PALM SUNDAY 2021
Montevallo Presbyterian Church
sermon by wayne mclaughlin
“Jesus as Performance Artist”
Psalm 118. 1-2, 19-29 ICEL
Give thanks, the Lord is good.
God’s love is forever!
Now let Israel say,
“God’s love is forever!”
Open the gates of justice,
let me praise God within them.
This is the Lord’s own gate,
only the just will enter.
I thank you for you answered me,
and you became my Savior.
The stone the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone.
This is the work of the Lord,
how wonderful in our eyes.
This is the day the Lord made,
let us rejoice and be glad.
Lord, give us the victory!
Lord, grant us success!
Blest is the one who comes,
who comes in the name of the Lord.
We bless you from the Lord’s house.
The Lord God is our light:
adorn the altar with branches.
I will thank you, my God,
I will praise you highly.
Give thanks, the Lord is good.
God’s love is forever!
Mark 11.1-11 CEB
11 When Jesus and his followers approached Jerusalem, they came to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives. Jesus gave two disciples a task, 2 saying to them, “Go into the village over there. As soon as you enter it, you will find tied up there a colt that no one has ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 3 If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘Its master needs it, and he will send it back right away.’”
4 They went and found a colt tied to a gate outside on the street, and they untied it. 5 Some people standing around said to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?” 6 They told them just what Jesus said, and they left them alone. 7 They brought the colt to Jesus and threw their clothes upon it, and he sat on it. 8 Many people spread out their clothes on the road while others spread branches cut from the fields. 9 Those in front of him and those following were shouting, “Hosanna! Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord! 10 Blessings on the coming kingdom of our ancestor David! Hosanna in the highest!” 11 Jesus entered Jerusalem and went into the temple. After he looked around at everything, because it was already late in the evening, he returned to Bethany with the Twelve.
SERMON TEXT:
1.
The prophet Isaiah walked throughout the city of Jerusalem naked for three years.
Why did he do that? To show the Israelites that their foreign policy was wrong. They were depending on Egypt and Ethiopia to protect them from the Assyrians. But Isaiah’s bare butt was telling them that Assyria was going to take the people of Egypt and Ethiopia as slaves and make them walk naked out of their country into exile. (see Isaiah 20)
2.
The prophet Ezekiel lay on his side for 390 days and ate bread that he had made and baked, using poop to fuel the fire. He did all of this out in the open as people watched.
Why did he do that? To show that the kingdom of Judah was turning its back on God. Therefore, they would be taken into captivity and be made to eat food that is taboo for Jews to eat. God did relent a little after Ezekiel complained about using human poop. God let him bake the bread over cow poop instead. (see Ezekiel 4)
3.
Another time the prophet Ezekiel took a book and ate it!
Why did he do that? Well, first, it was actually a scroll. God handed him a scroll on which was written lamentations and grief and doom. Zeke took the scroll and scarfed it down. Mmm, he said, that’s good. It tastes just like honey. But he knew that the message he would speak to his fellow Israelites would not be sweet: it would be full of lamentation, sorrow, and judgment. (see Ezekiel 2-3)
4.
The prophet Jeremiah took a yoke that was usually put on oxen, and he put it on himself.
Why? It was a symbolic action to show that the kings and kingdoms who do not put on the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar, that is, submit to the governance of Nebuchadnezzar, will be destroyed. (see Jeremiah 27)
5.
Another time God told Jeremiah to write in a book all the bad things that would happen to Babylon. He gave it to Seraiah and told him to take it to Babylon, tie the book onto a stone, and throw it into the Euphrates River. This was to show that Babylon is about to sink to the bottom of history and never come up again. (see Jeremiah 51)
6.
The prophet Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey.
Why? Because everyone knew their Bible well. They knew what the prophet Zechariah had written:
Shout and cheer, Daughter Zion!
Raise your voice, Daughter Jerusalem!
Your king is coming!
a good king who makes all things right,
a humble king riding a donkey,
a mere colt of a donkey.
