The Power of Passion

Douglas Scalise, Brewster Baptist Church

Luke 19:29-40

Expectations are powerful in shaping how we feel and what we think.

When our expectations are met we tend to be happy, satisfied and content.

When our expectations are not met we tend to be impatient, disappointed, resentful, or angry. We experience this all the time in our relationships, at work or school, in our driving, and in our faith.
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In many ways, Palm Sunday is about expectations, perhaps you even brought some with you this morning. Take a look; check your pockets, because we tend to bring expectations with us everywhere we go. They are like a certain card – we never leave home without them.

If I asked you to write down what you remember about Jesus and Palm Sunday, what are some things you recall? What are some things that are present that you hear or see?

Each of the Gospel writers presents Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem in his own way, there are things we expect to hear or find that aren’t included in Luke’s Gospel. Listen closely to the account of that day from Luke:

“When Jesus had come near Bethphage and Bethany, at the place called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples, saying,

“Go into the village ahead of you, and as you enter it you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden. Untie it and bring it here.

If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ just say this, ‘The Lord needs it.’”

So those who were sent departed and found it as he had told them.

As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them,

“Why are you untying the colt?” They said, “The Lord needs it.”

Then they brought it to Jesus; and after throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it.  As he rode along, people kept spreading their cloaks on the road.  As he was now approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, the multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen, saying,

“Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!

Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven!”

Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, order your disciples to stop.” He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.”

When you listen to Luke’s account closely, you realize that some our expectations for Palm Sunday are not met, things we expect on Palm Sunday are missing including…palms! There is no mention of palms or branches cut from trees. There are no loud cries of “Hosanna”; perhaps because these things belonged to parades and festivals with nationalistic overtones. There is also no reference to David or to the throne of David. These things are mentioned in other Gospels, but not in Luke. What is going on? We’ve talked about what is missing that we expect to find; perhaps there are things we aren’t expecting that Luke wants us to notice. When we take a closer look at the scripture we see that a central focus of Luke’s account is the disciples of Jesus. The meaning of the event that day lies in Jesus and in their response to him.

The scene opens at the Mount of Olives or the Mount called Olivet, near the village of Bethany and Bethphage, less than two miles east of Jerusalem. Jesus sends two disciples ahead to get the colt, just as he sent disciples ahead of him when he began his journey to Jerusalem in Luke 9:51-52, “When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. ⁵² And he sent messengers ahead of him. On their way they entered a village of the Samaritans to make ready for him.”

In Luke’s Gospel, throughout his journey to Jerusalem, Jesus sent disciples ahead of him which proved to be a faith-building exercise for the disciples. It takes courage, conviction and trust to help people get ready to meet and encounter Jesus because not everyone will be open, receptive or friendly. Some folks will even be hostile as happened in Luke 9 – the first Samaritan village the disciples entered would not receive or welcome Jesus because he was going to Jerusalem. Some of our students know what it is like to be a follower of Jesus when many others around them are not. A story in the most recent publication of Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary tells about the experience of an Ethiopian student and the harassment and persecution he and other believers face in going into their culture to share about Jesus. We are blessed in the United States to have the freedom to share our faith openly.

It takes faith and trust to obey Jesus especially when what he tells us sounds hard to believe. Imagine being one of the two disciples who is told to go into the village to find a colt that has never been ridden, and bring it to Jesus. First there is the matter of finding the correct colt, then perhaps dealing with an uncooperative owner, then perhaps dealing with an uncooperative colt. These are things I might have been wondering about if I was sent into the village.

Luke is teaching us that part of being a disciple of Jesus is going where he sends us, doing what he tells us, trusting his word. The disciples were sent so they went and found the colt just as Jesus told them. Often it isn’t until we have faith enough to go forward that we will find out that Jesus was right. If we listen to other voices more than we listen to Jesus or if we sit back and say, “That doesn’t sound right to me, I don’t think that will work, I have an even better idea,” our faith won’t develop in the same way because it won’t be stretched. Much of our lives as disciples is lived in the land of went somewhere between Jesus sending us to do something and our eventually finding that what Jesus said was right. Part of being a disciple is going where we are sent and trusting Jesus’ word.

