Palm Sunday Mark 11:1-11 Philippians 2:5-11When you follow the news – as I’m sure you do – you will have noticed that many countries are holding general and presidential elections this year. In some, the outcome is clear even before they are held, and the outcome is not necessarily a democratic one… The vox populi (the voice of the people) is not always heard or reflected in the outcome of the elections. In preparation for elections, there are hustings and the like; debates possibly on television between candidates, and an attempt of political parties and candidates to make their points as strongly and as convincingly as possible. The party programme promises that are made, are not always realistic and it is up to the people to make up their mind about them. They have to ask themselves if the direction that the candidates are saying they want to take is the right one for them and the country. Whatever the result of the election is, there will be some who are happy about it and others who are not. Time then has to tell whether the whole thing is beneficial or a total disaster… In today’s reading from Mark’s Gospel, though, it is exactly the vox populi that is heard. There isn’t an election as such, but the people have made up their mind about the change of direction that should be taken – and they are seeing Jesus as the answer to many of the questions that they have. The passage in Mark’s Gospel is painting the picture of a messianic demonstration. Jesus is entering into Jerusalem, the capital city, in fulfilment of the prophecy of Zechariah, of a king riding on a donkey (Zechariah 9:9-10). The choice of a donkey indicates peaceful intentions, where a war-horse and –chariot would have a different tone. It had quite an effect: ‘many people spread their cloaks on the road, others spread leafy branches that they had cut in the fields. Then those who went ahead and those who followed were shouting: ‘Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!’ They are words from Psalm 118 (vv 25-26), giving thanks for victory over Israel’s enemies, and that was sung at the Passover Festival. So to all intents and purposes, we can see how the people had ‘cast their vote’ for Jesus, and were already celebrating the victory that they wanted him to win. They were correct in seeing in him a connection to the king of their ancestors, David; but they were wrong in the nature of his kingdom and the way Jesus would come to the throne. It would not even be the throne of the kingdom of Israel, but that of a far greater kingdom, the Kingdom of Heaven, established by God, not by human hands. In their attempts to change the direction of the nation, the people were saying that the status quo was wrong. They were in a state of slavery to an oppressor, Rome, and especially at the time of Passover, this would have grated. The people were to celebrate the Passover Festival, reminding them of their escape from slavery in Egypt. But their present situation was a double oppression: that of unwanted foreign rule and the wrongs of sin. Jesus was going to go to the root of their plight and deal with the way that people lived their lives. His battle was with evil itself, and his victory over the power of evil would be for the whole world and for ever. At this occasion, when Jesus is riding into Jerusalem on a donkey, and the people are spreading and waving their palm branches, the air was filled with hope – hope for a restored and independent new Israel, led by the anointed ‘son of David’. But a far greater Son was here, who would give an even greater hope: the hope of life itself. Jesus was and is the Way, the Truth and the Life, and the one through whom we come to the Father. Jesus is working out God’s plan for our reconciliation and redemption. This day, Palm Sunday, is only the beginning, leading to hope and life. May you enjoy this hope and this life even now. Amen.
