Palm Sunday St John’s Littleworth
Psalm 118.1-2, 19-end
Mark 11.1-11
Some of you will know that back in the 1960's I served time as an Apprentice Jockey.
Today I want to talk to you about a competition between
a man on a donkey and a man on a horse.
The competion is for the
very soul of the human race
And we need to study the
form and be very careful which one we choose.
You could lose more
than the shirt off your back…
Do
not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be
afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
Matthew 10.28
The man on the horse entered Jerusalem from the West at the head of a large army.
This was the new
Procurator, Pontius Pilate taking up his post in AD26 under the Emperor
Tiberius.
He marched his cohort
of legionaries with all their standards right into the Temple Mount – and
caused a riot.
As the legionaries drew
their gladius’ many of the Jews simply knelt down and offered their necks to
the blades.
Not the best start to
ruling and governing the region.
So on this occasion
the standards were removed from the Temple Mount.
However we may view
his later encounter with Jesus, Pilate was no push over and among other
things kept the Robes of the High Priest. They had to go and ask him if they
could use them when ceremony required it.
He was also not averse to creaming off some of the Temple money.
The man on the donkey
entered Jerusalem from the East.
Bethpage was probably
a very small settlement close to Bethany which itself lay around two miles East
of Jerusalem.
We know of course
about Bethany as the home of Jesus friends, Mary, Martha and Lazarus.
And if the man on the
horse knew what he was doing entering into Jerusalem at the head of a
conquering army with all the might, power and pomp of Imperial Rome, so did the
man on the donkey.
The man on the donkey
was an itinerant preacher, teacher, healer and he done many great miracles.
“See,”
the Pharisees where to say on one occasion, “this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after
him!" John 12.19
And the man on the
donkey knew the Hebrew Scriptures; he knew the prophets and the prophecies.
If Pilate’s troops
carried in their symbols and signs so did Jesus.
Rejoice
with all your heart, people of Zion! Shout in triumph, people of Jerusalem!
Look! Your King is coming to you: He is righteous and victorious. He is humble
and rides on a donkey, on a colt, a young pack animal.
Zechariah 9.9
He would have known
exactly what he was doing and we get a sense of this by the very careful
orchestration of procuring a donkey for him to use.
Worth noting that no
one had ridden on this young colt before – which is probably why in Matthew’s
account we have the jenny, the colt’s mother, brought along to help keep the
colt calm among the crowds.
However I have to say as someone who has ridden
horses I have deep respect here for Jesus.
Here in these two men
we have two Kingdoms.
The Kingdom of God or
as Matthew puts it, the Kingdom of Heaven in deference to his Jewish readers,
and the kingdom of the world, here represented by the reigning super power of
the day, the sprawling Roman Empire.
And the Roman Empire had
travelling evangelist who would enter villages, towns and cities like Jerusalem
proclaiming the good news, the evangel.
Gathering a crowd
around, the evangelist would tell the latest good news about a recent conquest
by the Empire, or of the Emperor’s birthday or some other notable event.
Hold that in mind and
heed these words from Mark 1.14-15
Now after John was arrested,
Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, “The time
is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the
gospel.”
Proclaiming the
Gospel of God – God’s Good News.
And remember that
repentance always means more than a feeling of remorse or sorry – it is a
change of mind leading to a change of action, a turning 180 degrees.
Jesus offered a
choice of serving another King and another Kingdom.
We will hear this
played out in the forthcoming drama of Jesus’ final journey to Jerusalem and
his death by crucifixion.
We will watch again
as Jesus and Pilate stand before each other, both representing diametrically opposed
kingdoms.
And during this tense
drama on one occasion we hear Jesus say, “My
kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my
arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place." John 18.36
We will see Peter
waving his sword around in the dark as they come to arrest Jesus and we will
hear Jesus say, "Put your sword back
in its place, for all who draw the sword will die by the sword.
Jesus offered not
violent revolution but rather a loving revelation.
He outlined in
particular what it means to live as the People of God in the Sermon on the
Mount and in the Beatitudes which someone once described as beautiful
attitudes. .
The man on the donkey
or the man on the horse
My first post as a Church Army Evangelist was in the Diocese of St Alban's. Alban was a Romano-British citizen of
the third century in the Roman city of Verulamium. He gave shelter to a
stranger fleeing from persecution who turned out to be Christian priest.
Alban was so moved by the priest’s faith and courage that he asked to be taught
more about Christianity, then still a forbidden religion.
Before long the authorities came to
arrest the fugitive priest. But Alban, inspired by his new-found faith,
exchanged clothes with the priest, allowing him to escape. (Although he was later captured and
executed)So Alban was arrested instead and brought before the city magistrate. Alban refused to sacrifice to the emperor and the Roman gods. When asked to identify himself he declared: ‘I am called Alban and I worship and adore the true and living God, who created all things’.
The magistrate ordered that Alban
should receive the punishment due to the priest. He was brought out of
the town and up the hillside to the site of execution where he was beheaded. The
first Christian martyr to shed blood on English soil.
Today Verulamium is a ruin while
Alban is remembered by a magnificent Abbey and a city named in his honour along
with St Alban’s Diocese.
As you leave here
today and go into the week ahead you will have to make a choice, either the man
on the donkey or the man on the horse – either the Kingdom of God or the kingdom
of the world.
There is no middle
ground – because either Jesus is Lord or Caesar is Lord.
In Jesus’ final
earthy discourse recorded by Matthew in what we call the Great Commission we
read…
Then
Jesus came to them and said, "All
authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
Matthew 26.18
St Augustine wrote –
‘If Jesus be not Lord of all then he is not Lord at all.’
Allegiance to the man
on the donkey may bring you into conflict with the people who follow the man on
the horse, but remember the way of Jesus, the way of loving revelation, the way
that leads to life and life in all its fullness.
And today we still
have evangelist from both the kingdom of the world and from the Kingdom of God.
And right here and
right now you and I have a choice to make, and that choice will affect every
aspect of our lives.
The Kingdom of God or
the Kingdom of the World – it is always our choice, such is the grace and love
of God who so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son so that
whosoever should believe in him should die but have everlasting life.
As you leave this place
and enter into the week ahead can I implore you to think very carefully about
the choice you will make?
But if serving the LORD seems
undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve,
whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the
Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we
will serve the LORD.“ Joshua
24.15
