“The Before Times”

When the disciples were approaching Jerusalem, at Bethphage and Bethany, near the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples and said to them, “Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately as you enter it, you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden; untie it and bring it. If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ just say this, ‘The Lord needs it and will send it back here immediately.’ ” They went away and found a colt tied near a door, outside in the street. As they were untying it, some of the bystanders said to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?” They told them what Jesus had said; and they allowed them to take it. Then they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it; and he sat on it. Many people spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut in the fields.

Then those who went ahead and those who followed were shouting,

“Hosanna!
Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!
Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David!
Hosanna in the highest heaven!”

Then he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple; and when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve.

What a strange 3 years Jesus’ disciples must have had. From the day that Jesus called Levi from his tax booth, Peter, Andrew, James and John from their fishing boats, and the others from their ordinary lives, their lives had become anything but ordinary. They had walked countless miles from town to town in Galilee watching their teacher and friend do things they could never have previously imagined. They watched him calm storms, walk on water, multiply bread and fish, cast out demons, and heal broken bodies. They listened to him teach, argued with one another about what he really meant, and were sent out on missions of their own. But in the midst of all the miracles and teaching we see recorded in Mark’s gospel, there must have been so much more that happened in those three years that never made it into the pages of scripture.

Before they were the famous twelve disciples, they were just a group of friends. They probably had inside jokes, stories they loved to tell and re-tell, and arguments when everyone was tired and hungry that they had to apologize for later. Of course, they also had other friends, including many women who joined the group off and on throughout their years together. I wonder if those larger gatherings felt like high school reunions—the gang is all together again! They knew Jesus not just from seeing in front of a crowd, but who for who he was late at night or when he was hangry. Was Jesus a morning person? I don’t know. But his disciples did. They probably thought they knew Jesus as well as anyone could.

So, they probably weren’t all too surprised when Jesus told them to go take someone’s donkey without any further explanation. Maybe it was often forgotten Bartholomew and Judas son of James, the other Judas who got sent on this mission. As usual, they are unnamed and identified only as their occupation—followers of their teacher. What must they have been thinking as they walked ahead, looking for the colt? “Solemn voice, oddly specific instructions, Old Testament resonance? Classic Jesus!” Did they feel awkward about the task? Even after 3 years of few explanations but many miracles? They’d seen enough to know that Jesus knew what he was saying, but still… they had to go and take someone’s donkey with no other explanation than “The Lord needs it.” In the back of their minds, did they hope that the owners wouldn’t notice, and they wouldn’t have to give this strange explanation? 

Of course, the owners did notice and asked exactly what Jesus said they would, “Why are you untying it?” The gospel writer records only the disciples’ simple answer, “The Lord needs it and will send it back here immediately.” Mark alone adds the final detail about the colt’s impending return. But I do have to wonder, was that really it? Were the owners really satisfied with that answer? Did they know who the disciples were talking about? Did they believe Jesus really was the Lord? Did they follow the disciples to Jesus, wanting to see what this was all about? Did they think of the words of the prophet Zechariah,  –‘ 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”? Did they think to themselves, “could it be that we get to be a part of Yahweh’s redeeming work?” Or was it just a weird day where their colt was borrowed for a few hours?

When the disciples bring the colt to Jesus, they place their coats on it and Jesus rides it into the city of Jerusalem. The day that began with just Jesus and his disciples grows and grows as more people join the procession, laying their cloaks and palm branches on the ground. Palm branches were plucked from nearby trees, but those that laid their coats on the ground had one cloak. And yet they laid it on the ground for a donkey walk on and afterward, they would have had to brush off the dust, and hopefully nothing more, and place it back on their shoulders. They must have really believed Jesus was worth it. I imagine the energy was palpable—children and adults getting caught up in the excitement as they heard the disciples, now more than just the 12, praising God for God’s works of power. They sing Psalm 118, a chorus familiar to all those who were listening.

“Hosanna!
Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!
Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David!
Hosanna in the highest heaven!” 

It must have felt like such a great day. The feeling in the crowd of being a witness to something truly wonderful, even if you don’t fully understand all of what is going on. Jesus’ welcome into the city of David as the One comes in the name of the Lord is triumphant and wonderful. But it’s hard for us to fully experience the joy of that day because you and I know what is coming next.

We know that this is The Before Times. This is before everything is about to change. Palm Sunday with the crowds’ shouts of Hosanna and the disciples’ triumphant joy is before the kiss of betrayal, before the trials, before the bloody march to Calvary, before the denials, before the worst moment they could ever imagine. 

