Mistaken Identity
Matthew 21:1-11 As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, 2 saying to them, "Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me. 3 If anyone says anything to you, tell him that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away." 4 This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet: 5 "Say to the Daughter of Zion, 'See, your king comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.'" 6 The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them. 7 They brought the donkey and the colt, placed their cloaks on them, and Jesus sat on them. 8 A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted, "Hosanna to the Son of David!" "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" "Hosanna in the highest!" 10 When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, "Who is this?" 11 The crowds answered, "This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee."
Growing up I would watch old reruns after school or on Saturday mornings. One of my favorite shows was “The Lone Ranger.” The acting was terrible. The sets were cheap. As brilliant as Tonto was at everything else, he still hadn’t developed a rudimentary grasp of the English language. Still, with Tonto calling the Lone Ranger, “Kemo Sabe” (which means “trusted friend”), the trademark mask and silver bullets, the theme music from the William Tell overture, and his departure on his white stallion, Silver, shouting, “Hi-ho, Silver! Away!” – How could you not love the Lone Ranger?
You also had to love the predictable formula of every show. The show would begin with a dishonest man explaining how he was going to steal the city election. The rest of the episode was spent with him being stopped by the masked lawman. It was great fun to see the Lone Ranger, at the climactic moment, shoot the guns out of the villain’s hands. He never killed anybody. He just shot the guns out of people’s hands. He was armed with two six-shooters, but those pistols could shoot the guns out of the hands of fifty lawbreakers.
After the good guy won the election, the Lone Ranger would say his good-byes. Then there was the question we all waited for. Somebody would inevitably ask, “Who was that masked man?” After a suitable pause, the reply came back, “Why, don’t you know? That was the Lone Ranger.”
In every episode, usually early in the show, there was a case of mistaken identity. Because the Lone Ranger was wearing a mask and didn’t look like what people expected, he was thought of as a bad guy, an outlaw.
Mistaken identity. The idea of the Lone Ranger being taken for a bad guy made for entertaining television. But it isn’t so entertaining that so many people who encountered Jesus mistook His identity. Because Jesus didn’t look like people expected, because He was wearing the “mask” of humanity and humbly “hiding” His identity as true God in all His glory – Jesus was often the “victim” of mistaken identity.
It began in Jerusalem when the Magi were looking for the new king of Israel and threw King Herod into a full-fledged paranoia, not realizing His true identity as the King of kings and Lord of lords. It continued twelve years later in the Jerusalem temple when the religious leaders were amazed that this young boy could be so wise beyond his years, not realizing His true identity was being about His Father’s business. When Jesus returned to preach in His hometown of Nazareth, the people were amazed that the son of a carpenter could teach with such authority, not realizing His true identity as the Son of the Maker of heaven and earth. During Jesus’ earthly ministry, people saw His miracles and mistook Him for a Las Vegas magician, where His true identity was the God/Man who stilled storms, fed thousands and cured the crippled. Mistaken identity.
If you really want to see some people who didn’t understand the divine identity of Jesus, just look at the crowd who welcomed Him into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. Jews and converts to Judaism traveled to the Holy City of Jerusalem for the Passover. The city’s population swelled from an estimated sixty thousand to an estimated one million. To the Jews, the Passover was like our Super Bowl, World Series, Christmas, Easter, Fourth of July and Thanksgiving all rolled into one giant super holiday.
At this super holiday, word was spread among the masses that Jesus was coming to town. So the people poured into the streets to cheer His arrival with palm branches, coats on the road and shouts of hosanna. But not everybody who was cheering for Jesus that day really knew who He was. It wasn’t so much a mistaken identity as it was an unknown identity. Of course, just because they had no clue who Jesus was, that didn’t stop them from joining the festivities. You can imagine them, even in their ignorance, laughing and bumping and nudging and waving and shouting at the site of the Messiah. They pause for a moment and yell to the fellow next to them, “Say, who is this guy we’re giving such a warm welcome to?” The person next to them stops, turns and says, “Don’t you know? Why, that’s Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth from up around Galilee.” “Thanks.” And they all go back to laughing and bumping and nudging and waving and shouting.
