Lenten Discipline -- Saturday of Holy Week

Matthew 27:57-66

⁵⁷When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who was also a disciple of Jesus. ⁵⁸He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus; then Pilate ordered it to be given to him. ⁵⁹So Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth ⁶⁰and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn in the rock. He then rolled a great stone to the door of the tomb and went away. ⁶¹Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there, sitting opposite the tomb. ⁶²The next day, that is, after the day of Preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate ⁶³and said, “Sir, we remember what that impostor said while he was still alive, ‘After three days I will rise again.’ ⁶⁴Therefore command the tomb to be made secure until the third day; otherwise his disciples may go and steal him away, and tell the people, ‘He has been raised from the dead,’ and the last deception would be worse than the first.” ⁶⁵Pilate said to them, “You have a guard of soldiers; go, make it as secure as you can.” ⁶⁶So they went with the guard and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone.

It is hard not to feel powerfully alone today, or even utterly abandoned. We so often feel alone many days.Yet, we trust in the truth of resurrection and know that the loneliness we experience today is not the end of the story of God's covenant with God's people.  So we hold on through this day and through every day when we feel small and frightened.  


What needs resurrecting in your life? What makes it hard to turn this over to God and trust that God will bring you, too, through death to new life?


Let us pray: Lord God, remind us of your presence with us when we stumble, suffer, or are afraid in any way. Give us strength, courage, and peace, and help us to be an encouragement and sign of life to others. Amen.

Lenten Discipline -- Good Friday

Matthew 27:32-56

³²As they went out, they came upon a man from Cyrene named Simon; they compelled this man to carry his cross.

³³And when they came to a place called Golgotha (which means Place of a Skull), ³⁴they offered him wine to drink, mixed with gall; but when he tasted it, he would not drink it. ³⁵And when they had crucified him, they divided his clothes among themselves by casting lots; ³⁶then they sat down there and kept watch over him. ³⁷Over his head they put the charge against him, which read, “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.” ³⁸Then two bandits were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left. ³⁹Those who passed by derided him, shaking their heads ⁴⁰and saying, “You who would destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” ⁴¹In the same way the chief priests also, along with the scribes and elders, were mocking him, saying, ⁴²“He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down from the cross now, and we will believe in him. ⁴³He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he wants to; for he said, ‘I am God’s Son.’” ⁴⁴The bandits who were crucified with him also taunted him in the same way. ⁴⁵From noon on, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. ⁴⁶And about three o’clock Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” ⁴⁷When some of the bystanders heard it, they said, “This man is calling for Elijah.” ⁴⁸At once one of them ran and got a sponge, filled it with sour wine, put it on a stick, and gave it to him to drink. ⁴⁹But the others said, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him.”

⁵⁰Then Jesus cried again with a loud voice and breathed his last. ⁵¹At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. The earth shook, and the rocks were split. ⁵²The tombs also were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised. ⁵³After his resurrection they came out of the tombs and entered the holy city and appeared to many. ⁵⁴Now when the centurion and those with him, who were keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were terrified and said, “Truly this man was God’s Son!” ⁵⁵Many women were also there, looking on from a distance; they had followed Jesus from Galilee and had provided for him. ⁵⁶Among them were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee.

At the end, only the women would hang around to watch Jesus die. The male disciples are nowhere to be found.

I don't know why the gospel writer so significantly chronicles the women's continuing presence with Jesus all the way to his gruesome end.  Perhaps it is because at least two of the women watching were mothers and therefore are intimately involved with the beginning of life.  We intuitively understand that these creatures we carry in our bodies and birth from our bodies are mortal and will die someday.   And we give birth anyway.

I do not know why the women stayed.  It is so hard for me to look at Jesus on this day and keep my eyes open.  Even knowing how the story ends in a couple of days, I find that Good Friday retains it power to knock me flat.  I know how hard I try to avoid every kind of pain.  And there goes Jesus, embracing it.  It seems to me that he is never more "Emmanuel" or "with us" than on this day.

