CAMINANDO WITH JESUS: Fulfilling the Divine-human Covenant

When they were approaching Jerusalem, at Bethphage and Bethany, near the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples and said to them, “Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately as you enter it, you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden; untie it and bring it. If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ just say this, ‘The Lord needs it and will send it back here immediately.’” They went away and found a colt tied near a door, outside in the street. As they were untying it, some of the bystanders said to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?” They told them what Jesus had said; and they allowed them to take it. Then they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it; and he sat on it. Many people spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut in the fields. Then those who went ahead and those who followed were shouting,

“Hosanna!
Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!
Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David!
Hosanna in the highest heaven!”

Then he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple; and when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve.

- Mark 11:1-11

From the beginning of his ministry, Jesus has been “on the move,” traveling throughout the Galilean wildernesses, countryside and villages teaching and preaching what it means to be obedient to the Divine-human covenant.

It means to put God in the center of one’s life and to witness and testify to what that looks like. It’s being moved to action when we look in the face of every human we encounter, to see God but also to see their suffering—keeping our gaze steady and not turning away. We encounter the suffering. We understand its roots and systemic nature. We deal with the pain, and we don’t let the pain deter us from moving forward in being loving to our sisters and brothers who are suffering.

Those who join Jesus’ movement are not just joining his journey towards Jerusalem. There is a movement of hearts and minds—an enlightenment of what loving God and neighbor looks like.

This day that we celebrate as Palm Sunday marks the first day of the last week of Jesus’ earthly life. He comes in, riding on a colt, with the Jesus-followers surrounding him as they parade to the Temple. Upon arriving, Jesus looks around and leaves. Pretty anticlimactic! What must the Jesus-followers have thought?

Had they expected another contentious encounter with the religious power structure, threatened because Jesus challenged the status quo? With an alternative authority they did not understand, Jesus called for a transformation of societal and religious practices that were not aligned with the Divine-human covenant. Had they expected an all-out rebellion and protest movement as they shouted out, “Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David”? For those who journeyed with Jesus were mostly working-class folks, barely making enough to live and feed their families while suffering under the oppressive laws and practices enacted by both the civil and religious powers. They yearned for liberation and believed a restoration of the Davidic dynasty, with its warrior power, would be instrumental in transforming their world into one in which they could live with dignity, equity and justice. Though they had been journeying with Jesus and witnessed the non-violent way he dealt with conflict with the authorities, they struggled to understand that Jesus’ path towards liberation was not the path they expected.

Jesus’ path to liberation and salvation was not a violent war or insurrection. It was a reckoning! What is God’s CALL to us? How have we come up short? What do we do to repair the fractures and divisions to become co-creators of God’s Kingdom?

Jesus challenged the religious and civil authorities to a reckoning—and HE suffered for it!

It is important for us to remember Palm Sunday is also the Sunday of the Passion. Jesus’ CALL for a reckoning is also the catalyst for his suffering. This Holy Week is a time during which we see Jesus betrayed... abandoned... unjustly convicted... and beaten. He cries out in pain, feels forsaken, stumbles, falls, bleeds and dies.

As we anticipate Easter JOY, let us remember the journey to Good Friday. Jesus suffered because he called out the suffering of God’s people.

As Jesus-followers, we are called to learn about those insidious, systemic elements in our society that cause suffering and to be transformers, healers and reconcilers in co-creating God’s dream for God’s people

The Rev. Joyce Corbin Cunningham is the associate rector at Good Shepherd, Raleigh.