Prayer
You Servant, Lord our God, speak the word that all the weary long to hear. Your Son humbles himself to carry the cross that your people long to embrace. As we enter this holy week, let the same mind be in us that was in Christ Jesus. Empty us of ourselves, and draw us close to his cross, that, comforted by his word of forgiveness and gladdened by his promise of Paradise, into your hands we may commend our spirits. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God for ever and ever. Amen.
From Prayers for Sunday and Seasons, Year C, Peter J. Scagnelli, LTP, 1992.
"...what the authors of the Bible take for granted and fail to mention is that while Jesus is parading in on a colt through one of the back gates, on the other side of the city Pilate is parading in on a war horse accompanied by a squadron or two of battle hardened Roman soldiers."
Holy Textures, Understanding the Bible in its own time and in ours, Luke 13:1-9, David Ewart, 2013.
"When Jesus entered Jerusalem, he did so as a king, but his royalty was not pomp and power but humble obedience. Thus, he entered the city to make peace with the offering of his own life."
"Season's Greetings," Thomas G. Long, The Christian Century, 2001. Religion Online.
We are given for our lesson in year C the passage from Luke 19, beginning at the 28th verse. This passage is reaching towards the culmination of Jesus’ ministry and is often referred to as the prophet’s entry into Jerusalem. Here in this moment we see all of Jesus’ followers hoping for something new, more than likely a return to Davidic rule…meanwhile the prophetic mission of Jesus is unraveling before them and revealing quite a different mystery to behold.
We begin in the first verse with the narrator telling us that Jesus has gone up to Jerusalem. This very first verse is intimately connected with the parable that directly precedes our text today. Neither Luke 19:11-27 or our passage for this Sunday, Luke 19:28-40, can be read alone. Here is the parable Jesus tells before his entry:
As we read this passage we see that Jesus is teaching that indeed he is the one who has the authority, he will exercise it, and he will give it away. As we project this forward we can easily recognize that the great prophet’s entry into Jerusalem will be messianic and kingly. We can imagine that he will soon and very soon give authority to his followers. He will even grant entrance into the kingdom to a thief. This exercise of authority and power will continue to be handed down through the apostles. So we look and see as he enters Jerusalem he is himself entering the distant country, where he will receive from God and claim as his own the rightful place as ruler in the reign of God. He is prepared for his death and to give away the authority to heal and reconcile the world to his followers. As we gather with Jesus on the hilltop, on the Mount of Olives, are we ready to receive the authority given to us? Are we ready to follow Jesus into Jerusalem? Are we ready to faithfully walk with him all the way to his cross and then to Easter morning?
The ancient pilgrim tales from Egeria recalls centuries of Christian practice on this palm day of rehearsing, re-imagining, and re-enacting Jesus’ entry. You can read more about this here: http://www.ccel.org/m/mcclure/etheria/etheria.htm.
We are reminded of Zechariah 9.9 with the colt which is sent for by Jesus and retrieved by his disciples. Again, a simple prophecy but one characteristic of Luke’s writings, reminding us of the power this particular king lords over all.
Jesus then begins to make his way into the city riding the colt, as people throw their garments down before him. Each of us may remember any number of movie portrayals of this image or re-enactments at church or summer camp, in these reenactments and films we are touched in our heart with the true sense of wonderment at participation with Christ in this moment of triumphal entry. “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven! Glory in highest heaven!.” We are here connected to the kingship parable. The crowd is rejoicing in the presence of the visitation of God in Jesus.
Heavenly Father, I humbly beseech you to see before you the sheep of your own fold, the lamb of your own flock, and a sinner of your own redeeming. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
On this day in which we remember the palm entry and procession into Jerusalem by our Lord, and on a day in which we come here to re-enact that with palm branches and palm crosses. We also intermingle into that recognition of God's desire to be with us, we have this Baptism and Confirmation.
We have a lot of images going on today in our service. And what—as I was praying and thanking and making notes all week, one of the things that came to me was a very old baptismal spiritual, which some of you will know because Episcopalians will use this and sing this many times, Wade in the Water. Right? The great African-American spiritual Wade in the water, wade in the water children, wade in the water. God is going to trouble the water. God's going to trouble the water. And indeed on this day, our God is a troubling God. God is troubling Jerusalem in this Gospel lesson. God is troubling the world with his love. A troubling God indeed. So let us wade in a little bit.
