Power in A New Light

Jesus is king, Lord - there's no doubt about it. People recognize him as a king.

The owner of the colt, he obeys the commands of this stranger in a way he would certainly not do unless the one commanding him were a king. The crowds hail him with Hosanna, wave palm branches and cloaks, acts that are reserved for the triumphal entry of a king the first century equivalent of an inaugural parade and a ticker-tape parade all rolled into one

And why not? Jesus acts like a king. He requisitions an animal to ride with the words, the Lord has need of it. He clearly expects to be obeyed. He rides into town at the head of a victory parade in his honor.

But of course, there's an underside to all this.
If Jesus is king, exactly where is his kingdom?
Jesus is king of what?
If he is king of the Jews?
Then what kind of king?
Like David was (a warrior king)?
Well it does look like a victory parade but what battles has he fought?
What enemy is he planning to attack?
Or maybe he's a king like Herod is (in name only)?
Lots of pomp and circumstance but no real power.
Or may he's a king like Caesar is not because he is God's anointed but merely by virtue of conquest?

Or maybe he isn't the king of the Jews, Could he be king of something else?

You know, he doesn't quite act like a king

When David rode into Jerusalem he came dressed in fine linen, surrounded by singers and music makers, playing trumpets and cymbals, after recapturing the Ark of the Covenant which had been stolen by Israel's enemies.
When Herod rides into Jerusalem, he rides in comfort in a litter, surrounded by paid servants and courtiers (folks who will always cheer him and never tell him no), and he maintains his power by appeasing the greater power of Rome.
When Julius Caesar rode into Rome, he rode in on an expensive well-trained war horse, surrounded by his army, after his conquering victories in Gaul and Britain.
But when Jesus rides into Jerusalem, he comes dressed in the dusty traveling robes he has been wearing, riding on a colt which had never been ridden, less well trained, surrounded by the peasants and sinners whom he has served (folks who have no power of their own, folks who however grateful they are for being healed and forgiven, will fail to stand by him only a week later) and whatever power he is claiming is yet to be proven, his victory has yet to be won.

So what kind of king is this?

Jesus' idea of how a king behaves doesn't seem to match up with the ideas of the people. What are The people are expecting?
If they are expecting a king who will conquer the nations enemies, recapture the land and throw out the Romans, they are going to be disappointed.
They get a king who will surrender with out a fight. They get a king who will die an ignominious death, executed as the worst sort of criminal, easily defeated by the Sanhedrin, Herod, and Rome.
They get a king who even predicts that the Temple, their most sacred place, their only remaining national treasure, will fall with not one stone standing on another.

If they are expecting a king who will perform spectacular miracles and make great speeches that will impress the crowds and the leaders of the Temple they are going to be disappointed.
They get a king who infuriates the wealthy and powerful with his dire predictions, who attacks the Temple's profitable money changing business,
They get a king who speaks in parables that are more likely to make people uncomfortable and confused than to sway them to his cause.

They must have been bitterly disappointed.

But Jesus must have been disappointed with them, too.
He asked them to listen, to use their ears and eyes to see and understand,
but instead they see what they want to see and hear what they want to hear.
He asked them to repent, to change their ways, to treat each other with love, and above all else to love God.
They in turn insist that he change and become what they want him to be, they treat him and each other with hatred, and reject the son God has sent to save them

If Jesus was sent to be the King of this people, this was the worst mismatch in the history of the world.
Even the Presbyterian job placement computer in Louisville does a better job of matching people with the leader they want.
You'd think God could have done better
Why send a suffering servant to a people who want a king?
Why send your own son to be king of a people who will only reject him, curse him, spit in his face, have him arrested, beaten, crucified?
Who would send their own son into battle unarmed and powerless?

Or maybe the problem is and always has been that we human beings have been defining the terms wrong.
We think of a king as someone who exercises absolute power over people who belong to him.
We think of power as what makes you invulnerable to attack, something that can be measured in terms of winning and losing.
We think of winning as something that happens at a moment in time, something you can see, like the surrender of an enemy, or the game winning score.

Maybe God has a different dictionary.
Maybe a king should be someone who empties himself of power and makes himself vulnerable for the sake of a people to whom he belongs.
Maybe power is something that should be measured by the discipline and devotion of the one who has it, but holds back from abusing it.
Maybe winning is a process instead of an event a matter of continuing to be who you are called to be no matter how terribly you are challenged no matter how badly you are losing

Maybe the problem is in our definitions.
Maybe that was the purpose of Jesus' symbolic ride into Jerusalem to make us rethink our definitions to challenge us to follow his example.

Even In a world filled with violence and hatred, there are a few examples of men and women who have tried to live according to those definitions:
Martin Luther King, Jr.'s call for non-violent resistence
Mother Theresa's persistent, quiet devotion to the poor of Calcutta
The love expressed by Mother Hale, a poor black woman in NY City, who has opened her heart and home to care for infants and children infected with HIV
The husband and wife who are hopelessly embroiled in fighting until one of them stops, and no matter how frightening it is, begins to listen with love and without defensiveness
The meek, the peace makers whose tireless work and quiet words save churches from the endless wrangling and power struggles that would otherwise destroy and defeat our mission

There is amazing power in surrender.

There is transforming power in becoming vulnerable.

There is saving power in persistently loving your enemy.

One of our favorite hymns expresses Jesus' kind of power, Jesus' kind of kingship better than I can:

As disciples of our lord, our job is to do more than just sing loud Hosannas beside the road he travels Our job is to follow him down that road a road where Power is what you happens when you surrender your power a road where winning is continuing, in spite of everything, to love your enemy

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