What kind of triumphal entry?

What kind of triumphal entry?

 

The people of Jerusalem were used to triumphal entries.  And they didn’t much like them.  That’s because the ‘triumphal entries’ they were used to were made by the Romans.  And they were an awesome statement of power.

 

Herod the Great had established what some regarded as an unholy alliance between the Jewish people and the Roman power.  He played one side off against the other.  This half-Jewish, half-Idumean came to power thank to the way he weedled his way into the good books of Cleopatra and Anthony.  When they lost out in battle to Octavian, that August character who became the first Roman Emperor and took the name Augustus, Herod did the thing power-crazed tyrants tend to do.  He switched sides.

 

To win over the Jewish people he built a magnificent new temple to Yahweh the Jewish God  the like of which the people had never before seen in Jerusalem.  And on the coast he built a major new port and city with its very own temple to Augustus the Roman God-Emperor.

 

At Herod’s death his kingdom was shared out among his sons.   But the one who took charge of Judea and Jerusalem couldn’t keep the Jewish rebels who wanted to overthrow Rome down.  So by the time Jesus had his bar mitzvah and came of age at the age of 12 and made that first memorable visit to Jerusalem and its new Temple, the Romans had dismissed Herod’s son.

 

In his place they placed a Procurator who would be based not in the Holy City of Jerusalem on Mount Zion, but down in the much more conducive modern Roman city of Caesarea Maritima, Caesarea by the seaside.

 

By the time Jesus’ ministry began in the reign of  Tiberius, the Roman Emperor, Pontius Pilate had become the Procurator.  His capital was in Caesarea by the Seaside.

 

But he would from time to time have to make his way to Jerusalem and enter into the city.  He was the representative of Rome.  And he most certainly would not ride on a donkey!

 

In fact, we have a description of the kind of presence he would have in the Book of Acts.  Paul was arrested in Jersualem but transferred under guard to the Roman Procurator’s capital in Caesarea.  Luke it is who describes the way the Romans took him under guard, rescuing him from an assassination attempt.  It must have been pretty impressive!

 

The high-ranking Tribune based in Jerusalem ‘summoned two of the centurions and said, “Get ready to leave by nine o’clock tonight for Caesarea with two hundred soldiers, seventy horsemen, and two hundred spearmen.  And provide mounts for Paul to ride and take him safely to Felix the Governor.”

 

What is interesting about that snapshot account is that it shows what the Roman presence was like.  How much serious armed guard they needed in what could be very troubled times.  It indicates the tensions there could easily between those among the Jewish people who wanted to rise up in rebellion against Rome.

 

The military might was very impressive.

 

Did you see the pictures on the news of the fleets of lightly armoured police vans heading into central London in order to police the G20 meetings this week.  That’a a pretty awesome statement of power.

 

That was what the Roman statement of power was like … but it was very much more sinister.

 

If that was what it took to protect a prisoner, you can imagine that the guard for the Roman Procurator would be even more impressive.

 

It as at Festival ltimes that unrest could easily flare up.  So it was that Pilate, maybe unwillingly, would have to ride into Jerusalem and take up residence there.  Pilate would have ridden into Jerusalem on a mount that was massively impressive flanked by horsemen, maybe spearmen.

 

And arriving in the city he would have come through the gates in the wall and curiously made his way towards the Temple.  Not to go into the Temple.

 

A mark of the way King Herod the Great had played Roman off against the Jewish people was the way he built the big fortress for the Roman presence.  It was built immediately beside the Temple itself – and it towered over the walls of the temple.  And Herod named it after one of his first Roman heroes, Mark Anthony.  The Antonine Fortress towered over the Temple mount itself.

 

That would have been Pilate’s base.

 

That’s the power.

 

Some of the Jewish people went along with the Roman power.  Especially the wealthy, those with influence, those with power, those with clout!  The Saducees, the High Priests, the Lawyers, the Scribes.  But there were those among the Jewish people who wanted something very different.  The Pharisees stood for a purity that would not compromise with the Gentile Rome.  There were those who said a plague on both your houses and went off to the desert, the Judean wilderness, notably to Qumran.  And then there were the Zealots, and the other sword-bearers, revolutionaries.  They wanted to overthrow Rome by force of arms.

