Sixth Sunday in Lent - liturgy of the Palms

John 12:12-16 (NRSV) The next day the great crowd that had come to the festival heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, shouting, "Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord --  the King of Israel!" Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it; as it is written: "Do not be afraid, daughter of Zion. Look, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey's colt!" His disciples did not understand these things at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written of him and had been done to him.

The Kingdom of God is at hand.

That is one of the themes in the Gospels and here we see that the crowds saw Jesus as a King. But what follows is the Apostle John commentating on the scene: His disciples did not understand these things at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written of him and had been done to him. 

?

John's comments seem to suggest that in retrospect, after the Resurrection, the episode of Jesus' entry meant something other than what they thought at the time it happened.

I think this may have something to do with the expectations of the crowds and perhaps even of the disciples at that time. The people were under the thumb of the Romans and they hoped for liberation from their oppressors. Jesus was becoming well known and attracting crowds. In this episode, they are shouting acclaim to him and they are waving palm branches and saying, Jesus is the king. Hosanna means "please save us." Probably, anticipating a defeat of the Romans, the people would be saved from the dominating power of the era. Again, another indication that expectations were high, incredibly high. Everything seemed ripe for revolution!

Yet, in a handful of days after this frenzied scene, Jesus is arrested, beaten and carrying a cross to die on it ...

As John writes this passage decades after the events, he editorialized that they didn't truly understand this moment at that moment.

I would think the re-framing of this event works on the following levels: the meaning of "hosanna," the significance of the donkey, and the surprising role of Jesus the king.

Meaning of hosanna is, as mentioned above, please save us. The people at that time may have only had in mind "salvation" of the physical variety: deliverance from Roman, getting food (Jesus miracle of feeding the multitudes), and physical healing. However, Jesus had more in mind. In the John 3 story of his conversation with Nicodemus, Jesus talks about being "born again" and John explains in John 3:16, the necessity of belief/trust in Jesus and what he did as necessary for eternal life. Instead of perishing, a life without God, there is the possibility of salvation, eternal life, eternal living, a life with God.

One wonders if anyone in the crowd thought the donkey was out of place? If the crowd expected a conquering king, wouldn't he ride in on a horse? But it would seem that that detail was overlooked by the crowds. Ironically, the Jewish people know the symbolism of a donkey was that of peace and not war. But at that moment, caught up in the exuberance, that was ignored. Thus, John editorialized the significance of the event as it is written: "Do not be afraid, daughter of Zion. Look, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey's colt!" which is a reference to Zech 9:9-10.

And finally, King Jesus does something no ordinary earthly king would do: instead of glorious victory in battle he willingly went forward to suffer and die a humiliating death.

This is what Lent calls us to remember. Imagine a King willing to die, humbly riding in on a donkey the symbol of peace in order to bring salvation to the people whose greatest need was to be moved from alienation from God to peace with God.

That is the meaning of the Passion of the Christ: demonstrated on the Cross on Good Friday and vindicated with victory with Resurrection on Easter Sunday!

Fifth Sunday In Lent

John 12:20-33 (NRSV) 

Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, "Sir, we wish to see Jesus." Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. Jesus answered them, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor. "Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say--' Father, save me from this hour'? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name." Then a voice came from heaven, "I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again." The crowd standing there heard it and said that it was thunder. Others said, "An angel has spoken to him." Jesus answered, "This voice has come for your sake, not for mine. Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself." He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die.

Interesting Gospel passage here. Not one I have heard a lot of preaching on!

From what I have learned over the years, the Jewish faith was at times adopted by non-Jews. And so it would appear that some of the Greeks mentioned here were probably in Jerusalem because they were converts. They heard about Jesus and wanted to meet him. Philip is a Greek name and so they figured he would a disciple they could approach to facilitate an introduction. Philip goes to Andrew (another Greek name), the brother of Simon Peter, who actually first brought Simon Peter to Jesus back in John 1. And together, Andrew and Philip made the connection between these curious Greeks and Jesus. So point number one is to ask ourselves how ready are we to introduce people to Jesus? Do people see us as people whom they could ask to meet Jesus!

Part II would be what Jesus told them. And thus, by extension, what do we tell people about Jesus?

The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. 

There is no getting around the centrality of the Cross. Jesus calls the painful and shameful Cross as the time for the Son of Man to be glorified! It is only in his dying that life for us can be brought forth.

Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor. 

Then Jesus moves onto the cost of discipleship. Okay, if you want the eternal living being offered by Jesus, then one must surrender control. Autonomy, self-righteousness, building my own empire, and doing it my way has to end. One must take up a life of service to God and others and this the Father will honor.

"Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say--' Father, save me from this hour'? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name."

