It started innocently. No one now remembers who had the original idea. That’s the way it is with bad ideas. No one takes credit for a bad idea. Everyone wants credit for something that goes well. The idea was simple. On Palm Sunday, instead of the usual procession of palms, they’d turn it into a pageant. The children would dress in costumes, one boy would play the part of Jesus and there would be a real donkey.

Everyone in the congregation was excited. The newspaper and television stations were contacted. Enthusiastic parishioners invited neighbors. It became a major media event. To make sure that everything would go just right, the children’s minister held two rehearsals, making sure that the children could wave their palms and sing at the same time. When Palm Sunday arrived, the children gathered at a park about two blocks from the church. They were dressed in costumes which were mostly sheets gathered at the waist with rope. The palms were passed out and the borrowed donkey was led to the front of the line. When everything was ready, the boy dressed as Jesus, climbed upon the donkey and whispered reverently, “Giddy-up.” The donkey was unimpressed with “giddy up.” He didn’t move. The command was repeated, this time with a kick to the ribs. The donkey still stood stubbornly motionless. The boy began to cry.

The children’s minister looked around for the farmer but he was nowhere to be found. The rider’s mother stepped in to urge the beast to move, but with no luck. Finally she took the rope attached to the bridle while the children’s minister bravely placed her hands on the flanks of the donkey. Together, they tried to pull and push the donkey to no avail. The donkey dug in his heels and demonstrated the quality for which donkey are best known. Finally, the tearful boy had to get off the beast and ride a stick horse to the church so that the parade would not be a total loss. Of course, the TV cameras got it all on film including each child using their palms fronds to beat the poor stubborn donkey as they passed by him. The donkey’s heart just wasn’t into the Palm Sunday parade.[1]

One of the most remarkable elements of the first Palm Sunday is their hearts are in it. It’s amazing, almost a miracle. We miss this in the way we celebrate this day. We like the parade of palms. We love seeing the children waving the fronds. It warms our hearts when we shout the ancient chant. We imagine Jesus as the donkey king, riding into Jerusalem like a conquering hero, his disciples shouting with enthusiasm. This is the picture we create in our heads. We forget how amazing it is that the disciples’ hearts are in it. Despite the way we remember the story, this is a dangerous ride and the disciples were afraid.  

Just two weeks earlier, Jesus decides to leave the safety of Galilee and head to Bethany to attend to his dying friend Lazarus. Bethany is on the outskirts of Jerusalem. In his previous trip to Jerusalem, Jesus was nearly stoned and some sought to have him arrested.  When Jesus announces this trip, Thomas “said to his fellow disciples, ‘Let us also go, that we may die with him’” (John 11: 16). Thomas and likely his fellow disciples are afraid. They had this fear before Jesus raised Lazarus, a miracle so controversial that the gospel of John tells us that “from that day on they planned to put him to death” (John 11: 53). There is nothing safe about going to Jerusalem let alone riding in like it is some coronation parade. It is foolhardy to shout that Jesus is the Son of David which is why it is hard to imagine that the disciples’ hearts are in it.  What made Jesus think he needed to ride into the city this way? It was his brave heart. His brave heart put him on the back of that donkey.

We are talking about hearts, specifically your heart. When the Bible talks about heart, it seldom describes the physical heart. Rather, it considers the heart the core of your being, your spiritual center that goes beyond conscious acting, feeling or thinking.

There are over 1000 references to this spiritual heart. You are to “serve the Lord with all your heart” (Deuteronomy 10:12). You are to “Trust in the Lord with all your heart.” (Proverbs 3:5). We know that “where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21).  What’s most important to you? What do you treasure? It will be at your center, at your core, in your heart. God sent Jesus, not just to die for our sins, but to model what it means to treasure God and people. Jesus has a heart for God and a heart for people. That’s what is at the center of his heart. He reflects this in his ministry and he teaches us when he gives us the greatest commandment which we have been reciting together over these past few weeks. Say it with me again.  “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself” (Luke 10:27). Whenever you say this, there is an implied question. It is the question we’ve been asking over and over again.  Do you have a heart for God and a heart for people? This week, our brave hearted Savior demonstrates his heart for people.

When it comes to bravery, we tend to think of it in a narrow way, often with a singular definition. We associate bravery with a physical act, with the ability to act fearlessly in dangerous situations. Physical bravery is seen when a fireman runs into a flaming house to rescue a child or a marine rushes into a hail of fire to retrieve a wounded colleague. Physical bravery is pictured in the one word Braveheart, the Mel Gibson 1985 movie about William Wallace. If Jesus was being physically brave, he would ride into Jerusalem on a chariot or a horse, dressed in armor and bearing a sword. Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem isn’t physical bravery.

It is likely not emotional bravery either. This is another way we think of bravery. Some people must find emotional bravery before they can act physically. This is the type of bravery that we tell children to have when they get a shot. “Be brave.” It is the type of bravery that cancer patients develop when they undergo treatment. It is the mastering of fear to do a task. Military training focus on both the mind and body, teaches emotional bravery so there can be physical bravery.  Emotional bravery is getting your head around a fear of being somebody or doing something.

