The Big Joke; a sermon for Palm Sunday

Mark 11:1-11

When they were approaching Jerusalem, at Bethphage and Bethany, near the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples ²and said to them, ‘Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately as you enter it, you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden; untie it and bring it. ³If anyone says to you, “Why are you doing this?” just say this, “The Lord needs it and will send it back here immediately.” ’ ⁴They went away and found a colt tied near a door, outside in the street. As they were untying it, ⁵some of the bystanders said to them, ‘What are you doing, untying the colt?’ ⁶They told them what Jesus had said; and they allowed them to take it. ⁷Then they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it; and he sat on it. ⁸Many people spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut in the fields. ⁹Then those who went ahead and those who followed were shouting,

‘Hosanna!
   Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!
¹⁰   Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David!
Hosanna in the highest heaven!’

11 Then he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple; and when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve.

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
   be acceptable to you,
   O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.

Oh, that we were on fire like that crowd outside of Jerusalem!

How many of us would find ourselves in that crowd as Jesus entered the Holy City? Be honest with yourself. What excites you more, what gets more response out of you: a revival or a political rally?

Because if you look at our world today, it’s pretty obvious where the enthusiasm is. And it’s not just the secular world that’s getting more excited about politics than faith. The folk who are leading the charge are the folk who most wholeheartedly connect their faith to their politic.

But I think that most people, in their political excitement, look a lot like that crowd on the road to Jerusalem. They don’t really know what they’re excited about; they just know something really nifty is going on and they want to be a part of it.

For the most part, that’s how we react to our politics. We don’t really look deeply at the leaders of our political movements, and we don’t think all the way through the consequences of our political enthusiasm; we just make knee-jerk reactions out of frustration or a sense of righteous indignation. We get excited when somebody looks hopeful and we hurry to bandwagon and throw our coats and donations and support before the next big thing to come down the road.

And months later we find out what a goon that politician actually is. And years later we start to realize just how many people those ideas hurt. And decades later we wonder what fools actually supported those idiotic ideas.

Because our political memory is fabulously short-sighted.

The crowds who gathered to celebrate the Prophet from Nazareth didn’t have any real sense who he was. They were just getting excited because of all the hype surrounding him. They had a hope that he would fix their problems right then, right there.

‘Hosanna!
   Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!
¹⁰   Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David!
Hosanna in the highest heaven!’

The kingdom of our ancestor David…

The coming kingdom of our ancestor David…

Do you see what’s weird about that?

The crowds gathered were looking backward at something long past, hoping that the king they were seeing through rose-colored glasses would reappear and right the wrongs they were experiencing in the present.

And in rides Jesus on a donkey.

It doesn’t give the crowds pause. They just keep singing. Most of them probably don’t even see what he’s on. A baby donkey.

Well, that’s not a military mount. That’s not worthy of the savior.

What’s going on?

This isn’t a parade. It’s a parody. It’s like sitting in the audience of the Colbert Report and taking the monologue seriously.

Since when did God start making fun of us? Since when did God start pointing out the flaws in our plans? Since when did our best intentions become the butt of a divine joke?

It’s not fair! It’s not fair that God has gotten our hopes up and is suddenly making a mockery of them.

What kind of God does that?

There had better be some good reason for this parody. There had better be some good explanation this week for the way God is turning everything upside down.

This had better make more sense as Passover nears, because Jesus is about to ruin a perfectly good Festival Day.

There had better be some sense, now we watch Jesus’ back heading into the city on that donkey, there had better be some sense that this is…

To Be Continued…

<exit>

Covenant: Being Fruity; a sermon for the Fifth Sunday in Lent

John 12:20-33

20 Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. ²¹They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, ‘Sir, we wish to see Jesus.’ ²²Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. ²³Jesus answered them, ‘The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. ²⁴Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. ²⁵Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. ²⁶Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honour.