Interesting piece here from Jesus. Why does Jesus give us this window into his soul? Perhaps, it is a demonstration of what self-sacrifice looks like. The way of the Cross is not an easy one but that is not the deciding factor for Jesus obedience. The glory of the Father is his concern.

The Father confirmed what Jesus is saying: Then a voice came from heaven, "I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again." 

And Jesus finished by restating what he said: "This voice has come for your sake, not for mine. Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself." He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die.

Jesus offered a lot of good ethnical teaching and Christians and non-Christians alike think well of that part. But if we are to take the Gospel's seriously, we also need to deal with the significance of his willingness to go to the Cross. The Gospel message is more than just ethical teaching. It is also a claim that Jesus dying on a Cross and Resurrecting actually and significantly changed the human condition!

And so as we work through Lent toward Easter, we need to look at Jesus teachings and the significance of the Cross!

Fourth Sunday In Lent

John 3:14-21 (NRSV) And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed. But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God.

In an iTunes U talk I heard recently, Fred Sanders of Talbot Seminary encouraged his students to reflect on their salvation and to find words beyond "born again" to describe and explore the richness of what God has done in our lives.

And so one thing we can benefit from this passage is that it provides some of that vocabulary. This is the Gospel, the Good News, because of the work of Jesus, we are moved from perishing to having eternal life, we are moved from condemnation to being saved, we are moved from darkness into light!

I think another thing we can see from this passage is that the work of Christ stands in line with the work that God has done in the past. People sometimes think that the New Testament is completely disconnected from the Old Testament. But here it says, just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up ...

You might wonder, what is this all about? Well, it refers back to an episode in Numbers 21:4-9. Briefly, as punishment to the rebellious people, God sent snakes and if bitten, they would die. Moses is told by God to put a bronze serpent on a pole and raise it up for people to see. If someone was willing to look up, they would be healed.

Interesting how the image of something that caused pain and death (the serpent) became the object of life if they would look up! Likewise, the cross that Jesus was going toward is something that caused pain and death and in this case, if we look up to Jesus and the Cross we get eternal life!

A final thought for this reflection is the language of eternal life. I heard Dallas Willard in a talk say that he likes to describe this as "eternal living" because so often people think of "eternal life" as something far away in the future. But no, this gift is to be experienced now! We don't experience it in full yet but it isn't exclusively in the future.

We get to taste it now! We know God now.

Our sin problem is not swept under a rug but rather it is forgiven and we no longer stand condemned. We still sin but we can confess (see 1 John 1:8-10) and so God provides for our stumbles as we go through the slow process of being transformed to be more like him.

We move out of the ignorance of darkness and the evil deeds of darkness and instead we have the truth of light in God and we have deeds of light that we can do in God.

Believe, trust in Christ, and have eternal life, eternal living NOW!

Third Sunday in Lent

John 2:13-22 (NRSV) The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. He told those who were selling the doves, "Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father's house a marketplace!" His disciples remembered that it was written, "Zeal for your house will consume me." The Jews then said to him, "What sign can you show us for doing this?" Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." The Jews then said, "This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?" But he was speaking of the temple of his body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.

One picture people have of Jesus is that his is a good teacher. Lots of people would agree to that. As Christians, we say he is much more than that. But even for people who aren't believers, it would be pretty rare for people to say he is less than a good teacher. Of course, the downside of this description of Jesus it that it makes him merely a wise and sage talking head and a nice guy with some nice things to say.

But in this passage, we see that he is far more!

Here we see the righteous anger of Jesus in his driving out the money changers physically and castigating them verbally.

I think one lesson we can learn from this is that there is a place for righteous anger. In the Gospel accounts Jesus is usually welcoming the unexpected person or giving the unanticipated teaching. But on a few occasions, his teaching is very pointed and as we read what he said we squirm probably as much as the listeners did who heard him. One example is when Jesus declare the "woes" upon the Pharisees and teachers of the law. We only have the text of that episode and we have no idea whether Jesus raised his voice when he said those words or did he say them in sorrow.

But here, make no mistake, we see the fury of his holiness as the temple is desecrated by the money changers.

This passage is also patently theological. The site of this event is the Temple and the whole conversation after the tossing over of the money changer tables is about the Temple.

I'm not a theologian nor do I play one in the movies but anyone reading Scripture has to "do theology" in the sense we have to think about what does this mean about who God is and what is He doing?

First off, the Temple was a place where God and humans meet. It is a special place and thus, the blatant disregard for this high purpose is why Jesus drove the money changers out.

But in the second part, Jesus then takes on the topic of the Temple and brings to it a new perspective by saying, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." 

The listeners were dumbfounded because they were thinking of the massive physical structure of the Temple that was before their eyes. But Jesus had another meaning which John clarifies, But he was speaking of the temple of his body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.

Jesus is the Temple!? Now, in Jesus, the idea of Temple is extended to mean a person where God and humanity meet. We get a glimpse of this idea from John 1:14, "And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth."

