Of Kingdoms and Palms

Palm Sunday – Year B

March 29, 2015

Mark 11:1-11

When they were approaching Jerusalem, at Bethphage and Bethany, near the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples and said to them, "Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately as you enter it, you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden; untie it and bring it. If anyone says to you, 'Why are you doing this?' just say this, 'The Lord needs it and will send it back here immediately.'" They went away and found a colt tied near a door, outside in the street. As they were untying it, some of the bystanders said to them, "What are you doing, untying the colt?" They told them what Jesus had said; and they allowed them to take it. Then they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it; and he sat on it. Many people spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut in the fields. Then those who went ahead and those who followed were shouting,

    "Hosanna!
    Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!
    Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David!
    Hosanna in the highest heaven!"

Then he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple; and when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve.

The journey of Lent is almost over. Today, we remember Jesus' entrance into Jerusalem. We celebrate that day with a parade; shouts of Hosanna! and the waving of palms will fill many a sanctuary this morning. Looking back through our memories, I'm sure all of us can remember different Palm Sunday parades and reenactments from our time in the church in previous years. What do you remember?

For me, probably the strongest memory of a Palm Sunday parade was the one I saw when I was visiting my parents in Papua New Guinea. It was during the time when my father was teaching at Logaweng Seminary, and the reenactment was put on by the students and their families. I remember a true parade. We walked all around the grounds of the seminary, slowly making our way to the church. I remember palms everywhere. (Of course, getting palms in New Guinea didn't require any cost, you just needed to have a knife to cut one from one of the plants growing everywhere.) I remember the blankets that were being draped on the ground. But, what is probably the strongest memory is of the two students who dressed up together to become the donkey that Jesus rode upon. It was the funniest looking donkey I have ever seen, but at the same time it was the most awesome one ever. A smile still comes to my face when I think of it.

As I have been reflecting and working on this week's message, I've been thinking about the way we approach today. Palm Sunday is a day that is often full of pomp and ceremony. There are few hymns that empowers a church more than 'All Glory Laud and Honor'. We imagine Jesus riding triumphantly into Jerusalem, the crowds of people gathering, throwing their clothes on the ground, cutting palms from nearby plants, shouting cries of welcome and praise. It's a powerful image, but is it the one that Jesus was seeking? What was his purpose in making the entrance he did into Jerusalem on that day?

One of the things I've come to realize is just how much of what happened was probably carefully planned out by Jesus, rather than being a chance event. Jesus chose the path, and entrance he took. There were other ways of going into Jerusalem; there were other roads, other gates to pass through. He chose this one. He sought out the colt, he may have even made arrangements for it ahead of time. Sure, the cries of the crowd seem to have happened without coaxing, but Jesus carefully orchestrated everything that happened up to that point. So, what was the point he was trying to make?

The people who wrote the stories we have in the Bible were great about putting lots of information in, but they were also great about leaving stuff out. Some of it was stuff they didn't think was important, some of it was information and details they just assumed everyone knew. Here, Mark doesn't tell us something, because he assumes that all of his readers know it. It was the time of Passover. Faithful Jews were flooding into the city from all over the region, and the Romans who were in control of the city were on high alert.

One of the traditions that the Romans had at Passover was to demonstrate their power to the Jews, to ensure that all those gathered to remember the overthrowing of the Egyptians years before wouldn't use Passover as an opportunity to try and overthrow their current oppressors. So, on the other side of Jerusalem, from the west, as Jesus entered from the east, Pilate also made his entrance. He made his entrance likely riding upon a warhorse, a giant of an animal, saddled in fine leather and maybe even trimmed with gold. He would have been surrounded by troops, row upon row of cavalry and soldiers. His entrance would have been heralded by trumpets. His entrance declared the worldly power of Rome. On the other side of town, Jesus makes his entrance. Seated upon a colt, saddled with blankets. Surrounded not by soldiers, but by children. Heralded not by trumpets, but voices. Jesus' entrance was a declaration about the Kingdom of God.

