Psalm 118.19-29; Matthew 21.1-11
Much of the news this week has been sad … very sad … and infuriating …
I watch this great nation of ours stumble and fall, again and again, on the issues of gun violence and needless death …
I hear politicians excuse and defend our current failures … claiming their right to own, carry, and use guns.
A right, they say, not to be challenged or changed … a right greater than all other rights!
What about the rights of the teachers who’ve been wounded and killed … the rights of the children … the rights of families forever scarred with sorrow and loss … the communities where they live, the nation we all love … needless death and suffering.
There is in all of this, something terribly wrong, terribly frightening, incredibly sad.
It doesn’t have to be …
Yet for reasons known only to hell, we’re incapable of confronting the issues, stymied on writing legislation, to improve safety.
Of course, perfect solutions don’t exist, we know that … but we can do a lot more than what we’re presently doing.
I want our schools to be safe, our children secure … so they can enjoy a good education, with good teachers, and libraries …yes, libraries, free of mindless censorship and narrow-minded oversight, a pinch-faced morality, that does more harm than good.
Every day, I see racism at work … anti-Semitism on the rise, attacks on Asians, violence against gays and lesbians, against “woke” people (of which I am one) … I support the teaching of CRT, the truth about our history, because truth is always hopeful, even when it’s hard.
I hear terrible things said about trans-children and their families … terrible things said to teachers and librarians, at school board meetings and city hall … attacks against women and their freedom, women and their right to choose the level of healthcare they deem important …
I watch our Democracy - challenged and questioned, at every turn, by too many people who would set aside what this nation fought for in the Civil War.
What we fought for in both World Wars …
For Democracy to win the day, freedom prevail, human rights endure … because liberty and justice for all is possible …
We must not set aside our ideals, our dreams, our hopes … we must preserve our Constitution and its Bill of Rights!
God has give us this nation … a nation from sea to shining sea … we’re a long way from perfection, but we’re on the right road, and the right road IS our Democracy …
Wherein all religions have a place at the table.
Where faith is respected, in all its forms and practices.
Where people are honored, in their diversity and uniqueness.
Where children are precious … and the common good celebrated.
We’re in this life for one another … do unto others what we desire for ourselves … love one another … with all due respect … care for the widow, the orphan, the stranger in our midst … feed the hungry … cloth the naked … these deep biblical principles are the pillars of Democracy …
To seek the best, and pay the price … goodness is never cheap … justice is expensive … peace is costly … but whatever the price we pay for a better world - is a price far less - than what we’re paying right now, in the sorrow and tears of our children
Truly, this IS our Lenten Journey …
The realities of the day, a role to play, an important work to be done … to be the salt of the earth, and the light of the world.
Yes, it’s Palm Sunday … the day our Lord rode into Jerusalem, on a donkey, a beast of burden, a humble creature, slow and steady … this is not the stuff of power and worldly glory, but peace and grace … Jesus, not a conquering hero, waving a sword and marshaling armies, but a servant of God … prepared to give himself away, until there’s nothing more to give … Jesus takes the cross … he’s crucified, dead, and buried.
He descends into hell … he falls into the faraway land of death … the deepest, darkest, realms of human failure and sorrow … to give hope to everyone … heal the sin-sick and ravaged souls of humanity … break down the walls of sin and violence … set the captives free … gives sight to the blind … points the way, not with a spear, not with a sword, not with AR-15 … but with mercy and words of truth … this is my body, this is my blood … given for you.
Palm Sunday, a festive day … yet we pause to think … beneath the joy, a strange tide running … a few days later, the crowd cries for his death.
Why did they turn? What did they expect?
They were were looking for a hero … a mighty king … like King David, who ruled Israel for 40 years …
We have to clear about something: David reigned in ancient Israel a thousand years before Jesus came to Jerusalem … a thousand years, twice the age of this nation, and then some - a thousand years … what do any of us remember from a thousand years ago?
When was the last time we had a lively conversation about:
~ The Norman Conquest of Britain in 1066.
~ Pope Urban II calling for the Crusades, 1095.
~ Or the Magna Carta signed in 1215.
The people of Jerusalem had a long memory, an incredibly long memory … centered in King David … they longed for the past, they yearned for the past, they prayed for the past, they measured everything by the past … a past that never existed, quite as they imagined …
Nothing more dangerous than long memories … political memories, religious memories … memories that long ago lost touch with reality, and turned their backs on the future.
Jesus said, If you put your hand to the plow. don’t look back …
When the angel rescued Lot and his family from the doomed cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, the angel said, Don’t look back … but Lot’s wife turned her head, and in that moment, she became a pillar of salt … paralyzed, immobilized, stuck in time, unable to move forward.
The crowed welcomed Jesus, with expectations - to bring back the good times, to make things like they once were …
Who doesn’t have some of that same instinct?
To be young again, Christmas like we remember from 25 years ago, that first car we bought, the happy times on vacation … our college days, or whatever it be … that happy place in our memories.
Yes, plenty of good, but never so good as to deserve a restoration in time, a reincarnation, a reenactment, a return.
The crowd longed for the past … when Jesus failed to bring the past into fruition, the crowd turned on him … when he pointed to the future, they lost what little faith they had in him.
By the end of the week, they demand his death … Rome was more than happy to oblige; Pilate said, “Have it your way!” … the religious leaders were pleased … “Who needs a troublemaker?”
Palm Sunday … a festive day, a mindful day … a reminder … love is the way of life, it’s the only way to keep life holy and good, to keep life balanced and purposeful, safe and secure … optimistic and realistic … love builds, love creates, love forgives, love is patient, love makes all things new … love rolls up its sleeves and goes to work … love never ends.
Palm Sunday … we welcome Christ into our lives, we sing the songs of love, we wave our palm branches in salute to his glory, we lay down our cloaks, and bow before the LORD Almighty … the LORD of day and night, the LORD of all hope, the LORD of all our futures … the triumph of all good.
Hallelujah and Amen!
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