PEOPLE'S CHURCH OF DOVER

Luke 19:28-40                                                                        A Colt Never Ridden
Palm Sunday Sermon March 28, 2010:  People’s Church, Dover, DE:  The Rev. Dan Griggs

            On Palm Sunday, in a Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem, Jesus finally gave in to the popular images of God’s chosen king, and rode a “colt” into the city.  He did this to proclaim clearly, visibly that the kingdom of God has begun, and something of what it looks like.  So today, on this commemoration of Palm Sunday let’s ask the question:  What does the kingdom of God look like? 

            A little background.  We usually think of a country’s head of state as living in the capital of the country.  The queen lives in London.  President Sarkozy lives in Paris.  President Obama lives in Washington.  The president may have a home somewhere else and go there on vacation—to Texas, to Chicago; but I remember some time ago one senator grew frustrated with the amount of time a president—I think it was Gerald Ford—spent out of D.C., and said, “The White House is in Washington.”  We expect that.  But in the Roman Empire the capital was wherever Caesar might be living at the time.  The emperors traveled, visited various cities and stayed awhile; and if somebody wanted to talk to Caesar they had to go where he was.[1]  And when Caesar came to a new city there was a glorious welcome celebration.  People dressed up in drama costumes, there was singing and dancing[2]—we would say that “they rolled out the red carpet,” but it was a big party; and woe be to that city that failed to put on a good show for Caesar.  This is the way people in Jesus’ lifetime thought. 

            So this Triumphal Entry we celebrate on Palm Sunday was really about the arrival of the new emperor—the alternative to Caesar himself:  God’s chosen.  That’s the image in everybody’s mind.  And since Jesus was giving in to the popular idea, he might as well go all the way.  Did you ever stop to wonder why the Gospel writers used up so much paper and ink telling about how the disciples found the “colt” for Jesus to ride?  It was really expensive to go on and on about something irrelevant—the Gospels were written on scrolls; a scroll was only about 35 feet long, and you had to get everything you wanted to say into that 35 feet.  And more, the scroll itself cost a pretty penny.  So by devoting so much space to the story about finding the “colt,” the Gospel writers made a big deal out of the “colt’s” story in itself:  why?  Because the king of God’s kingdom rides a “colt” to his coronation. 

            A thousand years before this, as the great King David lay dying, his son Adonijah decided to get himself made king before Solomon could beat him to it.[3]  After all, Adonijah really was David’s oldest living son:  the throne was his by right, and the people of Israel expected it.  So he got up a military guard, gathered his friends, the high priest Abiathar, and they all went down the hill to En-Rogel, a well and pool just outside the walls of Jerusalem.  While they were eating and getting ready for the big event, they heard an even greater clamor from a few hundred yards to the north, at En-Gihon, another well and pool.  Bathsheba, Solomon’s mother, had told David what Adonijah was doing; and David put together an official coronation at En-Gihon, presided over by the priest Zadok.[4]  So Solomon’s parade started down the road to the pool.  This is how the book of First Kings describes the procession:[5] 

Mules were not common in ancient Israel, and where they are mentioned they are ridden by rich people.[6]  Solomon, in effect, rode to his coronation in his daddy’s BMW.  Kings chosen by God are expected to ride a “colt” to the festival.  That’s what the people of Jesus’ day knew and saw.

            So Jesus rode a “colt” into Jerusalem.  I guess it’s been more than twenty years since the day I delighted my uncle.  My father’s family was a farm family, and so I grew up hearing about farm animals.  Years ago, as I was preparing a sermon for Palm Sunday, something about this “colt” got my attention, so I called Uncle David Lee to ask him.  It tickled him to death.  What I asked him was the difference between a mule and a hinny.  I had a sneaking suspicion that there was something special about this “colt” that Jesus rode, and that it doesn’t come out clearly in translation.  Both a mule and a hinny are the offspring of a horse and a donkey, but if the mother is a donkey you get a mule; and if the mother is a horse you get a hinny.  And they’re different.  A hinny is much larger than a mule.  It’s just as stubborn, but it’s a very large, powerful animal—a strikingly large animal.  Last week I went back and looked at the Solomon story, at the words used, and compared that with the Triumphal Entry of Jesus; and this is what I think.  I think Jesus rode a hinny on Palm Sunday.[7]  I think that the “colt never ridden” was a hinny—and it may be that nobody had ever ridden it because it wouldn’t let them.  Okay, after going around Robin Hood’s barn to get the background, we’re ready now to ask the question:  What does the kingdom of God look like? 

            The kingdom of God appears coming along the road from the Mount of Olives up to the gate of Jerusalem—Jesus riding a very large animal, and the people cheering and singing and greeting him like they would greet Caesar.  The political echoes here are loud.  Jesus replaces Caesar, and every Caesar since then.  God is establishing the new world order:  what does it look like? 

            The first hint is that Jesus rode a hinny instead of a war horse.[8]  It’s as big as a war horse, but it’s a servant animal.  In the kingdom of God things are going to be different.  The occupation soldiers won’t force you to carry their pack.  The face of Caesar won’t appear on the coins, so you can use the money without committing idolatry.  And the peace that this emperor will establish is not “like the world gives”[9]—they say “Rome created a desert and called it peace”; but peace in the Kingdom of God will be a living peace.  There’s an air of liberation here.

            As the Gospel of Luke tells the story, Jesus goes to the temple and drives out the money-changers and livestock sellers.  We say that Jesus “cleansed the temple,” and that was something the people back then were hoping would happen—straighten up religion, offer pure sacrifices, let the high priest speak justice instead of politics as usual. 

            Now, of course, we know that within a week Caesar’s soldiers will receive Jesus from the temple guards and crucify him.  Jesus himself knew all along that something like this was obvious when you go messing with Caesar and the high priest.  His Triumphal Entry was not just full of symbols (like the hinny)—the event as a whole was a symbol; but a symbol of what?  It was a symbol of the arriving kingdom of God.  So what does the kingdom of God look like in reality? 

            Jesus had been telling his followers what the kingdom of God looks like for three years.  In the synagogue in his home town of Nazareth he preached the arrival of the new world order—his “programme”:[10]

After John the Baptist had been arrested he had doubts about whether anything he had done meant anything, so he sent some of his disciples to Jesus to ask if Jesus is the Messiah or should they wait for somebody else; and Jesus’ answer tells us what the kingdom of God looks like:[11]

No, he wasn’t talking about magic and miracles:  he was talking about a world order of human liberation.  The king will ride a work horse, not a war horse.  (Wouldn’t that be nice!)  Women, lepers and the unwashed are not excluded but rather they are blessed and welcomed into the freedom of the spirit.  Crazy people no longer have life issues or brain chemistry that distorts their souls.  And enemies?  No “battle-of-Armageddon”-type massacre:  but reconciliation—peace with justice.  And this:[12]

Liberation of human life is coming!  In fact, he said, “The kingdom of God is among you”[13]—already!  And if you can’t see it, you can see Jesus riding down the road from the Mount of Olives on a very large “colt,” and being greeted by those who seek to be his followers—those who seek to live in this new kind of world.

            Now that really would be “a colt never ridden” before, wouldn’t it!  And it raises a personal question for you and for me:  Do you want to be his follower on this road of liberation? 

AMEN