27 ‘Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say—“Father, save me from this hour”? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour. ²⁸Father, glorify your name.’ Then a voice came from heaven, ‘I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.’ ²⁹The crowd standing there heard it and said that it was thunder. Others said, ‘An angel has spoken to him.’ ³⁰Jesus answered, ‘This voice has come for your sake, not for mine. ³¹Now is the judgement of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. ³²And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.’ ³³He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die.

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart

be acceptable to you,

O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.

Karoline and I are currently planting our first garden ever. We are busy asking friends what to plant when, and how. On Tuesday, Noah and I spent a very brief part of the afternoon planting a row of red onions. He was really excited. He has decided that he likes gardening. We’ll see how true that is when harvest comes around.

Our hope is that our harvest will be productive. It’s our first shot at this, so I have my doubts about our rate of success, but I’m hopeful.

I hope our garden will be fruitful.

We are doing the best we know how, and checking in with friends, trying to learn how best to do this and keeping ourselves accountable. We are trying to keep our end of the bargain and trust the earth to do her part as well.

Do you see where I’m going here?

There is a reason that the prevailing context of parables and stories in the Bible is agriculture. It’s something the people around Jesus knew about. It’s something the patriarchs knew about. Like music to Stevie Wonder, agriculture is

a world within itself;

It’s a language we all understand.

…[it] always will be

One of the things that life just won’t quit.

It is a practice that people around the world have recognized from before antiquity through today, however much the practice of farming and gardening may change with the advent of ever-improving technologies: irrigation, plows, tractors, hydroponic gardening, even organic harvests from the rooftops of our most densely concreted cities. Growing things for beauty and for nourishment happens everywhere, and the observations Jesus makes about that seems to carry from one location to another, however different they may seem.

Even observations like today’s that we would rather overlook:

unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.

God’s covenant is always beneficial to us. We’ve seen that through these texts during Lent. God is always working toward our well-being, our gifting, our salvation; but there is often considerable sacrifice that we must make on our end of the covenant.

We have to look hard at ourselves; to recognize that, unlike what so many of the people to whom we look for guidance have to say, we cannot be a self-made person. We cannot pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps. We cannot improve ourselves. We cannot make ourselves worthy. We cannot make ourselves holy. We cannot save ourselves. And we cannot expect that the change God desires to make in us will allow us to hold on to the stuff we treasure most dearly.

For I know my transgressions,
   and my sin is ever before me.

I know I’m not good enough for the work to which I’m called, for the following I’m called to do.

Indeed, I was born guilty,
   a sinner when my mother conceived me. 

And that is why the psalmist, seeking holiness, makes such a wrenching request:

Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
   wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
⁸ Let me hear joy and gladness;
   let the bones that you have crushed rejoice.
⁹ Hide your face from my sins,
   and blot out all my iniquities. 

Purge me… the bones that you have crushed… hide your face…

Really?

How many of us have had a stomach virus this year? Do we really want to be purged?

How many of us have had bones not only broken, but crushed?

How many of us remember when someone beloved to us has been so upset, so hurt that the very sight of us is painful? What does it feel like when your beloved cannot even bear to look at you?

Purge me… crush my bones… hide your face…

Being made worthy is not a fun process. Being made holy is painful, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. To be sanctified means giving up a lot that we hold dear.

All that stuff we hold on to so tightly, all that stuff we hoard; all the times we turn back into a three-year old screaming “MINE!” have to turn into opened arms, uplifted hands, a humbled countenance before God, saying, “Yours”.

All my time is yours.

All my gifts are yours.

All my attention is yours.

All my work is yours.

All my stuff is yours.

All my emotion is yours.

Every thought is yours.

Every word is yours.

Everything, Lord, is yours.

Put to death all that is unholy. Dry it up, crack it open so that the germ of faith still living inside me can soak up all the goodness in the soil you plant me in; so that that faith, potent as a mustard seed, can grow into the fruit you desire me to be.

Put me to death, Lord. Make me holy. Make me fruity, so I can show you that I’m worth your time, your attention, your love.

Because you tell me you love me, Lord, but it’s so hard to believe when I keep messing up. It’s so hard to have faith in your love when there is so much of me that’s hate. It’s so hard to believe in you when I just can’t believe in myself.

