For Sunday, April 13, 2014 – Matthew 21:1-11
Jesus comes riding into Jerusalem at the intersection of Holy and Ordinary. Your king and lord (picture royal, honored, high above the rest, wearing plush garments) comes to you in a way quite unlike that sort of king. He comes as one of us, in everyday garb, mounted—in majesty on a throne?—no, on a humble donkey (an ass, a beast of burden, plodding, low to the ground, often mocked). His entourage, flawed and unsteady disciples all, have no royal servants assisting them. Only a colt, lowlier even than the adult donkey, carries their cloaks as they enter Jerusalem, the seat of political power and prestige.
The juxtaposition here of “hallelujah hoopla” and “plain ol’ ordinary” stands out on this day. How we crave the high up and holy. How we long for royalty, a God with whom we shall reign. But Jesus? He just keeps riding in on a donkey, meeting us in our lowliest states. All along it was not by stunts of glory, but by touch and laughter and tears that Jesus has healed and restored. No one walking with him understands what is happening, just as we do not understand today, and none of us is able to stay faithful for long, but if we can glimpse how ordinary holiness is, we learn the secret—that journeying together day by day is the realm we seek.
One Good Friday some family members were visiting Washington and wanted to see the usual sites. We walked past the Supreme Court building and then turned the corner by the Capitol, admiring the architecture and remembering decisions of import that have been made in those seats of power. On the west side, where it seems hundreds of steps ascend, where Presidents are inaugurated and world-changing events are announced, we were jolted to a standstill by Jesus! Bent under the weight of a ten foot cross, a crown of thorns on his head, he silently climbed each step of the Capitol toward his Jerusalem.
The regal promises of power and prestige strive to lay claim to us, calling out, “Here is your king.” To whom shall we listen? Why not ask the humble one of Nazareth, mounted on a donkey. The holy, ordinary one. See him there, his lowly stature…his unsteady followers…his cross?
