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March 31 - Jesus Risked Accepting a Precious Gift

3/30/2019

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PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION
As we hear a familiar story, give us fresh ears to hear it anew, and give us inspiration to apply it to our lives.
 
OLD TESTAMENT LESSON                                                                 Psalm 23:5, NLT
5 You prepare a feast for me
    in the presence of my enemies.
You honor me by anointing my head with oil.
    My cup overflows with blessings.
 
GOSPEL LESSON                                                                               Mark 14:3-9, GNT
3 Jesus was in Bethany at the house of Simon, a man who had suffered from a dreaded skin disease. While Jesus was eating, a woman came in with an alabaster jar full of a very expensive perfume made of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the perfume on Jesus' head. 4 Some of the people there became angry and said to one another, “What was the use of wasting the perfume? 5 It could have been sold for more than three hundred silver coins and the money given to the poor!” And they criticized her harshly.
 
6 But Jesus said, “Leave her alone! Why are you bothering her? She has done a fine and beautiful thing for me. 7 You will always have poor people with you, and any time you want to, you can help them. But you will not always have me. 8 She did what she could; she poured perfume on my body to prepare it ahead of time for burial. 9 Now, I assure you that wherever the gospel is preached all over the world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.”
   
SERMON                       Jesus Risked Accepting a Precious Gift
 
It has been Women’s History month, and perhaps you have seen women celebrated through various media.  Stories are retold in their memory, that we might honor their contributions and be inspired by them.  Sometimes we come across stories and wonder why we haven’t heard them before.  That’s how I felt a couple years ago when I saw the movie “Hidden Figures.”  Why didn’t we hear during those early years of the NASA space program about the significant contribution these brilliant women made?  
 
Earlier we learned more about a few of the women in Jesus’ ministry, but there are even more women whose stories we barely know, and sometimes we don’t even know their names.  Professor Amy-Jill Levine takes a moment in today’s story to mention these women as well.  Last week I referred to Anna, the widow at the Temple when Jesus was an infant and we heard about another widow who put her two coins in the Temple treasury.  We’ve talked about the Marys and Martha, but there are more women who supported Jesus’ ministry; Joanna and Susanna gave financial support and traveled with Jesus along with Mary Magdalene.  There were women touched by Jesus’ healing ministry.  We studied the Canaanite women who negotiated for Jesus to heal her daughter.  You might know the story of Jesus raising Jairus’ daughter and the woman healed by touching Jesus’ garment on the way.  Jesus healed the bent-over woman and raised to life the son of the widow from Nain.  There were women present at the crucifixion and women who went to the tomb to complete the anointing for his burial.  That last is confusing, because the list of those women varies depending on which gospel you read.  The same is true of today’s story.
 
We’ve already explored some of the parallel stories of a woman at a banquet anointing Jesus with expensive perfume.  We’ve noted that none of these stories are about Mary Magdalene; that’s a false assumption that has been around for centuries.  We’ve looked at John’s version which identifies Mary of Bethany as the one who anoints Jesus’ feet at a feast where her sister and brother are present. John’s version takes place the night before Palm Sunday, and it is Judas who grumbles about her waste of money that could have been used for the poor.  We’ve read Luke’s version of the unnamed sinful woman who approaches Jesus at a dinner party in the home of Simon the Pharisee.  She washes Jesus’ feet with her tears, dries them with her hair, kisses them and anoints them.  In doing this she offers Jesus the hospitality Simon failed to provide.  In this case it is Simon who complains that Jesus should recognize what a sinner she is.  This story takes place much earlier in Jesus’ ministry.
 
Today we are looking at yet another version, this time from Mark, and Matthew’s would be similar to it.  This version takes place in the home of Simon the leper.  It is a reasonable assumption (but still a mere guess) that this Simon may be someone Jesus healed.  Levine suggests maybe they were even celebrating after he went to the Temple for the required proof of his healing; that would allow him to be socializing in a way he hadn’t when he still bore the disease.  That he lived in Bethany, his name was Simon, and that he had been a leper is all we know about our host. 
 
