Parade of Difference

Palm Sunday 2017

That first Palm Sunday – was a raucous time in the city of Jerusalem. It was to be expected. After all, it was the beginning of the Festival of the Passover, when religious pilgrims cause the city’s population of roughly 60,000 to 70,000, to swell by 200,000 or more people, all there to commemorate and celebrate Israel’s defining moment, her liberation from Egypt at the original Passover, almost 1300 years before.

After all, this is the reason that Jesus and his disciples are there as well. They have traveled to Jerusalem, as Jesus has done every year for his entire life, for this religious festival.

Yet this year, on this day, something is different. Jesus enters Jerusalem, his ultimate mission fully on his mind. He knows that the end is coming for his earthly journey; this part of his story is coming to a climax. Jesus enters Jerusalem knowing that this time, he will not leave the city alive. Events have transpired, powers have been placed in motion, that will lead to his passion and death this week--And in eight days’ time, to the defining moment for all of us, his startling resurrection.

In eight days’ time, Jesus will achieve his ultimate victory over powers of evil and death as the stone is rolled away from his tomb and he defies the bonds of both earthly and supernatural power. But for now – the procession.

Being the first day of the Festival, there is not one but instead are three distinct processions that enter Jerusalem that day. These are the parades of contrast that I would like to talk about today.

First, of course, comes Jesus. Jesus enters Jerusalem through the east gate of the city – the gate through which the tradition of the People of Israel has always said the Anointed One, the Messiah, will enter Jerusalem.

Through the east gate Jesus enters the city on the back of a donkey as the people shout, “Hosanna!” which literally means, “save us now”. Then they add, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” This proclamation comes from Psalm 118, a psalm traditionally recited by Jews at two important times each year – it is recited at the Feast of the Tabernacle, and at the Feast of Passover. It recalls the way kings historically were welcomed back to Jerusalem as they returned victorious from wars.

  And as Jesus rode down from the Mount of Olives, the people waved palm branches – indicative of a festal procession, a sign of victory and celebration for Jews and Romans alike.

Palm Sunday 16 by Bernard Plockhorst

But this psalm was also understood to refer to the Messiah, the Anointed One who would come and deliver his people. In using these verses to exclaim their fealty to Jesus that day, the people were in fact hailing Jesus as their king, and declaring this as his royal procession.

At the same time as all this was taking place, on the opposite side of the city, entering the city from the west came Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea, coming from Caesarea by the Sea, and bringing with him an entourage of at least 1,000 heavily armed Roman soldiers who would either be riding on horseback or chariot, or walking on foot. This procession was designed as a show of force; it was intended for the sole purpose of reminding the people gathered in the city of who was in control.

Lest any group conspire or think about raising up a rebellion, the message was clear: don’t. Don’t even think about it. You will be crushed. With all the extra people gathered for a festival that marked Jewish release from bondage in Egypt, it seemed like a good time to remind any who might be carried away by the hopeful undertone of the festival of the Passover that Rome was in charge. To drive this point home, it was Pilate’s intention to crucify several rebels on Thursday that week—just in time for the Passover. 

The third procession to enter the city, this time from the north with his own followers and royal soldiers was King Herod Antipas, who ruled over Galilee and Perea to the north and east of Judea. Like Pilate, Herod knew how to use violence to suppress rebellion and to express his power and authority over the people. And as he entered the city, his supporters lined the streets, cheering as he arrived.

There was good reason for any Jerusalemites in power or high status or wealth to support and cheer for this king – they were well aware that he had the power to strip them of everything they had if they displeased him, even to the point of exiling them or executing them if he desired to do so. Currying favor with the king was important to the livelihood of many of the residents of Jerusalem that day.

Three processions, for three distinct purposes. The contrasts between Jesus’ historic Palm Sunday procession and the parades of Pilate and Herod are striking. Pilate and Herod enter on warhorses, not unlike the victorious procession of Alexander the Great in 332 B.C. when Jerusalem capitulated to him as he entered the city on his way from Tyre to Egypt during the Macedonian conquest. They are preceded and surrounded by heavily armed companies of soldiers. Their processions epitomize military might and muscle. Against Pilate’s and Herod’s armies, Jesus’ poor and ordinary provisions stand out:

He has no herald at arms; no trumpets sound; no chariots of state precede him into the city; there are no liveries that follow. None in his procession carry weapons – only palms. There are no prancing horses or running horses that would create a distance between Jesus and the people, or force away a needful one who came to appeal to Jesus for help.

Rather, Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a quiet ass, the mightiest king coming in the most humble of means.

Two of the three men entering Jerusalem on that Festival Sunday were iron-fisted men known for their cruelty. The third is Jesus, known for his healing and mercy.

Two ride war-horses, while Jesus rides on the back of not just a donkey, but the foal of a donkey.

