Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
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Disney Screaming Fan experiences
In the 90’s Disney World would invite church groups to come out to the parks and hotels and play the part of “screaming fans” for their convention guests.
Large corporations would rent various venues and bus their folks in.
Disney would put up velvet rope barricades for us to stand behind and literal red carpets for the guests to walk on.
We were given fake cameras, little notebooks and pens.
When the guests arrived we supposed to act like it was the red carpet at the Oscars.
After the initial shock, the guest nearly always really got into it and hammed it up big time.
No doubt is was fun.
And with big groups it could exhausting.
At the end of it, every screaming fan got a couple of passes to the parks and the group would get a donation from Disney.
Scream and then go home.
Not much impact made on the “screamers.”
Disney wanted their paying guests to have a fun experience.
The paying guests played their part and usually had fun.
We just wanted free passes to the park.
As I read the accounts of Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem on His final visit, I was reminded of those times when we cheered on people we didn’t know and didn’t really care about.
By contrast, the disciples and pilgrims streaming into Jerusalem were quite aware of Jesus and His activities.
The parade goers were delighted to see Him.
But we know how this part of the story ends.
Jesus, abandoned, on trial, the once-delighted pilgrims now screaming curses and death.
As disciples, what do we learn from the coronation parade?
During these moments, Jesus makes a definitive public statement of exactly who he is.
But, as we have seen throughout the gospels the truth about the King is ignored in favor of their own agenda.
A Donkey Makes a Statement
Jesus rides into Jerusalem very deliberately echoing King Jehu’s coronation parade.
He is also bringing to mind the prophecy of
A Crowd Cries With Delight
The disciples and the pilgrims on the way to celebrate Passover did not miss the significance of Jesus’ actions.
Their intent all along was to shove Jesus into their version of Messiah.
He always resisted this.
Now, he has apparently decided to go along with it.
(They’re wrong.)
We can understand their desire to have a King.
Pharisees Begin to Fuss
There are always two sides.
The crowd is uncritically excited about Jesus.
The Pharisees discern part of the truth of what’s going on here, but interpret incorrectly as well.
They see a threat to their established order becoming a reality.
Jesus alludes to
It’s no surprise that, following this conflict with the Pharisees, Jesus reveals his heart for Jerusalem and the world.
Jesus Reveals His Heart
Instead of puffing out his chest and strutting like a WWE wrestler working the crowd, Jesus begins to weep.
In this moment we begin to discern what the week ahead will be like for Jesus.
He weeps for a city that named “peace” because it has no peace.
The one named Prince of Peace by Isaiah will be rejected and murdered in just a few days.
In fact, their misplaced faith will result in their city being destroyed in just a few decades.
After the Parade
After doing screaming fans at Disney, we’d go home tired but enriched by a couple of valuable passes to the parks.
Some people used them, others gave them away, some stuck the passes in a drawer and forgot about them until it was too late and they had expired.
Use them, gain something from them, toss them away, forget about them.
As disciples I have the same application when it comes to this coronation parade.
We are lead to ask what we expect King Jesus to mean to us.
What are our motives in cheering him on as he rides into Jerusalem?
Will we metaphorically lay out the red carpet for Him only to take it up and go home?
Do we find it easier at times to wish (like last week) that Jesus wasn’t quite so controversial?
Maybe a little more everyday?
There are times we go from Hosanna! to Crucify! with appalling ease and speed.
What will you do with your King?
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