Sermon: “Sublime Absurdity”
I hope you don’t get tired of my stories from California…
⬛ Just a few miles from the neighborhood where I grew up, there is a parade that happens every year called the Rose Parade. You’ve probably heard of it.
Every year on January 1 (or January 2 if the first is a Sunday), a million people line a five-mile stretch of Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena for what is officially known as the Tournament of Roses.
I went to the parade once. We arrived at 7 or 8 the night before, set up our lawn chairs on the sidewalk, bundled up in blankets, and spent a cold night waiting for the parade to start at 8 a.m. the next morning.
It was miserable!
Another year, I volunteered to help decorate some of the floats. Since the floats are completely covered with flowers or other natural materials, the decorating must all be done as close to the day of the parade as possible. So in the days leading up to the parade, volunteers work around the clock to decorate the floats.
The group I was with had an overnight shift. It was cold. Most of us had a cup of coffee or hot chocolate to keep us warm, and another cup filled with glue for attaching the flower petals to the floats. The most important thing we had to remember was to not get the two cups mixed up.
The very first Rose Parade took place in 1890. Back then the parade was just one of several events that made up the Tournament of Roses.
It all began when the distinguished Valley Hunt Club in Pasadena wanted to find a way to promote their city, which they called the "Mediterranean of the West." They invited their former East Coast neighbors to a winter holiday, where they could watch games such as chariot races, jousting, foot races, polo and tug-of-war under the warm California sun.
The abundance of fresh flowers, even in the midst of winter, prompted the club to also organize a parade, where entrants would decorate their carriages with hundreds of blooms.
According to the Tournament of Roses website, the festival expanded in the coming years to include “marching bands and motorized floats. The games on the town lot included ostrich races, bronco busting demonstrations and a race between a camel and an elephant (the elephant won).”
In 1902, they added a football game to the list of activities.
In 1958, the William Wrigley family donated to the City of Pasadena the Wrigley mansion located near the start of the parade route. The Wrigley Mansion has been the headquarters of the Rose Parade ever since, serving as a sort of home base for the volunteers who run the Tournament of Roses. You can always tell the volunteers by the fancy white suits they wear.
In 1997, the B-2 stealth bomber made its first appearance at the Rose Parade. It approached by flying over my hometown of Burbank before arriving right above the parade route in Pasadena at the exact moment the parade began. The stealth bomber has appeared in nearly every Rose Parade since.
There are many other ceremonies and traditions associated with the Rose Parade. Over the years, the Tournament of Roses has maintained its image as a dignified and respected celebration of California and the new year.
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Colorado Blvd. is host to another annual parade which takes place every November. This other parade is called the Doo Dah parade.
⬛ The Doo Dah Parade aims to be everything that the Rose Parade is not.
The Doo Dah Parade began with a conversation that took place at Chromo’s Bar and Grill in the winter of 1978. Chromo’s was located on the parade route, but was far less glamorous than the Wrigley Mansion. A scrawled message in the men’s room said, “Chromo’s has a way with God’s unwanted.”
Peter Apanel, one of those who were a part of that conversation, later wrote that: “Whatever we did, it would have to be just the opposite of what the Rose Parade does. They have a theme so we would have no theme. They have judging and prizes, so we would have no judging and no prizes. Since none of us would be allowed in the Rose Parade, we would allow everyone in our parade.”
The Doo Dah Parade website says that “Doo Dah means many things to many people ~ perhaps, a little something different to everyone. Wacky and weird? Sublime absurdity? Rite of reversal? Twisted sister of the Rose Parade? Probably all of the above.”
I never attended the Doo Dah Parade. Nor did I ever volunteer with them.
But knowing about the Doo Dah Parade does help me understand just a little better Jesus’ procession into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday.
⬛ We sometimes use the word “triumphal” to describe Jesus’s procession into Jerusalem. But the real “triumphal” procession was the one taking place over on the other side of town. The real “triumphal” procession would have been Herod’s procession into Jerusalem.
Jesus’ procession was more like the Doo Dah Parade to Herod’s Rose Parade.
Some scholars believe that Herod’s parade and Jesus’s parade took place simultaneously, because both Jesus and Herod would have been arriving in Jerusalem in advance of the Passover holiday. But they were arriving by different routes… and that was only the beginning of their differences.
Herod’s entry into Jerusalem was grand and spectacular. Herod arrived on a mighty warhorse, surrounded by chariots. Roman soldiers lined the roads, and they raised their spears and swords in salute as Herod passed by. If Herod had had a B-2 stealth bomber, it would have undoubtedly have made an appearance.
