Congratulations, church! We’ve made it to Palm Sunday. This is, of course, a time of great moral dilemma. You see, there are those that argue that Lent goes up until Easter Sunday, however, if it started on Ash Wednesday (February 22) and it lasts 40 days…that means your “fasting” would end today. Of course, the point here is not to check off a bunch of dates or argue about which ones count or don’t count, but instead to prepare our hearts and minds and all that we have and all that we are for the newness of life we celebrate on Easter Sunday! If your Lenten disciplines are helping you with that, forget about the math and just focus on faith.
Now, I realize that every day offers the hope of second and third, and 52nd chances, but there is something special about Easter – and it is worth waiting for and preparing for. One of the ways we do this in the church is by celebrating Palm Sunday, with a procession of palms in memory of the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem!
Our New Testament texts tell this story from Matthew’s perspective and include recognition from some of the earliest followers of the way of Jesus who believed that he knew he was heading toward the cross. In our Old Testament reading, we have the prophetic claim of Isaiah describing a servant of God who will stand firm in the face of the worst that the world can offer.
Before we get too much further into all of that, I want to remind you that, during the liturgical season of Lent, we have been exploring the Six Great Ends (or purposes) of the church as informed by scripture. Today we are considering how these texts help us to “Exhibit (or be a demonstration of) the Kingdom of God.”
This is the last of the Six Great Ends, and while I don’t think God cares if we can quote them as much as whether or not we are doing them I am hoping to keep a sense of the whole in our minds. That said, today’s recap of The Six Great Ends Of The Church is in the style of the nursery rhyme, “There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Fly”…
There once was a church that had six great ends. Thus to exhibit the Kingdom of God. This is the way. Proclaim the gospel to save humankind. Thus to exhibit the Kingdom of God. This is the way. Since we are saved we shelter God’s children. Thus to exhibit the Kingdom of God. This is the way. We shelter the children in body and soul by letting them know they are a part of the whole. This is the way. As part of the whole we glorify God in everything we do and we say. This is the way. We glorify God through relationships caring for all creation as God’s. This is the way. In caring for all we make a way that everyone knows God’s will and God’s way. This is the way. There once was a church that had six great ends. Thus to exhibit the Kingdom of God. And this is the waaaayyy! Thank you.
To say that the church is supposed to “Exhibit the Kingdom of God” may seem a little pretentious, and maybe it is if we expect or assume that we are doing it just because we exist, or because of a program or a statement or a creed that we say. In fact, every Sunday we say, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven,” but do we really think about what that looks like and what that might require of us?
I will confess that I have said it, a time or two, out of reflex and habit, as I imagine we all have. Rituals and repetition are not a bad thing, but as it has been said by many others “An unexamined faith is not worth having.” That’s based on the quote from Socrates about an unexamined life, and James Luther Adams of Harvard Divinity School modified it further to say that “An unexamined faith can only be true by accident. A faith worth having is faith worth discussing and testing.”
Ideally, that is what we have been doing in the season of Lent, examining and testing our faith. As far as these Six Great Ends go, I like to think of Exhibiting the Kingdom of God as a kind of summary statement. Just like the first one, The Proclamation of the Gospel for the salvation of humankind is the foundation for the rest and each one that followed helped us see what it means to live into our salvation, this one shows the result of all the others.
If we are living into our salvation we care for ourselves and others and all of God’s good creation in such a way that people get a glimpse of what it might be like for God’s will to be done on earth as it is in heaven!
Now, believe it or not, I think that is exactly what those who laid down their cloaks – ewe; wash day must have been horrible – and their branches of palms thought they were doing. They believed that Jesus would be the one to save them from the empire of Rome and restore them as a nation. They believed that God had chosen this man to disrupt the forces of the empire that had corrupted and crippled them for so long, and then the first thing Jesus did was to turn over tables in the senate…
No, wait. That’s not right. Let’s see, Matthew 21:12-14, “Then Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who were selling and buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold doves. He said to them, ‘It is written,
“My house shall be called a house of prayer”;
but you are making it a den of robbers.’
The blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he cured them.”
Healing follows in Jesus’ wake – that seems to be the way in Matthew’s gospel. Don’t get me wrong about the crowd, though. It is easy to judge them and to talk about how quickly they turned from “Hosannah!” to “Crucify!” but the reality is that in both cases they believed that they were doing the right thing to honor God.
The problem is that they, as we hear so often in John’s Gospel, were focused on earthly concerns rather than heavenly ones. Matthew’s Gospel is concerned with heavenly things, of course, but the author is particularly concerned with demonstrating that Jesus is the fulfillment of the law and the prophets. While that is important (we talked about that on February 6 if you want to look that up on my blog or our YouTube Channel), I’d like to focus on a few words from v10 and 11, “When he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in turmoil, asking, ‘Who is this?’ The crowds were saying, ‘This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee.’
