Tuesday in Jerusalem

Rev. Bobby Musengwa

Transitional General Presbyter

One hundred fifty thousand people. 

One city built for forty thousand. 

And one man from Galilee who made powerful people look foolish yesterday and is walking back in today.

Historians argue about the exact numbers. Nobody argues about the mood. The city is a pot on high heat with the lid clamped down.

Dawn: The Road

Jesus leaves Bethany in the cold gray light and joins the river of pilgrims pouring toward the city.

Fathers drag lambs on ropes. Mothers balance bread on their heads. Old men limp on cracked feet, and they came from Egypt, Rome, and Asia Minor to be here.

They all know the story of Passover. God broke an empire once.

They also know who rules them now.

Every one of them can see the walls, and every one of them knows what waits behind those walls.

According to historian of antiquity, Josephus, the temple in Jerusalem was a marvel to behold. 

Other historians say King Herod the Great had expanded the temple complex to fit twenty five football stadiums.

Simply put, all historical accounts say the temple mount in Jerusalem was huge.

The Fortress

Bolted to the northwest corner of the temple mount sits the Antonia Fortress, a block of stone that looks like it was built to be hated.

Stairs run from its gates straight down into the temple courts. 

Roman auxiliary soldiers stand on the rooftops of the porticoes with swords, javelins, and shields, and their eyes never stop moving.

They can see what is going on inside the walls of the temple. And they stand ready to sprint into action to subdue any troubles.

Pontius Pilate does not live in Jerusalem. He comes up from the coast at Passover with extra troops, because a crowd this size, celebrating freedom from an empire, is a fire waiting for a match.

Some in this crowd remember Galileans whom Pilate killed while they were making their sacrifices. Their blood was mixed with the blood of their offerings.

Jesus is a Galilean, and everyone can hear his accent. Yep, Jesus had an accent.

The Rules of the Game

To understand this morning, you have to understand one thing.

In this world, honor is everything. 

It is your name, your home, your land, and your family's future. 

Shame is a kind of death.

An insult in public is never a small thing. 

It is an attack, and it demands an answer in public. Someone challenges, someone answers, and the crowd decides who won.

The loser does not just lose an argument. He loses his place.

Yesterday, Jesus took the priests' place from them in front of thousands.

The Players

Now meet the men who want him gone. They do not like each other, and that is part of the danger.

Caiaphas and the chief priests. 

They run the temple and the money. They keep their jobs because Rome allows it, and they keep Rome happy by keeping the peace. Their whole world depends on one rule: no riots.

The Sadducees. 

Rich, proud, and well connected, they are mostly priestly families. They accept only the written law, and they laugh at the idea of resurrection.

The Pharisees. 

They are not the rulers. They are the teachers people trust, and they walk the streets, teach in the villages, and hold the respect of ordinary folks. Nobody in Jerusalem can afford to ignore them.

The Herodians. 

These are supporters of the Herod family, kings by Rome's favor. Herod Antipas is in the city this week. The Herodians owe their status to Caesar, and they want their sponsors happy.

Pharisees and Herodians normally look at each other like cats and dogs.

Today they have a common enemy.

Mid-Morning: The Circle Closes

Jesus is teaching in the temple courts. Around him, people sit on stone steps, hanging on every word.

Then the crowd goes quiet.

Men in fine robes are walking through, and people step out of their way. The chief priests and elders have come together, and their faces are stone.

They stop in front of him.

The oldest man among them speaks, and every word is chosen like a knife:

"By what authority are you doing these things? And who gave you this authority?" (Matthew 21:23)

Everyone knows what he means. He means the tables, the shouting, and the crowd that sang your name yesterday.

It is a challenge, and thousands of people are watching.

The trap is perfect. If Jesus says "God gave me this authority," they cry blasphemy. If he says "no one," he is a fraud and a fool.

Either way, he loses his honor. Either way, the soldiers on the roofs may get their orders.

The Riposte

Jesus does not blink.

"I will ask you one question," he says. "If you answer me, I will answer you."

He waits.

"John's baptism. Where did it come from? Heaven, or people?"

Now the trap is turned around.

The priests pull together in a huddle. Their voices drop to hissing whispers, and you can almost hear the math.

If we say heaven, he will ask why we didn't believe him.

If we say people, the crowd will turn on us. They all believe John was a prophet.

Whoever answers loses either way. The crowd is watching for a single sign of weakness.

At last the chief priest lifts his chin and says four words he never wanted to say in public.

"We do not know."

A murmur runs through the courts.

The men whose entire job is knowing have just said they don't know.

That is not a small wound. It is a cut across the face of every man standing there.

The Story That Hurts

Jesus does not stop.

"What do you think?" he says. "A man had two sons. He said to the first, 'Son, go work in the vineyard today.' The son said, 'I will not.' But later he changed his mind and went."

He pauses.

"The man went to the second son and said the same thing. That son said, 'I will, sir.' But he never went."

Then he looks straight at the priests.

"Which of the two did what his father wanted?"

The answer is easy, and they know the trap is closing, but they have nothing else to say.

"The first," they say.

And Jesus says the sentence that could get a man killed:

"Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you." (Matthew 21:31)

Tax collectors were traitors who worked for Rome and got rich off their neighbors. Prostitutes were the lowest on the honor ladder.

He has just said that the people the temple leaders despise will get to God before they do.

Some in the crowd gasp. Some laugh, and that is worse for the priests.

Afternoon: Trap After Trap

The priests want to arrest him right there. Matthew says so plainly. But they are afraid of the crowd, because the crowd thinks he is a prophet. (Matthew 21:46)

So they go away to think.

That is when the Pharisees and Herodians walk over together, smiling, with a new plan.

"Teacher," they say, "we know you are honest. Tell us, is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar?"

Look at who is standing where. Say yes, and the crowd calls him a traitor. 

Say no, and the Herodians run to the soldiers.

Jesus asks for a coin and looks at it.

"Whose face is this?"

"Caesar's."

"Then give Caesar what belongs to Caesar," he says, "and give God what belongs to God." (Matthew 22:21)

They walk away stunned.

Then come the Sadducees, who don't believe in resurrection, with a clever story about a woman married to seven brothers. They think this one will make him look ridiculous.

It doesn't.

Every question is a hook. Every hook fails.

Evening: The Meeting in the Dark

The light fades, and smoke drifts over the city from a thousand sacrifices.

Jesus walks back out to Bethany with his friends.

Behind him, in the high priest's house, the whispering begins. Matthew tells us what they decide. They will arrest him and kill him.

But they add a condition:

"Not during the festival, or there may be a riot." (Matthew 26:5)

Everything they fear is still in the crowd, and the crowd is still on Jesus's side.

For now.

The soldiers on the Antonia Forte change their watch. The lambs bleat in the dark.

And a man who has just won every argument in Jerusalem lies down to sleep, knowing that winning is exactly what will get him killed.

As Isaac Watts wrote in his eighteenth century hymn, “Joy to the world the Lord has come.”

Yours in Christ,

Rev. Bobby Musengwa

Transitional General Presbyter

Mission Presbytery