Palms, Psalms and a Donkey!

“Moses said to YHWH, “But, never in my life have I been a man of eloquence,

either before or since you have spoken to your servant.” Ex 4:10

Palm Sunday Year B:

Palms, Psalms and a Donkey!

In today’s account from St Mark’s Gospel, read after the blessing of palms, we read 'many people" welcomed Jesus. They give him a pilgrim's welcome 'blessings on him who comes in the name of the Lord'. It was probably members of the same enthusiastic crowd who, a few days later, shouted aloud for his torture and death. St Mark echoes the prophet Zechariah who in a series of prophecies tells of the coming of the last king who will be a true 'prince of peace'. Zechariah tells the returned exiles from Babylon that the true king or Messiah will come not as a tyrant robed in power and might, but as a gentle and humble person riding on a donkey. They had seen powerful kings in the rulers of Babylon and their successors the Persian kings. In other words he would not seem like a king at all. His coming was to be so discreet that it would be possible to miss it.

Jesus’ entry to Jerusalem, with his parade-by-donkey, is a parody of the Roman triumphal procession held at this time each year. It was an act of political theatre, that mocked the pomp and circumstance of Rome. He comes not on a warhorse but on a donkey, not fitted out with the trappings of majesty and the banners of victory but greeted with "greenery which they cut in the fields" and dusty garments. St Mark's description of the entrance of Jesus is restrained. Yet, we can catch the messianic signs. Jesus is in control of what is to take place. His entrance is pre-meditated seen in his giving detailed instructions about procuring the colt on which he will ride into the city. Pilgrims did not enter Jerusalem mounted, they always completed their pilgrimage on foot. Zechariah's prophecy laid out three key elements about the entry of the messiah: the one who comes will be the King of Israel; the messianic animal will be "a colt, the foal of an ass; and the people will be jubilant. How did Jesus' arrival escape the eyes of the Roman authorities, who were always ready to crush a potential liberator. Jesus is not an ordinary pilgrim, but the true King of the Jews.

Jesus had been preparing his disciples for the unique features of his messiahship: it would involve humiliation and suffering. Later, after all the events have played out and Jesus is raised from the dead, the disciples will look back and see the fulfillment of the Scriptures in Jesus' coming to Jerusalem. All along Jesus has been reserved about the messianic implications of his words and actions. The entry scene ends quietly with a song of pilgrim welcome, but a storm of conflict is approaching. The people have an anticipation of who Jesus is and what they expect him to accomplish, in bringing "the kingdom of our father David that is to come." But Jesus has been making it clear that his kingdom will be brought about by means of rejection, death and then resurrection in the city of David. However, the disciples and many like us have our own understanding of Jesus and what we want him to be and do for us.

What the disciples want from Jesus and themselves is triumph and glory. What Jesus sees is entrance into suffering and death. His kingship and glory will only come after the cross. Jesus might not be doing things according to people's expectations, but he will accomplish what pilgrims going to Jerusalem pray for. As they approached the Holy City, the Passover pilgrims would express to God their prayer for liberation - true freedom. This what we hope for whenever a new government comes to power. Humans fight to win elections, or take control of a country. Jesus' disciples were not exempt from these ambitions. Jesus knows that God's rule can only come by his patient suffering and death. Jesus offers us the cross not displays of power as he mounts a donkey and takes Rome for a ride it will not forget.

As Holy Week progresses the contrast between Rome seen in Pontius Pilate, and Jesus, becomes more marked. The political and religious powers will try and make a joke of him. He will be dressed in the parody of the imperial purple. He will wear the thorny crown as a mock diadem. He will bear the reed as the fake sceptre. Pilate will presents him to the crowds for their acclamation and finally he will be enthroned on the cross. The crowd give no acclamations of praise, instead they insult and mock him. However, the true prince, whom nobody can really see, is present all of the time and his true identity is revealed in the last scene of the holy drama - the resurrection. Earthly show their might through inflicting ridicule and humiliation on those who oppose them. In this historic moment, they do not realise that the joke is on them, as their pretensions to power are vain and empty. Christ, the Lord of Glory, through his enacted humility, questions the foundations of all earthly power. So we have: Two processions. Two kingdoms. Which one will we choose? It is easy to sing "Hosanna" and wave "Palms" and feel good about it, but we have to choose. I would like to join the Jesus procession, but I dare not join too casually.

