July 3, 2005 At Saint Mark Church in Norman, OK
Zechariah 9:9-10 + Romans 8:9, 11-13 + Matthew 11:25-30
Since I am assuming no one arrived here this morning by horse or by colt the difference between the two modes of transportation has likely escaped us.
The prophet Zechariah proposes that the messiah, the “savior” will arrive on a donkey, not a horse, and for those of his time this is something unexpected.
This is news. For us, the story of Palm Sunday has dulled the impact of this message, especially so if the significance of the animal is not understood.
Historians tell us that in the ancient world, donkeys were symbols of peace,
as opposed to the horse, which was used for war.
Riders of donkeys in the Jewish scriptures
were regarded as distinguished and even majestic.
In his prophesy, Zechariah proposes that the rider of the donkey
will be a non violent peacemaker through whom
justice will be universally established.
The horse will be banished.
For the people of his time, this was unexpected news, and a whole new idea. Because of their recent oppression in exile,
they expected a messiah on a horse
that would violently destroy all enemies in the style of King David.
It was not to be.
The intelligent and the learned do not get it.
Something new has come, and they don’t want it.
They can’t understand it.
They didn’t think of it first, and they will have nothing to do with it,
so they ran the risk of missing the opportunity.
Jesus suggests that they are like children in the market place,
where they refused to dance with the flute and refused to morn with the dirge. Suspicious and unwilling, they will not give the Kingdom of God a chance.
It asks more of them than they can imagine, and so it passes them by.
Stories of missed opportunities abound in history.
Thomas Edison spent only three months in formal education
because a teacher thought he was dull.
So he started reading on his own discovering literature, philosophy, and science.
The “lights” went on and he literally changed the course of history,
but not because of the intelligent, the learned and the clever.
It was the same with Galileo who mastered
the grinding of lenses for glasses and telescopes.
He confirmed the earlier thought of Copernicus
that the sun was fixed and earth moved around it.
But the wise and the learned were threatened by new information
and silenced both Copernicus and Galileo.
This behavior continues to wear away at news of the Reign of God.
“These things” which are being revealed can be grasped by the mind of a child
while people of influence and power never get it.
“These things” refer to the mysteries of the Kingdom
and how the grace of the Father reaches down
through Jesus to hearts that are open and hungry for transformation.
Resistance to what is new, to these mysteries springs from fear
that worldviews must change and the landscape of one’s life must shift.
For the learned and the clever,
for those in power and those with all the answers, this is far too risky;
but not to the childlike who are open to the fresh air of the Divine Spirit
that was blowing in their midst.
The troubles Jesus had with proclaiming a new message
are the troubles Christ still has today.
Our sense of the Kingdom of God, I images for what it shall be like,
and our sense of how it shall come to be
are still not open enough to allow it to happen.
Extremism continues to push us apart into suspicious and mean spirited opponents
who can no longer imagine the unity of the human family.
A change of mind, of values, of opinions or of ideas is looked upon as a weakness
or flaw of character.
When in fact, openness to change, to conversion, or rethinking opinions in the face of facts is exactly what it takes for the Spirit to move us toward the Reign of God.
Issues of peace, violence, the death penalty, the dignity of life, capitalism, and even democracy are obvious issues where the Spirit can lead and call for change in some hearts that are closed and will not listen.
There are issues in our church as well
and sometimes they threaten the unity of parish communities.
Language, vesture, hymn books, (for heaven’s sake) translations, governance, posture, the integration and preservation of one’s rights and the exercise of one’s duties too often give evidence that the trouble Jesus had is still a trouble today.
Around this altar because of this Gospel and Matthew’s words, we might well look not at each other, but at ourselves and resistance with us that delays the coming the Kingdom of God. It isn’t a matter of time. It is a matter of will, of desire, and of faith.
What we wait for is not another day, another year, nor another generation;
but for our own hearts to change so that we might dance with the piper
and mourn with the dirge.
When the day comes that we desire to change ourselves
consistently and completely
into an unmistakable image of Christ,
we will finally know what it is to be meek and humble of heart
and the Spirit of God will dwell within us.