Still here in Tuguegarao City.
Woke up early this morning. Found the tomb empty.
Went to Church and heard the good news. Christ is risen.
Christ is risen, indeed!
Happy Easter.
Going on a new journey starting today.
Saturday, March 30, 2013
Palm/Passsion Sunday
Luke 19:28-40
Luke 23:1-49
This sermon was preached last Palm Sunday in the English Service of Kamuning First UMC.
I also preached a similar sermon for the Vesper Service that same day.
Today is Palm
and Passion Sunday where we celebrate the journey of Jesus from his triumphant
entry to Jerusalem leading to his betrayal, torture and death in Calvary, and
so I would like us to start journeying with Jesus by looking back into his
triumphant entry. The gospel of Luke tells of Jesus triumphant entry into
Jerusalem as the king. It was a big parade and there were lots of people there.
People praise him because of the goodness he has done. Jesus was leading his
crowd of disciples as they literally go up to Jerusalem.
We see Jesus
choosing to ride a donkey, a donkey whom no one had ridden before, just like
the king Solomon rode a donkey in a peaceful and humble manner as next to the
throne of David. In Zechariah 9:9, we read; “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of
Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you;
righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a
colt, the foal of a donkey.” As Jesus riding on a donkey enters Jerusalem for
all the public to see and all the crowd gathered around, we can see a picture
of Jesus announcing himself as the messiah – the King of Israel.
We see people excited
and happy to see their king arrive. People are waving palms and some people
removing their cloaks to spread in the streets as an act of honor and respect
to the entering King. Do you feel like we want to take part in that
celebrations and welcome the king too? Do you also want to remove your cloaks
and wave palms and spread it in the road for the entering king?
I always
picture this triumphant entry of Jesus like one great parade that I am watching.
Do you remember attending a parade and seeing some celebrities or personalities.
I remember attending the Penagbenga Festival and waking up early to get a spot
for the parade. We wanted to have a good spot so we can have a good look with
all the celebrities and personalities. When the parade started, people were
lining up to have a picture taken with the lead group who were riding a
wrangler jeep. The crowd were excited to have their pictures taken but I just
stared there because I did not know who these people were. Apparently it was
the mayor and his council but I do not know them so I did not join in the
frenzy that excited the crowd. Then the flower floats came with the celebrities
and personalities and the crowd got excited again as they ran to have their
pictures taken and ask for autographs. Again, I just stood there in the land
because I did not recognize the celebrities… because they belong to GMA 7, eh
kapamilya po ako eh… so hindi ko sila kilala. So I just ended up appreciating
the flowers to enjoy the parade.
You see, my
dear brothers and sisters, to be able to participate fully and enjoy such
parade, you must be able to have an appreciation of the people involved in the
parade. And so when Jesus enters Jerusalem and welcomed by a multitude of
crowd, you know that these people recognize who Jesus is and the great things
that he had done and can do. Now, that is the next question – who is Jesus to
the crowd watching in the parade. To the disciples of Jesus who were there,
they wanted to praise God for the good deeds he has done. They were welcoming a
king who comes in the name of the Lord. But I was wondering, weren’t there some
people who do not know who Jesus is. Like me when I attended the parade, who do
not recognize Jesus?
There are
people who just happened to be in the crowd but do not really know what was
happening, just like many of most of the time. We find ourselves in the middle
of a celebration or a parade and we don’t know who is in there. We do not
recognize Jesus as king but just an ordinary guy like any of us. We do not see
the greatness and the majesty of that person and so we cannot really appreciate
his worth. And so like in that great parade, it is difficult for us to fully
participate in the celebrations because we do not recognize the great person
that is making an entrance. We cannot appreciate the significance of that
person and the great things that he has done. So we do not care to have our
pictures taken with him, we do not busy ourselves to get some souvenirs or
autographs from him. We do not care – Keber, malay ko kung sino yan, pakialam
ko.
And because we
do not know him and recognize him, how can we even care when later he gets
mocked, and humiliated, and tortured, flogged and punished. Further in the
account of Luke, Jesus is blindfolded, they mocked him and beat him and
insulted him, despite his innocence. Does it matter to you? How can we care for
a person that does not matter to us? We may have pity for his pain and
suffering because of how he looks but what would it be like if the person was
somebody dear to us.
In the
hospital, I always see patient who suffer and in pain as they get diagnosed
with life threatening diseases – a mother gets diagnosed with breast cancer, a
father suffers a heart attack, a little girl having leukemia or a little boy
with congenital heart disease – I pity these person whenever I see them and
that is the best I can do. But it becomes different when that sick person is
somebody I personally know and have a relationship with – the pity for the
woman with cancer turns into a personal concern, I now want to offer help to
the best of my ability to the man who suffered heart attack, I want to donate
my blood, share any of my resources for the girl with leukemia or simply give
my time playing and taking care with the boy with a congenital heart disease.