Jesus' entrance is a powerful piece of political and cultural satire. “...Jesus lampoons the “powers that be” and their pretensions to glory and dominion, and he enacts an alternative to their way of domination. Riding on the colt, his feet possibly dragging on the ground, Jesus comes not as one who lords his authority over others, but as one who humbly rejects domination. He comes not with pomp and wealth, but as one who identified with the poor. He comes not as a mighty warrior, but as one who is vulnerable and refuses to rely on violence. Jesus here takes the role of jester, who enacts in a humorous, disorienting way a totally different understanding of “rule” and invites people to see and live in the world in a new way.”¹

Palm Sunday is a celebration of Jesus' entry into Jerusalem, but it is also a time to remind ourselves that Jesus' way is not the way of the world; that Jesus' words and actions were often in opposition to the powers of the world. Jesus' message was truly subversive. And the church that models itself after him should also be subversive. Unfortunately, in far too many ways and places the church has lost its subversive edge and become indistinguishable from the world in which it lives. We are to live in the world, but not be a part of it. So, how have we come to be so comfortable in it? When was the last time you felt yourself threatened because you declared yourself a follower of Jesus? The church began as a counter-cultural declaration that God's ways are not the ways of the world, we were a model of non-conformity, yet today the church conforms itself to the secular world as it seeks “success”. Churches have become like the very temple where Jesus overturned the tables, with bookstores and cafeterias, play spaces for children. We would likely rarely call ourselves subversive, if anything, we would seek to avoid the label of being radical or subversive.

With the exception of the Quakers and Menonnites, it's the rare church that can claim to be antiwar. When our country goes to war, it is all too often the churches that are loudest voices of support. The church that clings to pacificism will quickly find itself in the crosshairs of the community. War is good business, and we glorify it and it's fighters. Where do we find the church that lives by Jesus' words to Peter that we put away the sword, that we turn the other cheek?

Churches throughout our country have soup kitchens, send money to groups of all kinds to support the poor that surround us; but where is the church that challenges the very economic system that creates poverty? Christians run for public office on a declaration of faith, then fight against raising wages to a livable level. Do we truly want to help the poor, or make ourselves feel good about helping those with less than us – while doing nothing to truly solve why they have less?

Our society desires conformity, can the church become a place where nonconformity, where doubt and questions are allowed? Can we admire and support our President, but hate their decisions? “What if a follower of Jesus objects to the assassination of notorious terrorists without trial by jury? What if one no longer believes in hell but is afraid to say so in church?”² The church has unfortunately become a place where if you do not agree with the majority, you are escorted to an exit. Crowds at Harvard booed when it was suggested that they pray for Richard Nixon during his presidency; Billy Graham was booed by many (all-white) churches in the South when he announced he would no longer preach to segregated audiences. How dare the church be a place where we cannot find our own attitudes and biases being echoed from the pulpit?

On a day almost 2000 years ago, Jesus entered into Jerusalem riding on a colt, declaring himself as other than Pilate, as other than the powers of the world. The kingdom he was announcing was different, it was run according to different rules, it sought to subvert the world that was. Jesus' declaration of difference did not come to an end with the rise of the power of the church in society, it has simply been drowned out and watered down. We are still called to be a place that offers a new way, a different way, a counter-cultural message that practices non-violence, radical hospitality, reckless generosity, an extravagant welcome to all God's children.

We are called to preach the good news to the world, and if our good news is not heard as bad news by the powers that be, then we must look again at the message we are preaching. Rather than fighting about the doctrines of the church, arguing about which theological perspective is correct or “more biblical”, let's get out there and follow in the steps of Jesus and show the world how different we are.

It will be messy, chaotic, and full of energy as we seek to find ways to love God and neighbor in this time and place. “We will come together from many different places and traditions to tell our story in a place where people consider listening to be one of the sacraments. The only thing we'll have in common is the desire to follow Jesus and then trust in the power of grace to save us. Wherever his spirit leads us we will go, and if that means doing subversive things for the cause of love, then so be it. If it means throwing a stone, like David, against the Goliath that is fear and hatred, then so be it. We have never been asked to calculate the chances of success and then make a decision. We have only been asked to do what is right, what is merciful, what is just.”³

Grab your palms, join the parade, declare yourself to be a citizen of God's kingdom, rather than that of the world. Climb on your colt, rather than sitting upon the mighty steed. Be led by the cries of children, rather than the beating of profit or sword. Raise your voice against the voices of the world, and cry out, “Hosanna! Hosanna in the highest!” Amen.