Another part of being a disciple is releasing things for Jesus’ use.

The owners of the colt, as soon as they hear, “The Lord needs it,” apparently have no further questions, objections, or hesitation, at least, none is recorded. Their action reflects the position – if I have something the Lord needs, by all means, please take it and use it for Jesus. As disciples today this is also something that applies to our lives as well. If I have something, a possession, resources, wisdom, experience, skill, training, gifts, talents, proficiency, energy, time – that the Jesus can use and the Lord needs it, then our response is, “Of course, take the colt.”

The two disciples bring the colt to Jesus and throw their cloaks on it and Jesus sits on the cloaks on the colt and away he goes. Disciples have to decide to release their cloaks for Jesus use and in doing so being publically associated with Jesus. Luke says, “As he rode along, people kept spreading their cloaks on the road.” Imagine being in Jerusalem that day and seeing Jesus ride on a humble animal as Solomon did before he was crowned king (1 Kings 1:33-37). Imagine seeing people spreading their cloaks or outermost garments acclaiming the kingship of Jesus as people did centuries before spreading their cloaks on the ground for Jehu when he was proclaimed king (2 Kings 9:13). As Jesus slowly draws near to where we are standing we begin thinking, “What does it mean for me to spread my cloak on the road for Jesus to ride over?” What thoughts are going through your mind as Jesus approaches and you see what others are doing? How much did I pay for this cloak? Will I get it back? How soiled will it be? Will I have to take it to the cleaners? Will I keep it as a holy relic, treasuring the memory of how Jesus rode over it? Who is watching me as I think about throwing my cloak? What will they say or think about me?

Putting our cloak on the road means to be publicly identified with Jesus; it shows whose side we are on. Jesus is riding into hostile territory. There are people looking to kill him. For those of us standing along the roadside that day, there is also a possible risk of violence in being identified with Jesus. In addition to physical risks, there are threats to our reputation and standing within the community, and even economic implications for our livelihood if we get shunned or boycotted. Will you throw your cloak on the road before Jesus? Will you be publicly known as his disciple?

Jesus is riding into Jerusalem; it is kind of like a parade. Most parades only go by us once. We only have one opportunity to see what is passing by. We have an opportunity to release something that belongs to us and to be publicly identified with Christ and his cause. The question is will we? Or will we use our cloak to cover ourselves up? In the midst of an indifferent and sometimes hostile culture, throwing our cloak is a public expression of faith in Jesus. It is an act of abandonment. It is an act of sacrifice. It is an act of vulnerability. It is an act of Abandonment that takes us out of our cautious, careful following of Jesus. We’ve got to get out of our pew, get out of our lawn chair watching this Palm Sunday parade and act because there is a Call to praise the Lord.

It is an act of Sacrifice because we are throwing something we’ve bought on the ground to be trampled by a colt and people. We may not get our cloak back. There is a Cost to being a disciple.

It is an act of Vulnerability because we are more exposed when we throw off our cloak. We hide under our clothes; our outer reality is not our inner reality. There is a Choice to be made.

What do we say when we are going to take one outfit off and put another one on? We often say, “I’m going to get changed.”

Throwing off our cloak and spreading it before Jesus is a way of saying,

“I’m going to get changed by God’s power in Jesus. I worship him and release all I have to him, and I will listen to and follow him above all others.”

It is a recognition of our need for transformation.

Perhaps you’ve heard the saying, “clothes make the man (or woman).” Nothing could be further from the truth. The irony of fashion is that it is always changing, supposedly to reflect what’s “in,” but in reality because it makes money. Ties get thin and ties get fat. Skirts get long and skirts get short. Clothes become more casual and then more formal. The pendulum of fashion is always swinging and much of the time what is supposedly “in fashion” looks ridiculous and is totally impractical.

