Loving One Another Acts 10:45-48 John 15:9-17 Sixth Sunday of Easter May 6, 2017 Trillium United Church Caledon

Acts 1:45-48

While Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who heard the word.
The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles, for they heard them speaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter said, "Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?" So he ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they invited him to stay for several days.

John 15:10-17

As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love.

If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete. "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.

No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.
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About three years ago I was having a conversation with my son about God, faith, religion and - in his mind - the damage religion does when it is not carefully thought out. He isn’t a church going follower, but is well-read in many religious texts. He was relating that a colleague of his at a previous job had become involved in a church, and it was beginning to consume his life – and negatively affect his working relationships. My son felt it was more of a cult than a church. He said this colleague tends to repeat whatever he is told without thinking. So this colleague pronounced that if people don’t love God, they can’t love others either.

It was interesting that we were having this particular conversation, because I had already decided to preach on the text of John - whoever loves comes from God, and loving as Jesus loved us; and I believe that this is precisely the opposite of what my son’s colleague was saying.

Look at both those statements. “Whoever loves comes from God.” “Love others as I have loved you.”  It’s entirely the other way around. We don’t have to love God first, and then find the capability to love others. The action first comes from God; first comes from Jesus. Humans are born to love, and the love we are capable of having for others connects us. We who claim the Christian faith believe it connects us to God. But neither God nor Jesus speaks about any particular faith. Whoever loves comes from God. Period.

So it raises for me the question of what constitutes “right belief”. Is it a so-called orthodox belief that only Christians are selected by God, and only Christians can have a relationship with God. If God is God, can God be so limited? What, and who, defines our relationship to God? Us? God? Others?

Is baptism evidence of “right belief”? We bring children for baptism, make promises on their behalf. Does that mean they have “right belief” just because of that action? We confirm our children when they are teens, and they are considered members of the church. Is that all ‘right belief’ takes? Or do those young people then continue to learn and discover what love in faith means? Just as we hope we do too – for one never “arrives” at a fully mature faith.

Is prayer “right belief”? What kind of prayer? Is prayer alone the most important thing? Jesus said to go away into your private space and pray. He said beware of those who stand up in the synagogue and pray so all can hear. Does God ignore us if we don’t pray a certain way? Does God do what we ask and turn others down? Do we have to have the right prayers or the same prayers all the time?

What about social justice and outreach? Is that “right belief”? Shelters, boycotts, warm meals, Habitat for Humanity builds, lobbying, marching, compassion. Are those the only evidence of “right belief”? John’s Gospel talks about Jesus being the vine, and us the branches. Jesus was love, Jesus is love. So if that is the case, then we also are born to love - and out of that love surely comes a mission. A church with no sense of mission is severed from the Vine – and will wither and die. Without connection to the Vine, mission in the church is just mission by any social agency.

What about the ‘born again’ experience? Is that the earmark of “right belief”? We know that deeply moving experiences can change lives. Is that all? One moving experience which connects us to God, and suddenly we have “right belief”? What does it mean to be “born again”? Who defines what “born again” is?

I suggest that beyond baptism, beyond orthodox or unorthodox faith stances, beyond how we order our service, beyond prayer, beyond social justice and outreach, there are these statements which put all of those things into a clear perspective.

First, we have this statement: “Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.” The Holy Spirit falls on all who hear the word. The Word is more than one kind of faith – it transcends faith, for the word is love.

....and this statement: “For God is love.....if we love one another, God lives in us, God’s love is perfected in us.”

“You did not choose me, I chose you. Love one another as I have loved you.”

Love. It is the single most important thing in the Christian faith. Prayer, baptism, outreach, life in community - these are all important things. For me, it is that the most important is love.

Agape, or love within a community, is the single piece, the one criterion that gives meaning to everything else we say or do. We might be able to recite the creeds; we might sing and say the Lord’s Prayer every week; but if we do not have love, we are what Paul says is a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. We may have experiences that take us into God’s holy presence, but without love it does us no good. And though we feed the hungry and rescue those who are perishing but have no love, we are nothing. We might think baptism is all it takes - but unless a child learns to love throughout life - it is a meaningless ritual. We might think confirmation, membership, communion, prayers in church are enough.

