A WORD FOR TODAY, March 24, 2021
Peggy Hoppes
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Blessings. Peg
A WORD FOR TODAY, March 24, 2021
Scriptures for March 28, 2021, Palm Sunday/Sunday of the Passion: Processional John 12:12-19/Passion Zechariah 9:9-12; Psalm 118:19-29; Philippians 2:5-11; Mark 14:1-15:47
“I will give thanks to you, for you have answered me, and have become my salvation.” Psalm 118:21, WEB
According to Rabbinical tradition, there were three miracles that could only be accomplished by the Messiah. The first was the healing of a Jewish leper. Though the Torah gives a lengthy procedure for spiritual cleansing of a healed leper, there is no record of it ever being used. The scriptures tell us about Miriam’s leprosy and healing, as well as that of Naaman. However, Miriam lived before the Torah was given and Naaman was a foreigner. Jesus was the only one who ever healed a Jewish leper. (Luke 5)
The second Messianic miracle was the casting out of a dumb demon. Casting out of demons was not all that rare, but there was a specific process that was followed. The exorcist had to establish communication with the demon and then find out its name. Then the exorcist could then cast the demon out by commanding it by name to leave the person they were possessing. The religious leaders could not communicate with a dumb demon and so could not cast it out. Jesus, however, was able to do so. (Matthew 12)
The third Messianic miracle was to heal a man born blind. You might note that the man in the previous miracle was also blind, though we do not know if he was born that way. The disciples were curious about the man born blind in John; they wondered whose fault it was that he could not see. “Did he sin or did his parents sin?” Jesus answered that it was not caused by sin, but that God did it so that He would be glorified. Jesus glorified God as he healed the man born blind. This final of the three Messianic miracles should have opened the eyes of those who knew and understood the Law. (John 9)
The religious leaders were investigating Jesus from the first Messianic miracle. That was the process. Just like the Catholic Church goes through a series of steps to decide whether a person can be canonized as a Saint, the Jews had a process to decide if someone was truly the Messiah. We see that in these stories. We see them following Jesus and asking questions. They were investigating to find the truth. Yet, they had their own understanding of what the Messiah should look like, so they were trying everything they could to prove He was not the Messiah. He didn’t fit their expectations, and despite the fact that Jesus accomplished the very miracles that they claimed only the Messiah could do, they did not believe.
There was a fourth miracle found in the book of John that was beyond human ability: the raising of Lazarus. The Jews believed that a man’s soul left his body after three days in the tomb, and so it was impossible for him to be raised after that time. Jesus raised Lazarus on the fourth day. This particular miracle, or sign as John calls them, was the catalyst that set the end in motion. The religious leaders were threatened by Jesus and they had to turn the course of events. This brings us to the moment of Jesus’ story that we hear on Sunday.
The Gospel lesson from Mark for the Sunday of the Passion is lengthy. We hear the entire of the Passion from Mark’s point of view. It covers two complete chapters and we see the story go from the threat of the plot to kill Jesus to the fulfillment of that threat.
During the reading of the Passion story we look at the events of that horrific week. Jesus suffered in so many ways. He was harassed, rejected, betrayed, and denied. He was beaten almost to death and experienced the physical pain of being nailed to a cross. You might think that nothing could be worse than that, but imagine knowing that God has turned His back on you! Jesus took upon His shoulders the weight of the world’s sin which made it impossible for God to look upon His beloved Son. Jesus cried out, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” At that moment we see His humanness. He may have suffered the pain of all His wounds for hours, but He suffered most during that that one moment when He was truly alone.
God’s plan seemed uncharacteristic, unmerciful and unloving, but Jesus continued in the path set by His Father. He did not save Himself even though the crowd shouted that He should. Instead, He gave a loud cry and died. He suffered the ultimate abandonment in the moment when He needed God the most, and He did it willingly. He was not willing to follow the cries of the crowd. They were fickle, following every wind. They did not know what they were doing. He had to die for God’s promises to be complete. His amazing grace was realized through the most incredible act of sacrifice: the beloved Son, the proven Messiah, the Priest-King, offered Himself as the Lamb of God for the forgiveness of all sin for all men in all time.