Do you remember what life was in the Before Times? Those days that seem impossible now. Were we really so happy? We were really so free? How could we have not known what was coming next?  The Before Times when we thought the world was one way, and it turned to be another. When we thought we knew our loved ones, our country, or our God and suddenly we left wondering if we knew anything. When we look back on the Before Times, we can’t even enjoy the memories in the same way we once would. For a few years, I’ve used an app called ‘One Second Everyday’ where I take a short video each day and it mashes them together for a fun retrospective of your year. My 2020 video is like a horror film. The videos begin on vacation with family, work trips, church gatherings, and conferences. But as the clips inch closer to mid-March 2020, watching the smiling faces feel like the start of a horror movie where you know the monster is coming but the characters don’t. As I watch the last clips of drinks at a bar with friends, I want to scream, “Savor this moment! You don’t know how long it will be until you can do this safely again!” 

 Reading the story of Palm Sunday, we see Jesus and the disciples in their Before Times. We see them when their hope was still secure and their vision of the future was so clear. But their world is about to be turned upside down. They will never again be the same disciples they were in Before Times.

And neither will we. We will never go back to who we were before. Our world will not go back to what was before the Pandemic. Even years from now, when hopefully COVID is no more serious than a cold, we will always be living in the After Times. It’s not just the Pandemic, of course. Many of you have had Before and After moments in your life before this. 

Life before the accident
Before the diagnosis
Before the divorce
Before the rejection
Before the job loss
Before the death

Events that broke your life’s story into two. There are days when life in After Times feels so unbearably hard that we’re not sure how we will make it to the next day. And still, we know that we can’t go back even if we want to. Our breaking and remaking have shaped us into people that cannot fit into the lives we lived in the Before Times. As Christians, this should not be a great surprise because after all, we are After people. We live After resurrection. 

And yet the church calendar circles back year after year after to the same story. So today we find ourselves in the Before Times, but we can’t fully enjoy it. We can’t fully join in the disciples’ joyful shouts because we know what is coming. As a child, like many children before and after me, I remember asking my mom, “Why is it called Good Friday? Shouldn’t it be called Bad Friday?” The tension and paradox of Holy Week unsettled me.  

We know what is coming but we are not to Easter yet. Maybe aren’t After people just yet. Maybe we are called to be In between people. Living in between Palm Sunday and Easter. Living in between despair and hope. Living in-between meaning and chaos. Living in between the no one being vaccinated, and everyone being vaccinated. Living in between tight lockdown and the ability to hug and gather safety.

Life in the In-between is hard. You all know how hard it is. In-Between Times means there are no clear answers. In-Between Times are full of vulnerability but they are also full of hope. For hope is not the same security or certainty. Hope believes in what cannot yet be seen. That’s the gift that the In-Between Times offer. If the Pandemic has caused your first or biggest Before and After moment, as was the case for me, then you and I now know the pain and beauty that our friends and neighbors have experienced. The ones who have lived through more than one Before and After. This excruciating season has taught us empathy if we let it. Learning to not rush to the After but staying present in the uncomfortable In-Between moments is how we can walk in Jesus’ footsteps. Jesus chose to live in the ultimate In-Between space. He knew that the cross was coming and yet he chose to walk each step of the way. And so, Jesus walks with us in our In-Betweens. He walks with us not as a stranger, but as a friend who has been there before and knows the way out. 

A Christians, we live at the intersection between knowledge of death and the promise of resurrection. Bible scholars call it “the already and not yet Kingdom of God.” The Christian life is the paradox of God’s kingdom that is already here and the one whose coming we desperately wait for. Jesus is already crucified, buried, and resurrected. God’s saving work is done. And yet, this world does not yet reflect the kingdom of God that Jesus speaks of. “On Earth, as it is in Heaven” we pray each day because it is not that way yet.

Here is the good news—this In-between, middle ground is the holy space where the Spirit is at work. God’s spirit shows up in in-between places when hope feels impossible and the way forward is unknown. God is not afraid of in-between places and neither do we need to be. 

May this Holy Week be a week where we fully embrace the tension and beauty of the In-Between times. May we strive to present, neither living in our past lives the Before Times nor rushing the future After Times we hope will come. May we be fully present in the joy of Palm Sunday, the sacredness of Maundy Thursday, the heartbreak of the betrayal, the pain and darkness of Good Friday, and the shattering silence of Holy Saturday. Easter is coming, but it is not here yet. Today, we are still In-between people.