April 13, 2003
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On this
Palm Sunday it is good for us to remember that the day Jesus arrived in the city
for the Passover festival people took notice. Each of the gospels tells us that
when Jesus entered Jerusalem, people shouted, “Hosanna!” which means “save
now”, or “save I pray”. Matthew goes on to tell us “when he entered
Jerusalem, the whole city was in turmoil asking who is this?” (21.10). In Luke’s
account of Jesus’ entry into the city, “some Pharisees in the crowd said to
him, ‘Teacher, order your disciples to stop’. But Jesus said, ‘if these
were quiet, the stones would shout out’.” (19.39-40). And John tells us “as Jesus drew close to the city,
people ran out to meet him waving palm branches” (12.12-13). They
reacted as they did because in their minds and in their souls, the moment had
come. They were thinking, “the Messiah has arrived and will all things, all
right. Look at Jesus. The prophet Zechariah said it would be like this!
Remember, it says in his book that when the Messiah-King comes he will be riding
on a donkey. Here he is, Jesus will take care of everything. We are saved,
now.” Yes they were and we are too, except this Messiah, this one in whom our faith is placed and by whose grace and mercy it is renewed day by day, comes to us in a way that is different than we might expect. Mark’s
is a rather low-key entry account. His is more somber than the others. In his
commentary on Mark, Lamar Williamson, Jr. reminds us “Mark depicts an entry
which is triumphal only for Jesus’ followers who have not yet understood his
destiny as Son of man. For Jesus, it is an entry into suffering and death. He
enters Jerusalem as a pilgrim, and as more than a pilgrim. He makes no response
to a royal acclamation, but his silence seems to suggest, ‘I am Messiah, and I
will save; but not as you expect.” The irony of this rag-tag procession is
that its enthusiastic participants are wrong in their expectation that Jesus
will immediately restore the fortunes of Jerusalem, and yet they are right in
their hope that he is Messiah. He is no less King than their words suggest, but
his kingdom is other and more than they dare to think” (Interpretation
series. Mark . Lamar
Williamson, Jr. Atlanta. John Knox Press. 1983, p.204).
The
kingdom Jesus is bringing about is not about being a conquering hero who will
overthrow the hated Romans. Instead his kingdom will be based on service. The
desire to serve others comes as we are imitators of Christ. We sing Hosanna to
the One who has come to us as
a servant. Jesus spent his time on this earth with the full authority of God to
be God’s person in the world. He used his authority to meet the spiritual and
physical needs of people. He told us how to serve others too. Feed the hungry,
clothe the naked, shelter the homeless, visit the sick and imprisoned, live as
people forgiven and loved without condition. Share the good news of God,
especially as that good news comes through Jesus Christ. Not every one wants to hear our good news. They say, “after all, is it our fault if people can’t take care of themselves, or find secure safe, decent, and affordable housing, or if they cannot keep themselves well? Not everyone ought to be forgiven or loved. But
we are called to do as Christ did. We are called to love as he loved, called to
acts of compassion and charity and justice as he was, called to serve as he
served, otherwise why are we shouting “hosanna”? As we take on the role of servant, one who voluntarily gives service to others, the first thing for us to remember is who the object of our service is. We are called on to serve all kinds of entities and institutions. We pray regularly for men and women who are part of the Armed Services. Some of us pay dues because we are members of service organizations. We serve all kinds of groups and people. But from the point of view of renewing faithfulness, we serve God. Isaiah
identifies the Lord God as the one who calls us into service.
Humanity and nature may benefit from our service, but it is God who is
served. When humanity, commissioned by God for love and service forgot its
mission, God did not give up on humanity. Instead, “God sent Jesus in the
fullness of time. In Jesus, God sang the song of a servant’ (Philip
Bence. Lent 2003:The Risen Savior. Abingdon. Nashville. 2002, p. 53).
What
are the verses of the servant song and how are we faithful to God as we join
with Jesus in singing it? First
we sing the song of a servant teacher. A teacher is one who passes on
knowledge in a way that people can internalize and learn. The particular lesson
being taught is about how to speak in a way that encourages people who are just
plain worn out. One
of the teaching methods Jesus used was storytelling. He was a master storyteller
who told a story about a man with two sons, one a prodigal and the other filled
with resentment, and taught us about reconciliation. His greatest stewardship
lesson was told in the story of a widow who put all the money she had into the
temple treasury. In his last moments on this earth, Jesus taught lesson of
forgiveness and salvation when he promised a dying thief, “today, you will be
with me in paradise”. There
are other examples of his storytelling, and all of them celebrate the fact that
when we are weary, in body and spirit, Jesus, the servant of God has a word for
us, and will bring people into our lives to help us hear that word. Can
you remember a time when you felt tired, utterly exhausted, and burned out? But
someone knew what to say to give you the strength to go on one more day until
your energy returned? Can you share what you heard with others – “I’m
praying for you; I am here for you, here is how I got through when I was
exhausted by the stresses and strains of life?” It is in that word we receive
hope and life and learn how to give it in return (Texts
for Preaching – Year B.
Louisville. Westminster/John Knox Press. 1993, p.241). We
sing a song of teaching, and the second song we sing is a servant’s
song of listening. The servant said, “the Lord God opened my ears”.
Throughout his life Jesus listened to God. He often took time by himself to
refresh himself, to pray, to hear what God would say to him. At key points in
his ministry, at this baptism, at the Transfiguration, from the disciple Peter,
even on the cross he heard affirmation that he was the beloved son of God. What
Jesus heard from God made it possible for him to hear from others. Like
Jesus we can listen to God and learn to hear people in their joy and in their
pain. Like him, we can share in their triumphs and their turmoil. At the
Transformational Evangelism workshop we talked about the importance of listening
to people, to really hearing what they have to say. If we can hear and believe
that we belong to God, then certainly we can serve God by listening to the needs
of the world, then by acting in a way that meets those needs. Our
ministries of outreach and nurture are all about hearing a need and then meeting
needs inside and outside these walls. Our response to those needs has led to
Thursday’s child, and sharing bread on the last Friday of the month, and
advocacy for the disenfranchised and support for those in need here. Listening
to needs is what our prayer chain is about along with our bereavement committee
and our offer of transportation for people needing a ride to the doctor, or
store, or to church. The Lord God has opened our ears and we have heard God and
we hear others. Know
that in opening our ears to others, we will sing a third song. It
is the servant’s song of one who is vulnerable. Today is Palm Sunday.
And it is also Passion Sunday as we begin the week that will end with the
crucifixion of Jesus. Jesus is not only the servant of God, he is the suffering
servant. We tend to think of suffering only in terms of one who is in pain, who
is abused or neglected. But there may come a day, if it hasn’t already, when
we will make an offer to help, to comfort, to be a companion and friend, and
someone will say “no thanks”, and we will feel exposed and vulnerable. It
happened to Jesus and it will happen to us. Nevertheless, he has made himself
vulnerable, open to the cares and the abuse of the world, and he invites us to
do the same. It is he who obeyed God, who faced God as he went about his ministry. As we read his story, we know that Isaiah describes the servanthood of Jesus well. We know he took abuse normally only a masochist would enjoy. If he was hit, spit on, talked about, he held in check the very human impulse to hit back, spit back, talk back. He understood that another definition of suffering is to bear up. Through it all, Jesus was able to bear up and endure. And he calls us to bear up and endure too. If
we are vulnerable, if we are not reluctant to say to somebody when we hurt, when
we are lonely, when we are frightened, when we are alone, we will find
companions along the way. We will learn that while our journey is our own,
others have traveled similar paths and endured. Endurance
leads us to sing the fourth song, which is the
servant’s song of remarkable trust in God. The Lord God helps me
therefore I was not disgraced. The abuse we heap on others is not about us, it
is about the abuser. Jesus was not deterred by the insults he faced, he simply
trusted God more fiercely. How strong was his trust? It was so strong that rather than turn back from Jerusalem, Jesus like Isaiah’s servant, “set his face like flint”. You know about flint – when it is broken, it exposes sharp edges. Flint has come to represent both sharp edged destructive power and stubborn faithfulness. Jesus stayed steadfast and faithful in the face of abuse and because he did, he was able to continue his ministry to its painful conclusion. All that is intended to humiliate us need not and will not, the Lord God helps us. We
are helped and so that we sing the servant’s final song, we
sing the servant’s song of vindication, we are exonerated when we have
been accused unjustly. The vindication of the servant leads to greater service. Is there anyone who wants to argue with me, Let’s be reconciled and stand together instead. Is there any here would be an adversary? Let’s talk about it. Have you heard the song of the servant? Let’s join in singing it to the glory of God as we wave our palms and prepare for the passion. This
is indeed a day for us to shout our praise to God for the gift of Jesus Christ
in our lives. This is a day for us to proclaim that the Messiah is here. We sing
Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord. We can join the
servant’s song on this Palm and Passion Sunday and say, save us now, vindicate
us now, love us now, hear us now. Let’s sing a song that celebrates the ways
that God is blessing our lives and the world. Teaching
and listening, suffering and endurance, trust and vindication all renew our
faith in God who sings with us. And there is this. After the Hosannas and the
parade, after we claim the blessing, we can commit ourselves day by day to serve
and praise God. The spiritual says, “if I don’t praise him the rocks are
gonna cry out, glory and honor.” We
serve by offering all we have to prepare the way for Jesus the Christ, by
singing songs of praise and by refusing to let rocks, or stones or anything else
praise him in our place. We serve him as we share the good news of Jesus Christ,
all to the glory and honor of God. This
Palm Sunday as we make our way to the passion of Jesus Christ, let’s commit
ourselves to make room today for Jesus Christ, servant of God, Savior of the
world to make a triumphal entry into our hearts. Let’s leave here today
determined to spend this week in prayer, in meditation, in service in God’s
name. We can serve God as we take our place among the faithful knowing that
there is along the way, a cross to lift up, a tomb to visit, a resurrection to
proclaim. “Hosanna,
blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord”. Thanks be to God for the
immeasurable gift of Jesus Christ. Amen. Dr.
LaTaunya M. Bynum |
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Broad
Street Christian Church
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