God the Rebel

Bread and Wine Reading: "God the Rebel", G. K. Chesterton

Scripture Reading: Mark 11: 1-11
When they were approaching Jerusalem, at Bethphage and Bethany, near the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples and said to them, ‘Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately as you enter it, you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden; untie it and bring it. If anyone says to you, “Why are you doing this?” just say this, “The Lord needs it and will send it back here immediately.” ’ They went away and found a colt tied near a door, outside in the street. As they were untying it, some of the bystanders said to them, ‘What are you doing, untying the colt?’ They told them what Jesus had said; and they allowed them to take it. Then they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it; and he sat on it. Many people spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut in the fields. Then those who went ahead and those who followed were shouting, ‘Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David! Hosanna in the highest heaven!’ Then he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple; and when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve.

Have you ever noticed that the Markan lectionary reading for Palm Sunday spends about half the passage explaining how to get the stupid colt in place? It’s as if the director of the play was going out of the way to make sure that we noticed the animal, to make sure that we noticed how truly out of place the colt was in this grand processional. There are Scriptural commentators that have pointed out that on this day, there would have been a grand processional coming from the west, carrying with it all the accolades of military might and power, sitting atop their grand stallions. And from the east, was this small, slow-moving parade of somewhat mismatched followers and one sort of underdressed man riding on a colt. It just didn’t match. In fact, on some level, it almost seemed to be a joke.

In his essay, G.K. Chesterton makes the claim that “Christianity alone has felt that God, to be wholly God, must have been a rebel as well as a king.” The point was that God was not then and has never since been aligned with the ways of the world. We who claim institutional religion as our belief system often find ourselves trying to pull God into the ways with which we are comfortable, the ways that affirm how we see ourselves in this life. We try to project an image of a God who agrees with us, a God who is on our side, a God who stands and salutes the same flags that we do. But instead we find a God who rebels against the ways of the world, a God who instead of coming to affirm us instead came to start a revolt and reclaim our lives.

The whole Passion story just does not “fit”. We come to town in a joke of a parade while all the floats covered with roses are on some other road. We go through the week trying to follow one, trying to become one with one who is ultimately tried and convicted. And then we stand there and watch the whole dream of our lives being better nailed to a cross in utter failure. And then, as if this wasn’t bad enough, the skies darken and the ground shakes like all of earth is ending. If this is God, it seems that God is abandoning God’s very self. Chesterton says to “let the revolutionists of this age choose a creed from all the creeds and a god from all the gods of the world, carefully weighing all the gods of inevitable recurrence and of unalterable power. They will not find another god who has been in revolt…They will find only one divinity who ever uttered their isolation; only one religion in which God seemed for an instant to be an atheist.” Yes, God, in total rebellion of all things inhumane came as fully human and by entering the suffering and despair and hopelessness of the world, turned it all upside down. And maybe, if only for an instant, declared Godself an atheist so that even that could be defied.

On this Palm Sunday, you are invited to join in this little misfit parade, lay your branches at his feet, and be part of turning the world upside down. “Hosanna! Blessed is the One who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest!” And, someday, this rebellious, defiant God and this upside down world will come to make perfect sense.

Discussion Questions:
1.) What images do the Palm processional hold for you?
2.) What do you think of Chesterton’s idea that God, if only for a moment, was an atheist?
3.) What images of this “upside down world” do you have?

So, join the parade and go forth toward the Cross whether or not it all makes sense now!

Grace and Peace,

Shelli