Two Parades
More than 80 cars
gathered in our church parking lot to form a parade. They were creating a surprise parade for Ed
Lawler a longtime pharmacist and Carroll City Council member. Obviously, Ed has many friends. And the
surprise was a wonderful success. E
24 hours later there
was a second parade. 70 cars of teachers and staff from Carroll Community
Schools drove a slow serpentine route through the city Wednesday evening waving
at students. There were smiles and
waves. Horns honking and People yelling
hello. Neighbors who had not seen one another because we are all keeping to
ourselves, had a chance to see one another from afar. It was a wonderful tribute to the
relationships built at school between teachers and students and a strong statement
about the dedication and caring of school district employees and the respect
and care we as a community have for them. But there was a note a sadness. The parade only happened because we have been
trying to stop a nasty virus. The
students are missing learning, they are missing their friends, their dances,
their athletics. Teachers, are, I’m sure a little stir crazy. But sadly, it is necessary. So, the festive
parade had an undertone of uncertainty or sadness.
If any of you were involved in either parade, Thank
you. We need creative things like that
so we can reach out to one another in this time of physical distancing.
We had two very different parades in the same week. Two
parades …very different purposes. But both were beautiful in their own way.
Everyone loves parades, don’t they? I do. I think we should rename Holy
Week. I think we should call it “parade
week.” It was a week of parades for
Jesus. It is a week of parades for our
church. Let’s look at these two parades
from the last week of Jesus’ life.
is Palm Sunday. We
celebrate what we call Jesus Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem. The people cut
branches (it doesn’t say palm branch) they cut branches and lined the
roadway. They waved the branches and
placed coats on the roadway. The coats
were like a red carpet so that not even Jesus’ donkey has to touch the ground.
A few weeks ago, I explained that the palm branch is a symbol of victory. They were welcoming Jesus as the victorious
and triumphant warrior entering Jerusalem. It seemed like it was all joy…
almost.
In the background, however, there was a murmur of
discontent. That murmur was disappointment and misunderstanding. They wanted
Jesus to be the Messiah. They believed him to be the Messiah. And he was the
Messiah. He just wasn’t able to be the messiah the crowd expected . . . or
wanted. Truthfully, Jesus, the grand marshal of the parade refused to be who
the crowds wanted him to be.
They wanted a messiah to come in on a tall white horse,
Jesus chose a small unassuming donkey almost as a quiet protest to the crowd’s
misguided expectation. They wanted
someone riding tall so they could look up to him. On the donkey, he was on
their own level looking them in the eye. They wanted a messiah to kill and
route out the Romans, not heal the lame and love the unlovable. They wanted a
messiah who would “eat tax collectors for breakfast,” instead Jesus invited
himself to the tax collectors house for lunch.
The other murmur behind the parade was from the religious
leaders. They had expectations too. Their expectations revolved around people
quietly and respectfully, doing as they are told. They didn’t like Jesus’
miracles because they made him very popular. They didn’t like Jesus’ teaching
because he undermined their teaching with radical statements. He was a Rabbi that didn’t teach the approved
curriculum. And he wasn’t righteous enough because he hung out with tax
collectors, prostitutes, and other sinners.
Additionally, the Romans were upset with him because the
religious leaders kept going to the governor griping about Jesus. The Zealots
were upset with him because they wanted him to join their little band of
assassins.
Unmet expectations from the crowd, from religious leaders,
from Romans, from Zealots lead to disappointment which lead to the second
parade at the end of the week. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that Jesus
was clueless about the future. He spoke of his suffering and death, he spoke of
his cross, he spoke of his resurrection many times. Even if he didn’t know all
the details, I believe Jesus knew at least that everything was coming to a
head.
Jesus knew that he was causing a murmur. Jesus knew he was ruffling the feathers of
the religious leaders. Jesus knew that
he was disappointing the crowd. He knew
that he was headed for the worst week of his life. He could have gotten off the
donkey and run into the hills. He could
have… but he set his eyes on his life mission to save the world and plodded
ahead.
He rode on atop his dusty little donkey right into the
suffering. He called the disciples to have the Passover supper knowing that he
would be betrayed. He went to the garden of gethsemane knowing that he would be
arrested. He faced the trial knowing
that it really didn’t matter what he said. The verdict was predetermined. He remained steadfastly faithful even when it
meant his life was in danger.
When I think of Jesus courageously facing his death, it
makes me think of this passage from 2 Cor 4.
Paul writes to the church in Corinth
8 We are afflicted in
every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; 9 persecuted,
but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; 10 always carrying in the
body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in
our bodies. 11 For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus'
sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. (2
Corinthians 4:8-18 English Standard Version (ESV))
The days before the next parade on Good Friday are filled
with some of the most prophetic teaching in all the New Testament and each of
the Gospels has just a little something different to add to what Jesus thought
was so important that he crammed it into those final days.
Jesus knew on the day of the first parade there would be a
second and he made use of the time between the two. He cleansed the Temple,
gave us the Great Commandments, told his followers the Temple would be
destroyed, promised the Judgment of the Nations, had his hair washed with
alabaster, celebrated the Last Supper with his Disciples, and prayed his last
prayers in the Garden
And then it began.
