March 20, 2016

When he had come near Bethphage and Bethany, at the place called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of the disciples, 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. If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ just say this, ‘The Lord needs it.’” So those who were sent departed and found it as he had told them. As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the colt?” They said, “The Lord needs it.” Then they brought it to Jesus; and after throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. As he rode along, people kept spreading their cloaks on the road. 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, saying, “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven!” Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, order your disciples to stop.” He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.”  Luke 19:29 – 40

“Why does he accept the appellation as king now when Jesus has spent his public ministry avoiding it?”  This is a question I have heard once or twice from people – why has Jesus avoided the thought of people making him a king, until now?  And why does he accept it now?  The easy answer is this: Jesus didn’t want to be associated with the kind of kings the people had seen in their time, King Herod and Caesar to name just two, and so he avoids being proclaimed king until he had had a time to reorient his disciples understanding of kingship.

In three and a half years he has modeled what kings are intended to do for their people:

He has healed the broken and restored them to full participation in community.

He has forgiven those who missed the mark of required ethical and religious standards and included them in his new community.

He has raised the dead so as to offer social security to those women who would be destitute by the deaths of the men (Lazarus, Widow of Nain)

He has raised and healed children to break the bondage of bad theology that blamed disease and death on the actions of the parents (Children of Jairus and the Canaanite woman)

He has been inclusive, unconditionally accepting, and unrelentingly restorative through his words and actions.

If his disciples understand nothing else about Jesus, he has at least tried to show them how kings should function – not to live off the backs of those who are at their bidding and who suffer for the fortunes of the king.  Instead, Jesus as the king figure has done what he can to make the lives of people better, and to bring those outcasts back into community.

This is the king that comes into Jerusalem – this is the one that receives the “Hosannas”.  It is time for Jesus to own up to being the King he was sent to be……

Pastor Dave