Wedding Feast of the Lamb

Lent 6 year A Sermon Palm Sunday

Jesus has come to town for a meal

Like all the other… tired and dusty… Jewish pilgrims on the road that day…Jesus and his friends… are arriving in Jerusalem… for a sacred meal…for the Passover…the oldest Jewish festival… to honour the saving acts of God.

Jesus has been travelling toward Jerusalem for months… preaching and teaching and healing…
and given the edict out for his execution…you’d think he’d stay out of town.

Most of those who travel with him…have come to believe he’s the promised messiah…
the anointed one of God …
the one to restore the throne of David and Israel…
to their rightful place against the Romans…

But lurking in the shadows…are others…who track his every move… certain that he’s dangerous… a trouble maker…

out to challenge the religious authorities and upset the nice cosy relationship they have with the Empire .

As well… Roman spies are watching Jesus closely…
wanting a trouble free festival… with so many thousands… coming in to the city…for the Passover…
Kind of reminds me of Wanaka at Easter.

And here is Jesus…riding into the city…
among throngs of Jewish pilgrims. Here is Jesus
already disturbing things…making an elaborate and dramatic claim… to the royal throne of David…
riding in on a donkey…just as Israel’s kings had before him
Disturbing the peace…
daring everyone…to compare his arrival to the ancient prophesy … See Jerusalem… daughter of Zion

    

Word slide

 See, your king comes to you,
   gentle and riding on a donkey

Not one of the pilgrims entering the city that day…
would miss the symbolic reference to Israel’s kings…

Like the great pilgrimages…we see today in the Middle East they flooded into the city gates in their thousands…

And still today every observant Jew…longs to celebrate
the Passover in Jerusalem…at least once in their life time.  Next year in Jerusalem!    [Pause]

Blank slide

The focus of the Passover pilgrimage...
and the meal they share...always was and always is… hope

Hope in God. Hope in the only one…who can bring deliverance out of suffering… hope kindled by the telling... and retelling... of the story of how God delivered the people … from slavery in Egypt.

Even in Jesus’ time… the Passover was the oldest religious festival...based on ancient memories and rituals... handed down by Jewish storytellers through the centuries...
and finally preserved in the scroll of Exodus by the priests in exile in Babylon.

Passover…the story of the tenth and final plague...
that broke the will of Pharaoh… to let the people go...

a pestilence that killed every unprotected…firstborn child...

the only thing saving the children of the Israelites...

was the blood of a sacrificial lamb...poured out...
and streaked across the doorposts of their homes...

The scroll of the Exodus recalling how God instructed Moses to tell the people

 ‘And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses ... and when I see the blood, I will pass over you...
and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you
when I smite the land of Egypt. And this day shall be a memorial…and you shall keep it a feast ... forever.’

The blood of the sacrificial lamb... would save them.
God would deliver them from bondage. [pause]

And so the pilgrims come... wave after wave...

into the sacred city of the Jews... itself a symbol
of the day when all God’s promises are fulfilled...
when one day all oppression, exploitation and cruelty…
would be ended…the day when all creation is restored
to right relationship with God. [pause…………..]

So naturally there’s an atmosphere of celebration
as they approach Jerusalem...not only for what God has done... but in anticipation...of what God will continue to do...to bring salvation and deliverance
to those still enslaved… to bondage and tyranny.

And it’s right into this very context…Jesus chooses to make his audacious… and unmistakably regal…
entry into Jerusalem…
The symbolism of riding on a donkey
could not be missed by any Jew…it is a piece of high and sacred drama…carefully planned by Jesus…
to announce for all to see…they don’t have to wait any longer… God’s anointed one has arrived…

The one who’d bring about the salvation of the world…
has entered the city gates.

So you can kind of understand
why the religious authorities… see him as such a threat.

Last Supper slide

And isn’t it interesting…
when Jesus finally sits down to that last supper
with his friends…instead of downplaying…
that dangerous declaration of his identity…

Jesus then dares… to reshape and reinterpret…
the whole sacred tradition… of the Passover.

Did you notice in our reading…
when Jesus proclaims the Passover…is fulfilled.

Here’s how he does it…

Right there in that upper room…just as father’s are doing
in every household in Jerusalem…
Jesus takes on the role…of the head of the family.

