Palm Sunday 9 April, 2016

As a pastor, I’ve always wanted to avoid the Church Museum Tour guide approach to sermons – and ministry in general.  Now, it’s true, if the church were a museum, it would indeed be pretty interesting; there’s all the artifacts, all the stories, the miracles, the Bible Versions.  

The thing is, sometimes this how we see the faith stories now a-days – as if they were in showcases, behind glass, behind roped off areas, with signs saying “DO NOT TOUCH!”  As if these things need to be protected from the hands of the unrighteous, from people who don’t understand any of this right!

Sometimes we feel these stories might very well be interesting, but we might feel they may not really be –in grand scheme--- relevant to our lives.   After all, we aren’t ancient Near Eastern Jews!    As a result, all this bible-stuff might sometimes feel alien to us.   These stories, the characters, are not from our times, and they certainly not written in our words.   They are indeed alien to our lives, to where we live, and how we live…  today!   Here, in our 21^st Century World.

So my interest in preaching has always been to help us see that while these stories are historically interesting, and are related to history – ancient history for sure – we should be able to hold the stories.  If we preachers treat these stories as museum pieces,  as artifacts of some bygone era, and don’t allow people to handle the stories, to feel the power for themselves, to hear the deeper whispers in the stories, to listen for the words in our era –– in our times and places… then they really do remain just interesting historical artifacts.     And we do everyone – all of us – a dis-service!  

Yes, these stories have history, and they have historical nuance, and they may have political and theological agendas, and they have deeper messages!   And they can inform us about who God is…  still… today…  here in the 21^st  Century.

      

Having said all that, the story of the last few days of Jesus’ life; from entering Jerusalem for the last time, to his trial, and crucifixion – this classic Holy Week story – is very much like a museum piece.   There’s some interested things in the story for sure; historical and political.  It’s interesting to hear what’s between the lines in all this – interestingly, a perfect interactive museum tour piece.    So let’s look at the piece; let’s pick it up and examine it. 

Jesus not only challenged the authority of Rome – of Caesar.  He also challenged the Jewish, temple system.    Remember the story of the Pharisees asking Jesus whether Jews should pay taxes to Rome or not?    Jesus asks, “Who’s image is on the coin?”   “Caesar’s.”    And here comes the oft repeated… “Then give to Caesar what’s Caesars, and give to God what’s God’s!”  Now, we often interpret this from the perspective of our era – that Jesus was talking about the distinction between the lesser secular material world and the more evolved world of the Spirit – when maybe more accurately Jesus was making a pretty strong case for the sovereignty of not only his God (over the god Caesar), but his people (over against the imperialism of Rome).  The implications here are not only religious, but political!   Jesus rejects the Roman understanding that Caesar is a god… he’s certainly not the god of any pious Jew!   The money with his image on it belongs to him!   But the land, and the temple on it, that’s NOT Caesars!  That all belongs to the God of the Jews! 

He also questioned the temple system; a system that was complicated and expensive and held tremendous control over people; if you didn’t do the prescribed religious requirements then the temple leaders would not certify you as clean/right with God – which meant you weren’t able to completely be a part of the community of God.   

The priests and leaders had monopoly on all things God.   But it didn’t start out this way!   All across ancient near east, sacrifices were part of life – a way of honoring the sacred, and relationships.   But over time, things got more and more structured, more and more organized, more and more complicated… and more control could be exerted on the people.                                                                                                                            

John the Baptist… he preached (directly from the Gospel texts) “a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins”; no temple required, no temple taxes, no fees, nothing more involved than a desire to be right with God!  Is it a surprise he got executed?     

And Jesus questioned this system too!  He threw out the money-changers, an expression of cleaning up the unrighteousness, the corruption, in the system.   Jesus, like John, also repeatedly forgave people in the name of the Living God, dispensing totally with any elaborate and/or expensive ceremony… a direct challenge to the temple system.  Jesus challenged the system that allowed those in power (and those who abused power) to STAY in power.  He questioned the justice of it…  the rightness of it.   And this put him on the Temple Leadership hit-list; he was certainly challenging not only the temple system… he was quite possibly drawing down the Roman hammer on them all!  

When the Romans conquered people, they often found it much easier (and cheaper too) to make deals with local (conquered and occupied) political and religious leadership… the conquered version of the 1%.     