I have no doubt Jesus dressed very simply. Since I have been thinking about cloaks, clothes, and robes this week it made me wonder about how many robes Jesus must have gone through during his ministry and where did he get them? I came across a story that says when Jesus returned from one of his journeys he was met by his friend Reuben who said, “Jesus your robe is taking a beating. Let me make you a new one.” “Thank you,” Jesus says. Reuben makes Jesus a beautiful robe and Jesus wears it the next week. By the end of a week of walking, serving, healing, dealing with the multitudes, and sometimes sleeping outside, Jesus’ robe already looks ragged. Reuben takes one look at him and says, “Look, Jesus, I don’t mind making robes for you but I’d like you to help me out too. After all, we’re both men of the cloth, so to speak.”

“What do you have in mind?” asks Jesus.

“I’d like for you to promote my robes when you speak to these large crowds,” says Reuben. “That way I can cover my costs for all these robes I’m making for you. We could even go into business together. How about ‘Reuben and Jesus’ for a business name.”  “How about Jesus and Reuben,” offered Jesus.

They discussed the benefits each would bring to the business and haggled back and forth about the name, “Reuben and Jesus, Jesus and Reuben.”

Finally, Jesus offered a compromise, “How about Lord and Tailor?”

And the rest is history.

The Lord always comes first.

The clothing God desires for us to wear never changes or goes out of style. Colossians 3 talks about stripping off the old self with its practices and clothing ourselves with the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its creator. Paul says in order to clothe ourselves with God’s virtues of compassion, kindness, humility, meekness and patience, we have to strip off our old clothes of anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive language. The Bible is very clear about this, friends; if our speech and behavior is marked by anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive language then regardless of what a person may claim about being a disciple of Jesus, that claim is contradicted and invalidated by his or her behavior. I can say I am a fiddler crab, but if my behavior and appearance don’t match the behavior that characterizes that creature, most people would say, “No, you’re not.” Someone can say, “I am a follower of Jesus,” but if the evidence that the New Testament says is present in disciple isn’t being manifested, if the fruit of the spirit are not evident then the answer is, “No, you’re not.”

We have to get changed by the Holy Spirit and part of what that means is repenting from wearing our “old clothes” in terms of our behavior that we “wore” before we were cloak-throwing disciples of Jesus. In Revelation 3:4-5, the Risen Christ is urging members of the church at Sardis to repent and praising those whose lives are marked by the kind of personal holiness and virtue that mark a true disciple – those who are compassionate, kind, humble, meek, and patient. Jesus says to the church “Yet you still have a few persons in Sardis who have not yet soiled their clothes; they will walk with me dressed in white, for they are worthy. If you conquer, you will be clothed like them in white robes, and I will not blot your name out of the book of life.”

When it comes to following Jesus as his disciples we don’t want to be spectators, we want to be participants, we want to be witnesses like the disciples with Jesus on that first Palm Sunday. When Jesus came to Jerusalem, for the last time, to celebrate the holy day of Passover, the disciples were actively participating in the event by throwing their cloaks down on the road, walking, witnessing to others about Jesus. They praised God “joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen, saying, “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!  Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven!” This is a very similar expression of praise as the angels in Luke 2 at Jesus’ birth. Among the spectators that first Palm Sunday were the Pharisees who were judging the parade of disciples and Jesus as they passed by.  Some of the Pharisees in the crowd were offended by the praise of the disciples and said to Jesus, “Teacher, order your disciples to stop.”

Jesus answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.” If we don’t praise and serve the Lord as we should, God will raise up praise and witness even from creation itself. We have to decide if we will cast our coats and cloaks in the road and be publicly associated with Jesus. Will we say, “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!”

Prayer

Holy God, you come to us in Jesus,
a poor man, riding a colt;
we thank you for this witness of the power of love,
despite the powers of this world.
We thank you for all who have withstood evil,
who have suffered the jeers and worse of the crowds,
who have been tormented, even put to death,
and still refused to use the weapons of hatred.
We thank you for the times we have been able
to let go our defenses, give up control,
and live with open hands and hearts.
We thank you with “hosannas!”, with colts given for your use and cloaks spread on the road before, we thank you with grateful and humble hearts,
in the name of Jesus, our leader. Amen.