Fifth Sunday of Lent John 12:20-33 Jeremiah 31:31-34Passiontide beginsThose of you who are botanists or keen gardeners will know this already: that the purpose of a seed is not to be kept in a jar on a shelf, but in being put into the ground, where it can sprout and grow into the plant or tree that it is designed for. For even though some plants have seeds that resemble the seeds of other varieties, a tomato seed, for example, won’t grow into a cucumber! Any seed – or bulb for that matter – that is put into the ground will only come up according to its kind, and not as something else. The soil does matter, too, of course, as I found out some years ago when I planted lots of bulbs and none came up – but that is another parable…Today is also called Passion Sunday. We are on the journey to Good Friday and Easter; each week we are drawing closer and this is reflected in the readings. The passage from John’s Gospel today makes it very clear that the focus of Jesus is on his mission to walk towards the cross for our redemption. Hence the somewhat cryptic message to the Greeks who came to see him: ‘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. Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honour.’ It may not have been quite the response that those Greeks had counted on; but it does give us a moment to ponder the meaning of the cross. We get even more than that: Jesus – when talking to his Father – is affirmed by the Father, both for his benefit and for those who are with him. Some thought that it had thundered, and others said that an angel had spoken to Jesus. But Jesus said that it was for their benefit, when God spoke, saying that he would glorify his name through Jesus. So, the message is clear: Jesus is on his way to the cross, to fulfil his purpose, to die and to bear much fruit in us through faith. He is to be lifted high, to be shown to the world as the true King; not with a crown of gold but with a crown of thorns. It’s so very different from the way we would have thought God would do it! And yet it is the best and only way to save the people from their sins. The reading from the prophet Jeremiah talks about this: ‘The days are surely coming,’ says the Lord, ‘when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt – a covenant that they broke, even though I was their husband,’ says the Lord. ‘But this is the covenant that I will make […] after those days: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, ‘know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.’The failure of the knowledge of God in many parts of society is here turned into a promise of restored relationship – a new covenant between God and his people, not just for Israel alone but through Israel for the whole world. Once we did not fulfil our purpose; we were like the seeds in a jar. But now, in our redeemed state, we have died to sin and are recreated, renewed, growing into our true purpose, just as God has designed us. It takes a step of faith to allow God to take charge of our destiny; but it’s worth it, because he has decided that we are worth it. Amen.
Mothering Sunday Luke 2:33-35 Colossians 3:12-17When I say, ‘Sorry seems to be the hardest word’, do you then immediately hear those words in your minds, set to music, as in a particular pop song, sung by a famous artist? Possibly… And it is quite sad that saying ‘sorry’ is sometimes the most difficult thing to do, even though it is often necessary for relationships that are struggling or broken to mend and flourish. Besides, we all need forgiveness, whether we realise it or not, for the mistakes we have made, for the way we have perhaps hurt somebody else, or not done the right things when we could. Is any of you perfect? Have any of you never done anything wrong? You would be a miracle; and I won’t believe you if you say ‘yes’ to those questions anyway… I know that I am not perfect, for sure; I’m a work in progress, as the Bible says, and thankfully so! For even if I myself or someone else would give up on me, God doesn’t give up on me, ever. That is very reassuring. The passage from Colossians 3 begins with confirming that, saying that in effect we have ‘died and our life is hidden with Christ in God, … we have clothed ourselves with the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its creator’. We are a new creation, but it is important to note that we are not the finished product; as our new self is being renewed day by day. Paired with this passage from Colossians is today’s Gospel reading from Luke, where we find Mary and Joseph with baby Jesus in the Temple, when those very particular words are spoken over Jesus, and especially to his mother Mary: ‘This child is destined for the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed – and a sword will pierce your own soul too.’ A cryptic message, perhaps, at that moment, when Jesus is still an infant. Jesus is the child of the promise, and even if the full extent of the promise and what it contains is not grasped now, his death on a cross is probably not what Mary has in mind for her son. It is a prophecy that Mary may have pondered for a long time, and that she would have remembered most acutely at Jesus’ crucifixion: the moment when grief like a sword pierced her heart. Mothering Sunday is a day when we are encouraged to go to our mother churches, where we were baptised and entered into the fellowship of God’s family. We also honour mothers and those women who have played a supporting role in our lives, nurturing us and helping us grow. For many it is not an easy day; perhaps there is still the pain of unwanted childlessness, or the grief over a lost child, a mother who isn’t there or a rift in the relationship. This pain may surface especially today, all the more so if there is no possibility for restoration. We cannot imagine what Mary thought, when she witnessed her son’s death: did she fully understand the meaning of it all? Jesus died for the things that humankind had done wrong; taking on our need to say the deepest ‘sorry’ to God for failing our purpose and for the mess we had created. But, thanks be to God: he did not stay dead: he rose again, giving us hope of eternal life through faith. I trust that Mary came to see that too; that she understood how the promise of a Saviour would work out God’s plan for restoring all that was lost. There is even more good news in this: when we know that our own sins have been forgiven, we are encouraged to forgive the sins of others too. This is what we pray in The Lord’s Prayer: ‘forgive us our sins, as / in the same way we forgive those who sin against us.’ One of the features of a mother is that they most often forgive their children. And God, who, ‘as a mother tenderly gathers her children, […] has embraced a people as [his] own. When they turned away and rebelled [his] love remained steadfast.’ (Eucharistic Prayer G). Whenever we say ‘sorry’ for what we have done wrong, our relationship is restored. So, whether we are able to speak with our mothers or not today, for whatever reason, may we still rejoice in our restored relationship with God himself, who made mothers and involved them in raising his family. Thanks be to God for the loving care that he has shown through his own motherhood. Amen.