How does Jesus' death tell the truth about our lives and world? How does it give us hope? Where do you see God still at work to redeem and preserve creation? Where do you long to see God?


Let us pray: Lord God, on the cross you suffered the very depths of our human life, even to the point of death. When we see the cross, let us remember that you become one of us and endured all elements of life to show us your great love and to give us hope. Amen.

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Lenten Discipline -- Maundy Thursday/Holy Thursday

Matthew 27:1-31

When morning came, all the chief priests and the elders of the people conferred together against Jesus in order to bring about his death. They bound him, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate the governor.

 When Judas, his betrayer, saw that Jesus was condemned, he repented and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders. He said, ‘I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.’ But they said, ‘What is that to us? See to it yourself.’ Throwing down the pieces of silver in the temple, he departed; and he went and hanged himself. But the chief priests, taking the pieces of silver, said, ‘It is not lawful to put them into the treasury, since they are blood money.’ After conferring together, they used them to buy the potter’s field as a place to bury foreigners. For this reason that field has been called the Field of Blood to this day. Then was fulfilled what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah, ‘And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of the one on whom a price had been set, on whom some of the people of Israel had set a price, and they gave them for the potter’s field, as the Lord commanded me.’

 Now Jesus stood before the governor; and the governor asked him, ‘Are you the King of the Jews?’ Jesus said, ‘You say so.’ But when he was accused by the chief priests and elders, he did not answer. Then Pilate said to him, ‘Do you not hear how many accusations they make against you?’ But he gave him no answer, not even to a single charge, so that the governor was greatly amazed.

 Now at the festival the governor was accustomed to release a prisoner for the crowd, anyone whom they wanted. At that time they had a notorious prisoner, called Jesus Barabbas. So after they had gathered, Pilate said to them, ‘Whom do you want me to release for you, Jesus Barabbas or Jesus who is called the Messiah?’ For he realized that it was out of jealousy that they had handed him over. While he was sitting on the judgement seat, his wife sent word to him, ‘Have nothing to do with that innocent man, for today I have suffered a great deal because of a dream about him.’ Now the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowds to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus killed. The governor again said to them, ‘Which of the two do you want me to release for you?’ And they said, ‘Barabbas.’ Pilate said to them, ‘Then what should I do with Jesus who is called the Messiah?’ All of them said, ‘Let him be crucified!’ Then he asked, ‘Why, what evil has he done?’ But they shouted all the more, ‘Let him be crucified!’

 So when Pilate saw that he could do nothing, but rather that a riot was beginning, he took some water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, ‘I am innocent of this man’s blood; see to it yourselves.’ Then the people as a whole answered, ‘His blood be on us and on our children!’ So he released Barabbas for them; and after flogging Jesus, he handed him over to be crucified.

 Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the governor’s headquarters, and they gathered the whole cohort around him. They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and after twisting some thorns into a crown, they put it on his head. They put a reed in his right hand and knelt before him and mocked him, saying, ‘Hail, King of the Jews!’ They spat on him, and took the reed and struck him on the head. After mocking him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him.

Where do you see the struggle for power and the easy resort to defamation and violence in our world today?  In what ways does fear poison our relationships?  What one thing would you ask God to change about your life or the world?  How can you contribute to making that happen?

Let us pray:  Use me, Lord God, as an instrument of peace in a world too often broken by violence and a thirst for power.  Amen.

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Lenten Discipline -- Wednesday of Holy Week

Matthew 26: 47-75

⁴⁷While he was still speaking, Judas, one of the twelve, arrived; with him was a large crowd with swords and clubs, from the chief priests and the elders of the people. ⁴⁸Now the betrayer had given them a sign, saying, “The one I will kiss is the man; arrest him.” ⁴⁹At once he came up to Jesus and said, “Greetings, Rabbi!” and kissed him. ⁵⁰Jesus said to him, “Friend, do what you are here to do.” Then they came and laid hands on Jesus and arrested him. ⁵¹Suddenly, one of those with Jesus put his hand on his sword, drew it, and struck the slave of the high priest, cutting off his ear. ⁵²Then Jesus said to him, “Put your sword back into its place; for all who take the sword will perish by the sword. ⁵³Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels? ⁵⁴But how then would the scriptures be fulfilled, which say it must happen in this way?” ⁵⁵At that hour Jesus said to the crowds, “Have you come out with swords and clubs to arrest me as though I were a bandit? Day after day I sat in the temple teaching, and you did not arrest me. ⁵⁶But all this has taken place, so that the scriptures of the prophets may be fulfilled.” Then all the disciples deserted him and fled.

