Words for Worship

Ministry Today

Bible Text: Any Triumphal Entry account)

 

There is a well known photograph

of New York’s Broadway

by Joel Meyerowitz.

 

And of it,

Graham Clarke points out

an extraordinary fact.

 

And it is

that there is

actually nothing

permanent in it.

 

You are indeed

hard put

to discover a solid building.

 

People of course are walking –

cars too are moving –

but even the street scenery

is made up

of bill boards,

neon signs,

scaffolding

and false temporary facades.  

 

Nothing then is truly fixed.

 

And I mention

all this

because that ride of Jesus

into Jerusalem

was a bit like that.

 

Obviously the crowds

would go home.

 

But more importantly

all the excitement

and adulation

would move with them.

 

In other words,

it was as if Jesus

was travelling down

a flimsy thoroughfare

surrounded by

people’s posters

of their hopes,

the placards

of their wants

and the garish adverts

of their dreams.

 

Hoarding with captions

on them like

Hey King of the Jews –

You’ll make me free  –

you’ll make me honest –

you’ll make me safe

and you’ll make me holy.  

 

Now all these hopes

seem entirely laudable.

 

So why were these notices

blowing along the ground

by night fall

and in the dust bin

next dawn.

 

Why were they part

of a crowd’s temporary delusion

rather than

the foundation

of their realistic expectation?

 

Why indeed

did not or would not

Jesus immediately deliver

their dreams?

 

Well it all comes down

to what the crowd

was shouting out

that Sunday!

 

 

Most were shouting

Hosanna

in terms of

its traditional meaning –

which was welcome.

 

And in that easy hello

was the desire

for an easy solution

to what ever mess

they were in.

 

That hosanna meant –

you are my hero

help me without effort–

you are my wonder man

do a wonder for me

as a freebie.  

 

You’re my messiah

but only if

you give a painless victory.

 

In,  fact

it really meant

I am welcoming you

not as my king

but as my puppet,

my wizard

and my servant –

so just do as I say.

 

Put another way –

the placards

that Sunday all said

the same thing –

me now!  

 

And so the crowd

were in a season of delusion

and false expectation.

 

Not surprisingly then

at the end of the ride

they were disappointed.

 

 

But we shouldn’t be

too hard on

the cheering crowd

that day.

 

After all

their religious teachers

had said –

if you live

by a godly set of rules

you’ll be seen all right.

 

It’s a bit like

a divine nudge

and a wink

to a chosen horse!

 

Just be in the right

and you’ll be in

the in crowd.

 

No talk there

of trials and tribulations

and innocent suffering.  

 

No concept

that the real Messiah

would suffer unjustly

and expect

his followers

sometimes

to do likewise.

 

No understanding

that there is no such thing

as easy grace

as Bonhoeffer

rather unpopularly pointed out.

 

But as he rode into town,

Jesus on his donkey

was not caught up

in this season of delusion.

 

Because he knew

that the crowd

should still

be shouting

hosanna

but with its alternative meaning

and that is –

salvation;

the salvation that

he could indeed

offer the solution

to every problem;

the very salvation

which he had yet

to purchase

at a costly price.  

 

For high on his donkey

he could see

that the road

through the next week

was strewn

with the sweet smelling adulation

of palm leaves and cloaks.

 

But he could see

something else.

 

He could smell

the stench of humiliation

and the rottenness

of being skewered by nails

and being suffocated

by your own weight.

 

And in such foresight,

he knew

something else.

 

He knew he had to reject

the first

and embrace the second.

 

He knew he had to

brave appalling injustice

and pain

if the universal key

was to be offered

to every rightful dream

and expectation;

if he

as the authentic messiah

was to give the foundation

of any world stability

and if he was to offer

every messy life

of fragrance and excrement

the hosanna of salvation.

 

We therefore can understand

why the crowd

weren’t that fussed

at taking on board

that Jesus too

was carrying his own placard

that Sunday.

 

A sign that said

on one side –

walk my way

for your own cross.

 

 And so they failed

to read that

proclamation’s other side.

 

They failed

in addition

to enter the Easter of truth.

 

For Christ’s glorious obverse

of suffering

always remains –

walk my way

to your destiny

beyond the stars.

 

 

I don’t know

if you have been following

American presidential campaign.

 

I have –

for after all

whoever is elected

will have almost

much impact on our lives

as his or her own citizens.

 

Also if truth be told

I find the whole process

more fascinating

than our system

using smoke filled rooms

to pick a Prime Minister.  

 

Albeit smoke filled rooms

are now either illegal

or after last week’s budget

exorbitantly expensive!

 

But during

the last Bush election campaign

I was always impressed

by TV pictures

of apparently

home made placards

being waved

by the excited crowd.

 

It was only afterwards

I learned that

they were all mass produced

and handed out

by the candidate’s team

before each visit

was televised.

 

Well today,

as we stand

on our own the mount of olives

we too have been handed

a placard by the Church.

 

It is the same one

that has been carried

by countless Christians

both in suffering and adulation.

 

In fact,

it was the very same one

that Christ gave

to his disciples

after carrying it

courageously

through holy week.

 

It is the one

that dispels our delusion

and tells of trails.

 

Yet it is the same one

which  welcomes

the Easter of faith

and grace and truth.

 

So if you are suffering

a tribulation

at this moment

look up to Christ’s sign.

 

Read again its words –

walk the way

of the cross

and answer it

with a prayer for trust.

 

Then let the season

of false fears

steal away –

let God’s stability

come into the situation

and let a season

of unwavering faith

be anchored afresh

in your heart.

 

For that alone

turns the divine placard

around.

 

For that alone

turns the human mess

around.

 

Because that alone

turns any problem around

so that we can see

permanently -  

walk this way

to your destiny

which is ever

beyond the stars.

 

Amen

 

 

Offering

 

HYMN…………………..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Season of Delusion (Palm Sunday)