The Road Less Traveled

 I love these famous words of the poet Robert Frost:

 Two roads diverged in a yellow wood
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth

 I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence
Two roads diverged in a wood
And I took the one less traveled by
And that has made all the difference.

Jesus was a person who navigated faithfully and resolutely the "road less traveled."  In fact, a great deal of what this day is about is the completion of a road Jesus had been traveling his entire public life; and it truly was a "road less traveled." 

 John, in his gospel, has Jesus saying "I am the way."  The word "way" in Greek is ὁδὸς, and it means road, path or highway, and it implies journey.  Tragically this verse has been interpreted narrowly and exclusively to mean that Jesus is the only way to God, and if you don't specifically confess Jesus you are left out, left behind, and not included - a small box indeed into which to stuff God.  That interpretation has been used arrogantly to judge, exclude, oppress and demonize people through the ages. 

 There is another interpretation, and that is Jesus being the embodiment of the way; the personification of the road.  In this perspective this verse is understood as the testimony of John's community that in Jesus they experienced the "road less traveled."  They experienced his life as an invitation to embark on the "road less traveled."  Jesus' life points us to a road - a way - a path - a journey that he traveled, and we are invited to travel that same road.  Actually, Jesus had a name for the road.  He called it the "Kingdom of God."  We could call it the "Kingdom of God Road."   This is the road Jesus' life invites us to travel.

 Last summer Marcia and I went to Buena Vista's 4th of July parade.  It was a typical small town holiday parade with floats, civic groups, clowns, fire engines, police cars, a band and just about anybody that wanted to be in it.  As much as I enjoyed watching the parade, I also enjoyed watching the people who were watching the parade. 

 Across the street from us was this one small family of a young father, mother and little girl, maybe three years old.  The little girl was sitting on dad's strong shoulders for a better view.  She was squealing, laughing and animated as the parade passed her by.  At one point, dad's shoulders must have grown tired, so he put her down, and it was just as the clowns had passed by.  The next thing mom and dad knew the little girl had raced out into the street, into the midst of the parade, and joined in the parade unabashedly following the clowns.  Momentarily, the little girl ceased being a spectator and became a participant. 

 You may or may not be aware, but on the first Palm Sunday there were two parades that entered Jerusalem.  The people had a choice of parades.  Of course, we are very familiar with the one-man-procession of Jesus riding his little donkey into Jerusalem at the cheers of the peasants lining his way, shouting their "hosannas" and laying down the braches of palm.   

 But there was another parade at the other end of the city entering through another gate.  Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea, entered Jerusalem at the head of a column of imperial cavalry and marching soldiers.   It was the beginning of the week of Passover, the most sacred week of the Jewish year; a festival that celebrated the Jewish people's liberation from an earlier imperial empire.  Pilate's display of mighty Roman power was to discourage civil disorder that often occurred during Passover and to forcibly remind the common peasant class who was really in charge.    

 Try to imagine the imperial parade, a visual array of coercive power: cavalry on horses, foot soldiers dressed-out in armor and weapons, banners and golden eagles mounted on poles.  The sounds: the cadence of marching feet, the creaking of leather, the clinking of bridles, and the beating of drums.  The onlookers: some silent, some curious, some awed, and most resentful.

 Pilate's procession displayed not only Roman power, but conveyed Roman theology.  Caesar was not merely the ruler of mighty Rome, but also carried the designation "Son of God."  Banners bearing the inscriptions like: "Caesar, Son of God", "Caesar, Lord and Savior" and "Caesar, bringer of peace on earth" also made their way along the parade route.

 The contrast between these two parades was as stark as night and day.  Jesus' humble procession embodied the Kingdom of God; Pilate's parade was a blatant display of Roman power and theology.

 Jesus' humble entry was totally intentional.  Mark carefully details Jesus' pre-arrangements.  It was a planned counter-procession; a premeditated demonstration.  Actually it was what is called a "prophetic act."  In the Old Testament the prophets would often do something outrageous for the purpose of creating a dramatic "teaching moment" called a "prophetic act."  For example, Isaiah walked through the streets naked to make a point, and Jeremiah smashed a clay pottery jar in front of the priests and elders in Jerusalem to make a point.  Jesus riding into Jerusalem was a dramatic "prophetic act" in the tradition of the prophets, specifically Zechariah who had envisioned a non-violent king of peace who would arrive in Jerusalem on the colt. He would be a king who would banish the weapons of war and commend peace to the nations. 

