SUPERSTAR!
©
by the Reverend Dr. Byron E. Shafer
(Rutgers,
April 16, 2000; Palm Sunday , Year
B)
Psalm
118:1, 19–29 (OT, pp. 625, 626); Mark
11:1–11 (NT, p. 48)
See end of the sermon for lyrics to
"Hosanna" (by Tim Rice) from Jesus
Christ Superstar
The
Passover festival was fast approaching, and in Jerusalem thousands of Jewish
pilgrims were arriving each day from throughout Palestine, the Roman Empire, and
the lands to the east. This city of
some 60,000 persons often hosted ten times its normal population during
the Passover season, when Jews came from around the world to commemorate and
re-experience God's deliverance of Israel from slavery in Egypt some 1300 years
earlier, in the days of Moses.
Now,
first-century Jerusalem had no Hilton Hotels or Motel 6's.
But there were lots of "Bed and Breakfasts."
A number of pilgrims crammed into the extra rooms of homes in Jerusalem,
or onto their roofs. Other pilgrims
did the same in surrounding villages. But
most bivouacked in the valleys below the city, or on the slopes of the
surrounding hills, or in the wilderness that stretched eastward from the city,
beyond the Mount of Olives.
The
Passover season in Jerusalem was a time of unmatched joy and celebration, but
also a time of unparalleled upheaval and hubbub.
Pontius
Pilate hated Passover. The military
forces at his disposal were barely sufficient to control the Jewish population
in the best of times. But during
Passover his forces were totally inadequate, and the festival's central theme of
“liberation” from the wicked ruler was sure to inspire in some thoughts of
revolt against the Empire.
So
to head off any possibility of a Jewish insurrection against Rome, Pilate
depended heavily both on his network of spies and on the loyalty of his close
ally, the Jewish high priest, Caiaphas.
It
was into the midst of such a joyous and chaotic Passover scene as this that one
particular pilgrim from Galilee rode, on a donkey, thereby touching off an
absolute tumult. [Roll the tape!]
[Music
begins at Counter 12, sung by the Chorus, 24 seconds, followed by 4 seconds of
silence. Push
Pause Button at Counter 51.]
"Hosanna,
Hesanna, sanna sanna ho, sanna he, sanna hosanna. Hey J.C., J.C., won't you
smile at me, sanna ho, sanna he Superstar?"
These
lyrics are by Tim Rice, and, by the way, you'll find these words and the lyrics
of the whole song, called "Hosanna," on a separate, gold half-sheet
included inside your order of service. You'll
want to refer to these lyrics throughout this sermon.
The
music for “Hosanna” is composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber, and of course the
musical from which the song comes is Jesus
Christ Superstar, a show that has just returned to Broadway, on 42nd Street, after a long absence, and it may now
once again be seen and experienced by us.
The
words and music of “Hosanna, Hesanna” capture magnificently the carnival
atmosphere that surrounded Jesus's entry into Jerusalem on that Sunday morning
nearly two millennia ago.
Jesus
was the talk of the nation, and many of his fellow Jews did
consider him a “Superstar.” One
of the titles people were attributing to him was "Son of David," and
calling him that was tantamount to calling him "Messiah," or
"King." And that was not
music to the ears of either Pilate or Caiaphas. In the preceding decades, Roman authorities had already put
to death several would-be Messiahs in order to quash any threat of insurrection.
And
the aristocratic priests known as Sadducees refused to accept the relatively new
teaching being advocated by some that
God would send a royal Messiah to liberate the Jews from Rome.
So for this and other reasons, Caiaphas and the high priests preceding
him had thrown in their lot with Rome and had served as close allies of the
Roman procurators.
For
the crowds to be associating Jesus with the "kingdom of … David" was
bad enough in the eyes of Pilate and the Sadducees, but shouting
"Hosanna" at Jesus made it somehow worse. For some of the people shouting that word were probably
calling on this “Messiah” to “deliver” them, the word’s literal
meaning. And who was there to be
saved from if not Rome? Yes, use of
that word meant trouble! And even
if most of the crowd were just shouting "Hosanna" as their way of
saying "Hurrah for Jesus," their outcries were still creating a
dangerous climate of Messianic fervor that might lead to revolt.
Now,
the high priest Caiaphas was an aristocrat who held in contempt the common
masses of the people. And Rice and
Webber now imagine him addressing Jesus and asking him to silence the adoring
mob before the uproar gets all Jews, including Caiaphas, into trouble with the
Romans. [Roll the tape!]
[Singing
begins at Counter 53, by Caiaphas and then the Chorus, 46 seconds, followed by 5
seconds of silence. Push
Pause Button at Counter 120.]
In
the Broadway show, Jesus responds to Caiaphas’s complaint by saying, in
effect, "Why try to stop the shouting?
If the people were to stop praising me, the rocks and stones
along the road would start to sing."
Here,
Rice and Webber draw artistically on a tradition that’s found in the Palm
Sunday narrative only in the Gospel of Luke [19:40]. [Roll the tape!]
[Singing
begins at Counter 122, by Jesus, 22 seconds, followed by 4 seconds of silence.
Push Pause Button at Counter 155.]
So
Jesus accepts the acclaim and the accolades of the crowd, but there is something
terribly bittersweet about this scene. For the exuberance of the crowd is arising from their
fundamental misunderstanding of Jesus—as Jesus recognizes only too well.
