The Reverend Max Lynn, Pastor

Scripture Readings: Philippians 2:1-13, Mark 11:1-11 Mark 11:1-11, Mark14:17-25

I found a Confucian proverb, which speaks of the power of humility:

The ways of the moral man are unobtrusive and yet they grow more and more in power and evidence; whereas the ways of the vulgar person are ostentatious, but lose more and more in influence until they perish and disappear.

The life of the moral man is plain, and yet not unattractive; it is

simple, and yet full of grace; it is easy, and yet methodical.  He knows

that accomplishment of great things consists in doing little things well.

He knows that great effects are produced by small causes.  He knows the

evidence and reality of what cannot be perceived by the senses.  Thus he

is enabled to enter into the world of ideas and morals.

Confucianism.  Doctrine of the Mean 33

 

As Christ moves toward Jerusalem, he comes with humility and sacrifice, yet instills in us great confidence and everlasting hope.  As he moves toward Jerusalem, Jesus ushers in a new vision. For a moment let me give you a brief overview of the development and impact of the faith of Israel.

The Israelite faith arose to give hope and unity to a people and nation, which was under more or less constant pressure of more powerful nations.  The message that though they were oppressed, God heard the cries of his people and intended their liberation and eventual triumph, gave the Israelites an identity that could withstand tremendous pressure.  As the establishment of Israel brought with it the sins of power, some of the leaders of Israel became as oppressive and compromising as those nations God had liberated them from, and prophets came along to condemn leaders and remind people from where they had come and from whose God they were.  Ironically, like our use of Sojourner Truth, Jesus and Martin Luther King Jr., prophetic critique of the society was then worked into the narrative of the society, no longer a condemnation but a reminder of what set Israel apart from other nations and encouraging them to live up to the true meaning of their covenant.  The idea that Israel would someday rise up to be stronger and more numerous than the nations that oppressed them remained a central idea.  What they needed were faithful people and a warrior king to become the Messiah. 

But the presence of the Nile and the Tigris-Euphrates rivers meant that larger, more powerful, more resource-blessed societies would forever threaten them.  If happiness and contentment were tied to political independence then it would be forever difficult and short lived.  And the compromises necessary to establish such sovereign independence meant that even as there might be an elite group of people who claimed sovereignty and victory, to the poor, there wouldn’t be much difference between one unjust and unfaithful ruler and the next, regardless of their nationality.

So ironically, Jesus rides into town from the Mount of Olives bringing up memories of revolutionary hope from Zechariah and military victory from Maccabees,

After Judas Maccabeus and his troops recaptured the temple and threw out the foreign troops, they held a festival for eight days, what is now Hanukah, where people praised God, the leader and victory, holding up sticks with twisted ivy and branches, including palm trees.   Where the branches had once been used to build shelters in the wilderness, now they are brought with people into the great city in celebration of victory.

From a Roman point of view Jesus would look like a political threat.  From a Jewish point of view he brings a prophetic critique of leadership. His basic message is this. The greatness of God’s people is in the love and justice and peace embodied by these people, not in the power it hopes to attain and maintain by any means necessary. As I mentioned, Jesus ride reminds all of Zechariah.

Zechariah 9:9-10 which reads:

Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion!
Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem!
See, your king comes to you,
righteous and having salvation,
humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
I will take away the chariots from Ephraim
and the war-horses from Jerusalem,
and the battle bow will be broken.
He will proclaim peace to the nations.
His rule will extend from sea to sea
and from the River to the ends of the earth.

 Jesus had several options he might have taken. Rather than isolate himself and his followers out on the margins, in the exclusive and peaceful mountain or wilderness hideouts, and rather than either compromising where expedient or marching war horses to kill all possible enemies to maintain power and purity (as if the sacrifice of other lives through murder could ever establish a true purity), Jesus comes right up the middle, during Passover, not on a war horse but on a young donkey.  

And as Passover is the reminder of the sacrifice of Lamb’s blood which Moses ordered to be sprinkled on the door-posts of the Israelites so that the angel of death, who came to kill the first born of Egypt, would pass over their children, so Jesus becomes the sacrifice which invokes God’s mercy and protection from the angel of death for us.  

Take, this is my body.  This is my blood covenant, which is poured out for many.  This is radical leadership.  This self-sacrifice is the end of the need to sacrifice others for our sins, even animals.

Now we have been talking about sin, hell and the devil for a few weeks.  I have not gone into the personal spirituality much, about how we are attacked or resist the devil in the world or within our hearts.  Even in intellectual Berkeley I have talked with people who fear ghosts and demons.  Certainly there are real live people who work in the shadows to undermine health, love, peace and justice.  And as is painfully evident from U.S. soldiers shooting of civilians in Afghanistan and the Trevon Martin murder, we live in a society whose ghosts and demons get in our head and shape our view even before we meet another person or nation.   Life can become frightening and our soul threatened by the angel of death.  Whether it is the devil or God’s judgment, alone we fear for good reason.  But here it is, with great confidence and assurance, through the breaking of bread and the sharing of wine, we affirm the good news that the angel of death must surely pass us by. 

And we also gain the spiritual nourishment; we internalize the Spirit of Christ, that we may have the same mind as the one who did not run nor escape in fear, nor master through violence and arrogant power, but stood up to the forces of darkness and the angel of death with humility, love and peace.

Philippians 2:1-13

2If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, ²make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. ³Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. ⁴Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. ⁵Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, ⁶who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, ⁷but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, ⁸he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death— even death on a cross. ⁹Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, ¹⁰so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, ¹¹and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

¹²Therefore, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed me, not only in my presence, but much more now in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; ¹³for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.