I’ve had it with war—no more chariots in Ephraim,
no more war horses in Jerusalem,
no more swords and spears, bows and arrows.
[The new King] will offer peace to the nations,
a peaceful rule worldwide,
from the four winds to the seven seas.
(Zech. 9.9-10, MSG)
The people knew what his performance art meant. As all performance art is, it was disruptive. Something old was being challenged. Something new was being put on the table. But more than that—the tables were going to be overturned.
7.
The people who knew their Bible not only recognized the man on the donkey was staging a coup, they also knew how the Book of Zechariah ended. The very last verse says:
On that Big Day there will be no buying or selling in the Temple of God. (Zech. 14.21, MSG)
It would be one day later that Jesus would return to the Temple and overturn the tables of the buyers and sellers, chasing them out of God’s House—overturning traditions and customs and immoral financial dealings that had thrived under the cover of religion.
8.
Jesus was God’s performance artist. He staged a parade. We know that he had been preparing behind the scenes because he told two disciples to go into town where they would find a donkey tied up, one that had never been ridden before. They were to take the donkey, and if anyone asked, they were to use the code words, “The Lord has need of it.”
It sounds like an espionage novel in which secret messages are sent back and forth. Jesus was staging a parade as a piece of performance art to disrupt the old order of things and introduce a new Royal Regime, based not on military power, but on the power of love.
He rode the donkey for two miles from the village into the southeastern gate of the holy City. He had already planned to have a crowd of people ready with branches and palms and coats to throw in his path, like a political campaign that hires a crowd of supporters with signs and banners, cheering the candidate as he approaches the stage to give a speech.
The people cheered: Hosanna! Son of David! Hosanna! Peace! Shalom!
He went to the temple and looked around, surveying the situation. But it was the end of the day. Everyone was leaving. So he walked the two miles back to the village and stayed the night with his friends. The next morning he got up and walked back to the temple. It was bustling with activity. He wasn’t angry. He didn’t turn over the tables in a rage. He was simply performing a prophetic bit of artistry.
Like Jeremiah putting on a yoke. Like Ezekiel baking bread. Like Isaiah walking naked. Jesus overturned the tables and chase the merchants out of the Temple, scattering the animals; making a statement without words. Performing God’s Word in the sight of all the people.
He was performing—performing a cleansing, an exorcism, of the Temple. By saying he was performing I don't mean he was pretending. Not at all. A surgeon performs. The surgeon performs surgery to remove the malignant tumor. The performance of Jesus was a real action with meaning.
Before the week would end God would perform an Atonement to bring the world back to friendship with the Divine.
9.
Life is art. Sometimes our lives rhyme. Sometimes we live as free verse. We each have our part to play in this cosmic drama. The Author knows how it all ends; but we are free to improvise within the bounds of the predestined plot.
We play our part. Others play their part. If we mess up, the play will go on. The script will be edited. The Author, the Director, and the Producer have it under control.
10.
Jesus came on stage two thousand years ago to reveal the meaning of the drama. When he entered Jerusalem he was giving a clue to what is going on. When they executed him for treason and blasphemy, it seemed as if the whole plot would be destroyed. But the next chapter revealed otherwise.
He rode a donkey. He came in the name of the Lord. He staged a peaceful entry to reveal a new kind of Kingdom—a Kingdom of peace.
11.
It’s a page-turner. What is going to happen next? We don’t know. But we know that we are part of this great Drama. We have a part to play. We believe. We believe that the plot heads toward peace. What we see now may seem cruel and tragic. We shed tears for the oppression, the indignities, the inhumane treatment of people and animals; for the indifference toward the poisoning of the air and water, and the abuse of the soil.
We see babies die. We see wars taking the lives of young men and women. We see disease wiping out millions of our sisters and brothers.
And yet, we still believe that the man who rode into Jerusalem on a donkey was not only entering an urban area, but was entering a new era of history. We still believe that Jesus performed a piece of art that draws us in as participants in God’s grace.
12.
Tell them, he said, "The Lord has need of it."
He told me to tell you: "The Lord has need of you."