 Every parade has a parade route. Pilate's parade began in Caesarea Maritima, an extravagant and ostentatious power city built by Rome about sixty miles east of Jerusalem on the Mediterranean coast.  Jesus' parade had begun several years before when, according to Mark, he first came among the peasants of Galilee announcing that the "Kingdom of God was at hand" and calling upon people to trust in and follow God's Kingdom rather than the Kingdom of imperial Rome. From that point on, we can metaphorically say, that Jesus' public life was a "parade" embodying the Kingdom of God, "the road less traveled."   

 All along his parade route, this "road less traveled", he was faithful and committed to the ways of the Kingdom of God. 

 ·         He vehemently took on established religion when it sold its heart and soul to rigid legalism.

·         He embraced enthusiastically those that religion had cast into the exile of ritual un-cleanliness and moral inferiority. 

·         When law that dehumanized was asserted over love, he affirmed love and grace over law. 

·         When the temple aristocracy collaborated with Rome to advance political oppression and economic exploitation of the poor, he was fervently in their faces.

·         He challenge the imperial empire at every turn proclaiming a world where the last would be first, the poor would be filled; the oppressed would be set free; the strong would no longer dominate the weak; a world of social justice, fairness and equality.

·         When his own disciples would have resorted to violence, he took the sword out of their hand.

·         This was not "pie in the sky" idealism, but rather what the world would look more like if Caesar, and all the manifestations of Caesar that have ever been since did not occupy the thrones, offices and halls of power in this world, but if God did instead! 

According to Mark Jesus came announcing the Kingdom of God as his vocation and purpose.  He lived and embodied the Kingdom of God all along the parade route of his life at every turn, down hi-ways, by-ways and alley-ways.  He was light to those in darkness; liberator to those in bondage; the way home to those in exile; hope to the despaired; pardon to the guilty; bread to the hungry; water for the parched.  He affirmed the humanity of those dehumanized by religion and power.

 Jesus’ humble entry into Jerusalem was an intentional “prophetic act” designed to confront and expose the imperial powers that ruled the world unjustly.  It was a confrontation that was a long time coming.  It was a "prophetic act" of staggering proportions that paralleled and even exceeded Isaiah’s shocking walk through the streets naked and Jeremiah smashing the clay pottery in front of a scandalized priestly hierarchy.

 The inevitable clash of the two parades finally reached a crescendo at the cross.  It was there that the two parades came into greatest conflict and were exposed for what they are.  The Kingdom of God parade and the Kingdom of Caesar parade collided at the cross.  What and who nailed Jesus there?  The powers that be show no mercy when they feel threatened, undermined and upstaged.  Who and what nailed him there?  All the powers: personal, institutional and imperial who simply could not tolerate the kind of world that he embodied and proclaimed on the "road less traveled." 

 As time went on some of his followers began to understand his cross and resurrected presence as an indictment of the powers that be.  It led many of them to rejoin his parade and keep it going.  They experienced transformation as they embodied the Kingdom of God in their own lives.  In the process they garnered the courage to advocate for the social and political transformation of the Kingdom of God - the "road less traveled."

 The two parades continue on to this day and into our modern and post-modern times. There have been other great parades that have drawn their inspiration, at least in part, from his:  Martin Luther King's March on Washington, Gandhi's March to the Sea, Rosa Parks refusing to give up her seat on that bus, Cesar Chavez and the grape boycott and countless more.  They were all "prophetic acts" speaking God's truth to power for compassion and justice that bear a strong resemblance to Jesus' humble parade into Jerusalem.

 Last 4th of July I saw a little girl step from the sidelines and shamelessly move from spectator to participant joining the parade following the clowns.  I certainly would not say that Jesus is a clown, but the powers that be in this world and their collaborators certainly think he is a fool, and they think anybody that follows him is a fool.  Paul, in an ironic and clever twist on words, designated Jesus' followers as "fools for Christ",[1] and he said that God's foolishness is wiser than human wisdom.[2]   

 The good news is Jesus' parade is still going on.  The bad news is so is the imperial parade.  Which parade is it going to be for you/me/us?   If it is Jesus' parade, can you step from the sidelines, and give it more than merely your passive spectative support, and take a cue from a Buena Vista three-year-old who followed the clowns.  Can you follow Jesus on the "Road Less Traveled", and can your life become a “prophetic act” for the sake of Kingdom of God?