Misunderstood Institutions
April 1, 2007
Luke 5:27-39 and 19:29-44
Palm Sunday…The rocks could cry out…Because there are some things that MUST be said!
You have to love the disciples in Luke’s Gospel. You have to love the role the disciples play in Luke. Levi being no exception. He has a life. He’s probably a man of means. Mostly tax collectors were people who had some wealth and power and would be able to get money from the rest of the people because of their higher status. And, since they were allowed to charge a bit more than what the taxes were, as a collection fee, they were also a bit crafty. This is why the tax collectors are labeled as social and religious outcasts. They were driven by money, not God’s law. They were harder on the poor than the rich. They were ordered to collect their taxes in order to support the empire, and someone would come and collect from them and keep them in line. Because they had no limit for what they could ask from the people they were extracting the tax from, and because the local people could see how they lived at a different level than they did, animosity begins immediately. Tax collectors were also usually people who were relocated from another region to do this work so they wouldn’t be partial to family or friends. This also distanced them from the people in their care. Finally, all people were forced to pay a lot of taxes. This meant that tax collectors had to work with everybody, clean or unclean, every person living in the state had to deal with a tax collector. It was extravagant work as it touched all lives who lived within Roman rule. Levi is one of these guys. And, it’s clear from the bits we get about him that he indeed collected taxes. And, out of collecting these taxes he maintained or improved the level at which he was accustomed to living. We know this as he was immediately able to throw a party where so many were welcomed and feasted. Levi, was a man of great faith. He was working his ordinary, regular work day and he decides, because Jesus asks, to leave it all to follow him. Levi immediately, leaves what he is doing and throws a feast out of his enthusiasm to have a new life. Levi is not fulfilled by his current work of tax collecting. He has status, power and money and yet he clearly is searching for more. Then, he encounters Jesus and he does a 180 degrees, leaves everything to be a disciple of Jesus.
The Pharisees in Luke’s story are always the voices of reason. And, this is good because most of the stories involving the call or work of the disciples is so full of Spirit, they help to keep our feet on the ground. The Pharisees are the orthodox who are trying to live as purely as possible in accordance with the Mosaic Law. And, they say to Jesus today, why can’t you be more like John. He simply prays and blesses all. Why must you eat and drink with everyone? When Jesus has both the Pharisee, his disciples and his newest disciple, Levi at table together, it shouts that the welcome God is giving in this movement is an extravagant, radical welcome. In these times, when one sits at table together, it is the ultimate act of hospitality and mutuality. Once people eat together they are bonded with being an equal part of the human race. The Pharisees question, how can you eat with these tax collectors? These who come in contact with everyone, these who touch everyone, these who steal from everyone especially the poor, all to support the empire. How can you, Jesus, how can you sit at table with the likes of these folks? It’s a practical and reasonable question. But, Jesus counters with the extravagance of love. It is not enough to hold this message to a separatist society, this love is a contagious and radical welcome as is expressed by this dinner party. All are welcome. And, this man, he is so thrilled to become part of this movement he is leaving everything. He will be despised by Rome and the Empire for leaving or betraying his post. His counterparts will think him ridiculous for leaving his wealth, status and power. All to roam the countryside and tell the story of God. He left everything: his physical life, house, work, his way of doing business as usual, his family, his friends…he left it all to jump into a new way of thinking, being, living in the world. All because the invitation was given and it lit him up. You have to love the disciples in Luke’s gospel!
These are the kind of people that follow Jesus. They are those who have always been part of the synagogue. They are those who have been devout and righteous people. They are those who for one reason or another are sick of living the way they are and seek another way. They are those who have been healed, invited, called. They come from every walk of life and they have become passionate believers in this movement. So passionate that they have traded what was comfortable, and what they knew for the unknown and new promise of a wider more extravagant hospitality.
They all follow Jesus to Jerusalem. And as they approach a couple are sent ahead for a colt. A donkey for Jesus to ride on. When one was going to use an animal for a sacred purpose, it had to be an animal that was pure, that hadn’t been used for some other purpose. So finding a colt would have seemed logical to those who had been part of the Jewish tradition. And, Jesus riding on the colt, with people putting their cloaks on the animal and then on the path, this signals the respect and devotion they have for his leadership. This was a sign of their respect and honor for Jesus. It also shows the smarts of Jesus leadership. He knows they are about to enter Jerusalem. He knows they want him. He knows he probably can not outlive going into Jerusalem. So, on their way in he organizes a pep rally for his followers. He allows them time to give thanks and celebrate their faith and his leadership. In Luke’s gospel the crowd is all disciples. Disciples who have been traveling with him. And, they enter the city shouting out the same words that the angels said about Jesus aligning him with the King of peace. Because he has brought a new kind of community together, these people, these disciples they are repeatedly together, in spite of where they’d come from or who they were. They come together and he treats them all the same, beloved, welcome, and called.