The timing of this version is significant.  Levine calls it the First Dinner of Holy Week.  In the chapters before this Jesus is teaching in the Temple and then just outside the Temple in the days following his arrival in Jerusalem on the donkey.  Some of the teachings hint at a lack of faithfulness among the religious leaders who did not recognize the one God sent or did not bear the fruit expected of a faithful relationship with God. In the midst of these Temple teachings is the story of the widow who gave to the Temple her two coins in faith-filled surrender of all she had to survive.  Levine points out some commonality between that widow and this woman who anoints Jesus. Both are commended by Jesus for their generous gift.  The widow gave “her whole life” as the Greek is interpreted.  This woman used a jar of nard which would have been a year’s worth of wages, enough to support a family.  Each woman is silent.  Her actions speak louder than words.  Each is quietly giving her best to honor God.  Neither woman is named in Mark’s gospel, and yet both of their stories are faithfully recorded for future generations to read and be inspired.
 
This unnamed woman enters with her jar of pure nard, an expensive perfume as we’ve noted before.  Nard I learned this week is from the myrrh family.  Myrrh is the expensive oil brought by the wise men when Jesus was born.  I have myrrh among my essential oils.  It’s the most expensive of the ones I own.  If you remember from lessons on the wise men’s gifts, one of the uses of myrrh is for embalming.  Even the words for various types of anointing relay this meaning.  “Corpses are anointed before they are buried.” (Levine, p. 95) The Greek word myrizo means to put on myrrh and has that connotation of anointing for burial.
 
In Matthew and Mark’s telling of this story, the woman does not anoint Jesus’ feet but his head.  That has another meaning you might not catch unless you think back to Samuel’s stories in the Old Testament.  When Samuel anointed first Saul and later David as God’s chosen to be king, Samuel poured a vessel of oil on their head.  You may already know that Christ is the Greek and Messiah is the Hebrew for “anointed one.”  In the Bible the meaning is God’s Anointed, God’s chosen one, and the act of anointing, as when Samuel anointed either Saul or David, is a commissioning from God for that office.  In modern times this is symbolically played out in the coronation ceremonies of the royal family in England as the archbishop anoints and then crowns the monarch.  
 
In Mark’s telling of the woman anointing Jesus there could be a double meaning then.  Whether or not she thought of all of this we don’t know. Mark is hinting that as she anointed him with nard it was related to myrrh for burial.  But since she poured it over his head it also acknowledged Jesus as King.  Indeed, the inscription over his cross would proclaim Jesus as King of the Jews, but Christ is more than that.  Christ who was buried, was raised again to life, and from heaven Christ reigns as the King of all Creation!
 
In every version of this story, someone is complaining.  In John it was Judas; in Luke it was the host; in Matthew it’s the disciples; in Mark it’s some of the guests at the table.  They don’t think she should have spent her money pouring this perfumed oil on Jesus’ head.  If you remember from another sinful woman in Luke, offering oil for the head was an act of hospitality along with washing of feet and greeting with a kiss.  But that would have been with something far less expensive than nard. 
 
Doesn’t it seem that some people always need something to complain about?  Honestly, sometimes I’m that kind of complainer.  I might as well admit it, enough of you have heard me do it on a bad day.  I suppose it is human nature to complain.  But take it a step further.  What business was it of theirs how she chose to spend her money.  None!  Yet we humans are often guilty of judging someone else’s actions and choices.  We do it so easily we don’t even catch it.  However, the Bible teaches that when we judge others we will be judged.  Judgement is not our prerogative or privilege; that is exclusively God’s business. 
 
