First Parish Sermon

Presented April 4, 1999
Rev. Kimberly Wood
Copyright (c) 1999 Rev. Kimberly Wood

Reading

29  When he had come near Bethphage and Bethany, at the place called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of the disciples,
30  saying, "Go into the village ahead of you, and as you enter it you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden. Untie it and bring it here.
31  If anyone asks you, 'Why are you untying it?' just say this, 'The Lord needs it.'"
32  So those who were sent departed and found it as he had told them.
33  As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, "Why are you untying the colt?"
34  They said, "The Lord needs it."
35  Then they brought it to Jesus; and after throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it.
36  As he rode along, people kept spreading their cloaks on the road.
37  As he was now approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen,
38  saying, "Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven!"
39  Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, order your disciples to stop."
40  He answered, "I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out."

Reflection

I love spring It is my favorite season It is the season of hope and promise of new life.
It is no surprise that the resurrection of Jesus is celebrated in the spring. As one of my favorite Wayside Pulpit signs reads, "In nature everything is resurrection"
OR in Revelation where it reads of the creator "behold, I makes all things new"
OR the poet who wrote "If winter comes, can spring be far behind."

Spring is such a time of joy and singing a time to celebrate getting through the hard, dark, coldness of winter. Passing from the season of winter in the earth, and the symbolic winters of our lives to new life and hope.

Every year it comes, and every year it causes me great joy.

Palm Sunday, is also a time of celebration A celebration of Jesus as he enters the city of Jerusalem.

When Jesus entered the city there was already a celebration happening people where preparing for Passover The celebration when the Angle of Death passed over Egypt and did not harm the people of Israel.

Jesus entered the city on the back of a colt which was a symbol of humility Matthew and John tell us he rode into the city upon the colt to fulfill scripture:

From Isaiah 62, and Zechariah 9 "Tell the daughter of Zion Behold, your King is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a colt. . .."

My Bible study tells me this humility was in contrast to other kings who rode into towns on horses and chariots, often, the symbols of war and power. Instead, Jesus came as a King of Peace.

All the people praised his arrival They covereed the ground laying down their coats and pulling branches from the trees to cover the ground. Doing this is a symbol of honor.
When the yelled Hosanna, it meant not only a cry for joy, but Hosanna, also means "O Save."

Luke tells us even the stones would cry out in praise and joy for Jesus who was a new symbol of a king not a king of war and conquering but a king of peace bringing in the reign of peace.

And as Jesus was always saying the kingdom of God was at hand and beyond that, already in their midst.

This was much different then people were expecting of their messiah, their savior and king This king was supposed to save Israel through battle and being a ruler in the style of the house of David Once again they would have a royal king.

Jesus, or the people who wrote of Jesus, reclaimed that notion of King and made Jesus a humble king, a king of the spirit, not of the world a king of peace not of war.

At his death, the solders said to him "If you are King of the Jews, save yourself." There was also an inscription over him, "This is the King of the Jews."

They scorned him for not being the king they imagined they did not get it Jesus was a different kind of King The king iof peace of a different kind og kingdom, the kingdom of heaven not only a kingdom of the future but a kingdom of heaven which was as Jesus told them, aldready in thier midst A kingdom where people practiced Mercy, pity, peace, and love as Jesus emulated by his life and as he taught in his parables.

The irony of the Palm Sunday story and what is happening in our world today, at this time, is not lost on me.

For some reason, as I prepared my semon I was listening to the radio in the morning, The news was reporting on the happenings in Kosovo I watched the presidents address the night before and now I was hearing about refugees who Macedonia would not let in The refugees were now trapped in the mountains. I have heard about the demonstrations and the building tensions.

I hate the news: it tells me things I do not want to hear -- it makes me feel things I do not want to feel. I want to celebrate spring, and Palm Sunday, and not worry about war, and killing, and egregious acts.

I read the story of Jesus entering the city upon the colt all the people celebrating their king, their savior throwing down their coats and palms from the trees Shouting Hosanna in the Highest Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in Heaven and glory in the highest!"