And here was the deal from the Roman perspective in a nutshell: If  you support us, we’ll let you keep your power and titles. And we’ll support you and your positions!  We’ll even defend you from popular revolt!   But if you challenge us… or if you allow anyone to challenge us… all bets are off…  along with your heads!  So, it behooves you to keep order!”    Usually this worked like a charm!   

Not only was the temple leadership priesthood part of this 1%, so were the religious leaders in the Sanhedrin (the leadership council).   They basically traded their sovereignty for their positions...  and they fought hard to keep the order as it was!    They’d traded not only their freedom, but the freedom of all the Israelites in Judah for the privilege of remaining in the 1%.   This why, in the eyes of the common people (the rest of the 99%) these leaders looked at best like sell-outs     and at worse like traitors!    

The average people, the 99%, were looking more and more for a messiah, a leader that would remove the yoke of oppression – not just the oppression of the occupying Romans, but also the oppression of the bought-and-paid-for temple and religious leadership.    This hoped-for messiah that was to come in the name of God to establish God’s righteous kingdom… one free from not only occupation, but also the corruption and injustice that came with it. 

But the religious leaders had a whole different mentality (of course… they had more to lose!):  If the Romans see this, and see we’re not doing anything about it, they might bring down the hammer on us!   All of us!      

The story goes that while they were in Jerusalem, Judas Iscariot (one of his twelve disciples) went to the leading priests and arranged to betray Jesus for 30 pieces of silver.  He’d made the deal, but just needed to find the right time to turn him over to the authorities.  

On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, Jesus made plans to celebrate the Passover with his disciples; they found a place, and they prepared for the remembrance.   That evening, the story tells that while Jesus was eating with the twelve, Jesus said “One of you will betray me."    They were shocked!  After three years of being together…  three years of learning and growing and seeing miracles… this just made no sense!   They looked around… this just couldn’t be!       

"One of you who has just eaten with me will betray me.   The scriptures have said the Son of Man must die.”  

Judas said – “It can’t be me!”

“You already know.”   Said Jesus.

As they were eating, Jesus, took some bread and blessed it… he broke the bread into pieces and passed them out, saying, "Take this and eat it, this bread is my body." 

And after eating, he took a cup of wine, again he gave thanks to God for it, then passed it to them saying, "Drink from this cup, each of you.   This is my blood confirming the covenant between God and God’s people.   This is poured out as a sacrifice to forgive sin.  I will not drink wine again until the day I drink it new with you in my Father's Kingdom."

The story continues that when they had finished, Jesus went with some disciples to Mount of Olives to pray.   On the way, Jesus told them, “Tonight all of you will desert me, confirming what the scriptures say;  'God will strike the Shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.'"

Peter declared:  “Others may desert you, Lord, but I never will!”   

Jesus turned to look at him… "Tonight… before the sun rises…  before the rooster crows… you will deny three times that you even know me."  

"Never!", insisted Peter!   “Even if I have to die with you, I will never deny you!"

As they got closer to the olive grove called Gethsemane, they could tell Jesus grew more and more anguished, more and more distressed.    Jesus asked them to sit and wait, to stay awake, while he prayed.  

He went on a little farther, and fell to the ground in a heap, with his face on the ground.    He praying:                   

"Father!  I don’t know if I can do this!   Take this suffering from me!  But… help me to do your will in this, not mine!”

 When he got back to where the disciples were waiting, he found them all sleeping.   He woke up Peter asking why he couldn’t have stayed awake, and resist temptation.    He went, again to prayer…  

"Father!  If this cup can’t be taken and I have to drink from it…  then help me       let your will be done."     

He came back found them asleep again!    He left and prayed a third time.   

When he came back, he told them:     "It’s time to get up!   The time has come!   It’s time for the Son of Man is to be handed over to the unrighteous.  My betrayer is here!”

As he said this, Judas arrived with a crowd of armed temple guards and others.

Judas had arranged a signal ahead of time with them – whoever he greeted would be the one they were to arrest.   The story tells that Judas came straight to Jesus…   "Greetings, Rabbi!" he exclaimed, and he hugged and kissed him.    This is where the saying “Betrayed with a kiss” comes from!   But Jesus already knew what he was planning, 

"Do what you have come here to do.”  

As the soldiers were taking Jesus into custody, one of the men with Jesus pulled out his sword and struck the high priest's slave, slashing off his ear.  

