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I will begin this morning with an embodiment from St. Paul’s Letter to the Philippians:
“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.”
Back in
the early days of my seminary journey I was in a wonderful class called
“Scripture by Heart.” This class basically taught you to literally “take in,” perform
the scripture by hearing it, living it through your heart, voice, hands and
feet. I originally had the verses from
this passages to be Philippians chapter 2, verses 1-18. A few weeks back, I
don’t know if anyone was able to see the video of the performance I did at my
colleague’s church, I relived this amazing passage and I can declare truly that
it does bring New Life each and every time I do it!
This
brings us to the epitome of the Lenten season’s focus. This focus is literally and spiritually,
about Life and Death. I wish I would have
been able to preach upon last Sunday’s texts… but there with the story of
Lazarus’ resurrection at the hand of Jesus, we have the first irony. Irony is a huge theme for both last Sunday’s
lectionary focus as well as the traditional Palm Sunday focus of this week’s
lectionary. Here was the Lord of Life
giving/ restoring the life of His friend, Lazarus from death, where meanwhile
the Sanhedrin, “Holy Men” of Israel determined that this event was the last
straw and they would begin their plan to kill Jesus!
With
this Sunday’s Gospel, the second irony here, which is an important one, we see
Jesus entering upon the road to the cross, the road to Jerusalem. Hosanna itself, ironically means: “Save
now!” These same people, mind you, to
the Pharisees’ delight, as we would come to find out in the unfolding story of
the Passion, would be soon shouting to Pontius Pilate and the Romans, to
crucify Him! His entry into Jerusalem to
the pleas of the people to be “saved,” … they rejected New Life in favor of
death. This leads me to teach you why it
is so important to understand and separate Palm Sunday and Good Friday. I cannot in good theological and prayerful
conscience, support the lectionary’s “Band-aid” of Passion Sunday. As I began this sermon with a beautiful
snippet from that early Christian hymn penned by St. Paul, we hear, feel,
experience the epitome of the Christian life itself: Christ truly LIVED deeply
in our very being!
Having
Christ at the center of our hearts, that first church, also points to another
significant teaching aspect of the Christian life. This aspect is for the disciple of Jesus,
living a “cross-shaped” life. Here’s the
unpopular part of the Christian journey being that we must be ready like the
Prophet Isaiah claims in his suffering servant dialogue, to be ready,
accountable, weather the suffering we will experience in one form or another, when
we preach and teach the TRUTH (!) of the living, transformative Word of God! Good Friday’s reality shouldn’t seem like
spiritual “root-canal” but a necessary spiritual reminder of God’s Grace,
sacrifice and profound love for each and every single one of us!
Spiritually
grappling with the reality of the crucifixion and truthfully realizing that Our
Lord Jesus is a crucified Lord… It is as
been said by many, the radical, seemingly foolishness of the cross. It doesn’t make sense to “our” logic. Why would God allow Himself to suffer? Why?
Instead of asking, feel the reality of God’s Grace once more in this
verse from Philippians: “…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.” There is the ultimate
understanding of selflessness. We empty
away the ego and truly live into Love!
What a beautiful thought!? Can we
do it? Well, we’ve been trying for the
last 2,000 something years… “Welcome to being human.” It’s not a crime, remember—we are children of
grace and promise after all—and still and always to be humbling learning!
Living
a cross-shaped life is one that has both aspects of faith in focus and
practice. This would be the horizontal
relationship of your love and commitment to God and the vertical is living
truly into the do’s of the Gospel through your hearts, voices, hands and
feet! I love this simple reminder of
keeping those spiritual “training wheels” of the disciple in place. I learned that from the pastor I was blessed
to intern with and serve with in the church plants I was involved with before I
was blessed with coming to serve you!
Let’s
see this concept performed for your memory and practice once again. The vertical relationship, make the sign of
the cross, and the horizontal relationship. See how by touching in motion from
one shoulder to the next, you ARE including your whole self? The whole
Christian is one that disciplines the heart, voice, hands and feet to embody
Christ and His teachings, His Grace and profound love. What does this equal? I’ll tell you what it
equals, it equals the Kingdom of God! It
is, as my Evangelical friends would say, living into Kingdom thinking.
