and this story was verified as true on Wednesday when I began this sermon, seven dogs were stolen from the same village in northern China. Miraculously, they somehow escaped their captors and found their way back home together. The diverse pack, led by a corgi, included a Labrador, a Golden Retriever, and a Pekinese, as well as an injured German Shepherd. Drone footage and cell phone users captured their 2 day journey across fields and highways.

But what people couldn't stop talking about was the way the dogs stuck together and took care of each other along the way. According to locals, the corgi set the pace, repeatedly checking behind her to make sure everyone was keeping up, while the other dogs surrounded the shepherd to keep the injured dog safe as they slowly but surely made their way home to their owners.

Millions of people viewed the footage online and took to social media to praise the dogs for their loyalty, courage, and compassion. That and share memes. “That corgi leading the other dogs home is 100% an eldest daughter.” “If I send you this picture,” zoom in on the corgi, “consider the situation handled.” “If this turns out to be Ai, I swear to God the war on the machines starts tomorrow.”

I wouldn’t be surprised if Pixar has already moved to secure the rights and the cast of “Parks and Recreation.”  Think of it: Leslie Knope voicing the Corgi. Ron Swanson as the voice of the wounded shepherd. I think we’d all buy a ticket for that.

Unfortunately, by Friday, it became clear that although the footage and pictures were real, the story was not. The dogs were all out on the highway together, the corgi did seem to be in charge, and they did make it home safely, but all the colorful details about kidnappers, a daring escape,  and the two day journey home, well, no one really knows. And yet, I totally understand why these pictures captured people’s imagination and why the tale grew the way that it did.

In a world where power is being abused on the daily and vulnerable people are dying and getting left behind in droves, it does the heart good to hear a story like this one.  As one user commented, “I wish we were led by a corgi. It would be a huge step up for America.”

Which is funny, sad, and true….but also, quite honestly, nothing new. The truth is that it wouldn’t just be a huge step up for us as Americans, it would be a huge step up for us as humans. I honestly don’t think you can hear that as a dig against the current president without also acknowledging that every previous president, prime minister, emperor, and monarch in history, has also failed to care for their people the way we imagined that corgi caring for her pack.

And yet this is the sort of leadership we long for - long for so much we’ll even project it onto a dog - because it points to what the world would be like if God’s will really was done here on earth as it is in heaven.

I mean can you imagine how beautiful it would be to live in a world where we made it a point to take responsibility for one another, worked together to protect each other, and set a pace such that no one gets left behind? Can you feel the beauty of that in your heart?

I think you can, because I think there is something in most of us - I don’t think I can quite say all of us - but I do think there is something in most of us that knows, deep down, that we belong to each other and that our liberation is bound up in each other. That no one is free until all are free. We saw it yesterday on the faces and signs of the millions of people who joined with us in protest.

I think people like us know that at the end of the day we all get saved, (and by all, I really mean all - the strong and the weak, the rich and the poor, abled and disabled, white, black, red, blue, friend, enemy) we all get saved, we all get home, we all get to heaven together… or we’re not really saved, we’re not really home, we’re not really in heaven at all.

There is something deep down in most of us that knows this, because that’s the vision Jesus proclaimed, that’s the kind of kingdom he invited us to build, and that’s the sort of leadership he modeled for us all. And yet, for all our knowing, most of us - be we Christian or not - have let that vision go to the dogs.

In spite of Jesus’ teaching, we’ve allowed other voices to convince us to be realistic.

In spite of Jesus’ teaching, we’ve allowed other voices to convince us to be patient.

We’ve been conditioned to believe that some evils - like war - are necessary. After all, it’s a dog eat dog world out there - the parable of the corgi notwithstanding - and if we can’t save everyone, we might as well at least save ourselves. We’ve been hoodwinked, over and over again, tricked into believing that the only way to get to the world of safety, security, and equity we long for is through just a little more violence, callousness, and exploitation.

From the ancient Greek historian Thucydides who said: “The strong take what they can and the weak endure what they must,” to our own Stephen Miller - who reminded Jake Tapper that “we live in a world in which you can talk all you want about international niceties and everything else, but we live in a world, in the real world, Jake, that is governed by strength, that is governed by force, that is governed by power. These are the iron laws of the world that have existed since the beginning of time.” - between Thucydides and Miller, we have been taught that life is a zero sum game. Might makes right. You’re either with us or against us. You either get on board or you get left behind.

I hate that way of thinking. I think most of us do. But as long as the people in power are playing by those rules it’s hard to argue against them.

And yet Jesus did.

Riding into Jerusalem on both his little donkey and her colt, the logistics of which scholars are still parsing… (I mean how does one ride two animals at the same time? Is he standing on them both like water skis? Is he riding side-saddle on the mama and using the little one to rest his feet? The truth is nobody knows and it’s a stupid digression.)