We have reached the end of our Lenten journey and are about to enter into Holy Week. I think sometimes we would rather ignore the reality of the Passion. We love to hear the stories of Jesus’ miracles and celebrate the Resurrection, but we cannot ignore the importance of the Passion. Jesus humbly accepted the will of God and obediently suffered for our sake. He was humiliated by the people He loved, even His closest friends. He faced the temptations we face. He prayed the same prayers; He asked God to take the cup, a prayer we can all admit to praying. We like seeing Jesus as the Priest-King, but we are uncomfortable with the image of the sacrificial Lamb. Yet it is that Lamb that fulfilled all God’s promises.
Hindsight is twenty-twenty vision, so we know the whole story. We know what happens at the end. We know that even though Jesus died on the cross, He lives and in Him we have life. However, it is good for us to walk the journey with Him, waiting and watching as if we are ignorant of the future. Sometimes it is good to put ourselves in the shoes of those who lived it. They didn’t know what would happen on Easter. They didn’t even know what would happen on Good Friday.
The disciples, crowds and leaders did not know how the story would end, but even though we have twenty-twenty vision, we should try to see the sacrifice of Jesus with the same eyes as those two thousand years ago to appreciate that we, too, were among the crowds who honored Him one day and rejected Him the next. Even His closest friends did not know how to deal with the reality of where Jesus was going. How can we expect to understand our own place in this story if we do not experience it as they did? So, let us walk with our Lord and see it through His eyes, to know it through His heart, to experience it in His presence as if we were there. Then we will see as they did, and remember when He is resurrected what He truly did for us all.
This is a lot of story to read. It has been presented in many ways, by many people, with their own vision of those events. Perhaps the most famous right now is the movie “The Passion of the Christ” that was created by Mel Gibson. It is hard to watch a movie that shows so much pain and suffering of the One we love, and yet it is a powerful film to reminds us what Jesus really went through for our sake. What do you hear and see when you read the story? What moments stand out for you? If you were to make a film, what form would it take? Which characters do you identify with? Where is the triumph? Where is the defeat? Who is in control? What promises do we see fulfilled? Where is the grace?
Whispers of real danger were beginning to run through the people who were witnessing the actions of Jesus. He had done amazing things, including the three Messianic miracles and the impossible raising of Lazarus. The leaders were nervous because the people were crying out for a savior. They wanted a king that would save them from the Romans and make the nation great again. This kind of talk threatened the lives and lifestyles of those in control. It was not just selfishness and greed that made them hostile to Jesus; they knew a revolution would be dangerous to the nation.
They may have been afraid that they would lose their own power and authority, but they also perceived the danger Jesus posed to Israel and the council needed to consider everything. Was this man really the Messiah? Though the investigation should have proved He was, they were blinded by their own understanding. And they didn’t consider that the path they were taking was exactly according to God’s plan. They thought that killing Jesus would end the danger, but killing Jesus would do something far more extraordinary.
Passion Week begins with the Triumphal Entry. Instead of quietly slipping into Jerusalem for the Passover feast, Jesus came in a very public and extraordinary way. He fulfilled the prophecies of the Old Testament by arriving as a triumphant King, filling the people with such hope. But He wasn’t the kind of king that they expected. He is the King willing to spill His own blood to set us free from the real oppressor: sin and death. This is reason for us to rejoice. Unfortunately, those who were there on the first Palm Sunday did not really understand the meaning of this promise. They rejoiced as Jesus went into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey, righteous and humble, because they thought that Jesus would deliver them from the Romans. The cheered as He entered the city, threw down palms and their cloaks along His path. Even His disciples did not understand until after the Resurrection.
Jesus could have done everything they wanted. He could have called down legions of angels to defeat the Romans. He could have pushed Herod off the throne; He could have even defeated Tiberius and toppled the entire Roman Empire. But that was not His purpose. He humbled Himself even unto death, giving up the glory of heaven for the torture of the cross to serve you and me. We did not deserve His love and grace; we will never deserve His love and grace. He did not do it to reward us for our goodness. He did it because our Father the Creator made us good and though we were the ones who were unfaithful, He desired restoration. God sent Jesus so that we could be saved from ourselves, forgiven for our sins, and set free from sin and death to live in His Kingdom forever.
