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Holy Week
Sermons from Commons Church. Intellectually honest. Spiritually passionate. Jesus at the centre. Since 2014.
And so when your central story is that God is on the side of the people, and that God is bigger than any empire, and you find yourself under the thumb of what can be a ruthlessly aggressive regime that will protect its interests at any cost. Well, then this is the time of year when tension between Rome and Israel reaches a boiling point. Welcome to the commons cast. We're glad to have you here. We hope you find something meaningful in our teaching this week.
Speaker 1:Head to commons.church for more information. Welcome today. My name is Jeremy. I'm part of the team here, but we wanna welcome you to an already busy day. We've had child dedications and baptisms and palm branches and more.
Speaker 1:And for some of you, this may be the first time that you have ever tried to fold a palm cross. And it is a little tricky, but I promise it can be done. Every year, I feel like I have to rediscover the right technique all over again. But I'm sure there's someone who's sitting near you who's an expert who can help you out with that. Now, of course, all of this is because this is Palm Sunday.
Speaker 1:The moment in our year where we enter into those final steps that lead us towards Easter and we commemorate together Jesus' final entrance into the city of Jerusalem. Now, there's a lot of symbolism and meaning and politics involved in this moment. And so we will take time to unpack all of that today. But first, we need to pause to look back. Because not only do we always recap the previous week, but we have also just spent five weeks now preparing ourselves for what we are on the doorsteps of.
Speaker 1:And it's almost as if Jesus lays out the clues for us in Palm Sunday, and then explains them for us at the conversation over the Last Supper, and now we get to go back and notice them. And so if you've ever watched a movie like The Sixth Sense, spoiler, Bruce Willis is a ghost and Snape kills Dumbledore. It's been long enough. Those are on you. But if you've ever seen a movie like that with a twist ending, there's this really exhilarating moment where you're now on the inside of the story.
Speaker 1:And Then you get to look back and notice all the thought and the care and the planning that has gone into bringing you to that moment. Well, that's you and I right now. We have the privilege of hindsight. And we understand Jesus better than his disciples did in the time. We have a grasp on what he's doing in a way that almost no one else did in the moment.
Speaker 1:And so to watch and look and pay attention for the hiddenness that would be revealed. This is a really exhilarating opportunity for us. At least that's how I like to think about reading the bible. Now, in our last series, we explored some really big ideas. And a lot of what Jesus says can be disorienting.
Speaker 1:Maybe not so much for those of us who have been on the journey with him for a while, but certainly for his friends who are trying to make sense of their imagination of Messiah now compared to the story that Jesus is unfolding for them. Remember, over the course of this one dinner with his friends, Jesus has told them that leadership comes from below. That ancient Jewish ideas like way and truth and life find their ultimate meaning in him. That growth and the path of life is actually the path of pruning and cutting back and leaving old things behind. That spirit is breath and it moves in and through each of us.
Speaker 1:And that his greatest prayer is for unity over conformity. And this emerging Jesus community might become an image of the diversity present in the divine dance that we call trinity. Now, if you have been waiting for Jesus to come to town and raise his army and challenge Rome and return Israel to prominence, then this is probably not the manifesto you were imagining. And I think for a lot of us who have grown up in and around Christianity, sometimes to directly encounter the beauty and the mystery and the profound welcome of Jesus in this way can actually be disorienting in a similar kind of way. Now we call the gospel a good news.
Speaker 1:In fact, that's what the Greek means. And yet sometimes when we encounter Jesus, we are still surprised by how good the news really is. And so for some of us who are coming to see Jesus in new ways, maybe you are new to the story and you're still finding your feet in the Christian tradition. Maybe you have been here for a very long time, but there is a sense that Jesus is present to you in new ways. Then I wanna urge you to lean into that this holy week.
Speaker 1:Because in certain circles this might be called conversion, but what it really is is the ongoing process of learning and unlearning and relearning our faith. And that is something that should be always happening in and through you as you encounter the Christ. There is no end to your salvation. There is only a beginning. Now, let's pray because today is Palm Sunday.
Speaker 1:Lord, who enters our lives, often from left field in ways we are unprepared for. Might we notice you with us today, Leading in quiet confidence. Humble on a donkey in grace and peace. Amidst a world that clamors for volume and strength and power. As we rehearse your entry today, and we approach your final steps towards your cross, would you awaken us to the truth and the beauty of your life.