I know that that hymn itself is about freedom. It is a song that is deeply rooted in our own history and desire for freedom. It is a song that speaks to the freedom of the Israelites, those brought out of Egypt and set free into—through the Red Sea of the water that is divided and they walked through it.
It is also a hymn that refers to John's Gospel, which we read a lot in Holy Week, John's Gospel chapter 5 wherein there is a lame man sitting by a pool. And the words are, "For an angel would come down in a certain season into the pool and trouble the water. And whosever there first would stick them self in there after the water had been troubled for them they were made whole." They were made whole. God is troubling the water.
In our Gospel passage, of course, we have a parade. It's a parade into Jerusalem of Jesus on a donkey and people are throwing down garments and palm branches. But as most scholars say—believe, there were—there was more than 1 parade on that day in Jerusalem. There were 2 parades actually. The other parade was a Roman parade. It was a parade by which Pilate and his guards were coming in from the countryside where they had been residing. They were entering the city of Jerusalem to fortify it, to be present, and occupy it during the Holy season and days around Passover to make it clear, as Marcus Borg points out in his book The Last Week, that they are the ones who are to be adored. They are the ones to be worshipped. And this is their city.
Describing it, he says they enter the western gate and in some kind of imperial procession. So I want you to get your minds around what is happening there. A visual panoplies, he says, of imperial power with cavalry on horses and foot soldiers, leather and armor and helmet and weapons. Banners and golden eagles mounted on giant staffs so they would go through the crowd and could be—could be seen on these poles and the sun glinting on those eagles and on the metal of the soldiers. And the sounds of the marching feet and the creaking leather and the chinking buckles of the horses and the beating of drums. The beating of drums.
It was a magnificent parade, if you will. And he and other scholars point out that this parade is a display of Roman power of imperial theology, if you will. A reminder that their belief was that the emperor himself, the ruler of Rome and all its precincts including this little town over here of Jerusalem belonged to the emperor who they called Son of God. Who they called Lord. Who they called Savior. The story was, of course, his mother, Atia was the human mother Apollo who had come down and given birth to the emperor. Pilate's parade is happening in this same moment. You can't listen to the Gospel parade and hear the images that are swirling around Jesus and not understand that a little over 3,000 feet, only 3/4 of a mile away, there is a rival parade at the same time, happening in the same moment in opposition. A rival social order. A rival theology to what Jesus is presenting. And not think they were troubled in that moment.
God troubled the waters of Jerusalem in that moment. For Jesus' procession while it is one that is humble on a donkey, no great banners, drums. Just some litter, litter, it's litter that they had grabbed. Just ripping off. Throwing around. Some clothes. But what is powerful are the images themselves. For what is here in their cries as we are told in the Gospel and the image of a Messiah on a donkey are the images from Zechariah and Micah. Powerful prophetic images to the people of Jerusalem reminding them that God loves them in the midst of this oppression that God will free them in the midst of this oppression, that God is troubling that city and offering them a vision of peace. A king who comes in peace to a city that is both the city of faith and the city of faithlessness. An image of a God who longs to gather his people and his children. To gather them in. God has heard the cry of his people in this oppressed city. God is troubling the waters. God is coming down. If they would just wade in a little, they would find the freedom they seek. The wholeness they desire, an image of plenteous food and work. The fortunes of Zion would be restored and peace will reign under vines and the harvest will be plentiful.
God is troubling the waters even in this. Jesus' procession stands in direct opposition. It is an assault Ched Myers ,the scholar, says and writes, in direct conflict with a world that says that power is what we use in our economy and wealth. God and Jesus is troubling those images and troubling a world and its politics as usual idea, its power and greed and consumption and exploitation. God is dreaming of a different world, a different kind of kingdom. God, in Jesus' coming in this parade, to take on his Father's work. Jesus is giving a physical sign—if you will–memorializing that this kingdom is a different kind of place. It is a place for the least of these and a place for all of God's people.
God's troubling vision of this kingdom will be the kind of vision in which you could tear down the whole temple in 3 days and have it built back up because this is a kingdom for the people. It is a kingdom that will be unleashed across the countryside and not just held in Jerusalem or places of power. But it is a kingdom that will go out to where every human being is and trouble the waters of their lives so that they may be healed and restored and receive freedom. This day, these 2 competing parades are the hallmark of our beginning of Holy Week. They remind us of the struggle that we have living in these 2 worlds. These worlds in opposition with one another. This weekend is Holy Devotions Oh Children of God are about us wading into some deep theology and deep story and deep narrative about how God troubles the world and chooses us in opposition to everything that he sees.