God, purge my impure thoughts. Break the fragile frame I’ve made for myself. Hide your face from my shamefulness until you clothe me in righteousness.

And make every thought yours. Make me strong with your hand. Put on me new habits, holy habits that remake me in every action and interaction with my neighbors.

Make me worthy of the promise you’ve made with me. Write your word on my heart so that every word that comes out of me is blessing. Forgive me, remake me, and let me know only you, all the time, everywhere I am.

Make me yours, Lord.

Make me only, always, ever yours.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Covenant: What Keeps Our Focus; a sermon for the Fourth Sunday of Lent

John 3:14-21

¹⁴And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, ¹⁵that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

16 ‘For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.

17 ‘Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. ¹⁸Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God. ¹⁹And this is the judgement, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. ²⁰For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed. ²¹But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God.’ 

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
   be acceptable to you,
   O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.

Late in the year 312, the Roman Emperor Constantine was preparing to do battle with Maxentius, and was pondering how to better his chances because Maxentius’ forces seemed daunting. The historian Eusebius records what the emperor told him:

[Constantine] said that about noon, when the day was already beginning to decline, he saw with his own eyes the trophy of a cross of light in the heavens, above the sun, and bearing the inscription, CONQUER BY THIS.

Eusebius then describes the sign that Constantine constructed: a standard with a bar set across it to make a cross, and from the bar hung Constantine’s banner; and above the banner the first two greek letters of the word, “Christ”.

Under that standard, Constantine defeated Maxentius. He later declared safety for all Christians in the empire and set up a very comfortable system that made the Church an extraordinary beneficiary of the unclaimed properties of the empire.

Essentially, because God gave Constantine the victory, he legalized Christianity and set up Christendom.

Now, for folks who prefer the story of Joshua as a guide to international disputes, that’s a really cool and promising story. For folks who prefer the Sermon on the Mount, it’s a bit troublesome.

Constantine’s claim is that the cross and name of Christ led him to victory, and that victory enabled and encouraged him to set up Christianity as the authorized religion of the empire.

The cross and the name of Christ is the standard under which Constantine ruled.

I point that out NOT to suggest what today’s political leaders ought to do, and for any number of reasons that we really don’t need to go into today. I point out Constantine’s example because today we consider what it is to look at the cross of Christ, raised up so that all who behold that standard might be saved.

Constantine, by his own account, was empowered and saved, militarily, by the cross and the name of Christ.

But do we uphold the cross of Christ today?

Rather, do we look to the cross that Jesus is talking about?

Constantine held up a cross of victory, and imposed his own banner upon it.

What John is quoting is Jesus referring to a different kind of cross entirely.

John can picture the old Roman cross that was used to bring to light and humiliate criminals who threatened the state.

John can picture Christ on that cross, so he remembers Jesus pointing out how

the Son of Man [must] be lifted up.

But look at our cross today. It’s gilded, polished, shiny. It’s heavy for its size but it’s little. For all its glimmer, it’s just a shadow of what John pictures.

And, strangest of all, it’s empty.

And that’s the cross we’re accustomed to seeing. An empty cross. A strong statement of the resurrection, but only if we remember the brutality that the cross embodied before Jesus of Nazareth was removed from it.

Without that memory, without Jesus’ complete self-giving on that ancient instrument of torture, there is no power in the cross at all.

When Moses lifted up the bronze snake on his own standard, it was a brutal reminder of the power God had exercised, and apparently still was exercising on the people. It was a reminder of who it was who had brought them so far, and who the only One would be to deliver them into the promised land. It was a reminder of their own thanklessness and grumbling, of their own guilt and their need to repent.

And so, looking to the standard of the serpent was an opportunity to turn back to YHWH who had brought them out of slavery and toward sovereignty.

Do you hear the psalmist remembering that time?