 

And in one way or another they looked to one who would come as anointed of God, the kind of king, messiah who would usher in the kingdom of God.

 

Word came to the shepherds in the fields just outside Jerusalem, the fields of Bethlehem …”Do not be afraid; for see – I am bring you good news of great joy for all the people, to you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour who is the Messiah, the Lord.  This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped I bands of cloth and lying in a manger.”  And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace …”

 

Those wise men expected the one born to be king to be born in one of Herod’s palaces.  That’s where they went.  Instantly Herod the Great saw the coming of a promised king as a threat to his power.  He had killed a lot of people to get to the position he was in, including members of his own family.  He had few qualms, so we are told by Matthew.  Maintaining the power and the security of Rome took precedence over the lives of little ones.  The innocents were slain.

 

Glory to God in highest heaven, and on earth peace.

 

Jesus didn’t exactly burst on to the scene unannounced.  John the Baptist paved the way for the one who was to come.  When he came his message was all about the Kingdom of God, the rule of God taking root in people’s hearts, people’s homes, in the world at large.  Love God, love your neighbour, love your enemy too.   This was a powerful message.

 

Glory to God in highest heaven, and on earth peace.

 

How he turned things upside down.

 

Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven,

Blessed are those who mourn for they sill be comforted.

Blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they will be filled

Blessed are the merciful for they will receive mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God.

Blessed are the peace-makers for they will be called children of God.

Blessed are those whoa are persecuted for the sake of righteousness / justice for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

 

Glory to God in highest heaven and on earth peace.

 

He matched deeds to words and brought healing, wholeness salvation into people’s lives.

 

And then came the point when he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem.

 

It was the Pharisees who felt that unwise.  Some of them came to him with a warning.  Get away from here, they said, for Herod – not Herod the Great he had died shortly after Jesus’ birth, but Herod Antipas, the son of Herod the Great who had jurisdiction over Galilee.  He was the Herod who had been responsible for the cruel execution by beheading of John the Baptist.

 

“Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.”

 

Jesus knew exactly where he was going.  And he knew why.  And he said so in the most forthright of terms.

 

“Go and tell that fox for me, ‘Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work.  Yet today, tomorrow and the next day I must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem.”

 

Jesus knew what Jerusalem was like.  He knew what was in store for him there.

 

“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it.”

 

Things haven’t changed a lot.  It’s still a centre of conflict.

 

How Jesus longed for the peace of Jerusalem.

 

“How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under wings, and you were not willing.”

 

By now Jesus is very much on his journey to Jerusalem.  A journey that will take him to rejection, intense suffering, death … and beyond to resurrection.

 

His route takes him partly through Samaria, down to the river Jordan along the river, before he makes his way through Jericho, up into the mountains and reaches the outskirts of Jerusalem.

 

And now he is ready.

 

Ready for a triumphal entry.

 

But what kind of triumphal entry will it be?

 

He has come to the place of the prophets.  Just as the prophets before he is used to making symbolic statements charged with meaning.

 

He has one prophet in particular in mind as he makes his preparations for that triumphal entry.  Matthew it is who identifies the prophet – it is the prophet Zechariah.

 

In his choice of a donkey of all things – as nonsensical to people used to those triumphal entries of the all-powerful Roman Procurator coming as the personally-appointed representative of the Roman Emperor himself, as it is to us, he had the words of this prophet in mind.

 

Reading:  Zechariah 9:9-10

 

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 warhorse 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. 

 

Cut off the chariot?

 

Cut off the war horse?

 

Cut off the battle-bow.

Command peace to the nations … this is a very different kind of triumphal entry.

 

As he rode along, people kept spreading their cloaks on the road. As he was now approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power 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!’ 

 

Haven’t we heard that chant somewhere before?

 

Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven.

 

In the shepherds’ fields they had been heavenly hosts, now it was a very earthly multitude.

 

Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace

 

Has become.

 

Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven.

 

Peace and Glory – these are the marks of God’s realm where God’s rule prevails.  Peace and Glory – this is what’s in Jesus’ heart as he makes his triumphal entry.

 

And then, Luke tells us, he came near.  And then comes the point.  And to come down from Bethany and reach the so-called Mount of Olives, it is so dramatic.

