Palm Sunday Journey

three readings and 3 short reflections

Reading 1: John 11:55-12:3, 9-11 

Reflection 1

Will he turn up?

The gossip in Jerusalem was about Jesus, he had raised Lazarus from death, and now the political and religious leaders are after them both. Will he come to the Temple in Jerusalem for Passover, or give it a miss this year?

But how did we get here. In John’s gospel, Jesus travels widely, but keeps returning to Jerusalem. He is there for major festivals. Jesus has travelled from Galilee, to Cana, to Jerusalem, to Samaria and Cana again and Jerusalem again and back to the Sea of Galilee and Jerusalem and Bethany and Jerusalem… lots of travelling, but always returns to Jerusalem and the Temple.

He travels and meets with people from various parts of Israel. The edges, the centre, various parts in between, and even outside of Israel, when he met the woman at the well in Samaria.

The political and religious leaders are concerned about this traveling teacher, because he is drawing large crowds, and there is talk of him being the son of God, but to top it all off, Lazarus came back from the dead and Jesus had something to do with it, and now everyone wants to see Lazarus, and Jesus.

Jesus goes to a place of welcome and respite, and visits Lazarus and Mary and Martha. In difficult times we need familiar faces and trusted friends.

Which parts of the journey of Jesus do you most connect with: fishing, healing, food, being in the temple?

In what ways has your faith deepened?

[reflection]

Reading 2: John 12:12-17

Reflection 2

The Gospel of John is the only one which mentions palm branches. The other gospels have cloaks or tree branches, but John is the only one to mention Palms.

Palms were a symbol of victory, not just for Jewish people, but for Greeks and Romans as well. Waving the palm branches was a sign of victory.

Waving palm branches was like waving your country’s flag in a parade.[i]

The people of Israel were looking for a Saviour.

They shout Hosanna! Hosanna!  

an Aramaic word in a sea of Greek. The gospels were originally written in Greek, but here an Aramaic word is used.
A word with two meanings – ‘praise God’ and ‘save us’

The crowd made up of followers, and disciples, and the curious are shouting
Hosanna!
Praise God!
Hosanna!
Save Us!
Hosanna!

Jesus enters Jerusalem to a welcome fit for a conquering hero. 
Except he isn’t.

Not the kind they were hoping for anyway.

The people wanted a saviour that would free them from oppression and injustice. They were waiting for a saviour who would make Israel independent, free to worship God.

Jesus does bring freedom.
Jesus does allow us to worship God freely.
But not by overthrowing the worldly powers.
Jesus is not going to fight the Romans, or anyone else, by the rules of this world.
Jesus came to change the game.  

To change the game from oppression and power and fear,
to freedom and grace and love.

And the way he will change the game is by not submitting to the politics of fear, but by love, love that doesn’t give up.

Reading 3: John 12: 17-26 

Reflection 3

 Are we on a journey with Jesus, where love is supreme?
Are we on a journey with Jesus, dominated by hope?

 Remember Lent week one, we renewed the covenant:

I am no longer my own, but yours.
Put me to what you will,
rank me with whom you will;
put me to doing, put me to suffering;
let me be employed for you or laid aside for you;
exalted for you or brought low for you;
let me be full, let me be empty;
let me have all things, let me have nothing;
I freely and wholeheartedly yield all things
to your pleasure and disposal.[ii]

We have walked through the final week of the life of Jesus, then today backtracking to Palm Sunday.

People came to listen to Jesus, to see Jesus, some were disciples, giving up everything to be with Jesus, others were curious to see what all the fuss was about, and some followed while things were interesting, and then disappeared at the first sign of trouble.  

Poem:  This is Love

 ~ written by John Birch, and posted on Faith and Worship. http://www.faithandworship.com/

Are we on a journey with Jesus, where love is supreme?

Are we on a journey with Jesus, dominated by hope?

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[i] Working Preacher Podcast

[ii] Uniting in Worship

This is Love

Each week seems to bring some bad news, this week it seems more than usual has stuck to me.