⁵⁷Those who had arrested Jesus took him to Caiaphas the high priest, in whose house the scribes and the elders had gathered. ⁵⁸But Peter was following him at a distance, as far as the courtyard of the high priest; and going inside, he sat with the guards in order to see how this would end. ⁵⁹Now the chief priests and the whole council were looking for false testimony against Jesus so that they might put him to death, ⁶⁰but they found none, though many false witnesses came forward. At last two came forward ⁶¹and said, “This fellow said, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God and to build it in three days.’” ⁶²The high priest stood up and said, “Have you no answer? What is it that they testify against you?” ⁶³But Jesus was silent. Then the high priest said to him, “I put you under oath before the living God, tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God.” ⁶⁴Jesus said to him, “You have said so. But I tell you, From now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.” ⁶⁵Then the high priest tore his clothes and said, “He has blasphemed! Why do we still need witnesses? You have now heard his blasphemy. ⁶⁶What is your verdict?” They answered, “He deserves death.” ⁶⁷Then they spat in his face and struck him; and some slapped him, ⁶⁸saying, “Prophesy to us, you Messiah! Who is it that struck you?”

⁶⁹Now Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard. A servant-girl came to him and said, “You also were with Jesus the Galilean.” ⁷⁰But he denied it before all of them, saying, “I do not know what you are talking about.” ⁷¹When he went out to the porch, another servant-girl saw him, and she said to the bystanders, “This man was with Jesus of Nazareth.” ⁷²Again he denied it with an oath, “I do not know the man.” ⁷³After a little while the bystanders came up and said to Peter, “Certainly you are also one of them, for your accent betrays you.” ⁷⁴Then he began to curse, and he swore an oath, “I do not know the man!” At that moment the cock crowed. ⁷⁵Then Peter remembered what Jesus had said: “Before the cock crows, you will deny me three times.” And he went out and wept bitterly.

I admit it.  This is the part of the story that breaks my heart, every single time I read it.  Because all of us have been where Peter is standing.  And all of us have done exactly what Peters does.  Deny that we know anything.  Pretend we have no clue what's going on.  Betray a friend because we are fearful of standing in a vulnerable place.  I hate the feeling I get when I read this because, for me, this is the most human, embarrassing, convicting place in all of Holy Week.  

What strengthens you to keep faith with those you care about?  What tempts you to abandon them?  Where have you felt abandoned?  Where do you need the support of good friends?  More to the point -- who needs you?

Let us pray:  Lord God, protect and preserve us in this world that we might keep faith with the promises and responsibilities we have undertaken.  And when we feel alone and abandoned, remind us that you understand and are with us.  Amen.

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Lenten Discipline -- Tuesday of Holy Week

Matthew 26:17-46

¹⁷On the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Where do you want us to make the preparations for you to eat the Passover?” ¹⁸He said, “Go into the city to a certain man, and say to him, ‘The Teacher says, My time is near; I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples.’” ¹⁹So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them, and they prepared the Passover meal. ²⁰When it was evening, he took his place with the twelve; ²¹and while they were eating, he said, “Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me.” ²²And they became greatly distressed and began to say to him one after another, “Surely not I, Lord?” ²³He answered, “The one who has dipped his hand into the bowl with me will betray me. ²⁴The Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that one by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that one not to have been born.” ²⁵Judas, who betrayed him, said, “Surely not I, Rabbi?” He replied, “You have said so.”

