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The word prisoner is definitely something that we could say is vexing to hear. For the word implies bondage and servitude, something we naturally feel opposed to… or at least the ego does in context here. There are some powerful images in all of today’s texts spanning from a broken vessel, waterless pit to the irony of Jesus entry into Jerusalem to finally St. Paul’s beautiful song of hope and encouragement in rejoicing in Christ example to be lived into in our lives as children of Grace.
We are
imprisoned and allow ourselves to be imprisoned but not really for the Kingdom
of God but for the kingdom of the world. You know, the “unholy Trinity of I, Me
and Mine…” It’s that old saying diametrically opposed to one another: living
for ourselves or living for others? The
journey of the Christian is way beyond the steeple and the people mentality of
living into Christ’s impact of Grace upon our lives… For I am certainly no mercenary
nor am I a chaplain to the worldly culture and its preservation of a waterless,
graceless pit!
Can you
fathom that for just a moment? A dried,
empty, cracked earthen tunnel… where the sun is shining above barely casting
its light into that darkened and unstable place? What if that waterless pit in Zechariah’s
text was referring to the human soul?
Beginning with that conditional “if,” what if our soul—essence of who we
are in spirit was allowed to be consumed with itself over and above the Living restorative
waters of God? We would be dead.
It’s a
sad reality in the “life” of the church that “Passion” Sunday has become the “Bandaid”
solution to getting Christians to once again hear and contemplate what really “Good
Friday” is to teach us about Christ’s walk to the cross. But if we cram this intense moment to be
shared with the irony of Jesus entry into Jerusalem; how are we to grasp Grace
yet alone realize how truly we are in bondage to sin, death and the devil? It’s
just a moment in time not fully and soulfully embraced in that waterless pit,
broken vessel of our saint and sinner selves!
Building
up the body is a fabulous image spiritually when you think about the anatomy of
the Christ-follower also known as the disciple, the Christian. Our heart is the seat of the soul where life
began and where the New Nature is sewn. The
New Nature (in, with and through Christ), its growth and maturity are most
certainly reliant on the propitiation-sacrifice of the Cross of Christ… BUT
what’s the most important element here is the final result. This final result through our hands and feet
is Grace in action and in God’s hopefulness for us—our sacrifice!
If we
don’t allow Christ Jesus to truly and truthfully save us; what are we really
living for? The world is a place of empty promises when lived in for ourselves…
We are walking on our own through a wilderness of our own divisiveness—a veritable
prison, potential “hell” on earth! It
can feel that way often when we fill that waterless pit with the refuse of the
world! Trust me, there’s a lot of garbage that we pack the world tight with… Everything from servitude to the almighty
dollar to indulging, engaging in the graceless behavior and constructions that
Satan dumps into our lives paths. Part
of this is spiritual warfare; the other part as already mentioned is our own
doing.
As a
pastor though, commissioned to care for Christ’s flock, “hell fire and
brimstone” preaching and teaching doesn’t shape the disciple of Jesus at
all. It merely becomes a way to control
instead of magnifying the Grace of God and its purpose for our lives to infuse. On the opposite end of the spectrum within
the “not-really-progressive-grain-of-thought…” neither does preaching and
teaching that Jesus is a politically correct, eunuch, 1st century
prophet who didn’t resurrect, isn’t really completely divine and just gives to
us—“grace candy…” teach us anything at all about the TRUTH!
We can’t
handle the TRUTH! To echo Jack Nicholson’s infamous lines… this is human nature
and its frailties we can’t deny. We want
to use super glue on our broken aspects of ourselves instead of being
faithfully accepting and accountable for a much more beautiful purpose. Being beautiful spiritually is a frame of
mind and coming from Jesus’ perspective it is a beautiful attitude from a
restored soul. A deep humility that is
born from the death of the ego and its Old Natured prison bars!
Think
about Mother Theresa, she was an amazing little nun from India who’s witness’
impact of selfless service is still something to greatly inspire us. Inspire us beyond us is the Gospel, her hands
and feet lived most graciously and humbly for the Lord!
