Jesus, Justice & Jerusalem: What Could Go Wrong?
the will to power and refusal to forgive by God's people, combined with clearing space in the House of Prayer For All with palm branches by the suspect from Nazareth: it was too much...back then...
The subversive story of Jesus entering Jerusalem on a donkey, with the surging crowd waving palm fronds in his face, laying their coats down on the road ahead, it’s outrageous, really, if you think about it.
We like to think that people are different now, that in 2024 we are more sophisticated, smarter, and have learned our lessons from history compared to the people of the past, whether it be twenty years ago, two hundred years ago, or twenty centuries ago.
We are not.
Part of the reasons why the gospel narratives of Jesus still resonate with women and men through out these past two millennia is the way they are grounded in reality, in the way people really are, the way politics, religion and society actually plays itself out in every generation.
The Palm Sunday stories of Jesus take on a powerfully subversive tone, particularly when you read closely how the gospel-writer Mark crafts it, especially in light of the stories that come before and follow after the palm-frond entry into Jerusalem.
Still today, in Jerusalem (the city of peace) there is great injustice; it is embedded in almost every stone, every street, every home, every strata of the settlements that archeologists dig up, dating back to the millennia of King David.
For a city built on injustice, perpetually drenched in injustice, funded by injustice, wailing from injustice, you would think that when a man of justice appeared that he would be welcomed. But then you look at every city today in the world, and if you look closely, you can see that there is injustice perpetrating weeping and gnashing of teeth everywhere. Except that we can become blind to it, numb to it, or broken by it.
The gospel-writer Mark frames the account of Jesus’ donkey-descent into unjust-Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives hillside with these powder-keg pericopes (short stories):
Jesus explicitly tells his twelve leaders (for the third time) the terrifying injustices he will endure in Jerusalem - but that amazingly he will come back to life after three days.
What two of the ambitious leaders conclude is: “so you’re saying you’ll come back with invincible power - can we have some of that greatness too?”
Jesus sharply rebukes them: “are you able to drink the bitter cup of excruciating suffering that will be handed to me?” “Yes we can!” they naively reply…. apparently in our quest for power and conquering enemies we downplay the suffering that goes along with it for all affected…
When the other leaders heard about this request for honor by James and John, they were indignant - not for shame but that they didn’t think of asking first…
These are the people of God that Jesus has chosen to walk with him for three years to abide with him evening and morning that they might fulfill the promise of the Lord to save and heal the and bless the world…. They are not ready.
Jesus teaches them:
“Other nations have rulers that like to show their power over people and push them around. But this will not be the way of the ones, like you, who walk with me. The great ones among you will humble themselves and serve all the others. In the same way, the True Human Being did not come to be served by others but to offer his life in the place of many, to set them free.”
[Gospel of Mark, 10.42-45, First Nations Version Translation]
Then: as they walk through the old city of Jericho on their long dusty trek up to the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, they are hailed by a filthy blind beggar named Bartimaeus: “You who are the rightful kind of Israel, descendant of the glorious King David, will you please stop everything you are doing and have pity on me?”
The narrative by Mark is masterful: Jesus pauses, calls for the man to be brought to him and asks point blank: “What do you want from me?” to which Bart states starkly: “make me see again.” Listen closely to this provocative answer: “Be on your way, your trust in me has made you whole again.” (Mark 10.46-52, FNVT)
YOUR TRUST IN ME HAS MADE YOU WHOLE AGAIN: that is precisely what won’t happen as Jesus descends through the Jerusalem gates amidst the throngs of palms and coats: instead of trust there is thirst for revenge, for justice that avenges all the wrongs afflicted, for the people of God to be in power again….
When Jesus does ride into town on the donkey, the crowds are shouting “Hosanna” which means “Lord, save us!” - which sounds good, until you realize what they mean was revealed by James and John’s request based on the will to power and avenging justice. Blind Bart becomes the one through whom we can truly see Jesus and hear what Hosanna can truly mean for us.
In fact, the next two stories are intriguing and odd: the cursing of a fig tree and then the force-full clearing of the Temple courts (I imagine Jesus waving the palm-fronds and donkey-dropping stained coats around as part of his infamous actions).
The subversive statements are: the heart of Jerusalem is the Temple of God and guess what: it is to be called a House of Prayer For All Nations! But you’ve made it a den of crimes against humanity! Then later he declares:
“In the same way, when you stand and pray and there remember you have something against another, release them from the wrong they have done, so that your Father from above will also release you from the wrongs you have done.”
[Gospel of Mark, 11.25-26, First Nations Version Translation]
Just imagine if all of the people of God in Jerusalem who have power took to heart the descendant of King David and let the City be an oasis of peace, a house of prayer for all nations, and where every neighbor released each other from the wrongs they have done to each other.
Seriously.
It’d be a transformed city.
But you can’t make other people do this.
You, however, can put down the palm branch, you can put your coat back on, you can slap the donkey on the butt as Jesus goes by and say to yourself: you know what, I’m gonna start with me, I want my own heart to be an oasis of peace, I’ll let my home be a safe place for all to pray and be blessed, and I’ll be brave and courageous and forgive all those who have wronged me, no matter how outrageous, I’ll release them from the grudges and bitterness that have ended up poisoning my own soul and perpetuating their power over me. No more!
Hosanna! Lord save me, heal me, rescue me from my own unforgiving heart!
Hosanna! Lord come into my world with your palm-branch subversiveness, that in this desert-world of revenge may you make space for us to become an oasis of peace, an oasis of courageous forgiveness, and an oasis of prayer-full love for all.
Love this so much!