Jesus immediately chastises them for judging her.  “Leave her alone,” he says.  But now we hear why, and we learn how Jesus interpreted her risky gift.  He judges her gift to be worthy, “a beautiful thing” she has done for Jesus.  He goes on to tell them she has done this for his burial.  He’s been telling them that he was going to die; they kept denying it or avoiding it.  Perhaps she has understood, and Jesus know that she gets what he going to do for us all.  So, in her act of love she has offered the myrizo, the anointing with myrrh, in advance, as she pours the nard over his head. 
 
The complainers think she should have spent the money on the poor instead.  Jesus said, “You will always have the poor with you.”  He refers to Deuteronomy 15:11. Listen to that Old Testament verse in a different translation, “Since there will never cease to be some in need on the earth, I therefore command you, “Open your hand to the poor and needy neighbor in your land.”  If Jesus is pointing to that verse, he is not suggesting that helping the poor is unimportant.  On the contrary, he is reminding them they will always have that opportunity and should continue to be generous in helping others.  But on this one occasion, since he will not be with them much longer, in fact only a few days, on this occasion, she has done a beautiful thing, preparing him for that upcoming burial. 
 
This woman risked coming to someone else’s home to offer an extravagant gift to Jesus with no guarantees that she would be welcome by host or guests or Lord.  Jesus risked everyone’s disapproval as he accepted her gift.  It begs the questions, what are we willing to give, and what are we willing to receive?  Sometimes our gifts, our actions, or our words are misunderstood by those around us and possibly even by those whom we are trying to bless.  Offering ourselves to another is always a risk.  Sometimes accepting a gift is misunderstood by those around us.  They question why we interacted with “that” person.  Some gifts are misinterpreted as trying influence or bribe us, but that isn’t always true.  Gifts shared with a sincere and generous heart should be accepted in the same way.
 
Listen to the last verse once more. “Now, I assure you that wherever the gospel is preached all over the world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.” (v.9)
Mark made sure we could remember her story.  That brings back to mind that March has been Women’s History month. I think of Harriet Tubman or Madame Curie.  It brings to mind countless stories women have been bringing to light of harassment or abuse, so that justice might finally come.  It brings to mind the stories of women who have inspired us like Mother Teresa or Princess Diana.  Other women like Angela Merkel, Theresa May, or Jacinda Ardern, are hard at work in the global political arena, and we don’t know yet how history will tell their stories.  But there are other women who influence this world whose stories we are less likely to hear or whose names we won’t remember, and there are women who have influenced us personally.  Let us not forget to tell their story and remember their names, so that the positive influence they had on us will be extended to future generations. 
 
Mark and Matthew chose to share this woman’s story of generosity and risk showing her love for Jesus.  Whose stories will you choose to remember and share?
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March 24 - Jesus Risked Teaching What We Need to Hear

3/23/2019

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March 17 - Jesus Risks Cleansing the Temple

3/16/2019

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March 10 - Jesus Risked Entering Jerusalem

3/9/2019

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PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION
As we retrace your steps through Holy Week, Jesus, open our ears and our hearts to hear and receive your Word that it might change us.  Amen.
 
OLD TESTAMENT LESSONS                                                     Zechariah 9:9-11, NLT
 
Rejoice, O people of Zion!
    Shout in triumph, O people of Jerusalem!
Look, your king is coming to you.
    He is righteous and victorious,
yet he is humble, riding on a donkey--
    riding on a donkey’s colt.
10 I will remove the battle chariots from Israel
    and the warhorses from Jerusalem.
I will destroy all the weapons used in battle,
    and your king will bring peace to the nations.
His realm will stretch from sea to sea
    and from the Euphrates River to the ends of the earth.
Because of the covenant I made with you,
    sealed with blood,
I will free your prisoners
    from death in a waterless dungeon.
                                                                                                               Psalm 37:11, NLT
 
but the humble will possess the land
    and enjoy prosperity and peace.                                                                     Isaiah 62:11-12, GNT
                                                                                                         Isaiah 62:11-12, NCV
 
