A Sermon
preached in Christ Church, Grosse Pointe, Michigan
by The Reverend Vicki Hesse, Associate
by The Reverend Vicki Hesse, Associate
Palm Sunday (Year A)
8 April 2017
8 April 2017
For I decided to know nothing among you
except Jesus Christ, and him crucified.3 And
I came to you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. 4 …5 so
that your faith might rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God.
Contrasts…
most famous
graphic artists.
Although he
was a sickly child,
and failed
the second grade,
he excelled
at drawing contrasts.
You have
seen his work –
Are the
stairs ascending or descending?
Is the water
running uphill or down?
Are those
black birds on a white background or
white birds
on a black background?
Famous
for his impossible constructions,
his
work is inescapably mathematical,
respected
for contrasts of
intellectual
and lyrical qualities.
Contrasts
are the theme of today’s liturgy.
Marcus Borg[3]
reminds us how the scene was set that
“…spring day in the year 30,” when
two contrasting
processions entered Jerusalem.
From the
east, Jesus rode a donkey
down the
Mount of Olives in a peasant procession.
The
followers had journeyed from Galilee,
about a
hundred miles to the north.
From the
west, Governor Pontius Pilate
entered
Jerusalem in an imperial procession.
The
followers were enlisted cavalry and soldiers,
brought to
reinforce the fortress
overlooking
the Jewish temple.
These two
processions embodied
the central
conflict and contrasts
leading to
Jesus’ crucifixion –
his message
of Love against
the
political message of power and might.
Narrowing
our focus, we see Jesus:
the
charismatic teacher
riding triumphantly
into Jerusalem
who was the
betrayed, abandoned
and humbled
one facing death.
Our
adoration of him gives way to
cries for crucifixion.
His
consolation for us gives way to
his anguish and uncertainty before God.
His verbose
message of compassion gives way to
an unnerving silence.
These
contrasts point us to the One
whose love
for us bears all things, believes all things,
hopes all
things and endures all things.
These
contrasts shout out loud
how God’s love never ends.[4]
These
contrasts stress God’s continuous saving acts
throughout Israel’s history and
that of Jesus and his followers.
The drama
compels us.
We are drawn
into the violence,
moral
outrage and conflict of players
in a tragedy
not unlike any TV drama we might see.
We repeat
this drama every year because
the enduring
power of this narrative –
our own narrative - captivates our imaginations.
Why is that?
Because our lives, too,
are fraught
with contrasts.
Our culture
values vitality yet
our bodies are frail.
School
bullies get away with violence yet
we know we are supposed to love anyway.
Our bellies
are full yet
our neighbors in Detroit are hungry.
Our lives are fraught with contrasts.
We see this
contrast in the person of Jesus:
the source
of the conflict and yet
the most
calm and collected of all the actors.
The others –
Pilate, the crowd, the soldiers,
the bandits,
and the bystanders
are all
“beside themselves.”
Perhaps
their conflict with Jesus
reflects
their own inner conflict with themselves
and confronts them with who they
really are.
Is that a confrontation
hard for us to bear, too?
We, as a
society, yearn for peace and yet
we go to war.
We want to
be a nation of great values, yet
we use violence to control.
Perhaps through
this drama, Jesus
“compels
each into their own moment of truth.”[5]
What is a
moment of truth?
It’s when
you must make a decision
that has important consequences.
It’s when
you realize
maybe you have been serving two masters,
“having and eating your cake”
and you have to choose.
In a moment
of truth, your choice
both reveals and creates
the person you really are.
Can we
wonder together…how is Jesus, today,
both revealing and creating us as
a faith community –
grounded in love and hope and faith?
Is this our
moment of truth?
pause
In the
contrasting drama of his passion,
Jesus forced
options.
He didn’t
manipulate behavior,
he stood
before others so that
a response could no longer be ambiguous.
Their
choices revealed their values.
Perhaps we,
too,
know moments
of truth in our lives
so filled
with tension and so filled with truth that
only the
best of who we are can come through
in utter
clarity and for greater good...
We respond
with love and compassion.
We pray for
peace and healing.
We respect
the dignity of our neighbors.
In his
own moment of truth, Jesus gave his life.
Those who
were keeping watch saw, finally,
who he was,
God’s Son, with utter clarity.
So, we are
compelled by Love.
“Today we
say neither the confession of sin
nor the
confession of faith.”[6]
And that’s
not because it would elongate the service.
That
omission is because although repetitive,
every year,
we play the crowd
and confess our sin.
Each time,
we accept
Jesus’ radical and essential forgiveness,
and confess
our faith.
This is our
moment of truth,
in the contrasts of Hosanna and Crucify him.
Throughout
Holy Week,
from
tomorrow, Monday through next Friday,
we will worship
together each day
with a
service that will draw us ever more deeply
to the full
power of Easter.
Every day,
we hear with fresh ears (again!)
how to know &
live the Good News of Jesus Christ.
Today’s contrasting
drama draws us into
God’s gift
of love and forgiveness,
through God’s
mighty acts of unceasing love,
God’s
intimate, delicate last breath and
God’s
surprising resurrection
in the person of Jesus Christ.
Today’s
drama draws us into a thin place,
Like an MC
Escher drawing
where
distinctions between
time & eternity fall away,
where we
proclaim how the death of Jesus
is integral to our Good News.
May we know nothing but Christ and him crucified.
For through
him, God redeems our lives
and the life
of the world.
And through
him, may we know God’s love
for us on
earth as it already is in heaven.
Amen
[1] http://www.mcescher.com/about/biography/ cited on April 7, 2017
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M._C._Escher cited on April 7, 2017
[3] Marcus Borg, The Last Week: A Day-by-Day Account of Jesus’s Final Week in Jerusalem,
(HarperCollins, San Francisco, 2006), p. 2-4
[4] 1 Cor 13:4-8: 4 Love is patient; love
is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant 5 or rude.
It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it
does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. 7 It
bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love
never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues,
they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end.
[5]
David J. Schlafer, What Makes This Day
Different?: Preaching Grace on Special Occasions, (Cambridge, Cowley,
1998), p. 86
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