And I think that is what the most miraculous part of the story is. God doesn't somehow wait for us to become perfect. Doesn't kind of wait for the powers that be to get it right. Doesn't wait for you and I to have—somehow become sinless. But this God that we believe in chooses us and all of our brokenness. And the fact that we actually like the other parade better? I mean, come on, face it. Who doesn't like a parade with drums and soldiers and banners and everything else. We should own the fact that Pilate has a better parade, people! I mean that's the whole point is that that's the parade and yet somehow we see a glimpse of how it could be different. And yet no matter how hard you and I try, we are unable to live into that kingdom. I mean—maybe—someone was able to achieve perfect kingdom life this Lent. I'd love for you to come and take my place right now and tell us how you accomplish it. I'm pretty sure—as I've said—most every week in Lent, I'm pretty sure that my Lenten discipline of holiness lasted less than 24 hours.
We fail to achieve the vision that God has for us, and yet he continues to come down into the world to make himself lower than the angels to greet and meet us and offer us his love. To trouble the waters of our life and to invite wholeness and healing if we would but take a step towards him into this holy water.
The peace of Philippians is so powerful. It is not that God is somehow—that God somehow is a obedient to some vision that he has, but that God is obedient to his love for us. He loves us so much, he can't but help but be with us no matter what we do, no matter how many times we fail. The image that Paul gives us in Philippians is one of a God bound to us and devoted to us. Who keeps parading into our lives on a donkey and offering us healing and wholeness.
It is that season, my friends, in which we stand by the pool. This Holy and deep well of God's story, and we rehearse it and we remind ourselves of God's presence. And the waters are indeed troubled. From this point over the next 7 days, they will be troubled and troubled, but God will walk with us all the way into the city. And no matter how many times we ask, "Do you love me?" Jesus will say, "I do." And when we whisper in that dark night, "Would you give your life for me?" And like all human mothers he says, "Yes," and he does. He is with us even to the end of the ages, and his song is repeated over and over again. Yes, I love you. Yes, I will love. So let us make our way. Let us make our holy way to the water. Let us wade in deep as it troubles us. And let us there find wholeness and healing that is great and glorious. And it is for us and for our people.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
You Servant, Lord our God, speak the word that all the weary long to hear. Your Son humbles himself to carry the cross that your people long to embrace. As we enter this holy week, let the same mind be in us that was in Christ Jesus. Empty us of ourselves, and draw us close to his cross, that, comforted by his word of forgiveness and gladdened by his promise of Paradise, into your hands we may commend our spirits. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God for ever and ever. Amen. From Prayers for Sunday and Seasons, Year C, Peter J. Scagnelli, LTP, 1992.
Some Thoughts on Luke 19:28-40
Holy Textures, Understanding the Bible in its own time and in ours, Luke 13:1-9, David Ewart, 2013.
"When Jesus entered Jerusalem, he did so as a king, but his royalty was not pomp and power but humble obedience. Thus, he entered the city to make peace with the offering of his own life."
"Season's Greetings," Thomas G. Long, The Christian Century, 2001. Religion Online.
This Sunday is Palm Sunday. We are tempted to preach on the passion reading. I have always struggled with this ancient tradition as in our culture I often find that it excuses people from coming to the services on Good Friday. Moreover, it clouds and complicates the wonderful readings we have in our Gospel for the day.
I would go so far as to say that we should only do the liturgy of the palms and the eucharist; it is heresy I know. Preach the moment...let the week unfold in liturgy...don't run to crucify our Lord just yet!
We are given for our lesson in year C the passage from Luke 19, beginning at the 28th verse. This passage is reaching towards the culmination of Jesus’ ministry and is often referred to as the prophet’s entry into Jerusalem. Here in this moment we see all of Jesus’ followers hoping for something new, more than likely a return to Davidic rule…meanwhile the prophetic mission of Jesus is unraveling before them and revealing quite a different mystery to behold.