11 The Lord is speaking
    to all the faraway lands:
“Tell the people of Jerusalem,
    ‘Look, your Savior is coming.
He is bringing your reward to you;
    he is bringing his payment with him.’”
12 His people will be called the Holy People,
    the Saved People of the Lord,
and Jerusalem will be called the City God Wants,
    the City God Has Not Rejected.                                                                                    
 
GOSPEL LESSON                                                                     Matthew 21:1-11, NRSV
 
When they had come near Jerusalem and had reached Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, 2 saying to them, “Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to me. 3 If anyone says anything to you, just say this, ‘The Lord needs them.’ And he will send them immediately.” 4 This took place to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet, saying,
 
5 “Tell the daughter of Zion,
Look, your king is coming to you,
    humble, and mounted on a donkey,
        and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”
 
6 The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them; 7 they brought the donkey and the colt, and put their cloaks on them, and he sat on them. 8 A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 The crowds that went ahead of him and that followed were shouting,
 
“Hosanna to the Son of David!
    Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!
Hosanna in the highest heaven!”
 
10 When he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in turmoil, asking, “Who is this?” 11 The crowds were saying, “This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee.”
   
SERMON                            Jesus Risked Entering Jerusalem
 
Maybe you don’t usually think of Lent and particularly Holy Week as a parade, a pilgrimage possibly but not a parade. Yet Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem does feel like a parade, with Jesus riding into the city followed by his disciples, perhaps more friends with them, and crowds of townspeople and travelers lining the streets shouting and waving branches. 
 
Did you know this wasn’t the only grand entrance into the city that day?  Pontius Pilate was also arriving with his entourage to take charge of the city during the Jewish Festival of Passover, one of three festivals that required coming to the Temple in Jerusalem for sacrifice and worship. It was a crowded time in the capital of Judea. Pilate’s parade would have been a show of force to remind the Jews that this land was Roman territory and not a free state.  I found a sermon by Terry Gau that describes it this way:
 
Gates open and the procession begins. Thousands line the street, throwing flowers and laurels, waving madly, reaching to touch power as it passes them. Security guards watch the crowd for dissidents, agitators, and zealots, intent on doing harm. The man coming through the gate sits tall in the saddle, looking every bit the champion he is meant to be. A mantle of authority rests easily on his shoulders as he climbs higher to the center of the city, taking his rightful place as lord protector of this people.
 
Jesus and Pilate, what contrasting images of power and authority! One is a teacher; one is a governor.  They represent entirely different ideologies.  The teacher embodies God as Suffering Servant filled with Compassion for all people.  The governor symbolizes the law of the empire, backed by military might to keep the people in line.  Jesus is viewed as the potential liberator of the Jews, especially as they remember Moses leading them out of slavery in Egypt; they hope Jesus will free them from Roman occupation.  Pilate is there to remind them that they are not free to do as they please, that they are an occupied nation, and need to abide by Roman law, that practicing their faith is a present privilege without future guarantees.  Two parades in one city on the same day.  Two men whose influence and conflicting purposes will clash with the help of a high priest and his cronies who don’t want their own influence and authority to come to an end.
 
We’ll take a closer look at Matthew’s gospel account of the story.  But first let’s note that all four gospels tell their own version of that day.  Some of the details will be in common; other details will be unique. Amy–Jill Levine writes, “No one Gospel can tell the full story, and each should be savored for the story it tells.” (p. 22) While her book Entering the Passion of Jesus focuses this chapter on Matthew, she encourages us to read the accounts in the rest of the gospels on our own not just to compare, but to seek the richness of all the detailed perspectives. 
 
One of the things we will gain from Professor Levine is a greater awareness of the historic Jewish background to our New Testament stories of Holy Week.  Matthew especially writes for a Jewish audience and from a Jewish perspective.  This Gospel quotes Old Testament scriptures more often than the others. 
 