He offers his friends…the broken… unleavened bread…
of the Passover meal… and he blesses his cup of wine…
And as Jesus tells them…their ancient story…
of freedom and salvation…

his words… confirm their worst fears
for his life… and maybe even… his sanity. [pause]

Just as the lamb… sacrificed by their ancestors in Egypt
was a sign from God… of their deliverance… Jesus’ life… will now be offered up…as a sacrifice…
to bring deliverance for all people…

Their teacher… their friend…

understood himself to be the sacrificial Lamb of God...
and in this way…the Passover would be fulfilled…
for all the world. [pause……….]

And there in the face of their fear for his life
and maybe even his sanity...Jesus comforts his followers
And gently recites… the words they’d heard a hundred times at engagement parties…

the tender promise made… by every Jewish bridegroom
to his bride.

 

Slide words

in my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back... and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.

 

When Jesus speaks these words along with the symbolic language of the Passover...the last supper
becomes the wedding feast of the lamb... [pause….]

Blank slide

And all he asks of them… is that they be faithful
to this new covenant...
and love each other…just as he has loved them...
so the whole world will know they’re his disciples. [pause]

The hospitality of the table of our Lord…
the wedding feast of the Lamb…
has occurred already… and Jesus has presided over it…

Speaking forgiveness from the cross…for the salvation of the world. And we are to do this ourselves…
every time we remember him.

You see…here at the ends of the earth…beneath these mountains and beside these lakes…
we are a people of Jesus new covenant…
who gather around this table…each week to remember him.

Whether it’s communion Sunday or not…
you… are a people gathered around that same table…as they did in the Upper Room…you are a people bearing good news…sharing the same wedding feast…

People bid Jesus to love one another and carry that love into this community and into the world.

So in the years ahead…as you worship together and share the sacred meal in the company of another minister…
may you always show love and hospitality…to one another and to those who come… and they will come…strangers and orphans who need to know that in Jesus Christ they are forgiven set free.

The Politics of Palms

Lent 6 year C Palm Sunday 2013  The Rt Rev Ray Coster at the rededication of our church following major extensions and refurbishing.

Introduction

Lying right at the centre of this building project is Jesus.  This building is all about Jesus.  No more no less.  It’s built for him and dedicated to him.  All that takes place in this building in the years to come will have his touch upon it, his grace over it and his love flowing through it.  Jesus loves Wanaka and its environs and this building stands here to declare even as a silent witness – and hopefully a noisy one at times – that Jesus cares about the people of this district.

In my time as moderator I have one main goal and that is to uplift the name of Jesus and declare him to this nation of Aotearoa New Zealand.  Wherever I can I will talk about him. 

Remember church, he is the one who said, ‘without me you can do nothing.’  "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. John 15:5  And as Paul was later to declare, with him we can do all things.  “I can do everything through him [Jesus] who gives me strength. Philippians 4:13

As you step out into a new day as a church and community in Wanaka can I encourage you with this simple truth – keep your eye on the ball – his name is Jesus.  It’s so easy as a church to drop the ball and focus on so many other things that demand attention.  Keep your eye on Jesus in all that you.

Reading and Prayer 

Message

Someone once said that leadership is the art of disappointing people at a rate they can stand.  Jesus was the master at this throughout his life, but in the last week of his life he exceeded the disappointment rate and was killed.  I am learning in my first few months as moderator that it is very easy to disappoint people, but so far I have not had any stones or tomatoes thrown at me, and certainly not a cross on a hill!

People often think of Palm Sunday as an innocent children’s parade.  A donkey, Palm Branches, celebration, happy laughter – something like the Santa Christmas parade down Queen Street in Auckland.  The first one that we read about today was most certainly not.

About 100 years before Jesus birth, Israel’s great temple had been desecrated by foreign powers.  Under the Maccabees – a Jewish rebel army, Israel won a measure of freedom, which included control of the Temple.  Once they had this control they cleansed the temple, restored its worship and then rededicated the Temple to God and their restored nation.  Palm branches were used for its rededication.

I am not sure if you intentionally chose Palm Sunday to dedicate these renovations and additions or not, but in doing so you are in many ways repeating an ancient tradition of the Jewish people.  Palm Branches are a symbol of the restoration of a Holy Place.  A symbol that the place of meeting, the place of encounter with God in a town has been restored to its rightful place.  But that depends on your perspective.  To the Jewish people the Palms were a symbol of restoration, but not to the foreign powers that lorded it over the nation.

In Israel by the time of Jesus, Palm branches became a symbol of Jewish nationalism.  During two major wars against Rome, Israelite rebels illegally minted coins and put palms on them.  A sign of opposition – a refusal to use Roman currency.  To wave a palm branch in front of Rome was like waving a red flag in front of a bull.  It was a declaration of war.