Speaker 1:That not only that you came, but how and why and for whom you willingly gave your life. Might we then follow in your footsteps in humble service to those we encounter with grace and peace and confidence that you are our king. In the strong name of the risen Christ we pray. Amen. Alright.
Speaker 1:Palm Sunday. And that is why I am wearing green today to mark our point in the year. But this is also the moment where we look back and rehearse Jesus' entry into the city of Jerusalem. And one of the key things that we're gonna see today is that there is always two ways to do anything, even an entry into a city. So in the last couple weeks, my four year old son, Eaton, has started telling us about his imaginary friends.
Speaker 1:And he has a particular friend these days named Jason, who for a while he was calling his visible friend. It took me a while to understand that he meant to say invisible, and he wasn't just reminding me that all the other children are visible as well because he does tend to capture my attention. However, after we had a lengthy conversation about the variety of negative prefixes in the English language, they did tell us that his invisible friend Jason was coming over in eight minutes, very specific timing, and that we all had to hurry and clean the house before he arrived. Now, I don't know what that says about what he has picked up about our family cleaning habits. Clearly, do a lot of scrambling to be presentable whenever you come over.
Speaker 1:But even worse, what he actually said was my invisible friend Jason is coming over in eight minutes. We have to hurry and clean the house. Quick. Push everything to the sides. So we gotta clean for company, but not that much.
Speaker 1:I mean, let's not get crazy here. Okay? Just get everything out of sight. That's good enough. And now you know not to look behind the couch when you come over, because apparently, that's where we put all the stuff and what we've taught our son about cleanliness.
Speaker 1:Thank goodness it's not actually next to godliness. The point here is there's always two ways to do anything. You can push it to the side and cover it up. You can try to make it look nice. Or you can actually do the hard work of transformation.
Speaker 1:And in a lot of ways, Palm Sunday is about the contrast between two different ways. The way of power or the way of grace. And that choice is important. And before we dive into the story, let's pause here to notice that the premise for this story is that Jesus has to come to Jerusalem. So what's that all about?
Speaker 1:Well, it's about the fact that this is Passover, and observant Jews were required to return for that celebration. But more than that, it's about the fact that Jesus is an outsider. You see, all the players were in Jerusalem. So this is like if you lived in Edmonton and you wanted to get in on all the important conversations in Alberta, you would come to Calgary. Am I right?
Speaker 1:At least that's what I've been told. I don't know. But in all seriousness, that's really what this is about. Jesus has operated, he's developed this following outside the halls of power. In fact, early in the gospel of John, Jesus is gathering his disciples and those who will follow him.
Speaker 1:And the writer records this conversation where Philip has already met Jesus. And so he's in. He's sold. And he goes to his friend Nathaniel and he says, listen, you've gotta meet this guy. He's the real deal, the one that Moses wrote about, the one that the prophets predicted.
Speaker 1:And then he says, okay, I'm interested. What's his name? And Philip says Jesus of Nazareth, to with Nathaniel responds in John one forty six, are you kidding me? Can anything good come from Nazareth? And if you are thinking about Edmonton right now, yes, good things can come from Edmonton.
Speaker 1:Alright? It's where we adopted our sons. It'd be nice. Alright? But more importantly though, the pick the rough part of town or the bad school or the economically depressed neighborhood you know.
Speaker 1:And that's where Jesus comes from. And it's not a coincidence. This isn't an oversight. God didn't plop his finger down on a map and attempt to be non biased and then say, oh, shoot, Nazareth. I didn't see that one coming.
Speaker 1:This is intentional. And it's by design, this is the reminder that you are not where you come from. And your past, and your family, and your story to this point does not define you. And yet, it's also the reminder that when you are able to bring your past with you, and when you're able to carry where you came from inside of you, then you're able to see the world in more than one dimension. I mean, it is possible to see past your privilege.
Speaker 1:It's possible to work very hard and earn everything you have and still understand you had a head start. But for God to begin at a disadvantage reminds us of God's preferential option for the oppressed. That when God wants to see God's self as human, God is seen as one who struggles to be taken seriously. And because of that, we should all be very careful about the voices we dismiss simply because they come from outside the categories that we are familiar within. And so Jesus comes to Jerusalem.
