The Upside Down Kingdom
Philip Burchill April 13, 2025
We have arrived at the end of lent on Palm Sunday which marks the beginning of Holy week. Today we remember Jesus triumphal entry into Jerusalem and relive in ritual the Narrative of Jesus Passion sometimes referred to the Christ-Story the dramatic event of Christ coming, death and resurrection we celebrate next easter Sunday. The tone of today involves the meditation on a paradox and a redefinition of power. We commemorate the entry of the Divine King who enters not in pomp splendor and power instead lowly in humility. This Humility as we will see was necessary for Christ to fulfill the purpose of the Messiah to effect salvation for mankind in a way contrary to misguided expectations. Then as now we can miss what God is doing because our concept of power and authority is at odds with Jesus Upside down Kingdom. This morning we join the first followers of Jesus welcome his entry and are invited to contemplate the nature of Christ Kingdom is not of this world. This is a King who came not to be served but to serve.
On Interpretation
Before we approach our text this morning I’d like to share a few insights about interpretation in the world of the Bible. Its easy when reading this text to project preconceived associations on what a king is, our cultural associations and prejudices taint our judgment. Even the disciples who were face to face with Jesus made this mistake. They imposed the standards of what was around them that flawed their interpretation of scriptures, in that military conqueror was to defeat Roman oppression and re-establish the Davidic kingdom of the Jewish nation. Had the disciples accurately studied and interpreted the scriptures they would not have missed the true nature of Jesus mission as a Messiah is ‘suffering servant’. This will become clear to them post the resurrection.
Scripture is a wholly other world that does not fit our preconceived notions, it does not appeal to taste or accommodate to convenience. Every time I read this Book I am convicted and challenged to change my life and continually summoned to revise my understanding of God and the world. I cannot manipulate and cherry pick scriptures out of context to back partisan political policies. Scripture calls us ‘Do not conform to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of our minds’.
Eugene Peterson advises, ‘What we must never be encouraged to do although all of us are guilty over and over is to force scripture to fit our experience. Our experience is so small its like trying to put an ocean into a thimble. What we ought to do is fit into the world of scripture. To swim in this vast ocean.’ The vast universe of Scripture absorbs, redefines and reorients our approach to science, economics, politics and our daily concerns and not the other way around.
Messianic Expectation
In the beginning of Luke’s gospel an angel announces to Mary the identity of Jesus is ‘He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High and the Lord will give him the throne of His Father David and he will reign over the house of Jacob and his kingdom will have no end.’ From this announcement of Jesus Divine status of Sonship s established at the outset of the gospel, it is continually confirmed by the performance of miracles and the fulfillment of Biblical prophecies. Scholars note the frequency of OT scriptures authenticate and validate Jesus Status as a Divine Son. ‘Christ states I did not come to abolish the law and the prophets but to fulfill them. Jesus did not come to found a new religion. He is the author, the embodiment and extension of Torah as the Messiah. Though many did not and still do not recognize him as we will come to see.
An important point to highlight for the audience is the disjunction between expectations and scripture’s fulfillment. At the end of the Gospel Luke, Jesus enigmatically encounters followers on the road to Emmaus who are discouraged and returning home after the crucifixion. He opens their eyes and says to them ‘O foolish and slow of heart to trust in all the prophets spoke! Weren’t they necessary for the Messiah to suffer and enter his glory? And beginning from Moses and all the prophets he thoroughly interpreted the things concerning himself in all the Scriptures'.
This revelation Christ gives the disciples at the end enables us to read with the end in mind. The true nature identity of Jesus the suffering servant. He goes through triumphal entry as a wine press, suffering to exaltation is a prophetic fulfillment and God’s pathway to provide salvation for all mankind. We start with Jesus descending from the Mount of olives and heading up to Jerusalem. In Luke 13 Jesus laments the state of Jerusalem and understands the task of suffering that lies ahead. ‘Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills prophets and slays those who are sent to her. How often I have desired to gather together as a brood under her wings but you were not willing’.
As Jesus approaches from the mount of Olives he asks the disciples to acquire a donkey that was never sat on. This was another prophetic fulfillment of the Messiah in Zechariah 9:9 it states ‘Rejoice greatly, daughter Zion, your daughter Jerusalem, See your King comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly riding on a donkey.”