So the aged writer of 1st John writes his last words to a community that he is about to leave and tells them over and over again never to lose their ability to love. When we hear, "God’s love was revealed among us in this way," it means that God is not a snoozing professor sitting in a dusty study mumbling on about love like it’s some arcane, esoteric theological concept. Instead, it means that God came to us through Jesus in the raw material of humanity that knows pain, passion, defeat, death, and now resurrection. Years ago when asked if Jesus was God, our then-Moderator Bill Phipps said no – but, he said, Jesus was the best window through which we could see God and know God’s nature.

And now, the writer proclaims that we are Jesus acting in the world. As Jesus showed humanity love, so we are called to do the same. The world is starving for love to come on to the stage and show love. Yet too many times seekers come to the theater hurting and in need of hope only to see a re-run about what Christians believe, do or don’t do, shoulda, coulda, woulda.

To have love - agape - is to have God living within us; everyone who loves has God within them.
But this one simple statement takes us well beyond the Christian context, and into a world-wide context. Here is the whole statement:  “Everyone who loves is born of God and knows God; if we love one another, God lives in us.” It means that God lives within human beings regardless of whether or not they are baptised, or whether or not they pray, or even whether or not they claim they are Christian. God is love. God cannot be contained by one faith, or one way of looking at faith. Wherever there is love, God lives.

Belief, experience, and love abide, but the greatest of these is _________. I invite you to finish the sentence in your life this week. Amen.

Sources:

1.     Evidence Demanding a Verdict – by Rev. Thomas Hall

“To Live with Respect in Creation” Genesis 1 and Revelation 22 Trillium United Church Caledon April 29, 2018

The picture up today is called Yggdrasil, the Norse Tree of Life which sustains all living things in the world and connects all nine worlds of the Norse belief system. The Tree of Life is found in many stories and myths – it appears in Revelation  - but trees of wisdom and knowledge, trees of life figure in other biblical stories. In the James Cameron movie Avatar, there is a Home Tree, and then there is Eywa – the Mother Tree, Tree of Life which connects everything on the planet.

I want to tell you two experiences which stand out in my memory. One is from my early childhood in southern Saskatchewan. I was about four years old, living in a tiny town called Canora, in the southern part of the province. In the summer, the wheat seemed to grow to about eight feet tall - or so it seemed to a child. The skies were clear deep blue, and the wheat was golden, and when one was able to stand on a small hillock and look over - it looked like the ocean and waves. Those were the days when Monsanto didn’t claim it owned patents on seeds, and didn’t sue farmers when stray seeds popped up fifty miles away in their ditches. The grain was planted and grown as part of creation - not as part of a company’s attempt to patent crops and control farming.

My second outstanding memory is about twenty years ago, sitting by the shore of Lake Nasijaarvi in Finland – where in the summer, the sun doesn’t set. As I watched, the sun gradually descended to the horizon, and there were all the deep red and gold colours of a sunset on the left. As it dipped partway below the horizon, it began to rise, and to the right there were the pale pinks and golds of a sunrise.

Steve Whitney is a professional environmentalist, blogger and former pastor. He tells a story of writing his first sermon on Earth Day - sitting in a pub with a Bible and a couple of books, and asked the waitress if she thought it was improper to write a sermon while sitting in a tavern. She replied by asking where he went to church. When he responded "St. Stephen's Episcopal" she chuckled and said "Oh, don't worry about it, they've all been here." “Well”,  wrote Steve, that’s OK - because the Anglican tradition openly celebrates God's creation in all of its manifestations. The forests that blanket the landscape, the clear water that flows from the mountains, the bald eagles and killer whales, the flowering shrubs that paint our neighborhoods with flashes of pink and yellow, the diversity of human life, and yes, even the hops for our beer in a pub on an afternoon, writing a sermon. For all that we have, and all that we are, we owe thanks to God.”

Christians centuries ago knew this well. They set aside a few days a year during planting time, called Rogation Days, to offer their prayers for blessings. Not only Christians, though, and we err if we think it is only us. The early Israelite peoples celebrated the “Feast of Weeks” - the span of time from the giving of the Torah to Moses, to the time of the first harvest, and the giving of thanks. Native peoples in North America celebrated the “first fruits” in the spring, by picking and sharing strawberries, and giving thanks to the Creator. The Book of Revelation talks about the Tree of Life, and the River of the Water of Life; and this is echoed in the Druidic and Norse beliefs, the great tree Yggdrasil, whose branches went straight up to heaven, whose roots went down into the earth - and the trunk of the tree connected heaven and earth.