What if
all over the world, people did truly hear, live and incorporate what St. Paul
was imparting to the Philippians? What
would the world truly look like today? I
was talking with a colleague of mine the other day about the notion of service
and compassion. We both began to
conclude that perhaps there is a disturbing trend developing that is dissolving
the willingness and compassion to serve.
This has been building for quite some time. It is structured and justified by greed and
indifference, the substructure to all sin.
I never
will forget hearing the very tragic story of a man left to die outside of the
hospital’s emergency room doors since the hospital personnel didn’t want to
take legal liability! A man fell over,
right outside the former Chicago Ravenswood Hospital on a cold April
evening. No one from the hospital, in
fear over money and legalities, came to this poor man’s aid. It of course made the headlines 20 years ago
and was debated by reporters, lawyers and the like, but the very fact remained,
they watched, allowed and justified this innocent man’s death! How awful, how ridiculous… but it happened,
nonetheless.
Let’s
go back into the Gospel here, these people we crying out with joy and pleading
lips—“Save Now!” Hosanna! Are we spiritually avoiding this thought when we
avoid Good Friday and its story of the Passion? I think we are. There is that fine, biting edge of the sword
of the Christian journey: In order to truly understand and live into God’s
Grace we must be willing to compassionately and selflessly come to terms with
the crucifixion (Death) and the Resurrection (Life). This is the radical and profound truth of the
Gospel! This is the Good News, we are claimed and called to carry as disciples
of Jesus! Grace is the reality of Christ incorporated in the heart—the whole
story, no short cuts, and lived!
A few
years back, it didn’t make too many headlines as it was too disturbing to see
and may have stirred the political waters too much… but there were the very
first pictures of Christian persecutions undertaken by ISIS. Unlike how crucifixions were executed in the
ancient days of early Christianity, the tortured victims were already dead and
roped up to the cross in a mocking fashion.
What perhaps people may have not realized, spiritually, in seeing some
of these disturbing pictures is the irony that the ISIS executioners were
further mocking the whole message of death and life that is at the heart of the
story of Christianity!
The
epitome of this sermon is not to be a “guilt trip” of our fallen humanity but
should be seen as an encouragement and eye-opener to what makes Grace ever-more
amazing and why we call and consider ourselves Christians. Keep these questions percolating in your
heart as we journey towards the triumph of Easter: Am I doing the do’s of the
Gospel? Am I disciplining my heart to
lead a cross-shaped life? Where am I on this discipleship road?
Instead
of a prayer, I want to leave you with a beautiful statement by a martyred
Zimbabwe pastor:
The
Disciple’s Creed
“I'm a part of the fellowship of the
unashamed. The die has been cast. I have stepped over the line. The decision
has been made. I'm a disciple of His and I won't look back, let up, slow down,
back away, or be still. My past is redeemed. My present makes sense. My future
is secure. I'm done and finished with low living, sight walking, small
planning, smooth knees, colorless dreams, tamed visions, mundane talking, cheap
living, and dwarfed goals. I live by faith, lean on His presence, walk by
patience, lift by prayer, and labor by Holy Spirit power. My face is set. My
gait is fast. My goal is heaven. My road may be narrow, my way rough, my
companions few, but my guide is reliable and my mission is clear. I will not be
bought, compromised, detoured, lured away, turned back, deluded or delayed. I
will not flinch in the face of sacrifice or hesitate in the presence of the
adversary. I will not negotiate at the table of the enemy. I won't give up,
shut up, or let up until I have stayed up, stored up, prayed up, paid up, and
preached up for the cause of Christ. I am a disciple of Jesus. I must give
until I drop, preach until all know, and work until He comes. And when He does
come for His own, He'll have no problems recognizing me. My colors will be
clear!”
AMEN
Palm Sunday April 9th, 2017; Palm
Sunday; SOLA Lectionary
Sermon By: Reverend Nicole A.M.
Collins
Psalm 31:9-16; Isaiah 50:4-9a;
Philippians 2:5-11; John 12:12-19
The link below is to this sermon's delivery at First Congregational Church of Las Vegas at their 9am service. Come next week to hear Pastor Collins at: 3415 S. Mojave Rd., Las Vegas, NV 89121
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