3/16/2008                                                   Matthew 21:1-11

“The Road to Restoration”

Rev. Jonathan Rumburg

Introduction

            It was a familiar road the disciples found themselves on that first Palm Sunday; the road to Jerusalem.  They knew, as they reached the town of Bethany, they would soon turn round the Mount of Olives, and see the city of Jerusalem suddenly sprawled out before them.  They had traveled this way with Jesus before. 
            Jesus knew the road as well.  He had traveled it all his life; from the time he was just a boy until now.  It was the road that embodied their faith, for it lead to the place where the faithful of this day encountered God in a way they didn’t anywhere else. 

            This road to Jerusalem was especially breathtaking because as you traveled along it, you couldn’t see the city off in the distance.  Only after you come around the Mount of Olives does it come into full view.  And when it does come into view, the sight is glorious. 

            You would see the temple glistening in the afternoon sunlight, the magnificent, towering gates.  You would think about and remember the great history of this holy city— how King David took that parcel of land as God’s Promised Land and turned it into a kingdom, and how Solomon first built a glorious temple there. 

            But along with that great history the sight reminded you of; you couldn’t help but recall the years of sorrow when this great city lay in ruins during years of captivity.  And even now the oppression of the Roman government that weighs upon it.
            The road itself was well known and loved.  To those who traveled this road, it was probably a road much like the ones we travel.  A road that is familiar and leads to a place we love dearly.  A road we journey along with well known and understood expectations. 

            Like maybe the road to Camp Christian or the road to the town we grew up in.  Or perhaps the road that simply takes you home each day to your family.

            But the traveling along this familiar road, that Palm Sunday made it a completely different journey.  Yes, the road would be the same, but the things along the way, the known and understood expectations would be vastly different than any other journey made to Jerusalem.

*******

            It was a familiar road.  The road itself did not change; but the journey was unique. 

            The disciples knew the road; but Jesus knew what was at the end of this road.  

            And just what was at the end of that road? 

            Nothing that the disciples or any of the people who were throwing down cloaks and palm branches could have imagined.

            For this time, the familiar road they traveled didn’t just lead to the holy city of Jerusalem, rather this road lead to restoration.

Move 1:

            Jerusalem, with all of its wonder and beauty, with all of its wealth and power, with all of its possibility and opportunity, wasn’t the most wonderful place in the world for all of its inhabitants.

            At this time Jerusalem was under the rule of the Roman Empire.  And the Jewish people lived under this Roman rule mostly through endurance and compromise. 

            Those who endured were the little people who had few options than to try and make a life, even though there was uncertainty, worry, and frustration with the life they were living.

            The one’s who compromised to Roman rule were mostly the Sadducees.  They were the wealthy, lay-nobles, priests, and aristocrats of Jerusalem.  They sought to hold onto their wealth and power through compromise with Rome, by making sure that nothing radical or rebellious threatened to come in opposition to Rome, and consequently threaten to take away their power and status.

            In many ways, the Sadducees could be described as not being very Jewish or faithful.  They believed in God, but they were the people at the top of the pecking order in this Jewish society, and they were much more concerned with present-day affairs than religious faithfulness. 

            This becomes all the more interesting when we learn that the Sadducees made up most of the Sanhedrin, which was the Jewish “Supreme Court” of this day.  The Sanhedrin, and one of Rome rulers, Pilate, would be who Jesus would go before in just a matter of days.  And we know the end results of those meetings.

            Certainly we see where this is going?  It sounds familiar.  Perhaps, though, it sounds familiar in more than just the obvious manner of having heard this Palm Sunday story before.

*******

            Given this perspective, it’s no wonder then that the faithful Jews of this day were coming out to this parade route Jesus was making, cheering, throwing their cloaks down, and cutting palm branches to lay along the road. 

            It’s no wonder that they were shouting at the top of their lungs, “Hosanna!  Blessed is he who comes it the name of the Lord! Hosanna!”

            It must be noted that “Hosanna” means “Save us.” 

            The people are crying out to be saved.  They are lining the streets, throwing down their coats and palm branches and shouting “save us because we are tired of enduring.” 

            They were crying out, not for “resurrection”, because that was not what they were expecting or even wanting.  They were crying out for restoration.

*******

            To get a picture of what was happening along this road think of the Blue Tip Parade and then multiply it by a hundred, thousand.  But this isn’t a celebration for the sake of celebrating.  This is a celebration because those along this parade route are coming out because they have been waiting for, wanting, and needing the restoration that can only come from a Messiah.

            This is a crowd that is in turmoil for restoration.  And now the one who they believe to be the one who will bring about that restoration has finally come to them.

*******

            There were , however, many who had been waiting for a Messiah just like the rest, but there was something different about them.  They had already given up.  They had accepted their un-restored lives as the plight that they would have to endure.  It was these folks who came out amongst the crowd and asked the question, “Who is this?” 