Speaker 1:And imagine that. The divine son with his ragtag group of devoted followers has to travel to the religious capital where the theologians already are. It's a pretty remarkable image really. But what happens when he arrives? Well, for that we're going to have to stay in the Gospel of John as we are this Easter.
Speaker 1:But we're gonna have to go back to chapter 12. Because this is the chapter that outlines Jesus' journey into an entrance in the city. However, at the start of that chapter, we read this note about Jesus coming to the hometown, a city called Bethany or Bethpage of a man named Lazarus. A man that he has already met, a man that he has already raised from the dead. And if you remember back to the start of Lent, we talked about the poetry of this particular gospel writer.
Speaker 1:The way that the author of John likes to weave together different images and stories to hint at deeper meanings. Well, the fact that Jesus comes to see Lazarus as his last stop before holy week, this is supposed to make you sit up and take notice. This is more than just a wink and a nod. This is Jesus saying, if you remember that, it was nothing compared to what comes next. And before we move on, this is just for free here.
Speaker 1:But a lot of people remember Lazarus. He is the subject of the shortest verse in the bible after all. John eleven thirty five, Jesus wept, everyone's favorite bible trivia answer. However, notice here that Jesus comes back to visit him. So this was more than just a random miracle.
Speaker 1:This was a relationship in Jesus' life. And all of a sudden now, I notice that even though Jesus has the power to bring someone back from the dead, he still cries and he grieves the loss of that friend. Things get better, But it's important not to rush someone through to that realization. And it can be really easy when you're on the outside to decide when time is up. It's time to move on.
Speaker 1:It's time to get over it. And look, if I knew what Jesus knew and I knew that Lazarus was coming back, I probably would have been ready to tell Jesus to get on with it too. But sometimes our job is to sit with someone in their grief until they decide it's time. And if Jesus, who had the power over life itself, still needed some time to hurt and cry and grieve the loss of his friend. And empathy is the only response that ever makes sense to those who hurt.
Speaker 1:And so my advice is that when you think you have been patient with someone, then slow down and wait some more. Now, after this hint of resurrection on the horizon, we read in verse 12 here that the next day, a great crowd that had come for the festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. So they took palm branches and they went out to meet him shouting, Hosanna, blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord. Blessed is the king of Israel. And Jesus found a young donkey and he sat on it as it is written, do not be afraid daughter Zion.
Speaker 1:See your king coming seated on a donkey's colt. Now, at first Jesus' disciples did not understand this. It was only after Jesus was glorified that they realized these things had been written about him. And, that these things had to be done to him. Now, a lot packed into those short four verses.
Speaker 1:And so, we need to talk today about palms and songs and titles and entrances. And then, we will circle our way back around to talk about what this means for us. But let's start with palms. Today, you hold palms, and we wave palms, and you create crosses out of palms. And so palms have become this symbol for Christ and his peace in the world.
Speaker 1:But that is not what palms were about two thousand years ago. You see, palms had always been associated with the sovereignty of Israel. In fact, about a hundred and thirty years after the death of Jesus, another Jewish figure rises up. His name was Simon Bar Koseva, but he later changes his name to Simon Bar Kokhba, which meant the son of a star. And he led what is known as the Bar Kokhba revolt in January.
Speaker 1:And somehow, against all odds, it actually succeeds in taking back land from Rome. They set up an independent state in Judea, and that lasts for almost three years before Rome comes back in with their military, and they completely crush everyone. And so January of the common era is where the Jewish diaspora is usually dated to. Because after the Bar Kokhba revolt, any semblance of a Jewish state had been completely destroyed. But what's important here is that as soon as the Bar Kokhba revolt had established an independent state, they minted their own coins.
Speaker 1:And you can see these coins online. We found a lot of them. But on every coin was stamped an image of palm leaves with the slogan to the freedom of Israel. And this is exactly what is on the minds of the crowds as they gather and they wave palm branches over Jesus. This is an image of impending war.
Speaker 1:Next, we have titles and songs. And the writer records for us the people shouting, Hosanna. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Blessed is the king of Israel. And that last one kinda gives it away.