Spiritual bravery is getting your heart around who you need to be or what you need to do.  When you are spiritually brave, you are committed to loving God and neighbor and you demonstrate it by your actions.  A brave heart takes risks even to the point of death in order to love God and love others.

It required a brave heart to enter Jerusalem with his followers announcing he was the Son of God ushering in a new kingdom. Matthew tells us that when this language was first used it was at the time of Jesus’ birth. “…after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem,  asking, ‘Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews?’” (Matthew 2: 2) This language was so inflammatory to King Herod that he slaughtered all of the children in Bethlehem in hopes of killing of the threat.  When Jesus rode in on Palm Sunday, Jerusalem was the symbol of Roman authority and domination in Palestine.  It was the locus of political oppression, economic exploitation and military intimidation. During the Passover, Rome sent additional troops into Jerusalem to underscore this presence of intimidation. Rome feared 400,000 pilgrims would start an insurrection. Our brave hearted Savior risks his life by riding into Jerusalem. A brave heart risks for the sake of others. Each year when I think of this, of Jesus humbly riding in on a donkey, bravely riding to take on this gigantic oppressive power, a modern image comes to mind.

In the late spring of 1989, there was another pilgrimage, first by a few, then a few more, finally by as many as one million workers, students and teachers. They gathered on the Avenue of Eternal Peace, near the Great Hall of People. It was on a square known as Tiananmen. The pilgrims created an entire city for seven weeks. They protested political oppression and economic exploitation in China. The government ignored their protests and demanded that they disperse. When they didn’t, on June 4, martial law was declared and tanks were sent in.

To this day, no one knows the name of the brave heart. They just know the image which played in our living rooms on June 5, 1989. He is known as the Tankman of Tiananmen Square.  He stands in front of a column of tanks, preventing their advance, one tiny fragile man in front of a long line of large, menacing tanks.  Time magazine called him the Unknown Rebel and named him one of the top 100 most influential persons in the 20th century.[2] A brave heart risks for the sake of others.

It is a different picture than the happy picture we imagine of Jesus riding a donkey into Jerusalem. But the Tankman image may be closer to the truth. While we love the kid’s parade with palm fronds and a donkey, love the humble, accessible Jesus which the crowd pushes to get close to, when you step back and take a bird’s eye view of what is going on, you see a lonely, brave heart riding into Jerusalem to take on an system of domination. It is Jesus on a donkey, standing alone before the Roman system of domination and Temple collaborators. Jesus willingly accepts the risks because he has a heart for people. His courage isn’t physical or emotional. It comes from his spiritual commitment to loving others. He’s the first century Tank Man.

No one knows what happened to the Tankman after his hour of bravery. There are a number of legends. The year after the Tankman demonstrated his brave heart in Tiananmen Square, Barbara Walters interviewed then-Communist China Party General Secretary Jiang Zemin. She asked him what became of the man. Jiang replied "I think never killed [sic]."

This is where this two brave hearts part company. We know that Jesus’ confrontation leads to his death which leads to the second description of a brave heart.  A brave heart is not afraid to die. When in your heart, in the center of your core being, you believe in God’s love expressed through Jesus, you aren’t afraid to die.

In the second century, persecution against Christians had swept across the Roman Empire to the city of Smyrna. The proconsul of Smyrna, caught up in this persecution, put out an order that the Bishop of Smyrna, named Polycarp, was to be found, arrested, and brought to the public arena for execution. They found Polycarp and brought him before thousands of spectators many screaming for blood. But the proconsul had compassion on the man who was almost a hundred years old. He signaled the crowd to silence.

To Polycarp he said, "Curse the Christ and live." The crowd, some who were likely believers, waited for their old Bishop to answer. All he had to do was renounce his faith in Jesus. In an amazingly strong voice, he said, "Eighty and six years have I served him, and he has done me no wrong. How dare I blaspheme the name of my king and Lord!" With that, Polycarp became a martyr.  Every time I read that story, I am inspired by his brave heart. The worst of circumstances of his life was his greatest moment because of his heart for God.

Matthew says that as Jesus road into the city, the “the whole city was in turmoil, asking, “Who is this?” (Matthew 21:10b). They answer: “This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee.” (Matthew 21: 11).  We know he is this and we know he is much more. Jesus is the brave heart with the courage to speak the message of salvation no matter what it cost. He is the brave heart who overturns the tables of money changers in the temple. He is the brave heart who kneels before the disciples and washes their feet. He is the brave heart who faces his betrayer and capturers in the Garden of Gethsemane without force. And he is the brave heart who willing bears the cross and pours out his life for us. A brave heart is not afraid to die.

It may well be that Jesus knew that he’d die within the week when he road into Jerusalem. Certainly he knew it by Thursday.  His disciples and the world knew it by Friday and this week, we’ll remember again and it is important for us because we don’t know the time and date of our passing. We don’t know how long we will be here on this earth. But we do know this. We don’t have to be afraid to die. Easter reveals this promise and if we embrace it, we are on our way to a brave heart.

In the meantime, God has a purpose for us. We are called to love God and love others with the kind of love that makes a difference.  How are you doing with this? Do you love God and do you love neighbor? It’s the question of the moment and the question of a lifetime. May your heart be brave enough to answer it like Jesus.