Palm Sunday sermon

On the board outside of our church is the message “Prepare Ye the Way of the Lord”. Prepare Ye the Way of the Lord. The message of John the Baptist preaching in the wilderness of Judea. ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.’“...Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.”
We are one week away from the most important day in the church year. The most important day because it points to the most important day in history- the day which some theologians believe that time itself began. Easter. The day when God chose to redeem God's people. The people of Israel had been awaiting for this day for a long time. A day when the Messiah would loosen their chains of oppression and they would be able to once again live in freedom. And that is what today is about, isn't it. On Palm Sunday, we identify ourselves with the people of Jerusalem on the cusp of our liberation. It might be a little challenging for us. Most of us do not feel oppressed in the same political sense that the Jews did under Roman occupation. But all of us have plenty to be liberated from nonetheless. Amen? Our fears of natural disasters, terrorists, and our rapidly failing economy. The broken relationships that all of us seem to have in our lives. The toils that wear down our bodies. The anguish of watching loved ones slip away. We have plenty to be liberated. Our doubts about our faith, our beliefs, even who we really are and why we are here. O God, why do you tarry so long?

We hunger for liberation from all these things and more so we wave our branches and say “Hosanna in the Highest! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” And this is a good thing. We throw our branches down and allow ourselves to be led by children because we are told that they are closer to God and we must become like them to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. We share in their enthusiasm. We share in their uninhibited shouts of “Hallelujah!” and “Praise Ye the Lord!” because we want to be delivered from our adult complacency. And this is a good thing. Yes, on this Palm Sunday, we can relate with the people of Jerusalem.

But Sisters and Brothers, there is danger ahead. The Kingdom of Heaven is indeed coming near. But are we prepared to repent? A lot will happen between this Sunday and next, between our initial recognition of who Jesus may be and who Jesus actually is. The race is long, but we must run in such a way as to get the prize.

John the Baptist tells us to repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near. The people of Jerusalem were prepared to celebrate as they looked upon the Messiah. But they were not prepared to do the hard work of rooting the deepest evil out from their hearts as they looked upon themselves. As Jesus rode in his donkey, fulfilling the prophecy of the Messiah coming in and kicking butt, the people were all in praise and adoration, ready to ride the wave of victory. We all want to be on the winning side. But when Jesus was sentenced to death, when following him might have meant your own death, enthusiasm waned quickly.

I wonder if our commitment to stand with the losers, the poor, the prisoner, and yes Jesus on the way to die on the cross will be stronger? Sisters and Brothers, there is a hard week ahead. The religious leaders, the people whose whole lives were dedicated to interpreting the word of the God and trying to do God's will. Surely we would have stood up for Jesus. Surely the religious leaders would have recognized the Messiah. But no, history tells a different story. I wonder if we more often than not see the presence of God as a threat, because we know that it will mean great change to what we are comfortable with? I wonder if we are afraid to repent, because it may just let God out of the box and into our hearts? You know what happens when God gets into our hearts, don't you? When God gets into our hearts, God asks us to change. When your asked to change, that means there must have been something wrong with you. Who likes to be told that there is something wrong with them? I don't and I am sure that you don't either. We don't like to be asked to be changed, even by God, because it is so much nicer to be told, I'm O.K. Your O.K. Everything is O.K. Isn't that nice? But we know that that is not the case, I am not O.K. and it is my solemn duty to tell you that you are not O.K. And that hurts yours and mine pride. But there is a reason why pride is the greatest of the deadly sins. Pride is the opposite of love and love is life. We need to squelch that pride. We need to be of “the same mind ... that was in Christ Jesus, ⁶who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, ⁷but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness.” We find ourselves in human form like Jesus and Jesus “being found in human form, ⁸humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death— even death on a cross.”

Sisters and Brothers, lets not make asses of ourselves, waving our palm branches and singing yeah Jesus and then go home and forget all about it. Instead, let us be vigilint this Holy Week. Amen? If you can't join us here, than I pray to God that you can somewhere else. If you can't get somewhere else, I pray that you spend the week in prayer and fasting, reading each of the four Gospel accounts. If you can't find the hours to do that, I pray that you somehow get right with God. Let's not be Judas' and put our own agenda above God's. Instead, let us empty ourselves, so that we have room for nothing but God's will, Amen? Let's not be Peter’s and deny Christ. Instead, let each of us shout it from the mountain tops. Amen? Our neighbor's should be asking each, what is all that noise coming from. I think its those Methodists. Let's not be Thomas' and give our ear to Satan's whispers of doubt. Instead, let us boldly proclaim even the mysteries of faith. Amen?

The Lord be with you...

Selah! (Whatever that means)

So far, there are 5 of us going to see Michael W. Smith
w/ Selah & Watermark event, taking place Sunday, April 24, 6 pm
at the Peoria Civic Ctr., 201 S. W. Jefferson St., Peoria,
If you want to join us, call me.

why bother

i have been spending a fair amount of time this week wondering how Lazarus died the second time- or if he is still around for that matter. i recently reread and rewatched Kazantzakis' 'last temptation of Christ' in which Lazarus is killed by Saul (later known as Paul) for political reasons. I also came across this interesting little piece on the topic by john kavenaugh http://liturgy.slu.edu/5LentA031305/theword_embodied.html

"I wonder how it was when Lazarus died for the second time. Were Mary and Martha there?... Of what did Lazarus eventually die? Was it a recurrence of the original affliction or something unforeseen? Did Mary and Martha, the second time around, think that Jesus could spare Lazarus anew?"

it is a fascinating question, but ultimately, it will not bring life to our church. so, i can't help but wonder why God has put this on my heart as the focus of my thoughts this week. well, i am afraid that it is becoming clearer to me. i think that i had to work through this hypothetical in order to see what was underneath it- namely, this nagging 'why bother?' that continuously lingers. i think that i am missing some of the wonder of the miracles because i am stuck in a 'why bother?' glut. a person was blind 2000 years ago and then they could see. they died sometime later and that was that. lazurus was raised from the dead. but surely he could not have lived much longer, so why bother in the first place?

parallel to this 'why bother?' about Lazarus has been a rather annoying refrain from a cantata that we have been practicing. 'he gladdened each neighborhood- helping wherever he could'. never mind that the first part is biblically wrong (he was chased out of galilee, when he cast legion into the swine the pig owners weren't too happy, and i doubt the money changers were 'gladdened' by his visit). the second part 'helping wherever he could' gets to me. Jesus is God. surely, 'wherever he could' would be a large area. but we only hear about select miracles. for example, Lazarus is the only one raised from the dead.

this, of course, is flawed and unfaithful logic. the 'why bother?' obviously cannot be found in the particular miracle. rather, the particular points to the larger issue, that is, glimpses of God's promise. its not so much that Lazarus himself was raised (though i am sure Lazarus himself thought that that alone was enough), but it is the larger promise that such raising represents. the blind man can now see so that God could show God's BIG plan.

this, of course, is the approach that i am going to take for saturday and sunday's sermons. i am (hopefully) not going to get bogged down in what happened to Lazarus, which Mary is mentioned, the archeology relating to the valley of dry bones. rather, i believe that God has refined these banalaties out of me this week, so that i could focus on the good stuff this weekend. God's promise for salvation, the resurrection of our bodies and souls, the breath of life back into the church.