Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
Then they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it; and he sat on it. Many people spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut in the fields. Then those who went ahead and those who followed were shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David! Hosanna in the highest heaven!” And he entered Jerusalem.
—Mark 11.8-11
There is this little political demonstration– not too big, or the authorities would have crushed it, but enough to make a statement. Maybe a few dozen people. Jesus, the country healer, riding into town on a colt, a royal symbol. Jesus with his dreams of a world of justice, a world ruled not by force or fiat but by love. Of course the powerful, at this point, can ignore him. A laughable nobody comes to town telling people to change the world. Right. Let him make a little scene. Then take him out. Have him disappear along with all those other victims of death squads. Or better, string him up in public and make a spectacle of him.
But for now, he’s making a fine spectacle of himself as it is. Who cares? Let him assemble his little ragtag hodgepodge of the hopeful, homeless and hapless, the sad, mangled and quiet folks, the the poor and humiliated—the blessed, by his accounting. Let them sing their songs. Let him do his street theater, proclaim his dream, do a few healings, raise somebody from the dead even. What does that mater to you? This will all blow over.
How crazy can he be to think this amounts to anything? How naïve can he be to think he can go up against Caesar and even last the weekend? History will swallow him. Obviously, he doesn’t understand power and how it works. Power belongs in the hands of those who know how to wield it. The weak have no place here.
Don’t worry—order will be restored. The cloaks and branches, the tents and signs will be hauled off. Just ignore him. Go back to your prayers. It’s between you and God. How does this concern you? What is it going to change, that he rides into Jerusalem—or even into your heart, this funny little man on a donkey?
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve
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Copyright © Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
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