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Would you like a dance
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Luke 19:41-44 (New International Version)
41 As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it 42 and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes. 43 The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. 44 They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.”
Would you like to dance
Has anyone ever received a reasonable explanation as to why Baptists were so against dancing? I remember a square dance being planned for an adult fellowship group at our first congregation in Cobourg. Someone who had been around the church for a good number of years told me the last time such an event had been planned the organizers referred to the activity as “musical games” so as not to arouse any suspicion among the more conservative members of the congregation.
I have always been suspicious that our ancestors in the Baptist family were worried about males and females drawing too close together if they were dancing. My observation was that those young adults who were not permitted to dance merely found other ways of getting closer. I have always had a soft spot in my heart for this prohibition of dancing, but only because I am the ungraceful possessor of two left feet. So it is a strange image for me to use, but I want to suggest to you on this Palm Sunday that the invitation of Jesus to us is something like the offer of a dance.
Do you ever read something in the Bible and realize there has been a “fact” in your head for years that just was not so? I hate to confess, but this happens to me on a regular basis. I suppose this is one of the reasons I continue to read the Bible each day—I hope eventually to get it right!
In my mind, the Palm Sunday parade is in Jerusalem. In my mind, the accolades of the disciples echoed off the walls of the temple. In my mind the path made green with palms was the main street of the city. But that’s not how the gospels tell the story. Luke in particular makes it plain the shouts of praise would not have been heard in the city. As he was now approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for the deeds of power that they had seen (Luke 19:37).
It will be helpful for us to put the scene in our mind’s eye. On the path down from the Mount of Olives the entire city of Jerusalem would have been visible to Jesus. At the forefront of the scene would have been the Temple. It would have been a beautiful and at the same time disturbing sight. The architecture of the Temple would be plain from this perspective—each of the outer courts leading to the most holy place, the symbol of the presence of God with his people.
Yet Jesus may have also been able to catch a first glimpse of the both the busyness and business of the place as the observance of Passover was upon them. And if he wasn’t able to see it, he surely would have known that the commerce of sacrifice was making the Temple less a house of prayer than a hiding place for thieves. I take what Luke says at face value: the Son of God was overcome and wept at the sight of those he had invited to dance and who had turned him down.
What Jesus says is, as you probably know, prophetic. The first of three major rebellions by the Jews against the Roman empire began in the year 66 initially because of religious tensions. It soon escalated into anti-tax protests and attacks upon Roman citizens. The revolt began in Caesarea but within two years it had been crushed everywhere except for Jerusalem.
The siege of the holy city had turned into a stalemate. Unable to breach the city’s defenses, the Roman army established a permanent camp just outside the city, digging a trench around the circumference of its walls and building a wall as high as the city walls themselves. Anyone caught in the trench attempting to flee the city would be captured, crucified and their bodies placed in lines facing the city on top of the Roman-built wall. One historian claims there were as many as five hundred crucifixions on a daily basis.
By the summer of 70 the Romans were able to breach the walls of Jerusalem, ransacking and burning almost the entire city. Tacitus, a historian of the time, claims that 600,000 Jews died in defense of Jerusalem. Almost 2,000 years later tourists in Jerusalem can still see stones dislodged from the Temple’s walls and in Rome, the Arch of Titus still stands on the Via Sacra, where it depicts the triumphal procession into Rome of the commander who led the siege.
Here are two compelling, competing images. Jesus sees the holy city, sees the beauty of the Temple and knows in his heart that the path of God’s will for him is moving squarely to a confrontation with the religious leaders. They see him as a threat, as one who, if not stopped, will upset the delicate balance they have crafted with Rome which allows the ritual of worship to continue.
The other image comes some 40 years later. This balance of ritual and repression no longer satisfies those who long for political freedom and for the chance to be those who rule. They attempt to throw off their shackles and the power of Rome crushes their revolt. If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace!
