It had started out so well. As entrances go, this one is a grand one.

            There is a parade. Who doesn’t love a parade?

            There are people crying out “Hosanna. Hosanna in the highest! Hosanna means, literally, “save us!” Hosanna! “We are saved!” Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord”

            There are palm branches waving high in the air, the symbol of victory!

            There is high excitement. It’s a coronation!

            And the man who would be king, comes, into the midst of the adoring crowds, who are shouting Hosanna and waving their palms and spreading their cloaks on the ground. The king comes…..riding on a donkey and her young colt!

What?

            A donkey?

            It should be our first clue, a clue that something is turned around here….there’s something strangely different--this man who would be king, not like any king they had known or heard of before.

            The odd twist is like the odd twists in many of stories this man on the donkey has told. With circumstances that are never what we expected. The ends of stories we never would have written. An ungrateful ingrate son welcomed back with a lavish party! Little mustard seeds that become trees large enough for birds to nest! Tax collectors who are favored over the religious faithful when they pray in the temple. A poor man in heaven, a wealthy man suffering in hell. A Samaritan hero who rescues an injured Jew after three upstanding religious men walk on by--one a priest for crying out loud. No wonder this story telling, teacher comes into the victorious political convention meant to crown him a king in such a funny, improper and humble way. If this man is to be king, then our high expectations will be challenged!

            He came into the world and was wrapped in the swaddling clothes of humility. He lived a life of service, rather than a life of privilege. There is no record that he ever had a home or a bed of his own. Now, he comes riding on a donkey--they should expect, somehow their expectations of this king, this victorious savior will be challenged.

            Near the end of World War II, western forces from America and Canada rolled into Paris to liberate the French from the Germans. As the heavy artillery roared down the Champs-Elysée scores of people came to throw flowers, opening wine bottles, children lifted to ride on top of the tanks. There was jubilation! A parade of victory, the people, saved from their enemy by the great armies of the west!

            Contrast that to this picture from Scripture today. The people again, running into the street, cheering, waving palms, in anticipation that a saving force has arrived to rescue them from the enemy occupying forces. And yet, as the people wave their branches in Jerusalem, their hero is not riding in on a weapon of war, a chariot pulled behind a mighty steed, ... but instead he comes on a donkey and her colt. He has no sword, no armor, and certainly no mighty army behind him. How strange indeed is the plan of God for the salvation of the world ... how mysterious indeed is the mind of God.

            Instead of force, order and control; instead of sending an army of angel's to destroy the oppressors and send them into a fiery hell, God sends his son on a donkey and her colt. And Jesus, knowing the mind of God, follows out of obedience, but more so, out of love ... all the way to the cross. This is the deep mystery of Christian faith, and it's deepest truth. That this Jesus who had the power of God did not use it in the way that seems right to the world, but in ways that are right with God. He became as a slave to us ... washed our feet ... washed us in love ... washed away our destructive ways and sinful brokenness on the cross ... reconciling us with God on what has become for us the tree of life.

            For you see, this conqueror, who rides on a donkey ... has indeed come to rule the world. But where we rule from the places of power, behind desks with battle plans, and missile silos and armies ready to destroy or subjugate our enemies, this Lord rules from a cross, with odd stories of faith as his plan, and a heart ready for the challenge of loving the enemy.

            And an army. Oh yes, this Lord has an army, indeed! But His army is made up of foolish old and young men, silly women, and mixed up children ... all sorts of odd ducks, rejects, and people misguided enough to have heard what God is up to, and who have faith that it will save the world. Strange enough to listen for the mind of God in this old book. Crazy enough to waste time in silence listening for a voice to tell them that they should pour their lives out for others instead of hoarding their resources for themselves. Naive enough to do what Jesus did and offer good in the face of evil, even unto death.

            Such is the rag tag army of God who by grace through faith is willing to knee before the throne of this victorious crucified God. People, who touched by his forgiving, healing, and reconciling love confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the Glory of the Father.

            You see, the people had such high expectations for this King, Jesus, riding into Jerusalem that morning. But what they couldn’t have known then…but that which we know now…is just how high of an expectation Jesus has for those who follow him. That his plan of rescue for a broken world, that the salvation and restoration of all of humanity, would continue to be worked out in the hands of those who believe. IN the hearts of those who are made new. In the lives of those who follow. An army unlike any the world has ever seen!

            Consider this coming week, Holy Week, and the special services we have an opportunity to participate in, to be your enlistment. Your induction. Your basic training. For the mission of love. Mercy. In the only force that truly has power to liberate the world. The odd-upside down, peculiar battalion known as the children of God.