Thank you all who helped me with the virtual Palm Sunday procession—your
pictures were amazing the choir and Patrick for their wonderful music. It was such a joy to see your smiling faces.
In some way, I feel like my life these days has been reduced a
series of processions— the most traveled one being from the couch to the fridge
then back to the couch.
But there are others—out
to the great daily procession out to the mailbox the exercise procession around the block—trying to keep the Coronavirus
15 off--- every once and while a procession out to the grocery store or
to the transfer station.
There is also the procession through my Netflix account as I
try to find something that I haven’t watched –my standards are getting lower or my procession through my Facebook and Twitter feeds
looking for information—looking for - cute animal videos to distract me.
You get the drift—cause that is your life too.
But thank God today we are dropped down entirely into a
different kind of procession—Jesus triumphant procession into Jerusalem to
celebrate the Passover. I read that at
the time the city of Jerusalem would swell from 40,000 to over 200,000
---pilgrims from all over would descend on the holy city to celebrate and make
offerings in the temple.
What you may not have realized was that there was another
procession that day---while Jesus in on Donkey on a road paved with branches and
cloak entering from the east—with family and
friends and few others—Pontius Pilate— in all his majesty and power roman prefect
was entering from the west—with war horses and soldiers—entering Jerusalem to make
sure that order and peace were maintained during that great celebration of Passover.
John Dominic Crossan and Marcus Borg in their book The Last
week say “Pilate’s procession embodied the power, the glory and violence of the
empire that ruled the world. [While]
Jesus procession embodied an alternate vision, the kingdom of God.”[1] They say that the question for us on Palm
Sunday this week–is which procession are we in?
Which procession will we follow?
One of the great thing about crises and times of tragedy is that
we get to see the kingdom of God breaking in—we get to see it right before our
very eyes, and I don’t know about you but
it lifts me up to see those things and
it inspires to be a part of it. It makes
me say I want to be in that procession—I
want to follow Jesus like that.
It’s things like the Governor
and the people of Oregon sending 140 ventilators of their very valuable ventilators
to new York—it reminds me that kingdom is not about hoarding and holding on
tight for ourselves but it’s opening
up our hands and sharing the things we have with those who need it more. I want to be in that procession.
It’s things like a priest in Italy or an elderly woman in Belgium
who say I’ve lived a good life—give that ventilator to someone else. It reminds me that the kingdom of God is about
sacrificing for the other sacrificing for the greater good —I want to be a part
of that procession.
It’s things like a nurse who drives herself across the country
from Idaho to New York City to share her expertise with those on the front line
to battle the virus and to help and heal those who need her. It’s a
reminder that that Kingdom of God is embodied when we are brave and courageous
and offer our services for a greater good. I want to be in that procession.
It’s the things that you all are doing selflessly halting your lives and staying home – giving up
family time and friend time and giving up sporting events and proms —to keep yourselves
healthy and to keep your neighbors healthy –it reminds me that the kingdom of
God is about selflessness. —
it’s the phone calls and the delivering of toilet paper to your
neighbors. It’s the silly videos, the
Tik-Toks you are posting that are bringing smiles to our faces. It’s reaching into your pocketbooks to help
those who might be able to use your dollar just a little bit better.
I look out at each of you and I know which procession you are in—I know who
you are following and you inspire me and you are inspiring others to follow in that procession.
Thank you for your witness dear church and as they say, keep
on keeping on—keep on following the guy on the donkey—keep following that
procession—that’s the procession we need right now and that’s the procession we
are going to continue to need when all of this is said and done. Thank you dear church.
Amen
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