"Stop! Put your sword away!"   Jesus told him.    “Don’t be tempted to use violence as a way to get your will done.    And don't you know…  I could ask God    –and get–  an army of angels in an instant?    But if I did that…   how would the Scriptures be fulfilled about what’s supposed to happen?"

Jesus then turned to the guards:    "Am I that dangerous a revolutionary that you need soldiers and swords in the dark?     Why didn't you arrest me in the Temple? I was there every day teaching.      But this is all happening to fulfill the words of the prophets as recorded in the Scriptures." 

At that point, all the disciples deserted him and fled in fear and confusion!   

He was taken to Caiaphas’s house, the high priest.  All the religious leaders and elders were there waiting. 

Meanwhile, Peter followed him at a distance and came to the high priest's courtyard.   He went in and sat with the guards and waited to see how things would turn out.

While Peter was outside, Jesus was inside being questioned by the Sanhedrin – the high council.  The Gospel story says they were waiting to hear from lying witnesses so they could have Jesus executed!   

They asked Jesus:   "Well… what do you have to say for yourself?" 

But Jesus didn’t speak. 

"I demand in the name of the living God…  tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God."  

"These are your words.” Jesus replied.                                                                           “And in the future you will see the Son of Man seated in the place of power at God's right hand in heaven."   

This enraged the religious leaders!   "He speaks Blasphemy!” said the High Priest.   “We don’t need any witnesses!   We’ve heard him ourselves!”   And turning to the rest of the council, Caiaphas asked “What is your verdict?"   

"Guilty!" they shouted. "He deserves to die!"  

While this was going on inside, Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard.    A servant girl saw him and asked if he was one of Jesus’s disciples.  Peter denied it in front of everyone… 

"I don't know what you're talking about."   

He wasn’t just taken by surprise with the question… he was scared!    He knew it wasn’t going end well for Jesus.    It was looking pretty bad for him, and he didn’t want to end up the same way.      

Later, out by the gate, someone else noticed Peter.   She said she thought she’d seen him before with Jesus.     Again… Peter denied it!    

“I don't even know the man,"   he said.  

A little later some of the other bystanders came over to Peter and said,

"You must be one of them – we can tell by your Galilean accent."

Peter swore, "I’ve never met the man!”  

And right after he said these very words…  the rooster crowed. 

Suddenly…  Jesus' words flashed through his mind:                                                                        "Before the rooster crows…   you will deny three times that you even know me."  

He felt such deep shame!   He just couldn’t stay there any longer!    

By that point the leaders took Jesus before Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor.    Jesus remained silent as the religious leaders explained their charges against him. 

"Don't you hear all these charges they are bringing against you?"   Pilate demanded.   But Jesus made no response to any of the charges.

This is the Gospel story…   but you need to hear what’s not in the story… you need to hear from scholars, historians.     

The Gospel this story comes from – Matthew – was written around year 80 of the Common Era, after the revolt in Judea…  after the failed revolt against the Roman occupiers… when the temple was destroyed… and most of residents of Jerusalem were killed… and those who survived were sent away into exile…  an exile that would not see a Jewish homeland again until 1949.   

The Romans destroyed the city as completely as possible!   They the place into an abandoned wasteland!     This is not hyperbole…   this is history!   It did happen that way!                                  

This is significant because this devastation influenced the writer of the Gospel story!   This story was written NOT for a Jewish audience… but fora Gentile audience… a Roman Gentile audience.      After the failed Hebrew revolt, the Hebrews became “Bad Guys” to the Romans!   The Romans never really did have a high regard for the Hebrew People, but after this revolt attempt, they were considered with even more suspicion, derision, contempt!

The writer of this Gospel changes the story, working into it ideas that may not have been historically accurate… but they served political ends; Roman acceptance of this new movement of the followers of the Christ.   This story would attempt to ingratiate itself into Roman hearts and minds by making the Romans – the victors in this very one-sided war – look good while at the same time making the Jews – the losers – look bad.      

While the followers of J. had their origins within the Jewish tradition (after all, there was no denying that Jesus himself was Jewish) the Gospel writer made some conscious efforts to distance this budding movement,  this growing number of Roman gentile followers…  of a Jewish Messiah…   from the very tradition their messiah came from!       

