I didn’t go to church on Palm Sunday. I didn’t have it in me
to celebrate a “triumphal entry” of Jesus and wave palm branches and cry
“Hosanna!” I’m a fan of Palm Sunday, don’t get me wrong. I love a good
celebration and a good spontaneous party. I’m just also an introvert so the
only party I’m probably gonna show up for is one where Jesus is actually
processing again and we’re not playing re-enactment cuz I don’t have energy for
that.
I don’t know if you know the story, but Jesus comes into
Jerusalem and the people are really hype about it so they lay their coats on
the road and wave palm branches from the fields and cry “Hosanna!” and welcome
him and it’s pretty cool. The religious leaders are in a tizzy, but everyone
else is enjoying themselves. The religious leaders wanted a Messiah (Savior)
who rode in on a majestic horse or something…I can’t remember. All I know is
they didn’t want a donkey and they were like “This Jesus guy is not cool
enough/right enough/fit in our boxes enough to be the one who is going to set things Right.” BUT HE WAS and that’s the kicker of the whole Gospel
thing is that Jesus was the underdog who was actually the top dog that got executed by the state but that's a whole nother story I digress.
But I was reading the story and I was like “What…The
Triumphal Entry?” (Matthew 21, Mark 11, Luke 19:28, John 12:12) Like, triumphal
entry for whom? I’m not sure why it’s called the triumphal entry because I’m
pretty sure a majority of people were not down with this whole procession thing
and it’s further implications. I mean the guy comes in and basically says he
has street cred and totally challenges the framework of the place. He
challenges Empire. He challenges the very essence of the city. And that never
makes the status quo happy. Especially when your whole life work is spent
maintaining something and this bro comes out of nowhere and starts eradicating
boundaries and laying down a new law for the land.
Like, today. I’m waking up, taking it easy, looking out my
window in Summit Lake and wondering what it would look like if Jesus did that
whole procession thing in Akron. Okay. First off, there’s a lot of problems
with this idea. One, we don’t ride donkeys. There’s no way two disciples are
gonna come in Akron and find a donkey to bring back for Jesus to ride downtown.
He’s just gonna look waaaaaay strange. Two, we don’t have palm branches that we
found out in the fields. I wish we had palm branches. Again, it just ain’t
gonna happen. This is a city in the Midwest. Three, we don’t have cloaks to lay
down in the middle of the path, nor do we have paths that we use for
transportation. How could Jesus even have a procession in Akron?
So I start to think that maybe Jesus actually sent his
disciples to the Metro station to borrow a Greyhound. Their logo is a dog. Dog,
donkey—close enough. So the two disciples are drivin’ this Greyhound bus they
borrowed (sorry fam who’s about to miss your bus, but trust me you won’t want
to miss this procession) trying to figure out how to get back to South Akron
where Jesus is but the construction is a mess and so they end up running over a
few orange cones and cursing a bit and going down the wrong way of a one-way
street but they FINALLY make it back down S. Main St. and out of the city.
Jesus hops in at the faaaaarrr end of S. Main and maybe the
disciples put streamers on the back or maybe there are signs saying “Jesus, the
prophet from Nazareth in Galilee!!” but Jesus ain’t that flashy so he probs
just gets on the bus and invites people who are walking down S. Main to hop on
cuz they can’t afford the bus. Actually, no. I’d like to think that maybe these
walkers are the ones who are actually running ahead into South Akron and Summit
Lake, frantically knockin’ on doors and gathering a crowd to welcome the slow
moving Greyhound bus.
I dunno. Anyway, I’m probably chillin’ in my house in Summit
Lake thinking way too intense about life but I hope there’s a knock at my door
(probably from a neighbor-kid) shouting at me “JESUS IS RIDING DOWN BROADWAY IN
A GREYHOUND BUS COME QUICK” and I’m like “Wut. Who’s Jesus?” and I hop up and
get my shoes on tho sometimes I’m slow moving so it may take a while and I’m
running out there with everyone and their mother from the Peter Maurin Center
and Save-a-Lot and the strip clubs and the take out stores and Long St. and
Main St. and Archwood and Church’s Chicken and South Street and the auto shops
and the random buildings that I don’t know what’s in them and all the spaces
in-between and we’re in a tizzy trying to sort out what this slow moving bus is
about but you best believe we know this is no joke so we show up.
The crowd is quickly gathering and slowly moving down
Broadway and we’re rushing to fill all the potholes with dirt ahead of Jesus
and move all the orange cones so the ride isn’t so terrible (cuz this
construction is a mess.) We don’t have cloaks to extend on the path, but we do
have a deep sense of Midwest hospitality and we know potholes are the worst. We
edge closer to South Street, to Thornton, people coming from Summit Lake and
South Akron, streaming from the varying buildings offering social services,
social support—ALDI’S. THERE IS A CROWD COMING OUT OF ALDI’S. SOMEONE’S
BRINGING A CHEESE PLATE! It’s a scene! We pass the Metro station and hit University
housing and students join. I hope some bring protests signs because it wouldn’t
be a good crowd without a protest of some kind.
We’re entering downtown and we don’t have palm fronds but
someone had the foresight to bring hundreds of Galley Boys from Swensons so
we’re tossing bags and waving our burgers to welcome Jesus to Akron. IT’S A
PARTY IN DOWNTOWN ON BROADWAY. CONFETTI EVERYWHERE. GALLEY BOYS ARE FLYIN’!
HOSANNA! HOSANNA! YAY JESUS! SO MANY
RANDOM AKRON-ITES GATHERED TOGETHER AROUND A GREYHOUND BUS!
After Jesus is welcomed into the city he goes to the temple
to check it out and sees that people are sellin’ stuff there and he get super
upset and flips the tables and drives the sellers out. Holy space is to be kept
holy. The priorities of the religious are out of line with the heart of God,
and Jesus flips the tables to bring light to this dissonance. That is the role
of a prophet—to bring light to the dissonance and challenge the powers that be.
I don’t really know what that looks like to contextualize
this part of the story to Akron. I’d like to think that maybe Jesus meanders the
procession down to King James Way. I like the dissonance of that—Jesus being in
the space where we welcomed another proclaimed King (James) with a giant
procession.
I’d like to think he stands on the stage at Lock 3…and just
stands there. Maybe all my neighbors from Summit Lake and South Akron are still
there, finally eating the Galley Boys, taking a break and resting from a long
walk. Everyone else probably left, having more self-proclaimed important work
to do.
I’d like to think that Jesus finally opens His mouth to
teach, on a sunny April day at Lock 3, and he speaks the words he spoke when he first
began his ministry in Nazareth: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he
has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim
freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the
oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
Ooo…Yes. That is a triumphal entry, indeed.