I thought to myself, Palm Sunday is a celebration of Peace and we are fighting a war.
But then the passage went on. After this grand entry into the city in which Jesus would be crucified. Jesus looked upon the city and Luke writes:

"As he came near and saw the city, he wept over it, 42 saying, "If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. 43 Indeed, the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up ramparts around you and surround you, and hem you in on every side. 44 They will crush you to the ground, you and your children within you, and they will not leave within you one stone upon another; because you did not recognize the time of your visitation from God."

The Kosovo Liberation Army of the Ethinic Alabanian Muslims took up arms to demand liberation Serbs, who are Orthodox, are determined to hold on to that land. This land is holy to them, because in 1389, their hero, Prince Lazar, died in battle there, at the field of Blackirds, which is where Kosovo gets it name, Kos means blackbird. after that the land was ruled by Muslims for 600 years. But the land and the prince are still revered for his sacrifice. Pilgrims still visist that land where his bones are in a monastry. It is the sight where Elijah appeared to Prince Lazar with a message from Virgin Mary: telling him not to surrender, that death was better than surrender. After his death, the land being occupied by Muslims, became a home land for Muslims and now has a relgious history for them as well.

It is not just religios, of course, but political. Milosevic promised a Greater Serbia which failed in Bosnia and Croatia and is more detirmed than ever to hold this land. The Serbs claim the Ethnic Albanian Muslims are seeking to create a Greater Albania and take away their holy land. Both say the other side started the fighting first both make claims of abominable acts from the other side WE hear the reports of the Serbian's acts of ethnic cleansing and that phrase just kills me. And now innnocent people are being killed and there are hundreds of thosands of refugees. All for holy land, is it worth it?

Religious wars, holy wars, that is an oxymoron to me I do not understand it. There is nothing holy happening when people kill each other over religious land. what is happening is Kosovo is not dissimilar to Jerusalem The city which Jesus looked over and the city for which he wept.

The city for which he lamented on that day could be any city today.

He said: "Would that even today you knew the things that make peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes."

Would that we knew the things that make peace but we do not know. We try peace agreements written by what Serbs and Ethnic Albanian Muslims feel is from outsiders We try bombs bombs to bring peace. Would that we knew the things that make peace.

Why do we not know the things that make peace? Jesus gives a hint in his lamentation. He speaks of the enemies, which were, if we take this passage literally, the Roman armies, but reading it today, any enemy could apply, whether it be an army of destruction or our own destructive thoughts. Who is the enemy in the war going on know, that is the tricky part Ethnic Albanian Muslims are enemies to Serbs, Serbs are the enemies of the Albanians The United States and NATO allies are enemies to the Serbs and Serbian allies, and so on and so on.

Jesus wept because his people did not know the ways of peace We tooshould weep because we and the world do not know the ways of peace.

Because we do not know the ways of peace the enemy surrounds us, hems us in on every side, dashes us to the ground, cuts off our ability to create new life.

Why, why do we not have peace? We hold up the hope for a better world but will it ever be possible? We hold up humanity but are we the better species we think we are? Is peace in our ability to create? Do we have choices? can we create peace out of chaos and destruction?

How can we have hope, now when we are supposed to be rejoicing in the Spring and Resurrection? Now, comes death when there is supposed to be life. During our season of hope their is despair in the world.

Jesus, the big symbol of life conquering death whether you take literally or symbolical, give us a hint in his lamentation.

He says we do not know peace because no one recognizes the visitation from God. No one recognizes the holy, we think the holy is in places, in land or buildings, or things to experince heaven, we must get something from some one, some thing, or some place else.

We think the holy is apart from life, up there somewhere, or it we think it does not exisit at
all. And I say we as a collective human race, sure some indivuals might get it, but until we all get, we fail. We fail to see the the holy is in our midsts. WE set ourselves against each other like most of Jesus's parables tell us, thinking there has to be a right and a wrong side a saved and an unsaved side. We do not realize the time of our visitation by the holy is now, the holy is all around us, in our fellow human beings, waiting to be recognized and honored, sitting humbly upon a colt, but instead of honoring the holy we crucify it.

Would that we knew the things that make peace Would that we knew the holy in our midst.