Third Sunday of Lent John 2:13-22 Exodus 20:1-17The Temple was the beating heart of the Jewish faith. It was their holy place, where the acts of worship and sacrifice, with music and teaching, happened for the nation, and where they were drawn into the presence of God. God himself had promised that he would be there, living in the midst of his people. Imagine, then, the sudden bursting in of another Teacher, who upturns all of this, literally, and sweeps the place clean of the money-changers and others who were there selling cattle, sheep and doves, for the people’s sacrifices. The system, that they had all relied on for their religious observance being driven out by this person, who even uses a whip to chase them out. His anger at their practices was made quite clear! What’s more, he refers to the Temple as ‘his Father’s house’… and saying that it has been made into a market place! I suppose Jesus’ actions in the Temple that day raised a few hackles. So, what was going on? Animals were sold for the sacrifices and the Temple tax had to be paid in Jewish coin, and all the different currencies that people used had to be changed into Jewish money. Among these currencies was the hated Roman coin, with the image of the Emperor. No doubt, the money-changers earned a nice living here. Jesus’ indignation was not aimed at those engaged in worship, but at the ones who detracted from it. The whole system had become corrupt when materialism crept in. This incident also occurs in the other three Gospels, but in Matthew, Mark and Luke, it happens towards the end of Jesus’ ministry, not at the beginning as in John’s account. Why would that be? Possibly, because it explains what comes afterwards. One thing is perhaps helpful to note: it was the Passover. And Jesus, when asked by the religious authorities what he thinks he is doing, replies rather cryptically that he is the true Temple; that he, as the Word made flesh, is the true place where God dwells. When he mentions its destruction, it is a reference, then, to his death and resurrection as the ultimate sacrificial lamb, who would set the people free from their sins. This reference, saying, ‘Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.’, was going to be used as part of the accusations against him at his mock trial. The disciples, though, would remember it later in the correct context and believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken. Jesus is also giving the Passover a new meaning: John has already said that he is the Passover lamb that God has sent. And Jesus is going to Jerusalem when the liberation of the people and their rescue from slavery is being celebrated. In the reading from Exodus 20, which is the Ten Commandments, we are reminded of God’s first act of liberation: ‘God spoke all these words: I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me.’ Now, with Jesus, God’s Son, going to perform the second act of liberation, he is reminding the people of their true calling as God’s people. Jesus is the new reality; the new Temple, the Word made flesh, bringing God among the people in a totally new sense. In a way, God has never been this close and living in the midst of the people, as now, in Jesus. His work of salvation in his death and resurrection, is to be the reality to which the Passover is pointing. The final sentence of today’s Gospel reading mentions that the disciples believed. We are also called to believe; to accept that God’s thoughts are not our thoughts, neither are our ways his ways (Isaiah 55:8). When we see the signs that Jesus is doing, we may respond by trusting him and believing him. As he has said, he knows us better than we know ourselves, and he is faithful. Amen.