1p. 157, Feasting on the Word, Year B Volume 2, edited by Bartlett and Taylor, WJK Press

2p.215, The Underground Church, by Robin Meyers, pub. by Josey-Bass

3p. 247, The Underground Church, by Robin Meyers, pub. by Josey-Bass

Waiting in Line

Second Sunday in Lent – Year B

March 1, 2015

Mark 8:31-38

Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, "Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things."

He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels."

One of the things I find myself doing a lot is waiting in lines of one kind or another. When I go shopping, I end up standing in line waiting to check out. When I go to the bank, I wait in line for a teller. When I go to a fast food restaurant, I wait in line; whether it's inside or outside in the drive through. You go to the doctor, and you essentially wait in line to be called. Just about everywhere you go, if there are more than a few people, chances are you are going to have to wait in a line of some kind.

There are people who find waiting in line to be very difficult. I think you know the kind of person I'm talking about, and maybe you're even one of them. They stand there anxiously moving around, looking around to see if there is a way to move faster, they sigh and complain about the speed of service. If someone up front has a question or a problem, they are likely to loudly make a comment of some kind. Then there are people who make waiting an art form. They seem to be able to calmly wait forever; with a smile on their face, waiting patiently for their turn.

In recent years it almost seems as if waiting in line has become an event in and of itself. People show up and wait in line for days if not weeks to see the newest movie. I think we can all remember the lines a few years a go for the new Star Wars movies and the Lord of the Rings trilogy. People waited patiently for days and days in order to get their hands on the newest iPhone and iPad. When the amusement park puts in their newest attraction, people will wait in line for hours to have a chance to ride it. What is most interesting about those lines, is that people are rarely grumpy, people are rarely grumble and complain; they tend to be laughing and smiling, having a good time. Why? Because they are so looking forward to what happens at the end of the waiting. The waiting is worth it.

The Jewish people had been waiting for the Messiah for a long time, waiting because they felt it was going to be worth it. There were many ideas about the coming of the Messiah that the Jewish people believed, including: Jerusalem and the temple were going to be the focal point of life when the Messiah came, the Holy Land would be restored to be like Eden's garden, the ground would be recharged with life and crops and plants would grow in abundance. In addition, the expectation was for the Messiah to come, claim the throne of Israel, reign as King, and from that position of power destroy all of Israel's enemies and bestow upon the nation all the blessings of God. No wonder the Jewish people were looking forward to the Messiah with expectation and hope.

And then Jesus, who many thought was the Messiah, announces that must suffer greatly, be rejected by the leaders of the temple, be killed and rise again. That was not the Messiah people were looking for, that was not what a Messiah was supposed to do. The Messiah was supposed to triumph over their enemies, not be killed by them. No wonder then that Peter took Jesus aside to challenge him, to rebuke him, likely to remind Jesus what the Messiah was and wasn't supposed to do.

I find that I'm often a lot like Peter, and not just in this situation. Peter plays the role of the 'every man' often in the gospels. He's the one who professes faith, yet finds it hard to declare his faith before the cock crows. He's the one who seeks to believe, and climbs out of the safety of the boat to walk in faith, yet when it gets difficult, his faith crumbles. He's the one who in anger strikes out to defend Jesus. He's me, and he's likely you. Here, he has a problem because who Jesus is doesn't fit nicely with who he wants Jesus to be. I'm like that sometimes, too.

Jesus tells us to love our enemies. But, that's hard to do, and there are often times when I don't want to. Jesus tells us to turn the other cheek when we are attacked. I want to lash out. Jesus tells us to place the needs of others ahead of our own, why would I want to do that? Sometimes I want to cry out, “Jesus, why can't you be like I want you to be? Why can't you want what I want? Why!?” My cry is probably the same cry that Peter had. How does Jesus respond to Peter?