You
see Jesus has chosen to ride into Jerusalem not on a charging stallion but on a
lowly donkey. And by so doing he
has hoped to direct people's attention to the prophecy in the book of Zechariah
that speaks not of a warrior Messiah coming on a stallion but of a peaceful
Messiah riding on a donkey. Jesus
means to present himself to the people not as a warrior king, but as a peaceable
Messiah, one who will not lift up a sword against Rome.
But the people are shouting at Jesus to fight for them.
[Roll
the tape! Singing begins at Counter
157, by the Chorus, 23 seconds, followed by 4 seconds of silence.
Push Pause Button at Counter 189.]
"Hey
J.C., J.C., won't you fight for me?" Throughout
this song, Webber, the composer, has brilliantly signaled the discord between
Jesus's intention and the crowd's expectation by having the chorus sing in a
minor key. Now in the upcoming
final stanza, Rice, the lyricist, brilliantly captures the gospels' portrait of
the gentleness of Jesus.
To
the crowd whose fickleness he understands, Jesus responds not in anger or in
judgment, but rather in love, proclaiming them blessed and saying that there's
not one of them who can't yet be part of God's kingdom.
[Roll
the tape! Singing begins at Counter
191, by Jesus, 25 seconds, followed by 7 seconds of silence.
Push Pause Button at Counter 227.]
But
the discord between the crowd and Jesus only increases.
Following the lead of the gospels themselves, Rice and Webber conclude
their musical portrait of Jesus's entry into Jerusalem with an ominous portent
of Jesus's death.
Harking
back to the beginning of the song, do you recall that the crowd at first just
called on Jesus to smile at them and assured Jesus that he was all right by
them? But then the crowd began to
cry out for Jesus to fight for them.
And
now, at the end, we are given a profoundly ironic lyric.
Now the crowd calls on Jesus to die for them, and their cry is
accompanied by music with a hard, driving edge and by the distant sound of
dissonant trumpets. "Hey J.C.,
J.C., won't you die for me, sanna ho, sanna he, Superstar?"
You
see, for this gentle King of the Jews, Palm Sunday foreshadows Good Friday;
the road to Jerusalem becomes the path to Calvary.
[Roll
the tape! Singing begins at Counter
229, by the Chorus, 26 seconds, followed by 6 seconds of silence.
Push Pause Button at Counter 264.]
On
Palm Sunday, we are the crowd, shouting “Hosanna” at Jesus.
And
the questions we must ask ourselves—we who stand with Jesus at the triumphant
beginning of this Holy Week—the questions we must ask ourselves are these:
Do
we really understand the Jesus to whom we are today calling out loud
Hosannas, or do we, like that crowd of old, misunderstand him?
And
where will we who stand with Jesus today be found by the end of the week, on
Good Friday? Is it possible that
we, like Judas, will by then be found among those who betray Jesus?
Is it possible that we, like parts of the crowd, will by then be found
among those who consign Jesus to death? Is
it possible that we, like Peter, will by then be found among those who deny we
have ever known Jesus? Is it
possible that we, like all of the male disciples, will by then be found among
those who are not standing near the cross?
Or will we, like just a few faithful female disciples of old—Mary
Magdalene; and Mary the mother of James and Joses; and Salome—will we like
them prove steadfast to the end and
be found at Jesus’s side, standing watch at the cross?
Do
we really understand the Jesus to whom we are today calling out loud Hosannas?
And where will we who stand with Jesus today be found by the end of the
week, on Good Friday? Two questions
for us to ponder carefully this Holy Week.
You
see, Palm Sunday, with its glorious shouts of Hosanna, is a truly bittersweet
day connected irrevocably to Good Friday.
For we know that in the week ahead "Hosanna!" will give way to
"Crucify!" The palms and
branches will be replaced by thorns and a tree‑trunk.
And the red-carpeted road to Jerusalem will lead on to bloody Calvary.
[Roll the tape!]
[Music
begins at Counter 266, the entire song, beginning to end, 2 minutes and 55
seconds, after which the tape is blank. Stop
the tape when you hear me say,
“Let us pray.”]
Let
us pray:
Gentle,
Suffering Messiah, this week may we be found at your side.
May we sup at your table and kneel at your cross.
May we taste your grace and behold the cost of your love.
Amen.
"Hosanna"
from Jesus Christ Superstar
Lyrics: Tim Rice;
Music: Andrew Lloyd Webber
Chorus:
Hosanna, Hesanna, sanna sanna ho, sanna he, sanna
hosanna.
Hey J.C., J.C., won't you smile at me,
sanna ho, sanna he, Superstar?
Caiaphas:
Tell the rabble to be quiet; we anticipate a riot.
This common crowd is much too loud.
Tell the mob who sing your song that they are fools
and they are wrong.
They are a curse; they should disperse.
Chorus:
Hosanna, Hesanna, sanna sanna ho, sanna he, sanna
hosanna.
Hey J.C., J.C., you're all right by me,
sanna ho, sanna he, Superstar.
Jesus:
Why waste your breath moaning at the crowd?
Nothing can be done to stop the shouting.
If every tongue were stilled the noise would still
continue;
The rocks and stones themselves would start to sing.
Chorus:
Hosanna, Hesanna, sanna sanna ho, sanna he, sanna
hosanna.
Hey J.C., J.C., won't you fight for me,
sanna ho, sanna he, Superstar?
Jesus:
Sing me your songs, but not for me alone.
Sing them for yourselves, for you are blessed.
There is not one of you who cannot win the kingdom—
The slow, the suffering, the quick, the dead.
Chorus:
Hosanna, Hesanna, sanna sanna ho, sanna he, sanna
hosanna.
Hey J.C., J.C., won't you die for me,
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