Two are carrying weapons of war, surrounded by military power, exuding the authority vested in them by the state of Rome; Jesus rides in humility, making his royal claim, with every choice declaring that he is the Anointed One, the Messiah, sent by God, proclaiming God’s love. His weapons are forgiveness, grace and mercy; his authority is divine; it comes from God above.

We can compare and contrast all the differences between these three today, and what we will find is that it all boils down to this: Jesus will give the world what the Herods and Pilates of the world never can – eternal life and peace, and a way forward that leads to justice and joy.

And as the processions enter the city something happens. They don’t cross paths, they don’t engage in a show of force or conflict, in the moment they likely not even aware of the presence of the others. But as Jesus enters Jerusalem even as Pilate and Herod enter the city through opposing gates, the earth shakes.

Quakes are mentioned only three times in this gospel: now, at Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, at the time of his crucifixion as our King bows his head and dies, and on Sunday a week hence, when he rises from the tomb, his resurrection illustrating the true power and victory of our Lord and Savior. It is as if the spiritual energies that collide and clash here cannot be contained. Even the earth and the heavens bear witness to the majesty of Jesus and to the ultimate power and authority that are his to command.

As we contemplate the contrasting processions of that first Palm Sunday, we are invited to our own commemoration of the Festival of our Passover, where Jesus serves as the Lamb of God, come to take away the sin of the world. We are invited into a week that changed the world.

We are ushered into the story and remain as bystanders and witnesses when Jesus seals his fate by cleansing the Temple and declaring that God’s house will be a holy house of prayer where all are welcome – Jew and Gentile, insider and outside, rich and poor, outcast and sinner, and where all will be healed by the power of a God so merciful, so gracious and righteous, that he redefines the Passover, redefines salvation itself, blessing us with the gift and reality of everlasting life.

You and I, my friends, are among the multitude of souls who are invited into a week brimming with death and life and life after death for all who believe in God’s power and authority over every element on earth. This is God’s gift to us. This is our reality. This is our story. We are invited to walk in the footsteps of Jesus, to receive blessing and absolution for our sins, to be fed and nurtured in the faith, to be cleansed for service in Jesus’ name, and to be witnesses of the great and glorious power of God to save. May we all be blessed to know these truths as we embrace the Passion and Cross of Christ in these days.

I urge you to accept this invitation. Immerse yourself in the greatest story ever to unfold, and all for the sake of humankind, for the sake of the kingdom of God. Then and only then in eight days, will we be ready to embrace and to receive the glory of the resurrected Christ. Amen.

How Many Cooks Does It Take?

Romans 12: 9-21

My husband and I love to cook. We love to create recipes and we love to experiment with ingredients, spices and flavors. The results can be – let us say – interesting at times.

When our children were small, we welcomed them in the kitchen, and we would invite them to do what they were developmentally able to do. Early on, that meant they got to squish the cookie dough between their little fingers to get the ingredients mixed in really well, or stirred whatever was in the mixing bowl. Later, they were able to pour in the spices and flour we had pre-measured for them. Later still, they were assigned the task of measuring ingredients themselves before they were added. Ultimately, they learned how to read – and follow, recipes.

In those early days, we taught them how to measure out ingredients, about the difference between a tablespoon and a teaspoon, about how the clear glass measuring cups, the kind with spouts, work best with liquids, and leveling cups work best with dry ingredients. We taught them that when you are baking bread, you had best stick precisely to the recipe. They learned that before “improvising” they really should learn how a perfectly followed recipe should go. They needed to understand certain principals of cooking, baking, roasting or food preparation before they could go do their own thing in the kitchen.

As they grew older, they each developed their own style and preferences when it comes to the art of cooking. And, they too, like to improvise and create. This leads to some pretty comical confrontations in the kitchen when we are all together and each of us is trying to make our contributions to a meal, each, of course, with our own ideas of how things should go.

I’ve learned to steer clear of our youngest son, Patrick, for instance, if I don’t want a dash of the hottest hot sauce available included in my dish. The eldest, Bill, knows that I will add onions and garlic to almost anything, so he, not a fan of onions, keeps certain dishes as far as possible away from me. Our world-traveler Victoria has perhaps the broadest palate of the three due to the various cuisines she has encountered, so she is likely to bring what the rest of us consider strange and exotic ingredients into the mix. Jim likes to surreptitiously add various contributions of spices to any dish; gotta watch out for him!

As I read the text from Paul’s epistle to the Romans this week, I found that this text reads like a recipe. It is a recipe written for a church that was most likely comprised of some primarily Jewish and other primarily Gentile congregations, with some mixed congregations as well; with people who are bringing their own ideas and traditions to the table, in other words; ideas of what this Christian church should look like, how it should function, what it should teach. This church in Rome was one of the earliest Christian churches that formed, and one it seems, Paul has never visited.