Jesus’s entry, meanwhile, was a little less grand. Jesus arrived on a donkey, or a colt—a humble beast, not nearly as magnificent as a mighty warhorse.
No chariots accompanied Jesus’s procession. Instead, he was followed by a crowd of common people: peasants, outcasts, and other lowlifes and misfits. They certainly didn’t have any spears or swords to raise in his honor, so they grabbed some tree branches, and raised those.
In every way, then, Jesus’s parade was an “anti-parade,” an “un-parade,” the exact opposite of Herod’s procession.
It was the first century equivalent of the Doo Dah Parade.
It even had some of the Doo Dah Parade’s “sublime absurdity.”
Because, it is absurd that a “king” would come riding on a donkey or a colt… It is absurd that his parade route would be lined with the poor and the outcasts, raising sticks and branches instead of spears and swords…
And that was intentional. Jesus could have had the warhorse and the chariots and the armies and the weapons. He could have had a B-2 bomber! All the power of all the kingdoms of the world could have been his; he was offered all that when he was tempted in the wilderness.
But that was not his calling. It was not his purpose. That wasn’t the way of God’s kingdom.
In the kingdoms of this world, all the attention is focused on those at the top: the people with power. In the kingdoms of this world, might is what matters. In the kingdoms of this world, rulers strut, they posture, they flex.
In God’s kingdom, attention is focused on those at the bottom: the poor, the outcasts, the misfits. In God’s kingdom, humility and kindness matter. In God’s kingdom, those who lead humble themselves, and serve.
It would not be appropriate, therefore, for Jesus to display wealth and power in his parade. That was Herod’s way of doing things. That was not Jesus’s way.
Likewise, it would not be appropriate for Jesus’s followers to raise spears and swords to honor him, as the soldiers who lined Herod’s parade route did. Jesus is the true bringer of peace. His way is nonviolent.
Palm branches are a much more appropriate thing to raise. They bring to mind the leafy twig the dove had in its beak when it returned to Noah. To this day, the image of a dove with a twig in its beak is a sign of peace.
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Now here’s the thing: a lot of people don’t like this humble servant Jesus. A lot of people don’t want to be in a parade of misfits and lowlifes.
A lot of people want the mighty warhorse. They want the swords and the spears and the B-2 bombers. They want demonstrations of power.
Politicians and preachers alike try to one-up each other in demonstrations of power. They show off their aggression and virility. They can’t stand signs of weakness, in themselves or anyone else. They have no tolerance for weakness.
Hence, the chariot, the soldiers, the weapons, and the warhorse.
But the one who comes riding a donkey is the one who says “Blessed are the meek… Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth…”
And the one who comes riding a donkey is the one who shows mercy and compassion toward those who are most vulnerable.
Those who are in love with power don’t bow down before Jesus; they make the gospel bow down before them. The gospel becomes a tool, used to further advance their own power.
That’s what Herod did. Herod used religion to increase his own power. He knew that the Jews were his people. He had Jewish roots himself.
So he rebuilt the temple for them, a temple that was one of the most impressive structures on earth at the time.
But did Herod really build that temple for the people? Did he build it to honor God? Or was his real reason for building that temple to honor himself, so that he could go to the people and boast: “Look what I did?”
That is the question.
We still have politicians today who speak of faith and who carry the Bible and who sing hymns in the halls of government, yet they do not humble themselves as Jesus did; they do not show mercy to the weak and vulnerable as Jesus did; they do not care for the poor as Jesus did and as Jesus commanded his followers to do.
When it comes to parades, they are drawn irresistibly to the parade with chariots and swords and spears.
The choice is always there before us: do we worship the one who arrives on a warhorse, with signs of power? Or do we worship the one who arrives on a donkey, humble, with signs of peace?
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There are two parades taking place. There are always two parades.
They arrive in the city at the same time but by different routes, so you cannot attend them both.
You have to choose. Which parade will you attend? Which king will you honor?
I gotta tell you, attending Jesus’ parade, and joining in that parade and following Jesus into Jerusalem, won’t be easy. You will be put to the test. The way of Jesus is the way of trial and sacrifice. The way of Jesus leads to the cross.
But at the same time, it is the more rewarding parade. It’s the only parade that ultimately leads to life. It’s the only parade that will bring you ultimate security. It’s the only parade that you can truly join, just as you are.
Not everyone can join Herod’s parade. But everyone is welcome to join Jesus’s parade. It is the parade of love, and joy, and peace.
