What if Jesus showed up in a major city centre today! What if that was live streamed to the world in a way that we know who he is, we could truly recognise, this is JESUS! How would we respond? What do you think we and the world would be expecting from him?
Given all that is happening in the world right now, it is not hard to imagine folks wanting Jesus to come and set things right. If we thought he was here to do so, why wouldn’t we flood the streets as we greet him, waving whatever we have handy and shouting for joy? Imagine the hope that all of the hate, injustice, inequity, and struggles we have been seeing and experiencing could be finally coming to end! In the midst of that possibility, it would be hard to contain ourselves. We may even find ourselves shouting: “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!”
What if Jesus showed up in a major city centre today! How might we respond? What would we be expecting from him?
Some two thousand years ago Jesus showed up to a major city centre, Jerusalem. By this point in time, he was recognised. People were filled with hope because of all that he had said and done. They were living in a time in which hate, injustice, inequity, and struggles were many. The people longed for an end. They believed that Jesus was the answer. They wanted him to come riding in transforming their world, defeating the powers that made life hard.
But he didn’t come in with a battle cry. He didn’t ride in wielding swords and commanding an army. He didn’t call the people to rise up and violently defeat their enemies. He didn’t come in the way they expected. He came riding on a donkey and offering himself, humbly and fully to be the atoning sacrifice, the scapegoat, the one who would hold all of that hate, injustice, inequity, and struggles on our behalf, and show us how love can transform it all.
We are standing on a threshold – liturgically and literally. We are on the threshold of Holy Week, the week in which our faith reveals some of its most profound truths about God’s relationship to humanity. And we are on the threshold of a time when we have profound choices to make about how we live that faith in the midst of the hate, injustice, inequity, and struggles that prevail.
Maundy Thursday we will hear the words once again: I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. The actions of Jesus this week challenge us to reflect on what it means to love as Jesus loves. In Jesus we see a love filled with service and sacrifice, a love that is more than we can ask or imagine. In Jesus we see a way forward that is built through loving, respectful, reciprocal relationships. In Jesus we are called to a path that humbly rides donkeys, setting aside power and privilege to walk alongside those on the margins. In Jesus love is the foundation from which we should make all our choices.
What if Jesus showed up in a major city centre today! How might we respond? What would we be expecting from him? What is Jesus asking of us? Recognising the realities of hate, injustice, inequity, and struggles all around us, may we humbly walk through this week acknowledging this time as an opportunity to open our hearts, minds, bodies, and souls to the stories of Jesus so that we can better embody our faith today, tomorrow, and for the future. All this we pray as we sing: 181 All Glory Laud and Honour