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| Protest in Sanaa, Yemen (February 3, 2011) by Sallam from Yemen from Wikipedia commons |
The same question was on the minds of this little group of men - and yes, at the start it had to be men - who had signed up to "Follow" the Rabbi called Yeshua, to learn from him and be part of this "kingdom. As they journey together to Jerusalem, they don't look like much of a force for change: a few Galilean fishermen, rough homespun clothes and rough, calloused hands. Can a nation be changed?
The question was on the minds of the crowds, people from all over the nation who had come up to Jerusalem for Passover. They were a real mixture. There were people from the farms and villages, rich and poor, some with only the clothes they stood up in. There were the city poor, too: the labourers, the ordinary people, those who were poor and those who were pushed around. There were the disturbed and disabled with their ragged clothes and begging bowls. Some didn't know anything about Jesus; others had probably heard him; some had come to him desperate for his healing. There were the children: those who were too young to understand. There were those who knew the ancient faith-words and those who didn't, because though they were God-fearers, they were outsiders. A whole crowd of people. A rabble. A rag tag bunch of ordinary people. And they are asking, "Can a nation be changed?"
Can a nation be changed? Jesus apparently thought the answer was "yes!" A nation could be changed. So he sent two of his friends into the city to borrow a donkey and her colt. He could read the questions in their eyes: "We could end up getting arrested as Donkey thieves!" So he tells them, "If anyone asks what you're doing tell them the master needs them." They might have wanted to say, "But, Jesus, if you're going to enter Jerusalem as King, wouldn't a big white horse be better?" And if they did, Jesus Jesus would answer, "No, I know what I am doing. It's all set up. Go and get me the donkey..." Jesus was setting up this march, this demonstration. The disciples threw their cloaks over the donkey and Jesus rode on it, down into the city. It was like he was saying, "Yes, I am the coming King. I am fulfilling the ancient words. I am here to change the nation!"
And people caught the atmosphere of the moment, they read the code (Zechariah 9. 9: you king is coming, riding a donkey)... they joined in the demonstration... some spread their cloaks in the road, others cut palm fronds to spread on the road... "He's here, the King, the one who comes in the name of the Lord..." so they began quoting Psalm 118:25f Save us, LORD, save us! Hosanna! Give us success, O LORD! May God bless the one who comes in the name of the LORD! Save our nation, change our nation, Jesus!" The whole city was in an uproar! Can a nation be changed? It looked like the time had come. But what would that change be like? In Jerusalem, Jesus headed for the Temple, the "God" place, the spiritual heart of the nation... and there, in the outer courts of the place where people made sacrifices God, in the place where people worshipped Him, the bit of the temple where all nations could come, there people were selling lambs and pigeons (for sacrifices) and changing Roman Denarii for Judean Shekels for the offering. Jesus cleared them all out. What a scene! Sheep and birds everywhere; neat piles of coins scattered on the floor; men yelling - probably using words you wouldn't want to use in church! This Kingdom wants to change hearts. It demands that people turn from greed, oppression, apathy, self-interest, and prejudice, to God. It calls people to be generous, honest, inclusive... There in the temple, Jesus demonstrated that he was about changing not just the nation but also the world, by changing the heart...
And there in the temple, loads of broken people came to him, and he healed them. He changed what is fallen, broken, damaged, in the created world, into something whole. It's a demonstration of the change in the very fabric of the created universe, which the Kingdom brings: every healing is a foretaste of the new heaven and the new earth.
Then the respectable old men, the ones in charge of the Temple, were asking, "Do you hear those kids?" They were angry at the things Jesus was doing, the things people were saying about him and who these people were. Jesus has an answer: Psalm 8. 2: "out of the mouths of bairns" you Lord have brought perfect praise. It's the Lord who is at work here.
Can a nation be changed? Can a world be changed? Yes, when God is at work. 2Cor 5:19 says "In Christ God was reconciling the world to himself." In Jesus, God is at work. The rubbish in the world is dealt with because the rubbish inside us is dealt with. And like the rag-tag band of disciples, like the rag-tag crowd with their palm branches, we are invited to be part of it.
We need to stop looking for the big, white horse and take hold of the donkey: to embrace the fact that Jesus and his world-changing Kingdom are really for the last, the lost and the least. I was challenged this week, about how middle-class some of my values, assumptions and attitudes are. Jesus is "the humble king". Unless we embrace the humility, where do we leave the poor, the broken, and the addicted?
But if we can take hold of the donkey, embrace the humility, if we can be changed, then a nation and a world can be changed...
This Kingdom belongs, as it has always belonged, to the little people who are prepared just simply be what they were, singing their praises. Respectable, powerful people have to swallow pride to enter in. We have to say, "We will have this man to reign over us."
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