Jesus has come to Jerusalem with his disciples for Passover, as have Jews from as far away as Athens, Rome, or Babylon, everywhere Jews lived.  The city is bursting at the seams with guests.  Jesus has been here many times for the various festivals.  John’s Gospel mentions Passover in John 2, Shavuot which we call Pentecost in John 5, and the Festival of Dedication we know as Hanukkah in John 10. Jesus has made friends in the area, among them Martha, Mary and Lazarus at nearby Bethany. 
 
On this occasion, there are meaningful messages in Jesus’ mode of entering the city, not just as one of many coming on foot but in a manner others would recognize as the entrance of a significant person.  As they approached the city, Jesus sent two of the disciples into a village to untie a donkey and her colt and bring them to him.  Don’t be alarmed; this is not a theft.  Jesus seems to know exactly where they will be tied and that the owner will be glad to loan them when told “The Lord has need of them.”  (Matthew 21:3) Professor Levine’s suggestion that these animals belonged to one of Jesus’ local friends makes perfect sense to me. (p. 23)   
 
As Matthew’s Gospel quotes the prophecy we read earlier from Zechariah:
 
5 “Tell the city of Zion,
    Look, your king is coming to you!
He is humble and rides on a donkey
    and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”  (Matthew 21:5 from Zechariah 9:9)
 
If we look at the rest of that prophecy, if Matthew’s readers knew it, or if the Jews in Jerusalem that day remembered it, we find more to the meaning of arriving on a donkey as found in Zechariah 9:9.  Verse 10 speaks of removing weapons and bringing peace.  Verse 11 refers to the covenant God made with his people, sealed in blood.  That reference is loaded with meaning.   
  • If the donkey brought this prophecy of Zechariah to mind, then the blood would remind them of the lamb’s blood spread on the doorposts so that the angel of death would pass over the Hebrew homes when the first born in each Egyptian household died before the Hebrews finally escaped from Egypt led by Moses.  That is the very event they were in Jerusalem to commemorate as Passover. 
  • It might also remind them of the covenant God made with his people through the giving of the commandments and building the tabernacle, establishing the priesthood, making the ark of the covenant and other sacred implements.  All these symbols of the covenant were dedicated with the sprinkling of blood. 
  • But as Matthew writes to Jews, who are now believers in Christ, the covenant sealed in blood would also call to mind the Last Supper Jesus shared with his disciples and the sacrifice he made upon the cross through the words added to the Passover blessing.  “This is my blood, which seals God's covenant, my blood poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” (Matthew 26:28) 
 
Let’s look further at the poetry in Zechariah 9:9.
  • “Your king is coming to you.”  The King rides a donkey.  I remember from another study by Adam Hamilton that King David rode into Jerusalem on a donkey.  Now Jesus, whom the crowd will call David’s Son, comes on a donkey symbolically claiming to be our king.
  • “Righteous and victorious.” Some translations say “triumphant and victorious” which is why we refer to this story as Jesus’ Triumphal Entrance into Jerusalem.   The word in Hebrew is tzaddik meaning a righteous person. I’ve often shared that in the Old Testament righteousness is paired with justice.  Professor Levine points out that “the focus…is not on militaristic conquering, but on the power of justice.” (p. 27) That is the contrast between Jesus’ parade into Jerusalem and that of Pilate.
  • The word often translated here in English as victorious also gives us the wrong impression.  Literally it means saved or salvation and shares its root with Hosanna, Hosea, Joshua and Jesus.  Jesus came to save; that’s what his name literally means.  It isn’t about victory for a conquering hero; it’s about salvation for the rescued people of God.  The same root word is found in Isaiah 62:11 “Tell the people of Jerusalem, ‘Look, your Savior is coming.”
  • The next linguistic note was a surprise to me.  “He is humble.”  Levine says that does not necessarily mean meek or gentle or even lowly as we often think of it.  “The Hebrew has the connotation of being ‘poor’ or ‘afflicted.’” (p.27) That fits the image of Jesus as suffering servant as we have applied language from Isaiah 53:4 “It was certainly our sickness that he carried, and our sufferings that he bore, but we thought him afflicted, struck down by God and tormented.” 
  • It is the humble in this sense that inherit the earth, as it says in Psalm 37:11 and as Jesus referred to in the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:5).  It is those who are poor and afflicted now who have this promise to live in peace and prosperity.  These words “inherit…prosperity” may signal something individual and financial to us, as if to say we have a lot to gain in terms of personal wealth for the future.  But to Matthew’s first century audience these words had a more communal context.  Those who are humble, those who do not think too highly of themselves, those who have suffered at the hands of their foes will as a community possess their land, live peaceably, and prosper, because their Gracious God supplies their need.  It is a message of hope!
 