The whole city included Jews and Gentiles, and many scholars agree that it was likely that this impromptu parade was seen as a counter-protest to the parade of Pontius Pilot, who would’ve likely entered from another gate and was there as a show of force during the Passover. The text doesn’t say it, but I love the thought of Pilot having a low turnout for his parade and finding out that Jesus had better ratings on the parade circuit.
Regardless there was a fair amount of confusion, and I’m reminded of a friend who is new to Louisiana and got stuck in traffic for a St Patrick’s Day Parade. She said, “Wasn’t Mardi Gras enough! I didn’t think there would be any more parades during Lent, but no. I have to get stuck in a St Patty’s Day Parade.” Maybe that was the attitude of some of the locals in Jerusalem, but maybe it wasn’t.
What we do know is that in the midst of it all, “the people” still had an expectation that Jesus was someone who spoke truth to power and who acted as a mouthpiece for God. I wonder, is that what people say when they see the church today? I don’t just mean this congregation. I mean the church. I mean those that profess to follow the way of Jesus and those that actually do. I mean the institutional church and the informal church. I mean all of it – the body of Christ.
Chances are that what I have just described offers a cacophony more than a proclamation. How do we get around that? Let’s see. “Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,
who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness.
And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross.”
You want to know how you have shown me what that looks like – how we can be an exhibition of the Kingdom of Heaven and live in a way that God’s will is done on earth as it is in heaven? You have shown me that this congregation, through humility and faith, and compassion can welcome, embrace, and celebrate those that others cast aside. You have told me about a legacy of faith that includes caring for children, forging peace in Belfast through the Ulster Project, caring for the vulnerable during the AIDS crisis, and starting, establishing, and housing partner organizations.
You have shown me what it means to have the mind of Christ by working together to rebuild our community after countless storms, showing compassion for the grieving and resilience for those who needed hope during the COVID pandemic, and relying on the connectivity of the church to provide fresh, safe drinking water for the people of Sabanilla, Cuba.
Friends, we know why we waive these palms; it is good and right that we do it. We know that Jesus enters in triumph every time the church aligns itself with the cause of Christ. We also know that this will put us at odds with the structures of empires that exist in the world today. We know that the procession of palms leads to the cross, but before that, it takes us here, to the temple, and demands that we clear out all pretension and any expectation that this religion of ours is for our benefit alone.
That is not to say that it is not to our benefit. It’s just not a secret possession. This faith we share, examine, and stand upon is a gift to be given and shared. In that way, as the body of Christ, we can move confidently toward the cross, knowing that it stands to remove our hesitation to love as we have been loved. So, let the procession continue, as we move through the holiness of this week, in the hope that we may not only see a glimpse of the Kingdom of God but also be a glimpse of it for someone else.
At least I pray it may be so with me, and with you, and to God be the glory now and always. Amen.
Now, I realize that every day offers the hope of second and third, and 52nd chances, but there is something special about Easter – and it is worth waiting for and preparing for. One of the ways we do this in the church is by celebrating Palm Sunday, with a procession of palms in memory of the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem!
Our New Testament texts tell this story from Matthew’s perspective and include recognition from some of the earliest followers of the way of Jesus who believed that he knew he was heading toward the cross. In our Old Testament reading, we have the prophetic claim of Isaiah describing a servant of God who will stand firm in the face of the worst that the world can offer.
Before we get too much further into all of that, I want to remind you that, during the liturgical season of Lent, we have been exploring the Six Great Ends (or purposes) of the church as informed by scripture. Today we are considering how these texts help us to “Exhibit (or be a demonstration of) the Kingdom of God.”
This is the last of the Six Great Ends, and while I don’t think God cares if we can quote them as much as whether or not we are doing them I am hoping to keep a sense of the whole in our minds. That said, today’s recap of The Six Great Ends Of The Church is in the style of the nursery rhyme, “There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Fly”…
There once was a church that had six great ends. Thus to exhibit the Kingdom of God. This is the way. Proclaim the gospel to save humankind. Thus to exhibit the Kingdom of God. This is the way. Since we are saved we shelter God’s children. Thus to exhibit the Kingdom of God. This is the way. We shelter the children in body and soul by letting them know they are a part of the whole. This is the way. As part of the whole we glorify God in everything we do and we say. This is the way. We glorify God through relationships caring for all creation as God’s. This is the way. In caring for all we make a way that everyone knows God’s will and God’s way. This is the way. There once was a church that had six great ends. Thus to exhibit the Kingdom of God. And this is the waaaayyy! Thank you.
To say that the church is supposed to “Exhibit the Kingdom of God” may seem a little pretentious, and maybe it is if we expect or assume that we are doing it just because we exist, or because of a program or a statement or a creed that we say. In fact, every Sunday we say, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven,” but do we really think about what that looks like and what that might require of us?
I will confess that I have said it, a time or two, out of reflex and habit, as I imagine we all have. Rituals and repetition are not a bad thing, but as it has been said by many others “An unexamined faith is not worth having.” That’s based on the quote from Socrates about an unexamined life, and James Luther Adams of Harvard Divinity School modified it further to say that “An unexamined faith can only be true by accident. A faith worth having is faith worth discussing and testing.”
