Photo by Susan Wilkinson on Unsplash
Karen Hollis | April 13, 2025 Palms
Luke 19:28-40 When he had come near Bethphage and Bethany, at the place called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of the disciples, saying, “Go into the village ahead of you, and as you enter it you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ just say this, ‘The Lord needs it.’ ” So those who were sent departed and found it as he had told them. As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the colt?” They said, “The Lord needs it.”
Then they brought the donkey to Jesus, and after throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. As he rode along, people kept spreading their cloaks on the road. Now as he was approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of his followers began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the wonderful miracles that they had seen, saying, “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven!” Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, order your disciples to stop.” Jesus answered, “I tell you, if they were silent, the stones would shout out.”
I’m going to self-locate for a minute. While I love talking about politics outside the pulpit and am only recently ready to explicitly engage this topic from the pulpit –and I’m all in. I’m really excited and stretching myself a bit. I have learned way more than is really relevant for today and more than I have time for. There’s more for another day. Let’s pray.
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be reflections of your word to us today, in Christ’s name we pray. Amen
Let’s begin by defining our topic. First of all, I want to assure you that I will never discuss anything partisan from the pulpit. This is not the appropriate context for a partisan statement or conversation. On the other hand, this is an appropriate place for discussion about politics.
What do I mean? What does it mean to be political? According to the United Church website, this word comes from the Greek root polis, which refers to the building up of life, health, and sustainability of our cities, our communities, and all within them. Take a breath in and out with me. Politics refers to the building up of life, health, and sustainability of our cities, our communities, and all within them. That sounds like something we can be about in this space. In fact, we talk about that stuff all the time (so I guess I have been talking about politics), in part because our sacred texts talk about these things . . . and Jesus, himself.
I don’t want to get lost in this, but it feels important to mention as an aside that even saying Jesus was political feels like I’m breaking some kind of rule . . . not a CxU rule, but a Christian rule. I’m not going to unpack it today, but lift it up for us to ponder. Where does that rule come from? Why did the church separate Jesus from politics? How has that shaped our faith to make Jesus a religious figure without also naming his politics? Why has the church depoliticized him? Made him more palatable? Again, I’m not trying to call out this congregation, but pose the questions to the wider church to unpack another day.
Ok, moving on. What does Jesus’ politics look like in practice? Like many who are peasants living in the time of empire, it takes the form of resistance. Oppression under the Roman Empire is all but unimaginable for us . . . the poverty, the oppression, the desperation. Scholar Gerhard Lenski writes: at that time, “the great majority of the political elite sought to use the energies of the peasantry to the full, while depriving them of all but the basic necessities of life.”1 All of this with a constant eye watching them. Roman soldiers stationed here and there, crucifixes conveniently placed along the road just in case of a need. This is the way of empire.
In general, there are two kinds of resistance: 1. open acts of protest, speaking truth to power, violence, and looting. And 2. more subtle acts of playing dumb, imagining revenge, or in this first century context, simply recalling the ideals lifted up by Moses and King David.2 The first is certain to get one killed; the second is much safer and at the very least helps to maintain one’s dignity. According to scholar John Dominic Crossan, Jesus walked the line right in between them. His eating and healing practices were on the precise borderline between private and public, covert and overt, secret and open resistance3 . . . and all of them were nonviolent forms of protest. His resistance was strategic and intentional . . . and in the case of his entry into Jerusalem, it seems, also planned.
A little background information (again) from John Dominic Crossan: the image of what he calls the anti-triumphal entry goes back to a prophesy that was added to the prophet Zechariah in the 4th Century BCE. “That [prophesy] created a very deliberate contrast with how Alexander of Macedon (Alexander the Great) had entered cities like Tyre and Gaza after devastating sieges or, especially, with how he had entered Jerusalem when it finally decided not to resist but to submit and throw open its gates to the conqueror.”4 The prophesy offers a counter image: “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.” Almost verbatim what is written in the gospels.
So now that we have these two image in mind, imagine them played out with Jesus and Pilate at the same time. It’s Passover time, and Jewish pilgrims are making their journey to Jerusalem — Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea is riding up to Jerusalem from his coastal residence in the west. He processes in all of his imperial majesty – clanging his way with armor, chariots, and soldiers – to remind the Jewish pilgrims that Rome demands their complete loyalty, obedience, and submission. The Jewish people can commemorate their liberation from slavery in Egypt, but they best not try and replicate it.5
On the other side of town, Jesus carries out a planned and daring act of resistance. Jesus tells a couple of his disciples to borrow a donkey colt. They bring the colt and set Jesus on it (as if he’s some kind of action figure), and he rides from the east, up the long road to Jerusalem. From the back of the donkey colt, he’s basically eye-level with the crowds – donkeys are not very tall – in the eyes of the elite, he looks perfectly absurd in comparison.6 Mission accomplished. Luke’s gospel tells us that as he rides in, the people praise him as their king . . . which speaks to our modern Christian ears of his holy kingship . . . but when we’re talking politics, this proclamation is in direct defiance of the empire.
While Jesus rides the line between open and passive resistance, Open Resistance – is always the tip of the iceberg. There are always more people engaging in passive resistance. Of course, what power fears is the tipping point, where there are enough people moving into active resistance that the sheer numbers of people overwhelm the rulers. So, the Romans are always watchful for the next person the people will raise up. Jesus’ protest brings together and empowers those who practice both kinds of resistance.
The empire keeps an eye on Jesus for offering a different idea of what it means to live well, live sustainably. The ruling class already has everything they need, so they also have everything to lose. I can’t remember who said, history doesn’t repeat, but it rhymes. I love that . . . it resonates.
We are at a potent and critical moment in history. At our best, we’re asking big questions about our politics . . . how do we care for the people of the earth? What comes first? Who carries the responsibility? Where are the resources? What does equity look like? We are faced in every generation and every season to respond to the current conditions, the current climate (climate – that word could have a double meaning) with what will bring life . . . and it’s critical for our collective well-being that we do so. Our tradition tells us that Jesus’ actions are the word of God speaking into the world. When we want to know what God is saying, we watch for what Jesus is doing. Our God is Creator, Life-Giver, Light-Bearer, Almighty, and Abba or Papa. When we watch Jesus, we hear God speak life, human dignity, presence, self-care, feeding, liberation. God is in the business of salvation from the things that diminish and oppress us . . . but its not an individual salvation. In the ancient world, there was no concept of individual salvation. I am not saved until we are all saved; you are not free until we are all free. This is God’s way. Thanks be to God.
1 Gerhard Lenski, Power and Privilege. p. ?
2 Crossan, Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography. 105
3 ibid.
4 Crossan. God and Empire. 132.
5 Debie Thomas, https://www.journeywithjesus.net/essays/2958-save-us-we-pray, April 12, 2025
6 Debie Thomas, https://www.journeywithjesus.net/essays/2958-save-us-we-pray, April 12, 2025