Pledge Allegiance to Jesus — Sermon by Rev. Bryan Biba

please pray with

me lord may my speech and my message not

be plausible words of human wisdom but a

demonstration of the spirit and of power

so that our faith may not rest in the

wisdom of men but in the power of the

living God we ask this in the name of

the Father and of the Son and of the

Holy Spirit amen you may be

seated like many of you I grew up nearly

every day in public

schools by saying the pledge of

allegiance every day starting my day

standing

up hand over

heart looking towards the

flag the pledge of allegiance is no mere

ritual it is a statement of

faith to pledge is declare your belief

and your trust in America in its

government and its

values it's not simply an intellectual

affirmation i believe America exists

it's about

conviction i am convinced that this is

true and true conviction is mutually

exclusive

you cannot pledge allegiance to both the

United States of America and North Korea

or United States of America and Russia

or the United States of America and

China these are two different countries

with competing values that are opposed

to one

another i pledge my allegiance to

one or to the other

the ancient world had similar pledges of

allegiance if you were in Sunday school

a few weeks ago with Dr scott Hayman you

learned about the tham buo the Roman

triumphal

procession this was the greatest and

most glorious pledge of allegiance in

the ancient world

when a Roman emperor won a great victory

the Senate rewarded them with a lavish

and extravagant parade throughout

Rome defeated enemies were dressed up

and marched through the streets adorned

in colorful costumes jeered

at the spoils of war were proudly

displayed for all to see to behold the

victory of Rome the victory of the

emperor and the Roman triumphal

procession always ended the same

way with a public execution of the

defeated king on the steps of a temple

to a pagan god

it was a sign an offering to all who

could see that Rome was the victor and

that these people were subject to

Rome for the average citizen the three

ambuo the triumphal procession it was no

mere spectacle to participate in this

parade was to pledge allegiance to Rome

the emperor the

empire contrast the Roman triumphal

procession with Jesus's Palm Sunday

triumphal

entry jesus rides into Jerusalem not

with a waror or chariot but with a

humble donkey a colt used for farming

the streets are adorned not with the

spoils of war but with the cloaks of

common men and women with simple palm

branches the crowds proclaimed the

blessings not of victory through

violence but

peace and like the pagan triumphal

procession Jesus's triumphal entry will

end with a public

execution but not of a defeated king but

of the king

himself the

victor jesus will sacrifice himself for

the sins of his

people as a public

display of the supremacy of God

the triumphal entry of Jesus is a

dramatic inversion of the Roman triambuo

the triumphal procession of

empire this morning we all participated

in reenacted the triumphal entry of

Jesus with shouts of loud hosana hosana

to the son of David blessed is he who

comes in the name of the

Lord we all pledged allegiance to

Jesus jesus the son of David the king of

Israel and yet like the disciples of the

gospel

narrative each one of us will break our

pledge

each and every day we are tempted to

abandon our faith and trust in Jesus by

pledging allegiance to other things

idols that seduce us with false

promises luke's passion account gives us

many

examples judas pledges allegiance to

money betraying Jesus for a mere 30

pieces of silver

an unnamed disciple in the garden

pledges allegiance to violence cutting

the ear off of the high priest's

slave peter pledges allegiance to fear

publicly denying Jesus three times in

order to protect himself

the chief priests and the elders of

Israel pledge allegiance to politics by

putting their trust in Caesar in the

empire and what they can do for

them both Herod and Pilate pledged

allegiance to their own

power and

finally the crowd all of us pledged

allegiance to sin and

death choosing

Barabus a murderer and a robber over the

King of Glory the Lord of

Life this Holy Week all of us must

consider our true

allegiance if we truly desire to believe

and trust in Jesus Christ then we must

crucify all the idols of our

hearts all the things we are tempted to

pledge allegiance

to christians must put to death our

trust in money violence fear politics

power sin and death

and like Simon

ofSirene we must take up our cross and

follow Jesus to our

death our spiritual death the death of

the old Adam the flesh in

us and maybe even our physical deaths

like the daughters of Jerusalem we must

weep for ourselves and for our children

for our failure to keep our baptismal

vows after

all holy baptism is the pledge of

allegiance of the Christian

life baptism is no mere ritual it is a

statement of faith baptism is not simply

an intellectual affirmation i believe

God exists it is a

declaration of

trust in our conviction in the

sufficiency of

Jesus and like all pledges of allegiance

baptism is mutually exclusive we cannot

pledge allegiance to

Jesus and money Jesus and

violence Jesus and fear Jesus and

politics Jesus and power Jesus and sin

and death you cannot serve two masters

you will love the one and hate the other

or you will hate the one and love the

other

today this Holy

Week choose who you will

serve renew your

baptism pledge allegiance to Christ and

his kingdom above all other kingdoms

and if your heart is divided like

mine return again to

Jesus turn

away from those idols and turn towards

the crucified

king take up your

cross and follow him this Holy Week

renewing your baptismal

pledge and be resurrected