We begin in the first verse with the narrator telling us that Jesus has gone up to Jerusalem. This very first verse is intimately connected with the parable that directly precedes our text today. Neither Luke 19:11-27 or our passage for this Sunday, Luke 19:28-40, can be read alone. Here is the parable Jesus tells before his entry:
12So [Jesus] said, “A nobleman went to a distant country to get royal power for himself and then return. 13He summoned ten of his slaves, and gave them ten pounds, and said to them, ‘Do business with these until I come back.’ 14But the citizens of his country hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We do not want this man to rule over us.’ 15When he returned, having received royal power, he ordered these slaves, to whom he had given the money, to be summoned so that he might find out what they had gained by trading. 16The first came forward and said, ‘Lord, your pound has made ten more pounds.’ 17He said to him, ‘Well done, good slave! Because you have been trustworthy in a very small thing, take charge of ten cities.’ 18Then the second came, saying, ‘Lord, your pound has made five pounds.’ 19He said to him, ‘And you, rule over five cities.’ 20Then the other came, saying, ‘Lord, here is your pound. I wrapped it up in a piece of cloth, 21for I was afraid of you, because you are a harsh man; you take what you did not deposit, and reap what you did not sow.’ 22He said to him, ‘I will judge you by your own words, you wicked slave! You knew, did you, that I was a harsh man, taking what I did not deposit and reaping what I did not sow? 23Why then did you not put my money into the bank? Then when I returned, I could have collected it with interest.’ 24He said to the bystanders, ‘Take the pound from him and give it to the one who has ten pounds.’ 25(And they said to him, ‘Lord, he has ten pounds!’) 26‘I tell you, to all those who have, more will be given; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. 27But as for these enemies of mine who did not want me to be king over them—bring them here and slaughter them in my presence.’”
As we read this passage we see that Jesus is teaching that indeed he is the one who has the authority, he will exercise it, and he will give it away. As we project this forward we can easily recognize that the great prophet’s entry into Jerusalem will be messianic and kingly. We can imagine that he will soon and very soon give authority to his followers. He will even grant entrance into the kingdom to a thief. This exercise of authority and power will continue to be handed down through the apostles. So we look and see as he enters Jerusalem he is himself entering the distant country, where he will receive from God and claim as his own the rightful place as ruler in the reign of God. He is prepared for his death and to give away the authority to heal and reconcile the world to his followers. As we gather with Jesus on the hilltop, on the Mount of Olives, are we ready to receive the authority given to us? Are we ready to follow Jesus into Jerusalem? Are we ready to faithfully walk with him all the way to his cross and then to Easter morning?
The ancient pilgrim tales from Egeria recalls centuries of Christian practice on this palm day of rehearsing, re-imagining, and re-enacting Jesus’ entry. You can read more about this here: http://www.ccel.org/m/mcclure/etheria/etheria.htm.
We are reminded of Zechariah 9.9 with the colt which is sent for by Jesus and retrieved by his disciples. Again, a simple prophecy but one characteristic of Luke’s writings, reminding us of the power this particular king lords over all.
Jesus then begins to make his way into the city riding the colt, as people throw their garments down before him. Each of us may remember any number of movie portrayals of this image or re-enactments at church or summer camp, in these reenactments and films we are touched in our heart with the true sense of wonderment at participation with Christ in this moment of triumphal entry. “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven! Glory in highest heaven!.” We are here connected to the kingship parable. The crowd is rejoicing in the presence of the visitation of God in Jesus.
[A brief footnote: While in Canterbury there was more than one discussion about the lessons before us and the liturgy of the palms. Interesting notes here brought back memories of seminary studies worth a thought on this Sunday. Key to the reality is that in the front of Jerusalem Pilate who is entering, enters with palm leaves (also on the emperor's coin) a sign of the royal office he represents. In Luke we have very little pomp...clothes.... The synoptics tell us of branches being placed on the ground. The branches would have been olive branches...signs of peace, reminders of the deliverance through the storm and voyage of the arch. Only in John do we get the movement to compare Jesus' entry with that of Pilate's. The image that I bring home with me from Canterbury then is an image of deliverance, peace, a new time...a different time. This is the image for every Christian traveling the pilgrim way this Holy Week. This is a time of transformation and renewal. It is a time to claim our difference in the world by following the pauper king with his images of healing, love, and peace. This is the God I believe the world is looking for; this God does not need to compete with worldly power or authority. This is our God and we are richly blessed by his coming.]
As we reenact this event Sunday I will be thinking not of doing something that was done long ago but rather my own celebration of Christ’s eternal presence with us. Christ is with us this week. Christ has been with us through Lent. Christ is present in the life of the church. Christ is known to us and before us. Our Lenten journey is almost fulfilled and thanks to the presence of the risen Christ we may walk with Jesus into the last days of his life, his trial, and his crucifixion.
