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“Master,
Master! You are the Hope of Israel! You
are our prophet and Savior!” These are the voices to rise to a dust stirring
volume as Jesus slowly enters into the city of his eventual death; Jerusalem. Alongside the path way of his grand entry in
the city are the Roman billboards of death, the rows upon rows of racks of
timber, ready to hoist a procession of crucifixions to remind the people their
potential fate if they speak or witness against authority... As many people know my favorite film about
the life of Jesus is the Franco Zefferelli 1977 Jesus of Nazareth, which synthesizes
the totality of the Gospels into a 382 minute artistic statement of our faith.
Speaking
of synthesizing, today has become
(unfortunately to a degree...) a day where we are to encapsulate and reflect on
the totality of the Passion of Christ Jesus and the magnitude of Christus
Victor—Christ to (soon) defeat sin, death and the devil upon the cross for our
salvation. Going back to the Roman “billiboards”
of death and oppression lining the way of light and life entering... The irony is profound. The irony is profound and needs to be heard,
prayed, felt, cried and anticipated...
The
only lectionary still holding to keeping Palm Sunday’s texts is the Wisconsin
Evangelical Lutheran Synod. But like
with all we do as we are all called to proclaim the Word, reveal the Truth and
GRACE of the Gospel of Christ Jesus; the Holy Spirit put these texts in my
heart to reflect upon here.
Just
the other day, I was overjoyed to experience a topic I was deprived of in my
former seminary of study, MOST ironically... which would be the Holy Spirit and
Spiritual regeneration, formation—coming into Union with Christ. The prof in my Sys Theo class said it has
been a lost subject hidden away in our “doctrinal comfort zone” from broaching,
truly looking deeply into what St. Paul had to teach us from his
conversion-built, knowledge and union with, in and through Christ.
The
text we looked at deeply in class was Philippians 2:5-11. This interestingly enough is already one of
my favorite scriptures as well as again, speaking of irony... one of the few
pleasant memories I had to take away from my former seminary of study. The pleasant memory there was that in 2010, I
took the scriptures by heart class which was treated more or less like the “fun”
little elective you could take if you wanted...
The scripture I chose to memorize and perform was Philippians
2:1-18. I exegeted, chewed and ingested
that scripture which left a living/ life-giving impression upon me and my
formation into ministry!
Now
studying it again coincidentally in both my Bible class and “4th” Systematic
Theology class..., ... I saw and experienced St. Paul as the first pastor to
head and shepherd the mission of planting churches, empowering his interns
(Timothy) and associate pastors (Epaphroditus and many others) with his
genuinely experienced union with Christ Jesus.
I could nearly see/experience how Christ shaped him spiritually! This IS what it is all about.
The
Truth is however, we WEREN’T there among the crowds stirring up the dust
throwing down our cloaks, throwing down our palm branches nearly screeching out
Hosanna! Or the lines I started this sermon out with that were from the Jesus
of Nazareth film snippet: “Master, Master! You are the Hope of Israel! You are our prophet and Savior!” We WEREN’T there! We WEREN’T there either when they crucified
our Lord... Many weren’t there either on
many a Good Friday to see how the confrontation and the reality of the Cross
break the irony between tears and Joy, life and death. For now, we have had to dive right off the
diving board into the Passion to be able to grasp out to our own flocks the
magnitude of the Cross upon the world!
Is it
a disservice? That’s not to be the focus here, JESUS is. In the midst of a hundred years or so of
Roman Tyranny, St. Paul pens the 1st creed: “11b... Jesus
is Lord to the glory of God the Father;” and he is right—every tongue should
confess who profess to believe deeply—spiritually, that Jesus Christ, Son of
David, Son of God is indeed their Lord.
It doesn’t however nor can it... fit all on a “Sunday-frame-of-faith”
around OUR lives... The first and most
real church is the one no one likes to talk about much—the Soul or the heart in
Biblical theology terms.
They
don’t like to talk about it even in seminaries for the reference volume I wrote
my paper around the other day about an existential reflection on discipleship,
from Paul Tillich’s series on Systematic Theology was not required at all in
the Systematic Theology classes I took at my former school of “pastoral
formation...” The truth is that we DON’T
perhaps want to be there when they crucified Our Lord yet alone experience it
deeply in that internal private and personal church—the soul.
Everyone
should however, listen deeply—spiritually to the living Word of God whether it
comes from Isaiah, Matthew or Paul’s lips and pen. Witness is a Pandora’s box of meaning for
even 2,000 something years later, the faithful still DO gather... and it DOES
go beyond the steeple-and-the-people “mind” set of the world. The power of the Gospel is seen tucked away
in the newspapers, Syrian Orthodox Christians fleeing their homes and Muslim
fundamentalists actively persecuting, plundering and putting to death a
multitude several thousands of miles away across an ocean... “Out of sight, Out
of Mind, and perhaps out of heart...”
We
WEREN’T there to hear the cries of Isaiah’s suffering servant: “6I
gave my back to those who struck me, and my cheeks to those who pulled out the
beard; I did not hide my face from insult and spitting. 7The Lord God
helps me; therefore I have not been disgraced; therefore I have set my face
like flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame; 8he who
vindicates me is near.”
St.
Paul’s plea in today’s text is one built by his very own personal relationship,
experience and spiritual formation with Christ.
How lucky it would be to HAVE BEEN there to hear this letter read. The first pastor yet in prison again, sending
a messenger with a Papyrus to perform and read aloud these wonderful Words of
formation: “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.”
This is only the second plea Paul
has made in the whole of chapter two of Philippians for he even began this
letter stretching our hearts in tension to hear, feel, believe tears of sorrow
and tears of Joy. “If
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.” These are St.
Paul’s pastoral Words teaching, empowering and building us up to the Gospel,
Christ’s example of profound humility and our existential reality—We WEREN’T
there but We CAN be there through the Spirit’s formation in our lives!
If
then there IS any encouragement in Christ—help us Lord to move beyond a Sunday
frame of mind, help us to move beyond and outside of ourselves...
If
then there IS any encouragement in Christ—help us to see the signs and
billboards of death and oppression: the ones “out of sight and out of mind,”
and the ones we allow Satan to put before us so we CAN be there to deeply,
spiritually KNOW our Crucified Lord and Savior—Jesus Christ.
If
then there IS any encouragement in Christ—we must be intentionally accountable
in our obedience to live Cross-Shaped lives for the sake of others... Emptying
ourselves but filling ourselves truthfully, realistically with Christ Jesus.
The
Palms upon the dust stirred path can just be dried out and return to dust... or
they can be woven together
Frond
upon frond as the soul—the heart is woven with Christ—eternal, ever-living,
ever-giving...
AMEN
Palm Sunday; Sunday of the
Passion; April 13th, 2014; Year A; SOLA Lectionary
Nicole Collins
Psalm 31:9-16 (RCL); Isaiah
50:4-9; Philippians 2:5-11; (WELS:) Zechariah 9:9; & Matthew 21:1-11
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