In Luke’s version of the entry into Jerusalem they don’t actually use these palm branches we love to hold and wave on Palm Sunday. When a political parade would happen in these times, Palm branches would be waved as a sign of celebration of the political leader and support for the empire. So Luke changes the palms to the lying of cloaks. A sign of honor but not a direct thumb at the empire. Luke doesn’t want this entry to be about a direct challenge to the empire. In fact, the voice of reason, in the Pharisees, says to Jesus, don’t do this. Stop this right now. They knew it was too in the face of Rome and it would create a death wish with or without palms. Because the depth of the meaning of this discipleship is abandon rome, it can’t give you what you want, what you crave. We must throw out this kind of living and be governed by a wider principle, one of love, acceptance, passion and devotion. Don’t be fooled by these institutions of religion and empire, instead, dial it down to these people here on the streets, no matter who they are or where they’ve been on life’s journey, these are God’s people, all of them and we are called to live together as peaceful, community.
This little gaggle of people is gathering speed, they are walking from about two miles out of the city of Jerusalem. And, from this vantage point Jesus comes to a point on the road where he sees the skyline of Jerusalem and weeps. This isn’t just crying. This are the lament tears. In the midst of all these people celebrating and crying out to God, giving thanks for the blessing of life, Jesus is moved to lament. The dissonance between the disciples and the city that has lost its soul. As a leader, it is that moment when you realize defeat. It doesn’t matter who is with you, when you back up it’s seeing what is versus what could have been. It’s the deep grief and loss for what could have been and what was missed. Jesus is there in the midst of the cheering, the chanting, the parade aching for what could have been. Seeing the city and knowing it will not be. Bitter, sad, angry, loving, compassionate tears.
So here we are so many years later, standing with palms in hand. We arrive at the place in the myth where we must question our institutional loyalty. Why is it we hold these palms. Who do we wave them for? If we are waving them on behalf of celebrating Jesus, why is it we have done nothing to stop this war? For, this Jesus, can’t you hear the brothers and sister shouting, he is the Kind who comes in the name of the Lord bringing Peace in Heaven. He is the Prince of Peace. How is it that we wave these palm branches, to honor a new kind of king and yet support with our taxes a war machine? How is it that we end up here, waving these palm branches just outside of the city of Jerusalem when we have become the city of Jerusalem? We have kept the poorest out. We have forced the sick onto the streets. We have closed our eyes to the hungry. We have kept the poorest children without access to education. We have done this through our taxes, through our education, through our voting or not voting, we have done this in our democracy with our voices, with our presence, with our living and with our wanting. We shout out loud on Sunday mornings Hallelujah, we believe. And yet, we leave these walls planted within the city of Jerusalem. And Jesus weeps. He weeps for us in all that we are missing. He weeps for us in all that we can’t see. He weeps for us in all the ways that our hearts have become hardened.
We celebrate the beginning of Holy Week this week. The week we celebrate the ways in which Jesus took on the empire. Let us begin today by owning the palm branches that we wave. Please take one home with you. Please put it in a place to be seen all year. Help it to be the voices of the disciples crying out, Hail to the King who comes in the name of the Lord, a new Peace in Heaven. Help these branches to move us from complacency. Help these branches to remind us that this extravagant welcome is worth stepping up for. It is worth finding new ways to live for. It is worth celebrating and finding ways to do storytelling that means something to us.
We can not put new wine in old wineskins. The stories, signs, messages of the past won’t do. We must find ways to breathe new life into these stories. It is not the telling that is important, the detail it is the meaning. Palm Sunday is standing in the midst of the dissonance and claiming what’s causing the rift in our lives. Holding to the palms is the reminder that we all have work to do. We all must listen for God’s still speaking voice to call us out, into the peace. This Lent I’ve been trying to reconnect with organizations that are out there in the midst of the hurting, the least, the poor. I’ve been trying to remember what it is we are supposed to be doing as a people of faith. I’ve been trying to remember how it is to feed another. I’ve been trying to remember how it is to support and grow a new thing. How is it that we have become so disconnected, instead of going to our farmers, we are buying food in stores. Stores do not grow food. The buy food. Then, they sell food. We could simply, go to farmers market and buy food directly from the farmer. And, when we do that, it’s not even taxed. It’s directly from the farmer. The person who planted, nurtured, picked this food. Why is it that we have an answer to fossil fuels and oil. Why is it that we have groups all over Tucson making their own gas. They call it biodiesel. Stuff that you can literally pour into your diesel engine, no modifications necessary, and it will not put emit greenhouse emissions. It will nto require a pipeline or a war a world away. And, in fact, it can run on the vats of fat from KFC, Lucky Wishbone, McDonalds and Taco Bell the same vats that plug up our sewers our landfills and our earth. It can power a car. We don’t have to buy gas from Circle K. We don’t have to buy food from Frys or Costco. What kind of empire have we come into when we are suspicious from buying from the producer? What kind of faith have we come into when we are suspicious of those who will leave everything and follow the voice of love and light.
This is the week we celebrate the difficult rubs between empire and discipleship. I pray that this year we will step further into the ways we can begin untangling ourselves from institution and begin to open ourselves to the extravagant welcome of the one who wept out of such a deep sense of loss when allegiance is to the empire and the status quo. Let us pray.