It won't be long now

From Palm Sunday
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...We’re marching into Jerusalem this Passover week,
   the drums of rebellion are throbbing in the hearts and streets of Jerusalem
the palms are waving
    the people shout Hosanna to the prince of peace!
It won’t be long now, it won’t be long!
Til justice comes rolling like a mighty stream!
    Til messiah Jesus unites Israel and Judea – all twelve tribes together again!
Til Jesus overturns the tables and upsets corruption and overthrows Empire!

Is Jesus the one the prophets said would come?
Jesus makes his own prophecies about Jerusalem
            The city he watches and weeps, crying,
“if only you had recognized the things that make for peace!
The days will come upon you when your enemies will surround you and hem you in on every side!
They will not leave one stone upon another!” (Luke 19:41-44)
            The city Jesus says “kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it” (Matt 23:37 and Luke 13:34)
Jesus prophesies about himself, declaring his own torture and death
will take place when he reaches Jerusalem.
It won’t be long now, it won’t be long.
And what else does he say?
What does he say to us?

            “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves, take up their cross and follow me.” (Mark 8:34)
A cross to carry isn’t just any burden to bear.
            Dying on the cross is a punishment only for insurrection, for rebellion, against Rome.
Jesus doesn’t say, follow me and suffer. Jesus says, follow me and die a revolutionary.
Did you wave your palm and shout Hosanna as Jesus marched into Jerusalem this morning?
It won’t be long now, it won’t be long.
   Til Jesus reaches the Temple,
        Til Jesus reaches the cross.
            Are you still with him?

Where is your cross?
     What table does it upset?
         What gap does it bridge?
              What wall does it topple?
The table of economic exploitation?
     The gap between pure and impure?
          The wall between peasant and priest?

Does your cross upset the tables piled high with sweatshop goods and the earth’s blood?
   The tables spread with bottles promising beauty or pills promising peace?
       The table of our federal taxes, 50% of which are pumped into the US military each year?
 
Does your cross bridge the achievement gap between black and white students in IN schools?
    The gap between those lunching at the LUM community meal and those at La Scala?
 
Does your cross topple the wall between the US and Mexico?
    The wall between Israel and Palestine?

Who are you marching with?
            Do you stand with the power of Pilate and Rome, safe in Empire?
            Do you drape your coat on the dirt and wave a palm for a peasant on a colt?
What revolutions do you bear on your back,
hold in your heart,
praise in your prayers?
            It won’t be long now, it won’t be long

Stand and march with the peasant king
            Now, stand and march with the peasant king!
Shout Hosanna to the prince of peace!
            Hosanna!
It won’t be long now, it won’t be long
            ‘Til justice comes rolling like a mighty stream
It won't be long now, it won't be long

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