What we Christians call the triumphal entry was for the crowds a military statement.

John indicates this in his gospel when he says the people quoted Psalm 118 ‘Hosanna (Lord save us) Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’  The next line in Psalm 118 is ‘From the house of the Lord we bless you.’  But that is not what the crowds say.  What they say is ‘Blessed is the King of Israel!’   In other words, blessed is the one who is going to overthrow Pilate, Herod and Caesar. They are fighting words.  The crowds wanted a fight.

But Jesus would not fight.  He got into trouble with the Palm Sunday crowds.  The hosanna’s stopped abruptly.  He disappointed them at a rate they could not stand.  Within a week they were asking for him to be killed.  “Fraud, imposter – you betrayed us, we will betray you!”  To the cross.  They wanted a new kingdom and a new king and thought Jesus was their man.  He was, but not in the way they thought.

When some of us Christians talk about the Kingdom of God we have an image of a place that human beings go to when they die.  The Kingdom is also now.  ‘Your kingdom come your will be done on earth.’  For the people of Jerusalem the Kingdom of God was a day when God would crush Rome, and give them a King.  There were many views how God would do this that we can learn from today as we dedicate this new church. 

The Zealots believed the Kingdom of God would come through revolt.  Challenge the political system.  They were an extreme terrorist group who would use violence.  There are some Christians while not declaring a physical war still think that the Kingdom of God is advanced through civil disobedience, whether it is through shooting people at an abortion clinic or protesting on city streets, or destroying communication dishes, or …

The Essenes decided to withdraw.  They were the people who lived in caves in the desert believing the world was so corrupt that the only response was to withdraw completely and devote themselves to a life of purity.  The Kingdom of God will come when the majority of people stop sinning and lead holy and righteous lives.  Today in the Christian world we still have what we might call the holiness movement – people who basically withdraw from society into a life of piety.

The Sadducees decided to assimilate.  They were pragmatists.  They were only interested in the here and now and thought if you can’t beat the opposition, then join them.  Some parts of the Christian church may also be like this today – it is hard to tell the difference between the church and the world.  The values of the world become the values of the church.  Serving the community, being community focus does not mean assimilating with the community so far as values, beliefs, attitudes are concerned.  As christains we are to be in the world – but we should also be different.  Palm 118: 8 verse 8.  Middle verse of bible, hinge around which it all swings.  It is better to trust in God than to trust in humanity.

Revolt, withdraw, assimilate.  Three possible responses of God followers to the world around them.  I trust that none of these is the attitude you want to embrace in this new church.  And neither did Jesus.  Jesus got into trouble with every one of these groups.  His method of relating to the world around him and bringing God to them was not by violence, or withdrawing into a religious sub-culture, or by assimilating with the community around him.

Jesus would not worship Caesar, but he also would not hate him or slander him or even ignore him.  And so with Pilate, Herod, the Pharisees or anyone else.  Jesus did not come just to bless Israel but Rome, Greece, Egypt, Babylon, Asia, and so on to the ends of the earth.  Anger and violence are not the way; withdrawal is not the way; assimilation is not the way.  There is another way.  The way of Jesus is to connect people whom politics and society separates.

Jesus strategy was simple – but different.  To his disciples he basically said, ‘we have no money, no clout, no status, no buildings, no soldiers – great!  Things are going exactly to plan.  We will tell them their way is wrong – Roman money and power, the revolutionaries, the withdrawers, the collaborators.  When they hate us – as many of them will – when they call us names and throw us in prison, even kill some of us, we won’t fight back, we won’t run away, we won’t give in.  we’ll just keep loving them.  We will just keep inviting them to join us.  We will love them so much.

Our God is a God for all nations.  Our God is a God for all peoples. 

Many people are concerned what they can get out of a nation or a community.  I have no doubt that many people come to Wanaka and Central Otago to take – to take photos, sample the wine, tramp the hills, take fish out of the lake, ski the slopes and many other things I don’t know about.  As I climbed Mount Iron yesterday morning I was thinking it’s a pity someone didn’t come and take a few hundred rabbits.  A hundred or so years ago people came to this region to take out gold.  How many have come to put gold back in?  The gold I am thinking of is not just the metal nuggets – the money that tourists bring, but the gold that is the symbol of heaven.  Who is coming to put gold into the soul, into the heart of Wanaka?  People come to Central Otago to get rich, to get a tan, to get pleasure.  But who comes to give.  Jesus does and so do his followers.  Martin Setchel did.

