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Aren’t parades fun? The marching bands, the floats, the
horses, the candy getting tossed to the kids by the cheerleaders. I haven’t
seen them for awhile, but when I was a kid I remember those crazy Shriners that
drove these little red cars around in a figure eight pattern. They would drive
to within two feet of us kids sitting along side the road and veer off at the
last second, scaring the crap out of us every time! Watching, or even marching
in, the Fourth of July parade is a tradition for many families. We watch the
Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade, the unofficial start of the holiday season, with
those giant, helium filled balloons and Santa and Mrs. Claus bringing up the
rear. Then there is the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, with those
gorgeous floats made out of all kinds of flowers and other plants. Yes, parades
are a great time. If you think about it, parades are one of those few events
where the whole community comes out to participate. A parade is truly a
community event.
But
why do we have parades? Where did the first parade come from? There is a
painting that was discovered in a cave somewhere in Spain that looks like some
kind of parade. The archeologists believe the painting to be 10,000 years old! Parades
have existed for thousands of years to mark special events or to celebrate
special people in a public way. It seems that we humans have an innate need to
mark special events or celebrate special people in the form of parades. I guess
that’s why we enjoy parades so much. It’s something that humans have always
done.
Today,
we are marking a special event, celebrating a special person, which includes a
parade. The purpose of this parade was to celebrate Jesus, the long awaited
messiah. The parade route began at the Mount of Olives, in fulfillment of a
prophecy found in Zechariah 14:4, “On that day his feet shall stand on the
Mount of Olives, which lies before Jerusalem on the east.” And Jesus enters the
city riding on a donkey, which also fulfills a prophecy we find in Zechariah,
9:9, “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.”
Now
while Jesus was riding into town on a donkey from the east, there was another
parade going on at the same time, from the west. That parade was the Roman
army, with Pontius Pilate riding a war horse. The participants in Jesus’ parade
were waving palm branches and singing, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the
name of the Lord!” In Pilate’s parade were the centurions carrying banners and
gleaming shields crying out, “Hail, Caesar!” These two parades represent a
clash of powers, the worldly power of Rome represented by Pilate riding his war
horse, and the heavenly power of God represented by Jesus, humbly riding on a
donkey.
Let’s
reflect on this for a minute. As I just said, the participants in Jesus’ parade
were waving palm branches and crying out, “Hosanna!” Hosanna is Hebrew for
“save us.” What were they asking to be saved from? Sin? Or is it something
else? Let me remind you why Jesus was coming into Jerusalem in the first place.
In fact, there were thousands of people descending on Jerusalem because of the
festival of Passover. Passover marks the liberation of the Israelites from
slavery in Egypt. This is a religious event that remembers how God acted to
save God’s people from slavery. It was a time to remember how Israel was set
free, liberated from their oppressor. But guess what? Israel was under
oppression again. This time, it was Rome. So Passover in Jesus’ day was a
politically charged event. Perhaps there were rallies, and self-proclaimed
messiahs would try to rally the people to rise up against their oppressor, or
cry to God to save them from the oppression of Rome. That’s why Pilate and the
Roman troops were marching in to Jerusalem. The troops were called in every
year as a show of force and to squash even a hint of any kind of rebellion. So
when the people following Jesus were waving their palm branches and crying out,
“Hosanna, save us!” it was not sin that was on their minds. They were looking
for, longing for, a messiah who would
deliver them from Roman oppression so that they could be a free people again.
Of course, we know that Jesus had come to deliver them from the oppression of
the powers of this world. He had come
to save. But it was not as the people expected. And as we recall, as it dawned
on the people that Jesus wasn’t the messiah they thought he was, they turned on
him and called for his crucifixion.
So
what about us? Why do we remember this parade that took place 2,000 years ago?
When we sing “Hosanna” we know what we are being saved from. We are being saved
from hell. But is there more to our salvation than escape from the clutches of
hell?
Scott
Johnson tells a story about a time when he had to return to his childhood home
for a funeral. He had not been back in years. At the funeral home, as Scott
scanned the crowd that was gathered, he didn’t know anyone. He tried to make
some small talk but he felt lost, even in his own home town. He felt like a
stranger. He felt alone. But then, he looked up and saw entering the parlor a
couple of his buddies from church. They had driven all the way down just to be
there for Scott in his time of loss. Scott said that when he saw his two
friends from church enter the room, he immediately felt relief. It hit him in
his gut. He experienced the church being there for him. He said that in that
moment he experienced being saved, saved from being alone. He had his brothers
in Christ. Have you ever experienced such a moment, when you no longer felt
alone or lost? Remember a time when you once were lost but then was found.
Maybe you felt the presence of God in a powerful way. Or a couple of friends
dropped by and you didn’t feel lonely any more. Part of what it means to be
saved, is to be saved from being lost and alone. You have a family, the family
of God, the Church.
When
we participate in Fourth of July parades, we are celebrating freedom, our
liberation from foreign tyranny, the British monarch. We celebrate our liberty
as a free nation, no longer under colonial control, something that happened
only a couple hundred years ago. Freedom is a core value for us as Americans,
to live as a free people under the rule of law and not of monarchs. This is a
value that we affirm as we gather to watch or participate in Fourth of July
parades.
But
this morning we recall another parade. In this parade, we affirm that in Christ
we experience liberation. We are set free from the foreign tyranny of sin that
always tries to bind us and separate us from God and from each other. Today,
when we shout “Hosanna! Save us!” we hear Jesus respond with “I have saved you,
I am saving you, I will continue to save you!”
Today,
as we begin Holy Week, it is right to start the week remembering a parade, a
parade that celebrates how God in Christ saves us from hell, saves us from
being alone, saves us from sin. But this parade we celebrate doesn’t end today.
The march continues from Monday to Wednesday, as the tension between the
authorities and Jesus grows to the breaking point, and on to Thursday, when
Jesus washed the feet of his disciples, shared a final meal with them and
instituted Holy Communion, and then the betrayal, the show trial, and the
crucifixion on Friday, when it appears that death has triumphed over life, and
then the Great Sabbath of Saturday, when all is still…until early Sunday
morning, when new life springs forth, and the Church cries out in victory, “He
lives! He lives! Christ Jesus lives today!”
Holy
Week is our parade. Our parade route begins at the Mount of Olives, continues
to Calvary, and on to the empty tomb in the garden. Let us remember what this
parade is about. Let us recall that in Christ we are set free from the power of
sin and death, that in Christ we are never alone but surrounded by our brothers
and sisters and the unending love of God. As we again cry out “Hosanna” to
Jesus, let us begin our march toward Easter.
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