Two Rivers Pastoral Charge
April 14, 2019 (Palm Sunday)
Scripture: Luke 19:28-44
Scripture: Luke 19:28-44
It’s Ancient Jerusalem
at the time of the Passover. This city
that normally has 40,000 residents is hosting 200,000 visitors – pilgrims from
all over the known world, all making their way to the temple to remember the
deliverance of the Israelite people from slavery in Egypt. The streets are crowded, noisy, chaotic. Everywhere you turn, there are people –
people on foot, people with animals, people selling things, people buying
things. A cacophony of languages fills
the air.
It is a time of
celebration – after all, Passover is the feast that remembers back to the time
of the Exodus, back to the time when the angel of death passed over the homes
of the Israelite people who were slaves in Egypt, passed over their homes
sparing the firstborn sons of Israel, scaring the Pharaoh into setting the
people free from slavery, not even giving them time for the bread to rise,
sending them out with un-risen, unleavened bread for the journey.
It is a time for
celebration, remembering this deliverance, re-membering the story, as pilgrims
and families gather and re-enact the story of their deliverance. But there are also tensions in the air this
Passover.
For the Israelite
people are once again living under oppression.
The Roman Empire is now in charge of the Promised Land. People are still nominally free – free to go
about their lives, free to practice their religion, free to come and go. But hanging over them is the Pax Romana – the Roman Peace – a peace
that is enforced by violence – a peace that will make you think that you are
free… until you do something that makes the Romans feel threatened.
And into this city
rides Jesus. One more pilgrim amidst
hundreds of thousands of pilgrims, coming to celebrate the feast of the
Passover in the temple. And yet there is
something that sets Jesus apart from the rest of the pilgrims. Something that causes the crowds to spread
their cloaks on the road, honouring his passage. Something that causes the crowds to shout,
“Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!”
Today, Palm Sunday,
marks the beginning of Holy Week. Over
the next week, we are going to be traveling with Jesus through his final week
in Jerusalem. What begins today with a
parade and shouts and cheers and acclamations will continue with discussions
and arguments with the leaders in Jerusalem.
It will continue with a final meal shared by Jesus and his
disciples. It will continue with Jesus’
arrest and torture and trial and death sentence. It will continue with Jesus being nailed to a
cross and left to die. And then when the
whole world is silent with grief, this holiest of weeks will end with the
surprise and joy of the resurrection.
But as we begin this
journey of Holy Week, now might be a good opportunity to pause and ask, “Who is
this Jesus?” What does Jesus mean to you
in your life, as he enters Jerusalem accompanied by a cheering crowd? What is it about Jesus that makes us want to
stay with him and follow him through the week ahead?
Let’s begin with our
scripture from last week, where Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus,
anointed Jesus with expensive perfumed oil.
The word “Christ” or “Messiah” means the Anointed One; and so by
anointing Jesus, Mary has turned him in to a Messiah, into an anointed one. Is Jesus our Messiah?
And what do we mean by
Messiah? The ancient Israelite people
were expecting a Messiah, a great military leader who would save them from
Roman oppression. And so is Jesus our Messiah
in the sense of a warrior, or is there some other way in which he “saves” us?
Whether we understand
that we are saved because Jesus paid the price for our lives; or whether we
understand that we are saved because Jesus taught a different way of being; or
whether we understand that we are saved because God became human so that
humanity could be made holy; or whether we understand that we are saved because
Jesus defeated all of the evil in the world – there are so many different ways
of understanding salvation. We don’t
know how, but what we can proclaim is that God saves us through Jesus, the
Christ, the Messiah. And so as we head
in to Holy Week, are you following Jesus the Messiah, the one who saves us?
The crowds who are
following him hail Jesus as a king.
“Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!” Is Jesus a king? He is riding in to the city accompanied by a
parade in the same way that a king is, even though he is riding a donkey rather
than a warhorse. He is soon going to be
crowned, even though he will be crowned with thorns rather than with gold. He is soon going to be raised up, though he
will be enthroned on a cross rather than a throne.
But what do we mean
when we call Jesus a king? In New
Brunswick in 2019, we don’t have much of a reference point for kings! But when we call Jesus our King or our Lord,
I think that what we’re saying is that Jesus has the ultimate authority over
our lives; and if Jesus has the ultimate authority over our lives, than nothing
else can. If Jesus is king, then Caesar
can’t be. If Jesus is king, then money
can’t be. If Jesus is king, then hockey
can’t be. If Jesus is king, then fame
and the quest for popularity can’t be.
And so as we head in to Holy Week, are you following Jesus, the king?
Jesus also acts as a
prophet in today’s reading. Is Jesus a prophet?
Jesus looks at the
city before him, and he weeps. He sees a
city that has turned away from God, and he weeps for the loss. He sees a time when the city will be
destroyed by outside forces, and he weeps for the loss.
Prophets see the world
through God’s eyes, prophets notice where the world turns away from God’s plan
for the world, and prophets point people back to God. And so as we head in to Holy Week, are you
following Jesus, a prophet of God?
I wonder too, if Jesus
might also be an innocent bystander caught up in affairs out of his
control. He is one person, living in an
insignificant corner of the Roman Empire; and while he did irritate the
political authorities, his primary focus seems to have been deepening people’s
relationship with God. There was tension
on a global scale – maybe if Jesus had lived in a different time, in a
different place, then he might have slipped under the radar.
If we look around the
world today, there are so many innocent bystanders caught up and killed in things
much bigger than themselves. A cyclone
kills over 1000 people in Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and Malawi. Young men are shot by police for “Driving
While Black.” Climate Refugees are
forced to flee due to rising sea levels, droughts, or wildfires. Our LGBTQ+ Siblings around the world are
being persecuted and killed because of their gender or because of who they
love. If all of the innocent bystanders
lived in a different time or a different place, would they be able to survive
and thrive? And so as we head in to Holy
Week, are you following Jesus, an innocent bystander who is caught up in forces
that he can’t control?
Or is Jesus God
Incarnate, God’s Word-Made-Flesh, the second person of the Holy Trinity, a God
who chooses to die? In Jesus, God becomes
human, and so our humanity, our flesh, our human experiences are brought into
contact with God. Because of Jesus, the
whole range of human experiences have been brought into contact with God and
made holy – from love to suffering to joy to sorrow to pain to separation to
fear. And because Jesus died, even death
itself has been brought into contact with God and been made holy. If God dies, then death can never again have
the final word. If God dies, then death
is defeated by contact with God. And so as
we head in to Holy Week, are you following Jesus who is God?
We have a long and
emotional journey ahead of us this week.
Sometimes it might feel like a challenge to put one foot in front of the
other to keep going. Sometimes it might
feel tempting to put our head in the sand and stay locked in our houses rather
than acknowledging the path that Jesus is on.
But if we are committed to following Jesus all the way to the cross, and
then beyond to the resurrection, I invite us all to take some time to consider
who it is that we are following, and why we choose to follow him. Is Jesus a Messiah? Is Jesus a king? Is Jesus a prophet? Is Jesus an innocent bystander? Is Jesus God Incarnate, the Word Made
Flesh? Is he all of these things? Is he something else? Who are you following into Jerusalem today?
"Entry of Christ into Jerusalem" - Wilhelm Morgner
Public Domain
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