Glitter, Glamour and Gossip.

Tune into an awards show – whether it be the Oscars or the Emmys – and you’ll get your fill of these “three G’s” as celebrities walk the Red Carpet on their way into the auditorium. Look … it’s Nicole Kidman! Colin Farrell, he’s such a hunk. Check it out, it’s Kate Hudson … Elijah Wood … Reese Witherspoon! Can you believe that dress she’s wearing? You would think he would at least wash his hair!

Flashbulbs pop and the paparazzi shoot pictures for the covers of People, Us, and The National Enquirer. Interviewers stick microphones into celebrity faces and ask stupid questions, to which they receive mostly stupid answers. Some members of the media get downright nasty, as Joan Rivers did when she called one rock star’s wife an “idiot.”

People actually enjoy this stuff?

Fact is, tons of fans get a thrill from watching their favorite stars on the Red Carpet, and the Academy Awards show has become the most-watched television event in the world, drawing nearly a billion viewers. Yes, you heard right: A billion. About one in every six members of the human race. Maybe you were one of them.

Glitter, glamour, gossip. The “three G’s.” Seems we just can’t get enough.

In our celebrity-obsessed culture, one aspect of awards shows that seems to get bigger every year is the pre-show, which takes place on the Red Carpet. The E! Network offers six hours of buildup to the arrival of the stars for the awards ceremony. Gawking and gossiping in the presence of glitter and glamour has now become an all-day event.

Not that this is anything new. If you think about it, Palm Sunday was the pre-show for Holy Week. That’s right: Today was the pre-show. A superstar was coming to town, so the people of Jerusalem spread their cloaks on the road (Luke 19:36). In place of cameras and microphones, the crowds waved branches of palm trees (John 12:13). A major event was underway, a Passover Festival that drew about 2.5 million pilgrims to Jerusalem, so the city was electrified with Oscar-night enthusiasm.

Jesus was aware of this, and knew exactly what he was getting into. He expected a hero’s welcome on Palm Sunday, but also the experience of cruel rejection by an unforgiving audience. What they say about Hollywood was probably true in Jerusalem as well: “People in Hollywood are always touching you -- not because they like you, but because they want to see how soft you are before they eat you alive.”

It’s a tough town.

The Gospel of Luke also tells us that Jesus anticipated some stupid questions as he prepared to hit the Red Carpet. He sent two disciples ahead of him to acquire a colt, and said to them, "If anyone asks you, 'Why are you untying it?' just say this, 'The Lord needs it.'" (19:31). Just as Jesus predicted, the owners of the colt asked that very question, but they were silenced when the disciples explained, “The Lord needs it.”

Not even Joan Rivers would have a snappy comeback for that one.

The point of Palm Sunday is that Jesus is given the celebrity treatment as he enters Jerusalem. All the expected elements are in place: He makes a royal entrance, in a procession associated with powerful kings. He is escorted by the citizens of Jerusalem and “the whole multitude of the disciples” (v. 37). They wave palm branches, praise him for his deeds of power, and sing hymns of acclamation, crying out, “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!” (v. 38). He rides on a colt, on the foal of a donkey, just as King Solomon did before his coronation – although Jesus’ choice of a donkey could also mean that he is a bringer of peace. If Jesus wanted a fight, he would have charged in on a stallion, a war-horse, the first-century equivalent of a Hummer limousine.

So Jesus is a superstar, complete with the “three G’s” of glitter, glamour and gossip. He’s got the glitter of a royal entrance, the glamour of waving palm branches, and even the gossip associated with his disciples and the borrowed colt. There is a lot of buzz about this celebrity superstar as he enters the holy city to pick up his prize.

But here’s the twist: Like modern celebrities, Jesus is not only idolized, he is also picked apart. The machinery that kills him on Friday begins to operate on Sunday. As the disciples sing praises, the Pharisees begin to shout, “Teacher, order your disciples to stop.” But Jesus refuses to do this, replying, “I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out” (vv. 39-40).

