Luke 23:10-16, 20-24
So, here we are... back where this whole thing started. At least the parts of the story of Jesus that we have been reading about during this Lenten season. Since mid-February we have been looking at Luke 22, mostly, and the various events that lead to the build up of anger against Jesus that culminates in his crucifixion. But this week we go backwards a bit to the beginning of this time in Jerusalem.
And it begins with a makeshift parade, of sorts, as most of you well know from years of attending Palm Sunday services. The events of the gospels report things differently, but we will look at Luke 19 for this retelling this year. Strangely, in Luke 19, there is no mention at all of palm branches being waved in this parade. It's the only gospel that doesn't mention the branches. So, we have to at least honor that nuance a little bit. So we will focus more in our service this week on the cloaks the crowd placed in the path than on the palm branches. Oh, I know it's traditional to have palms, and we will definitely have them in the service, but we won't do things quite like we usually do. To honor Luke's intent.
The story is familiar to most of you. Jesus tells a couple of disciples to go into the city and there they will see a colt tied up and they should untie it and prepare it for him. So they do. The colt's owner asks what they need it for and they said "The Lord needs it." So they take it. And they spread their cloaks on it.
And as he moves down into the city on the colt, Jesus hears the crowd shouting "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord." And this crowd, too, lays down their cloaks on the road to honor the path. They are honoring him and take great joy in seeing him among them.
But the Pharisees ask Jesus to tell the crowd to stop and he tells them that even the stones would cry out now. Jesus is trying to get the Pharisees to see that the kingdom of God and God's message cannot be silenced by some religious rulers and their cynicism.
Two themes I'd like to address this week:
1) This message of the cloaks. What did that represent that cloaks were laid down on the path? How does that honor Jesus and his message? How does that show a sacrifice on the part of the people? For some reason this reminds me of that Mean Joe Green commercial for Coke from years ago when he throws the kid his jersey.
2) The words of Jesus when he says "even the stones would cry out." Does that mean that God's message is for the whole of creation? That even the natural world is waiting patiently for God's love to overcome it and overcome the religious rules that inhibit full love from forming?
Later in this passage Jesus cries for Jerusalem. He is sad that the city is under siege from the authorities who are iron-fisted and filled with anger. He says "Would that even today you knew the things that make for peace?" A phrase that he cries out in lament, for the city is anything but peaceful. So much unrest and hostility.
How is this passage setting the tone for what is to come? How does it relate to what we should or shouldn't be thinking, doing and feeling as Holy Week looms?
Email me at peverhart@niwotumc.org or comment below.
So, here we are... back where this whole thing started. At least the parts of the story of Jesus that we have been reading about during this Lenten season. Since mid-February we have been looking at Luke 22, mostly, and the various events that lead to the build up of anger against Jesus that culminates in his crucifixion. But this week we go backwards a bit to the beginning of this time in Jerusalem.
And it begins with a makeshift parade, of sorts, as most of you well know from years of attending Palm Sunday services. The events of the gospels report things differently, but we will look at Luke 19 for this retelling this year. Strangely, in Luke 19, there is no mention at all of palm branches being waved in this parade. It's the only gospel that doesn't mention the branches. So, we have to at least honor that nuance a little bit. So we will focus more in our service this week on the cloaks the crowd placed in the path than on the palm branches. Oh, I know it's traditional to have palms, and we will definitely have them in the service, but we won't do things quite like we usually do. To honor Luke's intent.
The story is familiar to most of you. Jesus tells a couple of disciples to go into the city and there they will see a colt tied up and they should untie it and prepare it for him. So they do. The colt's owner asks what they need it for and they said "The Lord needs it." So they take it. And they spread their cloaks on it.
And as he moves down into the city on the colt, Jesus hears the crowd shouting "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord." And this crowd, too, lays down their cloaks on the road to honor the path. They are honoring him and take great joy in seeing him among them.
But the Pharisees ask Jesus to tell the crowd to stop and he tells them that even the stones would cry out now. Jesus is trying to get the Pharisees to see that the kingdom of God and God's message cannot be silenced by some religious rulers and their cynicism.
Two themes I'd like to address this week:
1) This message of the cloaks. What did that represent that cloaks were laid down on the path? How does that honor Jesus and his message? How does that show a sacrifice on the part of the people? For some reason this reminds me of that Mean Joe Green commercial for Coke from years ago when he throws the kid his jersey.
2) The words of Jesus when he says "even the stones would cry out." Does that mean that God's message is for the whole of creation? That even the natural world is waiting patiently for God's love to overcome it and overcome the religious rules that inhibit full love from forming?
Later in this passage Jesus cries for Jerusalem. He is sad that the city is under siege from the authorities who are iron-fisted and filled with anger. He says "Would that even today you knew the things that make for peace?" A phrase that he cries out in lament, for the city is anything but peaceful. So much unrest and hostility.
How is this passage setting the tone for what is to come? How does it relate to what we should or shouldn't be thinking, doing and feeling as Holy Week looms?
Email me at peverhart@niwotumc.org or comment below.
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