The best remedy for the hiccups is to think of a white horse. If that doesn't work then think of a white horse carrying Barbra Streisand in a bikini on the beach. If that doesn't scare them out of you then drink some water. White horses are a part of messianic lore. In Revelation Jesus is pictured as a rider on a white horse. The white horse is a king's horse. Roman generals rode white horses. The Lone Ranger rode a white horse, “Hi-ho Silver away!” When we think of knights, we think of a white knight on a white horse. When we think of a hero, of a savior, we think of a white horse.
As much as I like the Lone Ranger, Zorro was cooler and he rode a black stallion so it is hard to imagine a king who rides into town on a donkey. Surely, no good honorable king would ride into town on a donkey or be seen riding a donkey. If a king lost his horse in battle or on the way to town, a knight would either give up his horse or a peasant would lose their finest horse. The horse was a part of the king's identity. When you saw the white horse, you knew your king was almost there. If you saw a black horse, you knew the Black Knight was coming. If you saw a king riding into town on a donkey, you knew...well you're not sure what to know. Palm Sunday offers us a moment to redefine our expectations and images of the messiah.
We have come to the end of our Lenten journey. Last week we sat up on the mountaintop with Jesus. We listened as he told us he was only here for a little while longer. We sat on the mountaintop and watched the sunset. We sat with Jesus, looking out towards the distant cross. Now, we've started our descent into the valley. Today, we open our doors and we sing hosanna to a king who comes without his white horse. We take a moment and ask, “Has Jesus redefined our expectations of a messiah?”
For many of us, we've grown up accustomed to these stories. We know the Palm Sunday story, the Good Friday story, and of course the Easter story. Through the years these stories have been presented in a way that allows us to be bystanders. These stories have been presented in the form of a three act play. Act 1 is Palm Sunday, the entrance of Christ. Act 2 is Good Friday and the death of Jesus. Act 3 is Easter. The story is structured and presented in a way in which there is not room for our participation. Since these stories have already happened, we are simply asked to listen and respond. The beauty of the complexity of this story is reduced to a salvation experience that does not leave room for new discoveries and new life.
My hope, since September, has been to introduce us to a new way of seeing and hearing these stories. Every sermon and every scripture has been a slow attempt at engaging us in a story that extends beyond three acts. My hope on this Palm Sunday is for us to see the beautiful five act story God is writing. In the five act story, Jesus' life is the third act. The first two, creation and Israel, have helped shaped the story of today. The story of creation and the story of Israel's rise and fall invite us to see with big eyes the strangeness of the messiah riding in on a donkey.
Imagine hearing the stories as a child of act 1 and 2. Imagine hearing stories of how God created the world out of chaos. Imagine hearing stories of God's chosen people rising to glory under King David and their fall into Babylonian exile. Imagine growing up hearing stories of God's promise of a messiah. Imagine what those stories would do for you as a child of Israel under the foot of the Roman Empire. Imagine what type of messiah you would picture. Imagine, standing out in the streets as the third act slowly reaches its climatic point. Imagine seeing Jesus, the one some say is Elijah or John the Baptist but his disciples say is the Christ. Would the man you see on the back of the donkey be the same image you had in your mind as a child? Would you see him and say, “I thought he'd be taller”?
It's not that hard to imagine is it? Many of us have been imagining what Jesus would look like since we were children. Many have painted different portraits of a man they have never seen. We have imagined what it will be like when we get to see Jesus face to face. Will he live up to our images and expectations? Or will we look at him and say, “I thought you'd be white”?
We are invited to see the donkey carrying the messiah as message to us, a message from God. A message that takes Acts 1 and 2 and says, “You expected my messiah, my chosen one to bring with him my vengeance on my enemies. You expected him to ride in on a war horse, instead he rides in on a donkey and on that donkey he brings to you my peace, my grace, and my love.” This image of the messiah is an image of God. A God who is not absent or bent on retribution but a God who wishes to bring peace to creation, to the nation of Israel, and to us. There is no white horse.
Palm Sunday allows to be free from images that bind us and trap us. We are free to use our imagination and imagine a messiah that is greater than the one we've created in our minds and in our dreams. Palm Sunday offers us a chance to reconcile our images with the image presented to us today. The white horse has become a gray donkey.
Churches have split over the images of Christ. Christians have split over the images of Christ and it is not hard to see why when we've been trapped in a story that does not have room for us. Palm Sunday begins to open up a fourth act. Today starts the slow transition from the life of Christ to the life of the Church, to the life of Act 4. Today we have the opportunity to be honest with one another and honest with our images of Christ. Today we have the opportunity to become a full church, a united church.
When pastors speak of a united church, they normally do not speak to the image of a messiah on a donkey. They think of a white horse. They think of a church united in one mind on the issue of homosexuality, the poor, the sick, the elderly, the young, the widowed, the divorced, the saved, the unsaved, abortion, politicians, the rich, atonement, and worship style. Unification means to be in agreement on all of those issues, and I am sure I have left several out. Palm Sunday offers us a new meaning, or an old meaning of unification.
The messiah who rode in on a donkey inspired a community of faith who became one in mind, body, and spirit but they were not of one mind, body, and spirit on issues. They were of one mind, body, and spirit concerning who the messiah was, the fulfillment of the prophecy. They were of one mind, body, and spirit in proclamation of Jesus as the Christ, the messiah, the Son of God. They were unified thinking of a gray donkey.
Palm Sunday is more than the Sunday before Easter. It is the start of something new, something grand and epic. It is the moment God begins to rewrite the story; renewing the characters, renewing the plot, renewing the theme, renewing the minds and hearts. Such a process is painful, that is why we have spent the past 2 months preparing for this week so that we might be able to stand together as we are renewed and made whole, as our image in Christ is made complete.
Such a process is tough. The chief priests, the Pharisees, the elders, and the scribes struggled with this change. The messiah did not fit with their images. The message of God's kingdom did not fit with their ideas and theology. The cost of following Christ was too much, so they crucified him.
In many ways we do the same.
I once asked a pastor, someone I deeply trusted on how you know you are saved or if you can ever fall out of God's grace and this is what he told me, “Every time you wake in the morning you are given two choices, you live for yourself or you live for Christ. Each time you decide to live for Christ and pray, “Lord, today let live as you did.” The resurrection becomes real and Christ comes down from the cross and you go up on the cross. Each time you decide to live for yourself, Christ stays on the cross and waits for you. In other words, each time you live for Christ you experience the resurrection. Each time you live for yourself you receive salvation.”
Palm Sunday is the beginning of God changing the world. Act 3 is coming to an end and Christ is making the way for Act 4 to begin. We are being invited into this story so that we might truly know that this room for everyone of every walk of life at the banquet table in God's kingdom. We are being invited to a wedding and a banquet. This invitation unifies the church, it brings all of us together because Christ is tearing down the walls of hostility. We are been given the power to stay in the room together even when deeply disagree because the gospel is true.
Palm Sunday offers us a new way to be the Church. A way that includes, accepts, and loves because it is not we that exist but Christ who exists in this place. Palm Sunday makes the gospel true because it is the beginning of a new story, a new chapter, and new act; and we are being given a part to play and are being asked to play it together. This is not a one person show.
Let us cast aside the thought of a white horse. Let us taste the sweet water of life and let us watch as the king who brings us peace, grace, mercy, and love enters into our church and our lives riding on a gray donkey.
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