From what we are able to glean from Paul’s writing, there were the kinds of tensions, debates, and disagreements about the church’s theology and its mission in Rome you might expect of such a mixed community. And while Paul may have been hoping to visit this church on his journey to spread the gospel message to the west, there is growing, dangerous opposition to the Christian message in the east – in Corinth and Judea. So, he’s not sure he’ll ever make it there. Therefore, he wants to record a thorough exposition of the gospel message as possible for this church, that it might become united as one body, the Body of Christ in Rome.

As we have seen in our brief sojourn through Romans the past couple of months, Paul writes passionately of the grand story of salvation and redemption, and the new life that comes from God through Jesus Christ. He confesses throughout these pages, who Christ is, how through Christ the grace of God is revealed, and that through the cross of Christ new life transforms all believers, no matter who they are or where they are from. The foundation of this new life is love. Love is at the core of all that God has done for humankind. Earlier, in Romans 5:8, Paul notes that “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Later, in Romans 8:35-39, Paul reassures readers that “nothing in all creation can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (39)

Life in Christ is marked by love, and Christ-like love points us to specific behaviors, understandings and way of being that set Christians apart from “the world” – “the world” being Paul’s way of naming the forces of sin and evil. In fact, in the verses just before those we read today, Paul speaks of this reality. He writes, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God.” In those verses, Paul then invites the community to see and treat one another as equals – each with specific gifts – that together make up the Body of Christ – one body with many members, though individually members of “one another.”

And so, in our text today, Paul offers up a recipe for living in loving community and in this new life, begun in Jesus Christ.

First, in equal measure combine these things without substitution; heartfelt love; hatred of evil; love of good; mutual affection; eagerness to show one another honor;  passionate Spiritedness; service to the Lord.

Add to these, rejoicing in hope; patience in suffering; devotion in prayer; participation in the needs of the saints; hospitality to strangers.

Finally comes the instruction for how to use and combine these ingredients: Bless those who persecute you, rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another.

Sift in ample wisdom in how you present yourselves. Stir in relationships that are marked by peace; promote peace by your actions. Give of your own resources for the material needs of the poor, like food, clothing, and shelter, and finally, feed, give drink and care for your enemies. Avoid being overcome by evil, but instead overcome evil with good.

In Paul’s letter, as he lists these things, he employs the imperative voice some 30 times. Good gravy, he’s bossy! The imperative voice is the voice of command. In other words, he is saying, “in order to live this new life in Christ, Christians must do these things.”

Yet these aren’t quite the top-down orders that they might seem to be. Because the truth is, as John writes in 1 John 4:19, “We love because he first loved us.” The truth is that, transformed by the love of God we are compelled by new life in Christ to do these things. This new life frees us to love as Christ loved. Being loved by God compels us to seek the good of our brother and sister, compels us to seek peaceful resolution to conflict in all our relationships, compels us to live life in community that is patterned after the life of the crucified and risen Christ.

We can see these words of Paul’s to the Romans as a window into what life in Christ looks like in community, in real time. It is recipe that can guide us in the principles and foundation of behavior for community that lives out its mission in Christian witness. As God shapes the shared life of the saints, that life is characterized by genuine, heartfelt love.

Yet, we know that following this recipe is not always easy. We are broken in ways that influence our choices and interactions. We have our own ideas of how to be in relationship, ideas of how to react when we are hurt, we have developed our own patterns of behavior that guide interactions with strangers, with those we see as being against us, with those whose ideas don’t gel with ours.

What happens in community when relationships break down? When my way of doing things conflicts with yours? When feelings get hurt, when disagreements threaten the common good? And what do we do when evil wends its way into community and destroys peace, as evil will do?

Paul tells us, go back to the basics found in this recipe. Love what is good. Overcome evil with good. Never avenge yourselves but leave room for the wrath of God. The honest struggle we have with parts of this text is, frankly, part of the journey of discipleship, requiring sometimes that we die to ourselves and our own understanding of what is “good” and let God be God. Freed from the need to seek retribution or give payback for slights or prove that our way of cooking is the right way of cooking, we can get back to the business of showing one another honor, promoting peace, and living in harmony with one another.

Through baptism, the Spirit invites us into community that is both life giving and life affirming, whose generosity extends beyond the immediate community to others, both saints and strangers. Finding a way of peace means bearing the cross of Christ, and giving up our need for control. It doesn’t endorse playing along with abuses that arise in dysfunctional relationships or playing nicely with those who do evil. What is does call us to do is to pattern our lives after Christ.

Like the creativity and improvisation that meets each engagement in the kitchen of my family, we each have things to share to spice up this recipe called church. We may not always agree with the other cooks in this kitchen, but in love and care for the community, we create space for other people. We follow the principles laid out for us by Jesus. The foundational ingredients still stand. Love, patience, generosity, humility, forgiveness, hope, prayer, and hospitality.

That’s what God, in Christ, calls and empowers us to do.