1 Will You Be an April Fool for Christ?
Mark 11:1-11
[A sermon preached by the Rev. Stan Gockel at the
Bellbrook Presbyterian Church on April 1, 2012]
I
How many of you have been “April Fooled” already today?
Did you get salt out of the sugar bowl for your coffee or cereal?
Did the lids to the pepper and salt shakers fall off with the first shake?
Was your bed short-sheeted or your shirt sleeves turned inside out?
There is very little agreement on when April Fool’s Day began.
One explanation is that it went back to the Roman festival of Hilaria, a festival
celebrated on the vernal equinox in honor of the goddess Cybele.
Another version is that April Fool’s Day originated in France during the Middle
Ages.
At that time people followed the Julian calendar, which celebrated New Years Day
on March 25, followed by a seven-day celebration that ended on April 1, with
visits to friends and neighbors and the exchange of gifts.
In the mid-1500s, the switch was made to the Gregorian calendar,
with New Years Day moving from March 25 to January 1.
Such a radical change didn’t come easily.
2 Many rejected the new calendar and refused to change, and according to some
writers, those who celebrated the New Year on January 1 made fun of them and
called them “April fools.”
April Fool’s Day is now practiced in many countries.
April Fools jokes and pranks are intended to disrupt our routine,
shake up our perceptions,
and cause us to not take ourselves quite so seriously.
Sometimes April Fool’s is something contrived.
On April 1, 1915, in the midst of World War I, a French aviator flew over a
German camp and dropped what appeared to be a huge bomb. The German
soldiers immediately scattered in all directions, but no explosion followed.
After some time, the soldiers crept back and cautiously approached the
bomb. They discovered it was actually a large football with a note tied to it
that read, "April Fools!"
Sometimes April Fool’s just happens.
After the death of pop artist Andy Warhol, who was a devout Christian, a
memorial service was held at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City on
April Fool’s Day 1987, with 2000 people in attendance.
Whether contrived or natural, to be an “April Fool” is to be willing to laugh at
ourselves and be open to the surprises that come our way.
II
There is no better day for Palm Sunday to fall on than April Fool’s Day.
Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem is the classic “April Fools” experience.
Jesus sends two of his disciples to Bethphage to “borrow” a colt.
3 They must have been waiting for Jesus to say “April Fools!” But he doesn’t.
Instead he sends his disciples to go and commit the first-century equivalent of
“grand theft auto.”
“Borrowing” a valuable animal,
an unbroken young colt,
was frowned upon and punished in first century Palestine
as seriously as horse-thieving was in the Old West.
Jesus’ further instruction sound like another April Fool joke—
just say, “The Lord needs it.”
I am sure those two disciples were thinking, “Yeah. Right. That will work!”
But then…it does!
The colt arrives…
Jesus mounts it…
and the procession into the city of Jerusalem commences.
Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a borrowed donkey.
What kind of king is this?
Someone has pointed out that Jesus was born in a borrowed stable,
and laid in a borrowed manger.
As he traveled, he had no place of his own to lay his head.
He rode into the city on a borrowed donkey.
He ate his final meal in a borrowed room.
He was crucified on a borrowed cross,
wearing a borrowed crown
4 that jokers stuck on his head.
And when he died, his body was placed in a borrowed tomb.
Is Palm Sunday God’s version of April Fools?
III
It is important to remember that Jesus and his disciples were pious, observant Jews
who knew their scripture.
His disciples knew the significance of their Master riding a young colt into
Jerusalem.
This was a statement of kingship, of deliverance, of prophetic fulfillment.
In that moment of great anticipation, Jesus’ followers decide to disrobe.
They remove their cloaks,
the garments that most physically identify who they are,
and lay them down on the road,
creating a cushioned path for the skittish young animal bearing their Master.
To remove one’s cloak in public was a more revealing, humbling action than
simply taking off a topcoat would be for us.
A cloak revealed much about one’s social status and wealth.
Among the poor a cloak was a daytime garment and a nighttime bedroll.
The Greek historian Plutarch told of a Roman general whose fellow soldiers
showed him the highest honor by casting down their cloaks, their badges of
rank and distinction, for him to walk on.
The garments worn under one’s cloak were simple and unadorned, skimpy even.
5 So in effect those who spread their cloaks on the road for Jesus were more or less
standing around in their underwear.
What kind of April Fool’s joke was this?
What April Fools were they for stripping down and looking undignified and underdressed in order to honor a scriptural image of the messiah?
The disciples surely envisioned that such a significant, majestic entrance into the
Holy City could not help but lead to great success.