What happened with that little verbal exchange on the road to Jerusalem happens all the time with us as we travel the road to the New Jerusalem. The helpful parade-goer said Jesus was a prophet. The man was right in what he said, but he was only partly right, which means he was mostly wrong. Mistaken identity. No matter how long we have been followers and cheerleaders and parade-goers of Jesus, we, too, get it partly right but mostly wrong. We, too, make mistakes about Jesus’ identity.
We look at Jesus as a genie, fulfilling our every wish and desire. Jesus certainly listens to our prayers, but His greatest answer to our prayers are when His will His done and His kingdom comes. We see Jesus as a kind of Santa Claus in a red suit who gives us gifts and takes care of our needs, but His greatest gift was our forgiveness and salvation as His body and clothes were stained red with His divine blood. We think of Jesus as a king who controls everything and can make everything nice and easy for us in this life, but He especially cares about working everything out for our life to come. We are partly right, which means we are mostly wrong.
Many of the Jews thought of Jesus as a deliverer from Roman oppression, but He is in reality the Great Deliverer from sin, Satan’s lies and hellish anguish. Like so many of the Jews, we often see Jesus as mainly a miracle worker who will feed us, clothe us and heal us. And though Jesus can and does all of those things, He is so much more. He feeds us with His own body and blood in His holy Supper; He clothes us with His white robe of righteousness in Baptism; and He removes the cancer of sin and gives us a clean bill of spiritual health so we may be able to enter paradise.
Two thousand years ago, Jesus was the victim of mistaken identity. He still is. Many see Jesus as only a prophet, a philosopher, a speaker of pious platitudes with good advice for moral living. Others see him as a healer of bodies and never of souls. And still others think of Him as a good guy, a pal, a buddy, a companion.
How many times haven’t we joined with the crowds of followers in the congregation on a Sunday morning to praise Jesus’ name, but been strangely silent among Jesus’ critics during the rest of the week? How many of us are excited to worship Him today and Easter Sunday, but not so excited that Jesus also wants and expects us to keep worshiping Him on Thursday and Friday and Saturday? We lose our enthusiasm and excitement to worship because we are confused about who Jesus really is and His purpose for coming.
It was Palm Sunday and the family’s six-year-old son stayed home with mom because of strep throat. When the rest of the family returned home from church carrying palm branches, the little boy asked what they were for. His dad explained, “People held them over Jesus’ head as he walked by.” “Oh, great. Wouldn’t you know it,” the boy fumed. “The one Sunday I don’t go to church and Jesus shows up!”
That little boy thought He had missed out on Jesus. Don’t you miss Him. Don’t mistake His identity any longer. See Him for who He really is. He is the Babe born in a stable so you might live in His mansion. He is the One who defeated the devil’s temptations in the wilderness so you might enjoy His green pastures and quiet waters of paradise. He is the One who lived the perfect life you could not live. He is the One who served you by washing His disciples’ feet. He is the One who prayed for you in Gethsemane, who was betrayed, denied, and beaten for all your sins.
He is the One who died on the tree of the cross so He might overcome what Satan did on the tree in Eden. He is the One who was forsaken by His heavenly Father so you might never be forsaken. He is the One who closed the gates of hell to you and opened wide the portals of heaven. He is the innocent Lamb of God who stomped on the serpent’s head, who closed the lion’s mouth and threw the dragon into the abyss. He is the One who rose from the grave and is alive once more so all our graves may be opened and so we may be raised to life eternal.
The Lone Ranger rode a white stallion with a shout of “Hi-ho, Silver! Away!” Jesus rode a donkey’s colt with shouts of “Hosanna.” He rode that donkey into Jerusalem and now He rides on the waters of Holy Baptism and the bread and wine of His Supper – riding over your head or over your lips and into your heart and into your soul.
Fellow parade-goers this Palm Sunday, take off your cloak. Wave your palm branches. Give Jesus your praise. Give Him your best in your offerings, your singing, your missions and hard work. Give Him your worst in your sins, your doubts, selfish desires, impure thoughts, bitterness, rage and gossip. Give Him your confusion about who He is. Throw all of this down at His feet. This is greater than all the gold, frankincense, myrrh, cloaks and palm branches. For this is what He came for. This is who He is. Our King, Redeemer and Savior.
