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Passion Sunday - Making Choices

Here we are again, entering into the most tumultuous and holy week of the year in the Christian church. (Passion, or Palm, Sunday. Luke 19:28-40; and 22:14-27.) Like those long ago who lined the road into Jerusalem taken by Jesus we may be feeling hope, excitement, fear, confusion – or all of these! And we have choices to make in what we attend to, who we follow, and how this informs our everyday lives.

I encourage you to read what I have written in previous years.

 


This year my attention is drawn to three challenges from the two portions of the story we hear today from Luke’s gospel. (Other parts of the story will be focused on Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter Dawn and Easter Day.)

 

Firstly, it is important to remember that there were two processions into Jerusalem that day – Jesus riding in on the colt of a donkey with the symbolism of the coming of a king that would put an end to warfare, and the mighty Roman presence marching into the city with their military uniforms and weapons clinking and glinting in the sun to make sure that there would be no uprisings! (See my former writings and the references below) We are invited by the gospel to attend the chaotic little crowd that welcomes Jesus but with the awareness that a mighty imperial display of power is marching in the opposite direction. We are invited, indeed challenged, to make a decision about which procession we attend and whose side we are on. (Hint – it’s not the powerful or apparently “winning” side!)

 

At various moments in history, and now is one of them, we see these choices placed before us fairly clearly. The power of the world – the power to lead, to crush, to punish and reward; or the power of Jesus - to point to another kingdom, another way of being the dream of God made present, a community of Christ ready to serve and love.

 

Having made a choice about which procession we attend there are then many other choices and consequences that flow out of that decision. We who have heard this story many times before know that having thrilled with the crowd along the road, having accompanied Jesus and having been part of the procession, that soon there will be just us eating a meal, that proves to be our last, as part of the Passover, and finding that our teacher and friend defines himself and his ministry in terms of this central story. And then after the meal we will find out that our leader, our would be king, our master and friend, kneels and teaches about serving! (not about leading or being powerful or privileged?!)

 

This last night, these moments shared between disciples and master, lead us to two further choices. Secondly, we are challenged as to how we understand the meaning of the death of Jesus to us. Many of us grew up being told that the primary meaning was that of payment for sin, or atonement. I do believe that the death of Jesus had a powerful atoning, redeeming and reconciling effect but Jesus chose to share his last meal with his disciples at the Passover and to declare his life and forthcoming death in terms of the meaning and celebration of Passover. I choose therefore to understand the life and death of Jesus primarily in terms of the meaning of Passover. A celebration of the journey of the chosen people (which is ultimately all of us) from slavery to freedom in the promised land. The lamb slain at the Passover is not a payment for sin but a meal for a people setting out on a journey, a people about to follow Moses to freedom, a people on the move. And the blood of that lamb is daubed on the doorposts to protect the faithful from the plague. The Passover Lamb is sustenance for the journey. (We will focus more on this on Maundy Thursday.)

 

This means for me that I am challenged to consider my life as one who journeys in the strength of a providing God towards being one among the all who live in peace and plenty and practice welcome and hospitality. It means that as one on a journey I can never be too satisfied with my own ideas and practices, that I dedicated to growth and change and movement. It also means that I believe I am on a journey with others, that this is not just about my personal salvation and enlightenment, but about us becoming a people of God for the sake of all nations.

 

And thirdly, I am convicted and deeply challenged that Jesus chose his last night of private teaching to emphasise that he was among the disciples and therefore us, as one who serves. And surely therefore we are to be, as his followers, ones who serve rather than Lord it over others. This is deeply and forever challenging to me and probably to many. It places us forever at the feet of others in a position humble, loving and encouraging of others.

 

Holding these three challenging perspectives together, this year I am challenged again to remember that I am attending the procession of my radical and self giving Master not of the powerful imperial army. I am also deeply challenged to reflect on how my spiritual journey is entwined with others, of how it is less about my salvation (although that is important) but about our living and thriving as the community of God’s precious ones, and about us living as community in such a way that all are welcome. If the journey of Liberation and Freedom, the Passover, is the primary meaning, symbol, and process of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection then how is my life, and our community life, reflecting movement towards freedom?

 

Even so, come Lord Jesus our Prince of Peace, our Leader who Serves, our Passover Lamb, come gather us round and renew us by your love.

This is my work informed by everything I have heard, read and experienced. I am indebted to the wisdom of others. This week I am especially grateful to:

 

Borg, Marucs J & Crossan, John Dominic “The Last Week: What the Gospels Really Teach About Jesus’s Final Days in Jerusalem” Harper-Collins, New York, 2006

 

 

 

 

 

 

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