The leaders were worried on that first Palm Sunday because the world was willing to follow Jesus. The people cried out in celebration as He entered the city, praising God for finally sending the long awaited Messiah. The jubilation did not last very long, however, which we see in the story of Jesus’ Passion. The crowds were easily turned by rumors and lies. They were shocked by Jesus who did not act like a Messiah who would sit on the throne. He acted like One who set His feet on a path that led nowhere except death. Wisdom incarnate was foolish and they looked for another who would do what they wanted and expected the Messiah to do. We know now, however, that the Messiah had a much different purpose.
There are so many important and intimate moments in the two chapters of the Passion story in Mark. I try to imagine how Jesus felt during those final days. He may have received their praise and worship on Palm Sunday, but He knew it would not last. Beneath the confident façade was a man who knew that His true purpose was just days away. I don’t think we can even imagine the pain He experienced deep in His heart. He loved every one of those people who were crying out and throwing palms. He loved every one even though He knew that they would all abandon Him in just a few days. He loved them so much, and us too, that He carried all our burdens with Him to the cross.
The Jews thought they understood what God expected and how they should live. They had interpreted and reinterpreted the Law to the point that it was so burdensome that most people could not live according to it, but they used that unrighteousness as an excuse for the oppression of the Jews. They thought that surely if the people had been living up to God’s Law, then they would not be living under the rule of a foreign power. If the people repented, God would send a Messiah to defeat the Romans and restore Israel. They were looking for a powerful, military solution to their problem. Many others had come forward as false Messiahs, promising peace through war. That’s why they investigated Jesus after the Messianic miracles. They thought that they had to put down yet another false Messiah. Though they couldn’t refute the miracles, they found He didn’t live up to their expectations.
However, they ignored the prophecies that promised a suffering servant, a humble and peacekeeping king. They expected battles, so when Christ came in peace bringing grace, forgiveness and healing, they did not recognize Him. They wanted a king to ride in on chariots with an army. Despite what Jesus accomplished on the cross, people continued to misinterpret His life and the Kingdom made possible by the cross. The heavy burdens Jesus took off the shoulders of God’s people had returned in new ways. One day fifteen hundred years later, Martin Luther rediscovered God’s grace.
In October 2004, the BBC reported about the toilet habits of Martin Luther. The catalyst of the article was an archeological discovery of the lavatory in Martin Luther’s house in Wittenberg. We may not talk about our bodily functions in public, but Martin Luther was candid about his bowels. He suffered from constipation and spent a great deal of time on the toilet. He didn’t waste his time there, but used it to contemplate the things of God. The article from BBC News said, “Luther is quoted as saying he was ‘in cloaca,’ or in the sewer, when he was inspired to argue that salvation is granted because of faith, not deeds.” The archeologists were quite excited to find this lavatory because it was possibly the sight of one of the most important theological revelations in the history of the Christian church. Martin Luther’s understanding of faith and grace was the foundation of the Reformation.
A man’s toilet habits are none of our business and it seems quite trivial when we consider the great things Martin Luther did in his life. After all, he wrote dozens of books, preached hundreds or even thousands of sermons. He changed our understanding of faith and grace and the church. He was a doctor, a priest, a teacher. He was a husband and the father of many children. He was highly respected not only by the members of his own congregation, but by princes and other world leaders. On the other hand, he was also hated by many.
He was disrespected because of he was seen as crude and common. He was educated and held a position of authority, but refused to be set apart as something special. He believed the common people had a right to education, and that they should be able to read the scriptures for themselves. He fought for full participation in worship and the sacraments. He took care of people’s needs, both spiritual and physical. He believed that God created both body and spirit, and that God cared for the physical as well as the spiritual. He said that all Christians belonged to the “priesthood of believers.” He taught that every person has a vocation and even those jobs that are not considered spiritual. To him, changing a diaper or cleaning the horse manure from the stalls was as important as the work of a bishop because they were jobs that helped others. He insisted that every person, no matter their position in this world or the work they were called to do, glorified God when they were obedient to that call. He was an earthy man, who looked at faith from an earthy perspective. Though I’m sure he would argue, in many ways Martin Luther was much like Jesus Christ. And though we can never be Jesus, we are meant to strive to be like Him in this world.