I like the way Professor Levine sums up the contribution of these Old Testament prophecies to our image of Jesus who comes as King:  Jesus is “a king who does not lord it over others, but who takes his place with those who are suffering…a king who is righteous rather than violent…a king who is strong in faith, not armed to the teeth.” (p.28-29)
 
As Jesus arrived, the crowd lined the streets shouting their welcoming words of praise.  They used words from Psalm 118, the finale of the Hallel psalms 113-118 used for this and other major festivals, which we may also use liturgically on Palm Sunday or Easter.  Hallel means “to praise” as Hallelujah means “Praise to God!” or “Praise the Lord!”  (Levine, p. 33) You’ll recognize these words not only as we use them on Palm Sunday, but also as we sing part of the Great Thanksgiving when we celebrate Holy Communion. 
  • “Hosanna!”  As said before the root of this word means salvation.  The expression “Hosanna!” literally means, “save, please” (Levine, p. 31) It becomes a prayer of the people to Jesus, Please, save us!  Specifically, the meaning of that word Hosanna would echo Psalm 118:25: “Lord, please save us! Lord, please let us succeed!”
  • They sang their Hosannas to “the Son of David,” it is a reference to Jesus descending from King David, a hero of their history.  Messianic prophecy also proclaimed the Messiah would be of the House of David.  That’s why it’s significant that Jesus’ birth story took place in Bethlehem, the city of David and that he came to Jerusalem, David’s capital riding a donkey as King David did.  The crowd is making this association as they welcome Jesus.
  • Psalm 118:26 contains the next line these crowds chanted: “Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.”  The crowds are not only praying for a future salvation and visitation of God.  They somehow, at least on that day, sensed that salvation and God’s Messiah were in their midst right there in front of them.
 
This story contains the longings of God’s people for salvation, for freedom.  Yes, they wanted freedom from the military occupation and Roman rule of Jesus’ day. It is also true when we look at the story theologically that Jesus came to offer freedom from the slavery of sin just as Moses delivered the Hebrews out of slavery in Egypt to freedom in the Promised Land.  But there are other freedoms God’s people seek desperately in any age.  Professor Levine suggests, “From sin, yes. But also, from pain, from despair, from loneliness, from poverty, from oppression.  We are all in need of some form of salvation.  Indeed, the idea of salvation for most of the Scriptures of Israel is not about spiritual matters, but physical ones.” (p.33) Every one of us has stood in need of salvation in one form or another.
 
How will we respond to what Jesus offers?  Will we let the parade pass us by?  Or will we join the throng in shouts of praise and prayers for salvation?  What then?  Will we go home with a happy memory but back to our dismal lives?  Or will we try to live into that kingdom our Savior ushers into our world?  Will we live into the “procession of justice, of compassion, of peace, or a vision of the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom as God wants it to be?” (Levine, p. 34) As we celebrate that ancient parade, we have a choice about how we intend to live.
 
The passage ends with this identification of Jesus.  “This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee.” (Matthew 21:11) It hints back to Deuteronomy 18:18 as Moses says farewell to his people before his death and their entrance to the Promised Land.
God promised this to Moses: “I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their own people; I will put my words in the mouth of the prophet, who shall speak to them everything that I command.”
 
