A Tradition Unlike Any Other

Luke 19:28–40

How many of you can think of some wonderful memories from your family’s life that have taken place here in this sanctuary or in this church?

How many of you can think of some more difficult memories in your family’s life — maybe a death or some painful conflict — that have taken place in this sanctuary or in this church

I think part of the spiritual experience we get from church, particularly when we’ve been invested in the same place and the same community, comes in part from past memories, both good and bad, that fuel meaning in our present. Nearly all of you have had some significant memories in this place and I suspect that it enriches your experience of this place. Even the bad things add texture to it.

This weekend, my favorite sporting event of the year has been on and the grand finale is happening this morning as we worship. I’m talking about the Master’s golf tournament. It is widely regarded as the most prestigious golf tournament in the world. But it isn’t the oldest. While Augusta National where the Master’s is played, is a very, very difficult golf course, it probably isn’t the most difficult golf course in the world. The Master’s doesn’t boast the largest field of players. And while most of the best players in the world are playing in the Master’s, on average, the field of players is probably a bit less talented than some other golf tournaments because several amateur golfers have spots in the Master’s every year. So why is it regarded as the most prestigious and meaningful golf tournament in the world?

Let me give you my theory. At least part of the reason the Master’s is “a tradition unlike any other” as they say is because over the years, its organizers have cultivated a deep sense of history around the tournament. Even their tag line says, “a TRADITION unlike any other” not “a TOURNAMENT unlike any other.” At the Master’s, tradition comes first. If you visit the Master’s website, you can peruse not just a list of past champions, no this tournament which carefully cultivates the sense of history around it also lists all the golfers with multiple victories, those who have held the lead for all four rounds, they track the widest margin of victory, the biggest comebacks, the most number of attempts before victory, the youngest and oldest winners and much more. If they can track some kind of history, they do. It is part of their brand. Not only do they track and display all these superlatives, they have lots of little events that have turned a four day tournament known as the Master’s into Master’s Week. On the Tuesday of Master’s week, they host a Champion’s Dinner that all past champions are invited to. There is a 9 hole par three championship where many players bring their kids to caddie or even hit a few balls along side them. And during that 9 hole par three championship, there’s a hole where players try to hit their shot in such a way where it skips across the pond sitting between the tee box and the green. There’s a ceremonial opening tee shot, a champion’s locker room, a crystal vase for hole-in-one’s, caddies in all white jumpsuits, no electronic devices of any kind, an awards ceremony that includes the past year’s champion, the low amateur, and the current champion, and of course the iconic green jacket. On television, every year, hype videos during master’s week, recount the many great shots that led to victory as well as the many harrowing shots that paved the way for defeat.

Yet, I don’t think it is merely that the Master’s has a well-documented, well-cultivated sense of history and tradition that makes it what it is. It is a living history. A history that, as you watch it, and its story is retold by the broadcasters, you see new layers taking shape over its already rich history. This too is cultivated and designed. At the champion’s dinner, the previous year’s champ picks the menu. Just last year, at the par 3 contest, the grandson of Jack Nicklaus, Gary Nicklaus made a hole-in-one during that par 3 contest alongside his grandfather, who holds the most green jackets of all time. This year, for the first time, they welcomed the Women’s Amateur Championship to Augusta National. And each year at the champion’s ceremony, the previous year’s winner places the green jacket on the current year’s winner, making clear the connection between past and the unfolding present. Throughout everything, the present moment is made meaningful through the full weight of the history that has given rise to it.

In much the same way, I think meaningful things are made richer in many churches, especially in churches with rich and long life because of the history we have in our places and communities in which we worship. We have these little flashbacks that magnify the present moment.

Our Scripture today is no different. Of course, most of you probably know the story of the triumphant entry that we recount every year on Palm Sunday pretty well. Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a donkey and the crowds shout Hosanna and lay down palm branches and cloaks to welcome him with great fanfare. We act this out ourselves and live into this tradition too. But this story itself is “A Tradition Unlike Any Other.” Jesus is living into a story that pulls the full weight of its meaning from the past. And if you only read the story itself, just like if you were to only watch the Master’s golf tournament itself without the broadcasters to layer into the present little flashbacks from the past and weave its traditions into the unfolding moment, you would miss the full weight of what is really going on. And so today as we read the story — a story that you’ve probably heard before — the story of Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem, I’ve layered flashbacks throughout. Some of these flashbacks were in Jesus’ own day, quite ancient; others probably happened just a year or two before. All are related to God showing up in the world in some way. And they are all part of the full history that gave meaning to that unfolding moment when Jesus strode into Jerusalem and the people shouted, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest.”

Luke 19:28–40 with Flashbacks

Luke 19:28–29a: After he had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. When he had come near Bethphage and Bethany, at the place called the Mount of Olives,

Zechariah 14:4a: On that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives, which lies before Jerusalem on the east.

Luke 19:29b-30a: He sent two of the disciples, saying, ‘Go into the village ahead of you, and as you enter it you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden.

I Samuel 6:7a: Now then, get ready a new cart and two milch cows that have never borne a yoke.

Luke 19:30b-34: Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, “Why are you untying it?” just say this: “The Lord needs it.” ’ So those who were sent departed and found it as he had told them. As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, ‘Why are you untying the colt?’ They said, ‘The Lord needs it.’

Genesis 49:11: Binding his foal to the vine and his donkey’s colt to the choice vine, he washes his garments in wine and his robe in the blood of grapes.

Luke 19:35: Then they brought it to Jesus; and after throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it.

Zechariah 9:9–10a: Rejoice greatly, O daughter Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter Jerusalem! Lo, your king comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. He will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the war-horse from Jerusalem; and the battle bow shall be cut off, and he shall command peace to the nations.

