The Threat of the Resurrection wk 2
Sunday, April 1st, 2012Darrell Muth and Scott Drennan work together to communicate the threat.
Scott:
The resurrection is threatening. Why? Because the resurrection shouts, it powerfully demonstrates, that we are not in control. Not in control of our world, our lives, or even our afterlives. It shouts that someone else is in control of the cosmos and everything in it. It shouts that Jesus is Lord. Of course, that forces us to make up our mind, whether we believe that, and asks us to commit to answering the question “Who do you say that I am?” The story of Palm Sunday, and in many ways the entire account of the Gospel, is all about people answering that question. As Jesus approached Bethphage and Bethany at the hill called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples, saying to them “Go to the village ahead of you, and as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it.’”Those who were sent ahead went and found it just as he had told them. As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the colt?” They replied, “The Lord needs it.” They brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt and put Jesus on it. As he went along, people spread their cloaks on the road. When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen: “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!” “I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.” - Luke 19:29-44 (TNIV)
We’re so familiar with this story and its characters, aren’t we? Jesus, of course; the two disciples sent on the errand; the Pharisees; even the donkey. Of course, there are actually hundreds, if not thousands, of people included in this story. We know them as “The Crowd,” and even though we don’t know them by name, they’ve all turned up to usher Jesus into the city. They’ve done that because every last one of them has some mix of hopes, expectations, and fears about who Jesus might be.
Some people are undoubtedly there because they’ve heard about Jesus’ many miracles, including the astounding feat of raising Lazarus from the dead, which happened nearby and just a short time earlier. I’m sure that others have come primarily because they’ve heard that he’s defied the priests – like the filmmakers of Jesus Christ Superstar, they are looking for a social radical who will upset the status quo. To some, Jesus probably seemed like the ultimate rabbi, quoting the Old Testament prophets at length and bringing new light to Law of Moses. It’s likely that the largest segment of the people who came to meet Jesus on that road from the Mount of Olives were looking for a leader. Charles Spurgeon, in one of his sermons on Palm Sunday says,
There was an expectation upon the popular mind of the Jewish people, that Messiah was about to come. They expected him to be a temporal prince, one who would make war upon the Romans and restore to the Jews their lost nationality. There were many who, though they did not believe in Christ with a spiritual faith, nevertheless hoped that perhaps he might be to them a great temporal deliverer… - C. H. Spurgeon
They were looking for the legitimate successor to King David, who would come to lead the Israelite people to glory and a new golden age. Regardless of what those people thought about Jesus, they thought enough of him to come and see. But I’m struck when I read this story that there is someone we don’t hear about, who plays a central role in the drama of the Crucifixion that’s about to unfold. Pontius Pilate.
Think about it. Somewhere in this city, not too big of a city by our standards, the Roman governor of the province of Judea is sitting in some palace, and he hears a noise like distant thunder. He gets up from his dinner table and walks to a balcony. The whole city is spread out before him. Below him in the streets he can see people running towards one of the gates, and in the distance, partially obscured by the roofs, he can see flashes of banners and green leaves. He must have been able to make out the cheering and the singing. He must have heard the cries of “Hosanna!” and “King Jesus, King Jesus!’
He would have already been on high alert because of passover. The unruly masses of the Roman province of Judea were famous for rebelling, especially around the Feast of Passover. In fact, Harod’s Palace – the official residence of the Roman Prelate and the location of the main Roman garrison – was in Caesarea, about 112 km away from Jerusalem. But every year the governor would make a point of travelling that whole distance, along with several thousand Roman legionnaires, so that they could be in Jerusalem for the feast. Ready and waiting.
It is insane to think that Pilate would not have had soldiers racing back and forth between his command centre and the scene of this riot, giving him regular reports. And yet, those soldiers, his political representatives, and Pilate himself are nowhere to be found in this whole account.
Why not?
I suspect it’s because there’s not much to say about him. The Pharisees, the priests, the disciples, the crowds – they are all active participants in this story. Some are cheering Jesus, some are plowing a way for him through the streets, some are already plotting to kill him. One way or another, they have committed themselves to this drama.
But Pilate has not.
While Jesus is riding his donkey, and the people are taking to the streets and the priests are plotting murder, Pilate is sipping his wine. While Jesus is overturning tables at the temple, and Judas is accepting his bribe money, and Peter and the disciples are preparing the upper room, Pilate is remaining dispassionate, objective, and reserving judgement. And when it finally comes time to make a decision, he washes his hands of the whole affair. And that is a great tragedy.
Because Pilate has missed out. He was confronted with the same question we are: “Who do you say that I am?” and barely a week later, when the stone was rolled away from the tomb, what is that to him? He doesn’t get to celebrate with Jesus’ mother. He doesn’t experience a great revelation like Cleopas and his wife Mary, who meet Jesus on the road to Emmaus. He doesn’t even have the benefit of experiencing and knowing his own guilt like Judas.