Creation isn’t just about rocks and trees, and lakes and harvests, though. In the story of Creation, God painstakingly put every piece together including human beings – and then said ‘care for this, look after it’. If you listened to the reading this morning – it was piece by piece, a complete symbolic story about everything coming into being. And for Noah, God set a rainbow in the skies to demonstrate a covenant with all creation, which included people. "I set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the Earth." There’s nothing in there about destroying wilfully for personal gain.

I wonder what God thinks of our modern attitudes toward the diversity of life, where value is measured not in terms of the secrets the creatures may hold, but in dollars and cents. We treat the earth like an ark in reverse. Rather than march the animals two by two up the ramp of survival, we march them faster and faster down the gang-plank of extinction. "They are taking our property rights" we say, "just to save the spotted owl or the wild salmon."” Wolves are killing our cattle.” “Coyotes are invading our city space.” We have so-called trophy hunting, euphemistically called a ‘sport’ – eliminating species before our eyes. And always we believe the rights are ours. That attitude extends to other countries – where we mine for gold and pollute rivers and water courses, or insist that oil in other places is ‘ours’ and are willing to go to war, and kill in order to keep it. 

I think we need to start asking ourselves the question, whose property is it, really? On whose 

authority do we use private land to the detriment of God's creation? Who came up with ‘private land’? Early peoples had no concept of ‘owning’ anything – North American aboriginals had no sense of ‘ownership’. There is a saying among aboriginal peoples – “when the white man came we had the land and they had the Bible; when we opened our eyes from prayer, they had the land  and we had the Bible.”

When our ancestors first left Europe, they discovered lands on this side of the ocean when people had no concept of land ownership. The land belonged to the Creator, and we were allowed to use it. An Ojibway friend told me that in traditional North American aboriginal cultures, it is common to give thanks to the animals for giving up their lives to be food on our tables. Everything needs to be respected.

Are people of faith doing enough to ensure Creation is a blessing for everyone? It’s easy for us to give thanks, to say that we feel close to God when we are out at the lake, or sitting in awe watching icebergs, or walking in the woods in Algonquin Park, or sitting beside a pristine lake in Finland – or standing with our jaws dropped, at the magnificent and overpowering mountains of Norway. What about the children of Syria, whose creation consists of nothing more than sand; little or no shelter, no food, subject to violence, rape and disease. What about the children in Palestine, being shot for trying to defend the bits of land left to them?  What would they think, hearing us talking about the beauty of the world?

God made a covenant with “the Earth”, and all that is in it. That means there are certain things which are not negotiable. Every child, every person living, has a right to food, to shelter, to water, to education, to health care. Those are basic human rights which must not be denied. They also have the right not to live in fear, not to suffer from war or violence. To try to patent seeds and claim ownership, to modify foods without knowing the outcome, to perpetrate violence on others for whatever reasons we may use to rationalise being right - the truth is we do not respect God’s creation, nor all the creatures in it. Did you know that the 12 percent of the world’s population that lives in North America and Western Europe accounts for 60 percent of private consumption spending, while the one-third living in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa accounts for only 3.2 percent. Did you know that Canadians produce more garbage per capita than any other country in the world, and that in terms of effective use of our natural resources we rank at D.

Consumer society has a strong allure and of course many economic benefits; it would be unfair to argue that the advantages gained by an earlier generation of consumers should not be shared by those who come later. Lack of attention to the needs of the poorest can result in greater insecurity for the prosperous and in increased spending on defensive measures. The need to spend billions of dollars on wars, border security, and peacekeeping arguably is linked to a disregard for the world’s pressing social and environmental problems.

Today I want us to pray that as children of God, we may be faithful stewards. Faithful stewards. What does it mean to be a faithful steward of God's creation? Good question. Fortunately the Bible provides guidance -- in Genesis 2 God placed the human creature in the garden "to till it and keep it." So we have the responsibility, to till the Earth in order to make its productive powers flourish. This does not mean we are to plant and harvest all of it. We are also called to sustain it, conserve it, perpetuate it -- to "keep" the Earth by protecting its God- created life systems and life forms.

We who profess to be Christians have a calling to a life in Creation. We cannot preach any kind of message if we do not strive, in whatever way possible, to live that message as it applies to the earth, the waters, the skies, the people; and yes, it might get ‘political – which to me means that a gospel of life for all IS political in today’s world, which denies life and health to some while enhancing it for many out of all proportion to what is appropriate. May we see with new eyes and hear with new ears, as we walk through this world - and may we find ways to be good co-Creators with God’s ongoing creation - the Tree of Life. Amen.

