slavery; died in slavery.
With all this suffering, we could use a SAVIOR right now!
Jesus, the king bringing peace and not war, riding into Jerusalem, stirring things up. This humble peace-king. Pissing everyone off. Jewish leaders, the Romans, even a lot of the crowd. They were all shook up and asking “who is this?” Well exactly. Today they’d be looking at each other – or probably texting – who the hell is this guy? Who does he think he is? Riding in here on a stupid little donkey like a kindergarten child at a petting zoo.
Who the hell is this? He’s no savior, that’s for sure. How’s he going to save us with a bunch of fishermen and women? No chariots, no weapons, no horses or armour. Who is this? Everybody agitated.
You’ve seen cities in turmoil before. Stirred up. Shook up. Remember Washington, D.C. on January 6, 2021? Troubled. Stirred up. Nashville, Tennessee where children have been killed. Uvalde Texas. Minneapolis, Minnesota and dozens of other cities after the death of George Floyd. Troubled, troubled, troubled.
Don’t go to Paris right now. There’s garbage on the sidewalk and fires burning in the streets. Ottawa filled with noisy trucks last year. Trouble. Turmoil. All stirred up. The streets of Ukraine. Now there’s turmoil. They’re Christians, praying like mad with half the world. Still getting killed.
Lord, we are SUFFERING HERE. Here in Jerusalem! Here in Nashville. Here in Minneapolis, and Paris, and Ottawa and Kiev. We don’t need no humble donkey-riding savior. We need someone to SAVE US from all this.
People are still suffering. Everywhere. On the streets and alone in their homes and their hospital beds. Hiding their children from bombs. Grieving losses. Just take us to Friday already – you may as well – there’s so much suffering here. We need you to save us, Jesus. We want to know that wherever you are, there will be NO suffering!!
A REAL Messiah would end all the suffering – that’s what the people thought. You’ve thought it yourself. Secretly….. your heart full of pain, disappointment and doubt. When you prayed for that child to be healed, but they died anyway. You know the one.
Who….who IS this? Is this our GOD? Will his very presence not end our suffering? I don’t want GOOD FRIDAY. Can’t we just skip right to Easter?
You think you can skip Good Friday? Did you think you’d come to church today for a joyful palm parade, and skip Good Friday and go right to Easter? That’s a rip-off. You’re cheating yourself of the power of the story. You could be wandering around your whole life why the God of Palm Sunday and the God of Easter doesn’t end your suffering.
No, you can’t skip Good Friday. For today’s triumphal entry is no more than the triumph of the meek and victory of the humble.
Because while what we all want is for the presence of Jesus to end our suffering, instead, it is quite plain in this story……
…that it’s NOT that where Jesus is - there is no suffering.
It’s that whenever and wherever there is suffering …. Jesus is there.