Ideally, that is what we have been doing in the season of Lent, examining and testing our faith. As far as these Six Great Ends go, I like to think of Exhibiting the Kingdom of God as a kind of summary statement. Just like the first one, The Proclamation of the Gospel for the salvation of humankind is the foundation for the rest and each one that followed helped us see what it means to live into our salvation, this one shows the result of all the others.
If we are living into our salvation we care for ourselves and others and all of God’s good creation in such a way that people get a glimpse of what it might be like for God’s will to be done on earth as it is in heaven!
Now, believe it or not, I think that is exactly what those who laid down their cloaks – ewe; wash day must have been horrible – and their branches of palms thought they were doing. They believed that Jesus would be the one to save them from the empire of Rome and restore them as a nation. They believed that God had chosen this man to disrupt the forces of the empire that had corrupted and crippled them for so long, and then the first thing Jesus did was to turn over tables in the senate…
No, wait. That’s not right. Let’s see, Matthew 21:12-14, “Then Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who were selling and buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold doves. He said to them, ‘It is written,
“My house shall be called a house of prayer”;
but you are making it a den of robbers.’
The blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he cured them.”
Healing follows in Jesus’ wake – that seems to be the way in Matthew’s gospel. Don’t get me wrong about the crowd, though. It is easy to judge them and to talk about how quickly they turned from “Hosannah!” to “Crucify!” but the reality is that in both cases they believed that they were doing the right thing to honor God.
The problem is that they, as we hear so often in John’s Gospel, were focused on earthly concerns rather than heavenly ones. Matthew’s Gospel is concerned with heavenly things, of course, but the author is particularly concerned with demonstrating that Jesus is the fulfillment of the law and the prophets. While that is important (we talked about that on February 6 if you want to look that up on my blog or our YouTube Channel), I’d like to focus on a few words from v10 and 11, “When he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in turmoil, asking, ‘Who is this?’ The crowds were saying, ‘This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee.’
The whole city included Jews and Gentiles, and many scholars agree that it was likely that this impromptu parade was seen as a counter-protest to the parade of Pontius Pilot, who would’ve likely entered from another gate and was there as a show of force during the Passover. The text doesn’t say it, but I love the thought of Pilot having a low turnout for his parade and finding out that Jesus had better ratings on the parade circuit.
Regardless there was a fair amount of confusion, and I’m reminded of a friend who is new to Louisiana and got stuck in traffic for a St Patrick’s Day Parade. She said, “Wasn’t Mardi Gras enough! I didn’t think there would be any more parades during Lent, but no. I have to get stuck in a St Patty’s Day Parade.” Maybe that was the attitude of some of the locals in Jerusalem, but maybe it wasn’t.
What we do know is that in the midst of it all, “the people” still had an expectation that Jesus was someone who spoke truth to power and who acted as a mouthpiece for God. I wonder, is that what people say when they see the church today? I don’t just mean this congregation. I mean the church. I mean those that profess to follow the way of Jesus and those that actually do. I mean the institutional church and the informal church. I mean all of it – the body of Christ.
Chances are that what I have just described offers a cacophony more than a proclamation. How do we get around that? Let’s see. “Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,
who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness.
And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross.”
You want to know how you have shown me what that looks like – how we can be an exhibition of the Kingdom of Heaven and live in a way that God’s will is done on earth as it is in heaven? You have shown me that this congregation, through humility and faith, and compassion can welcome, embrace, and celebrate those that others cast aside. You have told me about a legacy of faith that includes caring for children, forging peace in Belfast through the Ulster Project, caring for the vulnerable during the AIDS crisis, and starting, establishing, and housing partner organizations.
You have shown me what it means to have the mind of Christ by working together to rebuild our community after countless storms, showing compassion for the grieving and resilience for those who needed hope during the COVID pandemic, and relying on the connectivity of the church to provide fresh, safe drinking water for the people of Sabanilla, Cuba.
Friends, we know why we waive these palms; it is good and right that we do it. We know that Jesus enters in triumph every time the church aligns itself with the cause of Christ. We also know that this will put us at odds with the structures of empires that exist in the world today. We know that the procession of palms leads to the cross, but before that, it takes us here, to the temple, and demands that we clear out all pretension and any expectation that this religion of ours is for our benefit alone.
That is not to say that it is not to our benefit. It’s just not a secret possession. This faith we share, examine, and stand upon is a gift to be given and shared. In that way, as the body of Christ, we can move confidently toward the cross, knowing that it stands to remove our hesitation to love as we have been loved. So, let the procession continue, as we move through the holiness of this week, in the hope that we may not only see a glimpse of the Kingdom of God but also be a glimpse of it for someone else.
At least I pray it may be so with me, and with you, and to God be the glory now and always. Amen.
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