- Sermon - Mickey Anders

Text: Luke 19:28-40

Can you imagine what the Triumphal Entry would have been like if it had been covered by today's media? I suspect that all the reporters would cover the event. It just might happen like this:

Fox News reports, "Jesus has been known for his conflicts with the Pharisees and the Sadducees. His itinerant ministry has taken him to all parts of Galilee and Judea. The crowds have grown wherever he has been. This may be his largest crowd today, but our sources inside the Roman government say that the Romans are expecting a riot. All the guards are on special alert. In fact, the terror alert status for the country has been moved to orange, which indicates that the Romans are expecting a riot to come from the growing conflicts between Jesus and the temple authorities. At midday, stocks have tumbled as the potential for terrorism in Rome increases."

People magazine runs a picture of Jesus on the cover with the headline, "Who Is This Jesus?" Inside, the story begins this way, "Everyone has been surprised that this itinerant preacher from Galilee has burst on the scenes with such popularity in the past few days. Today crowds lined the streets leading into Jerusalem to greet him. But who is he really? Our sources say he is really John the Baptist."

Oprah runs a profile of the personality of Jesus offered by Dr. Phil. In the segment, Dr. Phil exclaims, "Jesus is a megalomaniac! Who does he think he is to ride through Jerusalem at the head of a massive parade? This man is on an ego trip!"

Entertainment Weekly runs a special report on the clothes Jesus is wearing. "Here he comes now riding down the carpet made of the coats thrown at his feet. I see he is wearing a new robe designed by Simon and sons. It is one of the newest, one-piece designs. I must say that he looks the part in his full beard and earth tone colors."

The National Inquirer runs a front page article with a 2 inch headline, "Jesus is the man from outer space!" Inside, we find a story documenting his relationship with Mary Magdalene, and the birth of a race of super-children to the couple.

Well, these exaggerated reports are given as a way of showing us that Jesus had become an overnight celebrity, and today we know about celebrities. Suddenly, "Jesus" was the name on everybody's lips. He was the talk of the town.

When Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice imagined the scene for their musical, Jesus Christ Superstar, they had King Herod singing:

Jesus, I am overjoyed / To meet you face to face / You've been getting quite a name / All around the place /Healing cripples / Raising from the dead /Now I understand you're God / At least that's what you've said.

So you are the Christ / You're the great Jesus Christ / Prove to me that you're divine / Change my water into wine / That's all you need do / Then I'll know it's all true / C'mon King of the Jews.

Jesus you just won't believe / The hit you've made around here / You are all we talk about / You're the wonder of the year / Oh what a pity / If it's all a lie / Still I'm sure / That you can rock the cynics if you try.

So if you are the Christ / Yes the great Jesus Christ / Prove to me that you're no fool / Walk across my swimming pool / If you do that for me / Then I'll let you go free / C'mon King of the Jews.

There must have been something of this celebrity Christ syndrome going on in Jerusalem that day, but for Jesus the whole experience was far different. A writer for Homiletics magazine observed, "Jesus is not interested in glitter, glamour and gossip, but he is interested in grace, giving and goodness."

Jesus was clearly not really interested in fame. According to the Gospel of Mark, he repeatedly told his followers NOT to tell anyone about him or his miracle working. He seemed to know, ahead of his time, that fame is fickle.

One of the most easily memorable passages of Scripture is John 6:66. I can always remember that verse because of the cryptic emphasis in the book of Revelation about the number 666. There is only one verse 6:66 in the Gospels and that is in John. Listen to what it says:

"Because of this many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him."

There really were many disciples who turned back when they learned the full scope of the Gospel Jesus proclaimed. For them and for many of us, fame passes too quickly.

What is hot today is passé tomorrow. In the 1920's, the fad was flagpole sitting with one man holding the record at 49 days. In the 1930's it was stamp collecting. In the 1940's, it was swallowing goldfish. In the 1950's, it was the hula hoop. In the 1960's it was tie dyed T-shirts. In the 1970's it was streaking. In the 1980's it was video arcades. In the 1990's it was tattoos. In the 2000's, it is pocket bikes. There is always something that is hot. In the ought-thirties, it was Jesus. But Jesus was looking for disciples for the long haul, not for the short term.

Jesus allowed this Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem. He even sent the disciples ahead as an advance team to make the preparations. He sent two disciples ahead of him to acquire a colt, and said to them, “If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ just say this, ‘The Lord needs it.’” Just as Jesus predicted, the owners of the colt asked that very question, and they were silenced when the disciples explained, “The Lord needs it.”