Don’t mistake Jesus’ identity just because He is wearing the “mask” of humility (Philippians 2:8). Don’t confuse Him with your own ideas of who He should be or what He should do. Don’t miss out on the real Jesus. As we’ll proudly and loudly sing at the end of worship, “The King of glory comes, the nation rejoices. Open the gates before Him; lift up your voices.” (CW: 363) Amen.
Palm Sunday at Epiphany on April 17, 2011
Growing up I would watch old reruns after school or on Saturday mornings. One of my favorite shows was “The Lone Ranger.” The acting was terrible. The sets were cheap. As brilliant as Tonto was at everything else, he still hadn’t developed a rudimentary grasp of the English language. Still, with Tonto calling the Lone Ranger, “Kemo Sabe” (which means “trusted friend”), the trademark mask and silver bullets, the theme music from the William Tell overture, and his departure on his white stallion, Silver, shouting, “Hi-ho, Silver! Away!” – How could you not love the Lone Ranger?
After the good guy won the election, the Lone Ranger would say his good-byes. Then there was the question we all waited for. Somebody would inevitably ask, “Who was that masked man?” After a suitable pause, the reply came back, “Why, don’t you know? That was the Lone Ranger.”
In every episode, usually early in the show, there was a case of mistaken identity. Because the Lone Ranger was wearing a mask and didn’t look like what people expected, he was thought of as a bad guy, an outlaw.
Mistaken identity. The idea of the Lone Ranger being taken for a bad guy made for entertaining television. But it isn’t so entertaining that so many people who encountered Jesus mistook His identity. Because Jesus didn’t look like people expected, because He was wearing the “mask” of humanity and humbly “hiding” His identity as true God in all His glory – Jesus was often the “victim” of mistaken identity.
It began in Jerusalem when the Magi were looking for the new king of Israel and threw King Herod into a full-fledged paranoia, not realizing His true identity as the King of kings and Lord of lords. It continued twelve years later in the Jerusalem temple when the religious leaders were amazed that this young boy could be so wise beyond his years, not realizing His true identity was being about His Father’s business. When Jesus returned to preach in His hometown of Nazareth, the people were amazed that the son of a carpenter could teach with such authority, not realizing His true identity as the Son of the Maker of heaven and earth. During Jesus’ earthly ministry, people saw His miracles and mistook Him for a Las Vegas magician, where His true identity was the God/Man who stilled storms, fed thousands and cured the crippled. Mistaken identity.
If you really want to see some people who didn’t understand the divine identity of Jesus, just look at the crowd who welcomed Him into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. Jews and converts to Judaism traveled to the Holy City of Jerusalem for the Passover. The city’s population swelled from an estimated sixty thousand to an estimated one million. To the Jews, the Passover was like our Super Bowl, World Series, Christmas, Easter, Fourth of July and Thanksgiving all rolled into one giant super holiday.
At this super holiday, word was spread among the masses that Jesus was coming to town. So the people poured into the streets to cheer His arrival with palm branches, coats on the road and shouts of hosanna. But not everybody who was cheering for Jesus that day really knew who He was. It wasn’t so much a mistaken identity as it was an unknown identity. Of course, just because they had no clue who Jesus was, that didn’t stop them from joining the festivities. You can imagine them, even in their ignorance, laughing and bumping and nudging and waving and shouting at the site of the Messiah. They pause for a moment and yell to the fellow next to them, “Say, who is this guy we’re giving such a warm welcome to?” The person next to them stops, turns and says, “Don’t you know? Why, that’s Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth from up around Galilee.” “Thanks.” And they all go back to laughing and bumping and nudging and waving and shouting.
What happened with that little verbal exchange on the road to Jerusalem happens all the time with us as we travel the road to the New Jerusalem. The helpful parade-goer said Jesus was a prophet. The man was right in what he said, but he was only partly right, which means he was mostly wrong. Mistaken identity. No matter how long we have been followers and cheerleaders and parade-goers of Jesus, we, too, get it partly right but mostly wrong. We, too, make mistakes about Jesus’ identity.
