CLOSE ENCOUNTERS: JESUS AND PILATE - TWO KINGDOMS
Rev. Eugene N. Nelson, Jr.
The Community Church of Sebastopol
Palm Sunday, March 16, 2008
Matthew 21:1-11
Some of you may recall the name Benigno Aquino. Years ago he was one of the leaders of the opposition struggle against Philippine dictator, Ferdinand Marcos. Aquino made the decision to renounce violence and committed himself and his followers to a non-violent struggle. He then made the decision to return to the Philippines from exile, where he could confront the Marcos regime face to face. But the confrontation did not last long. You may recall he was shot to death by the military before he had even descended from the plane.
You might say that his death changed nothing. On the one hand it seemed so futile. Marcos was now more powerful than ever, having disposed of his most outspoken and popular rival. And yet, you could also say that Aquino's death changed everything. There was now a spirit set loose in the Philippines that could not be contained or even beaten into submission. Two and a half years after the murder of Aquino, Marcos was non-violently removed from power. But there are those who still insist that the true date of his fall was the day Benigno Aquino died on the airport tarmac. Futile? I don't know about you, but in Aquino's story, I hear echoes of Palm Sunday.
As many of you have heard me say before, Palm Sunday is really a day to reflect on two parades. Marcos Borg and Dominic Crossan remind us that even as Jesus and his disciples were entering Jerusalem from the north, a very different procession was entering the city from the south. This was Pilate and his soldiers, coming into Jerusalem to reinforce the Roman garrison during the Passover celebration. There had been trouble and disruptions during previous Passovers and one thing Rome would not tolerate was disorder and those who caused it.
Think about it...Passover celebrates the deliverance of Israel from bondage, from injustice, from the oppression of a foreign power - Egypt. Now it is Passover, around 30 A.D. Where does Israel find itself? Once again suffering under the bondage, injustice and oppression of a foreign power - this time Rome. It would not be hard for people to make the connection. So Pilate rode into town determined that nothing would get out of hand, not on his watch. What was required was a show of force and nobody did that better than Rome. In the words of Borg and Crossan, "Imagine the imperial procession's arrival in the city. A visual panoply of imperial power: cavalry on horses, foot soldiers, armor, helmets, weapons, banners, golden eagles mounted on poles, sun glinting on metal and gold. And the sounds: the marching of feet, the creaking of leather, the clinking of bridles, the beating of drums.” Quite a show of power.
Then there is that other parade, the one we remember today. A very different sort of procession to be sure...a peasant procession, led by a man from the backwater, peasant, middle-of-nowhere place called Nazareth, leading his illiterate, poverty-stricken followers as he himself rides into Jerusalem on a humble beast of burden. No gold, no silver, no weapons...just some articles of clothing placed on the ground before him as onlookers wave branches they have cut from trees. Not very impressive. Not much here to strike fear into Rome or anyone else. I mean, if you had the chance, which parade would you watch?
Two contrasting parades...also two contrasting theologies. For along with Rome's imperial pomp and power, there was also an imperial theology supported by Rome's military might. According to this theology, the emperor was not only the ruler of the empire but was also the Son of God. Much of this began with Augustus who on inscriptions throughout the empire was referred to us "Lord," "Savior," and "Son of God," the one who had brought: "peace on earth." His successors had continued to bear these divine titles, including Tiberius, the emperor during Jesus' public ministry.
Back to the other procession. We find it too has its own theology. "Hosanna! God saves! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord." The crowd, of course, is referring to Jesus. But wait, doesn't Pilate also come in the name of the Lord, a god on earth, named Tiberius? What's with this peasant king on a donkey making such a claim?
According to Borg and Crossan, "Jesus' procession deliberately countered what was happening on the other side of the city. (Could Palm Sunday be a planned political demonstration?) Pilate's procession embodied the power, glory and violence of the empire that ruled the world. Jesus' procession embodied an alternative vision, the kingdom of God. And the confrontation between these two kingdoms - the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Caesar - continues throughout the last week of Jesus' life.