¹⁷ Some were sick through their sinful ways,
   and because of their iniquities endured affliction;
¹⁸ they loathed any kind of food,
   and they drew near to the gates of death.
¹⁹ Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,
   and he saved them from their distress;
²⁰ he sent out his word and healed them,
   and delivered them from destruction.

Kind of sounds like what we deal with today, too.

Our sin, our shortcoming, our impoverished choices lead to death, to suffering in our souls and often to stress and suffering in our bodies as well. More often than we realize, our sin leads to suffering for other people, and far more than we usually suffer on our own.

But John reminds us that there is One to whom we can look to deliver us from that cycle of sin and destruction. There is one standard upon which we are called to focus.

Jesus is our standard for living together.

Jesus is our standard for forgiveness.

Jesus is our standard for mercy.

Jesus is our standard for peace.

Jesus is our standard for hope.

Jesus is our standard for holiness.

Jesus is our standard for deliverance.

Jesus is our standard for suffering.

Yes, Jesus is our standard for walking with each other even through the valley of the shadow of death.

Jesus is the standard for which we give all we are, because Jesus gives all he is, every day, every moment, for us.

Because God loves the world so much that God gives us Jesus, every day, in every moment and thought and interaction of our lives, as a standard, a living standard lifted up, suffering and bleeding and gasping on the cross, so that all of creation - τον κοσμον - might be saved.

Lift up your eyes. Don’t look for the sun, or for a model for your own banner, or for a brass snake on a stick. Look upon the cross. That cross upon which Jesus hangs today, the cross of Christ, the gift of everything that God is, given completely and utterly, that we might live.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Covenant: What Makes Us Holy; a sermon for the Third Sunday in Lent

John 2:13-22

13 The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. ¹⁴In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money-changers seated at their tables. ¹⁵Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. ¹⁶He told those who were selling the doves, ‘Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a market-place!’ ¹⁷His disciples remembered that it was written, ‘Zeal for your house will consume me.’ ¹⁸The Jews then said to him, ‘What sign can you show us for doing this?’ ¹⁹Jesus answered them, ‘Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.’ ²⁰The Jews then said, ‘This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?’ ²¹But he was speaking of the temple of his body. ²²After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
   be acceptable to you,
   O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.

Churches take a lot of pride in their buildings. We can’t always afford to care for them as we’d like to… well, I mean, we probably could if the average tithe didn’t tend to hover around 2%, but that’s another sermon for another time.

We care for our stuff. That’s why a lot of churches stay locked during the day. We want to protect the stuff inside, to keep vandals and thieves away.

Even though the most valuable stuff in the church today is probably secured with a few sheet metal screws in the heat pump outside.

Still, it makes us feel better to lock the doors so that everything is still pretty when we walk back in here next Sunday.

Because we wouldn’t want folks to wander in any random time to see what a beautiful space we have, or to make this an open house of prayer during the week.

We like our building. We like our stuff. We like it so much we’re going to lock it up.

Because Jesus treasured the Temple, right? He wanted to get the sacrifice-market and the money-changers out of the Temple because they were distracting from the beauty of the space, right?

Because it wasn’t holy. Because it didn’t look or sound or smell holy. Right?

Stop making my Father’s house a market-place!

Stop making this so ugly!

Stop making this so smelly!

Stop making this such a racket!

Right?

I mean, that’s the way we act today. We focus more on the appearance of ministry, the way our facade looks and feels, than on the meat and meaning of doing ministry.

How many of us have been to a flea market? It’s quiet and neat and orderly, with the scent of Pine Sol wafting through the air, right?

Of course not.

It’s loud and disorganized and it smells like all the stuff people are bringing in.

And what are people doing there? They’re trying to make money. They’ve got stuff they’ve invested money and sometimes time and labor in, and they want to make sure they’re compensated for it. Their job is to sell you those goods at the highest possible price.

That’s what a marketplace is.

It’s not about providing you with what you need. It’s about providing the merchants with what they need. If those two manage to come together, well and good. But if the merchant can provide you with a cheaper product that makes you happy or fools you, he wins and you lose.

