“A Donkey, Colt, and Jesus walk into a….”

Matthew 21:1-11New International Version (NIV)

Jesus Comes to Jerusalem as King

21 As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, 2 saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me. 3 If anyone says anything to you, say that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away.”

4 This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet:

5 “Say to Daughter Zion,
    ‘See, your king comes to you,
gentle and riding on a donkey,
    and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’”

6 The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them. 7 They brought the donkey and the colt and placed their cloaks on them for Jesus to sit on. 8 A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted,

“Hosanna to the Son of David!”

“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”

“Hosanna in the highest heaven!”

10 When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, “Who is this?”

11 The crowds answered, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.”

I L-O-V-E watching movies.  I think I get this from my dad who also likes watching movies.  Now, sometimes his taste in movies is not the best because I have watched some movies with him that I thought were terrible... Most of you have heard me speak on the bonds that have been made as him and I have watched some of these movies when I was growing up, namely “Free Willy.”.  So I get this love for movies from my father but I also enjoy the emotions, the characters and the plots of movies.  I enjoy scary movies even if it means I cannot sleep very well after watching them.  I love sports movies and rooting for the underdog.  I enjoy action and superhero movies.  I enjoy westerns and war hero movies.  And yes, I enjoy a good “chick-flick” every now and again like “The Notebook” and “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days.”  On the other hand, my wife doesn’t like movies.  She makes this really odd claim that if she gets into a movie, it makes her tired so she often falls asleep during movies.  To me, this claim seems counter intuitive but it usually holds true for her.  In fact, the only movie she can quote or even knows that well is the movie “Matilda.”  But now, I have a new out to watch movies.  My kids!  If I can get them to sit still long enough, I enjoy watching kids’ movies with them.  I would much rather watch “Home”, “Inside Out”, or “Zootopia” over “Bubble Guppies”, “Paw Patrol”, or “Peppa Pig” any day of the week so I push them in the direction of these movies rather than cartoons.  

That being said, we finished watching “Zootopia” yesterday and I really enjoyed it.  The kids aren’t old enough to understand some of the political undertones and references that I see play out in the movies they like to watch.  They do not even fully understand the moral of the story yet but I do and I think that is what makes these movies enjoyable for me.  There was a quote by Judy Hopps, the first bunny cop of Zootopia, that really resonated with me.  She said:

I thought this city would be a perfect place where everyone got along and anyone could be anything. Turns out, life's a little bit more complicated than a slogan on a bumper sticker. Real life is messy. We all have limitations. We all make mistakes. Which means, hey, glass half full, we all have a lot in common. And the more we try to understand one another, the more exceptional each of us will be. But we have to try. So no matter what kind of person you are, I implore you: Try. Try to make the world a better place. Look inside yourself and recognize that change starts with you.

Within the context of the movie, Officer Hopps is speaking about a fictional place where all animals get along.  However, the undertones that I spoke of earlier hit you in the face if you’re an adult and are paying attention.  What Officer Hopps is saying applies to Christianity.  If preachers and ministers from all denominations would be preaching something similar to what a character on a children’s movie is saying then maybe, just maybe, the world wouldn’t be as filled with so much hatred and evil.  Instead of preachers using their platform to get a message like this across, we learn about it from a children’s movie.  

Jesus understood the messiness of life.  Look at the conversations that the lectionary takes you through in John for this year’s Lenten readings: Nicodemus, the woman at the well, the blind man, Lazarus, Jesus weeping, and Jesus getting a little upset at the lack of faith.  I was posed this question this past week, “Did Jesus know what was about to happen?”  Part of me says, of course he knew, he is God.  The other part of me says, no he didn’t know because he was partly human.  Like Officer Hopps said, “Real life is messy.”  Yes it is.  I get questions from people ranging from 4 years old to 80 years old that I have a difficult time answering.  When I answer these questions, I find myself chasing down this rabbit hole in my mind that leads me to not really having an answer.  I always go back to the fact that God loves me.  I do not always know how or why this love will manifest itself in me or in my life but I know He loves me.  I know that there will be things that happen that cause me to doubt or question this love.  But I always come back to this: Why would Jesus die on that cross?  He didn’t have to.  As we listened to our scripture for this morning, I believe Jesus knew, at least in part, what was about to go down.  If nothing else, he had a gut feeling this would be the end of his earthly ministry.  He may not have known every single detail but he knew something was about to happen.  

Some biblical commentators reach into the depths of history and religion to find the exact reason Jesus did what he did on what we now celebrate as Palm Sunday.  I won’t delve too much into their reasons as they are long and well explained.  However, it is important that we understand a few things about what we are celebrating today.  First, it was approaching the Passover feast.  This means that Jews from all over the area had descended upon Jerusalem.  There was a census taken by a Roman governor on the lambs slain for the feast that took place 30 years later.  The rule of thumb was that every party of 10 was allotted one lamb.  The census found that nearly 250,000 lambs were killed in preparation for the feast.  This means that nearly 2.5 million people were in Jerusalem for the feast 30 years after Jesus entered the city.  That number may fluctuate a little but law stated that every Jewish male that lived within 20 miles of Jerusalem had to be there and many travelled from a much further distance.  In other words, Jesus picked the most dramatic time to enter the city as he could.  Second, Jesus rode in on an animal of peace rather than an animal of war.  He rode in a donkey and her foal rather than a horse.  This action foreshadowed the events of the upcoming week... No matter what was about to happen, Jesus was going to be peaceful rather than waging war.  Third, if you know your  history you know the success of the Maccabees that reclaimed the Temple that had been desecrated and disgraced roughly 200 years before Jesus entered the city.  Some commentators believe that Jesus’ entrance into the city was to do the same: reclaim the house of God.

What do we learn from all this?  Jesus showed courage.  He entered into a city that was hostile due to the authorities that hated him and had sworn to eliminate him due to their fear of the Roman government.  At first, the people were enthusiastic but the authorities quickly swayed them.  Jesus made a very public claim that he was God’s Messiah, God’s Anointed One.  He was going reclaim what was God’s.  And finally it showed us his appeal.  It  was not the kingship of the throne or the Chief Priest of the Temple Jesus was after, it was the kingship of your heart.  That is the reason for the donkey instead of the horse.  Jesus was the king of peace.  Jesus was there to fight but he fought with love instead of weapons.  

“And the more we try to understand one another, the more exceptional each of us will be.  But we have to try. So no matter what kind of person you are, I implore you: try.  Try to make the world a better place.  Look inside yourself and recognize that change starts with you.”  The events of Palm Sunday were Jesus’ final earthly attempt to extend an invitation that was open to all people.  Not to open their palaces to him but their hearts.  Real life is messy but open your heart to Christ because he knows that.  He lived it.  He died because of it.  And he would do it all over again.  For you.  You see, Jesus is still reclaiming the house of God...  You. Amen.