 

As he came near, and saw the city.  Something happened to Jesus.

 

 

For a moment he was overwhelmed.

 

Luke 19:41-44

 

As he came near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, ‘If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. Indeed, the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up ramparts around you and surround you, and hem you in on every side. They will crush you to the ground, you and your children within you, and they will not leave within you one stone upon another; because you did not recognize the time of your visitation from God.’

 

As he came near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, ‘If you, even you, had only recognised on this day, the things that make for peace …

 

2000 years on I saw that view through razor wire.

 

Look at Jerusalem today, look at Israel, at Palestine, at the West Bank, at Gaza and you cannot help but weep, echoing the words of Jesus, “If you had only recognised the things that make for peace.”

 

Bishop Suhail, the Anglican Bishop of Jerusalem, has responsibility for the Al Ahli hospital in Gaza: it is supported by the Bible Lands Society.  As war raged in Gaza he wrote to the Bible Lands Society,

 

“Every day since the beginning of military operations, the hospital has received an extra 20-40 people, injured or wounded.  Patients with burns and acute, crippling psychological trauma are being seen more frequently.  The hospital staff is working around the clock, struggling with the effects of exhaustion and against limited resources in an area of ongoing mi8litary operations.

 

“Many medical items are needed.  The hospital’s windows have all  been blown out or shattered from rocket and missile concussion and cold permeates the entire premises.  Plastic sheeting to cover the windows could alleviate some of the cold, but is unavailable now.  Food supplies are scant and maintaining patients’ nutritional needs at the hospital has been difficult.  Some medicines and supplies for the hospital have been generously donated by US Aid, but it has not yet been possible to deliver the items.”

 

Jesus may have wept over a city that failed to recognise the things that make for peace, but he continued on his ‘triumphal entry’.

 

triumphant and victorious

humble and riding on a donkey,
   

His purpose:  to cut off the chariot from Ephraim
   and the warhorse from Jerusalem;
to cut off the battle-bow,
   and to command peace to the nations

 

We who follow in the footsteps of this Jesus and are proud to be children of God are called to be peace-makers.

 

That is what Bishop Suhail, the Anglican Bishop in Jerusalem, recognises in a second letter to the Bible Lands Society

 

“I believe that we must remember during these difficult days that we are celebrating at this very moment the incarnation of our Lord.  That God is present among us, and it is in our own ministries that each of us witnesses to His presence.  Yes, especially amidst conflict and strife, we Christians stand for something here.

 

“We stand for Peace, Justice, Reconciliation and Forgiveness, and the Promise of a time when we can live together in fellowship.

 

“I believe the meaning of this parable we are living now is that we must hold firmly to our faith and trust in the promise that the Lord made to us.  So as always, but especially now, I ask that you walk this parable of Peace and Reconciliation with me, each in your way and in your own ministry.  May the Peace of the Lord be always with you.”[1]

1     It came upon the midnight clear,

       that glorious song of old,

       from angels bending near the earth

       to touch their harps of gold:

       'Through all the earth, goodwill and peace

       from heaven's all-gracious king!'

       The world in solemn stillness lay

       to hear the angels sing.

 

2     With sorrow brought by sin and strife

       the world has suffered long

       and, since the angels sang, have passed

       two thousand years of wrong:

       the nations, still at war, hear not

       the love-song which they bring:

       O hush the noise and cease the strife,

       to hear the angels sing!

 

3     And those whose journey now is hard,

       whose hope is burning low,

       who tread the rocky path of life

       with painful steps and slow:

       O listen to the news of love

       which makes the heavens ring!

       O rest beside the weary road

       and hear the angels sing!

 

4     And still the days are hastening on -

       by prophets seen of old -

       towards the fulness of the time

       when comes the age foretold:

       then earth and heaven renewed shall see

       the prince of peace, their king;

       and all the world repeat the song

       which now the angels sing.

 

Jubilate Hymns version of It came upon the midnight clear Edmund H Sears (1810-1876)

---

[1] Quotations from Bishop Suhail, the Anglican Bishop of Jerusalem, in The Star in the East, The Magazine of Bible Lands and Christian Love in Action, Spring 2009.