It all becomes
different if the person who suffers is somebody you recognize and care for –
somebody like a king whom you worship and adore – a king who has done a great
deal for your benefit, a king who will sacrifice himself even in death for your
own goodness. But if you do not know the person, if you do not have a good
relationship with that person, he will not matter and you will not care. You
will not care if you do not know who Jesus is. It will not matter if Jesus
enters Jerusalem, or if he gets tortured, humiliated and even killed because
you do not know who this Jesus guy is.
But then, there
were another group of people in the crowd during the triumphant entry of Jesus
– and these were the Pharisees and other religious leaders. The Pharisees
recognize Jesus and yes they acknowledge his claim to be king as legitimate. What
these Pharisees and religious leaders see is a Jesus who is a threat to them, a
king who might overthrow the powers at that time. These same religious people
are the ones who plotted against Jesus that led to his betrayal, torture,
mockery, suffering and death. Now, we find ourselves in the court of Pilate.
Jesus is arrested
and the same crowd that welcomed him in Jerusalem shout crucify him, crucify
him. Jesus was a different kind of king in the eyes of the Pharisees, scribes
and his enemies – he was a threat to the status quo – a threat to those who are
in power at that time and therefore they needed to get rid of him. And the
crowd, he was not the kind of king they expected. And Jesus is still such a
threat to most people even today – a threat to those in power – a threat to
those declaring themselves as king. But Jesus entered Jerusalem and declared
himself to be the king who will take over everything including their lives.
That
proclamation of Jesus as king is reason for todays people to kill him, to
crucify Jesus. Jesus announces that he is king – and you feel threatened. No
Jesus, you will not be king. I and myself is king – my desires, my priorities
in life- my career, my business, my education, my lovelife - these are the kings
of my life and I want it that way. The human empire that we have built for
ourselves stands in judgement against the kingdom of God that Jesus proclaims. The
human empire includes the church – as we have made into an organization of good
people who in the outward do good things especially on Sundays. You are good, I
am good and so let us form a committee for our ministries. How many committees
are you a member of from the local, to the district, to the conference level? But
how many of these committees respond to those in need? If there are, how many
have actively participated in these ministries? And how many actually did this
because of love of Christ our king? What
makes us different from the Pharisees, scribes and religious people that Jesus
rebuked?
Do not shake
the boat, do not change the status quo, Jesus do not assert your kingship or
else we will crucify you. But to establish the kingdom of God here on earth,
Jesus needs to proclaim his kingship as he enters the Jerusalem of each person’s
heart. And because our priorities are all mixed up and something else sits as king
in our heart, we do not want Jesus to be king and so we shout, “Crucify him,
crucify him.”
Yes, we are
shouting crucify him, crucify him with much gusto and passion when we also
declared Hossana in the highest, blessed be the king of Israel. We have
betrayed Jesus, just like the disciples. Just like Peter. Everyday, we betray
Jesus with our misdeeds, but unlike Peter we did not only betray him once, not
twice, not even thrice… but everytime.
Yes we are part
of the crowd, we are there when we shout blessed be the king and we are there
when we cry crucify him. And with the sins in our hearts, we crucify Jesus.
Sometimes we
think that the triumphant entry of Jesus is just another story in the passion
narrative in the Bible. That the life, suffering, torture, passion and death of
Jesus is a true to life movie worth remembering once a year. What we fail to
recognize is that, everyday of our lives, every actions that we take, every
word that we say and even every thought that comes to our mind is part of the
reason Jesus courageously entered Jerusalem despite the knowledge that it will
be the culmination of his suffering and death within a week time. We often
forget that the things we celebrate holy week for is not, it is NOT just a
memorial or a celebration of things that happened more than two thousand years
ago. The significance of Christ life, sacrifice and death is felt even today,
and should be felt everyday of our lives.
In the early
church, the celebration of palm and passion Sunday is the culmination of the
long years of preparation for the new converts to Christianity. The
Palm/Passion Sunday is the day wherein the
new converts will begin intense preparation as they will be baptized and
receive communion on Easter. The Palm/passion Sunday is a time to reflect upon
the question, “do you confess Jesus Christ as your Saviour and King?” For us
Christians, it is a time to reflect upon our baptismal vows. It is the
recognition that the one who claims to be King will willingly die in our place
to give us eternal life and that we will be steadfast in our claim that He is
our King.
My dear brothers and sisters, the
parade has started and a certain Jesus is leading the way as he enters
Jerusalem, as he enters your heart. Do you know him?
The good news my dear brothers and
sisters, even before you call him your Saviour and King, even before you
acknowledge him, Jesus already included you
in his plan of salvation when he entered Jerusalem .
Are you going
to join in the celebrations? Will you be able to recognize Jesus in the crowd? Are
you going to shout, “Hosanna in the highest, blessed is he who comes in the
name of the Lord?” Will you declare him to be your saviour and your king? Or
will you be frustrated in your expectations and cry out, crucify him. Crucify
him?
Who is Jesus to you?
In the name of the Father, and of
the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)