Additionally, classic Christianity claims that the work of Jesus permits fallen and sinful humanity to have reconciliation with a holy God. Thus, in Jesus, he is the Temple but also in the work of Jesus he makes a space for reconciliation, a temple, between God and man

Thirdly, this idea of temple no longer being a place is extended further in the description of the church in Ephesians 2:20-22 where it is the collective persons of the Church with Jesus as the cornerstone is a temple, "built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. In him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God."

Fourthly, by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, each believer is a temple as seen in I Corinithians 6:19-20, "Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body."

In the time of Lent, we are reflecting on and journeying with Jesus toward the Cross and the Resurrection. One stopping point on this journey for Jesus was this episode at the Temple, the meeting place of reconciliation between God and humanity. Jesus takes this on himself in himself and  in his mission. When did all of this sink in for his followers, his disciples?

After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.

I think this is where Christianity is unique. It is one thing to make theological claims. All religions do that. One can drop a theological textbook from the sky and have it say all kinds of interesting things. But Christianity rests on a historical event, an intervention from God into human history. And that's amazing! The problems of human beings are real and God decided to intervene into that reality through Jesus and that changed everything.

Second Sunday in Lent

Mark 8:31-38 (NRSV) Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, "Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things." He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels."

Having spent most of much of my life in baptist churches, there was no observation of the season of Lent. Of course, there were special services to help us reflect on Good Friday and celebrate on Easter Sunday. However, an entire season of weeks and Sundays of preparation for the Passion was not part of my experience until the last handful of years.

I have come to appreciate the slow build-up toward the final week of Jesus earthly ministry. And today's reading was a turning point in the Gospel of Mark when the disciples were for the first time brought in on what would be ahead for Jesus. Thus, part I was the briefing for the disciples and part II was Jesus message for the crowds.

For the disciples ...

Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.

One wonders what the scene was like when these words rang out? Did the room fall into complete silence and one could hear the proverbial pin drop? Or was the room buzzing with conversation as to what is Jesus talking about?

But clearly wasn't what they expected!

And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.

Good old Peter! Did the other disciples tell him, hey, you better go talk to Jesus! Or perhaps, Peter acted alone impulsively acting on his own but knowing the rest of the group felt the same way? In Peter's mind and in the disciples' minds, they figured, we are going to win! Jesus is gathering up all these supporters and we are going to throw off the religious and political oppressors! What is all this negative talk, Jesus?

But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, "Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things." 

Peter may have privately talked to Jesus but Jesus' response was for the whole group. If you have been reading along, Satan appeared in the text for the First Sunday of Lent. Satan is the adversary, the opponent, and wants to oppose God's plans. Jesus strongly called out Peter for being a tool of Satan by trying to derail the mission of Christ that included suffering, rejection, and being killed. Of course,  if you look closely at the text, there was a fourth part to Jesus' statement: after three days rise again. One could suppose that Peter and the disciples just heard the three bad things and didn't hear the "rest of the story!"

For the crowds ...

He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, "If any want to become my followers ...

The various miracles and the teachings of Jesus had drawn a crowd but how much commitment was there? Jesus lays down the cost of discipleship for the crowds to weigh. And, it would probably be fair to say, he needed to the disciples to think it through too!

deny themselves ...
take up their cross ...
follow me ...
save their life will lose it ...
lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it ...
gain the whole world and forfeit their life ...

The "status quo" of our lives is to seek our own benefit, avoid suffering, follow the beat of our own drummer (if we have a "western" mindset) or the path marked by our kin group (if we have a more "old world" mindset), self preservation, and acquire stuff.

Is the call to discipleship worth it?

What would Jesus do? Or rather, what did Jesus do?

Jesus denied himself, went to the Cross, followed the Father's will, and in so doing, he lost his life for our sake to give us life and after three days rose again!

This is the Gospel, this is the good news: Jesus has changed the "status quo." His work is freely given, complete and costly. Now the question for us: will we follow?

And by what I mean by follow is not a follow in order to be saved as that would be self-righteousness. And besides, we could never follow good enough anyway. But a following that is humble and trusting that grows out our gratitude and love because of his love for us.

Lent is a time for us to reflect on the work of Christ. It is also a time for us to think about and commit or re-commit ourselves to following him.

First Sunday in Lent

Mark 1:9-15 (NRSV) In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven, "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased." And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him. Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news."

The story of Jesus baptism and temptation works apparently at several levels. Over the years, I've heard many ideas advanced as to why Jesus was baptized. The most recent I have read that Jesus fulfilling the role of the true Israel in that repentance precedes restoration. This role of faithful and true Israel continues in his encounters in the wilderness.

