Which King are you following? (Transcript of talk Palm Sunday 2020)

Matthew 21.1-11

PALM SUNDAY

On Saturday 4^th April the 2020 Grand National was run virtually because of our current state of lock down due to Covid-19.

In the late 1960’s I was an Apprentice Jockey to Racehorse Trainer Bruce Hobbs who was the youngest ever jockey to win the Grand National. At just turned 17 he won in 1938 on Battleship.

Bruce Hobbs & Battleship

Gordon Banks winning the Polar Jest Apprentice Handicap 1969


Today, Palm Sunday we don’t have a thoroughbred racehorse, but we do have a donkey. 

And today, like every day since time began there is a competition.

The competition is between a man on a donkey and a man on a horse. And it’s not virtual, it’s played out in real time.

You know who the man on the donkey is, but who’s this man on the horse.

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 and offered their necks to the blades.

Not the best start to ruling and governing the region.

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 amongst 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 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 had 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 greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout, Daughter Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. 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.

It is interesting to note 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 amongst the crowds. 

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 superpower 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.

(The more common title was 'herald'  and dependent on where you stood not all their 'news' was necessarily good)

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 for everyone regardless!

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 Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom if 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 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

And we all have a choice to make, either the man on the donkey or the man on the horse – either the Kingdom of God or the kingdom of the world.

Thankfully at this time of the Coronavirus pandemic we are seeing many people of all faiths and none displaying signs of God's Kingdom. 

Those battling in our NHS and in Care Homes, and those trying to keep everything going as best we are able during these strangest of times. 

If we as God's people see God's Kingdom work then let us rejoice and if we are able to do so let us join in and participate together. 

We might recall how on once occasion Jesus' disciples came up to him and said they had seen someone casting out demons and how they told them to stop because he isn't in our group. 

Jesus replied, "Do not stop him, for whoever is not against you is for you." Luke 9:49-50

(But as warning confer Acts 8.9-25 & 19:13-16)

However, for the world that is organised outside of God, that has no room for God, 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 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.

Can I implore you to think very carefully about the choice you will make and its ramifications for yourself, your family and friends and for the world. 

God invites you to become a herald of the Good News and to be a person of Good News in each and everything you do.

‘You are a unique and irreplaceable actor in the drama of human history, and Jesus Christ has need of you to make known his salvific work in this particular place and at this particular moment in history.’

 Michel Quoist - ‘The Christian Response’

Want to know about the Christian Faith and following the King of Kings - then visit www.christianity.org.uk