{"id":1297,"date":"2012-04-03T17:25:48","date_gmt":"2012-04-03T17:25:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=766"},"modified":"2017-08-26T15:26:28","modified_gmt":"2017-08-26T19:26:28","slug":"signing-up-for-the-parade-seeking-king-jesus-by-jeff-taylor-april-1-2012","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tumc.ca\/?p=1297","title":{"rendered":"Signing up for the parade: Seeking King Jesus – by Jeff Taylor – April 1, 2012"},"content":{"rendered":"

View Archived Sermons<\/a><\/p>\n

Listen to this Sermon\u00a0<\/font><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Mark 10 & 11<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

What did I sign up for when I agreed to preach on Palm Sunday?!<\/span><\/p>\n

I confess: celebrating Palm Sunday always feels a little awkward to me, standing on this side of those events where we can plainly see what comes next.\u00a0 Having heard so many times Jesus\u2019 explanation of what must follow the parade, I can\u2019t seem to wave the palm with any enthusiasm.\u00a0 The whole event feels like an empty gesture \u2013 almost a mockery.\u00a0 Perhaps I am not alone in feeling this awkwardness about Palm Sunday: perhaps other adults here know this feeling, perhaps young people and even some older children do as well.\u00a0 Maybe that is why we induct the youngest among us to re-enact the hosanna parade for us. \u00a0Maybe we are taking advantage of the fact that they haven\u2019t yet seen (in the way adults see things) what comes after the parade.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It all seems so clear now, what was to happen and why it had to happen.\u00a0 \u201cIt was so Jesus could become our Passover lamb,\u201c or, \u201cIt was so that God could establish His upside down kingdom in our world,\u201d or, \u201cIt was so God\u2019s could make clear Her preferential option for the poor.\u201d We have it all figured out now, don\u2019t we \u2013 huddled in our little camps, clutching our small doctrines?\u00a0 Is it really all the clear? Should it to be?\u00a0 Have we made no place for mystery in our deepest selves?\u00a0 Are we just too clever for wonderment now? \u201cHosanna \u2013 save us!\u201d indeed!\u00a0 May we have ears to hear anew<\/strong>, may our eyes be opened again<\/strong> and ever moreso in this age and the one to come.<\/span><\/p>\n

[Pause]<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Surely it was all a horrible blunder, a gross miscalculation, wasn\u2019t it?\u00a0 One big fat \u201cwoops!\u201d for Team Jesus. There was no reason to keep calling out \u201chosanna\u201d \u2013 \u201csave us.\u201d He had no intention of saving anyone; not in the way they<\/strong> meant it anyway.\u00a0 And all the royal pomp and parading: what a farce \u2013 he had no intention of sitting on any throne, at least not one in this<\/strong> world (or at least not anytime soon).\u00a0 Who gave all these poor partiers the impression that he was going to take up David\u2019s throne and liberate them from their Roman overlords?<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It certainly could not have been Jesus, right?\u00a0 Just a short time earlier he had explained to his disciples exactly what was to happen there.\u00a0 But they did not have, to use Mark\u2019s phrases, ears to hear, or eyes to see.\u00a0 James and John reacted absurdly by trying to position themselves ahead of the other 10, securing seats at Jesus\u2019 right and left in his \u201c<\/span>\u03b4\u03cc\u03be\u03b1<\/span>\u201d, in his \u201cglory.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0 It isn\u2019t clear exactly what sort of \u201cglory\u201d James and John though Jesus was about to obtain; but it is clear they had not truly heard what Jesus had just said about his own suffering and death.\u00a0 They do not understand what they are going to Jerusalem for.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I like to work my way backwards and forwards out from any text I\u2019m trying to understand in order to see its context and what connections the writer is making for us.\u00a0 As I read outwards from the Hosanna parade in at the beginning of Mark 11, it wasn\u2019t hard to notice that it is actually Bartimeaus who starts the victory parade towards Jerusalem.\u00a0 He is the first to call Jesus \u201cSon of David\u201d \u2013 a designation meaning much more than merely someone who is a descendant of Israel\u2019s second king, David.\u00a0 \u201cSon of David\u201d is a euphemism for \u201cthe messiah\u201d \u2013 the one who would defeat Israel\u2019s oppressors, restore Israel\u2019s monarchy, and reign in peace over Israel and world.\u00a0 Why else did the crowds travelling to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover so sternly demand Bartimeaus\u2019 silence when he shouted out \u201cJesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.\u201d?\u00a0 This is a crowd already on edge, as Mark puts it: <\/strong>\u201c<\/span>the disciples were astonished at his words, while those who followed were afraid.\u201d\u00a0 Now this blind beggar is declaring that this perhaps slightly unbalanced itinerant rabbi is the Messiah?!\u00a0 Shut up!\u00a0 Someone will hear you and we\u2019ll all<\/strong> be in trouble!<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Their objection to this man\u2019s declaration would only have been more resolute if they knew that his name was Bartimeaus which Mark translates for his readers, \u201cSon of Timeaus.\u201d\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t seem too likely that many of Mark\u2019s readers would not have known that \u201cBar\u201d is Hebrew for \u201cson of.\u201d\u00a0 So the translation is probably not so much for explanation as it is for emphasis.\u00a0 Mark wants us to really<\/strong> notice that this man has a Hebrew-Greek hybrid name, Bar-Timeaus. I wonder what that<\/strong> means!\u00a0 And moreover, that the Greek part is Timeaus, who some and perhaps many of Mark\u2019s readers would remember was the name of the<\/span> <\/span>title<\/span><\/a> character in one of Plato\u2019s treatises, who delivers Plato’s most important cosmological and theological theories in which observation \u2013 sight<\/strong> \u2013 is the foundation of knowledge.\u00a0 And when Jesus asks Bartimaeus what he wants, he says directly, without all the gamesmanship of Jesus\u2019 own disciples, \u201cI want to see.\u201d\u00a0 Mark is contrasting Jesus\u2019 disciples, who want positions of glory, with this mixed-ethnicity man who just wants to be able to see what is.<\/span><\/p>\n