The Pharisees call out and rebuke the crowd. They even tell Jesus that he is to silence the people. They are objecting to the cry that Jesus is king. As Luke Timothy Johnson points out, that this shows us clearly that they are the ones from the parable “who would not have him rule over them.”
Jesus retorts that even if they were silenced the stones would cry out. He is the king and nothing and no silence will make it different. We may remember God’s promise on the plain to Abraham that the children of God will be raised up from these stones. For more on this please refer to the following passages in Luke’s Gospel: 19.44; 20.17,18; 21:5-6; 24:2 and Acts 4:11. Furthermore, Luke Timothy Johnson continues the exegesis of this passage bring to life more fully the kingdom parable on pages 298 and following in his text Luke.
From this triumphal entry Jesus is making his way to the Temple where he will claim in, cleaning it out, and make it the seat of his prophetic Word. The prophet king has come to claim his people and to offer to them a place in the reign of God.
Sermon For Palm Sunday
"Everyone Loves The Other Parade"
Sermon For Palm Sunday
"Everyone Loves The Other Parade"
Heavenly Father, I humbly beseech you to see before you the sheep of your own fold, the lamb of your own flock, and a sinner of your own redeeming. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
On this day in which we remember the palm entry and procession into Jerusalem by our Lord, and on a day in which we come here to re-enact that with palm branches and palm crosses. We also intermingle into that recognition of God's desire to be with us, we have this Baptism and Confirmation.
We have a lot of images going on today in our service. And what—as I was praying and thanking and making notes all week, one of the things that came to me was a very old baptismal spiritual, which some of you will know because Episcopalians will use this and sing this many times, Wade in the Water. Right? The great African-American spiritual Wade in the water, wade in the water children, wade in the water. God is going to trouble the water. God's going to trouble the water. And indeed on this day, our God is a troubling God. God is troubling Jerusalem in this Gospel lesson. God is troubling the world with his love. A troubling God indeed. So let us wade in a little bit.
I know that that hymn itself is about freedom. It is a song that is deeply rooted in our own history and desire for freedom. It is a song that speaks to the freedom of the Israelites, those brought out of Egypt and set free into—through the Red Sea of the water that is divided and they walked through it.
It is also a hymn that refers to John's Gospel, which we read a lot in Holy Week, John's Gospel chapter 5 wherein there is a lame man sitting by a pool. And the words are, "For an angel would come down in a certain season into the pool and trouble the water. And whosever there first would stick them self in there after the water had been troubled for them they were made whole." They were made whole. God is troubling the water.
In our Gospel passage, of course, we have a parade. It's a parade into Jerusalem of Jesus on a donkey and people are throwing down garments and palm branches. But as most scholars say—believe, there were—there was more than 1 parade on that day in Jerusalem. There were 2 parades actually. The other parade was a Roman parade. It was a parade by which Pilate and his guards were coming in from the countryside where they had been residing. They were entering the city of Jerusalem to fortify it, to be present, and occupy it during the Holy season and days around Passover to make it clear, as Marcus Borg points out in his book The Last Week, that they are the ones who are to be adored. They are the ones to be worshipped. And this is their city.
Describing it, he says they enter the western gate and in some kind of imperial procession. So I want you to get your minds around what is happening there. A visual panoplies, he says, of imperial power with cavalry on horses and foot soldiers, leather and armor and helmet and weapons. Banners and golden eagles mounted on giant staffs so they would go through the crowd and could be—could be seen on these poles and the sun glinting on those eagles and on the metal of the soldiers. And the sounds of the marching feet and the creaking leather and the chinking buckles of the horses and the beating of drums. The beating of drums.
It was a magnificent parade, if you will. And he and other scholars point out that this parade is a display of Roman power of imperial theology, if you will. A reminder that their belief was that the emperor himself, the ruler of Rome and all its precincts including this little town over here of Jerusalem belonged to the emperor who they called Son of God. Who they called Lord. Who they called Savior. The story was, of course, his mother, Atia was the human mother Apollo who had come down and given birth to the emperor. Pilate's parade is happening in this same moment. You can't listen to the Gospel parade and hear the images that are swirling around Jesus and not understand that a little over 3,000 feet, only 3/4 of a mile away, there is a rival parade at the same time, happening in the same moment in opposition. A rival social order. A rival theology to what Jesus is presenting. And not think they were troubled in that moment.