Surely Jesus chose to enter the city in such a royal, messianic way
because he was planning some sort of popular uprising,
or some extraordinary display of power.
This Passover Week was obviously going to be a scene of great success.
Or was it going to be April Fools?
IV
Jesus rides a borrowed donkey…
the disciples spread their cloaks on Jesus’ path.
Then other Passover pilgrims traveling into Jerusalem got into the spirit of Jesus’
procession.
Some of them peeled off their cloaks and dared to bare their backs in a state of
crowd enthusiasm.
Others chanted “hosanna” and lay down branches for their combined procession
into the city.
For everyone in this crowd—
Jesus and his disciples,
the mixed multitude of pilgrims—
6 the destination is the same:
the spiritual center of Judaism…
the Temple.
Obviously something wonderful is about to happen.
April Fools.
Instead Jesus reaches the Temple,
enters that sacred space
and simply stares it down.
Then, without a word, Jesus turns on his heel and departs—
not just from the Temple Mount,
but from the city of Jerusalem.
This strange quiet on Palm Sunday speaks loudly about the transformation Jesus’
presence and sacrifice are about to bring into being.
Just as Jesus instructed his disciples to shake off the dust of those communities that
would not welcome them,…
now Jesus shakes the dust of the Temple and the entire priestly/sacrificial
bureaucracy off his feet as he walks back to Bethany.
Jesus does not linger at the Temple.
There is nothing of God there.
Besides, he has a young colt he promised to return “immediately.”
If the Temple, the priestly authorities, the religious power structure, thought Jesus
was on his way to pay them honor and homage …
all we can say is: “April Fools!”
7 V
Here’s the point we need to get on April Fool’s Day:
Jesus never flinched from playing “the fool” in order to fulfill God’s will.
He directed and rode in a pilgrimage parade into Jerusalem to the tune of
“Hosanna”.
Then he left it all to plod a dusty path back to Bethany.
Those who followed him were not scholars of star students.
They were fishermen and tax collectors,
nobodies and ne’er-do-wells.
His “foolish” path took him into Jerusalem to the chants of “Blessed be” and had
him driven out of Jerusalem with a cross beam strapped to his back on his way to
Golgotha.
As Philippians tells us, he…
“emptied himself, taking the form of a slave,
being born in human likeness,
and being found in human form,
he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death—
even death on a cross.” (Phil. 2:7-8)
He became “the fool” for God.
Are we willing to become an “April Fool” for him?
Are you willing to admit that you are part of a truly “foolish” family?
The Hebrew prophets of the Old Testament routinely made “fools” of themselves.
8 Isaiah stomped around naked and barefoot for three years (Isaiah 20:1-6).
Jeremiah wore a ruined loincloth (Jeremiah 13:1-11);
wore an ox yoke around his neck (Jeremiah 28:1-17),
and bought a plot of land occupied by the enemy—
a truly BAD investment if ever there was one (Jeremiah 32:1-15).
Ezekiel ate up scrolls of written words — not what I would call a low carb
diet (Ezekiel 2:1-3:3);
Hosea married a prostitute and named their children after God’s judgments
(Hosea 1:2-2:1).
And that is just in the First Testament!
After the ultimate “April Fool” — the April Fool of Christ’s death,
the April Fool that destroyed the sting of sin
and offered instead complete salvation,
a whole new raft of fools took float.
The Pharisee Saul of Taurus became Paul the Apostle.
The hedonistic, sophisticated Augustine became the greatest theologian of
the ancient church.
St. Francis stripped off his clothes and turned his back on his affluent life in
order to serve the poor and needy.
Throughout the two thousand years of Christianity, the faithful have stepped
forward from the safety of anonymity or the security of a comfortable position
to embrace foolishness, nakedness, a Palm Sunday parade mentality . . .
in order to proclaim Christ.
If Easter Sunday is the day to get all “dressed up,”
9 then maybe Palm Sunday is the day to “dress down” in order to be April
Fools for Christ.
VI
So take a risk at caring about someone who is truly risky.
Go out on a limb.
Take the road usually not taken.
Don’t cross the street to avoid a possible problem.
Don’t’ be afraid to be naked…to be on parade…to be different.
To be a follower of the One who never flinched when it came to being a fool
for God, is to be an April Fool for Christ.
Will you be just that?
Will you be an April Fool for Christ?
Amen.
Sources:
History of April Fool’s Day retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_Fools%27_Day
Arthur H. Kuehn, “Are You an April Fool?” sermon manuscript with n.d.
Leonard Sweet, sermon retrieved from http://www.sermons.com/theResultsPage.asp?firstLogin=