And when they came nigh to Jerusalem, unto Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount of Olives, he sendeth forth two of his disciples, and saith unto them, Go your way into the village over against you: and as soon as ye be entered into it, ye shall find a colt tied, whereon never man sat; loose him, and bring him. And if any man say unto you, Why do ye this? say ye that the Lord hath need of him; and straightway he will send him hither. And they went their way, and found the colt tied by the door without in a place where two ways met; and they loose him. And certain of them that stood there said unto them, What do ye, loosing the colt? And they said unto them even as Jesus had commanded: and they let them go. And they brought the colt to Jesus, and cast their garments on him; and he sat upon him. And many spread their garments in the way: and others cut down branches off the trees, and strawed them in the way. And they that went before, and they that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna; Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord: Blessed be the kingdom of our father David, that cometh in the name of the Lord: Hosanna in the highest. And Jesus entered into Jerusalem, and into the temple: and when he had looked round about upon all things, and now the eventide was come, he went out unto Bethany with the twelve. (Mark 11:1-11)
We had it all wrong. We thought he was riding into town to gather an army. We thought he was going to conquer the Romans and restore our beloved Israel to its own people. We thought he would push the Roman oppressors out of Jerusalem, then out of Judea and Samaria and totally away from the region. We were ready to march with him. We were ready to fight for him. We were ready to pick up arms. We were ready to make him our general, and eventually our king. Oh, how we wanted him to declare war against the Romans! Oh, how we yearned for him to issue a call to arms! We would have gladly left our families, our fields, our occupations in a heartbeat! Why didn’t he pull together an army? Why didn’t he march into Jerusalem, kick out the Roman leaders, and establish himself as king? Surely we would have followed him. We were a potential army, an angry mob without a leader. He was a leader without an army— only a rag-tag group of fisherman, a doctor and a tax collector. Why couldn’t we have joined forces? We would be the army, he would be the general— or so we had hoped— and so we waved our palm branches and chanted our chants and cheered our cheers and sang our battle hymn of the republic while he rode into the city on his silly donkey. “Make Israel Great Again”, we chanted over and over again, but it was not meant to be. He entered into Jerusalem, he went into the temple, he looked around, he got back on his donkey, and he and his band of twelve went out to Bethany. Bethany? That’s such a small town. You can’t round up a posse of soldiers in Bethany. There’s hardly anyone out there, no guns or weapons, no stash of cash, no shakers and movers— just a bunch of sleepy old farmers and bored teenagers and a few sleepy old cows and maybe one or two old horses. Revolutions start in Jerusalem and Rome. Revolutions do not start in Bethany. We had it all wrong. We thought that every problem in the world could be fixed by power. The big fish swallow the smaller fish. We fight for what we want, and the strongest man wins. That’s just the way it works. But this man had a very different way of looking at things. He taught things like “Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth” and “Do not resist an evil person! If someone slaps you on the right cheek, offer the other cheek also” and “If you are sued in court and your shirt is taken from you, give your coat, too” and “If a soldier demands that you carry his gear for a mile, carry it two miles” and “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” and “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you”. Generals and kings and the powerful people of this world don’t talk about such things. And what about all this talk about love? We weren’t interested in loving our enemies; we were interested in destroying them before they destroyed us. It became clear that this man wasn’t going to help us to achieve our agenda. All this talk about love and servanthood was getting in the way, and the people were starting to buy into it. This man could undo the very revolution that we were hoping that he would establish, and so we set the wheels into motion that would eventually lead to his crucifixion by the Romans. We partnered with our enemy to stamp out the one whom we both rejected. No, we did not love our enemies, the Romans, but we needed for them to add their political power to our religious power so that we could stamp him out together. We had it all wrong. Looking back, we realized that we were the ones who had been brainwashed by the ways of this world, and Jesus had it right all along. We had thought that by combining political power with religious devotion and blind patriotism and military might, we could bring about God’s kingdom, but oh how wrong we were! How could we have been so blind? We crucified the Son of God. In our zeal to use God to bring about our own agenda, we murdered the Son of God. Now we realize that we are all Judas. Looking back, now we realize what was going on. He had to die as an atonement for our sins, as prophesied by the great Prophet Isaiah. He had to rise from the dead as conqueror over our real enemies: sin and death. He had to ascend into heaven, to be seated at his rightful place at the right hand of God the Father. He had to come back again to the earth, to establish his kingdom upon the earth, as had been promised to our forefathers. Yes, Messiah will rule from the throne of David, the Kingdom of God will come to the earth, but it will happen in God’s way, and in God’s timing, and according to God’s principles, not the principles of this world. His kingdom will be characterized not by military might but by meekness, and by not resisting our enemies with a show of force, and by turning the other cheek, and by giving away our belongings rather than fighting for our rights, and by carrying a soldier’s gear for an extra mile, and by loving our friends enough to die for them, and by loving our enemies, blessing those who curse us, doing good to those who hate us, and praying for those who abuse and persecute us. Now we understand the words of the great Prophet Micah: “And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more”. We had it all wrong. We were chanting the wrong chants. We were singing the wrong songs. But now we understand. Now we repent. Now we believe. Now we realize that God has forgiven us, his enemies, for all that we have ever done wrong, including the murder of his very own Son! God has forgiven us, and we are eternally grateful. Because of this, we are learning how to forgive each other, how to love each other, and how to love and forgive our enemies. We are being prepared to live as citizens of His coming kingdom. Now we realize that he sent his Son to die for those who crucified him. We are his grateful followers, and our joy knows no limits, but we had to admit that we were wrong before we could receive the love and forgiveness that would transform us into citizens of his coming kingdom. Now we sing a different song.
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