The arrest the trials, the beating, the mocking, the spitting, the harassment,
the hatred. And the crowds. The crowds that were shouting Hosanna at Palm
Sunday now filled the Praetorium (If they were brave enough to come, because it
seems that most of the disciples were not) they filled the praetorium with
cries of “crucify him.”
And they lined the streets with cries of, “if you are the
messiah save yourself.” “Where are your miracles now Jesus of Nazareth?”
There were no beautiful floats or horses or bands. This was a funeral procession. And the guest
of honor was forced to carry his own cross.
Instead of Hosanna the cries are be crucify him.
Instead of a donkey,
Jesus will be on a cross.
Instead of a victory parade it was a parade to pain and
suffering. ... and death.
He willingly marched from the Palm Sunday parade to the Good
Friday parade and into death.
If we had our way, we would skip from Hallelujah to
Hallelujah. We would go from the “Hails and Hosanna’s” of Palm Sunday to “Up
from the Grave He Arose” for Easter. We would rather pass over the betrayal,
the trial, the scourge, and the crown of thorns and move to the resurrection.
But Jesus wouldn’t hear of it. And we
must not do that either. We cannot, we must not, pass over the second parade,
the crucifixion and the death of our Christ. We must come and see Christ carry
the cross down the Via Dolorosa. We must understand the anguish of the cross or
we can never appreciate the meaning of the resurrection.
Think about that.
Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures.
Extraordinary measures require extraordinary people filled with extraordinary
love. Our heroes of today might have
been filled with love of country and buddies fighting next to them, love for
their families, love for a certain group like the poorest of the poor in
Calcutta.
The extraordinary people we remember are the ones who
focused so intently on a single mission that they were willing to give up all
for that mission. Soldiers,
firefighters, police officers are great examples. As are the medical personnel
on the front lines of the covid 19 pandemic. They put themselves and sometimes
their families at risk to save one more life.
We are in
extraordinary times. How’s your
focus. Our mission is to do to others as
though they were Jesus himself. We have
people in this congregation serving meals on wheels, doing grocery shopping,
offering rides, checking in on people who might be more vulnerable. Yes, they know the risk, but they are so
focused on the mission of treating each and every person as though they were
Christ, that they march ahead anyway.
Jesus was
completely focused on saving you and me. He was so focused on the saving of the
world that he marched on in spite of the warning signs. In spite of the threats. In spite of the
Injustice. In spite of the suffering that lay ahead, Jesus
marched on in his own holy week parade.
Extraordinary measures require extraordinary people foiled
with extraordinary love. Jesus was not only extraordinary, he was unique. He is
the one and only incarnation of God in human flesh. We say son of man or son of
God, or lamb of God, but what we really mean is that he IS God. We say he is the Christ or the messiah, the
lord, but what we really mean is Jesus is our personal savior. And he was made out of love. I John tells us
that God is love. Jesus is God. The
ingredients label on Jesus would have been 100% pure, untainted, undiluted,
unequalled divine love for all people.
We are
surrounded with extraordinary people with extraordinary love. Agree with them or not our leaders who are
making decision to keep us safe are extraordinary people. The National guard
taking supplies into the hot zones are extraordinary. The medical personnel and
public safety workers are all extraordinary people. The teachers and
administrators who organized the parade to reconnect with the students this
week are extraordinary people. The person who organized the parade for Ed is an
extraordinary person. And you are extraordinary people able to do extraordinary
things whether it is sharing music, or teaching, or serving at new hope, or
giving rides (or in this time of covid 19 Maybe it is checking on people, or shopping for someone
or whatever you can do.) You are all
extraordinary people because God made you that way.
But the
most extraordinary of the extraordinaries was Jesus. He was the most extraordinary person to ever
walked the face of the earth because he was God. His life, death and
resurrection changed the world and its people forever. The parent throws
herself in front of the vehicle in order to push her young child out of the way
of danger. The firefighter runs into the burning building to save a life. The
police officer runs toward the danger rather than away. The medical personnel
take on extra shifts so maybe one less person will die. Extraordinary? Yes, but
none of that is as extraordinary as marching through Palm Sunday with the cross
on the horizon. Marching toward the cross all week never wavering from his
mission. Steadfastly gathering his disciples on Thursday evening for Passover
in spite of the fact that he knew one had betrayed him. With unbelievable calm and extraordinary love
Jesus walked into the Garden of Gethsemane. He faced the Sanhedrin, and Pilate
with exceptional self-control for one who was being railroaded toward execution
for political purposes. And he died an extraordinary death on the cross to
prove God’s extraordinary… no, but I don’t know what is more than
extraordinary… super extraordinary, mega
extraordinary, hyper extraordinary… take your pick love for not just the world,
but you and me personally.
There were two parades in our town this week. One in honor
of a well-respected community leader. The other an act of love from teachers to
students.
There were two parades for Jesus during holy week. (or maybe
you think of them as one big dramatic parade.) Either way we need to understand
both because together they set the stage for the greatest surprise in the
history of the universe. The greatest gift anyone could ever give. The greatest love anyone could ever
imagine... But that is for next
week. This week lets walk this dark,
sad, terrifying parade with our friend and savior Jesus.
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