Friends, I recognize it is unlikely that even one of you came to church on this Palm Sunday thinking, “My day would be complete if the pastor would only tell me something that happened in the year 70.” No, I recognize the possibility that behind that glazed over look some of you are already working out the details of tomorrow’s staff meeting or deciding if you will have the quarter chicken with fries or the chalet club wrap.
But…it is more than likely that many of you came this morning with a yearning to know what it is that might make for peace in your life—spiritual peace, emotional peace, peace in the family, even peace in the workplace.
Let’s go back once more to the story. As Jesus comes down the path from the Mount of Olives his disciples begin to praise God: Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! There are some Pharisees in the crowd, no doubt put there to keep tabs on this threat to their power, who tell Jesus he should stop his disciples from making such an outrageous claim. The Lord replies, “I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.” In other words, Jesus tells them that what the disciples are saying needs to be said and needs to be lived. This is a world-changing truth; some part of creation is going to proclaim it!
Your relationship with Jesus is the thing that makes for peace. We are not sure if we believe that, not sure we should believe it. In Canada there is an ongoing debate about the monarchy from which flares are sent up every now and again. Even traditionalists sometimes cannot think of any reason to maintain this tie to our past other than it does make us different from American neighbours. We know, however, our monarch does not rule.
In the ancient world, a king was a ruler and Jesus asks us to recognize him as the king who comes in the name of the Lord. He asks for our obedience. He asks for our devotion. He asks us to become citizens of a kingdom whose values are often at odds with our finely crafted balance between the rituals we observe and the real world in which we live.
It is worth noticing, I believe, that the next incident reported by Luke is the cleansing of the Temple which is followed by a question from the leading religious officials asking Jesus about the authority behind what he did and what he asked for. There’s the question we ask also. Jesus, is there anything real behind what you ask of us? Why should we listen? Why should we claim you as king? Why should we follow and obey? Why should we let you lead in the dance of life?
Here is the answer that makes sense to me. I borrow from G. K. Chesterton who once observed, “It is not that Christianity has been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and not tried.” The word of Jesus came true for Jerusalem in 70 A. D. But that word has come true time and time again through the last 2,000 years. It is a word to any human who insists the message of Jesus is not practical and cannot be followed. Jesus weeps over the city. He understands the way they have chosen is the way of despair and death. He understands that today we continue to make such choices.
There are some of you here today that I think have your relationship with the Lord Jesus pretty much figured out. I suspect those of you of whom I would say that would also be the first to deny that this was so. After all, Christian humility is one hallmark of your character.
There are some of us, though, who have a whole lot of trouble letting Jesus lead in the dance of life. Here is one suggestion for where we can go from here. I would take three chapters of the Bible, Matthew 5, 6 and 7, what we call the Sermon on the Mount. Over the next month, read the verses for each day, Monday to Friday and ask God to direct you toward the practices and principles of the kingdom that you need to put in place in your life. At the end of each week put a check mark beside the one that is going on the short list. At the end of the month you will have a list of four. Pray through that list and ask God which one of these kingdom practices you need to implement in your life.
Some of you know that last year I indulged a dream I had had for a number of years and bought a used oboe. I just love the sound of the oboe. I don’t much love the sound that I make with the oboe but the more I practice the more it sounds like music. My hope is that some day I will be able to play a duet with Adolfo that is of sufficient quality that you will be able to take pleasure in it and my family and I will not be embarrassed. I have a solo in mind but I did not begin with that music. I began with the fingering for one note.
Don’t commit yourself to reading and doing the whole of God’s will in the next month. It’s not that easy. Ask God for one note, one dance, one step of obedience. Then, with Jesus taking the lead, make that part of your life. Perhaps you will first be led to the waltz of generosity. Maybe it will be the ballet of fasting and prayer. It might even be the tango of giving up anxiety. However you are led, the promise of Jesus is this: keeping in step with him will give you the things that make for peace.
