"Ceremonial Stuff"

Matthew 21:1-11

After a big parade or a ceremony of some kind or any sort of gathering of the masses there's always the stuff that's left behind.  What do we make of that stuff and the importance (or lack thereof) it has for people who leave it behind?

The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them; they brought the donkey and the colt, and put their cloaks on them, and he sat on them. A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.

The parade in Jerusalem that we read about at the beginning of this week's service is an amazing spectacle. Disciples running to get a donkey AND a colt. And cloaks. They put cloaks on the donkey and the colt.

At the parade site,  people spread yet more cloaks on the road. Others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.  I am thinking that long past our gospel writers' renderings of these passages, there must have been the stuff of ceremonial events, like this parade, lying in its wake.

Palm branches left on the street. Perhaps even cloaks still lying there. People caught up in the moment of Jesus' entry and the loud "Hosanna" of the crowd could certainly forget their cloaks.

One time, after my son Jake's performance as Nicky in Avenue Q last year, I left my coat at the theatre. I didn't even notice for a couple of days, and by the time I did, the coat was gone forever.  Not in the lost and found. Just gone. Perhaps taken by someone who needed a coat, perhaps taken by someone who needed to steal, who knows, but I never got it back. In the coat pocket was a ticket stub I also kept there to a Broadway performance of "In the Heights" my favorite Broadway musical. I kept it there because it would be a fun reminder to me of my family's experience seeing that show on Broadway and the excitement of that evening. It was kind of my 'it's a bad day and this will cheer me up' pocket companion. Also gone in the chaos of me leaving my coat behind.

We do leave stuff, even important stuff, lying behind when we get caught up with the ceremonies of life and with the drumbeat of the crowd.  When Jesus enters Jerusalem that day, few people realized he was headed toward his death by the end of the week. Not even the disciples who had been repeatedly told by Jesus of this destiny.  The crowd was just caught up in the cheers and the passion of the moment. So they put palm branches and coats on the road and joined the fray. And, because we know the rest of the story, we know the excitement surrounding Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem did not last, did not sustain itself, but turned into a mass mob fleeing the scene and leaving Jesus nearly alone, except for his mother and a few faithful women.  Another example, I might add, of mass mentality. Leave and hide because everyone else did.  Yell "crucify" because everyone else is.

When we leave things like umbrellas at weddings or funerals, or coats in theatres, or dishes after a potluck, it is because we are forgetful, yes. It is also because we fail to recognize that all of what is going on around us is important, not just the rush of the crowd or the excitement of the reason we came. The scene all around Jesus in this last week of his earthly existence is filled with big moments and small everyday moments.  This Easter lets focus on them all. The big biblical renderings and the small, seemingly insignificant details about who brought coats and who left their trash lying in the street when it was all over.

Would a CSI agent be able to come to the scene of Jesus' death and find our bread wrappers there? Our coats and handbags? Would they be at the foot of the cross or would they be strewn about in a field clearly determining that we got the heck out of town as soon as the road got dark and dangerous?

Where do you want evidence of you to be found this Easter?  Email me or comment below.