“Get behind me, Satan!” Strong words. It's important to remember that in Greek (in which this text was originally written), Satan was not necessarily the red-skinned, pointy-tailed, pitchfork-bearing ruler of hell we tend to associate with that word. It was a word that also meant adversary or challenger. So, Jesus may not have declaring the Peter was possessed by the devil, but that he had taken on the persona of an adversary or challenger to what Jesus was saying. He was, as Jesus says, wanting his own dreams for the Messiah to be fulfilled, and was placing himself in opposition to what Jesus was instead declaring to be his mission.

“Get behind me!” When I hear those words, my mind goes back to those lines I began this sermon with. Standing in line at school, and someone cuts in line, “Get behind me!” I think that it is in this way that Jesus also used these words to Peter. “Get back in line!” “Step back into formation!” “Get back in step!” Jesus is looking at Peter and seeking to bring him back onto the Way, the path of Jesus, the steps that the Messiah was in fact going to walk. “Walk in my ways, Peter, not in yours.” “Walk in my ways, Erik, not in yours.”

It's a reminder I need. I need to be reminded that I cannot create God in the image I want. When I ask, “What Would Jesus Do?”, I can't convince myself that Jesus will do what I want. When I hear someone say, “What Would Jesus Do?” I remind myself of what the writer Mick Mooney wrote a few months ago:

Once upon a time, a mother made her son a wristband. On it was written: WWJD?This, of course stood for: "What Would Jesus Do?" She instructed her son to look at the wristband before making decisions on how to live his Christian life.

A week later she was shocked to see that her son had become friends with prostitutes, was hanging out with 'sinners' -- even buying people who were already drunk yet another round of beers!

Worse still, he had walked into their church the previous Sunday and tore down the book store, overturned the tables and threw the cash register through the window, he then made a whip and chased the pastor out of the building, declaring he was turning God's house into a den of thieves.

Most shocking was what happened when his mother went to picket the local abortion clinic. To her embarrassment, her son was also there, but he was standing with the women who just had an abortion, and yelled at the protesters: "You who are without sin, throw the first stone!"

The mother was very distressed, but fortunately she found a solution to this terrible problem. She made another wristband, this time it read: WWAPD? This, she explained to her son, stood for: "What Would A Pharisee Do?" She took the old WWJD? wristband and burned it.

Since her son has been wearing the new wristband, looking at it to help him make his decisions, he has become a dedicated tither, a public prayer warrior, an active condemner of 'sinners,' a passionate defender of the Old Covenant law, and has a great reputation as a godly young man amongst other religious people.

Needless to say, the mother is very happy now. She only wishes Jesus would take notice and follow her son's good example.¹

As Christians, we are called to seek to live our lives in such a way that they are in line with the life of the one we claim as Messiah. We are called to follow, to be 'behind' him. It's not an easy calling. If we had to do it ourselves, we would never be able to do it. But, we are not alone. Jesus may walk ahead of us, showing us the way; but, Jesus also walks beside and behind us, guiding us, strengthening us, carrying us when necessary. We are strengthened in our moments of weakness. We are enlightened in our times of darkness. We are guided in those times when we are lost. We are refueled when our tanks are empty. Today we gather around our Savior's table, and receive fuel for our journey.

In Communion we receive real food, real drink, ordinary stuff made from wheat and grapes. Simple things that point to an eternal truth, a memorial of Jesus' act of complete and total love, and service. A celebration and remembrance of his life, his love, and his final act of love on the cross. In Communion we are reminded of the mission of the Messiah, and how through him death no longer has power to destroy… that God's grace is greater than sin and darkness. The Eucharist, first shared by Jesus with his disciples on the night of his betrayal, shared with us so that we might live more fully here in this world, walking the path he first walked for us.

Today, our God offers a gift to feed us. Our Savior longs to be our refreshment, our food for the difficult, beautiful journey of life to which God calls us. When we gather around our Lord's table, we are getting behind God and looking to God to empower us to take up the cross of faith and follow. May it also be our food to help us together to become more fully the voice, the heart, the hands and feet of Christ for our families, for our neighborhood and for our world today! Amen

1http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mick-mooney/wwjd-what-would-jesus-do-_b_6010114.html