A LOT TO DIGEST

March 29, 2015

Palm Sunday

Mark 11:1-11

Isaiah 50:4-9a

(prayer)

Those of you who know me know that I am a bit of a sports fan.  I have a couple of sports and teams that I like to follow regularly, but I can be perfectly happy (when the time and my mood is right) to watch pretty much any sport - even if I have no idea what the purpose or rules are.

I am not sure why this is. 

I don't think I am a ferociously competitive guy. 

I do think that there are a lot more important things in life than mere games. 

I am abhorred at our societal priorities that willingly has billions of dollars swirling around pro sports, but can't muster the resources to meet the need for short term transitional housing in communities the size of Beaumont and Leduc.

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I have had to learn to prioritize my sports fandom compared to my carefree bachelor and kid-free days.  For example, I have noticed that I don't watch as much hockey or baseball as I used to - at least during the regular season.  I may not be able to tell you how every team is doing throughout the year, but come the playoffs, I can catch up quickly.

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People my age and a bit older may remember that former Oakland Athletic, California Angel and New York Yankee baseball player, Reggie Jackson, was nicknamed "Mr. October" - because (no matter how strong or weak his regular season had been) he had a habit of really shining in the playoffs.

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In the fullness of life, sometimes, the best we can do is show up for the playoffs - to be there when it really counts.

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Some of you have been at St. David’s for church in recent weeks.  In that way, you have been on a shared journey.  For the past five Sundays (since mid-February), as a church we have marked this time as The Season of Lent.

If you are new today or haven't had the chance to attend church in the past month or so, don't worry - you've made it for the playoffs!

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Today is the start of what is sometimes called Holy Week.  It is Palm Sunday today.

From the biblical narrative we learn that Jesus and some of his closest followers arrived in Jerusalem about a week early for the Passover festival.  It sounds like he was in the area for the Sabbath immediately before the Passover.

From Mark 11 (which we read today) and in similar passages in the other three gospel books, we learn that Jesus made his first day trip of the season into the city on the first day of the week: Sunday.

All accounts report that Jesus was riding a donkey and that he began to draw a crowd almost immediately - clearly his reputation as a teacher and healer preceded him.  It is said that some in the crowd cried out 'hosanna' - a phrase that literally means save us, but has a more triumphant connotation: we're saved!

This day gets its name because some in the crowd waved tree branches in the parade-like atmosphere.

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But Palm Sunday is just game one in a best of seven series.

Unfortunately, because our pattern is to make time for church on Sundays – if we wait until next week to tell more of the story of Holy Week, we will have missed out on some important details.  Next Sunday is Easter... the day on which Jesus was raised from death and appeared to a number of his followers.

Imagine if a person – completely unfamiliar with the Christian story can to church for the first time on Palm Sunday and then again on Easter.

On the first week, he or she would hear, we welcome our king by waving palm branches and shouting Hosanna.

And then one week, later, the message was Hallelujah, Jesus isn’t dead anymore.

She or he would realize that they must have missed out on a significant part of the story.

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That is why sometimes we also call today Passion Sunday – from the greek word meaning ‘to suffer’.

Between Palm Sunday and Easter are parts of the Holy Week narrative where Jesus suffers.

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St. David’s is offering two other services over the next few days.

On Thursday evening, we can come together to remember the Passover meal that was to the highlight of that week for Jesus.

And on Friday morning, we can hear about how Jesus was arrested and tried and executed.

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I know that not all of us will be able to be part of one or both of those times, so I think it is important for us to recall Jesus’ passion as well as the palms today – even though it may be a lot to digest in one hour of church.

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We can imply from the biblical accounts that Jesus and his followers camped outside the Jerusalem city gates on the hillside of the Mount of Olives.
It is likely that many other pilgrims set up temporary lodgings in the same area.  Who knows they might have been in a section with other Galileans.

The stories tell us that each day leading up to the Passover, Jesus went into Jerusalem and spent time at the temple.  Luke’s gospel says that he was teaching.  What that likely meant
is that he would find an open spot in one of the temple courtyards and sat with his disciples and any other interested pilgrims and offered his insights on God and faithful living.  Like he had done over the past several years in many places, Jesus made good use of storytelling as a method of teaching.

According to Mark, in the temple Jesus told a parable about a vineyard owner who leased out his land while he went away on a trip.  When it was harvest time, the owner sent a servant back to the vineyard to retrieve some of the fresh fruit (presumably this had been part of the lease agreement).  But those using the land refused and beat the servant within an inch of his life.  The master kept sending servants trying to get what he wanted – and each of them was greeted with violence (some were even killed).  Finally, the owner sent his own son, assuming that the lessees would respect his wishes.  No... they killed him too.  Then Jesus asked, what should the lord of the vineyard do?

The implication is... if we reject God’s authority, are we really no better than these wicked farmers?

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Another time during that week, Jesus was asked if it was okay to pay taxes to the emperor (no this was not a question about the recent Alberta provincial budget).  Jesus responded by taking a coin and asking who’s image is on the coin?  [It was Caesar’s]  Then give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and give to God what belongs to God.