Worldly Power & The Upside Down Kingdom
Jesus did not wait the last minute, This was a careful deliberate plan in order that scripture might be fulfilled. This intentional fulfillment of Zechariah outlines the King of Kingship Jesus claims. “The donkey in Palestine was lowly but considered noble. Only in war did kings ride upon a horse. When they came in peace they come upon a donkey. Jesus by his action came as a king of love and peace not a conquering military hero who the tumultuous crowds expected and awaited.” (Barclay)
When Eleonora and I were on our honeymoon, we stopped in Vienna and attended the Belvedere Museum that had a superb art collection. Its famous for holding the collection of Gustav Klimt most well known for his figure of the kiss decorated in gold leaf exquisite enigmatic symbols. Fighting through the crowd to get a view as we enter the next room we beheld this painting of Napoleon proudly mounted on a magnificent war horse as he crosses the St Bernard pass in the Swiss alps. A tremendous geographical feat. The painting depicts Napoleon in military might it conveys the message of his expanding empire traversing the magnitude of the alps that is conquered by Napoleons indomitable will and quest for the glory of empire. Ironically, the back story of the facts is Napoleon would have had to ride a donkey to climb the alps but that image was not good PR for the Emperor’ propaganda.
The point to be made is worldly empire of hero worship, the flex of military might and raw display of power is the complete antithesis to the nature of Christ’s empire. where the King and Creator of the universe voluntarily descends to earth to ride a donkey to undergo a criminal’s execution. The King of Kings is meek and humble. John Chryssostom an early church Father comments,
'Do you want to comprehend the meekness of his coming? Consider how he arrives. He is not seated in brilliant gold chariot wearing purple. He is not mounted on a fiery steed, a lover of discord. He did not have a retinue of armed men with swords and accoutrements of terrifying warfare. What do you see? Palm branches as a witness of piety”. The Son of man’s entry is not through a tunnel of swords but of palm branches. It is a welcome to a king of peace whose greatness descends to humble service. Jesus arrival is the perfect consistency of deed with his prior words. As he stated He came to offer his life as a ransom for many, the greatest is the servant of all,
In Philippians 2 it is written “He existed in the form of God but he did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped. But he emptied himself taking the form of a bond servant and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man. He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”
Courage in face of Danger
Jesus made many prior entries into Jerusalem under a low profile. At this time there was a price on Jesus head. He could have taken a back alley gone in discreetly to protect himself. As commentator William Barclay points out ‘he entered in such a way to focus the whole lime light on himself and occupy the center stage. His is a breath taking thing to do as a man with a price on his head an outlaw deliberately riding into a city in such a way every eye was fixed on himself. It is impossible to exaggerate Jesus sheer courage’. Christ knew he was to lay down his life for Scripture to be fulfilled. So he could walk through the valley and shadow of death and fear no evil.’
Today many politicians lack this courage and are paralyzed with fear of speaking out, critiquing and going against the current administration for concern of constant death threats. Mitt Romney the late senator of Utah estimated he paid 5,000 dollars a day for a body guard. Many others do not have the funds to acquire this protection and some take the risk to stand on the front lines. No matter the threats to be in the will of God is the safest place. Winston Churchill knew this well and like Christ he walked courageously into the heart of danger with the confidence of God’s will,
“Churchill took daily walks in during the air raids of Germany despite the danger. On one occasion when He was with an inspector Thompson his body guard when a huge explosion occurred. The body guard hoped this would dissuade the prime minister from taking further walks. Winston responded, “There’s someone looking after me besides you.” Do you mean Sargent Davis the inspector asked? “No, said the prime minister, as he pointed his finger to the skies, “I have a mission to perform and that person intends to see it is performed.”
Followers Praise
The disciples throw their cloaks on the road as a symbolic gesture for welcoming the Messiah’s royal entry. They shout , ‘Hosannah in the Highest Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord”. Hosannah represents the same as a praise of God. It translates as a word that describes the ineffable it is a praise of celebration of gratitude. St. Augustine defines it more accurately a feeling than a verbal signification. It’s a sense of rapture a transcendent experience something close to music we can’t pin down with words. In this crowd would have been cheering the healed leper, Lazarus who was raised from the dead, the woman caught in adultery who Jesus saved from stoning and the healed blind man and countless transformed lives by Jesus ministry. These followers of Jesus were welcoming him with illimitable gratitude, praise and hope.
Enemies opposition
But another group exists in the crowd who are not so enthusiastic or welcoming to Jesus arrival. These are the well educated pharisees, the religious and political elite well trained in the knowledge of scriptures. They know the prophecies of the Messiah, yet they deliberately reject him. One would expect these experts of the law would be first and most ardent to recognize Messiah, yet they deliberately reject him. Instead of joy they are filled with anger envy. Jesus knew this was coming and it is recorded in John’s gospel, ‘I thank you Father in Heaven Lord of the Earth because you have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and revealed them to infants, Yes Father such was your gracious will’.
