Today tyrants are put on notice. Today is Palm Sunday. Yesterday was the first day of Passover.
Passover commemorates liberation from tyranny—three thousand years ago.
Remember. We were once slaves in Egypt. Pharaoh lost. We won. Not easily, but somehow.
Palm Sunday commemorates resistance to tyranny—two thousand years ago.
Remember. We once cowered under tyranny, but we stood up. We marched.
Several days before Passover, Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, mimicking tyrants who ride majestic horses.
Children waved palm branch “swords,” giggling, mimicking Roman soldiers.
The jubilant procession chanted:
Hosanna-heysanna-sanna-sanna-HO!
HANDS OFF!!
The poor and hungry, the homeless and sick, the lame and meek, the broke and broken hailed Jesus as savior.
Messiah.
Then Jesus strode into the temple, a beautiful “house of prayer for all nations.”
He looked around.
He seethed.
He flipped over moneychangers’ tables, wielded a whip, and drove out the corrupt and fraudulent money-grubbers.
That’s the Palm Sunday story.
It was not a Dr. Seuss parade. It was prophetic street theatre. It was defiant. Beleaguered people acted up.
MAGA acolytes see it differently.
I’ve read hagiographies of their pharaoh. He’s the new messiah, anointed by God to Make America Great Again. They actually say those things in their preaching, prayers, and propaganda.
This morning MAGA nation will hear the Palm Sunday story in their gilded nationalistic churches and applaud.
Hallelujah. Jesus drained the swamp. Hosanna in the highest. Our leader is just like Jesus. Let’s throw him a military parade on his birthday.
Go ahead. Have your parade. But Jesus will not be in it. You represent everything he’s not.
You’ve twisted hate into love. You’ve twisted treason into patriotism. You’ve twisted lies into truth.
Sorry, you are not allowed to twist Jesus into your mascot.
Jesus was kind, honest, compassionate, inclusive. He did not mock people who stutter or are disabled. He did not inflict pain. He did not show off. He did not gloat. He did not expect adulation and obeisance. He never demanded that anyone bend a knee to him or kiss his ass.
Jesus forgave those who crucified him. He didn’t order retribution. Jesus was gracious. Grace was the heart of his character.
The United States was founded on the principles of democracy and political leadership from the ancient Greeks. Among those principles is this from Heraclitus: Character is destiny.
Tyrants are destined to fail.
Only love abides.
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image: jesuschristformuslims.com