The point is, riding into Jerusalem on his little donkey(s) surrounded by his rag tag group of disciples, Jesus looks as comically absurd as a little corgi leading a rag tag pack of dogs. And his message is equally absurd, not just to the Romans on high and the religious leaders in the temple, but even to his own disciples and his supporters in the crowd.

Jesus has come to instigate a non-violent revolution and institute a new kind of kingdom. He has come to free all people from “the iron laws of the world.” Free us from the lie that in order for some to enjoy peace and prosperity, others must suffer and die.

And yet for all Jesus’ talk of loving our enemies and blessing those who persecute us, for all his parables designed to help us see that we are all children of the same God and part of the same family, no one - not even the 12 - can imagine how we might get from the world as it is to the world as Jesus would have it be.

You might be able to live in peace and show mercy after you crush your enemies, but certainly not before.  And so even the people on Jesus’ side are advocating and expecting violence. They lay their coats down before him and proclaim him their messiah, their conquering king. ‘Hosanna to the Son of David!” they cry, as Jesus makes his way toward the temple in Jerusalem.

I think you already know that those were fighting words meant to provoke both Caesar and Herod. But what you might not know is that their actions were also the signal for a violent uprising.

Up until this past week, I thought the crowd laying down their coats was merely a sign of respect for Jesus, kind of like rolling out the red carpet for a celebrity. But I learned two interesting things from N.T. Wright that I want to share with you this morning.

One: the coats on the ground are a direct reference back to the story of Jehu, a commander of Israel’s army back in the days of Ahab and Jezebel. According to the story (in 2 Kings 9,) the prophet Elisha sent a lesser prophet to anoint Jehu so he could usurp the throne from the house of  the wicked king Ahab and his evil queen Jezebel. The prophet arrived and anointed the commander in a back room. When they emerged, his fellow officers wanted to know what was up.

“Is everything all right,” they asked? “Why did this maniac come to you?”

“You know the man and the sort of things he says,” Jehu replied.

 “That’s not true!” they said. “Tell us.”

Jehu said, “Here is what he told me: ‘This is what the Lord says: I anoint you king over Israel.’”

 They quickly took their cloaks and spread them under him on the bare steps… blew the trumpet and shouted, “Jehu is king!”

After which they rode off to kill Ahab’s son and put Jehu on the throne. It was a violent overthrow of a corrupt government, and as far as the crowd in today’s story is concerned, Jesus is the new Jehu. He is the one they believe can take back the throne of David by force. Their coats are under his feet and they are ready to ride at dawn.

And, speaking of David, I didn’t know this either, but N.T. Wright also points out that when David first took Jerusalem from the Jebusites, it was considered such an impregnable fortress, that the Jebusites didn’t even bother to defend themselves (2 Samuel 5). In fact, they taunted David saying, “You will not get in here; even the blind and the lame can ward you off.”

But somehow, David knew of a cistern in the middle of the city that provided its inhabitants with water. He sent his soldiers up through the water shaft, they overwhelmed the guards within and, once again, won the day with violence. But here is where it gets really interesting: because of the Jebusite’s taunt, David proclaimed that from that point on neither the blind nor the lame would be welcome in his palace.

Now I want you to focus on what Jesus does when he enters the temple in Jerusalem. He overturns the tables of the money changers and invites the blind and the lame to come into the temple court so he can cure them - actions that rebuke the violence and exclusion of Jehu and David.

Referencing prophets like Isaiah, who said,“My house shall be called a house of prayer for all people,” Jesus accuses those who work in the temple of treating it like a “den of robbers” instead.

And that word “den,” is key here. People hear the word robbers and assume he’s accusing the money changers of stealing or cheating people in some way. But a den of robbers isn’t where the thieving is done. A den is where the thieving is planned. Not only that, the word “robber” is really better translated “brigand,” which was not so much a thief as it was an insurrectionist, someone trying to steal power. The two thieves who will be crucified with Jesus were actually insurrectionists who had recently taken part in a violent uprising against Rome.

So Jesus is angry here because the temple has become a hot bed of political intrigue. God’s house has become a place for people to plot how to violently bring down the empire rather than a holy place where we learn how to peacefully resist empire, love our enemies, and show them by our own example that there is a better way to live and love in this world that is truly good news for all.

And then, by welcoming in the wounded, curing the blind and the lame whom David had cast out, Jesus demonstrates that the kingdom comes, not when we finally defeat those who do not like us or when we finally achieve some level of purity by casting out the ones who are not like us, but when we finally get to the place where we can see and welcome and care for all people whether they are like us or not.

Salvation comes when we can get to the place where we take responsibility for one another, work together to protect each other, and set a pace such that no one gets left behind. Salvation comes when we find the courage and compassion to walk all those who have been wounded - wounded in body and wounded in soul - back from the lies that hold us captive, until slowly but surely, we all find our way home.

“Hosanna” they cried, which means, “save us!”

The story of Jesus on his donkey(s) and the story of that little corgi and her pack, teach us the truth that at the end of the day we’re all here to save each other, that we all get saved together or we’re not saved at all. May it be so. And may it be soon. Amen.