We have two types in the crowd. The disciples in extreme rapture Jubilation shouting peace in heaven glory in the disciples. Then we have the other extreme of a cold rebuke “Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said, Teacher Rebuke your disciples’. This is once again reminiscent of the elder brother in our prodigal son story those who would not enter joy or celebration. They are callous hard hearted and resentful. The pharisees are comfortable in their positions of authority within the religious establishment and see Jesus as a threat to the status quo. Jesus is to inaugurate a new spiritual order where God’s spirit is not confined to material space of temple worship and will come to reside in the hearts of men who are to become living temples. The prophet Ezekiel states, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you. I will remove from your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.”
Pope Francis commentary on the triumphal entry magnifies these two responses of joy on the disciples and anger of the established power. He writes ‘how hard it is for self-righteous to understand the joy and celebration of God’s mercy. How hard it is for those who only trust themselves and look down on others who do not share this joy. These twist reality and invent stories for their own self interest, they seek to silence dissonant voices. The cry comes from spinning facts and painting them in a way to disguise the face of Jesus. He is the voice of those who want to defend their own position against the defenseless. It’s the cry of self-sufficency pride arrogance who say silence your disciples and later shout crucify him.’
Spiritual Blindness
Jesus answered, ‘I tell you if these become silent the stones will cry out!’ In Romans it states ‘If blindness had befallen Israel until the full numbers of the gentiles hard hearts having been softened will proclaim God as their Creator.” Do we have eyes to see and ears to hear and hearts open to Jesus? Or will he pass on to someone else? God is not a tyrant. He never forces or imposes against free will. There is an old legend of St Francis going to preach the gospel into a village in Italy where no one was willing to listen. So he goes out on the shore onto the dock and starts preaching the gospel over the open water. Soon thousands of fish flutter to the surface to hear the gospel. This caught the attention of the villagers who prior refused God went out to his Creation and provoked a divine jealousy in their place.
In the following verses after our scripture reading Jesus sees Jerusalem and weeps. For the coming of the prince of peace to bring about restoration peace and renewal was not recognized or welcome. It had been hidden from Israel and this refusal was to eventuate in a destruction of the temple. When Jesus is later nailed to the cross he cries, ‘Father forgive them for they know not what they do.” Martin Luther in his profound sermon ‘Love in Action’ speaks this is the dominant tragic tendency among mankind to cause destruction is not that humanity is merely sinful, evil as they are blind. Blind men who were executing Jesus on the Cross. It was men that could not recognize who he was. History echoes resounding examples of this phenomena. As Jesus was nailed to the cross by blind men. Socrates was forced to drink the hemlock by people who thought he corrupted the youth to worship a false God. They thought Socrates was an atheist because his idea of God had a depth beyond the theological thought of the time.
In 1933 Germany had an exhausted economy after WWI, they were hit by war reparations put a major tax financial burden from the treatise of Versailles. They felt crushed, humiliated and demoralized. They were caught in a ideological polarization of communism and fascism, unemployment sky rocketed and society was rife with civil unrest and the current administration was failing. Hitler makes promises to restore past German greatness , makes promises to unify the nation to make it prosperous, respected around the world and targeted specific scape goated the jews for its problems The people who democratically elected Hitler were not bad or evil people they were misinformed about the true nature of what the Nazi regime was to implement in diabolical brutality. Time and again blindness intellectually and morally is the cause for great destruction and unnecessary suffering. Thus MLK reminds us ‘we have a mandate to conquer sin and ignorance’. Enlightenment and intelligence among citizens is a moral imperative for the health of society. We are commanded to love God with our hearts, souls and minds. ‘The word of God is the lamp unto our feet’ to guide us in the night of tribulation. Just as history helps us from wandering into obscurity and confusion. The consequences of blindness for a society is disintegration.
Conclusion
Our hearts cannot be totally right if our thinking is off. Our hearts minds are to be transformed by scripture and to imitate the example of Christ’s upside down kingdom. Eternal greatness is to be a humble servant, an agent of reconciliation and uplifter of the down trodden. Not a conqueror. Worldly power is only for itself. Its aim is acquisition and end result is an isolated island with an inflated ego. Like Napoleon’s painting emblematic of worldly rule is desperately advertising to the world to receive self recognition. Christ the King of Kings came humble as a servant obedient to death even on a cross. Let us share the attitude of Christ of humility. May we rise above the pharisees pitfalls of cynicism, judgment and spiritual blindness. And become humble like little children to enter his kingdom, while at the same time ‘remain as wise as a serpent and innocent as a dove.’ In this way we might live up to our calling for intelligence, open mindedness, sound judgment and love for truth. The true ever-lasting kingdom is upside down to this world’s values. When we observe Christ triumphal entry of humility is the gateway to His exaltation. And last fix our eyes on the Cross where love conquered hate, light overcomes darkness, and humility transcends power. Amen.