The Rev. Joseph Peters-Mathews is the vicar of St. Hilda St. Patrick. The sermon for Sunday, March 28, was preached in response to Philippians 2.5-11 and Mark 14.1-15.47.
Next year,
not just me reading.
Maybe next year
not even me reading.
As we end Lent
and start Holy Week,
we see how fickle we are,
how just human we are.
Within the span of a week,
and just a few minutes for us
even if it is scripted,
the crowds and we
go from shouting “Hosanna”
to “Crucify him!”
Jesus can’t make anyone happy.
He’s come to redeem the world
to overthrow the power of death,
by being subject to it himself.
In our passages from Mark today
Jesus subverts and ridicules
everything about power
that people are expecting from a Messiah.
Despite his predicting his own death,
Jesus’ disciples and the crowds following them
don’t understand that Jesus
has not come to lead an insurrection.
Jesus can’t make anyone happy.
He’s come to redeem the world
to overthrow the power of death,
by being subject to it himself.
Andrew Lloyd Webber captures this dynamic brilliantly
in “What’s the Buzz?” from Jesus Christ Superstar.
“When do we ride into Jerusalem?
“When do we ride into Jerusalem?”
the crowd demands of Jesus,
looking for a military attack.
Jesus rebuffs them,
“Why should you want to know?
“Why are you obsessed with fighting
Times and fates you can’t defy?
“If you knew the path we’re riding
You’d understand it less than I”
Jesus comes riding into jerusalem,
not on a big white horse
not with a big parade
not with custom banners
not with brass music fanfare,
to celebrate his military triumps.
Jesus comes riding into jerusalem,
in humility on a baby donkey.
Jesus the king of all creation,
“who, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God
as something to be exploited,
but emptied himself,
being born in human likeness.”
The people celebrating him
are the outcasts and the downtrodden,
those for whom he has said he has good news.
The people celebrating Jesus’ entry
are people who live
in the shadow and fear of violence
from their Roman occupiers.
Rather than custom banners,
they wave their coats.
Rather than brass fanfare,
they wave leafy branches.
Jesus is mocking an pantomiming
what the Romans do.
The crowds don’t realize it yet,
but he’s mocking and pantomiming
the kind of savior they think they want.
Jesus can’t make anyone happy.
He’s come to redeem the world
to overthrow the power of death,
by being subject to it himself.
Jesus, being found in human form,
humbled himself
and became obedient to the point of death–
even death on a cross.
After being in Jerusalem a week,
with the leaders of Judea looking
for ways to arrest him the whole time,
Jesus is arrested.
He’s foretold his death,
and the woman who will be remembered forever —
but whose name isn’t even recorded —
prepares his body for burial
intimately anointing him
with her tears and hair and oil.
Jesus, the king of kings and lord of lords,
rejects the vision of military savior
so many have looked for,
longed for.
When Jesus is defended with a sword,
he asks why the guards
have come to him with violence
under the cover of night
rather than confront him during the day
and in public.
Jesus can’t make anyone happy.
He’s come to redeem the world
to overthrow the power of death,
by being subject to it himself.
Through his week in Jerusalem,
Jesus hasn’t led a violent revolution.
He hasn’t thrown off the tyranny
of the Roman boot
on the necks of his people.
Just a week earlier
they called hosannah.
Now, being given the choice
between the one they loved a week before
and an actual insurrectionist,
they choose the insurrectionist.
“We choose Barabbas!”
“Then what do you wish me to do
with the man you call
the King of the Jews?”
They shouted back,
“Crucify him!”
Pilate asked them,
“Why, what evil has he done?”
But they shouted all the more,
“Crucify him!”
Next year,
when I’m not reading this whole thing
we’ll know again how quickly
we go from “Hosannah!” to
“Crucify him!”
When things don’t go our way,
or when we celebrate potshots
or wish that violence against our enemies
would fix the problems that they’ve caused,
we forget Jesus.
We forget humble Jesus,
who became human,
and mocked and pantomimed
the idea that might makes right.
We forget humble Jesus,
who through his obedience
didn’t fight back
and let himself be killed.
When we want to shoot our way out of this,
whatever this is,
we call for an insurrection—
even if we’re not actually engaging in one! —
and call ourselves,
“Crucify him!”
Jesus can’t make anyone happy.
He’s come to redeem the world
to overthrow the power of death,
by being subject to it himself.
As we hear these stories of Jesus’ humility
knowing that following him
is being drawn to that same humility,
I hope you attend with your hearts
the events we mark this week.
We’ll go through the rest of the week,
and walk with Jesus to his glorious death
and his shattering resurrection.
As we go, though,
notice how you feel.
Notice when you want Jesus
to do something different.
Jesus can’t make anyone happy.
He’s come to redeem the world
to overthrow the power of death,
by being subject to it himself.
In letting himself be subject to death himself,
Jesus opens the way for us
to everlasting life. Amen.