That’s what Jesus is taking issue with here. People taking advantage of each other.

It’s like going to Walt Disney World or Dollywood. You pay an exorbitant fee to get in, and then you shell out gobs of cash for a hot dog for lunch. Because what else are you going to do? Drag the whiny, hungry kids all the way back through the park, past five or ten different eateries, go find your car where the cooler is, and sit on the bumper while you eat cold cuts and apples? No, of course not. You’re going to find the closest place, hand over ten bucks for a hot dog you could’ve gotten at Pal’s for two, or made at home for pennies, and feel miserable and heavy for the rest of the day so you just plain don’t want to argue with the kids about the tee-shirt, pinwheel, and flashlight that cost you an additional $50. For each kid.

Their job is to make as much money off you as possible. Their job is to take advantage of you. And make you feel like you’re getting something out of it.

Jesus saw that going on in the Temple and said, “No way!”

It is the job of the Temple and its establishment to provide the way to make the people holy. It is the job of the Temple to be a means of grace.

And all that marketplace junk was getting in the way.

By the time Jesus came along, there was a lot in Judea that was just getting in the way of helping the people toward holiness. The Temple and the law had become incredibly cumbersome.

Jesus recognized that there was inherent value and beauty in the law.

Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfil.

But Jesus was also aware how complicated and hard it had become.

Maybe that’s why John differentiates between word and Word.

Remember how John starts:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

That word is λογος, which is different from one that John uses at the end of today’s reading.

²²After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.

The scripture: γραφη.

And the word: λογος.

Not. The. Same. Thing.

The Bible: the Law, the Prophets, the Writings, the Epistles, the Gospels, all that mess is the scripture. It’s the word, the γραφη, but it’s not the Word, the λογος.

There is a fancy schmancy word we use to describe what happens when we make scripture the Word: bibliolatry.

It’s a scholarly way of pointing to commandment #2:

You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.

The Bible helps point toward holiness, but it can’t make us holy. Reading and studying, and even teaching will only get us so far. It’ll only point us in the right direction.

The only one who makes us holy is the Holy One.

Who cares if we do or don’t have the commandments posted in the courthouse? Is the courthouse the place that’s going to make you holy? Of course not!

I mean, neither is the church, for that matter.

We try and we try and we try to preserve some semblance of what we think is Christianity in the public sphere, but we can’t force Christ on people!

All that does is get us tied down in legalism and scripturalism.

Do you want to make a difference in the world? Offer the world Christ. Don’t hand them a Bible. Hand them your hand. Don’t preach to them, tell them they’re forgiven. Don’t proclaim their wrongdoing, proclaim Christ crucified!

Do you know why the law of the Lord is perfect? It’s because it’s simple. Remember again with me how Jesus encompassed all the law and the prophets:

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

If it doesn’t make sense to simplify everything down to that essence, don’t worry. You’re in considerable company. Maybe not the best company, but nonetheless a lot of company.

²⁵For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.

God’s wisdom, God’s law is love. And that is the law we’re called to heed today.

Love one another.

Then will the words of your mouth and the meditation of your heart be acceptable to God.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

A Prayer for Coffee (in celebration of 2000+ views)

God right now let us forget about what all the health reports say and simply thank you for the gift of coffee. Thank you for those wonderful beans that are picked, roasted, ground, and brewed to make that wonderful elixir. Thank you for the warmth of the mug in our cold hands.  Thank you for the energy and life it puts back into our brains and bodies.  Thank you for that warm, wonderful feeling in which every sip seems to flow directly into our bloodstreams and out to the tips of our fingers and the ends of our toes.  Thank you for the cream, sugar and sugar substitutes.  Thank you for anything good that goes with coffee.  Thank you for coffee ice cream.  Thank you for any place that sells coffee.  Bless every person who makes or sells coffee.  Are you getting the idea God?  Thank you for all of your blessings - - and at this moment thank you especially for this one.  AMEN

The Book of Uncommon Prayer 2 – Steven L. Case


h/t the Rev. Scott Wilks