Sources:

1.      “All God’s Creation”  by Rev. Fran Ota  Earth Day 2012

2.     Steven Whitney, sermon preached at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, Earth Day Sunday, April 21, 1996.

3.     http://www.worldwatch.org/node/810

“April Fool” - Mark 16:1- 10 Easter Sunday Service Trillium United Church April 1, 2018 Mark 16

When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus’ body. Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb and they asked each other, “Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?” But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away. As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were afraid. “Don’t be afraid,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.’

First ending: Then they quickly reported all these instructions to those around Peter. After this, Jesus himself also sent out through them from east to west the sacred and imperishable proclamation of eternal salvation.

Second ending: When Jesus rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had driven seven demons. She went and told those who had been with him and who were mourning and weeping. When they heard that Jesus was alive and that she had seen him, they did not believe it.

Afterward Jesus appeared in a different form to two of them while they were walking in the country. These returned and reported it to the rest; but they did not believe them either. Later Jesus appeared to the eleven as they were eating; he rebuked them for their lack of faith and their stubborn refusal to believe those who had seen him after he had risen.

The Gospel According to Mary Magdalene Chapter 5.

When Mary had said this, she fell silent, since it was to this point that the Saviour had spoken with her. But Andrew answered and said to the brethren, “Say what you wish to say about what she has said. I at least do not believe that the Saviour said this. For certainly these teachings are strange ideas.”

Peter answered and spoke concerning these same things. He questioned the women about the Saviour: Did He really speak privately with a woman and not openly to us? Are we to turn about and all listen to her? Did He prefer her to us?

Then Mary wept and said to Peter, “My brother Peter, what are you thinking? Do you think that I have thought this up myself in my heart, or that I am lying about the Saviour?” Levi answered and said to Peter, “Peter you have always been hot tempered. Now I see you contending against the woman like the adversaries. If the Saviour made her worthy, who are you indeed to reject her? Surely the Saviour knows her very well. That is why He loved her more than us. Rather, let us be ashamed of ourselves, and put on the perfect Man, and separate as He commanded us and preach the gospel, not laying down any other rule or other law beyond what the Saviour said. When they heard this they began to go forth to proclaim and to preach.
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Next Sunday we celebrate Holy Humour. In the Eastern Orthodox tradition, which is likely the first organised church denomination, God played a huge joke on Death at Easter. Death thought that death was the end of everything, no life afterward – and God said “not quite over yet.” This year, it’s also almost an ‘April Fool’scenario. For the resurrection is the result of that joke. So Easter Monday, in the Orthodox tradition, is a day of celebrating the resurrection with games, jokes, feasting and fun. We in the western churches have begun to do this on the Sunday following Easter – when we also recognise the resurrection as a defeat of death, and God bringing new life. But with jokes, fun, and celebration.

Jesus was put to death on a Friday, before sundown - because if it were later, the Sabbath would have begun and he would have hung on the cross through the three days. It was important that he be prepared for burial and moved. The women who went only knew he had been laid in a new tomb - Joseph of Arimathea had taken spices for burial, and he and Zaccheus made sure the body was prepared in the proper fashion. As was the custom, a huge rock was rolled across the mouth of the tomb, to prevent animals from getting in....

Three women who stood at the foot of the cross waited with incredible anxiety all through the Sabbath. They could not go on the Sabbath, so they had to wait until the next day....and as soon as the first tiny rays lightened the sky, they were up. They had not had time to say goodbye properly, so they made their way to the garden where the tomb was, to weep and to grieve the loss of someone they loved so dearly. They didn’t know Joseph had prepared the body for burial, so took with them herbs and oils to ensure it had been done.

They arrive, to find the stone rolled away, the tomb empty, and a man dressed in white sitting where Jesus had been laid. And as in all appearances of messengers or angels, the man said “Don’t be afraid.” ....but they were, and in that first ending of the Mark story, they ran away and did not tell anyone, because of their fear.

But let’s look more closely. The earliest manuscripts do not have verses 9-20 of Mark, hence those verses are known as the “second ending”. They were added later, by someone else. The first ending, in the first manuscript, simply states that the three women went back and told Peter, and then the disciples went out preaching and teaching, as Jesus had sent them.

