Trinity Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

Sermons 

Nearly forty years ago, a pilgrimage movie with the deceptive title of Easy Rider became a sensation.. The plot was simple enough. Two young men (Wyatt, also known as "Captain America," played by Peter Fonda, and Billy "the Kid," played by Dennis Hopper, long before he started doing commercials for boomers facing retirement) set off on their motorcycles on a road trip from the city of L.A. (Los Angeles) to participate in the pre-Easter ritual known as Mardi Gras in the state of LA (Louisiana). Along the way, they encounter many strange characters, including some prostitutes, a community of marginalized folks who thank God for "a place to stand," and a foreign-born woman and her American husband who are struggling to survive in the hard-scrabble country. The movie’s heroes are subjected to hatred and bigotry in many of the communities through which they travel in their pilgrimage. Their non-conformist ways result in their arrests on a minor pretext by one town’s authorities. A small-town lawyer named George, caught in the power of demon rum (played by Jack Nicholson in an Oscar-nominated role), not only gets them out of jail but then joins them on their pilgrimage. Throughout the movie, the heroes seek freedom. Listen to a bit of the dialogue:

George: You know, this used to be a helluva good country. I can't understand what's gone wrong with it.

Billy: Huh. Man, everybody got chicken, that's what happened, man. Hey, we can't even get into like, uh, second-rate hotel, I mean, a second-rate motel. You dig? They think we're gonna cut their throat or something, man. They're scared, man.

George: Oh, they're not scared of you. They're scared of what you represent to 'em.

Billy: Hey man. All we represent to them, man, is somebody needs a haircut.

George: Oh no. What you represent to them is freedom.

Billy: What the hell's wrong with freedom, man? That's what it's all about.

George: Oh yeah, that's right, that's what it's all about, all right. But talkin' about it and bein' it - that's two different things. I mean, it's real hard to be free when you are bought and sold in the marketplace.

Freedom is a quality supposed to be at the heart of modern American life. But seeking real freedom turns out to be counter-cultural – and fatal. In the movie’s famous closing scene, both Billy and Wyatt are shot to death by local rednecks. For these Easy Riders, death is their only freedom from an America where alternative lifestyles and idealism challenged those who allowed no exceptions to their rules.

And so it was in the first century, too, except that the story line moved from the birth, life, and death of one called John the Baptist to the birth, life, death, and resurrection of one named Jesus. His journey through the small towns of Judea and Galilee eventually brought him and his little band close to Jerusalem. It was nearing the time of Passover, and they were among the many people who were making their pilgrimage to the Temple.

In the Book of Zechariah, we find this prophetic declaration: "Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey" [Zechariah 9:9].

On this journey to Jerusalem, Jesus fulfilled that ancient prophecy. As he neared Bethphage ("house of the early figs") – which is only mentioned in the Bible this one time – Jesus sent two disciples ahead into the village. He instructed them to find a donkey tied, and a colt with her, and to untie them and them both of them back to Jesus. He added, "If anyone says anything to you, just say this, ‘The Lord needs them.’ And he will send them immediately."

Of course, this is one of those troubling passages in the scriptures. The text says that Jesus sat on both the donkey and the colt at the same time as he began the short trip into Jerusalem. Scholars and commentators believe that the author of Matthew’s Gospel got the story wrong, whereas in the versions in Mark chapter 11 and in Luke chapter 19, there is just a single animal, a colt. The best explanation for Matthew’s error is that the author misunderstood the use of the plural in the Hebrew poetry in the passage from Zechariah, a passage not mentioned as a prophetic precedent in the Markan or Lukan versions of the entry into Jerusalem.

On the other hand, Matthew’s version of this story does not mention anyone challenging the disciples when they freed the animal(s). In Mark’s Gospel, bystanders said to the disciples, "What are you doing, untying the colt," while in Luke’s Gospel the owners asked, "Why are you untying the colt?" In each instance, the disciples told the locals what Jesus had said, and they were allowed to take the animal(s).