²⁶While they were eating, Jesus took a loaf of bread, and after blessing it he broke it, gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” ²⁷Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you; ²⁸for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. ²⁹I tell you, I will never again drink of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.” ³⁰When they had sung the hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

³¹Then Jesus said to them, “You will all become deserters because of me this night; for it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’ ³²But after I am raised up, I will go ahead of you to Galilee.” ³³Peter said to him, “Though all become deserters because of you, I will never desert you.” ³⁴Jesus said to him, “Truly I tell you, this very night, before the cock crows, you will deny me three times.” ³⁵Peter said to him, “Even though I must die with you, I will not deny you.” And so said all the disciples.

³⁶Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane; and he said to his disciples, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” ³⁷He took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be grieved and agitated. ³⁸Then he said to them, “I am deeply grieved, even to death; remain here, and stay awake with me.” ³⁹And going a little farther, he threw himself on the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet not what I want but what you want.” ⁴⁰Then he came to the disciples and found them sleeping; and he said to Peter, “So, could you not stay awake with me one hour? ⁴¹Stay awake and pray that you may not come into the time of trial; the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” ⁴²Again he went away for the second time and prayed, “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.” ⁴³Again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. ⁴⁴So leaving them again, he went away and prayed for the third time, saying the same words. ⁴⁵Then he came to the disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? See, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. ⁴⁶Get up, let us be going. See, my betrayer is at hand.”

Lately, I have been talking with folks in our church leadership about the possibility of sharing communion together weekly instead of monthly through the summer months as we embark on a journey of thinking about, talking about, and praying about the future into which God is calling our community of faith.  

What difference does the Lord's Supper make in your life?  Does the meal we share nourish our lives in the world?  If so, how?  If not, how might it?  When have you last seen somebody who needs a tangible expression of God's love and care for them?  How might you realize how precious that person is to God?

Let us pray:  Lord, that you for the way in which you gave your body and blood for us that we might see life differently and receive life abundantly.  Let that gift strengthen us in the knowledge that you love us more than anything.  Amen.

If you are reading this via email or mobile device, you may need to use this link to watch the video: http://youtu.be/-pV4FDVeMKY

Lenten Discipline -- Monday of Holy Week

Matthew 26:1-16

When Jesus had finished saying all these things, he said to his disciples, “You know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified.” Then the chief priests and the elders of the people gathered in the palace of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas, and they conspired to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him. But they said, “Not during the festival, or there may be a riot among the people.”

Now while Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very costly ointment, and she poured it on his head as he sat at the table. But when the disciples saw it, they were angry and said, “Why this waste? For this ointment could have been sold for a large sum, and the money given to the poor.” But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why do you trouble the woman? She has performed a good service for me. For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me. By pouring this ointment on my body she has prepared me for burial. Truly I tell you, wherever this good news is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in remembrance of her.”

Then one of the twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, “What will you give me if I betray him to you?” They paid him thirty pieces of silver. And from that moment he began to look for an opportunity to betray him.

What would it take for you to betray a friend?  What small betrayals have we been part of, and how can we make amends for them?  

Let us pray:  Lord God, prevent us from allowing our bitterness of disappointment to lead us to harm others, whether in thought or deed.

I was having a conversation with a group recently in which I confessed that my love for Scripture did not come about necessarily from my experience in the church while I was young, but through my love for music, particularly the musical "Jesus Christ Superstar," which I heard for the first time when my mom purchased the original cast album in the early 70's.  

If you are reading this via email or mobile device, you may need to click this link to watch:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J30tQxAkvPY

Palm Sunday/Lent 6A -- April 13, 2014

“A View From the Cheap Seats”

Audio:  https://soundcloud.com/emsworthup/april-13-2014-11-20-54-am/s-YUu3Q

Matthew 21:1-11

When they had come near Jerusalem and had reached Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, ²saying to them, “Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to me. ³If anyone says anything to you, just say this, ‘The Lord needs them.’ And he will send them immediately.” ⁴This took place to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet, saying, ⁵“Tell the daughter of Zion, Look, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” ⁶The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them; ⁷they brought the donkey and the colt, and put their cloaks on them, and he sat on them. ⁸A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. ⁹The crowds that went ahead of him and that followed were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!” ¹⁰When he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in turmoil, asking, “Who is this?” ¹¹The crowds were saying, “This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee.”