·         A cyclone hit the Pacific Islands

·         A police officer lost a leg yesterday when a texting driver ran into him as he was setting up a RBT stop

·         17 people died in a shooting at a school in Florida

Closer to home, this week, another woman spoke to me about domestic violence, and how she is in the process of separating from her partner. She and her children are safe.

I wonder if we might all want to join with Mary and Martha and say: “Lord, if you had been here,”

This story is pivotal in the Gospel of John.

It is like a hinge between the public ministry of Jesus, healing, signs, travelling, and the final words of Jesus to his disciples, then his arrest, death and resurrection.[i]

This passage has grief, understandable grief, and Martha, in the midst of her grief, makes this confession:

“Yes, Lord! I believe that you are Christ, the Son of God. You are the one we hoped would come into the world.”

A few days after the death of her brother,
in her grief, and her wondering what if -
what if Jesus had been here;
and maybe some anger that he was not.

In the midst of all that, Martha makes this confession of faith. One author even suggests this passage should be called the Confession of Martha, rather than the raising of Lazarus.[ii]

“Yes, Lord! I believe that you are Christ, the Son of God. You are the one we hoped would come into the world.”

Then the miracle, life returned.

Then an invitation to be involved. Jesus calls Lazarus out of the tomb, and then Jesus tells the people, “Untie him and let him go.”

And here is the part I want to focus on this morning, the reaction of people to the raising of Lazarus.

We are not told how his sisters react, but we hear of Mary again in the next chapter, when she pours perfume on the Lord’s head and wipes his feet with her hair.

The responses we are told about by John are that, after seeing all that happened, some people had faith in Jesus.

But some went to the Pharisees and reported what had happened.

And the religious leaders decided that both Jesus and Lazarus needed to die, permanently.

Coming into contact with Jesus never leaves us the same.

Recently we have heard about Nicodemus coming at night to see Jesus, and while it is not clear at that point in the story if Nicodemus follows Jesus, Nicodemus helps bury Jesus.

The woman who encountered Jesus at Jacob’s well, her life was clearly changed, and so was the life of many of the people in the village.

Last week we heard about the man born blind, and how recovering his sight set up a series of questions from the religions leaders and then he was excluded from the Synagogue.

How we view any situation depends on where we stand.

For example, if everyone with over $30, 000 in investments had their investment halved, so that those with less than $2, 000 could have theirs doubled, how would you feel?

I am guessing, it depends on which group you are in.

 “… God’s activity will change us, it will comfort some and threaten others. Even the promise of new life, that is, comes only as good news to those who recognizes that the old life is not enough and only threatens or upsets those who don’t want to change. “[iii]

Is the new life, the transforming life based on love and grace,
the new life that calls for us to leave behind the old, to take on the new
the new life that calls for us to live for others
is that good news for you?

The religious leaders did not celebrate that a man who was born blind could now see, or that a man who was dead is now alive.

No! this person Jesus threatened their way of living, it threatened the balance they had achieved with the Roman overlords. The religious leaders had position and status, as long as no one stepped out of line.

And along comes Jesus, who says that life is for living,
that people are loved
that all people are valued and precious, no exceptions
that God wants a connection with us, not based on rules, but on a relationship
and that our relationship with God through Jesus will change us.

We are challenged in our living to not only look at what God is doing,
but to become part of the work,
not to be passive bystanders,

We are not only called to be witnesses of God’s action in our lives, but also to be changed by what we see and thereby invited into the ongoing reality of what God is doing. God does the miracle, but God also gives us a part to play as it unfolds in our life [iv]

This morning you will be invited to reaffirm your commitment to God in a covenant prayer. This is not an easy prayer to pray.  
None of us are perfect
we well all fail
we will at times challenge God

The story of Jesus and Martha and Mary and Lazarus,
speaks to me of real life
life that is messy and painful
that at times we will grieve
at times we will rejoice
at time God will work miracles in our presence
and at times we will be expected to be part of those miracles.

And I keep coming back to love,
the love of God
the love that says yes,
even when we say no.
the love that says you are valuable
when the voices tell us we are not welcome
the love that says I would die for you
rather than play it safe.