When the disciples had returned with the (donkey and) colt that they had freed, the disciples put their cloaks on it (them), and he sat on it (them). At this point, the final leg of the journey into Jerusalem began. As Jesus rode along, people spread their cloaks and tree branches along the road. Despite our tradition that the branches were palm fronds, none of the Synoptic Gospels says this. Only John’s Gospel specifically mentions the "branches of palm trees" (12:13). In fact, given that Jesus was coming from Bethphage, it is more likely that the leafy branches were from fig trees. This opinion is reinforced by the observation in Mark 11:12-15, about the next day, when Jesus was hungry. He went up to a fig tree to see if it had any fruit, but it was not yet the season for figs.

Whatever they were spreading on the road, the crowds were joyous and boisterous as Jesus came closer to the walls of Jerusalem. As Matthew’s Gospel puts it, the people were shouting: "Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!"

As he entered the city at last, the whole city was in turmoil, asking "Who is this?" The crowds were saying, "This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee."

Of course, the rest of the story of that day goes beyond the Lectionary passage to tell us that "Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who were selling and buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves" (21:12).

Freedom. Jesus brought "freedom" to the temple by throwing out the ones he called a "den of robbers" so that it could again be called a "house of prayer" (12:13). He took action in the marketplace where others had refused to do anything. And the city was in turmoil.

Clearly, Jesus was preoccupied with the ways in which the culture of his day restrained and abused people. He recognized that their excessive focus on the Law kept them from being "God’s people." Jesus was a long-haired renegade, a person on the margins of his society, a danger to those in power and to those who controlled the marketplace.

Moreover, he made time for others on the margins of his society – the prostitutes, the foreign women, the poor, the blind, and the lame. For his attentions to such marginalized people, Jesus was hounded by those whose wealth and power he threatened. Even the religious authorities at the Temple challenged his right to teach there and to challenge their interpretations of the Law and their culture. He was a threat of the first order. He had to be stopped, at whatever cost.

Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem, in accord with the prophet Zechariah’s words, was as much challenge as triumph. In receiving "Hosannas" from the people, Jesus incited the religious, economic, and political leaders to actions that soon led to his arrest, his crucifixion, and his unexpected resurrection.

The critique of late-1960s America was perfectly clear to the fans of the movie Easy Rider – and also by those who refused to watch it. The War in Vietnam, the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy, and the urban riots in Detroit and Los Angeles provided the cultural background for the movie Easy Rider. In the end, the violent deaths of Captain America and Billy the Kid illuminated the injustices inherent in American life.

The critique of first-century Palestine was clearly visible in the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem in the days before Passover. Riding a colt rather than a Harley, he looked and played the part of a "Captain Palestine," as he took on the establishment in its bastion of power – the Temple in Jerusalem. The result was the crucifixion and resurrection that we will recall and celebrate during this coming week.

The questions for us are simple: Shall we follow Jesus? If the answer is "yes," then how will we make an entry into our own Jerusalem? And what will we do when we enter our own Temple?

We should contemplate three essential realities in answering these simple questions: First, we should not be carried away by the praises of the people. Second, we should challenge the powers that diminish or destroy the freedom of us all. Third, we should be prepared for the worst – even death – knowing that the Good News is with us always.

The movie Easy Rider was a great success, and its final death scene has become an icon for freedom and anti-freedom in modern American culture. Jesus’ ride into Jerusalem also started out being "easy," but very soon he encountered strenuous resistance from the powers of his day. His death scene and his resurrection have been icons of freedom from sin for two thousand years.

And what about our own journey to the New Jerusalem? Will we be like Captain American and Billy the Kid, coming to a violent end? Or, will we follow Jesus beyond death, and truly become Easy Riders?

Thanks be to God. Amen.

© 2008 Van Kemper (e-mail: rkemper@trinitypresdallas.org)