Scholars are becoming more convinced that there were, in fact, two processions that day in Jerusalem.  There was the Roman procession, which consisted of a full battalion, marching through the Damascus Gate on the Syrian Road.  Pilate was sending his men into Jerusalem en masse because the Jewish Feast Days were beginning and that was always a dangerous time in the city.  The population of the city doubled or tripled with pilgrims arriving for the observance of Passover the holiday that celebrate the release of the Jewish people from the bondage of slavery, It did not escape the Romans’ notice that a theme revolving freedom from bondage around might stir up trouble among the people held firmly under their control.  So backup forces arrived a few days before the festival to begin a major clamp down on the city.  The awesome stallions, the gleaming metal swords, the polished armor, the helmets and the steady drumbeat accompanying the procession all were carefully chosen and choreographed to send a very specific message to anyone who might think of causing a ruckus.  If there was even a hint of trouble, those responsible for it would not just be stopped but utterly crushed by overwhelming military force.  Caesar’s peace would be mercilessly enforced at all costs. 

And on the other side of town, not so very far away from the parading Romans, there was another procession.  This parade featured just one solitary man with no armed guards or imposing weapons. Jesus rode in alone and unarmed, and the writer of Matthew insists that Jesus was straddling not one but two donkeys.  He rode in through an olive grove, sitting on a donkey with one leg draped over the donkey’s colt, some dusty borrowed coats underneath him.  By this point in the story, Jesus had attracted quite a few followers who ran ahead of him and followed behind.  As he traveled toward the city, others became attracted by the sheer foolishness of it all and reacted by cheerfully throwing palms and branches onto Jesus’ path.  It is difficult to know how many people in the crowd actually made the Old Testament connection between this procession and the one that Matthew so diligently points out to his readers.  The whole scene is right out of Zechariah 9: ⁹ Rejoice greatly, O daughter Zion!
 Shout aloud, O daughter Jerusalem!
Lo, your king comes to you;
triumphant and victorious is he,
humble and riding on a donkey,
 on a colt, the foal of a donkey.  Perhaps the fulfillment of prophecy didn’t mean all that much to the people who watched Jesus approach Jerusalem that day.  The stark contrast between Jesus’ parade and the parade of the Romans was probably sufficient to attract a significant crowd of good-natured gawkers.

This was the entrance Jesus so carefully planned: a parade so strange, awkward, and incredibly humble that it seemed deliberately designed to mock the Roman procession going on across town. 

Nobody can really say what people knew or didn’t know about Jesus, but what is clear from Matthew’s account is that the crowd saw something that gave them a feeling that resembled hope.  Enough hope that they cried out to Jesus to save them.  Not “saved” as in a promise of a future heavenly home, but saved as in the right here and right now.  Hosanna!  Save us!  Maybe they were hoping for a powerful Jewish leader, a different kind of strong man but strong just the same, perhaps employing slightly less brutal tactics than Pilate. Maybe some were dreaming of a Jewish empire run by a new Elijah or a new Solomon or a new king just like David.  Maybe some of the people crying Hosanna had no idea what kind of saving they wanted from Jesus.  Often we don’t exactly know what kind of saving we want from Jesus.  I suspect that most of the people shouting out that day are a lot like we are:  we don’t know exactly what we want, but we do want things to be different.  We want the world to be different.  Even the disciples still seemed confused by what was happening as they moved closer to Jerusalem with Jesus.

One thing is for sure though.  Jesus’ parade created an incredible moment of light and laughter, and filled the people with ridiculous hope that maybe, this time, the Messiah had arrived to save them.  Perhaps they were to be freed in the same way Moses had freed their ancestors from Pharaoh.  Perhaps the new Davidic king had arrived.  Perhaps their lives were about to get better.  For a moment, they were filled with hope that the world was about to change, despite all evidence to the contrary being played out in the Roman parade just over their shoulders. 