The second ending – verses 9-20, added later by another author – has Mary Magdalene, alone – seeing someone she thinks is a gardener, but then when he speaks, she recognises him, and they have a conversation…

This morning I also read a text called “The Gospel of Mary”. This text is found in the Berlin Gnostic Codex (or Papyrus Berolinensis 85020). This very important and well-preserved codex was discovered in the late-nineteenth century near Akhmim in upper Egypt. It was purchased in Cairo in 1896 by a German scholar, Dr. Carl Reinhardt, and then taken to Berlin.

The book (or "codex") was probably copied and bound in the late fourth or early fifth century. It contains Coptic translations of three very important early Christian texts: the Gospel of Mary, the Apocryphon of John, and the Sophia of Jesus Christ. The texts themselves date to the second century and were originally authored in Greek. Unfortunately the publication of this codex was delayed until 1955 because of two world wars. By then the collection of writings at Nag Hammadi had also been recovered, and the Apocryphon of John and the Sophia of Jesus Christ had also been preserved in that collection. These texts form part of the apocryphal writings attached to the NewTestament.

I’ve given you this little bit of history, because it adds a dimension to the story from a woman’s point of view. It is a legitimate document, written about the same time as the other Gospels - and it is an account which dovetails with the second ending of Mark.

The story throughout this weekend has made a point that the people who stayed with Jesus to the end were the women, and one man. Joseph of Arimathea and Zaccheus did take the body off the cross and look after the burial rites, but they were not at the crucifixion. The story tells us Joseph was afraid, and Zaccheus had come to Jesus under cover of darkness, because he too was afraid.

In every one of the stories, consistently, it’s Mary Magdalene who is there. In one Gospel she is there to pour ointment over Jesus’ feet, and wipe them with her hair. It was an incredibly intimate, and pastoral act - anointing for burial. Mary understood. It’s Mary Magdalene who stands near the cross with Jesus’ mother, and it’s Mary who is the one who goes to the tomb. In Matthew’s Gospel there are two women, in Mark’s there are three, in Luke three, and in John there are four. Mary Magdalene is there in all four stories. She is considered to be the first believer and the first disciple.

In each of the Gospels, the resurrection story happens in a garden – drawing a parallel to Jesus as the new Adam…creation began with a garden, and the new creation happens in a garden. So Mary Magdalene sees a man, thinks he is the gardener, and she doesn’t recognise him. Only when he speaks, she knows it is him. Mary returns to the others full of good news and excitement, for the story is not over.

In Mary’s story, she and Jesus have a conversation about the nature of life and death, and the life which comes after. He tells her of the journey of the soul, and the good news which accompanies the soul. I always have found it fascinating that Paul, who wrote shortly after Jesus’ death and resurrection – was one of the few who had drawn such a conclusion even though his writing predated the Gospels – the physical body and the spiritual body are not the same. Mary mistakes Jesus for a gardener, even when he is standing looking at her. Until he speaks to her. Then she knows. There is more than what we see here, death is not the final word.

So full of joy, she returns to the others and tells them what Jesus has said to her. - and what happens? Andrew says Jesus could not possibly have said these things, as they were just too strange to come from Jesus - hence they had to be Mary’s imagination. As if he knows anything about the journey of the soul following death. Peter accuses her of lying, of making up a story. How could Jesus possibly have said those things to her? He would surely have said them to the men first, wouldn’t he? In other words, why would he say anything to Mary first, instead of to Peter or any of the others. Why would this incredible revelation be  given to women, before the men. And a tiny part of me sees this as another kind of humorous, ‘April Fool’ moment….the resurrection was totally unexpected, and the way in which the news is spread is also completely counter-cultural, and unexpected.

In one way or another, the Gospel writers all focussed on the women, on Jesus’ willingness to treat women as people, not property as in Jewish law. So the very first recognition of resurrection is through a woman, the first words of new life are to a woman, Mary Magdalene. Mary runs to tell the others, and we are told that some of the men accused her of making up tales – but there’s another telling line here – if Jesus saw fit to make her worthy, who were they to judge? Mary was able to turn their minds and hearts to the good, and bring them together as a group once more. The disciples get over their little fit of pique that Jesus spoke to Mary first, they agree to divide up into pairs and go out into the world and tell the story. And Mary is recognised as the first true disciple.

