MARCHES AND PARADES"

“MARCHES AND PARADES”

            Hundreds of thousands of people marched and gathered on Saturday to protest our insane Molech-craving worship of guns in American culture.  Molech and his worshippers are condemned in Leviticus 20 because that false god requires that children be sacrificed to him.   We see our worship of Molech over and over again in this country, as our children are slaughtered in mass school shootings, in police killings of black and Latinx children and adults, and in individual acts where the belief in redemptive violence re-enacts itself over and over again.

            These marches came the day before the beginning of Holy Week in the Christian tradition.  Holy Week begins with a march also, a march that Jesus of Galilee develops in order to galvanize his followers and to put the religious and political leaders on notice that there is a new and growing vision of the God movement in the world.  In Matthew, Mark and Luke, he is entering Jerusalem for the first time.   He chooses Passover as the time to enter the holy city, a festival that commemorates the liberation of the Hebrews held as slaves in Egypt.  It is a festival filled with revolutionary thoughts and ideas - the idea that God desires freedom and justice, the idea that God is indeed moving to bring these into fruition. 

            As his band of followers enter Jerusalem, there is shouting and joy and celebration and hope for a new vision.  Because of this, the Roman Empire takes no chances.  The Roman governor of the province, Pontus Pilate, brings a huge band of soldiers into Jerusalem also at this time.  While the descendants of the Hebrews are shouting and celebrating the possibility of liberation, the Romans want to remind them who is in charge.  The Romans want to remind them that some TALK of liberation will be allowed in their Passover celebration, but that they must control themselves and remember to whom they really belong: the Roman Empire.  The Romans ride in with drums beating, dust swirling, and heavily armed soldiers parading.

            In his parade, Jesus mocks this Roman show of force.  Instead of a powerful general riding in a chariot or on a strong horse, Jesus rides in on a jackass.  No intimidating weapons or military formations, no disciplined soldiers, no imperial drapings – rather palm branches and cloaks and excitement.  And, yes, it is the excitement and determination that scare the religious and the political leaders.  In Luke’s version (19:29-44), the leaders tell Jesus to order his followers to be careful in their enthusiasm, to temper their excitement and their vision – similar to those who dismissed the youth and young adult leaders of the March 24 parades and gathering.  Those of us who are captive to the fallen powers, those of us who continue to worship Molech – we hear the excitement and determination not as a new and life-giving vision, but rather as a severe threat to our way of life.

            Luke’s version reminds us that while this vision is powerful, its fruition in the short term depends on us.  In Luke 19:41-44, Jesus weeps over Jerusalem because its leadership will refuse this new vision, because Jerusalem did not recognize its time of visitation.  As we know only too well, this Holy Week will not lead to this new vision taking over Jerusalem.  It will instead end in the Roman execution of Jesus, the threatening revolutionary.  The crucifixion is not the end of the story, but Holy Week reminds us that we are always leaning towards killing Jesus rather than being transformed by his love.  It is a reminder that we all are captives to the power of Molech.

            The marches and gatherings of March 24 are a reminder also of that new vision, of that idea that the God movement is always presenting itself to us.  Like the parade of Palm Sunday, it is led not by the powerful of the world but by the vulnerable and the suffering ones of the world.  It is the time of our visitation in American culture, and may we react better than did the leaders and people of Jerusalem in Holy Week.  May we say “yes” to life and liberation, and may we find that life-giving vision that drove those followers of Jesus into Jerusalem.  Molech and his guns and his demand for child sacrifice are deeply held beliefs in our individual and collective hearts, but let us hear and believe in this new vision. 

            We give thanks for those young people who are firing us with this new vision and commitment.  The religious leaders told Jesus in Luke 19:39-40:  “Teacher, order your disciples to be quiet.  Jesus answered: “I tell you, if these were silent, the stones themselves would shout it out.”  May we be like those stones, and may we see the Resurrected One who bears the marks of crucifixion.  May we know the time of our visitation, and may we shout it out and live it:  justice and equity and mercy and peace.