Luke adds of a bit of a postscript to the story of the Triumphal Entry, telling us of Jesus’ reaction.
As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes…because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.” – Luke 19:41,42,44 (TNIV)
I can’t help but feeling like Jesus may have been speaking to Pilate, and all those like him, who just couldn’t commit.
Darrell:
Pilate went back inside and called for Jesus to be brought to him. “Are you the King of the Jews?” he asked him. Jesus replied, “Is this your own question, or did others tell you about me?” “Am I a Jew?” Pilate asked. “Your own people and their leading priests brought you here. Why? What have you done?” Then Jesus answered, “I am not an earthly king. If I were, my followers would have fought when I was arrested by the Jewish leaders. But my Kingdom is not of this world.” Pilate replied, “You are a king then?” “You say that I am a king, and you are right,” Jesus said. “I was born for that purpose. And I came to bring truth to the world. All who love the truth recognize that what I say is true.”…..“What is truth?” Pilate asked. Then he went out again to the people and told them, “He is not guilty of any crime. But you have a custom of asking me to release someone from prison each year at Passover. So if you want me to, I’ll release the King of the Jews.” But they shouted back, “No! Not this man, but Barabbas!” (Barabbas was a criminal.) John 18: 33-40 NLT
Pilot is detached, objective, he has a healthy skepticism. He also asks thoughtful questions and – I don’t believe anyone expected this – he becomes an advocate for Christ.It seems to me that Pilot of all the participants in the crucifixion story understood Christ the most. And when he asks, what is truth? He identifies one of the most important questions if not for all time, then certainly for our time. He is a spokesperson for 21 century western culture. But though he asks the best questions and has the most objective understanding of the Christ, he does not commit. Why?
C.S. Lewis in his process of becoming Christian asked similar questions. He wrote:
“So perhaps this story was indeed different from all the other myths – different because it happened, because it was a historical event rather than an imagined story. But even so, there remained a still deeper problem: So what if it happened? So what if Jesus of Nazareth died on a cross? So what if he even rose from the dead?… “What I couldn’t understand was how the life and death of Someone Else 2000 years ago could help us here and now – except in so far as his example helped us. And this example business, though it is true and important, is not Christianity: Lewis continued : But, right in the centre of Christianity, in the Gospels and St.Paul, you keep on getting something….quite different ….and very mysterious.” – pg.147-148, The Narnian, Alan Jacobs
Lewis intuited, he grasped the essential part of the easter story.
When Beethoven played a new sonata for a friend, the friend asked him after that last note, “What does it mean?” Beethoven returned to the piano, played the whole sonata again and said, “That is what it means.
The difference between Pilot and Lewis is that Lewis was listening for more and he heard it, the music of the Spirit. He understood that the notes support the music and that music transcends the notes. He gave himself to the music
Leonard Sweet says, If you have to count the steps, you still can’t dance
We must embrace the music beyond the notes, the spirit beyond the words. There comes a point when we need to stop counting steps and start moving to the music of the Spirit. Proofs, arguments, facts may support truth but are not truth. We need to be more passionate, more subjective, more biased, we need to feel as much as we think.
We have become so accustomed to the idea of divine love and of God’s coming that we no longer feel the shiver of fear that God’s coming should arouse in us. Dietrich Bonhoeffer
If Urban Bridge had been present the day Christ entered Jerusalem would we have thrown down our coats and palm leaves? Oh we would have thought about it and evaluated it, we would have had a conversation about it, but would we have committed ourselves? Would we have responded to the Spirit’s invitation to dance? I am challenged by Lewis words,“this example business, though it is true and important, is not Christianity:
You and I can commit to all the values of Urban Bridge, we can use these values to Bridge Christ and Urban Culture. We can participate in all kinds of redemptive acts, but is that what it means to be a follower of Christ? Christ said to Pilot, and to Lewis and he says to you and me, “All who love the truth recognize that what I say is true.” You and I need to commit to the spirit of Christ who embodies the music by which we engage the dance of life. Christ is Truth
May we have ears to understand the meaning of Christ crucifixion beyond the event and the words.
We must get used to telling the story of God, Israel, Jesus, and the world as the true metanarrative, the story of healing and self-giving love. We must get used to living as those who have truly died and risen with Christ so that our self, having been thoroughly deconstructed, can be put back together, not by the agendas that the world presses upon us, but by God’s spirit. http://www.ntwrightpage.com/Wright_Resurrection_Postmodern.htm
May we embrace the music of the spirit beyond the notes and may we commit to a passionate leaf throwing, coat dropping following of Christ.