The War in Iraq - a piece from Highbury News March 2003

Five years ago today my family and I joined many people from all over the country on a march to stop the imminent war in Iraq. Before going on that march I wrote this piece for Highbury News. Events have since taken their course and the tragedy of the war in Iraq is still taking its toll. What was said five years ago came to mind as I was preparing to preach on Romans on Sunday morning.

Over the last twelve years there have been a few occasions when it has been very difficult to write the Minister’s Memo.

This is another such occasion.

The difficulty each time has been the same.

I am writing a fortnight before the date when Highbury News will be published. I am all too conscious that much can happen in a fortnight.

God forbid, we may find ourselves by the time you read this at war.

It may be that the threat of war has receded.

In the twelve years I have been here at Highbury I have made it quite clear where I stand on the issue of war. Nothing I have heard has persuaded me to change my views.

9/11 had a profound effect on me as it had on us all. I have lived through the cold war, through the period of terrorism linked with Northern Ireland. I recognise that the world faces a new order of terrorism. And it is right for the world to respond.

I firmly believe that the proper response to the kind of terrorism we witnessed on 11th September 2001, involves, first and foremost, painstaking intelligence-gathering, the kind of intelligence-gathering that’s going on as I write very close to home.

The gathering of that intelligence then has to be linked to thorough policing with full international co-operation and backed up by the force of law. The fruits of that policing have been seen in recent weeks with the arrest of groups of terrorists, not least here in this country.

I firmly believe that the campaign against terrorism is not served by going to war with Iraq. To the contrary, I fear that war with Iraq will result in an increase in the very terrorism the world rightly seeks to combat. War will accomplish the very de-stabilising of the Middle East the terrorists aim to achieve.

By focusing the world’s attention on a regime that is diametrically opposed to all that that network of terrorists stands for, the Governments of the USA and the UK are in grave danger of playing into the hands of Osama Bin Laden. They are in danger of reinforcing the terrorists and entrenching for generations to come their way of looking at the world.

The worst consequence of such a war is that it will open up a major and bloody rift between the world of Christianity and the world of Islam. That, too, is something the terrorists long for.

Terrorists feed religious hatred and bigotry ... and then they feed off it. We have seen it happen to our cost in Northern Ireland. We are witnessing it in the Middle East. The very hatred that is fundamental to their cause is contrary as much to the teaching of the Qu’ran as it is contrary to the teaching of Christ.

The fact that this war will be interpreted by the terrorists and those who fuel the fires of terrorism as having to do with our faith and the faith of Islam places a responsibility on us as Christians. We cannot simply stand by and do nothing.

What can we do?

As Christians I believe we cannot remain silent. I share with you the dictates of my conscience. I hope you will do the same with me ... and with others too. If we believe that war can be justified in this instance then we need to be prepared to say so. If on the other hand we feel that war cannot be justified we need to say so too.

Between my writing this and you reading it I hope to go to London to share with many others from all over the country in declaring my opposition to this war. On Saturdays at 11-00 the Society of Friends invites us to join them in silent vigil on the Promenade outside Cavendish House. On Fridays from 9-00 until 6-00 the people of St Gregory’s invite us to call in and share in prayer for peace.

I believe there is a responsibility on all of us as Christians to seek to build bridges of friendship and understanding through conversations with those who belong to the other faith communities of our town. It is vitally important that we do not allow terrorists or the outbreak of war to prise apart in hatred and bigotry those of different faiths. The people of all the faith communities of our town share a commitment to peace and to justice. That is something we need to recognise and affirm.

The great faiths of Judaism, Christianity and Islam not only share many of their scriptures, a belief in the same God, but they also share a commitment to the Ten Commandments and to the so-called golden rule which Jesus regarded as a summing up the teaching of all the law and all the prophets: ‘in everything do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets.’ (Matthew 7:12) Let us affirm those great ethical principles together.

Finally, and most important of all, I believe we need to pray. I commend to you the prayer Mike Lodge shared with us at the united service with our friends from St Luke’s. It is a prayer that can be shared by the people of those other faith communities too. It is a prayer for peace:

Lead me
from death to life
from falsehood to truth;
Lead me
from despair to hope,
from fear to trust;
Lead me
from hate to love,
from war to peace.
Let peace fill
our heart, our world, our universe ...
Peace, Peace, Peace.

Amen

Richard Cleaves