2nd Sunday in Lent - Br. Luke

Andre-Rublev's Saviour

Homily preached by Br. Luke at Blaxland on Sunday 1st March 2015:

Second Sunday of Lent

Readings:

Genesis 17:1-7,15-16 ; psalms 22:24-32; Romans 4;13-25; Mark 8:31-38

There is so much to focus on in today’s readings.  But I’d like to begin in Genesis.  There is Abraham and Sarah in their old age, not having any children and there is God saying to them I will make you fruitful, you will… “I will make you multitudes of people from your descendants”

It’s not a surprise really that later in the scriptures we read that Sarah laughs. God says he will make many Nations from their descendants.  Menopause had well and truly come and gone for Sarah.  But there is God making this promise that from you will come a multitude of nations.  Oh my goodness, the power of God.

I am really partial to that story in Genesis, however I am going to be naughty and go straight to Romans.

Paul’s letter to the Romans is a very good one, it is full of Theology. Paul is writing very early Christian Theology. In all he says it is a Theology of Life, and he is teaching people how to live a Christian life. Remember he was a very very, We have to remember that Paul was a very Orthodox Jew, he was a Pharisee, highly experienced in the Jewish Law. He knew all about the scriptures, which is why we when read the scriptures they say he ‘opened the Scriptures and showed them. He could do that; he had an innate knowledge of the scriptures. So he draws the parallels and talks about Abraham and Sarah.

I want to talk about that passage from Mark because it is one of those passages where we may get a little bit alarmed if I can use that term. Now here is Peter, the premier disciple, the first disciple, the rock on which Jesus said he would build the church.  I have always had a very soft spot for Peter because Peter is always putting his foot in it, he is always doing probably what I would do. So I have a very soft spot for Peter.

But here he is where Jesus is saying the Son of Man is going to be crucified, Peter says ‘No! no; you’re the Messiah, that is not going to happen to you!’ What does Jesus do? He says get behind me Satan. He chastises Peter. He says to the Premier disciple, Get out of here! What you are saying is human. You are thinking as a person. You are not thinking about the Mission that I have been sent to do. The Mission is from God.

I have always loved the line from the film, The Blues Brothers. “I’m on a Mission from God”. And that’s what Jesus is on, a Mission from God. So Peter is distracting from that purpose, but he says no no no no; wait, you’re the Messiah – that can’t happen to you.

And then Jesus goes on and makes that very complicated and confusing statement “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. (Mark 8:35) What, does that mean? And that equally complicated gospel passage “if any want to become my followers let them deny themselves take up their cross and follow me” (Mark 8:34).

The cross is an instrument of torture, that’s how the Romans killed criminals, it wasn’t just Jesus.  Pilate was horrendous in terms of what he did. There were thousands of people of people he crucified. He was a particularly nasty bloke. Romans were a bloodthirsty people.  There was no forgiveness there.

So here is Jesus’s saying if you want to follow me, deny yourself and take up your cross and follow me.  To do what- after all the cross is a nasty way to die. And those who lose their life will save it”.  This is very complicated.  What is he saying to them? What he is saying them to is if you want to be a follower of mine you are going to have to focus now on the things of the world, but on the things that are divine. He is making a distinction between our physical lives and our spiritual lives.  Those who lose their lives will save it you will be saved in the Resurrection, in the life Everlasting. Right!

Remember, Jesus talks about life eternal, so he is taking that passage and saying if you lose your life in this life, you will gain your life in the future.  Does this make sense?  It’s the same words but he’s using a different context.

Take up your Cross. What is a cross? I’ve said before, it is an instrument of torture – but it is also a burden or an affliction of some description and that’s the cross that we carry.  That’s a burden that we carry.

Now we are in Lent, and traditionally Lent is about giving up things.  It’s about penance. Preparing ourselves for Easter.  And what is the major event of Easter?  It’s is not the crucifixion.  The major message of Easter is not his death, it’s his Resurrection. That the message of Easter.  It is the defeat of death.  You lose your life, Jesus dies on the cross, but he rose again and you will save your life. See how the message flows through the Scriptures.

And when we stop and say, well, what is our cross? It can be as simple as having to do something you don’t want to do.  Going to work every day, especially in a job you don’t like doing.  Or for some individuals it’s a disability or an addiction, or their mental health.  It’s a cross they carry.

Our cross is something we carry every day. Jesus tells us what will it profit us if we gain the whole world, but lose our life. That being a Christian is a cross we will carry. He tells us that being Christian will be difficult.  We know that by following him when our physical lives end, we will be with God in eternity. That’s what he means when he says to them you will save your life.

And finally “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.” (Mark 8:38). So that’s the sting in tail isn’t it? If you are ashamed of me, if you don’t really want anyone to know that you profess to be Christian, then you’re being ashamed of me.  You know what’s going to happen.  When I come back, then I’m going to be ashamed of you.  Because you’re not being true to the message.  You’re not being true to what you are called to do.