Again, reminiscent of the confrontation between Aquino and Marcos. And everyone knows, Aquino never stood a chance. If Jesus pursues this confrontation with Rome, or Rome's Jewish collaborators, who do you think will win? And what do you think might happen to those who support him? Sure, Jesus, I'd love to help you, but there is this appointment I really can't miss, and my back has been a little sore lately, things have been stressful at work. Good luck with Pilate.
I am reminded of a scene from the film, The Untouchables - a notable Palm Sunday film! Eliot Ness, played by Kevin Costner, has not had much success in his campaign against the criminal empire of Al Capone, and Copone’s control of the illegal alcohol trade. He takes Ness through a downtown office building and stops outside a rather ordinary looking door. He tells him the liquor is kept behind that door. Then he adds, "If you walk through this door, you are walking into a world of trouble. And there is no turning back." Ness says that he doesn’t want to turn back, so he takes out an ax and breaks down the door, and the battle with Al Capone has begun. That is how I see Palm Sunday. There are any number of processions to join, any number of kings to follow, any number of gods to whom we can give our allegiance, any number of doors to walk through… or not walk through. But once you choose that man on the donkey, once you choose to follow his path, there's no going back. So what is it going to be?
Frank Howard, former basketball coach at Clemson University, tells of pulling up behind a car at a light and noticing that it had a bumper sticker that said, "HONK IF YOU LOVE JESUS." He says, "I Love Jesus, so I honked. But then the woman who was driving that car with the bumper sticker angrily got out, shook her fist at me and screamed, ' You damned fool, you want me to come back and smack you? Can't you see that the light hasn't changed?'" She had the bumper sticker, but had she really chosen the Jesus way?
The 16th century philosopher/theologian, Erasmus, looked upon the wars of that century in which self-proclaimed Christians fought and killed each other and asked sadly, "How can they call upon 'Our Father' in prayer when they drive steel into the bowels of their brothers? Christ compared himself to a mother hen, Christians today behave like hawks. Christ was a shepherd of sheep, Christians tear each other apart like wolves." Sad how little has changed. We still justify warfare by turning it into a crusade, in which violence and destruction and death are imbued with righteousness. Of course, God takes sides - our side. Are there no more Lincolns in the world, he who dared to say at the height of the Civil War, "The question is not if God is on our side, but rather, are we on God's side." Oh the path of Pilate and Rome continues to be so alluring.
But there is still another path, another procession. There is that ridiculous man on a donkey with his equally ridiculous followers, who continues to insist that there is another way, another Kingdom, indeed, another world. In fact, he is willing to bet his life on it. Oh yes, and he invites us to join him, to put our trust and security in him, to embark upon a way that goes far beyond the mind that we now have, to join him in proclaiming to all the kingdoms of the world, "No more of this, no more of this! There is another way."
Jesus rode into this confrontation with the powers - a confrontation he initiated - bringing only what he had: peace and truth and love. And look at what they did to him. Even as we wave our palm branches, we know that we aren't too far from Friday and Calvary. Is it all just futile? Is Palm Sunday just some great cosmic joke...a waste of time? Perhaps. And yet, I have always found myself drawn to these Palm Sunday words of theologian, Rebecca Chopp: "Palm Sunday names something precious about God and the world by signifying a kind of poetry in which old orders of oppression and destruction are replaced with new orders of flourishing and fulfillment. In Palm Sunday a window opens, quickly, for us to see something higher, better and more beautiful than the troubled ways of this world - a window through which we see God as one who rides with us into a new city where there is neither suffering nor despair. The Palm Sunday story names something about our journey of faith. It says that amid struggle, anguish, denial and forgetfulness, we have a wild and soaring anticipation, a vision of a new way, a glimpse of a new world. Palm Sunday gives us space and sight to name the restless desires of our hearts and of our God: solidarity, peace, harmony, hope against hope, hope which gives us dignity, hope which makes us human." Is that enough? Is that enough for us to sign on, to ride with him into the city where people eventually will reject him and his closest disciples will desert him? Two processions...the choice is ours.
Of course the powers, the kingdoms of the world, continue to tell us that his path is futile, unrealistic, doomed to failure. They know he doesn't stand a chance. But just in case, they decide to do away with him and lock him up in a tomb. He and his crazy ideas will soon be forgotten, and that will be the last we will ever hear of him. That's the end...right?