The writer of this Gospel did not want this new, and very important movement of God to be seen in the eyes of the Roman people as a “Jewish” movement…    as having anything to do with these “enemies of the State”, but as a wholly independent movement.                                              

The Story of Jesus and Pilate continues in Matthew.   It tells that Pilate had a custom to release a prison every year at Passover.    The Romans were meticulous record keepers.    Scholars indeed have enough surviving records to piece together a pretty good pictures of life in Judea from Roman perspective.   These historical accounts don’t corroborate this “custom” of Pilate as mentioned in the Gospel story.     So why would the story teller have included it?  Because this was part of a bigger picture of trying to make the Jews look bad and the Romans look good.  

But the story tells that Pilate asked the people who they wanted him to release; Jesus… “Whom you call the Messiah”  or a notorious rebel named Barabbas? 

And in the story the crowd yells out:  “Give us Barabbas!”   

While Pilate was judging Jesus’ fate, the story tells that his wife sent him a message.   She’d had a terrible dream about Jesus the night before, a dream that warned her (and her husband) to leave Jesus alone.   

Again, another example of demonstrating the goodness of Roman leadership.    In Matthews Gospel, Pilate was actually trying to help Jesus. 

  

Pilate asks, “What do you want me to do with Jesus who is called the Messiah?"    The “bad” Jews shout back, "Crucify him!"   

In the story, Pilate continues – "But he hasn’t committed any crime!"             

But the mob roared even louder, "Crucify him!"  

The story recounts that Pilate recognized he wasn't getting anywhere, and that a riot was developing.    So the story says he sent for a bowl of water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, "I am innocent of this man's blood. The responsibility is yours!"

“Let his blood be on us and our children!”   While this was written into the text as another attempt to identify this new Christian movement, not with Judaism, but with Roman ideals by using the already negative public opinion of Jews!  

Hearing that the death of Jesus was the Jews fault and not the Romans fault would of course play MUCH better a Roman Christian community!

And while these words were meant to legitimize this movement in Rome… it served an unintentional, and much darker purpose… the demonizing of a People for centuries to come!      “Let his blood be on our heads, and those of our Children!” has remained the foundation for pogroms and genocide attempts against the “Christ Killers” even to our day!    

Yet, history tells a different story altogether!   The “real” Pilate was actually incredibly cruel!  He, the Pilate of history, had virtually no concern for Jewish public opinion!   From what we know about him, he cared not one whit for what this Jewish rabble would have wanted!        

But the Gospel story continues that Pilate gave in to the crowd –– a thing done only by the Pilate of the Gospels, a thing the historical Pilate would never have dreamed of doing!    He releases Barabbas…    and orders Jesus to be flogged first,  then crucified.

Some of the governor's soldiers took Jesus into their headquarters to torture and insult him; they put a purple robe on him (purple being the color reserved for royalty), they put a crown made from thorns on his head, they placed a reed in his right hand as a scepter…  a sad mockery of a king!              

When they got tired of this torture and insults, they led him away to be crucified.  On the way they enlisted Simon of Cyrene to help Jesus carry his cross because Jesus could no longer carry it himself.

When they got to place called Golgotha (which means "Place of the Skull")  a place that really did exist, a hill seen clearly from the road leading into Jerusalem, a place people could see the bodies on crosses… a sight specifically designed to demonstrate to any visitor of the power of Rome… there at this place, they nailed him to the cross.        

They fastened a sign above Jesus' head ----in Latin, a titulus ---- a sign for all to read, describing the crime of the condemned man.    Jesus’ titulus – the charge against him… the charge condemning him to death… read:

"Iesu Nazaret, Rex Iudeum”  Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.    

A very Roman charge!  A very Roman execution!        

The story says it seemed everyone mocked Jesus;                                                  

People passing by shouted abuses –                                                                                    “If you are Son of God…  save yourself…  come down from the cross!"

  

Some religious leaders  also mocked Jesus -- "Look at him!  He saved others,"                     "but he can't save himself!                                                                                      

The text says even revolutionaries crucified with him ridiculed him.

He was abandoned…  lost… emptied of all hope.     The story says, around noon       the skies darkened… and they stayed that way for about 3 hours.   

At about three o'clock, Jesus gathered what little energy he had left, and called out… as loud as he could muster…

"Lord, Lord, why have you abandoned me?"   

