SAME MIND

March 24, 2013

Palm – Passion Sunday

Luke 19:28-40

Isaiah 50:4-9a

Philippians 2:5-11

(prayer)

It is spring time in the northern hemisphere. 

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As it was for Jesus when he and his disciples made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem from their homes near the Sea of Galilee.

They were coming for the Passover festival, celebrated every spring since the time of Moses which (in Jesus’ day) was always on the eve of the first full moon after the vernal/spring equinox.

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They had friends in Bethany, so by the Saturday before the Passover, the disciples and Jesus had made their way there: just east of Jerusalem.
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SUNDAY

Jesus made plans to go into the city.  It must have seemed curious to his followers that Jesus was unusually insistent on entering Jerusalem riding a donkey.  I mean, they had just spent several days walking all the way from Galilee.  And Bethany was not very far from Jerusalem - even in its day, it was a bedroom community to the capital.  Certainly, Jesus must have had some other motive than he simply needed to rest his feet.

But if that was what the master wanted, the disciples went along with the plan - they found Jesus a donkey.  And Jesus rode into the Temple City from the east.  It was the start of the festival week.  The mood in the community was jubilant.  As Jesus moved along the eastern streets, festival goers were everywhere.  It was probably a combination of the festive mood and this man on a donkey, but it had a parade-like atmosphere.

Are you like me, if you see a limousine drive by, do you try and take a look who might be inside?  Sure it's probably just a wedding party or a group of teens living it up on grad night, but maybe... it could be some real celebrity.  It is natural to want to look.

"What's going on here?"

"Who's the guy on the donkey?"

"Jesus? Who's he?"

"A healer from Galilee?" 

"A prophet?"

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It was the Passover - the festival remembering the time when the people of Israel first gained their liberty after centuries of Slavery to a succession of Egyptian Pharoahs.  The final of ten plagues that afflicted Egypt was a 'spirit of death' that swept through the land killing the firstborn of every household.  Moses told the Israelites to prepare and share a special lamb meal.  To rush the breadmaking, not waiting for the dough to rise.  To dress for travel in the morning and to pack light.  And before cooking the main course to rub some blood from the slaughtered lamb on their door posts.  Moses told them that it would be a sign to the spirit of death to "pass over" such a house.

In the morning, in the chaos of the devastation, Pharaoh finally agreed to Moses' long standing demand to "Let my people go!"  And the Israelites, whose families were unaffected by the plague as Moses promised began their long walk to freedom.

It was the festival of the freedom from oppression and submission that Jesus rode that donkey to celebrate.

Now, in Jesus' day, Moses and Egypt were a distant memory from some 3000 years in the past, but... oppression and submission were present realities for the people of Judea and Galilee.  The new Egypt was the Empire of Rome and the new Pharaoh was Caesar.

It must have made the roman authorities in Jerusalem a bit nervous each year when the city filled up with excited pilgrims to recount a story of liberation from an empire.

Maybe that is why the Roman Procurator of Judea left his official residence in Caesarea to be in Jerusalem that week.

It is not out of the realm of possibility that about the same time Jesus was making his almost comical, non-treatening entrance into Jerusalem from the east that Pilate and his entourage of horses and chariots were coming in from the west with all the fanfare of a conquering warrior.

Imagine the contrast of those two parades.

·         Which one is in control?

·         Which one is has authority?

·         Which one holds the salvation of the people in his hands?

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I wonder if "that contrast" was what Jesus had in mind, when he told his disciples to go and find him a donkey?

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The Bible is silent on what Jesus and his followers did that first day in Jerusalem.  There is some indication that (later in the week at least) he went to the Mount of Olives after sunset.  Perhaps that's where Jesus (and maybe even other out-of-town pilgrims) camped during the festival.

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MONDAY

Even though Jesus was in Jerusalem on Sunday, I don't think he made it to the Temple that first day.  I say that because we know that Jesus went to the Temple on Monday, and he seems surprised by what he saw.  His reaction allows me to assume that he hadn't seen the same things the day before.

Perhaps Jesus was just a naive northerner, but he expected the mood at the Temple to be more serene, more spiritual.  Instead, it had the aura of a marketplace more so than a place of worship.

In a way, though, the sale of livestock and birds and the currency exchanges were necessary.  It is quite probable that well over 100,000 pilgrims had come to Jerusalem for the Passover.  It is just not practical to expect people to have traveled great distances bringing with them the animal offerings for the Temple rituals.  And since people came from all over the greco-roman world, the could have been expected to have temple currency with them.

The frenzied atmosphere was disrupted when Jesus began shouting and running between the animals and the merchants tables.  "This Temple should be a house of prayer.  But you have made it a den of thieves."

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If there were a few whispers of "who is this?" beside the road while Jesus had his east Jerusalem palm parade, you can guarantee that after the Temple incident, a lot of people were trying to quickly figure out who this zealot was.

Jesus' so called 'cleansing of the temple' had to have been a concern to the temple leaders.  This was one of the busiest and holiest times of the year, they would not have appreciated the disruptions.

And it most definitely would have drawn the attention of the Roman authorities.  As I already mentioned, security measures would already have been heightened, given the volatile nature of the Passover festival.  I have no doubt that if Jesus' little anti-Pilate parade hadn't already done it, that the near riot at the Temple definitely stirred up conversations among the Roman guard.