I Kings 1:33b-34a: “Take with you the servants of your lord, and have my son Solomon ride on my own mule, and bring him down to Gihon. There let the priest Zadok and the prophet Nathan anoint him king over Israel.”

Luke 19:36 As he rode along, people kept spreading their cloaks on the road.

II Kings 9:12b-13: “Thus says the Lord, I anoint you king over Israel.” Then hurriedly they all took their cloaks and spread them for him on the bare steps; and they blew the trumpet, and proclaimed, “Jehu is king.”

Luke 19:37–38a: As he was now approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen, 38 saying,
‘Blessed is the king
who comes in the name of the Lord!

Psalm 118:26: Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord. We bless you from the house of the Lord.

Luke 13:34–35: Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! See, your house is left to you. And I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say, “Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.” ’

Luke: 19:38b: Peace in heaven,
and glory in the highest heaven!’

Luke 2:13–14: And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors.”

Luke 19:39–40: Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, ‘Teacher, order your disciples to stop.’ He answered, ‘I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.’

Habakkuk 2:9–11: “Alas for you who get evil gain for your house, setting your nest on high to be safe from the reach of harm!” You have devised shame for your house by cutting off many peoples; you have forfeited your life. The very stones will cry out from the wall, and the plaster will respond from the woodwork.

Luke 3:8b: For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham.

Do you hear it? Do you feel it? I don’t think all of this historical resonance was accidental or even serendipitous. I think it was carefully curated first by Jesus Christ and second by the gospel writers, in our case, Luke, to achieve a certain affect. Just as both Augusta National and CBS work in tandem to curate and cultivate a deep sense of tradition and history at the Master’s, so too, Jesus and the gospel writers who framed his experience intentionally left those who were on the streets that day in Jerusalem and those of us who read the account of the event after the fact with the unmistakable sense that this is a climatic, penultimate moment, a pivotal time in history and in God’s kingdom. The whole of the Jewish tradition, the full weight of God’s redeeming action in the world, the written Scriptures, the people of God, and even nature itself is pointing out that this man, Jesus Christ, is the anointed one, the one who comes in the name of the Lord, the one who comes to save.

And friends, this, both then and now is a live tradition. Jesus’ triumphant entry fills the present moment with meaning and significance. It has been made clear that something is about to happen through this person, Jesus Christ.

At Augusta National, there’s a place on the course that is probably the most difficult stretch of golf on the course as well as the most iconic. It is called Amen Corner and it comprises the second half of hole #11, all of hole #12, and the first half of hole #13. Like the crowds cheering on Jesus as he came into Jerusalem, the golf fans watching the action love this stretch of golf. On my official Master’s golf app, I can watch a dedicated video stream of just these three holes at Amen Corner. But though the fans love it, the players fear it. It is a stretch of golf that can break them. And so too when Jesus turned the corner after his march into Jerusalem, in the privacy of his own prayers to the Father, he revealed his own fears. His own prayer around Amen Corner was, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me.” He knew the task before him, not only could break him, but it would break him.

And here ends the comparison between Augusta National and the Way of the Cross that Jesus walked during Holy Week. Regardless of what happens to a golfer at Amen Corner, they will go on to play all 18 holes, whether they win or lose. In Jerusalem, there is a path of holy sites that mark significant moments of Jesus’ condemnation, crucifixion, and death called the Via Delorosa, or Way of the Cross, also known as the Stations of the Cross. These stations are often recreated by churches as a sort of pilgrimage to go on during holy week. In fact, we’ve done that here in previous years. There are 14 stops in the Stations of the Cross. And Jesus does not survive the Amen Corner of these 14 stations. Station #11, he is nailed to the cross. Station #12, he dies on the cross. Station #13, he is taken down from the cross. Then, he’s placed in the tomb. And that’s the end of the Via Delorosa. It is a story that ends in darkness and death.

Some of the most poignant moments that have happened in this church — that have happened to you are stories that ended with darkness and death. They have been funerals. As your pastor, it has been my privilege to preside over many funerals for loved ones in our community who have died. And while I wouldn’t exactly say it is a favorite part of my job, I would absolutely say that it is one of the most meaningful things that I do as your pastor. When I write eulogies, I try to find out as much as I can about the person from friends and family. And I do my best to weave that person’s story, their unique life history, into God’s story. And I don’t know about you, but when the gospel of Jesus Christ touches our real, lived human lives in very personal ways — these are the moments that feel most meaningful and significant to me. The full history of our loved ones meets the story of God’s full love for the world. Our lives have real meaning — who we are makes a difference. And God’s story isn’t some abstract theological notion — it is a story that infiltrates our lives and takes up residence in or lives. It is a tradition unlike any other.

And this morning through our Scripture and its flashbacks, Jesus has anchored his own personal story to his Father’s story. And it is simultaneously the greatest and most harrowing story of all time. And it is full of meaning and significance.
Adding meaning to the stories of old in the Old Testament.
Adding meaning to the years of ministry of Jesus Christ.
Giving purpose and hope to the future.
And inviting each one of us in to let both the harrowing events of the days to come and the miraculous events that follow to give meaning, purpose, significance and redemption to our own personal stories. I believe that when our lives meet God’s own unfolding story — this is the beginning of heaven, the start of the abundant and eternal life that Jesus envisioned when he creatively put himself at the center of God’s own story. It is a story that we’re invited, not just to watch from the curb, on television, or outside the ropes, but to participate in our selves. You are part of the story. A chapter in the history. A piece of the tradition. And it is a tradition unlike any other. Amen.