Many scholars believe that it was this moment as Jesus is riding into Jerusalem that provokes all that will follow.  That it was Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem that got him killed.  Whatever trouble he caused later on in the Temple with the money changers and the arguments with the Pharisees and the Sadducees was a religious problem, not a political problem.  It was Jesus’ seemingly deliberate mocking of Pilate and Rome, and the laughing, celebrating crowd his parade encouraged, that was intolerable.  Powerful leaders are used to being either worshipped or feared,  preferably both.  Powerful leaders will not abide being made to look foolish.

By the time Jesus enters the city, Matthew tells us that the scene has fully blossomed into utter chaos.  “Who is this man?” the Jerusalem insiders shout out in roaring voices.  Who is this man who dares to mock the powers that be?  Who is this man who would challenge Pilate and his Roman overlords?  The people with the front row seats to power are filled with nothing but contempt for this man who would dare to challenge their authority by making fun of them. 

But the people in the cheap seats get it.  They always get it.  They took one look at the sad and smiling man with no sword and no drums, riding on the two borrowed donkeys, and in that humble scene, they saw the power of Jesus.  A power doesn’t come from the authority of Rome. A power that doesn’t depend upon armies or emperors.   The power the people responded to in Jesus is the power of the soul.  The power of God.  It is the power of love which empowers people to believe that change is possible despite all evidence to the contrary.  The people in the cheap seats know the answer to “Who is this man?”  They shout it out with joy: “This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee.” 

Seeing all this, it becomes crystal clear to the Roman authority that Jesus is dangerous.  Despite the ridiculous portrait of him we see riding into Jerusalem, Jesus is a true threat to the power currently at work in locking down Jerusalem.   Jesus is dangerous in a “We Shall Overcome” kind of way.  A “Life Every Voice and Sing” kind of way.  It’s no longer a question of if Jesus will be executed.  It’s simply a matter of when..

So when we sing “All Glory Laud and Honor,” we have to remember who we are singing it to.  Not to a powerful emperor or king, but to a bedraggled man who is so sadly aware of human nature that he can already see how this will all play out, even if he didn’t have God whispering the script into his ear.  He knows what sort of monster he is up against and he knows that only way to defeat the monster is to resist what must have been an overwhelming urge to call down legions of God’s angels to destroy it.  But Jesus stuck to a Holy Logic.  He knew that the only way to destroy this monster is to expose its pathetic underbelly and the limits of its power.  In his humble obedience to God, and his willingness to empty himself of anything remotely resembling violence or resistance, Jesus will demonstrate the vast chasm between our own worldly hopes and expectations, and the way God works in the world. 

 

I spent the early part of this week in Boston with Rachel, and when I got off the plane early on Wednesday morning and turned my phone back on, there were a slew of text messages awaiting me.  The first message was from my friend Lara, cancelling our lunch date for later on and saying that Ethan was ok.  I wasn’t sure what that meant until I read the rest of my texts.  Have you heard?  Did you know?  A stabbing at Franklin Regional High School.  Nobody knows what’s happening.   It took me a couple minutes to make the connection, but then I finally got it and my heart sank.  Lara cancelled lunch because Lara’s oldest son Ethan is a student at Franklin Regional.  As soon as I got to the car at the airport, I called Lara.  Ethan was home, she told me. He had been at school, on the same floor where the stabbings took place, but on the other end of the hallway.  He saw the blood.  So much blood. He saw one of his friends had been hurt.  Lara said that everyone is in shock.  Nobody knows why it happened or who did it, but Ethan and his friends are saying it was another student.  The kid who pulled the fire alarm is a hero.  It could have been so much worse.  No, Susan, you can’t do anything.  Just pray.  Just pray.

