WHICH PROCESSION SHALL WE CHOOSE?

In their book, The Last Week, Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan note that there is not one, but two processions entering Jerusalem on this day:

One comes from the east; the other comes from the west;
One is a peasant procession; the other is an imperial procession;
One proclaims the kingdom of God; the other proclaims the kingdom of Caesar.

Pilate, the Roman governor, arrives in a blaze of glory – with soldiers on horses and on foot, weapons, banners, and golden eagles on poles.
Jesus, the peasant, arrives on a donkey – with his exuberant followers surrounding him.

One procession displays the splendor as well as the brutality of the kingdom of Caesar, reminding onlookers that the emperor is not simply the ruler of Rome – he is the Son of God.

The other procession displays the joy and the humility of the kingdom of God, reminding onlookers of an alternative vision to that of Rome.

So it’s only a matter of time before the two kingdoms clash. And everyone who is caught up in the battle has to decide which side they are on – no one is left out.

We do not choose the world into which we are born. Those who are born in first century Palestine are born into an entrenched system – one which favors Romans over Jews, the few over the many, the rulers over the ruled.

So when, as Borg and Crossan point out, Rome decides in 6 CE to make the temple the central political and economic institution in the country, and to assign the role of local administration to the temple authorities, Jerusalem becomes the “local domination system” of the time – a system that, like the imperial domination system of Rome, uses religious language to justify political and economic oppression – by insisting that:

God ordains the rich to be rich and the poor to be poor,
The powers that be are ordained by God, so they are free to do
what they want, when they want, and to whom they want.

We do not choose the world into which we are born. But we can – and do – choose how we will live in that world. So when Jesus comes to Jerusalem, those who live there, those who have come to celebrate the Passover, and those who have come to keep the peace during Passover, are all faced with a series of choices – and a series of decisions.

As Jews who are subject to Rome, but as wealthy persons who benefit from that relationship, the high priest, the chief priests, and the elders have decisions to make;

As the governor of Judea whose prerogative it is to release a prisoner for the Jews at the Passover, but as a ruler who wants the keep the peace at all costs, Pilate has decisions to make;

As a Jew who offers an alternative vision to Rome, but as a man who poses a threat to the status quo, Jesus has decisions to make.

Even those with limited choices – the Roman soldiers, the crowd, Simon of Cyrene, the passersby, the bandits on the cross, the centurion – all have decisions to make. And their decisions reveal much more about them than their “assigned roles.” Their decisions reveal their character.

What earlier decisions so formed the character of the religious leaders that they see Jesus as an enemy instead of a friend?
What in the character of the crowd makes it possible for them to cheer Jesus on in one moment and allow the chief priests to stir them up against him in the next?
How has satisfying the crowd become more important to Pilate than doing the right thing?

And what is it about Jesus that keeps him moving forward – even when doing so will lead to a brutal, humiliating death?
What attracts you to this Jesus?
What makes you afraid of following him too closely?

You and I did not choose the world into which we are born. But we can – and do – choose how we will live in this world, and, in the process, we can – and do – choose who we become. And who we have become is revealed by the decisions we make when the kingdom of the world clashes with the kingdom of God.

“Two processions enter Jerusalem on that day. . .the same questions, the same alternatives face those who would be faithful to Jesus today. Which procession are we in? Which procession do we want to be in? Those are the questions of this day and of the week that is about to unfold.” (Borg and Crossan, p. 30)