From this point on, the chatter about Jesus becomes increasingly negative. People sense that he is not interested in driving out the oppressive Romans. They notice that he travels with a band of unarmed disciples, not a fierce fighting force. They hear him speak of coming wars and persecutions, not of glorious victories and times of prosperity. The chief priests, scribes, and leaders of the people start to look for a way to kill Jesus (19:47), and by the end of the week the people themselves are shouting, “Crucify, crucify him!” (23:21). Luke tells us that the Roman governor can find no ground for the sentence of death, but the crowd keeps demanding that Jesus should be crucified. In the end, the governor grants them their wish (23:22-25).

Jesus is killed on Friday because he fails to live up to human fantasies. He gets picked apart like a movie star on the Red Carpet -- savaged like a starlet who fails to deliver the right walk or the right talk. We fans are so unforgiving toward the people we put on a celebrity pedestal, and we’re quick to crucify anyone who doesn’t meet, and even exceed, our expectations.

The challenge for us as Christians is to let Jesus be Jesus – not the superstar we want him to be. The message of this day of Palm Branches and Red Carpets is that Jesus Christ is the Lord, not a Los Angeles celebrity. If you want a power-hungry politician, just open the Sunday paper. There’s no lack of this type of leader, in this age or any age, and a good number of them are on the campaign trail right now, focused the November elections.

If, on the other hand, you are ready to let Jesus step off the Red Carpet, if you are ready to let Jesus be Jesus, then be prepared for a life-changing lesson. Jesus is not interested in the “three G’s,” glitter, glamour and gossip … but he is clearly committed to extending a hand, expanding the community, and expressing the glory of God’s kingdom.

The “three G’s” mean nothing to Jesus. What he loves, instead, are the “three E’s” – extending, expanding and expressing. And so should we.

Our Lord is clearly a king, but he is not like “the kings of the Gentiles” (22:25-27). He doesn’t aspire to be the greatest of the earthly monarchs, or seek to lord it over his subjects. He comes not as a conqueror, but rather as a servant who extends a hand to a person in need (22:27). He knows that the greatest of rulers is the one who is willing to reach down and lift a person up.

Jesus is all about extending a hand, and it is this understanding of Jesus that is motivating our church’s Midlife Men on a Mission. I am so excited about being a part of this group that will be going to Honduras in October. We’ll be working in a very poor community to put a pump in a well, and construct some buildings in a camp for children. Our hope is to get closer to Jesus, and to our brothers and sisters in Honduras, by extending a hand. We want to experience some inner spiritual growth from outer physical action.

At the same time, we need to remember that Jesus is not really interested in using the best, the brightest, and the most beautiful. He surrounds himself not with A-list power-people, but with a rag-tag assortment of fishermen, tax collectors, Samaritans, whores, and cripples. Our Lord is committed to expanding the community by including anyone who will follow him, for he knows that a poor widow can be far more generous than a bunch of rich folk (21:1-4), that immature children can be closer to the kingdom of God than mature adults (18:15-17), and that an unclean Samaritan leper can be more faithful than a whole band of religious insiders (17:11-19).

Jesus expands his circle in some surprising ways … and that means that there is room for each one of us. Jesus doesn’t discriminate as he grows his church, both here at Fairfax Presbyterian and around the world – he accepts and includes everyone who is willing to follow him in faith. It is lucky for us that Jesus is into expanding the community.

Jesus also expresses the glory of God’s kingdom, not the splendor of any earthly nation. He predicts great chaos among the countries of the world, and announces that the kingdom of God is drawing near (Luke 21). When Jesus is asked if he is the King of the Jews, he answers, “My kingdom is not from this world,” and he explains that he doesn’t expect his followers to fight for him. He’s not looking for ground troops or air strikes or smart bombs to deliver him from evil. Instead, Jesus asserts that he came into the world “to testify to the truth,” and he expects that everyone who belongs to the truth will listen to his voice (John 18:33, 36-37).

As followers of Jesus Christ, our security is in God’s kingdom – not in any nation of this world. It is important for us to remember this, as car-bombs explode in Iraq and terrorism threat levels remain high. We find our peace by listening to Jesus’ voice, and by knowing that we belong to the truth, both now and forever.

What a strange truth this is. So different from the gossip, the glamour, and the glitter of Hollywood. It belongs to a whole different world – a world of not defined by the “three G’s,” but by what I am calling the “three E’s”: extending a hand to the needy, expanding the Christian community, and expressing the glory of God’s kingdom.

Walk this Red Carpet, and Jesus will give you the celebrity treatment. Amen

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