After I got off the phone, I turned on local radio, which I hardly ever do, and listened to the callers on KDKA discussing the incident as I drove back to town.  What I heard made my stomach turn.  Teachers need guns.  I don’t care how old he is, the kid who did it should get the death penalty.  Every school should have a metal detector.  Kids should be wanded before they get on a school bus. The trouble is that parents don’t discipline their kids.  Remember the good old days when principals could paddle disobedient trouble-makers?  Who cares if the kid was bullied?  Kids gotta learn to fight back. 

Oh, and here is my favorite.  This is just the sort of thing that happens when you throw God out of the schools.  Don’t tell me that Jesus wasn’t present with those scared and bleeding kids.  Don’t you dare try to tell me that God abandons children when they enter a school building and they are beyond the reach of God’s love. Don’t you dare blame this on God being absent.  If God was anywhere than morning, God was with those frightened children, their frightened parents, and even the boy who was so filled with anger that he could do nothing but turn it against other children.  

All of this conversation on the radio and around the city happened when nobody knew anything for certain about anything.  Before every parent of every kid in that school knew that their child was either okay or being treated in the hospital for multiple stab wounds.  Before the blood had even been cleaned up in the hallways.  Cries for vengeance.  Cries for meeting violence with violence.  And it happened because every single one of us were scared out of our minds.  We were struck again – again – with the kind of fear that makes us believe there’s no safe place  and makes us want to lock up and lock down our children, our families, ourselves, even our hearts if that’s what it takes to make sure nothing bad ever happens to us or anyone we love.  It’s a fear that’s constantly fed to us to keep us on edge and under control and filled with enough anxiety that we will keep buying what the Pilates of the world are selling us.

The monster Jesus is riding to meet head-on in Jerusalem is bigger than the Roman army.  The monster Jesus is facing is human fear and human power that is not created by love.  The monster is a world not ruled by grace and peace, but by dollars and cynicism and bondage.  Jesus knew what he was up against from the very beginning and he told us exactly what he was going to do about it: 

“I came to bring good news to the poor, release to the prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind.  To let the oppressed go free and to proclaim God’s favor.”  Jesus set out not with some ridiculous fantasy, but with certain knowledge of what God actually intends to shape our reality.

As we move through Holy Week, Jesus will reject violence at every step.  On Maundy Thursday, after Peter whips out his sword to slice off the ear of Caiaphas’ servant, Jesus will say: “No more of this!” In the gospel of Luke, Jesus will actually reach out and heal the ear of the servant. It’s as if in the healings, all of them, Jesus has been saying, “Reality isn’t supposed to be like this.  Let me show you what God's reality looks like.” 

Who is this man? 

This man is the one who saves us.  From our fears.  From our awful tendencies to commit violence against ourselves and against one another.  This is the savior who died not to make it possible for God to love us again, but to show that God already does love us, and that love is our only hope.  We can choose the parade of fear and violence that leads to death.  Or the parade that leads to life -- the Jesus parade.

Sara Miles writes: “The compassion, suffering with, that Jesus models through (Holy Week) is about (his) willingness to face and absorb the hard truths of human violence and pride and weakness – and to love and forgive and stay with us anyway so that sin and death will have no more power.  His passion is not sentimental but fierce.  It goes all the way.  Following Jesus on this path of new life means we have to stop pretending.  The truth is that…you can’t always prevent the pain of your family or friends.  That loved ones as well as strangers will betray you.  That you will hurt and fail others.  That’s the passion of humanity.”[1]

Even in our lousy seats wait up in the peanut gallery, we’ll be able to see how it ends.  The monster will be slain.  And the monster’s cave will be empty.  Fear and death will no longer have its hold on us.  And we will indeed be saved.  Hosanna in the highest. Thanks be to God. 

For a more extensive discussion of the two processions in Jersusalem, see The Last Week by Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan. http://www.amazon.com/The-Last-Week-Gospels-Jerusalem/dp/0060872608

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[1] Sara Miles, “Stop Pretending: From Lenten Ash to Easter Light,” April 10, 2011.  Download on 4/11/14 at http://www.journeywithjesus.net/Essays/20110411JJ.shtml