Here is a poem:

Prayer:  This is Love

This is love.
Not that you spoke words of comfort,
walked with the unclean and unloved,
shared wisdom, bread and wine,
brought healing into lives
and challenged the status quo.

This is love.
That you spoke the word of God,
walked a painful road to the Cross,
shared living water, bread of life,
brought Salvation to the world
and died for the sake of all.

This is love.
It is a seed
sown in the ground,
which germinates,
blossoms,
and spreads its sweet perfume.

~ written by John Birch, and posted on Faith and Worship. http://www.faithandworship.com/

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[i] Bible project John

[ii] https://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=3404

[iii] http://www.davidlose.net/2017/03/lent-5a-heartache-miracle-invitation/

[iv] http://www.davidlose.net/2017/03/lent-5a-heartache-miracle-invitation/

Ready for Resurrection?

Our readings this morning both end with new life,
with resurrection,
with hope for a future.

But the readings don’t start out in such a hopeful place.

In the Gospel reading, Lazarus, the brother of Martha and Mary is very ill, but Jesus doesn’t come and heal him.
Lazarus dies, and is buried.

Finally, Jesus arrives 4 days after Lazarus has been buried….
The tomb is opened.
Jesus calls Lazarus to come out of the tomb
Then asks those assembled to help free Lazarus from the burial cloths.

A few verses later in the John reading, we see the outcome of the raising of Lazarus, it was the final straw for the religious leaders, and they started to plan the arrest of Jesus.

Do you feel like you are bound and in a tomb?
What will it take for you to be free?

In the reading from Ezekiel, the people of Israel are in exile in Babylon, and the news from home is about the destruction of temple and cities.

Would they ever return home?

And if they did what would be waiting for them?

The image of the dry bones, that is bones that have long had all their life bleached out of them. Dry bones are not like the bones we get in our steak. Bones left exposed to the elements, wind and rain and sun, bones get very dry and hard.

The bones are a metaphor for the life of the people of Israel:

-      they have no future – their land is in ruins and they are in exile

-      they are living in a land where people worship other gods, and the reality of everyday life means there is a ‘blurring between the pure and the impure.’ [i], and dead bodies, and therefore bones are impure.

Over the past 4 weeks we have heard stories of the impact of Jesus on the lives of people:

What if we talk about the experience of a conversation with Jesus
 that then transforms you from a woman rejected,
to a witness of God’s love
as a resurrection event.

What if we talk about the experience of Jesus putting mud on your eyes
so that you might see you are a sheep of Jesus’ fold
as a resurrection event.

What if we talk about the experience of hearing your name being called
to come out from the darkness of your tomb
as a resurrection event.[ii]

What if we talk about our own experience of transformation
of receiving God’s grace
of being welcomed by Jesus
as a resurrection event.

One of the articles I read this week, put it like this: If you have not been resurrected, well, it’s awfully hard to believe that it’s true.^[iii]

…

Shortly we will hear a song based on the Psalm for the day, Psalm 130 – out of the depths I cry to you O God.

Where are we living in despair:
as a nation,
as a congregation and
as individuals?

Do we cry to God for help or do we sit and complain:
about unemployment
violence
poverty
war
hunger

Where are ‘the depths’ for you?

Are you willing to ask God for resurrection?
are you willing to have your life changed?

Just as the breath of God enlivened the dry bones,
the breath of God, the Holy Spirit,
can bring new life to the world,
and the church
and each one of us.

Because God’s activity will change us,
it will comfort some and threaten others.
Even the promise of new life,
comes only as good news
to those who recognizes
that the old life is not enough.
The promise of new life,
threatens or upsets
those who don’t want to change. ^[iv]

As we listen to this song, I encourage you to consider where your life needs renewing.

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[i] Karen Georgia Thompson in U.C.C. SAMUEL for 2^nd April 2017

[ii] Karoline Lewis in Working Preacher, for 2nd April 2017

[iii] Karoline Lewis in Working Preacher, for 2^nd April 2017

[iv] David Lose, In the Meantime