It's not his death that saves me.
It was and is his life.
Palm Sunday C - Isaiah 50:4-9a, Philippians 2:5-11, Luke 22:14-23:56
I have never started a Palm Sunday procession without wanting to tell Jesus to run. Read the signs of the times. Go somewhere safe — the hills and shores around the Sea of Galilee. Tell us more about the Realm of God. Teach, heal, cast out the demons, feed the hungry.
I don’t know why, but he didn’t.1 Instead he slowly and publicly rode into chaos — that thing which precedes creation and which is unpredictable, dangerous, devoid of landmarks and easy to get lost in. Like a nightmare. Like a prison in El Salvador. Like a public execution that crowds watch but no one will stop.
On Palm Sunday, I just want to tell Jesus to run, and I don’t know why he didn’t.
But I do know that rescue workers around the world continue to go to places in which they risk injury and death to help the wounded, the starving and the dispossessed.2
I know that people in this country are working to uphold the rights of the powerless while their own homes are swatted, the government sets up concentration camps and does business with foreign prisons, and the Supreme Court looks away.
When rescue workers or civic heroes are injured or killed, it is tragic and a moral outrage. What is good is not their suffering or death, but the courage and commitment with which they lived. I believe that about Jesus too. It is not his death that saves me. It was and is his life.
There have been many Realm-of-God-inspired, prophetic, rescuing and courageous lives. There are many in the world today. There are not yet enough.
If we take anything from Jesus’ decision to enter the chaos of Jerusalem, let it be his faith that in the desire to do the next right thing, wherever that leads, God is always with us.
Peace.
Photo by dozemode from Pixabay.
I do not believe that Jesus and/or God planned for his execution by the Romans and/or for framing Jews for his death so that centuries of discrimination, pogroms and the Holocaust would result. It is shameful that the Church has not yet found the courage to stop proclaiming the “sacred” texts that give rise to the hatred of Jews.
On March 23, 15 clearly identified humanitarian workers were shot and killed by the IDF: eight aide workers from the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS), six from the Palestinian Civil Defence (PCD) and one from the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).
This brought me to tears, such a profound message so needed in these chaotic and cruel times. Thank you so much for do these sermons.
I always remember that quote, ....'courage sometimes skips a generation' ! It has been a reminder when we become complacent , to listen to our human inner call for courage , as uncomfortable and anxiety provoking as that may be. Thank you for this message Lily