Welcome, Jesus

Megaphone Minister Faces Ban From Westminster

Wednesday, 2nd August 2006, 14:02

Philip Howard, 52, who become a well-known face and voice in central London for his rhyming catchphrases - such as 'Don’t be a sinner, be a winner!' - was slapped with an Asbo in May preventing him from preaching on Oxford Street.

The terms of the order mean he cannot use any 'amplification device' in and around Oxford Street. The local authority have received many complaints and now want to ban him from the whole of Westminster.

 

 

 

Within a few days, never mind an ASBO, he had been kidnapped, tortured and murdered.

 
Matthew 21 1-17 - this story is repeated very closely in each of the four gospels (biographies that tell the story of Jesus). Even the most sceptical reader will acknowledge that it is very likely to have happened pretty much as it is described here.
 

Some things worth knowing about what was going on at the time.

 

1.     It was the run up to one of the great Jewish feasts – the Passover. The atmosphere would have been like the run up to Christmas, crowds of people were flocking toward Jerusalem to celebrate. People were thinking about their history and the way a lamb was sacrificed and its blood daubed on door lintels so as to ensure their escape from the angel of death – it passed over their homes.

Little did they realise that the most monumental sacrifice was about to take place.

2.     When Jesus arranged to ride the colt of a donkey into Jerusalem, which would have been an odd thing to do, he was definitely attracting attention to himself – fulfilling a prophecy about the Messiah coming.

        He also would have known that he was fulfilling an old prophecy written down in the Jewish bible (Zechariah 9:9). This was not accidental – it was a deliberate statement although most people did not cotton on till they reflected on it sometime later.

3.     The way Jesus was welcomed – with shouts of “Hosanna” and “Son of David” and with palms leaves or coats being laid on the ground in front of him was also very unusual and more upsetting than using a megaphone for those in charge.

This type of entry into Jerusalem was one that was usually celebrated at Hanukkah – a different feast at a completely different time of year. The welcoming of a saviour (the meaning of Hosanna) with palm leaves was what happened when the revolutionary liberator kings came to conquer and set up rule in Jerusalem. Most recently (164BC) with Judas Maccabeus.

 

 

 

However, as though that was not bad enough, Jesus goes on to do another upsetting couple of things.  He goes into the outer courts of the enormous temple where the banking services were provided and where the non-Jews and anyone who was disabled was forced to stay. They were excluded from the inner part of the temple, the spiritual part if you like, where they could meet with God.

 

Jesus was not cross at the existence of the money changers, they were a necessary part of Jewish religious tradition, what he was angry about was that the temple of God, rather than being a welcoming place to everyone, regardless of ethnic or religious background, regardless of health or social standing, had become a place where only the elite could get closer to God.

 

So by turning over the tables he is turning over the way the temple was being used and says, “let’s pray.” He heals the sick and says, “let them in.”

 

If the entry into Jerusalem was provocative enough as a claim to kingship, these actions were a challenge right in the face of the religious establishment and leadership.

To make a leadership claim of kingship in that society was tantamount to an act of treachery and would have forced the Jewish leaders’ hands: they would have had to report this to the Roman governor.  But to challenge the role and function of the temple and, by implication, the temple staff, the priests, was a direct affront to their authority and leadership.

 

Jesus was quite clearly saying, “I come as the king. I come to rule. But I come as a king of peace and prayer. The temple and everything you know is not fit for purpose, it is under judgement. True salvation comes through me not through those lambs you will be sacrificing.”

 

And then, as we know, and as we will reflect on later this week, he suffers appalling violence and becomes the ultimate sacrificial lamb. Not only does he die as the Son of God, his death is the means by which the angel of death passes over our house and our lives too and saves us.

 

 

The Jewish people gathering in Jerusalem some 2,000 years ago initially welcomed Jesus as king and saviour, “Hosanna to the Son of David” they shouted. Recognising him as a king come to take up his throne, they threw their coats on the ground in front of him just like Sir Francis Drake did for Queen Elizabeth.

 

But then the style of kingship he presented turned them off eventually. Indeed, just a few days later they were literally crying out for his blood, “Crucify him.”

 

Aren’t we like that sometimes?

 

Do you watch Question Time or listen to Any Questions? Sometimes, when I am watching or listening to them debate a difficult question I will hear one of the panel make a good argument and I will think, “Yes that’s right”. 5 minutes later when an opposite view has been presented I am thinking, “No that sounds much more plausible.” Don’t I know my own mind?

 

Or have you ever been caught up in a crowd or even a mob? Maybe playing a team sport like rugby or football when something kicks off. When Lady Di died and we all mourned. Or at a religious event when the speaker or the music can sweep you up into a different frame of mind? You find yourself behaving in an unexpected way.

 

Yesterday morning Giles Fraser the vicar of Putney on Thought for the Day described how on the terraces at Chelsea he find himself saying things a vicar would not normally say.

 

On the other hand there are things about which we feel so strongly, which are so ingrained in our lives that almost nothing external will change them. I wonder what those are? No amount of pressure… what if you were being held in an Iranian prison and being used as a political pawn?

 

I guess that is one of the reasons people watch programmes like Big Brother or I’m a Celebrity – it is an exercise in seeing how much pressure a person will take before they cave in or compromise.

he comes not with a discussion point in which we can engage,

he comes not with a consumer option about how we should behave.

 

He doesn’t pander to our expectations at all.

 

The Jews wanted a warrior king who would galvanise a nation and expel the Roman occupiers. They would shout for him and follow him.

 

But Jesus had a different expectation.

He didn’t expect enthronement but crucifixion.

He didn’t expect monarchy but murder.

 

“Yes I am the Messiah, but not just to serve your short-term presenting needs.

I am the Lord of much more and for much longer.

I am playing a long game which you will simply not understand.

It will look like folly and weakness to you and but will prove to be the eternal salvation of the world”.

 

When we welcome Jesus, he says the same.

 

“Yes I am the Messiah, the Lord. I am glad you welcome me, but I don’t come just to serve your short-term presenting needs.

Yes I will heal the sick and preach good news.

But what I am after is a heart given over to me and so much so that when the crowd turn against me, you are still with me and with me to the ultimate sacrifice if needs be.

 

If I am to be your Lord and King, I will be your Lord and King.

King over everything. Lord of your:

Bank balance

Your house and car and pension fund

Career

Status

Sex life

Marriage

Relationships

Time

Habits

Hobbies

Hopes and dreams

 

That is the only sort of kingship I am offering because I know you. Any other, lighter, low grade, form of kingship will not last the course, will not last more than a few days before you turn on me and reclaim what you have offered.”

 

 

Knowing that is coming, Jesus comes to us, gently and peacefully and offers us a future and a hope with him as King.

 

Today, I want to give you an opportunity to respond to him. You can welcome him into your heart, maybe for the first time, maybe for the nth time.

 

You can lay your life down before him and say, “Hosanna, welcome into my heart, Lord Jesus”, knowing that this is not just a quick fix, not a band aid, it is a real deal.

 

As best you know how, you can give him your life and acknowledge him as king over everything. Now.

David Flowers
1 April 2007