Palm Sunday ~ Mark 11:1-11
Audio version HERE.
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth with only a few words, “Let it be” and it is … one, two, three, and it’s done; with the snap of a finger, as easy as pie …
But the great God Almighty is no absentee landlord … God is going to have a hand in things from the get-go … up close and personal.
God fashions us from the dirt of the earth … and takes this little lump of dirt in hand and gets close enough to puff air into our lungs – an image of tenderness … as a mother might hold her child close and blow gentle air into the child’s face – sweetness and delight …
But more than this, the very first breath humankind takes is the breath of God … we are not our own, nor are we merely creatures of the dirt – we are children of God, and endowed with God’s Spirit.
God, up close and personal …
I love the stories of Genesis … after things get going a bit, God decides to pay Adam and Eve a visit … in the cool of the day, it says, at the time of the evening breeze – when folks come out after a hot day to sip some tea or enjoy a mint julep.
God drops in to say Hi!
A friendly visit …
But Adam and Eve are nowhere to be found.
They’re hiding … they’re afraid … they’re ashamed.
We might have expected Adam and Eve to be sitting on the porch looking for company, but now they’re hiding in the bushes …
God knocks on the door, but no answer.
Adam and Eve shush one another!
Ever done that?
Uncle Fred comes to the door, and he’s the last person you wanna see, because he’ll talk your ears off for two hours, and you’ve got work to do, so you get real quite … Uncle Fred knocks on the door, and you put your finger to your lips and shush everyone … Uncle Fred knocks again, “Anyone home?”
Uncle Fred goes away after knocking a few times …
But God calls out, “Adam, Eve, where are you?”
And frightened as they are, they can’t resist the gracious voice of God … love is calling them, as love calls us, “Come out, come out, wherever you are.”
Adam and Eve emerge from their hiding place trembling … “We were afraid,” they said.
“What happened?” asks God.
You know the rest of the story … but for me today, the heart of the story is God paying us a visit … not just an occasional visit, but many a visit …
God drops by Abraham and Sarah one day by the oaks of Mamre – a shade tree visit …
God pays Moses a visit in a burning bush in the land of Midian.
God calls the young boy Samuel in the deep of the night … it seems that God likes to stop by now and then, just like a good friend.
Not too often as to wear out a welcome.
But always at the right moment.
God is never late.
In a prayer, our heart is moved.
In a book, something awakens our spirit.
We read the Bible, and a great truth grips our soul.
God pays us a visit!
And then one day, the Angel Gabriel visits a young girl in a little town in Palestine and says to her, “Mary, God’s favor is upon you, and you will become pregnant, and the child in your womb will be Israel’s Messiah” … and so it came to pass, the child war born … the Son of God in the flesh, God with us, paying us another visit.
The child grew in wisdom and strength, and one day, about the age 30, he travels south to where the Jordan enters the Dead Sea … a harsh and unyielding wilderness, there to be baptized.
Jesus of Nazareth, this man of sorrows, and great love, walks the length and breadth of the land … pays a visit to some fishermen, Peter and Andrew, James and John … and then drops by a tax collectors’ booth to chat with a man named Matthew … and then stops beneath a tree in Jericho and invites himself to dinner with Zacchaeus …
God, up close and personal … who enjoys dropping in on us, to see how things are going.
It’s not easy for God.
I wouldn’t want to be God for all the tea in China, and you wouldn’t either.
Heaven is plagued with terrible questions:
How to love us?
How to help us?
How to entice us out of the bushes, and out of the boats and away from the tax booth … how to get us out of our tree so that God can break bread with us?
A long and difficult journey for God …
From heaven to earth …
From Galilee to Jerusalem …
From Bethlehem’s cradle to Calvary’s cross.
From life to death, and to life again.
Today … we call it Palm Sunday …
We recall the fateful events that brought Jesus to the fabled city, the Holy City of David, the city on a hill – Jerusalem the Golden.
The little story recalled in Mark is full of hints and hopes …
This man of many travels …
He’s now a pilgrim to the Holy City …
Everyone walks, but in the last mile, he rides …
On a young donkey not yet ridden … a colt for only one purpose –
Not a horse reserved for war, but a donkey, a beast of holy burden, not fast, but slow; to bring a king to the royal city.
Mark spends a lot of time detailing the arrangements … for Mark, this moment is terribly important, full of portent – meaning and hope: beneath the ebb and flow of time there is a plan … God at work in all things …
A young donkey is tethered beside a home.
The disciples are instructed where to find it, and what to say if anyone should question they’re taking it.
The simple word: “It’ll be returned soon” speaks a whole world of meaning – God never takes anything, but only asks for our help.
This is no ordinary king.