And you hear me say this all the time: what’s the message of the Gospel?  The message of the gospel is love.  John right in the beginning of his gospel.  What did he write? “God so loved the world.”  “God is love.”  Jesus says when asked, “What is the greatest commandment?”  Love the Lord your God will all your heart; with all soul, with all your mind and with all your strength. As a second is like it, love your neighbour and yourself, on this hang all the law and the prophets. The first is very hard. Make no mistake about it.  And loving your neighbour as yourself? That is the biggest cross that Christians have.  If we stop and think about loving our neighbour, because there are times when we say to ourselves: “I really don’t like that person!”  Or we say to ourselves about the other person, “why don’t you just go away?”  The Christian message says no, we have to love the lot.

Amen.

Recorded and transcribed –  at Maroubra by br. Andrew

18 th April Good Friday

St- Andre-Rublev's Saviour

Holy Redeemer

In the care of the Ecumenical Franciscan Order

Good Friday 18^th April 2014 provided by Br Simeon

Gospel:  John 18:1-19:42

“The Cross, such love”

What do you see when you look at the cross? The sin of the world? Suffering, pain, loss? Sorrow, separation, death? To some degree all that is present in the crucifixion. No doubt, all of those things are the sword that pierced Mary’s soul as she stood and watched. Those things, however, can also become the veil, the lens, that distorts our vision of the cross. They can keep us from seeing why this day is called Good Friday. They can keep us from seeing a way forward. Sometimes we let the suffering of Jesus blind us to the love of God.

If today is just another day of suffering and brutality, a day to re-enact the execution of Jesus, then it makes no sense to speak of this day as good. We must acknowledge, however, that good does not mean easy or magical. The goodness of Good Friday does not eliminate the reality of sin, grief, suffering, and death. It means those are not the final or ultimate reality of this day, or any day for that matter.

To fixate on the bloody details of the crucifixion risks promoting a false view of what the cross of Christ accomplishes. That fixation leaves us with an angry God seeking retribution, payment, for humanity’s sinfulness through the violent, bloody, torturous execution of Jesus. That is not the good news of Jesus.

The biblical descriptions do not focus on the brutality, gore, and violence of the cross. For some reason we have allowed that to become the focus of the crucifixion. It is there, to be sure, but that is not where scripture places the focus. St. John offers no graphic or bloody details. He simply states the facts:

“One of the police standing nearby struck Jesus on the face” (18:22).

•   “Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged” (19:1).

•   “The soldiers wove a crown of thorns and put it on his head” (19:2).

•   They kept “striking him on the face” (19:3).

•   Jesus carried “the cross by himself” (19:17).

•   “They crucified him” (19:18).

•   Jesus said, “I am thirsty” (19:28).

•   Jesus said, “‘It is finished.’ Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit” (19:30).

•   After Jesus was already dead “one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear” (19:33-34).

For Jesus the focus is not on suffering and death. It is on love. That’s why Jesus can give himself to the cross. He doesn’t look at the cross, he sees through it. Death is not the end. Jesus trusts the Father’s love more than his own death.

Peter, however, can neither look at the cross nor the one who is dying. “I do not know him. I do not know him. I do not know him.” Peter fears death is the end. For Jesus and for himself. In a sense he’s right. Without love death is the end. Without love the entire earth becomes a tomb.

But what if there is more to see? What if those are simply the veil that Jesus’ death tears down?   What if we are to see love there as well? That’s what makes this Friday good. The crucified love of Christ is stronger and more real than death. The crucified love of Jesus does more than join us in our sufferings and dying s. It carries us through them. God’s love defeats sin and death. Every time.

Every day we must decide which we trust more, death or love. That decision in many ways determines our world view, guides our relationships, affects how we approach the circumstances of our lives, and colours our image of God. Can we see and trust the crucified love of Good Friday in our deaths, in the violence of our world, in our losses and sufferings, in the brutalities we experience, in the sins we commit? That is both the challenge and the hope Good Friday offers.

The Cross of Christ is the safeguard of our faith, the assurance of our hope, and the throne of love. It is also the sign of God's mercy and the proof of forgiveness. By his cross Jesus Christ has pardoned us and set us free from the tyranny of sin. He paid the price for us when he made atonement for our sins. The way to peace, joy, and righteousness in the kingdom of God and the way to victory over sin and corruption, fear and defeat, despair and death is through the cross of Jesus Christ.

Amen.

See Sermon Extra by Brother Luke - did Christ have to die for our sins?