By David R. Tullock
Along with celebration, there is another component to what was happening here. Last week we saw an example of this other component. The people of Baghdad and other cities in Iraq were obviously celebrating their liberation. Even palm branches were being waved along with white flags and Iraqi flags. While it was obvious that they were celebrating, there was also a tone of protest in the air. Statues and other images of Saddam Hussein were being torn down and desecrated as a way of saying they recognized the oppression he represented.
It was not by accident that Jesus drew a crowd that day. If the owner of the colt knew of Jesus' plan, it could be implied that others knew of the protest march that was being planned. At the end of the march, Jesus went into the temple, looked around and left. This image does not simply suggest a nostalgic last look at a building that had meant so much to him.
Advertisement
In the larger context, Jesus had always been at odds with the Pharisees and scribes over the interpretation of Scripture and tradition. In addition to the running debate over table fellowship, sharp differences arose over fasting and Sabbath observance. Jesus protested the subordination of human need and welfare to the rigid and unfeeling application of law. As early as chapter three, Mark reports that Jesus' positions on key issues brought threats against his life. And, of course, once Jesus was in Jerusalem, protest followed protest, beginning with Jesus' protest with temple practices.
Protest has received a bad name in our day. Protestors are common place in our world, especially in a free society like ours. But protest is a valued way to deal with evil in our world, especially the kind of evil which reduces people to nothingness and defeat. In fact, I think Jesus calls us to protest in our world the oppression that comes from any group, religious or otherwise, which reduces and distorts the otherwise good news of the opportunity of having a relationship with a loving God who exercises his power on behalf and for the benefit of his creation, not as a powerful God who is to be placated and appeased in order to win his favor.
We are called to protest when anyone is led to believe that suffering means sin and the presence of suffering means God has removed his hand from them. We should protest when one is led to believe one must earn God's love as if it something we can deserve in the first place. We should protest when the powerless of our world are used by the powerful for their greed ends. We should protest when we see religious establishments, churches included, replacing a loving God who first loved us, with a Powerful God who is out for retribution and revenge.
If protest is not a part of our Christian walk, then we simply are not paying attention to the world around us. Jesus is outraged anytime anyplace anyone is not wooed, loved and drawn into this Kingdom that he lives in. Jesus was not just willing to die for this kind of Kingdom, He was willing not to kill for it, but to be killed for it. Even though the palms were important to Jesus, it was the nails that made the difference.
That's protest. That's the kind of protest that brings change, and yes, even resurrection!
_________________
David R. Tullock is Pastor of First Cumberland Presbyterian Pulpit in Cleveland, TN.