This element of the narrative may well be in the mind of Mark as he wrote and his early readers that were more steeped in the history and experience of the Jewish people. But what about the Gentile reader say in AD 123 who might have been quite far removed from the Jewish story? And what about me in 21st Century Southern California (and you where ever you are on the internet) perhaps reading Mark for the first time? The layer of the march of the history of Jewish faith would be not be obvious?

What comes before

Mark's account of the baptism is set-up by the preceding portion in vv. 4-8.

The ideas that jump at me are that John the Baptist proclaimed a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sin and the people responded to this by being baptized and confessing their sins. The people in this setting are indeed being obedient to God's message through his messenger! This message isn't a new one as many times in the Old Testament, the prophets would proclaim that the people have sinned and need to confess and turn back to God.

The puzzler for us is why Jesus got baptized. Jesus has no sin to confess. His mind is set on the Father already and has no need to "change his mind" (repent) and turn back to God. So why does Jesus do this anyway?

Some, as I have mentioned, have suggested that he was taking on the role of the faithful and true Israel. All well and fine and good. But one might say, he is taking on the role of the faith and true human being also. He is fulfilling what Israel failed to do. He is showing me what I have failed to do but also opening the door to follow him to do what I should do.

For Jesus, the baptism is an outward demonstration of the inward reality: my relationship with God is important, in order to help others, I will demonstrate the importances of repentance and confession of sin by partaking in the baptism.

Thus, for disciples of that time, the baptism is an outward statement of the inward reality: my mind has been changed and instead of rebelling against God, I am now dependent on God to forgive my sins so I can be restored to relationship with him.

The common ground is the relationship with God: Jesus has it and is showing the way so we could have it to.

What comes after

The matter of relationship rises up from the portion of the Scripture immediately after the baptism: "just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven, 'You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.'"

I recall Pastor Darrell Johnson saying (I'm paraphrasing as I don't have specific transcripts of sermons on hand), in the heart of God is a relationship. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit are in relationship with each other. Humans, due to sin are in broken relationship with each other and God. Jesus, God the Son, steps into history to help restore relationships.

Professor Fred Sanders described it as: the happy land of the Trinity. And the work of salvation is to bring us into this relationship.

And so, immediately after the baptism, we see this happy relationship:

You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased ...
the Spirit descending like a dove on him ...

By extension, if we repent and confess our sin and turn toward God, we experience a restored relationship with God. John 1:12 says, "Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God."

What comes next

After Jesus is baptized, we get a glimpse of the loving relationship between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And after that, we are brought face-to-face that Jesus has a mission and it starts with a dramatic test: And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him.

Matthew 4:1-11 and Luke 4:1-13 describe the temptation in greater detail. But even from the comparatively terse account in Mark, we have some idea of the scale of this trail.

40 days ...
The number "40" does show up a lot in the Bible and it maybe literal here and in those other occasions. One would prefer to avoid any suspicious numerology about the figure 40. Suffice to say, literal or not, the key point is clear: it was a long time. This was no brief challenge. This was no trivial ordeal.

tempted by Satan ...
This name comes straight from the Greek, "adversary (one who opposes another in purpose or act), the name given to the prince of evil spirits, the inveterate adversary of God and Christ." Thus, not only was the wilderness experience a lengthy one but also against a powerful spiritual enemy.

with the wild beasts ...
Satan was the danger from a spiritual realm, wild beasts were the danger from the physical realm. What might there have been out in the wilderness during those 40 days? Perhaps, lions, bears, wild ox, crocodiles, and hippopotamus or leopards, wolves, caracal, and snakes.

Jesus faced this under the direction of the Spirit. First, the length gets at the character trait of endurance. Second, the explicit opposition of Satan gets at the sturdy steadfastness of Jesus. The Matthew and Luke accounts focus on the crafty challenges from Satan in detail. Third, the unknown variety of wild beasts that probably come out at night (no LED flashlights then!) reveals courage in the face of unseeable dangers. This experience shows the quality of this man Jesus!

the angels waited on him ...
This episode has implications for how we view difficult situations. We might prefer an easy life but we see here the Spirit drove Jesus into the wilderness for this test. And Jesus passed the test. He knew the Spirit was with him. He knew that he was beloved of the Father. He knew he was provided for as the "angels waited on him." Jesus knew that his journey to the Cross took a major step forward at this moment. He made it through this bout with spiritual and physical trails. There would be more physical and spiritual pain the rest of the way. And, of course, at the Cross, there would be even more.

Issac Watts in one of his hymns put it this way:

Was it for crimes that I had done
He groaned upon the tree?
Amazing pity! Grace unknown!
And love beyond degree!

The pain and suffering of the servant Jesus. Lent begins here at the temptation and God provided for Jesus. Lent concludes with the hot boil of the Cross and God vindicated Jesus at the Resurrection!