Rejected Hero

April 2, 2023
St. John’s United Church of Christ, Union, Illinois

Isaiah 50:4-9a; Mark 11:1-11[1]

There is knowledge that is based on information, and knowledge that is based on experience. The “tongue of a teacher”[2] is the voice of experience – one who has been there. I have a book on my shelf that tries to speak about historical events using the voice of experience. It is called Eyewitness to History. Most history books can tell you the who, what, where, when, and how; most history books can’t tell you what it felt like, the power and emotion of the moment, the experience.

The teacher who can “sustain the weary with a word”[3] is the one who has experienced what it is to be worn-out, exhausted, dead-tired. Isaiah speaks from his experience as a servant of God who counts that experience, and all the weariness that comes with it, as a gift. It is a gift that can empower the one who has been there to reach out to those who are living through it right now. The teacher who has experienced weariness does not turn away from the weary, but instead offers a word of understanding and encouragement to the weary soul.

We can all name someone who used their own experience to help us. Who are the mentors and teachers who have used their experience of suffering through difficult times to help you through your own struggles and trials? My high school chemistry teacher used to tell great stories about chemical reactions gone bad. He would demonstrate sometimes too, usually behind a thick shield of Plexiglas or under the hood vent. You knew he’d been there, and he wanted us to be safe, so he made sure we knew what not to do. It was teachers like Dr. Hendricks that I really connected with.

A lot of therapists have been through depression themselves, and know what it’s like to be unable to get out from under the clouds. Alcoholics Anonymous is built on the idea that people who’ve been to the gutter and back can help you get up out of the gutter. Cancer patients find great comfort in talking with someone who had what they have and lived to tell the tale.

Maybe that’s part of who Jesus was. God came to the world to live as a human being, to experience our joy, to understand our fears, to know what it is to suffer and even to die. I like to think that in the person of Jesus, God became one of us so that we could hear the tongue of a teacher, the voice of experience, and know that God has been there too. For me, God is like those great teachers I really connected with.

The Gnostics in the early church denied the humanity of Jesus, believing that Jesus was only spirit and did not suffer pain. They were called heretics because it is vital to our understanding of Jesus that he was fully human as well as divine, that in Jesus Christ, God has “come to us and shared our common lot”[4] as written in the UCC Statement of Faith.

Because Jesus has been there, has experienced pain, suffering, loss, and even betrayal and death, he can sustain the weary with a word. Those who follow Christ know that God understands what it is to be human and trust that God will see us through to the very end, and beyond.

What Jesus experienced on that Sunday when the palms waved in the air was the hero’s welcome. The crowds cheered, not for the Roman governor who would enter the city surrounded by soldiers marching to the sound of drums and trumpets. No, the crowd cheered for the Teacher, for the Healer, for the one that might be the Messiah come to save them. Hosanna! Save us now!

The crowd quotes Psalm 118, which happens to be the Old Testament chapter most quoted in the New Testament. It appears here, when the people shout Hosanna! “Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!”[5] We know this one, right? We hear it all the time in our communion liturgy. It is the cry of thanksgiving for deliverance from enemies. Yet just four verses earlier in the Psalm are the words: “The stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.”[6] Even as Jesus entered the city to a hero’s welcome, he knew the impending rejection.

The people who cheer on Jesus as he enters Jerusalem picture him as the kind of hero they want him to be. “Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David!”[7] The people want a conquering hero. They hope for the restoration of the glory of ancient Israel, when David was king. At this high point, the crowd is caught up in the excitement of new possibilities. This could be the moment when things finally start going their way.

We’re all drawn to celebrity, and it’s easy to get caught up in the pomp and circumstance of a parade. Look, there he is! Hey! Did you see that? He saw me. Jesus waved at ME! It’s a little silly, and I’m sure that the soldiers looking on thought this little demonstration was foolish. It’s just another prophet riding on a donkey, after all. He’s no threat to the empire. Only a fool would worry about this guy.

Things quickly start to change. On Monday, Jesus will come back to the temple, this time in a rage as he’ll turn over the tables of the moneychangers. Jesus will spend the rest of the week stirring up trouble and making the authorities angry, all the while keeping the crowd “spellbound by his teaching.”[8] At one point Jesus will poke fun at the scribes as the crowd “listen[s] to him with delight.”[9]

It is great entertainment to watch people do dangerous things, and brazenly taunt the powerful. But when the entertainer crosses the line, and the authorities take measures to remove him from the stage, we quickly distance ourselves. It’s all fun and games until someone gets arrested. And, at the end, even those closest to Jesus fear to be associated with him. In Gethsemane, after the betrayal by Judas, “All of them deserted him and fled.”[10] Even Peter, bold enough to follow at a distance, will deny him three times before morning.

At the festival, the crowd finally turns on him. Encouraged by the chief priests, they ask for the release of Barabbas, a rebel who took part in a recent insurrection. This is the kind of hero they’re looking for – a warrior, one who is not afraid to take up arms against the Romans. The prophet, yeah, he was entertaining, but he’ll never change anything. And he was pretty rude over at the temple. Sure, crucify him!

But do you remember the Psalm? Jesus himself quoted it to them just a couple of days before. “The stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.” It is in fact the rejection and all that follows, not the “hero’s welcome,” that will shake the world to its foundations and make Jesus the Cornerstone for a whole new reality.

You need a hero? I’ve got one for you. Here is the Son of God, about to be betrayed, abandoned, abused, and executed, riding into the city of his doom aware of what he will face. He knows that this way leads to the cross. In these remaining days he must give his all, to teach and to heal for the last time, and to show the disciples the way of the servant of God who does what must be done without fear of shame or disgrace. The choice has been made to seek the glory of God and not human glory. In this moment, with his face set like flint, Jesus does not turn backward. “Who are my adversaries? Let them confront me. It is the Lord God who helps me.” Ride on, ride on in majesty.  Amen.

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[1] The scripture quotations contained herein are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A.  Used by permission.  All rights reserved.

[2] Isaiah 50:4.

[3] Ibid.

[4] The Statement of Faith of the United Church of Christ, adopted 1959 by the General Synod of the UCC.

[5] Psalm 118: 26.

[6] Psalm 118:22.

[7] Mark 11:10.

[8] Mark 11:18.

[9] Mark 12:37.

[10] Mark 14:50.