Guest Services
March 16, 2008
Matthew 21: 1-17
Who is this Jesus? According to Matthew, the writer of today’s story nearly 70 years after the death of Jesus, Jesus is the Messiah. Jesus is the one that the religious had been waiting for. As Matthew wrote about him, he knew the stories of faith. He knew the stories of the Torah, our Old Testament. He knew the stories that prophesied a Messiah would come and the ways in which he would come. Matthew had Jesus coming into Jerusalem on both donkey and unbroken colt to match what the teaching said. Matthew knew this and this is the way he wrote it down. Matthew’s community understood very clearly that the ways in which Jesus lived in the world were different than the way the world worked. In each vignette, Matthew sets the stage for conflict between the empire, the faith community, and the Jesus movement. He does this because Matthew believes this Jesus to be a man of action. Matthew believes that when you have a practice of faith, if it doesn’t compel you to do something, it is not an authentic experience of the gospel of Jesus. Being saved isn’t enough. Knowing the stories isn’t enough, it’s living the belief that Matters to Matthew and matters to his Jesus. So no matter how big, how frightening, how audacious evil is, take it on Matthew writes, for the witness of Jesus goes before you and the Presence of God will not leave you, not even anywhere along evil’s death dealing journey.
Who is this Jesus? According to the disciples in today’s story, Jesus is a teacher. No matter who they were or where they were on life’s journey, he accepted them and saw things in themselves they couldn’t believe. Whether they were skeptics, mouthy, humble, shy he called them, he accepted them, he loved them. The only times he would get angry were when they wouldn’t open themselves to a new way of being, when they got stuck in the ways things had always been. He pushed them, what if just because it’s always been this way doesn’t mean it’s the best way or even the way God calls us to be. It was a crazy life moving around with him. He was electric everywhere we went people loved us or hated us. Honestly, it was a bit scary to see how he could open some and incite others. For the disciples he was a freedom and a purpose for living, beyond where they had come from. But it wasn’t so straightforward. It was confusing having to sort it all out. It was exhausting dealing with all those sick people. It was frightening to be calling out the temple authorities and the empire. We had to move a lot because of all of those things. But we did it, we did it because it was amazing. The tender compassion, the unexpected miracles of hope or peace, who would want to miss that? And, he believed in each one of us. We were something as a band of students, but individually, he also asked us to find our own path to God. When you stayed with him, you never knew what would happen, and you could count on it making how you saw the world, your life, your time here matter differently.
Who is this Jesus? According to the religious leaders he’s a fake. He’s a charlatan. He’s evil. He takes what is sacred and tramples on it by taking it out of faithful practice and too liberally applying it to this context. Faith is a ritual. Faith is a practice. It is not a witness, only in the sense that through your years of prayer, cleansing, fasting you will become more whole. In that wholeness you will know God, in that purity you may approach God. This Jesus is dangerous. He knows the word, he has been a good student of our faith, but he twists things into dangerous formations. He comes to dangerous conclusions. He will end the tradition as we know it, he is a fake, an imposter, a liar. He is not nor never will be the Messiah.
Who is this Jesus? According to the empire he is a challenge. He dares to be known as King. There can be only one king. There can only be one Lord of Rome. It is not him. Rome must be protected at all costs, after all they encompass the whole world, they are the most powerful, the most far reaching, the most educated of the time. Nothing should get in the way of their success. Because their success as Romans is crucial for the bettering of the whole world. Jesus is an irritation. He comes to the empire after upsetting the religious. They make claims about him, but if they were true the Roman Guard would have disposed of him long ago. But the guy won’t defend himself! He just stands quietly and calmly taking it all in. And yet, the religious make their claims demanding judgment on him, in the name of Rome. So the empire puts him into the system. In spite of evidence not holding up. In spite of the Judge, Pilot not being on board. In spite, of his own family not wanting it to happen, the system finds him guilty. And, whatever the system says, we must listen to it, so the sentencing follows. He will receive the death penalty and immediately, that sentence is carried out. Jesus was a bad insurgent. He threatened homeland security and then wouldn’t defend himself. He was brought up on charges that no one could back up. He was sentenced on those charges with the cruelest of punishments all in the name of the faithful. The empire stands on its own, but the religious institution wasn’t something the empire dared to take on, it was always a sticky business working with them. This day was no different.
Who is this Jesus? The crowds gather to see this magic man. The crowds gather, drawn to his charisma and drama. The crowds gather first to celebrate him second to condemn him. The crowd mentality works off of emotion and Jesus was always at the center of emotion. He was life and death to the crowd. He was only something to view from a distance and it all seemed like a game.
Who is this Jesus? We come into this Holy Week asking the same question. Who is this Jesus and how will we meet him? How does his story intersect our faith? How does his witness inspire or lead our living. Why does his living matter with ours. It matters how we know this Jesus and how we perceive his work. It doesn’t matter what we believe, for the stories are full of all sorts of different perspectives, room enough for anyone and everyone, but it does matter that we name who and how he works in our faith. We as people of faith, we as part of the Jesus movement, we must understand how to answer this question, who is Jesus in order to know our faith and practice our faith.
Who is this Jesus will inform how we meet the empire, the disciples, the religious, the poor. Who is this Jesus will inform how we are within our own skin. Who is this Jesus moves us to work and walk in this world in unique ways. We as a people of faith begin this Holy Week asking, who is this Jesus for you. Each day this week, ask the question over and over seeking who this Jesus is for you. Come to the Holy Week services and carry the question with you. We have come to Jerusalem, we have come as part of the Jesus movement, who is this guy and why are we with him.