Luke 19:28-40 NRSV
Jesus went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem.
When he had come near Bethphage and Bethany,
at the place called the Mount of Olives,
he sent two of the disciples, saying,
"Go into the village ahead of you,
and as you enter it you will find tied there a colt that has
never been ridden.
Untie it and bring it here.
If anyone asks you,
'Why are you untying it?'
just say this,
'The Lord needs it'"
So those who were sent departed and found it as he had told
them.
As they were untying the colt,
its owners asked them,
"Why are you untying the colt?"
They said,
"The Lord needs it."
Then they brought it to Jesus;
and after throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus
on it.
As he rode along, people kept spreading their cloaks on the
road.
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 all the deeds of power that they had
seen, saying,
"Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!
Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven!"
Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus,
"Teacher, order your disciples to stop."
He answered,
"I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would
shout out."
***
Did you notice something missing from this scripture? It is
Palm Sunday and Luke’s
scripture does not mention palms. It doesn’t even say,
“leafy branches,” like Mark’s gospel. Instead people lay their cloaks on the
road. They lay their cloaks on the clot, and then, “as Jesus rode along people
kept spreading their cloaks on the road.” Can you imagine this dirty, dusty, road,
covered like a quilt with a patchwork of colored, textured, cloth? Can you
imagine the people all lined up for the parade and one by one removing their
jacket and placing it on the next open spot of dirt? Can you imagine Jesus
coming down the road, seeing a kaleidoscope of color leading the way into
Jerusalem? Can you imagine his donkey clod-ding along with softness under its
feet? Can you imagine the people watching to see if the donkey stepped on the
their jacket? I have never imagined this before, perhaps because it is Palm
Sunday, not Cloak Sunday. Palms seem so much more reasonable.
I imagine the people picking up their cloaks after Jesus and
his colt have stomped over
them. I imagine the dirt packed into the material in the
shape of hoof prints. I imagine the
scrubbing to be done. Palms seem so much more reasonable.
Other scriptures describe the people cutting down the leafy branches from the
fields and taking down branches of palm trees. I have seen many palm trees, and
I have never like palm trees. The part I don’t like is all the dead branches
hanging down, brown and crisp, like blossoms never deadheaded, like a bouquet
both dead and alive. I imagine I would like the palm trees more after Jesus
went by. Their trunks would be cleaned of their mess. Likewise the people would
have placed before Jesus something already used, something that did not have to
be cleaned afterward, something that regenerates on Benigni's own. Palms seem
like the sensible solution. Perhaps thats why we call it Palm Sunday, not Cloak
Sunday, Palms are more reasonable.
Yet, I think Jesus wasn’t about reasonable. I think that is
what he was trying to tell us last
week with Mary’s perfume. We will always have Palms, we will
always have perfume, but we will not always have Jesus. It is our one chance.
There is a scene in the movie, Life is Beautiful, where
Roberto Benigni's character is
attempting to court an engaged woman. She has been to the
Opera with her fiancé’ and Robert Benigni steals the finance’s car and swings
around to pick her up. She gets in and begins talking without looking at the
driver. The driver cannot see the road and asks how to turn on the wipers. Then
she turns and sees it Roberto, not her fiancé, and sees only rain out the
window, she screams, the car hits something and breaks down. Roberto says he
did not know how to drive, but he wanted to see her. They get out of the car in
the pouring rain and in the back seat, of course, is a tasseled red velvet
cushion on a stick, which he hands her as an umbrella. She steps out of the car
and he reaches in the back seat again and pulls out a giant red carpet. In the
rain he throws it out in front of her and it cascades down steps and beyond. He
holds her hand to steady her and they walk together, her fancy black opera
heels on the red carpet in the rain. It seems so frivolous, the car crashed,
the rug ruined, her dress a wet mess, but it makes sense because you can see Roberto’s
love by the abundance he shows.
Perhaps Jerusalem was like that. Perhaps the people knew
their time was running out,
Jesus had an engagement with a cross, a date with death, and
it was their one chance to see him. Like groupies at a concert they are
throwing onto the stage the clothes on their backs, to be signed by the hoof
prints of a colt, that one day they might say, Jesus stepped on my jacket, the dust
and mud still caked on, a memory imprinted. When I think about it like that,
when I think about it like Robert Benni showing his love in the midst of a
rainstorm, I know just the cloak. It was my great Aunt Nancy’s and it is cream
colored silk with embroidery and beading, and inside it is lined with pink.
There has been no occasion in Baker City to wear it, but if Jesus was riding into
town I would lay it down because it is fit for a king. I would lay it down
because as our King journeys to the cross, if I could do but one thing to show
my love, and to soften his approach to death I would do it, not with something
reasonable like a palm branch, but the only thing reasonable for Jesus, the
best I have.
It’s Cloak Sunday. Jesus is riding into to town. On Friday
he will be dead. Today may be
the last day you see him alive. What are you willing to lay
down? How are you going to show him a wild abundance of love? What is the best
you have? It’s Cloak Sunday, Hosannah Blessed is the one who comes in the name
of the Lord.
