Matthew 21-25

This passage begins at Palm Sunday. Only Matthew records that there are two donkeys (a mother and a colt)with coats being placed on both. Mark and Luke say that Jesus rode on the colt. The guote comes from Zechariah 9:9, "See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey." Since Zechariah uses two ways two describe one donkey and the other gospel writers claim only one, I will go with that. Plus, we would have to guess as to who rode the mother donkey or why it went in the triumphal entry riderless. The crowds applaud him as the people's champion, "the son of David" (the military hero that would liberate the people), a term which Jesus did not claim for himself, but rather chose the Son of Man. Verse 11 says the people called Jesus a prophet. The synoptic gospels all place the "cleansing of the temple" right after the triumphal entry. There were different rates for what you bought for a sacrifice, cheaper for birds and more expensive for lambs. Josephus, the historian, writes that blood ran in the streets from the sacrifice of lambs during the week of the Passover. So there was definitely a distinction between rich and poor in what should have been the "house of prayer" for all. Memories of his own history in which two turtle doves were given as sacrifice might have been feeding this passion. Even more, you could not buy a sacrifice with Roman money. It had to be exchanged for temple coinage, which had a fee attached to maintain the temple and those who served in it. The exchange rate itself would have kept some people out. After turning the tables, Jesus does miracles for those who would never have been included. The children would also have been shunned, yet Jesus notes their open praise in contrast to the resistance and corruption of the temple leadership. Inclusion is big for Jesus. How do the practices of USAmerican churches exhibit these same exclusionary tendencies? How might we be doing that at St. Luke's?

Beginning with the "cursing of the fig tree" (21:18-22), Jesus follows in further open defiance of the religious leadership (which continues through chapter 23). Scholars have debated whether Jesus could have done such an act - too impish and tempermental for a Messiah. But like "the coin in the fish's mouth," the action is symbolic. The Jewish religious leaders were not bearing worthy fruit and he was stating God's judgment against them. The parables that follow share that same judgment("the two sons," "the tenants" and "the wedding banquet"). In turn, the religious leaders harrass Jesus and try to trap him in front of the people. Eventually, Jesus concludes his open criticism with "the seven woes," direct public attacks on the hypocrisy of the religious leaders.

In chapters 24-25, we have discussions of the return of the son of Man. But there are previous events that must happen. First, the temple will be destroyed. Jesus recalls the inter-testimental event of the attack on Jerusalem by Syrian leader Antiochus Ephiphanes (176 BCE) in which he sacrificed a pig on the altar of the temple (definitely "not kosher"). Foreigners will once against destroy and desecrate the temple, which happened in 70 AD under the Roman general Titus. The question then becomes, "When will Christ return?" Jesus never answers that. The New Testament writers believed Jesus would return in their lifetimes. People have made the same claim in every generation since. Jesus only claims it will be sudden and unexpected. The book of Revelation ends, "I am coming soon," but what does soon mean? As one pastor has said, "We can only say that it is sooner now than it was back then!" The parables that follow speak of being ready for that coming ("the 10 virgins," and "the talents"). So what does it mean to live as if Christ is coming at any time?

Now I am going to take a risk with you as a class. I was in "Fiddler on the Roof" in college and we had an Orthodox Jew as our dance instructor (a professor in residence from Julliard). We asked her one night at the end of rehearsal, "Since you don't believe that Jesus is the Messiah, are you still looking for him to come?" She said, "We no longer look for him. The Messiah is in us." At that point, I thought about the second coming. I do believe in the great triumphant return of Christ. But there is part of me that relates to the dance instructor. Christ already came again at Pentecost. While Christ is with us all the time, there are times when we experience the presence of Christ in a powerful way in our contemporary lives (often unexpected!). The heavy emphasis on the second coming of Christ is a relatively new development in Christian faith and theology (from the mid-19th century on). I do believe in the second coming of Christ. If it happens in my lifetime, I will be ecstatic to be part of it. I just have a problem with those who emphasize the second coming so much that they miss the many comings of Christ that are happening. For nearly 2,000 years, it is those contemporary comings that have sustained us.