Speaker 1:Because if you are Rome, you are not going to be impressed with anyone being called king in your territory. Now kings are kinda hard for us because we imagine this in a very symbolic manner. I mean, we have a queen in Canada, but even if we are very committed monarchists, we generally don't imagine ourselves expressing much fealty to the crown. This however, is perhaps more like the fractured political tension we see in The States right now. And imagine a group declaring that their candidate is not only going to win the next election, but that the current president is invalid and their leader is the president right now.
Speaker 1:That's a big deal. Even Hosanna is a very nice sounding word, very beautiful and welcoming, but what it actually means is God save us now. And that had become a rallying cry in the period as the people called on God to overthrow what they saw as the illegitimate Roman government. So palm branches are political. And, these songs are political.
Speaker 1:And, these titles are political. And, Rome knows all about this. Because, this type of political protest happened every year at Passover. Now, why is that? Well, it's because Passover is about Exodus.
Speaker 1:And, the central story in the Old Testament is the Exodus. The story of how the Hebrews are saved from slavery in Egypt and brought out into the promised land. It's the story of how God hears the cries of the oppressed. It's how God acts in solidarity with the oppressed. And most importantly, Passover is about the impotence of empire to stand in the way of God's commitment to the liberation of all who are oppressed.
Speaker 1:And so when your central story is that God is on the side of the people, and that God is bigger than any empire, and you find yourself under the thumb of what can be a ruthlessly aggressive regime that will protect its interests at any cost, well then this is the time of year when tension between Rome and Israel reaches a boiling point. Now, you might say, well if Rome is so powerful, why do they care about some homeless guy from Nazareth? And the truth is, they don't. What they care about are all the ways that mobs can be whipped into a frenzy when this political and religious and ritual celebration converges. And so what happened every year at this time was that Rome would make a display of their own.
Speaker 1:And what they would do is they would have a Roman legion march from where the prefect, in this case, Pontius Pilate lived in Caesarea. They march into the city of Jerusalem every year during Passover. Now, Caesarea is in the Northwest part of the region, and so that means they would march south along the water and then into the city from the West. And they would do this with soldiers and swords and chariots. And the prefect would ride in on a war horse and they would chant imperial slogans as they entered the city.
Speaker 1:Things like peace through victory. Things like every knee shall bow and tongue confess the name of Caesar. Things like there is no name under heaven by which men can be saved but Augustus. And all of this was a show of force to say, we make the rules. We know your stories, but your God is not bigger than us.
Speaker 1:Because strength is the way of the world. And we know you're excited, so have your party, but don't do anything you'll regret. You see, Passover was the time of the year when Israel remembered her glorious past, but then had Rome rub her nose in her meager present. And by the way, when we say things like grace and peace, or when we say there is no name under heaven but Jesus, when we say salvation belongs to our Lord, this is more than empty religion. This is a counter narrative to empire.
Speaker 1:Because these are political statements that remind us of how the world really is. That peace comes through grace, not war, no matter what our politicians tell us. But what this all means on Palm Sunday is that what Jesus is entering the city from Bethpage in the East where he has just met with his friend Lazarus. At the very same time, Pilate, the representative of Rome is entering the city from the West in Caesarea. And so on both sides of the city, crowds are gathered.
Speaker 1:On both sides of the city, political slogans are being chanted. On both sides of the city, a coming king is being hailed. But one comes in strength and the other comes in peace. Now the great irony here is that the crowds really don't seem to notice the difference. In Luke's version, he says that as Jesus approached Jerusalem from Bethpage, he saw the city.
Speaker 1:He wept over it and he said, if you, even you had only known what would bring you peace. But now it is hidden from your eyes. In fact, some people think that Jesus is specifically thinking of two future events here. The destruction of the temple in seventy CE and that moment we spoke of when the Bar Kokhba revolt is crushed in January. Two violent uprising against Rome are met with incredibly violent ends.
Speaker 1:And yet, even as the crowd misses it, the contrast here couldn't be more pronounced. Where a literal red carpet is laid out before the Roman king, dirty smelly cloaks taken willingly off impoverished backs are laid before Jesus. And where brave armed soldiers paid well to stand in the employ of Rome escort Pilate. It is terrified, ultimately cowardly friends that accompany Jesus. Where a war horse, carefully selected and adorned in ceremonial armor carries the governor, Jesus rides a donkey.