The angel at the tomb said “He is not here, he has risen. Go and tell.”...and the little group of first believers went into the world full of joy and thanksgiving. This is our story – a story of a little group of people with a message of good news, struggling to remain optimistic in a changing and often hostile world.. how do we inhabit this news? Is Jesus truly alive in us? How does it become us? Who are we, and what is it about the world around us today which can use some good news? What is our message of Easter?

God has the last laugh. Death is defeated. And death becomes the April Fool.

He is risen, and is here with us always! Alleluia!

“Parades and Stones” Palm Sunday March 25, 2018 John 12:12-16, Mark 14:1 - 15:47

The next day the great crowd that had come for the festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting,

“Hosanna!”

“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”

“Blessed is the king of Israel!”

Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, as it is written: “Do not be afraid, Daughter Zion;
see, your king is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt.”

At first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that these things had been done to him.

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Just this month, cities around the world celebrated Ireland and the Irish with parades. It seems like we have parades whenever celebrations of something are in order. How many military parades do we see when a country wants to demonstrate its might, or celebrate winning a war; or on national days like Canada Day? We have Santa Claus parades, and Easter parades, and how often do we really think about what they are for, or even where they started?

In New York, in 1838 - a whole lot of small groups decided to have one big parade. The purpose was for aid to poor Irish immigrants. It had nothing to do with Irish nationalism, like it’s become now - but was designed to be a support to poor Irish. It wasn’t even anything to do with St. Patrick, either....it was just that he happened to be the patron saint of Ireland, and it seemed like a good idea to do it on that day.

The movie “Kundun” is the story of the escape of the Dalai Lama from Tibet into India. There is a scene where the Chinese troops come marching into Tibet waving flags and singing songs of how liberated and free the Tibetan people will be. It is a show of military might, under the leadership of Chairman Mao. Far from bringing freedom to the Tibetans, it brought oppression and repression. China annexed a country which had been independent, and killed thousands of its citizens. The world turned a blind eye then as the Chinese brought in thousands of its own poor citizens and relocated them on Tibetan land to farm. Pretty much what the Romans did to the Jews, and of course, with a parade at the Passover, to reinforce their might and the fact that they were in control in the occupied land.

Yesterday, there were what could be called parades of a kind – millions of people out in the streets led by high school students – in protest of the incredible violence and use of guns in the US. In fact the United States is the only country which is facing such a debate, all wrapped up in the ‘right’ to bear arms – which was written as an amendment to the US constitution with a specific purpose, and which has now come to be understood as a right to have all the guns you want. I read yesterday a comment by a father who claims his 12-year old son has 18 guns, including AR15s, and is quite responsible with them.

Donald Trump wants a military parade in his honour, at a cost of 30 million dollars. People are ground down and pushed aside, while this man wants to spend millions on a parade.

In Jerusalem, there would have been two parades - and you can bet the citizens of the city knew exactly what each one meant. Jerusalem was a huge city – there were entrance gates on all sides. Passover was coming, the highest of the high Holy Days, the streets full of people who had come from all over the known world to Jerusalem. The Passover was the celebration of their liberation from slavery in Egypt, and the rebuilding of the temple. Yet they celebrate that liberation under the rule of the Roman occupation. Hardly freedom.

On the west side of the city, Pontius Pilate would ride into Jerusalem with an entire Roman legion, blaring trumpets, powerful horses and armour. It would have been a massive display of Rome’s power, to intimidate any Jews who might think of trying to foment rebellion. They had rebelled before, and many were crucified. Jerusalem was under Roman authority, with the collusion of the temple authorities which is how Rome worked; it would be a display intended to “keep the peace” in the Roman occupation, given that there would have been outbreaks of violence at Passover, trying to stir up nationalism and force the Romans out.

In through the east gate, up from the Jordan Valley, and following the route the ancient Hebrews had taken in their flight from Egypt to the promised land, comes Jesus, just a regular country rabbi riding a donkey, followed by a group of people which grows as the march goes on, who wave branches and spread rough cloaks along the path.

What a contrast to the Roman display of authority! And yet, as the shouts of Hosanna grow, more and more people would come to see what was happening, and get caught up in the moment - perhaps a hope of freedom from the oppressive authorities - and with the crowds, the potential for violence. They cry out “Hosianna”, which in Hebrew means “Save us!! Even the little children were running along, waving palms and shouting “Save us!!!”. Think about it for a moment - if Jesus were able to overthrow the Romans, even the temple authorities would not have power any longer, for he would be king, judge, ruler even over them....