God sets us apart as Christians, but not above others. We are set apart because through faith we have been forgiven and made new. But that does not mean we can lord over those who have not yet found Jesus Christ. We aren’t appointed as their judges or called to force them into our way of living. It is not for us to strive to be anyone’s spiritual guide or father. Faith in Jesus makes us servants of God who are sent into the world to share His grace. The people wanted to appoint Jesus as King, but He didn’t come as their earthly ruler. He didn’t come to take over the Temple and be the High Priest. He didn’t come to be set on a pedestal and worshipped as a god-figure in this world. He came to serve and to teach us to serve humbly.
That’s why Paul writes, “Have this in your mind...” Jesus Christ did not come to be God in this world. He was God, but gave up equality with God to become man and to live with us in this world. He experienced what we experienced. He was tempted as we are tempted. He experienced hunger, thirst, pain and heartache. His feet surely got tired and He must have used a toilet. His humility is what saved us; His obedience is not only an example for us to imitate but is the very foundation of the salvation that God has promised to all who believe. Luther realized “in cloaca” that salvation is granted because of faith, not deeds and we are to have the same mind.
Jesus proved Himself to be the One God sent, though many throughout history have ignored or rejected the truth. And though He was God in flesh, He gave up the glory of heaven to glorify His Father by being obedient to His will.
We are to have the same humility in our own lives, taking on the nature of a servant. We cannot follow Jesus to the cross, but we can humble ourselves and become obedient to God’s will for each of us. The answers to our prayers might include humiliation, persecution and suffering. It might even include death, but we willingly accept all these circumstances because Jesus did it first for our sake. Now we can see Him exalted, as was written in Paul’s letter to the Philippians. “Therefore God also highly exalted him, and gave to him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, those on earth, and those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
As we look at the time between Palm Sunday and Good Friday, we realize that far more happened than a quick change of heart. Jesus spent those days attacking the status quo. He went into the temple and taught. He overturned the tables of the money changers. He spoke in parables that painted the leaders in a less than positive light. He turned their world upside down, not just the leaders but also the people. He assaulted everything they knew and they did not know how to handle it.
Most especially, He rejected the expectation they had of Him. On Palm Sunday, they welcomed a king they thought was going to save them from the Romans. They were ready to enthrone Him so that He would lead them to freedom. They did not understand the kind of freedom Jesus came to give.
The psalmist writes, “Open to me the gates of righteousness. I will enter into them. I will give thanks to Yah. This is the gate of Yahweh; the righteous will enter into it.” Who are the righteous? In the days of Jesus, the “righteous” were the ones who had the power, who had the appearance of righteousness. They knew the scriptures and they knew Law. Yet they did not know God. They did not recognize Him in the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. They rejected Jesus; they cast Him away to the cross.
We are Easter people, given life because He was raised, but the Passion is too important to ignore. If we truly listen to the story, we see the incredible suffering and degradation that Jesus underwent for our sake. This will cut us to the heart, bring us to our knees and cause us to cry out for mercy and forgiveness. After all, we are as guilty as those who rejected Him two thousand years ago. We were there, not in flesh, but in the same nature of those who actually witnessed the events. We need to experience it, too, to truly understand our sinfulness and receive the grace of God’s answers to our prayers. He will deliver us from the hand of our enemies. Jesus remained faithful. He did not fail when the world cried out for Him to take the throne or save Himself. He faced the suffering of the cross with boldness; He even faced the abandonment of His Father. He calls us to be faithful, humbly accepting the answers He gives to our prayers even when they don’t fit our expectations. He just might not do it the way we want Him to.
As we walk through Holy Week, read the Passion story daily. Reflect on it. Hear God's grace in the midst of the horror. Feel the pain that Jesus experienced both in His body and in His spirit. Walk with Him, remembering that Jesus did it all for you and me.
One day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord. Until then, we are called to have the same mind as Christ, putting God’s will ahead of everything else. We are called to live as Christ, willingly giving ourselves for the sake of others. This is the life of thanksgiving we are called to live. He is our salvation because He willingly gave Himself for us on the cross.
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