What is This?

Based on Matthew 21:1-11
First delivered April 5, 2020
Rev. Dr. Kevin Orr 

            What is this? We are going through confusing times. “Unprecedented” is a word we are hearing a lot these days. Yes, plans are made for pandemics. But, let’s be honest, none of us really know what to do until the time comes. And I am pretty confident that no one who is hearing this message had a pandemic plan for themselves or their families. Our churches didn’t have pandemic plans. We are all having to figure this out as we go along. And as we make it up, and look for guidance from others, it can get confusing. Should we wear masks when we go outside or not? Should we limit our shopping to once a week or should we go every few days so that we limit our time in the store? I’m sure you have had your questions about what to do or not do. Now small businesses and even churches are rushing to apply for the payroll protection program through the banks. What will that process look like? How long will it take until these businesses and churches can get that money? I think of so many people who, for the first time in their lives, are trying to apply for unemployment insurance. Last week, Ohio reported that in two weeks there were 100,000 more people who applied for unemployment than the total for all of last year. I can only imagine the strain that system is under. Then there is the confusing process of getting medical supplies where they belong to meet the need. The process of even identifying where resources are and how much there is and where it should go, I can only imagine how complex and confusing that is. I could go on and on, but I think the point is clear. These are times of confusion and uncertainty, causing us to wonder about the times we are living in, “what is this?”

            As Christians we are entering into Holy Week. Lent is over. How was your Lent? Mine was not what I thought it was going to be. What kind of Lent was this? And now we are trying to experience Holy Week without gathering in our churches to wave palm branches, having Holy Communion as we recall the Last Supper story, singing together “Were You There” at a Good Friday service. We are trying to figure out how to live in to the passion week in ways that many of us have never done before. As we move into Holy Week, we all are wondering, what is this?

            As we begin this confusing journey through Holy Week, we hear the story of Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey, with her colt trotting along beside her. Or maybe Jesus was riding on the colt. It’s unclear. In Matthew 21:7 we read that the disciples put their cloaks on the donkey and the colt and Jesus “sat on them.” I’m not sure how that’s possible. What are we to make of this? Did Jesus ride side saddle, sitting on the donkey with his legs draped over the colt who was basically strapped to the side of her mother? It’s confusing. But that’s just the start of what will be a confusing week for everyone in Jerusalem as the events unfold.

            As Jesus rides in on the donkey, a very large crowd throws their cloaks or palm branches on the road for the donkey to walk on, keeping the dust down I guess. It’s the royal treatment. And the crowd is shouting “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!” This sounds like a king riding into town. It is a spectacle. So much so that as Jesus enters into Jerusalem, surrounded by this large crowd of people shouting and calling the rider on the donkey the son of David, we read that the whole city was in turmoil. Turmoil! I don’t think we can fully appreciate the context which would stir up a city to be filled with turmoil because someone is riding into town on a donkey with a large crowd calling him the son of David, which means that this is the long awaited messiah, the true king. All we know is that what is happening with Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem caused a great deal of turmoil which prompted the people of Jerusalem to ask, “who is this?” They aren’t asking about his name. They want to know who this person is, what does he represent, what are they dealing with. Something is happening, something unprecedented, and the people, filled with confusion and uncertainty, want to know what is happening.

            Of course, the people of Jerusalem by now should have known who this was. Jesus had been demonstrating who he was for a few years up to this point. He had been going around teaching, healing, working miracles. He had given off signs of who he is. For those who were paying attention, they would have known who Jesus is, just as Peter confessed, “You are the messiah, the son of the living God.” If we go back through Matthew, we will see all the places where Matthew mentions something about Jesus and says, “this took place to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet.” Over and over, Matthew points to all the prophecies about the messiah and how Jesus fulfills those prophecies. There were clues that the people of Jerusalem could have followed. They could have known who this is. But they didn’t see it. What had been predicted was being fulfilled right in front of them, and they were filled with turmoil and confusion. To be generous, perhaps there were those who knew in their heads who Jesus is. They had seen the signs and in their heads knew who he was. But now it’s happening. His arrival was about to turn everything upside down. What was known in theory is getting real. And that can cause a good deal of turmoil as well.

            What we are going through with this pandemic had been predicted. This is not the first pandemic to hit the world. SARS, MERS, Ebola, Spanish Flu, the Plague. We watched the effects of Covid-19 as it worked its way through China, then to different parts of the world. We know how infectious disease spreads and what mitigation efforts are needed to slow the spread so that our hospital systems don’t get overrun, and what happens when such efforts are not enough. The signs, the predictions, are being fulfilled in front of us. Whether we knew this ahead of time in theory or not, now it’s real. And it is generating a good deal of turmoil. We have a sense of what lays ahead. There are predictions of what the future looks like. And it turns everything upside down.

            Today marks the beginning of passion week. Jesus enters Jerusalem, starting a week of passion, as he and his disciples live out the last supper, the betrayal, the arrest in the garden, the trial, the scourging and the crown of thorns, the crucifixion, the body wrapped and placed in a tomb. It is a week filled with passion that touches us deeply in our hearts as we enter again into the story, a story that leads to the remembering of the glorious resurrection next Sunday. In different ways this year we will remember this story and allow it to work its way on us.

            But our journey through the passion of this pandemic is not a week long. This passion journey is going to go on for months. This is a passion journey that none of us have walked before. We have signs of what will come. We know that in the weeks ahead there will be much suffering. There will be much loss. There will be many deaths. Our lives are being upended. But as we journey through this passion, we can go forward with confidence that there will be for us a day of resurrection. Even now, if we look, we can see signs of new life. And I don’t mean the new life of flowers opening and trees budding out. I mean signs of people expressing their support for those who are out there on the front lines of this pandemic, or who are doing other essential jobs that keep our society functioning. We see it in how neighbors are looking out for each other. We see it in how people are adapting to new ways to stay in touch with each other. And one day we will be able to gather again, this pandemic having been defeated. It will be a day of great celebration, a celebration that will last for a long time.

            So, I invite us, as we move into Holy Week, this annual pilgrimage through the passion week that leads to the celebration of resurrection, that we look to Holy Week as our map through this season of pandemic passion, with confidence that, in spite of all the confusion and upheaval we are experiencing now, and perhaps a good deal of suffering and loss, we know how this journey will end. It will end with resurrection and renewed life. This is our confident expectation and hope as we journey through this time of passion.