Saved by the Quell…
04/10/22.
As we find ourselves in Holy Week, this time between Palm Sunday and Resurrection Sunday, the narrative of Jesus’ path to the cross begs the question: How do the roars from the crowd turn so quickly from “save us!” to “crucify Him!”?
“Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord” was shouted as they watched their hero parading down the road. What changed? Maybe, the crowds and Jesus were not on the same page of what it meant to be saved. Everyone wants saving from things like their enemies, circumstances, or consequences, but not many were ready to be saved from the real danger that Jesus wanted to expose and rescue them from… themselves.
The king that was desired was going to be one that would grant them victory by quelling their enemies. In other words, they saw Jesus as the one who would usher in salvation by violently and forcefully silencing and putting an end to their “enemies”. This king could not be destroyed, but would come TO destroy. As they continued to watch Jesus, things didn’t play out that way.
In Pastor Rich’s message on Sunday, he stated that “Jesus’ victory comes through humility not manipulation and violence. Through giving not taking. Loving not hating.”
The teachings of Jesus following Palm Sunday continued to reject the false kingdoms that had been crafted by religious and political leaders. Instead of seizing earthly power through violence and handing it over to the “rightful heirs”, Jesus kept calling out THEIR flawed systems, THEIR hypocrisy, THEIR bad fruit.
The people wanted a king that would just preserve and anoint their chosen “tribe”. And, to make it worse, they wanted him to do that by basically destroying everyone else. Once they saw that the “salvation” Jesus was offering was going to come through surrender, that’s when the mood started to shift… that’s when it changed from “save me” to “kill him!”
We see tribalism choke out the redemptive mission of Jesus throughout our history. When we seek salvation and identity in anything other than Jesus, fear consumes us. When fear consumes the hearts of humanity, we are not capable of acting out of love, only fear. We try to protect ourselves. Even if it means taking the life of someone else to save our own.
In April of 1994, the civil war in Rwanda lead to the death of almost one million people in one hundred days. This is just one example of the cost of believing that we can preserve our tribe’s preservation through destruction. A question asked by Cardinal Etchegary during the conflict in Rwanda could be asked of the crowds in Jesus’ day, as well us to us today. “Is the blood of tribalism deeper than the waters of baptism?”
Will we reject the world’s tribalism, and embrace our new identity in Jesus?
In other words… are we asking Jesus to use force to give us what we want- or offer us the grace we need to save us from ourselves? May we celebrate the resurrection of our true King, Liberator, and Savior!