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Christ Church Covington
Proper 29
November 23, 2003
In the Disney movie The Lion King, Mufasa, the king of the Lions of Pride
Rock, has an evil and jealous brother named Scar. Early on in the movie,
we find out that Scar lusts after his brother’s exalted position among the
lions, and that he has been working on a plan to get just that. Scar’s
plan should be pretty familiar to one who knows anything about human
history, or pretty familiar to one who at least has seen a few episodes of
Survivor. While he shrinks away from directly challenging Mufasa for his
kingship, Scar begins forming alliances with other disgruntled parties,
namely the hyenas. Together, they plot an assassination and successfully
carry it out. They kill the king, and install themselves as the new
regime. In places where democratic institutions aren’t in place to insure
the peaceful transfer of power, the coup d’etat is a tried and true method
of gaining political power, for those who are seriously interested in
gaining political power.
There are other methods, of course. There is the more direct approach used
by would-be emperors from Alexander the Great to Napoleon to Hitler and so
on. That is, you arm yourself to the gills, and just start mowing over
your weaker neighbors. Also a tried and true technique. There is also the
less tried but apparently just as effective technique employed by Ghandi
in India and African Americans in the twentieth century: the method of
non-violent protest. The coup d’etat, the invasion, the non-violent
protest – the person or people interested in gaining worldly power would
do well to study these well-worn paths.
In our Gospel today, Mark presents us with the image of Jesus riding into
Jerusalem hailed as a king. Now this was no accident. Jesus himself helped
plan this event, this triumphal entry, so we can be fairly certain that it
was meant to do more than just get Jesus into town. It was meant to send a
message. But the message that this scene communicates to historians and
the political scientists tracking the life of a great leader… well it
leaves them scratching their heads. There is no subterfuge. Jesus doesn’t
slip into town under cover of darkness to plot an overthrow with his
allies and sympathizers. Neither does he march into town at dawn with
sword drawn, leading his troops into battle. Neither do he and his
followers march into the Temple and stage a sit-in or a hunger strike. In
short, despite the kingly imagery and the accolades of the crowd, it’s
pretty obvious that Jesus is not seriously interested in gaining political
power. He’s not using the tried and true methods of becoming the head
honcho. So what is Jesus really up to? He has not entered Jerusalem to
take on the establishment or cast off the Roman oppressors. Jesus has
entered Jerusalem to vanquish much bigger opponents: death itself and the
fear of death, and the very evil that uses human communities to oppress
and enslave. In other words, Jesus didn’t go to Jerusalem to gain power or
defeat the powerful, he entered Jerusalem as the king who would defeat the
power of this world and liberate all humankind from its grip.
By entering Jerusalem in this way and proceeding to the Temple, Jesus set
off alarms among the powerful in Jerusalem: the Temple authorities and the
Roman government. He put himself on display as one whom they’d have to
deal with, and probably set the stage for his humiliating ejection from
Jerusalem, his tortured journey to Calvary. But it couldn’t have been done
any other way. When it comes to confronting evil itself, not evil people,
but real evil, coming at it sideways or finessing a solution doesn’t work.
It must be taken on the way Jesus did it, boldly and peacefully, guided by
God. Otherwise, evil wins before one has even begun. Because not being
bold means being fearful, and fear is born of a lack of faith. Likewise
not being peaceful is attempting to beat one’s opponent at his own game.
We Christians believe that Jesus’ departure from Jerusalem by way of
Calvary fulfilled and made real the kingdom proclaimed by his entry into
Jerusalem, that ironically by the Cross Jesus did rout the opponents he
went to Jerusalem to confront, and that he not only routed them, he routed
them on God’s terms (not theirs), not whooping them at their own game, but
in fulfillment of God’s mission. Therefore we have a King who cannot be
overthrown, whose Kingdom cannot be invaded, and whose power cannot be
cast off. Crown him everyday, and conquer evil boldly and in peace in
matters small and great.Amen.
The Rev’d Robert M. Odom
M.Div., Curate
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