            The people, who ask this question, are the ones who have given up.  They have stopped hoping for the Messiah to save them.  For them the road Jesus was traveling, the road being paved with cloaks, palms, and shouts of “Hosanna!” was just the same old road it has always been.

            For these people, the people who had given up, they saw no hope for restoration in a man riding a donkey.  A donkey and her colt were beasts of burden, a working animal—not animals for transportation.  They were animals that offered good rides for cargo and baggage, not people, and certainly not for a king who would overthrow the government.

            But Matthew wants to make it clear that the Messiah who Zechariah prophesized about, the Savior for whom the people have waited so long for, is indeed the one who is coming into the city.  He wants to be clear that divine royalty is on the way, but that it is the kind of royalty the people have never seen before, but have been needing.

            The people wanted someone to over throw the oppressive rule, to take away their fears and anxieties, and heal them of their fatigued endurance by renewing and restoring them to the prominence of God’s faithful.

            But what follows is nothing what anyone was expecting.  And it certainly didn’t appear to be what they were needing.  For to them, there was no restoration in crucifixion.  There was only continued despair.

Move: 2

            Author and minister, Frederick Buechner tells about a time in his life when he was in a deep depression.  At the time he was living in Vermont.  One of his children was quite sick and his anxiety and worry over her escalated to an overwhelming and consuming state of despair. 

            It was as if he was trapped in a state of being where the only choice he had was to endure, because restoration was no longer an option.

            Then one day the phone rang.  It was a friend from Charlotte, North Carolina.  Only his friend wasn’t in North Carolina.  His friend was just down the road from Buechener’s house in Vermont.  The friend had heard that his friend was in a bad place, a state of despair, and thought, “maybe it would be helpful to have an extra friend around for a day or two.”  So this man drove eight hundred miles to be with his friend who was in need.

            Buechner writes about this in his book, Listening to Your Life, saying, “We just took a couple of walks, had a meal or two together, smoked our pipes, and drove around some of the countryside, and that was about it.  But I believe, we both touched the hem of Christ’s garment, where both of us, for a time anyway, were healed.”

            Both Buechner and his friend traveled the road to restoration.  It was a familiar road for one, an unexpected road for another.  But it was the same road that took them to exactly where they wanted and needed to be.

Move 3:

            How do we travel the road to restoration? 

            How do we travel the road to restoration when we are constantly bound and held captive by the temporal things of this life? 

            How do we travel this road when we are prisoners of our own selves, of this world, of our careers, of money, of the politicians who rule over us; when we are even slaves to our own passions? 

            The only way to travel this road, the only way to find and experience true restoration is to surrender to God, to make Christ your king, and live in total communion with Him.

            We travel this road through daily prayer, reflection, and meditation; frequent communion; reading and understanding the scriptures.  We do so by immersing ourselves in the divine and journeying down the road Jesus has already traveled for us.

            So many people make the excuse that they can’t find time to come to church, or that they can’t find time to pray and read scripture.  The reason they don’t have time is that they are slaves to their own selves, to their own will.

            If we don’t have time for God, then why on earth should God have any time for us? 

            While that would be a suitable argument for God, the truth is, God always has time for us.  God is constantly knocking on the door to our hearts, to our lives, and asking to come in.

            Jesus is the friend who travels any distance to be with us in our time of need, in the times when we are crying out “Hosanna, save us.  Hosanna, save me.”

            Jesus travels the road of restoration everyday.  It is a familiar road to our hearts.

Move 4

            What in your life needs restoration?

            The relationship with your spouse?

            The relationship with your child or your parents?

            Does your discouragement to what is happening in the world need restored to optimism of what could be?

            Does your fear of “what’s next?” need to be restored to excitement about what’s next?

            Think about what in your life needs restoration, and then today, on this Palm Sunday, take off your cloak, take your palm branch, and lay it on the road Jesus is traveling. 

            Take your need of restoration and put it on the back of the colt Jesus is riding, because as you know, such an animal is able to carry heavy loads. 

            And then let Jesus take these things the rest of the way on the road he is traveling.  For the road he is traveling is a road lined with our cloaks and our palm branches, our need for restoration, and it is the road that takes him to the cross. 

            It is a road to restoration. 

            A road that he wants to travel for us.

Conclusion

            Whether you are a person who knows the restoration that comes from Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem…

            Or whether you are one who has accepted your status in life as an un-restorable plight that you must endure…

            Rest easy on the road you are traveling, for on this Palm Sunday, Jesus has come to you. 

            He comes riding a donkey and a colt; and they are beasts of burden that will carry our burdens, our fears, our anxieties, our despair to the cross. 

            He is the friend who has, and will again, travel any distance, down any road, so that we might touch the hem of his garment, and be healed.

            Jesus has traveled the road to Jerusalem.

            Jesus has traveled the road to Wadsworth.

            Jesus has traveled the road to your heart, and he is ready to hear your cry of Hosanna!  Save us.  Hosanna! Restore me!      

  Amen.