Notice too that when Jesus called for him, Bartimaeus threw his cloak aside before approaching Jesus.\u00a0 Why did he throw his cloak aside?\u00a0 Did he suddenly have a hot flash?\u00a0 He put aside his cloak \u2013 more to the point, removed it from his own body, as a sign of respect as he approached a king.\u00a0 Perhaps to reveal that one is unarmed, or perhaps as a show of humility in removing one\u2019s best garment, people would remove their cloaks sometimes when approaching a king.\u00a0 This is exactly what the crowds did very shortly afterwards, following Bartimaeus\u2019 example as they spread their cloaks on the donkey and on the ground before Jesus.\u00a0 Those who had no cloak cut branches from the surrounding f
\nields and laid them on the processional path. The removing of cloaks and making a path out of them in the presence of the king was not unheard of in Jewish tradition: it happens in 2 Kings 9 with king Jehu for example; and the practice was know to the Greeks as well.<\/span><\/p>\n

Perhaps you are now thinking of the legend of Walter Raleigh doing the same for Elizabeth I.\u00a0 Or maybe you are remembering a certain Stella Artois beer commercial which I was tempted to show here.\u00a0 The temptation passed.<\/span><\/p>\n

So now the miracle of Bartimaeus receiving his sight has emboldened at least some of the crowd to join in the messianic declaration.\u00a0 But what is Jesus\u2019 role in all of this?\u00a0 Is he just humouring Bartimeaus and the rest; passively allowing them their harmless delusion? Hardly, Jesus is the one who ordered up the donkey after all.\u00a0 And a brand new one at that, just as was prophesied in Zechariah 9:9: \u201cSee, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.\u201d\u00a0 The donkey was a perfectly acceptable royal mount in those days, both human kings and deities were depicted as riding donkeys; though a Roman military commander would more likely ride a horse.\u00a0 Jesus is clearly encouraging a Messianic interpretation of his coming to Jerusalem at Passover, the occasion of deliverance from former<\/strong> overlords.\u00a0 The crowds are now shouting and parading in full expectation that this miracle worker will take up David\u2019s throne and vanquish the current overlords.<\/span><\/p>\n

Their commitment to their newfound Messiah doesn\u2019t seem to run very deep, though: the Roman authorities don\u2019t even bother to quell this nascent uprising.\u00a0 Reading Mark carefully, the impromptu messianic parade seems to take Jesus to<\/strong> Jerusalem, but not actually in<\/strong>to Jerusalem.\u00a0 The crowd seems to have disappeared and Jesus enters the city alone and quite anticlimactically: \u201cJesus entered Jerusalem and went into the temple courts. He looked around at everything, but since it was already late, he went back out of Jerusalem to spend the night in Bethany with the Twelve.\u201d \u00a0That\u2019s it.\u00a0 No revolution, no throngs of hopeful supporters, no action of any kind, really \u2013 and this in a gospel that has fewer sermons and parables and more \u201cimmediate\u201d action than any other.\u00a0 But on this occasion Jesus enters the city of God and simply observes.\u00a0 He looks<\/strong> around.\u00a0 He sees<\/strong> it for what it is.\u00a0 And then goes out of the city for the night.\u00a0 What must he be wondering about?\u00a0 What decisions is he making?\u00a0 What has he signed up for?<\/span><\/p>\n

Moving to the third and last scene we\u2019ll watch today, we find Jesus and the disciples returning to Jerusalem the next day and now we get<\/strong> some action.\u00a0 He goes directly to the courtyard of the temple where there is a currency exchange and an animal inspection centre.\u00a0 You see, when you brought your animal to be sacrificed in order to have a sin forgiven or to restore ritual purity, the animal had to be without blemish; but by whose standards?\u00a0 Apparently some priests were rejecting a large percentage of animals brought by worshippers.\u00a0 Conveniently, they happen to have a large collection of acceptable doves which you could obtain . . . for a price.\u00a0 If that wasn\u2019t corrupt enough, there was also a black market currency exchange in operation in which people using Greek and Roman currencies would have to exchange these for Jewish currency at rates very much to the advantage of the currency exchangers; all of this being done with the blessing of the priesthood.\u00a0 On Passover weekend with Jews coming from all over the empire, these currency extortionists were about to make a killing.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