We’ve
not been hearing much “good” in the news lately. There is so much turmoil and
strife taking place all over the world.
From a German pilot that the media is currently debating to either be a
terrorist or a manic depressive… to political bumbling and rumbling across the
nations trying to merely “patch peace” with divisive intentions. This patch
work either avoids or becomes completely indifferent to the consequences and
dire ramifications their actions actually echo to the world.
Thinking
about that there, you have to wonder how many people who were cheering in Jesus
throwing their cloaks before His feet at the “triumphal” entry into their city
were also there a couple of days later, to cheer on His murder when things didn’t
go their way. Let’s face it, they were
oppressed and under a military dictatorship imposed by the Romans. They knew they were one kind of prisoner but
didn’t allow themselves truly and truthfully to hear about their spiritual
bondage and it’s true saving solution: JESUS. I, for one am glad that we didn’t
get a “Rambo” version of Jesus for we needed to be saved in a completely
different way.
Jesus “saved”
us from spiritual bondage but indeed left us with an imprint that our spiritual
formation, faith journey needed and continues to grapple with pursuing
intentionally, willingly and sacrificially.
We hear this most beautifully in St. Paul’s pastoral voice to his
Philippian flock of disciples: “5Let
the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus…” I am blessed to hear the
passion in his voice beginning this tiny snippet of one of his most profound witnesses
to Christ’s imprint upon his faith journey as a disciple and recipient of
GRACE.
One of the very few positive
memories I had at the start of my seminary studies was taking a scriptures by
heart class and memorizing, performing Philippians chapter 2 verses 1 through
18. Talk about taking the Living Word
into that impressionable, open space called the heart! You can “feel” his
hopefulness for the Philippians to not only most definitely realize that “Jesus
Christ is Lord to (indeed!) the Glory of God the Father,” but that through
Christ, his humble obedience we are indeed free. Free to be freely accountable, responsible
servants to His Gospel of GRACE!
Grace is an everyday reality
something to rejoice and most importantly respond to! Returning to that
stronghold of a place of empowered faith to fight those battles against the Gospel
that are either of a tangible or spiritual reality though leaves us much like
Peter in the Passion’s Gospel… We are in a quagmire of our own internal
battling of what should we do? After all the disciples for the most part were
ordinary working class people, many of them did abandon Jesus during His moment
of need. We still do this now to one
another but contrary to the Gospel, and hypocritically as Christians, we
justify ourselves and it’s world over and above that of God’s Will and precepts
of a Kingdom of Grace here and now for all to rejoice in!
If my pulpit doesn’t go places
beyond this Sunday or beyond your ear canal to your heart for motivation and
challenge… What are you planning to BE
and DO for not only Christ’s sake but for the other? We have to begin to fill that waterless pit,
that broken vessel with the Living Word, fount of GRACE and put on Christ Jesus
as the reason, purpose, goal of our lives, period! It is not to be the Gospel of the world of
Nicole or Phil or Sharon or anyone else here.
It is Christ Jesus Gospel that gives us life, restores our true purpose
and role in the story of creation. We
are sons and daughters of the Gospel, for the Gospel to LIVE FAITHFULLY, faith-filled
tearing down, destroying sin in our lives, dying to the world of the self and
busting out those prison bars of the Evil One’s bondage upon our will.
Peter’s three strikes denial in the
Passion’s Gospel is more like our everyday battle with denying God’s Grace and
precepts for our lives. We have to stop
living in denial about who we are and whose we are and freely be “prisoners of
a hope” that is life giving and rejoice in this Hope to bear the fruit,
restoration of all creation.
AMEN
Palm Sunday; March 29th,
2015; SOLA Lectionary;
Rev. Nicole A.M. Collins
Psalm 31:9–16; Zechariah 9:9-12;
Philippians 2:5-11; Mark 14:26 - 15:47
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