Speaker 1:And this is perhaps the most compelling part of this entire image. Because not only is this donkey a reference to the prophet Zechariah, we'll talk about that in a minute. It's also an image that's well known to Rome. You see, a war horse is what you rode when you left the city to go into war. It's what Caesar rode when Caesar left Rome to go into battle.
Speaker 1:And so this is why the representative of Caesar rides a war horse into Jerusalem. It's a statement that Rome is ready for what may come, so don't test us. But even in Rome, a colt was what you rode when you returned from war. Because that was a symbol of victory. It was a symbol that you had left the battle and returned in peace.
Speaker 1:So Caesar didn't ride a war horse into his own city. And that makes no sense. That was for what you had yet to conquer. And so the fact that Jesus rides a donkey, this is an image of peace, but it's also an image of the fact that he's already won. Mahatma Gandhi once said, first they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.
Speaker 1:And Jesus seems to know somehow this day belongs to him. It seems Zechariah, prophet writes, rejoice greatly daughter Zion. Shout daughter Jerusalem. See your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey. So there's already this imagination that the Messiah would one day ride into Jerusalem victorious on a donkey.
Speaker 1:But the expectation in Israel was always that first he would ride on a horse. And Jesus takes it all and turns it upside down. And the writer here gets it. You see, he's already hinted at the fact that this victory will mean Jesus' death. But even here when he quotes Zechariah, he changes it.
Speaker 1:The prophet says, rejoice greatly daughter Zion. John says, do not be afraid my daughter. War is not coming with this king. Because war was never the way to peace. See grace and peace is not religious pleasantry.
Speaker 1:It is a political statement that challenges the prevailing world view of peace through victory. And Jesus' entry here is not just religious theater. This is political orchestrated to undermine the claim of Rome to power. And that all might seem great and grand and splendid and very distant from us. But the truth is, it is all much closer than we imagine.
Speaker 1:Because there are always two ways to do everything. And often we forget that there is more to life than power. So every time I get in a fight with my wife, and I try to manipulate or manage her, and I try to use my way with words to talk circles around her so that I can win, when I choose control over trust and I give into power instead of being vulnerable and open and listening and responding to her, then I miss the point of Palm Sunday. And every time I get a bit nervous and I think that what this country really needs is a little bit more of my brand of Christianity. And by hook or by crook, if we could just legislate and regulate and enforce a level of respect and admiration for my imagination of God, things would be great.
Speaker 1:What happens is I give in to power and I miss the point of Palm Sunday. Because any spirituality, even one that espouses peace and love, and yet makes room for violence and power in the pursuit of its goals will inevitably devolve into the course of game that Jesus refuses to play on Palm Sunday. In Jesus, God says, absolutely no to course of force and violence and power and religion. Even if that means riding helplessly toward a war horse on a donkey. This is more than religious ceremony today.
Speaker 1:It's a way of being in the world. And it is the reminder that there are always two paths to choose. First, they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win. And thousands of years before Gandhi uttered those words, Jesus put his life on the line for that same conviction. That Pilate could not defeat him.
Speaker 1:Particularly, if Rome resorted to a cross. So may you choose peace in your conversations. And peace in your transactions and especially peace in your battles this holy week. Because this is the way of Jesus. And there are always two ways to do anything.
Speaker 1:Let's pray. God, as we take these final steps toward Holy Week. Your entrance into Jerusalem, your death on Good Friday, and your resurrection on Easter Sunday. May we experience this story well. And may you walk with us into the depth and the darkness of Friday.
Speaker 1:May we sit in that longing and that grief, Wishing for things to get better. May we the despair of not knowing if it ever will. Also that on Sunday, you might be surprised all over again by the incredible power of your love. That peace comes through grace, not war. That victory comes through relationship, not battle.
Speaker 1:That you are always willing to give yourself away, to show yourself to be the king we need. God, as we engage in this holy week, may we think and reflect, but may that grace and peace bleed through in every conversation we have. In the strong name of the risen Christ we pray. Amen.