We look at Jesus as a genie, fulfilling our every wish and desire. Jesus certainly listens to our prayers, but His greatest answer to our prayers are when His will His done and His kingdom comes. We see Jesus as a kind of Santa Claus in a red suit who gives us gifts and takes care of our needs, but His greatest gift was our forgiveness and salvation as His body and clothes were stained red with His divine blood. We think of Jesus as a king who controls everything and can make everything nice and easy for us in this life, but He especially cares about working everything out for our life to come. We are partly right, which means we are mostly wrong.
Many of the Jews thought of Jesus as a deliverer from Roman oppression, but He is in reality the Great Deliverer from sin, Satan’s lies and hellish anguish. Like so many of the Jews, we often see Jesus as mainly a miracle worker who will feed us, clothe us and heal us. And though Jesus can and does all of those things, He is so much more. He feeds us with His own body and blood in His holy Supper; He clothes us with His white robe of righteousness in Baptism; and He removes the cancer of sin and gives us a clean bill of spiritual health so we may be able to enter paradise.
Two thousand years ago, Jesus was the victim of mistaken identity. He still is. Many see Jesus as only a prophet, a philosopher, a speaker of pious platitudes with good advice for moral living. Others see him as a healer of bodies and never of souls. And still others think of Him as a good guy, a pal, a buddy, a companion.
How many times haven’t we joined with the crowds of followers in the congregation on a Sunday morning to praise Jesus’ name, but been strangely silent among Jesus’ critics during the rest of the week? How many of us are excited to worship Him today and Easter Sunday, but not so excited that Jesus also wants and expects us to keep worshiping Him on Thursday and Friday and Saturday? We lose our enthusiasm and excitement to worship because we are confused about who Jesus really is and His purpose for coming.
It was Palm Sunday and the family’s six-year-old son stayed home with mom because of strep throat. When the rest of the family returned home from church carrying palm branches, the little boy asked what they were for. His dad explained, “People held them over Jesus’ head as he walked by.” “Oh, great. Wouldn’t you know it,” the boy fumed. “The one Sunday I don’t go to church and Jesus shows up!”
That little boy thought He had missed out on Jesus. Don’t you miss Him. Don’t mistake His identity any longer. See Him for who He really is. He is the Babe born in a stable so you might live in His mansion. He is the One who defeated the devil’s temptations in the wilderness so you might enjoy His green pastures and quiet waters of paradise. He is the One who lived the perfect life you could not live. He is the One who served you by washing His disciples’ feet. He is the One who prayed for you in Gethsemane, who was betrayed, denied, and beaten for all your sins.
He is the One who died on the tree of the cross so He might overcome what Satan did on the tree in Eden. He is the One who was forsaken by His heavenly Father so you might never be forsaken. He is the One who closed the gates of hell to you and opened wide the portals of heaven. He is the innocent Lamb of God who stomped on the serpent’s head, who closed the lion’s mouth and threw the dragon into the abyss. He is the One who rose from the grave and is alive once more so all our graves may be opened and so we may be raised to life eternal.
The Lone Ranger rode a white stallion with a shout of “Hi-ho, Silver! Away!” Jesus rode a donkey’s colt with shouts of “Hosanna.” He rode that donkey into Jerusalem and now He rides on the waters of Holy Baptism and the bread and wine of His Supper – riding over your head or over your lips and into your heart and into your soul.
Fellow parade-goers this Palm Sunday, take off your cloak. Wave your palm branches. Give Jesus your praise. Give Him your best in your offerings, your singing, your missions and hard work. Give Him your worst in your sins, your doubts, selfish desires, impure thoughts, bitterness, rage and gossip. Give Him your confusion about who He is. Throw all of this down at His feet. This is greater than all the gold, frankincense, myrrh, cloaks and palm branches. For this is what He came for. This is who He is. Our King, Redeemer and Savior.
Don’t mistake Jesus’ identity just because He is wearing the “mask” of humility (Philippians 2:8). Don’t confuse Him with your own ideas of who He should be or what He should do. Don’t miss out on the real Jesus. As we’ll proudly and loudly sing at the end of worship, “The King of glory comes, the nation rejoices. Open the gates before Him; lift up your voices.” (CW: 363) Amen.
Palm Sunday at Epiphany on April 17, 2011
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