Eye Level

The Rev. Dr. Skip Ferguson

Manassas Presbyterian Church

Manassas, Virginia

March 29, 2015

Palm Sunday

Eye Level

Mark 11:1-11

When they were approaching Jerusalem,

at Bethphage and Bethany, near the Mount of Olives,

he sent two of his disciples and said to them,

“Go into the village ahead of you,

and immediately as you enter it,

you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden;

untie it and bring it.

If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’

just say this,

‘The Lord needs it and will send it back here immediately.’”

They went away and found a colt tied near a door,

outside in the street.

 As they were untying it,

some of the bystanders said to them,

“What are you doing, untying the colt?”

They told them what Jesus had said;

and they allowed them to take it.

Then they brought the colt to Jesus

and threw their cloaks on it;

and he sat on it.

Many people spread their cloaks on the road,

and others spread leafy branches

that they had cut in the fields.

Then those who went ahead and

those who followed were shouting,

“Hosanna!
Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!

Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David!
Hosanna in the highest heaven!”

Then he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple;

and when he had looked around at everything,

as it was already late,

he went out to Bethany with the twelve.

**********************************

All the Palm Sunday stories tell us

that Jesus rode “a colt”, a donkey,

(Matthew 21: 2, Luke 18:28);

and not just any donkey,

but a young donkey,

(John 12:14),

an animal not fully grown,

a donkey so small that Jesus’ sandaled feet

must have dragged along the road

as he sat on the colt’s back.

Jesus rode the animal perhaps

to fulfill the prophecy of Zechariah,

a prophecy uttered in hope

more than 500 years before Jesus’ birth,

following the restoration of the children of Israel

back to their land after their release

from captivity under the Babylonians:

Rejoice greatly, O daughter Zion!

Shout aloud, O daughter Jerusalem!
Lo, your king comes to you;

triumphant and victorious is he,
humble and riding on a donkey,

on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

He will cut off the chariot from Ephraim

and the war-horse from Jerusalem;
and the battle bow shall be cut off,

and he shall command peace to the nations;
his dominion shall be from sea to sea,

and from the River to the ends of the earth.

(Zechariah 9:9-10)

The king coming humbly,

riding not a majestic horse,

but a humble donkey;

In fact, not even a donkey,

but a colt, the foal of a donkey,

an animal barely big enough to carry a man.

The small size of the animal,

I have to believe,

was important to Jesus not just to evoke

Zechariah’s prophecy;

and not just as a symbol of Jesus’ humility;

but for practical reasons,

for logistical reasons.

On the back of such a small creature,

with his feet scuffing the dust and the stones,

Jesus would have been at eye level

with all the people,

all the people who lined the Jericho road

on the eastern side of Jerusalem,

the road that wound around the Mount of Olives

past the Garden of Gesthemane

as it led to the entry gate by the Temple.

If there was a road that encouraged celebration,

it was surely the Jericho road.

After all, the road on the other side of the city,

the road that led in from the west,

went past the terrifying hill of Golgotha,

planted with its crosses,

Rome’s preferred executioner’s tool,

a grim reminder of the empire’s

power and authority.

We are not sure just how many people

lined the Jericho road on that first Palm Sunday

waving their palm branches

and shouting out their, “Hosannas!”

But the mood surely was festive,

spirits surely were high.

The shouting was loud enough

and boisterous enough

to annoy and exasperate the Pharisees,

the religious leaders;

to them it seemed that, “all the world

had gone after Jesus to follow him.”

(John 12:19)

All the world did seem like it was shouting out,

Blessed is the one who comes

in the name of the Lord!

Blessed is the coming kingdom

of our ancestor David!

The Lord is God and he has given us light.

The stone that the builders rejected

has become the chief cornerstone.

This is the Lord’s doing;

it is marvelous in our eyes.

Bind the festal procession with branches,

up to the horns of the altar.

Open to me the gates of righteousness,

that I may enter through them

and give thanks to the Lord.”

But of course, Jesus wasn’t interested

in celebration or adulation.

He knew that as he rode along

and looked into the eyes of those

who were shouting their hosannas

that many, perhaps most,

were simply caught up in the moment,

caught up in the excitement.

It was, after all, a holiday,

the Passover,

and those who were there

were free of everyday concerns and worries,

as they gathered to celebrate

what the faithful had celebrated

for more than thousand years.

Jesus surely knew that most of those

who lined the road,

most of those he looked at so closely,

so deeply,

would raise their voices again

in just a few short days,

not with, “Hosanna,

blessed is the one who comes

in the name of the Lord!”,

but with,

“Crucify him!

Away with him!

Release Barabbas!

Crucify him!”

(Luke 23: 18; John 19:15)

As Jesus bounced and bumped along

on the back of that diminutive animal

he looked into the eyes of those

who sang his praises

as they waved their palm branches,

men and women who shouted with joy

in the bright midday sun;

men and women who would in just a few days

join their voices to seal his fate

on the other side of town,

on the other road,

that road that led to Golgotha.

But we know, don’t we,

without the gospel writers even telling us,

that Jesus didn’t look upon the people

with judgment or anger or condemnation.

Jews and Romans and Greeks,

and Samaritans and Ethiopians,

men and women, boys and girls,

those who spoke his own language,

those who spoke in other tongues,

those who hailed from Jerusalem

or nearby towns

and those who had journeyed from far distant places.

We know, don’t we,

that as Jesus rode along

with his gaze fixed on God,

his eyes were fixed on each person;

one by one, each child of God,

Jesus saying to each with his eyes,

“You are precious.

You are honored.

You are forgiven.

You are loved.”

The living Jesus,

our Risen Lord,

looks upon you and me here and now

in the same way.

                          

We are no different from the people who

lined the Jericho road so long ago.

We are men and women who try to live by faith,

but who, if we are honest and humble,

won’t hesitate to acknowledge

how often we fall short.

                                            

Had we lived 2000 years ago,

we too might have been

part of the group shouting “hosannas”

along the road that Sunday;

and we too might have been part of the group

that would later shout out,

“Crucify!”

But the good news is this,

just as the psalmist has told us:

The Lord is God and he has given us light,

light in our Lord Jesus Christ,

light we are called to follow,

light that leads us to mercy,

and grace, and love.

Do you see?

The light shines brightly,

so brightly even the shadow of the cross

cannot darken it:

Our King comes to us,

humble and riding on a donkey,

on a colt, the foal of a donkey

riding so he can look us in the eye,

each of us,

you and me,

look us in the eye…

to tell us we are loved.

AMEN