God troubled the waters of Jerusalem in that moment. For Jesus' procession while it is one that is humble on a donkey, no great banners, drums. Just some litter, litter, it's litter that they had grabbed. Just ripping off. Throwing around. Some clothes. But what is powerful are the images themselves. For what is here in their cries as we are told in the Gospel and the image of a Messiah on a donkey are the images from Zechariah and Micah. Powerful prophetic images to the people of Jerusalem reminding them that God loves them in the midst of this oppression that God will free them in the midst of this oppression, that God is troubling that city and offering them a vision of peace. A king who comes in peace to a city that is both the city of faith and the city of faithlessness. An image of a God who longs to gather his people and his children. To gather them in. God has heard the cry of his people in this oppressed city. God is troubling the waters. God is coming down. If they would just wade in a little, they would find the freedom they seek. The wholeness they desire, an image of plenteous food and work. The fortunes of Zion would be restored and peace will reign under vines and the harvest will be plentiful.
God is troubling the waters even in this. Jesus' procession stands in direct opposition. It is an assault Ched Myers ,the scholar, says and writes, in direct conflict with a world that says that power is what we use in our economy and wealth. God and Jesus is troubling those images and troubling a world and its politics as usual idea, its power and greed and consumption and exploitation. God is dreaming of a different world, a different kind of kingdom. God, in Jesus' coming in this parade, to take on his Father's work. Jesus is giving a physical sign—if you will–memorializing that this kingdom is a different kind of place. It is a place for the least of these and a place for all of God's people.
God's troubling vision of this kingdom will be the kind of vision in which you could tear down the whole temple in 3 days and have it built back up because this is a kingdom for the people. It is a kingdom that will be unleashed across the countryside and not just held in Jerusalem or places of power. But it is a kingdom that will go out to where every human being is and trouble the waters of their lives so that they may be healed and restored and receive freedom. This day, these 2 competing parades are the hallmark of our beginning of Holy Week. They remind us of the struggle that we have living in these 2 worlds. These worlds in opposition with one another. This weekend is Holy Devotions Oh Children of God are about us wading into some deep theology and deep story and deep narrative about how God troubles the world and chooses us in opposition to everything that he sees.
And I think that is what the most miraculous part of the story is. God doesn't somehow wait for us to become perfect. Doesn't kind of wait for the powers that be to get it right. Doesn't wait for you and I to have—somehow become sinless. But this God that we believe in chooses us and all of our brokenness. And the fact that we actually like the other parade better? I mean, come on, face it. Who doesn't like a parade with drums and soldiers and banners and everything else. We should own the fact that Pilate has a better parade, people! I mean that's the whole point is that that's the parade and yet somehow we see a glimpse of how it could be different. And yet no matter how hard you and I try, we are unable to live into that kingdom. I mean—maybe—someone was able to achieve perfect kingdom life this Lent. I'd love for you to come and take my place right now and tell us how you accomplish it. I'm pretty sure—as I've said—most every week in Lent, I'm pretty sure that my Lenten discipline of holiness lasted less than 24 hours.
We fail to achieve the vision that God has for us, and yet he continues to come down into the world to make himself lower than the angels to greet and meet us and offer us his love. To trouble the waters of our life and to invite wholeness and healing if we would but take a step towards him into this holy water.
The peace of Philippians is so powerful. It is not that God is somehow—that God somehow is a obedient to some vision that he has, but that God is obedient to his love for us. He loves us so much, he can't but help but be with us no matter what we do, no matter how many times we fail. The image that Paul gives us in Philippians is one of a God bound to us and devoted to us. Who keeps parading into our lives on a donkey and offering us healing and wholeness.
It is that season, my friends, in which we stand by the pool. This Holy and deep well of God's story, and we rehearse it and we remind ourselves of God's presence. And the waters are indeed troubled. From this point over the next 7 days, they will be troubled and troubled, but God will walk with us all the way into the city. And no matter how many times we ask, "Do you love me?" Jesus will say, "I do." And when we whisper in that dark night, "Would you give your life for me?" And like all human mothers he says, "Yes," and he does. He is with us even to the end of the ages, and his song is repeated over and over again. Yes, I love you. Yes, I will love. So let us make our way. Let us make our holy way to the water. Let us wade in deep as it troubles us. And let us there find wholeness and healing that is great and glorious. And it is for us and for our people.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