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But Jesus may have attracted the most attention for something he did rather than something he
said.  Early in the week, three of the gospels tell us that Jesus reacted harshly to those who were set up in the temple to help pilgrims participate in the Passover rituals.

The temple authorities did not accept Roman (or any foreign) coins as offerings to the temple treasury, so there were money changers at the temple to exchange people’s everyday money for temple currency.

As well, it would have been difficult for pilgrims who had come great distances to bring their own lambs for the Passover meal or sheep or birds for any number of temple animal offerings that they wished to make while they were in Jerusalem, so there were sellers of animals on the temple grounds as well.

The story goes that Jesus trashed many of the merchants displays – turning over tables and opening animal pens.  Jesus’ motivations are not precisely clear, but clearly the presence of this market like atmosphere bothered him. 

As the week went on Jesus was confronted several times by priests, scribes and pharisees at the temple, asking what authority he had to do and say these things.

Within the halls of the temple authorities, Jesus and his teachings and disruptions were a topic of conversation.

After the evening meal on Thursday, Jesus was in a garden praying when the temple police came to arrest him.  The story goes that one of his own disciples led them there and pointed Jesus out so the arrest could be made. 

Jesus appeared before the religious council (the Sanhedrin) and was questions about his actions and claims that some were making that Jesus was God’s messiah.

It was this last rumour that also attracted the attention of the political leaders.  Messiah (anointed one) is a regal reference.  If this Jesus was acclaimed as a king, that would be a threat to Roman rule. 

Jesus was taken before the roman governor (Pontius Pilate) to answer to the charge of treason.  From what we can gleam from the biblical narrative, the religious leaders were happy to provide evidence to Pilate that Jesus was a threat.

The story goes that Pilate was more unimpressed by Jesus than worried, but that he couldn’t afford to be soft on any disobedience to the empire, so he sentenced Jesus to die.  Jesus would be among a steady stream of troublemakers who would make the way to the cross under roman rule in Judea.

One story says that the crowd was given a last-minute opportunity to commute Jesus’ sentence but they demanded crucifixion.

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What a change over only a few days.  Adoring crowd shouting hosanna had shifted to blood thirsty mobs crying crucify.

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On the Friday of that week that should have been about the story of liberation from the time of Moses, Jesus died as an enemy of the empire.  He wasn’t alone feeling the wrath of Rome that day – there were at least two other criminals who were being crucified along with Jesus.

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Jesus’ died relatively quickly.  In some cases crucifixion could take days; Jesus succumbed in only six hours.

His death devastated his followers.  Some of them turned their backs on him.  Others scattered.  Only his closest disciples remained to bury Jesus’ body – and that was hurried because the day was ending and the day of rest (Sabbath) was approaching. 

The best they could do was to wrap his body in linens and place it in a borrowed tomb.  They would have to wait until first light on Sunday to anoint his body.

It seemed like the end of the road.  There was nowhere to go.

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As we will hear next Sunday, they didn’t get that chance because suffering had turned to joy.

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Years later, followers of Jesus who proclaimed the resurrection – who believed that Jesus was God's anointed messiah – drew connections between some of the events of Jesus' last days and words found in their sacred texts. 

There is a lot for us to digest over this service and over the next week, but it took decades for the early church to find language that helped them explained what had happened over that first Holy Week.

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When they told the stories of their lives with Jesus, they supplemented their recollections with readings from the psalms and the prophets.

In the Palm Sunday story, for example, memories of the crowds shouting 'hosanna' drew them to Psalm 118: LORD save us, blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD. 
The fact that Jesus was remembered to have ridden a donkey brought to mind Zechariah 9: Shout daughter Jerusalem.  See your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey.

The suffering Jesus went through found language in the words of the servant songs from the book of Isaiah:

I was given the tongue of a teacher and sustained the weary with a word.  I gave my back to those who struck me.  I turned my cheek to those who pulled out my beard.  I did not hide my face from the insults and spitting.

The followers of Jesus believed that – as it was for Isaiah’s ancient servant, it was also true for Jesus – God helped him.  Adversaries might try to declare him guilty, but God’s servant (Jesus) is vindicated.

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Today and this week, we have before us paradoxical language:

·        Hosanna and Crucify;

·        Death and Resurrection;

·        Turning Tables and Teaching Humility;

·        Criminal and Christ;

·        Betrayal and Commitment;

·        Hiding and Being Found;

·        Two sides of a coin;

·        The authority of Caesar’s empire and the Kingdom of God;

·        The anointed one who does not get anointed.

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Holy Week is complex.

It may not make sense easily.

Maybe it doesn’t need to.

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Let us pray:

Holy God, we rejoice in this day you have given us. Be gracious in our times of questioning, and make us bold followers of Jesus the Christ. Amen.

#210VU Christus Paradox “You Lord Are Both Lamb and Shepherd”