Matthew has set up this scene wanting his audience to be reminded of both Moses and King David as they listen to Jesus’ story.  We needed a little more help to see the connections.  Just as Jesus must face conflict with Jewish leaders and Pilate, so Moses faced it with Pharaoh and with his own siblings Miriam and Aaron, so David faced it not only with Goliath, but with King Saul and eventually his own son, Absalom.
“Crowds are fickle” (Levine, p. 36) “Hosanna!” will turn to “Crucify Him!” The parade into Jerusalem will be lost in the dust and replaced by the slow walk carrying a cross to Golgotha just outside the city. 
 
Amy-Jill Levine puts it honestly, “The Triumphal Entry cannot be separated from the cross, and the cross cannot be separated from the call of justice. And that call cannot be separated from risk, personal, professional, permanent.” (p. 36) Herod the Great killed baby boys for two years, as well as members of his own family, because he was afraid of the prophecy that a child born in Bethlehem would grow up to be king.  Herod Antipas killed John the Baptist, because this popular and vocal teacher threatened his authority and his happy home.  Caiaphas, the High Priest would make sure Rome killed Jesus, because Caiaphas’ priestly authority was threatened by the rabbi from Galilee. 
 
Taking up God’s just cause is a dangerous business, and it will take Jesus to the cross.  Yet Jesus accepted that risk, knew what would happen, and chose not to save his own life but to save ours.  The story begs us to reflect, what then are we willing to suffer and risk for the cause of Christ, for God’s justice to rule in our world today?
 
John’s Gospel version of this story is the only one that specifically names the branches being cut down and waved or laid at Jesus’ feet as palms.  Palms in Jewish tradition are not a Passover reference, the Festival background to this story.  Palms belong to another Festival, Sukkot, in the Fall harvest season.  Even today Jews build booths for Sukkot to remind them of their heritage as nomads when the rescued Hebrews wandered in the wilderness.  As part of their worship during Sukkot Jews wave branches of date palm, willow, and myrtle held together in their hand following the festival commandment in Leviticus 23. 
 
Sukkot is the setting for the Zechariah 9 passage foretelling the humble king who will come riding on a donkey. Zechariah continues in chapter 12:10, “I will pour out on David’s family and the people in Jerusalem a spirit of kindness and mercy. They will look at me, the one they have stabbed, and they will cry like someone crying over the death of an only child. They will be as sad as someone who has lost a firstborn son.”  In 14:16, “16 Everyone who is left from all the nations that attacked Jerusalem will come every year to worship the king, the Lord of Armies, and to celebrate the Festival of Booths.” 
 
The actions and words of the Passover crowds as Jesus entered Jerusalem, already anticipated the survival and return of those who would celebrate the Festival of Booths.  Between these Festivals there will be a time of grieving as God’s own Son, David’s Son is killed for our sake.  But amid that sorrow God will pour out on God’s people mercy and compassion.  All these themes, our own call to action, and even risk are all present in one not so simple story of a man, Jesus, riding into town on a donkey. 
 
We read that story and learn the deeper meanings behind it not just for its own sake, but for what it might say to us today.  Where in our world does Jesus come in festive procession to offer the hope of freedom for all God’s people?  Where does the Gospel take risks today?  Where are you in the story?  Are you standing along the sidelines?  Are you shouting “Hosanna,” Lord, please save us?  Are you following behind Jesus as one of the faithful, knowing you put everything at risk to do so?  Where will you be when the rest of the story walks slowly toward Golgotha?  Will you in your own life take up your cross of suffering and risk to follow him?  These are the questions Lent challenges us to ask ourselves. 
 
Today, let us offer our prayers and our praise, our Hosannas to Jesus our King, but let us not forget that Jesus invites us to follow him all the way to the cross and beyond to the freedom of a new Promised Land.
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Women in Jesus' Life and Ministry - March 3 - The Sinful Woman

3/2/2019

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