As Jesus rode along, many people were asking the same question, whispering to each other, “Who is this? ...he rides a donkey”. So did Judah Maccabeus, the other martyr and king of the Jewish people who led a revolution against the Seleucid empire. So they cut branches and spread them on the ground. Double confirmation of the identity of Jesus - a new king has arrived, the saviour who would lead an army to liberate the Jews from the Romans.

...each of the Gospels makes it appear as if all of Jerusalem is affected by the coming of Jesus, as if an earthquake has struck. It is a “seismic” event, the same kind of reaction Herod had 30 years earlier when some Zoroastrian astronomers ask about the new King of the Jews.

Even if everyone does not understand who Jesus is, they have very clear expectations of what the Messiah is going to do and how he will act, because they remember the stories of King David. But what they expect is not what they get.

Amidst all of the commotion and confusion, the waving and shouting of hosiannas, we also hear a second theme - what we call in the church, the passion - anger and hatred coming to a sham trial and death. We can hardly hear it at first, but it doesn’t take long for it to crescendo into a deafening roar. We are shocked as the events unfold. A plot is hatched, a death-pact made. We get glimpses - a woman spills a bottle of perfume over Jesus’ feet; she is criticised by the others. Jesus praises her and calls it a burial anointing. A private prayer meeting is broken up by some zealous vigilantes. The disciples, in a moment of panic, scatter like tightly packed seeds that explode from a pod. A single disciple follows from a safe distance, but then denies three times that he’s never even met the man that the religious leaders have dragged in.

The country rabbi sparks such anger among the temple authorities, shaking their foundations of comfort and alliance, that they manipulate to ensure he is put to death instead. They are not allowed to kill themselves, for there is that commandment which is their law. So they find a way to arrange for the Romans to do it instead, thinking that means their hands are clean of this violence. Triumphantly, the temple authorities think they have removed the threat to their power. Their people remain under their thumbs, and all remain under Roman rule.

You know, more people live on the dark side of Good Friday than on the sunny side of Easter. On this side of Easter, there is no resurrection sought or conceived of, only suffering. There is a parade of palms followed by a parade with a cross. Many people live on this side of Easter all the time.

Mary Cardell was an elderly woman who lived alone in an Atlanta welfare hotel, and her only two comforts in life were a bottle and a pen. When she was discovered, she had already been dead several days. With the bottle she eased her pain; with the pen she wrote about her thoughts and feelings. Eventually the bottle became more demanding than the rent, and one day she was evicted from her room. She tried to find a place to spend the night, but there was alcohol on her breath, and no one would take her in. When they found her, her body was in a litter-filled field of weeds, cold and blue, and there was a note beside her. Mary had written, "I have nowhere to go, and there is no one to understand. God is not dead. He is only sleeping, but sleeping very soundly." How many stories like this are there, buried under the noise and celebration of our parades? How many have died in so many places, as the parades of military might grind over them? How many are yet to die, for a misplaced notion of freedom? Where the argument to own guns is considered a more important right to be able just to live without worrying about being shot to death anywhere let alone in school. A place freedom is talked about – but where the voices of children and young adults who have lived through a mass shooting are dismissed as ‘arrogant, attention-seeking’ or ‘not knowing what they’re talking about’.

To the disciples, once the noise of the celebrations was gone and the week was over, God was indeed sleeping very soundly. The death of Jesus seemed to be so stupid and senseless. Did they, in the midst of that, remember even before the big parade - that Jesus had said about Lazarus “he is only asleep.”? Did they go back over the events in their minds, trying to figure out how the parade which they thought was one of victory ended up where it did? Did they wonder how this could ever represent any kind of freedom for them?

They were confused by the events. "But I thought--we all thought--that he was going to bring in God’s Kingdom," Peter might have said. "I mean, I still remember his words, ‘The right time has come,’ he said, ‘and the Realm of God is near.’

Our faith tells us that more was tied up in the person of Jesus than another statistic of Roman crucifixion. Jesus rides through our Palm Sunday parade, but what word can we hear? Is the noise of the mighty machine so loud that he is drowned out? Can we hear him telling us he has not come as a mighty Messiah to meet us in strength, but that he has come as a person, to meet us in the very fragility of being human, he has come to meet us at the depth of our human suffering, and show us how to walk through that suffering to a place in which celebration does not end, and freedom is real, for everyone. Do we take that word of hope to those people who only know the dark side of the cross??? What do we do after the parades are over??? Which parade are we walking in this year?