Jesus anger is stirred and, for the only time in his recorded life, Jesus uses physical force, at least against some tables.\u00a0 Finally some revolutionary zeal!\u00a0 Perhaps this is<\/strong> the messiah after all . . . look at him cleaning the house of those corrupt, ruthlessly violent Romans . . . except that\u2019s not<\/strong> what he did at all.\u00a0 He gave a licking to his own<\/strong> people, cleaning house in the Jewish<\/strong> temple, not the Roman<\/strong> praetorium.\u00a0 Jesus does not seem to understand his role as the Son of David.\u00a0 In fact, he is causing his prophesy of his own death to come true; and not at the hands of Roman resistors to his rule, but at the hands of some of the leaders of his own people who feared his influence over regular folk.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

Jesus acts to restore economic justice for worshippers being ripped off by their own religious leaders.\u00a0 But why does he stop there?\u00a0 What about Roman oppression of all the people of Judah?\u00a0 Where is Jesus\u2019 preferential option for the oppressed here?\u00a0 One word and the Romans could be vanquished by legions of armed angels or miraculous wall collapses, or earthquakes . . . or another<\/strong> Passover angel of death.<\/span><\/p>\n

But here Jesus seems to have no serious quarrel with his own Roman oppressors.\u00a0 How strange.<\/span><\/p>\n

It seems that, all along, Jesus has been staging some sort of political theatre that none of his disciples understood and that is not easy to fully account for even from this side of those events.\u00a0 Is he mocking the vanity of earthly monarchies in an ironic farce?\u00a0 Is he actually claiming the throne of his father David, only in some cosmically redefined form?\u00a0 It seems he may be doing both.\u00a0 Jesus\u2019 realm has begun to do something new in the realms of the earth.\u00a0 Jesus challenges \u201cthe powers,\u201d and yet does not always enter into conflict with the ones we most expected him too.\u00a0 Jesus directs his most personal challenge within his own family.\u00a0 So his kingdom has begun to reshape this realm, and yet his throne is somehow not of this of this world.<\/span><\/p>\n

But surely that is not all there is to it.\u00a0 Jesus journey is surely about more than defining the jurisdiction of his kingdom.\u00a0 Jesus has been trying to get his followers to see something they that no one seems to be able to grasp. There is some powerful mystery at work in the gospel of Mark, and it seems it is not those closest to Jesus who are the first to begin to see it.\u00a0 It seems there is some sort of blind<\/strong> faith required to see<\/strong> and hear whatever it is that is so wondrous.\u00a0 Perhaps we are right<\/strong> after all to ask those with the most unbridled faith among us, our children to do the bulk of the hoping for us, leading us in the hosanna parade, while we with more encumbered faith prepare for what comes next.<\/span><\/p>\n

What did the crowd that accompanied Jesus to Jerusalem think they were signing up for when they shouted their Hosannas?\u00a0 What was the wonder they saw?\u00a0 What did the disciples think they were signing up for when they left everything to follow Jesus? \u00a0What mystery were they beginning to perceive? \u00a0What did those who witnessed his holy rage and heard his teaching in the temple think he wanted them to sign up for?\u00a0 They wondered at his teachings.\u00a0 Do we still have room for wonder? \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What sort of \u201cglory\u201d is Jesus really about to obtain? Are your eyes open for it?\u00a0 Are you looking for it in the courts of religion and power in your world?\u00a0 Are you keepi
\nng an eye out for it on the road to somewhere else?\u00a0 Is it to be found among your own kind, or among others?\u00a0 Do we have eyes to see and ears to hear?\u00a0 Are we ready to enter Jerusalem with Jesus, this week?\u00a0 On Friday will we come in wonder, or have we got it all figured out already.<\/span><\/p>\n

As we walk further with Jesus into this week, may the events of his life and death, unfold in new ways right before our eyes.\u00a0 May we discover the mystery Mark wants us to keep searching for.\u00a0 May we wonder at Jesus.\u00a0 Jesus challenges us to sign up to walk with him in wonder, in mystery, and into . . . ?<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

View Archived Sermons Listen to this Sermon\u00a0 Mark 10 & 11 What did I sign up for when I agreed to preach on Palm Sunday?! I confess: celebrating Palm Sunday always feels a little awkward to me, standing on this side of those events where we can plainly see what comes next.\u00a0 Having heard so many times Jesus\u2019 explanation of what must follow the parade, I can\u2019t seem to wave the palm with any enthusiasm.\u00a0 The whole event feels like…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1297","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons-a-worship-audio"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tumc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1297","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tumc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tumc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tumc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tumc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1297"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.tumc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1297\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3941,"href":"https:\/\/www.tumc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1297\/revisions\/3941"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tumc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1297"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tumc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1297"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tumc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1297"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}