Sunday of the Passion - Phil. 2.5-11 - Cross Purpose
We've joined the children who waved palms leading a joyous procession into the city.
"Our glad hosannas Prince of Peace, your welcome shall proclaim." (ELW 239)
But unauthorised demonstrations and parades are not pleasing to the frightened, reactionary regime of Jerusalem in Jesus' time. There was a testy truce between the spiritual authorities of the Jerusalem temple and the "temporal" authorities of the Roman Empire. Holy Week finds Jesus and his disciples caught in the cross fire of a cynical struggle for power in a conflict that neither the Jewish leaders nor the Roman occupiers would win.
Jesus, of course, was not coming for their positions, much to the disappointment of many of his followers, particularly those who shouted, "Hosanna to the Son of David:"- incendiary language welcoming a king stoking the hopes of an immanent regime change. That's why Jesus had to be dealt with quickly and carefully, so as to avoid political violence during the highest festival of the year, Passover. But the fears of the ruling parties were, in the end, somewhere between unfounded and irrelevant. The regime change that Jesus came to effect was much more than humankind and their rulers could conceive.
"Then 'Crucify' is all their breath; and for his death they thirst and cry." (ELW 343, alt.)
The people had no hope and no interest in the political shenanigans of their time If Jesus the centre of the parade entering the city on a carpet of palms, or a condemned criminal enduring public humiliation and state sponsored violence, it didn't make much difference to them, it made for great entertainment.
Jesus came to rob sin, death, and devil of their weaponry, the "unholy trinity" that wraps itself around the tree of existence like a snake in an attempt to squeeze the life out of us. What Jesus conquered was death, the tombs gave up their dead, and Jesus reigns as King over a kingdom founded in love, built by faith, and held together in hope.
There is a new "mindedness" in the cross purposes of Jesus and his people. For some, it might lead to a "mindfulness" in the face of the world's challenges that 'sets our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus ' (Phil 4.7) but for others it is a daily tussle between faith and sin operating in the regime of death and devil, while, where faith operates, death is done for. In the words o English poet John Donne, "Death, thou shalt die." Living into the new Easter reality is a life long struggle that conquers cynicism and neutralises death.
It's an historic week in 2020, when a world in passover mode passes by its' usual celebrations due to a world wide virus (COVID-19). We are robbed of the usual comforts of gathering for food, in prayer and ritual recalling God's mighty acts in triumph over death and communion with God and one another that such redemption has brought. Singers and brass players are silenced. The preacher is left to be heard over the device or seen on picture monitor or, worst of all, read in a blog. Imagine the infamy and humiliation for consumer and content provider alike!
In cross purposes, we view the cross, mourning the needless deaths of thousands in a failed response of governments around the world, mourning the physical separation from family, and much of the colour and pageantry of this week. We'll muse on ages past, our childhood, our time as parents, our life as family insurgents known as grandparents.
It may be that one of the things that world wide disaster might change in us is considering the cross a thing of the past, a relic of past beliefs, a magic good luck charm wherever it may be. It's Paul of Tarsus' quoting of a hymn of Christ's humility unto death that points us to Christ's high honour of a name above all names - as the resurrected to eternal life - (Don't forget, His is the only name that death has not held.) We turn to our altered future without death's victory, so that everyone and everything might bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father." (v.11) One day, God willing, we will once again hear the sounds of instrument and song that echo from the bloody silence of the cross! And we'll thank God the Father that such is His cross purpose for the world.
"Our glad hosannas Prince of Peace, your welcome shall proclaim." (ELW 239)
But unauthorised demonstrations and parades are not pleasing to the frightened, reactionary regime of Jerusalem in Jesus' time. There was a testy truce between the spiritual authorities of the Jerusalem temple and the "temporal" authorities of the Roman Empire. Holy Week finds Jesus and his disciples caught in the cross fire of a cynical struggle for power in a conflict that neither the Jewish leaders nor the Roman occupiers would win.
Jesus, of course, was not coming for their positions, much to the disappointment of many of his followers, particularly those who shouted, "Hosanna to the Son of David:"- incendiary language welcoming a king stoking the hopes of an immanent regime change. That's why Jesus had to be dealt with quickly and carefully, so as to avoid political violence during the highest festival of the year, Passover. But the fears of the ruling parties were, in the end, somewhere between unfounded and irrelevant. The regime change that Jesus came to effect was much more than humankind and their rulers could conceive.
"Then 'Crucify' is all their breath; and for his death they thirst and cry." (ELW 343, alt.)
The people had no hope and no interest in the political shenanigans of their time If Jesus the centre of the parade entering the city on a carpet of palms, or a condemned criminal enduring public humiliation and state sponsored violence, it didn't make much difference to them, it made for great entertainment.
Jesus came to rob sin, death, and devil of their weaponry, the "unholy trinity" that wraps itself around the tree of existence like a snake in an attempt to squeeze the life out of us. What Jesus conquered was death, the tombs gave up their dead, and Jesus reigns as King over a kingdom founded in love, built by faith, and held together in hope.
There is a new "mindedness" in the cross purposes of Jesus and his people. For some, it might lead to a "mindfulness" in the face of the world's challenges that 'sets our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus ' (Phil 4.7) but for others it is a daily tussle between faith and sin operating in the regime of death and devil, while, where faith operates, death is done for. In the words o English poet John Donne, "Death, thou shalt die." Living into the new Easter reality is a life long struggle that conquers cynicism and neutralises death.
It's an historic week in 2020, when a world in passover mode passes by its' usual celebrations due to a world wide virus (COVID-19). We are robbed of the usual comforts of gathering for food, in prayer and ritual recalling God's mighty acts in triumph over death and communion with God and one another that such redemption has brought. Singers and brass players are silenced. The preacher is left to be heard over the device or seen on picture monitor or, worst of all, read in a blog. Imagine the infamy and humiliation for consumer and content provider alike!
In cross purposes, we view the cross, mourning the needless deaths of thousands in a failed response of governments around the world, mourning the physical separation from family, and much of the colour and pageantry of this week. We'll muse on ages past, our childhood, our time as parents, our life as family insurgents known as grandparents.
It may be that one of the things that world wide disaster might change in us is considering the cross a thing of the past, a relic of past beliefs, a magic good luck charm wherever it may be. It's Paul of Tarsus' quoting of a hymn of Christ's humility unto death that points us to Christ's high honour of a name above all names - as the resurrected to eternal life - (Don't forget, His is the only name that death has not held.) We turn to our altered future without death's victory, so that everyone and everything might bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father." (v.11) One day, God willing, we will once again hear the sounds of instrument and song that echo from the bloody silence of the cross! And we'll thank God the Father that such is His cross purpose for the world.
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