He felt abandoned… isolated.   He shouted one last time…  and…  like a soldier mortally wounded on the field of battle…  with no-one left to save him… no hand to hold… no loved one to be comforted by…  knowing he was going to die alone… far away from home…  from the people he called home… in that abandonment…   he died.  

The story says that very same moment he took his last breath, the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple – the curtain that isolated the most holy place in the holiest of temples – ripped from top to bottom! 

This was the last act of a revolutionary life – he had torn open direct access to God.  Only the High Priest could enter this place to meet God… and that only one time per year.  And if he didn’t do the prescribed rituals exactly right, he would be in mortal danger of death!  

And here, the story says Jesus was able to do in his dying the very thing he had dedicated his life doing… making access to God free, to all! 

The earth shook… rocks split apart… tombs opened…  says the story.   What power indeed! 

The Roman officer and the other soldiers at the crucifixion were terrified by the earthquake and all that had happened.  

They said, "This man truly was the Son of God!"

This man was the Son of God…  This man! 

THIS man!    Not Caesar!     This was indeed one of Caesars titles “The Son of God”

The Gospel writer tells its original audience, its original Roman Gentile audience, reminds them, instructs them, teaches them, Caesar IS NOT GOD!    These were counter-cultural words!     They are anti-establishment,  anti- anything that places anything before God. 

Here we are warned…  we…   us…  who live over 2 thousand years after these words were originally written, that we must be ever vigilant, against the persuasion of the powers of our day that would turn us from the call of this man… Jesus of Nazareth… who himself was executed by the powers of his day… his revolutionary message that God is indeed accessible sometimes, not because of but in spite of, our organized systems of religious control!

…That the people we most want to marginalize… are the very ones we are called to see God in!  

…That the people we want to hate most…  want to push away most…  those we have inclinations to resist most…  these…  we are told…   are our brothers and sisters! 

But we have a most natural tendency to resist this message!     

Who do the powers of our day call us to resist?      

Who do the currents of our society call us to hate today?   

Who are these powers calling us to lump all together into one undifferentiated bundle labeled “Bad People”?     

Remember…  

When we lift our voices into one unified chorus shouting…         

“Crucify them!  Crucify them all!”…  

WE are the ones shouting “Crucify him!”   

“Crucify HIM!”   

 Calling ourselves Christian… followers of Christ…   Christ… the one who died because of his belief ALL are brothers and sisters…  ALL are one in this all-encompassing God… who died challenging an unjust system of haves and have-nots…  a system completely acceptable to the “haves”…       living off the labor and blood and lives of the “have-nots”…  

It is NOT easy!    It is NOT easy to call ourselves Christian… because this name calls us to be ever vigilant to the hate in us…  the hate from us…                                             

And…    just as evil…    the tendency to ignore injustice if we’re not the ones affected by it.  The tendency to remain silent in the face of any –ism…    that affects the poor,  the marginalized,  people of other races and religions and traditions and skin colors…

These tendencies reside in us…    all of us…

  

It is easier for us to point our fingers     to raise our fists    to righteously call for Crucifixion… 

…than it is to call them brothers…   or sisters…   children of the same God…    to take the time to learn and grow and listen and hope… and pray…       

Brothers and sisters…  we are entering the most solemn week in our tradition… a week were we are called to come face to face with our own desires to crucify!
 

A week we must come to grips…  again…  with our own tendencies to reject the very things Christ calls us to accept.

It is solemn…  because we walk this path…  knowing…  we are at the same time the ones calling for crucifixion –– the ones Christ is being crucified for  –– the ones enlisted,  like Simon of Cyrene,  to carry Jesus’s Cross…     our cross…   the one we want to use to execute others on. 

Sometimes we are like the Gospel writer… we want to white wash our tendencies to violence and darkness, and blame them on the “other”… like Matthew does with the Romans and the Jews in this story!   Out of concern for his growing movement in the city of the victors, he chooses political expediency over historical fact.  He sacrifices the Jews to make his point…  The "Jews" did not kill Jesus… a system of power and control killed him!   A corrupt system fight for its survival killed him!   An empire killed him!   the Romans killed him!  

But had he said it that way… this would have very probably cost him the budding Christian community in Rome!   

Brothers and sister, remember this story!    Remember its characters, its intricacies, its unspoken words… its hidden words.   

Remember.