Mark would have understood the power of the Roman soldier who could press into service anyone they needed, and commandeer a beast of burden.
But this king will only borrow the donkey, and return it promptly.
Cloaks are thrown on it for a makeshift saddle …
Those with him shout for joy … the ancient cry of the pilgrim.
“Hosanna” … “Save us God.”
“Blessed are all who come to this city in the name of the LORD.”
“Blessed is the coming kingdom of David our father.”
“Hosanna in the highest” … “Save us, O God.”
Branches and leaves are waved and strewn about on the road – things green and living … this is a procession unto life.
The jubilant pilgrims are eager to enter the city … they press in upon Jesus – a boisterous crowd – some of them, his friends, have a hint of who he might be, but today, Jesus is just one of the thousands of pilgrims pushing in to the fabled city.
The crowd passes through the northern gate and quickly disperses …
Jesus and the twelve are alone.
Jesus goes to the temple …
To see his Father’s home away from home …
“A house of prayer for all nations,” said Isaiah …
A safe place for all the world.
Tomorrow, Jesus will challenge the authorities.
Tomorrow, Jesus will turn the tables.
Tomorrow, Jesus will say, “You’ve turned this house of prayer into a den of thieves.”
The hour is late.
Jesus returns to Bethany.
For the next three days, he’ll work in the city during the day, but at night, he withdraws to Bethany … he has friends there, on the east slope of the Mount of Olives … … at night, even the son of God needs a place to lay his head, some friends to cheer him, and food prepared by loving hands.
As the story unfolds, things go south in a hurry.
Jesus doesn’t play the game very well.
He says troubling things.
He breaks with convention.
He upsets the apple cart.
And turns the tables on them.
The powers that be grow resentful.
Plans are laid.
Midnight plots are hatched.
The ball begins to roll.
Judas decides to cast his lot with the powers that be.
He can see the handwriting on the wall.
This isn’t going to end well.
Like all of us, Judas wants to be on the winning side.
And money talks …
30 pieces of silver …
Not a bad wage for a mean night’s work.
And dear old Peter.
Bold and brash.
But now he’s frightened, and Peter will lose his courage.
Who hasn’t lost their courage a time or two?
Who hasn’t echoed Peter’s sentiment beside the fire on a chilly night, “I really don’t know the man.”
And I suppose, in some ironic way, Peter was absolutely right … he didn’t know Jesus very well at all … but, then, who does?
That fateful night as the weeks draws to a close,
Jesus will stand alone in the court of Pilate.
What needs to be done, only he can do.
This work belongs to God, and to God alone.
There would be work for us down the road.
“Come and follow me, and take up your own cross.”
Plenty of work,
Back-breaking work …
Blood, sweat and tears kind of work …
But not yet …
Not in Pilate’s court …
Not on Friday at Golgatha …
Nor in the tomb …
Only the Son of God can do this mighty work.
A long and bitter night it will be …
Betrayal and arrest …
Denial and trumped-up charges …
Beating and spitting …
The crown of thorns and the purple robe …
The laughter and the scorn …
This work belongs to God …
All alone …
To pay a debt he didn’t owe,
For a price I couldn’t pay.
Palm Sunday …
Did they really have any idea what was happening?
Not likely … but, then, do we?
When I think about salvation, I’m amazed …
When I ponder the story of the Great God Almighty shaping a little lump of dirt and bringing it close to his face, to blow the breath of life into us.
When I wonder what it was like for Moses to take off his shoes and talk with God, warmed by a burning bush that never burned at all …
God with us, God near to us; a gracious presence that leaves the bush untouched … a fire that doesn’t consume; a flame that doesn’t harm … a love, pure and clean!
Paul the Apostle writes to the Philippians, “I pray that your love will overflow more and more with knowledge and insight.”
Psalm 23, “my cup runneth over” – full of God’s love …
Paul’s prayer is my prayer for you.
And not a bad prayer for any of us to pray for one another.
That your love overflow …
Because there can never be enough love …
Sometimes love is a little puny …
Christians don’t have a spotless record … sometimes our love is stingy and miserly.
May our love overflow more and more with knowledge and insight.
It’s a spiritual thing … a vast mystery, to be sure.
The love of God.
Paul writes elsewhere to the Corinthians: “desire the greater gifts.”
Go for it.
Exceed the limits.
Reach high and reach far.
Pursue God with all of your might …
Pray for the greater gifts …
An overflowing love …
The great love of God …
The love that blew the breath of life into this little lump of dirt …
The love that flamed bright in a burning bush …
The love that came down, small enough to fit into Mary’s womb …
The love that journeyed from heaven to earth …
From Galilee to Jerusalem …
To pay a debt he didn’t owe,
A price you and I couldn’t pay.
Amen and Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment