PARADOX
Quiet Time Palm Sunday
April 5, 2020
We begin the holiest of weeks this day, seeking to discover God in the passion and grief of Jesus. Have grace on us, O God, as we listen for words which will sustain us in our weariness through the days in which we are living.
God of Hope and Joys,
when our hearts ache from brokenness, You nourish us with Your love;
when the world’s pain fatigues us, You carry us in Your arms.
when the loneliness of our souls drains our very being, You come and live with us. You are our God.
Jesus Christ, God’s true Son,
You did not profit from Your oneness with God, but emptied Yourself to become servant to all humanity.
You humbled Yourself to lift us out of sin’s grave.
You are our Lord.
Holy Spirit, Teacher from God,
humble us to be obedient, even to denying all that keeps us from following Jesus;
teach us the words we need to confess Him as our Lord and Savior.
You are our helper.
Then pray, Our Father who art in heaven…
The Lessons
[If you have been walking with me as we do the Stations of the Cross, I explained that we started the journey on the Sunday that would begin a two-week period called Passiontide. That time has now become part of Palm Sunday now known as Palm/Passion Sunday moving us into Holy Week. This week is the saddest and most
difficult week for those who share the Christian faith. The cross is essential so we don't spend
our time only going from glory to glory. So, I share with you the readings for Palm and Passion Sunday.]
Palm Sunday: Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29, Matthew 21:1-11
Passion Sunday: Isaiah 50:4-9a, Psalm 31:9-16, Philippians 2:5-11
Matthew 26:14-27:66 or Matthew 27:11-54
Homily
In today’s Gospel readings; the first lesson tells us of the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem and the second vividly portraying his trial and crucifixion; we have laid out before us what Martin Luther and other Reformers identified as the two theologies which have competed for our allegiance down through the ages.
One is the Theology of Glory – which looks for God in the good, the beautiful, the strong and the powerful.
The other is the Theology of the Cross- which looks for God in exactly those places where we feel God’s absence: in pain, in humiliation, in suffering, in weakness and death.
A Theology of Glory is concerned with health and happiness and prosperity. A Theology of Glory centers on what God can do for us; how being a person of faith can make us more popular, powerful and successful.
Today it spreads out across the airways. It will tell us everything from how to raise money, to how to get more members using the results of the latest research and business techniques, how to unleash your power to "Unlock the Bible’s Wealth and Prosperity Principles.” A Theology of Glory is all about power and control and winning and living large.
A Theology of the Cross is concerned with God; with who God is, and with what God wills and with what God has done for us on the Cross and what God calls us to do in response. A Theology of the Cross is concerned with what looks like failure, what appears to be disaster, with what seems to be the utter and complete absence of God in our more desperate and trying moments, perhaps like the moments of our current time.
A Theology of Glory centers on some formulation that makes the difficulties of our lives okay, makes everything all right, that somehow turns the evil and hurt we experience into a moral good, in the long run, in the overall scheme of things. A Theology of Glory has to have God, and us, in control and good always winning.
A Theology of the Cross makes no attempt to either justify or condemn, to either find God’s hand or lament God’s absence; it points and weeps and realizes that we humans are very much in need of the grace of God. It brings us to the stark realization of our own mortality and imperfection, or our need for rescue from outside ourselves. A Theology of the Cross calls a thing what it is, Luther said; death is death, Sin is sin, horror is horror, suffering is suffering. There is no window dressing that can make them anything else. And yet, and yet, it is in the stark, cold cross that we are saved.
In our text from Philippians, we see Jesus modeling for us that which we are called to do – for salvation is not just about the Cross of Christ; it is also about the Cross of Kurt and the Cross of You.
Jesus showed us the way. We have been called to follow him on that way. For Jesus, that meant giving up whatever glory he had – and he had it all: Glory, power, wisdom, you name, he had it and he let it go. Jesus had everything and instead of clinging desperately to it, he opened his hands and his life and let it go. Many of us spend our lives striving and self-improving and working and networking and dieting and working and investing and saving to get what Jesus had and then let go. “Equality with God” is not a thing to be sought, but a thing to be let go.
Jesus went further, not only did he give up all the power in the universe; he completely emptied himself of it, purged it, threw it away, Jesus then became as we are, and then went further than most of us are willing to go; he became a servant to others.
In completely humbling himself – he went from being everything to being nothing. From being in charge of the universe he went to being in control of nothing; from being the agent of creation he went to dying upon a cross. And there, there dying on the cross as the ultimate servant of humanity is where we will find God – or rather where God finds us.
For it is on our own crosses that we find ourselves driven to Christ for salvation – it is when we stop chasing after whatever it is we think will justify our existence – it is when we release ourselves from the relentless pursuit of success and happiness that we take as every American’s birthright – it is when we open our hands and let loose of that knot at the end of our existential rope – that God can begin to come to us.
When we let ourselves become more human and then more, fallible and frail – when we move beyond just being ordinary into an intense awareness of our failings – when we begin to die with Christ – then we begin to become converted.
For to be a Christian is to die and rise with Christ – there is nothing that can save us but the cross – there is no place we can turn for help but to the cross – there is no way to God but the way of the Cross.
But we must not just sit back and passively accept the benefits of Christ’s death on the cross. That is what Bonhoeffer called “cheap grace.” God’s grace is free, but it is not cheap. We must imitate Christ in dying to the old self.
Christ’s act of saving us began in the incarnation – the letting go of heaven and embracing humanity, including the human fate of suffering and death. This is the dying we are talking about. It is not easy. It is painful and arduous. Once we have turned our faces to follow the way of the cross, we discover each day new things about ourselves that need to die in order that a new Christ-likeness can be born within us.
To be saved is to follow Christ to the Cross, knowing that the old person you have been must die and not knowing if you will survive, but knowing only that you cannot go on as you are. To be saved is to give up on your “self” and place everything in the hands of God.
Upon the Cross – Jesus said both, “Into your hands I commend my spirit!” and, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” To go to the Cross is to go to one’s spiritual death because one must, without sure knowledge of what comes after. It is in that moment when we despair of saving ourselves that God can save us.
We are called to the Cross.
We are called to die as who we think we are.
We are called to cease our endless rounds of striving.
We are called to conversion.
We are called to death.
We are called to life.
We are called to Christ.
Amen.
Sending Forth
Let us close with silence as our companion,
so, we may hear the whispers of all
who have been forgotten, except by God.
Let us close with service as our teacher,
so, we learn the art of compassion from Jesus,
to bring healing and hope to everyone we meet.
Let us close with surprise as our guide,
so, we may be open to the promises
the Spirit speaks in the moment of our utter grief and loss.
Quiet Time Palm Sunday
April 5, 2020
We begin the holiest of weeks this day, seeking to discover God in the passion and grief of Jesus. Have grace on us, O God, as we listen for words which will sustain us in our weariness through the days in which we are living.
God of Hope and Joys,
when our hearts ache from brokenness, You nourish us with Your love;
when the world’s pain fatigues us, You carry us in Your arms.
when the loneliness of our souls drains our very being, You come and live with us. You are our God.
Jesus Christ, God’s true Son,
You did not profit from Your oneness with God, but emptied Yourself to become servant to all humanity.
You humbled Yourself to lift us out of sin’s grave.
You are our Lord.
Holy Spirit, Teacher from God,
humble us to be obedient, even to denying all that keeps us from following Jesus;
teach us the words we need to confess Him as our Lord and Savior.
You are our helper.
Then pray, Our Father who art in heaven…
The Lessons
[If you have been walking with me as we do the Stations of the Cross, I explained that we started the journey on the Sunday that would begin a two-week period called Passiontide. That time has now become part of Palm Sunday now known as Palm/Passion Sunday moving us into Holy Week. This week is the saddest and most
difficult week for those who share the Christian faith. The cross is essential so we don't spend
our time only going from glory to glory. So, I share with you the readings for Palm and Passion Sunday.]
Palm Sunday: Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29, Matthew 21:1-11
Passion Sunday: Isaiah 50:4-9a, Psalm 31:9-16, Philippians 2:5-11
Matthew 26:14-27:66 or Matthew 27:11-54
Homily
In today’s Gospel readings; the first lesson tells us of the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem and the second vividly portraying his trial and crucifixion; we have laid out before us what Martin Luther and other Reformers identified as the two theologies which have competed for our allegiance down through the ages.
One is the Theology of Glory – which looks for God in the good, the beautiful, the strong and the powerful.
The other is the Theology of the Cross- which looks for God in exactly those places where we feel God’s absence: in pain, in humiliation, in suffering, in weakness and death.
A Theology of Glory is concerned with health and happiness and prosperity. A Theology of Glory centers on what God can do for us; how being a person of faith can make us more popular, powerful and successful.
Today it spreads out across the airways. It will tell us everything from how to raise money, to how to get more members using the results of the latest research and business techniques, how to unleash your power to "Unlock the Bible’s Wealth and Prosperity Principles.” A Theology of Glory is all about power and control and winning and living large.
A Theology of the Cross is concerned with God; with who God is, and with what God wills and with what God has done for us on the Cross and what God calls us to do in response. A Theology of the Cross is concerned with what looks like failure, what appears to be disaster, with what seems to be the utter and complete absence of God in our more desperate and trying moments, perhaps like the moments of our current time.
A Theology of Glory centers on some formulation that makes the difficulties of our lives okay, makes everything all right, that somehow turns the evil and hurt we experience into a moral good, in the long run, in the overall scheme of things. A Theology of Glory has to have God, and us, in control and good always winning.
A Theology of the Cross makes no attempt to either justify or condemn, to either find God’s hand or lament God’s absence; it points and weeps and realizes that we humans are very much in need of the grace of God. It brings us to the stark realization of our own mortality and imperfection, or our need for rescue from outside ourselves. A Theology of the Cross calls a thing what it is, Luther said; death is death, Sin is sin, horror is horror, suffering is suffering. There is no window dressing that can make them anything else. And yet, and yet, it is in the stark, cold cross that we are saved.
In our text from Philippians, we see Jesus modeling for us that which we are called to do – for salvation is not just about the Cross of Christ; it is also about the Cross of Kurt and the Cross of You.
Jesus showed us the way. We have been called to follow him on that way. For Jesus, that meant giving up whatever glory he had – and he had it all: Glory, power, wisdom, you name, he had it and he let it go. Jesus had everything and instead of clinging desperately to it, he opened his hands and his life and let it go. Many of us spend our lives striving and self-improving and working and networking and dieting and working and investing and saving to get what Jesus had and then let go. “Equality with God” is not a thing to be sought, but a thing to be let go.
Jesus went further, not only did he give up all the power in the universe; he completely emptied himself of it, purged it, threw it away, Jesus then became as we are, and then went further than most of us are willing to go; he became a servant to others.
In completely humbling himself – he went from being everything to being nothing. From being in charge of the universe he went to being in control of nothing; from being the agent of creation he went to dying upon a cross. And there, there dying on the cross as the ultimate servant of humanity is where we will find God – or rather where God finds us.
For it is on our own crosses that we find ourselves driven to Christ for salvation – it is when we stop chasing after whatever it is we think will justify our existence – it is when we release ourselves from the relentless pursuit of success and happiness that we take as every American’s birthright – it is when we open our hands and let loose of that knot at the end of our existential rope – that God can begin to come to us.
When we let ourselves become more human and then more, fallible and frail – when we move beyond just being ordinary into an intense awareness of our failings – when we begin to die with Christ – then we begin to become converted.
For to be a Christian is to die and rise with Christ – there is nothing that can save us but the cross – there is no place we can turn for help but to the cross – there is no way to God but the way of the Cross.
But we must not just sit back and passively accept the benefits of Christ’s death on the cross. That is what Bonhoeffer called “cheap grace.” God’s grace is free, but it is not cheap. We must imitate Christ in dying to the old self.
Christ’s act of saving us began in the incarnation – the letting go of heaven and embracing humanity, including the human fate of suffering and death. This is the dying we are talking about. It is not easy. It is painful and arduous. Once we have turned our faces to follow the way of the cross, we discover each day new things about ourselves that need to die in order that a new Christ-likeness can be born within us.
To be saved is to follow Christ to the Cross, knowing that the old person you have been must die and not knowing if you will survive, but knowing only that you cannot go on as you are. To be saved is to give up on your “self” and place everything in the hands of God.
Upon the Cross – Jesus said both, “Into your hands I commend my spirit!” and, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” To go to the Cross is to go to one’s spiritual death because one must, without sure knowledge of what comes after. It is in that moment when we despair of saving ourselves that God can save us.
We are called to the Cross.
We are called to die as who we think we are.
We are called to cease our endless rounds of striving.
We are called to conversion.
We are called to death.
We are called to life.
We are called to Christ.
Amen.
Sending Forth
Let us close with silence as our companion,
so, we may hear the whispers of all
who have been forgotten, except by God.
Let us close with service as our teacher,
so, we learn the art of compassion from Jesus,
to bring healing and hope to everyone we meet.
Let us close with surprise as our guide,
so, we may be open to the promises
the Spirit speaks in the moment of our utter grief and loss.