Matthew's account of the first Palm Sunday makes it sound like Jesus sat on both animals at the same time, "They brought him the donkey and the colt, and put their cloaks on them, and he sat on them" (Matthew 21:7). The intent could be that Jesus sat on their cloaks, though it probably means that he rode the mare with the young colt at its mother's side. The other gospels tell us that Jesus rode only on a colt.

As Jesus came down the path from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude began to praise God with a loud voice. They were celebrating because of all the miracles that they had seen. They shouted, "Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven!

Some of the Pharisees said to Jesus, "Teacher, order your disciples to stop." They were afraid of creating a disturbance that the Roman soldiers would have to suppress. But Jesus replied, "I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out."

It was a high moment in the Kingdom of God. Jesus was a celebrity! But just as they do with modern celebrities, the crowds quickly turned their attention to picking him apart. The movement that killed him on Friday began on Sunday. From this point, the talk about Jesus became increasingly negative.

I imagine some of the conversations going this way:

"But why doesn't he do something about the dreaded Romans!"

"He fed the hungry in Galilee, why doesn't he do it here. Are the poor and hungry in Jerusalem not as important as the poor in Galilee?"

"How is he going to do anything about Jewish independence when his disciples aren't even armed?"

"I heard that the temple leaders are about fed up with this Jesus!"

"If Jesus is such a good Jew, why does he seem to prefer doing his healings on the Sabbath?"

"He raised Lazarus from the dead, why doesn't he raise my dead uncle?"

"Why does he talk about coming persecutions instead of victory for the Jewish nation."

"I want a leader like David was. Now there was a leader for the people."

And by the end of the week, these same people were in the crowd again, but this time they were shouting, "Crucify, crucify him!" How can we explain the sudden change in their hearts? How can the same people who praised him on Sunday call for his crucifixion on Friday?

Perhaps the answer lies in the title of the sermon, "Celebrity Christ." For most of the people there, Jesus was merely a celebrity. They loved talking about him, about what he was wearing, about where he was, about the conflict with the temple authorities, about the response of the Romans, but they were not talking about the things that Jesus wanted them to be talking about. Jesus really was more interested in grace, giving and goodness.

When we relate to a celebrity we are a spectator, and by definition spectators are not involved. Spectators cheer and boo, spectators form deep opinions for and against the behavior of their celebrities, but spectators don't make a real difference. Ninety-nine percent of the time, the celebrity doesn't know the spectator exists.

For example, I was a spectator for the televised quarterfinal basketball game last week between Georgetown and North Carolina. I happened to favor North Carolina. I jumped out of my seat when Georgetown hit a three-pointer at the buzzer to send the game into overtime. Then I watched with despair as "my team" failed to score at all in the overtime until the last seven seconds. It was a miserable loss. My emotions were tied to the game, but I didn't really make any difference to the outcome. Only the ten players on the basketball court could really influence the game. I was a spectator, not a participant.

There were a lot of spectators in the crowd on that first Palm Sunday. They cheered, they waved palm branches, they shouted. But when they learned the demands of discipleship, they switched teams. By Friday, they were shouting, "Crucify him, crucify him!"

And there are too many spectators of religion today as well. There are those who form deeply held opinions about Jesus and the church. But in the end, they are bystanders because they are not really disciples. They pay lip service to faith; they say the right things, but their lives are not changed. They are not participants; they are not stakeholders; they are merely idle bystanders. We are either a spectator or a stakeholder.

Every year during Holy Week we find ourselves puzzled about those people in the crowd. We wonder how in the world they could cheer Jesus on Palm Sunday and jeer him on Friday. What a fickle crowd!

But when we look closer, we find they are just like we are – spectators, bystanders, the idly curious, onlookers; anything but committed disciples. We are too often just like they were.

Jesus said, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me." Jesus bids us come and die with him. That is the cost of discipleship.

One notable fact about the story of Palm Sunday is that it doesn't end here. The story goes on. It does not end with the procession in Jerusalem. And it does not end at the cross. It doesn't end in a cave on the property of Joseph of Arimathea. You think I am going to say that it ends with the Resurrection on Easter Sunday, but it doesn’t.

This story goes on and on. It continues today in the lives of people like you and me. The Spirit of the Risen Christ comes to live in our hearts. We are called to die with him, just as those first disciples were. The Bible says, "Christ in you; the hope of glory."

This is not a story about a time long, long ago. It is a story about today. It is a story about us. We are called, not to be spectators, bystanders, or onlookers, but we are called to disciples and to keep His story alive.