And finally, I think that it is fair to assume that the incident also raised a few eyebrows among Jesus' own group of followers and disciples.  Some perhaps pleased that Jesus was making such a socio-religious stand, and others who were concerned about what kind of trouble it might bring.

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TUESDAY-WEDNESDAY-THURSADY

Whatever the reaction, Jesus wasn't banned from the Temple and he wasn't deterred from going back either.  From something Jesus is quoted as saying on Thursday, we can believe that he was at the temple daily - he would find a good spot in the courtyard and he would discuss issues of life and faith with whoever wanted to venture into a conversation.

People were drawn to him.  There was an attractive truth in the words he spoke.  Luke's gospel said that people were "spellbound by what they heard". 

To some of the elders and temple scribes, this Nazarene preacher was a mystery.  Eventually, even the Chief Priests were asking: Who was he?  What gives him the right to speak with such confidence and apparent authority?

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Jesus debated the scriptures with Sadducees.  He told parables about patience and commitment.  He spoke how wealth and status has no bearing on one's faithfulness.  That upset some of the powerful, but it enlivened the ordinary folk.  He challenged an empty piety that seemed devoid of spirit.  When he suggested that the temple was mere stone and could not endure forever, that really upset some of those whose identity was tied to the rote rituals.

And Jesus didn't shy away from the intersections between religion and politics.  "Should we pay taxes to the emperor?"  And of course, just as Pilate and the other romans feared the intersection of religion and politics often raises the prospect of revolution.  Jesus spoke about a battle for Jerusalem.

That was enough for some of Jesus' opponents.  Too many people seemed to be enthused by Jesus view of life and faith. He had to be stopped. The biggest problem was his popularity.  How could they take him with no crowds around?  They would need someone with inside information.

Enter Judas.  Who approached who?  We don't know.  Did they approach Judas, did he set out to betray Jesus?  Those questions were really moot once the silver was exchanged.

Judas gave them Jesus' itinerary for Thursday.  He'd be surrounded by people all day; probably spending much of the day in the Temple, teaching.  But in the evening, Jesus and his disciples planned to feast together and then Jesus would seek the solitude of a quite garden for an evening prayer. 

They worked out a sign.  The soldiers would wait in the shadows in the garden.  Judas would kiss the man they wanted to arrest.

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THURSDAY EVENING

This bread is like my broken body.

This red wine is like my blood poured out.

Take, share, eat and drink.  Remember me.

Love one another as I have loved you.

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Peter, James and John, wait here while I go a little further to pray alone.  I'll only be gone about an hour.

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Judas, must you betray me with a kiss?

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FRIDAY

Jesus, the prisoner, was peppered with questions (some religious, some political):

·         Are you the Messiah?

·         Are you the Son of God?

·         Are you a king?  The king of the jews?

It was that last question that brought the real trouble.  Was Jesus denouncing the authority of Rome?  Was he trying to win Judea's independence? 

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The stories people told years later varied.  Some insisted that Jesus stayed silent and refused to cooperate.  Others wrote as if Jesus responded defiantly, sarcastically.

In the end, Pilate was convinced enough that Jesus was a potential traitor (or he couldn't care less).

Jesus was crucified as a traitor of Rome.

He was hastily buried as the Sabbath sunset approached.

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Years later, the followers of Jesus - even after the joy and wonder of Easter, they had difficulty with Jesus' trial and crucifixion.

Some found comfort and meaning in 400 year old scriptures - the suffering servant songs of Isaiah.  I did not turn away.  I gave my back and my cheeks to those who struck me.  I did not hide my face.  It is God who vindicates and helps me.

Jesus remained committed and confident, even in the face of brutality and torture.  The old servant songs had a new life in the early Christian communities.

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And there was also new songs.  The passage we heard from the letter to the Philippians (chapter 2, verses 6 to 11) is more poetic in its style that the sections of the letter around it.  It appears that Paul is inserting a quotation into his message for the church at Philippi.  In this passage, we may be looking at the oldest written Christian record - an early hymn about Jesus.

And what does it say about Jesus' trial and execution?  That Jesus humbled himself.  He was obedient to his message - he wouldn't recant, he wouldn't beg for his life.  The hymnwriter said that Jesus remained obedient "even [through to] death on a cross".

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Paul's brief intro to the hymn is an invitation to the church of the Risen Christ.  "Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus".

In other words, think like Jesus.

In other letters, Paul invited the church to have a heart like Jesus, love (after all) is the greatest of all gifts.

But here, in Philippians, we see more.  Feel like Jesus, yes.  But also think like Jesus.

When Jesus was in the throws of his kangaroo court, he reasoned that his fate was set.  And, so he choose to remain committed to what he had done and said.  He must have been humble enough to know that his teachings and example had left a mark.  He had the humility to admit that the movement he initiated would endure beyond his imminent death.  That, if necessary, the stones themselves would shout out the goodnews of God's compassion for all.

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Jesus' final week began with a humble and jubilant donkey ride and ended with the laboured walk up Skull Hill.  It started with shouts of Hosanna and ended with cries for crucifixion.  It began with dedicated fellow pilgrims and ended with denial and betrayal.

And yet, Jesus' heart and mind was unchanged through it all.  His leadership was not like that of Caesar or caesar's Judean governour - his was not authority through oppression and might.  It was authority through humility and peace.

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Let same mind be in us.

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