Jesus calls his people, his followers to love Wanaka and to engage in this region in enterprise and education, in the arts and local government, in their neighbourhoods and communities to add to the well-being of this place.  He calls us to give to the town so that it may flourish in every sphere of society – not just the spiritual – but we are not to worship the town or the beautiful scenery anything associated with or around the town, we are to worship him alone.

Sometimes Christians forget that the first thing that belongs to God is the obligation to love – including the obligation to love people who follow the way of other religions or who follow no religion at all.  Church, when we look at this community and its environs, ask what will bring life and what will cause death.  Look for ways of bringing life.  Maybe we Christians need to stop asking what is right and what is wrong.  That question leads to division and confrontation.  It puts one group of people on one side of an invisible line and the others on the opposite side.  And then like two opposing rugby sides we try and bash hell out of each other.  The early Christians asked, what will bring life first.  When they simply loved the Roman Empire eventually the Caesar became converted and the whole Roman Empire became Christian.  Sure it took time, but one day Constantine met Jesus and suddenly Christianity moved from being illegal to being legal.

Can I suggest that we are dedicating this church today as an expression of love for Wanaka.  When Jesus rode into Jerusalem that was his purpose.  Do you remember how he once said, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, how I have longed to love you. Matthew 23:37 (NIV)  The crowds did not understand that on the first Palm Sunday.  They were looking for power, but human power always submits to the law of unintended consequences.  True love never does.

There is a kingdom that is not of this world.  There is a love that is stronger than hate.  Sadly, when the followers of Jesus have not embraced this truth they have been corrupted by power and committed horrible crimes in the name of Jesus. 

Church, I congratulate you on this wonderful new renovated building.  Use it to love this community through sacrifice and service.  Use it to give to the community.  Use the symbol of Palms to dedicate the building to God for his glory that it may be a place of worship and prayer, a place where men and women and boys and girls will find the loving embrace of Jesus.  Don’t use them as a sign of power, or revolution, withdrawal or assimilation.  Go forward from today as his resurrection people living in the power of His presence and the presence of his power so that all of Wanaka is truly blessed.

Wedding Feast of the Lamb

Lent 6 year A Sermon Palm Sunday

Jesus has come to town for a meal.

Like all the other tired and dusty Jewish pilgrims… on the road that day…Jesus and his friends are coming for a sacred meal…the Passover…the oldest Jewish festival to honour the saving acts of God.

Yes he’d been travelling toward Jerusalem for months… preaching and teaching and healing…
but given the order out… for his execution…
you’d think he’d stay away…

Some of those who travel with him… believe he’s the promised messiah…the anointed one of God …the one who’ll restore the throne of David… and Israel… to their rightful place in the world…

But others… lurking in the shadows… tracking his every move… others are certain he’s dangerous…
a trouble maker…
out to challenge the religious authorities.

Still others… Roman spies … are watching him closely…they don’t want any trouble… with so many thousands coming in to the city for the festival of the Passover…[kind of reminds you of Wanaka when the Air Show is on, doesn’t it]

And there’s Jesus…riding into the city…among throngs of other Jewish pilgrims.
Making quite a show… of his claim to the royal throne of David… riding on a donkey as kings had before him…daring people to compare him with the ancient prophesy…See Jerusalem daughter of Zion

'See, your king comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey….'

Not one of the pilgrims… would miss the symbolic reference to Israel’s kings…

Like the great pilgrimages we see today…in the middle East…they flooded into the city gates…
And today all Jews… still long to celebrate the Passover in Jerusalem…at least once in their life time.

The focus of the Passover pilgrimage... and the meal they’ll share together... is hope...hope in God.
Hope in the only one who can bring deliverance – hope kindled by the telling... and retelling...
of the story of God...
delivering the people from slavery in Egypt.

Even in Jesus’ time the Passover was oldest Jewish religious festival...based on ancient memories and rituals... handed down by storytellers throughout the centuries... and finally preserved in the scroll of Exodus.
Passover refers to the tenth and final plague... that broke the will of Pharaoh to let the people go...
In the ancient story of the Exodus...this pestilence killed every unprotected firstborn child...

and what saved the children of the Israelites...
was the blood of a sacrificial lamb...
poured out... and wiped across the door posts of their homes...

God had instructed Moses to say
Bread and wine word slide
‘And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses ... and when I see the blood, I’ll pass over you...and the plague shall not be upon you...
to destroy you when I smite the land of Egypt. And this day shall be a memorial; and you shall keep it a feast ... for ever.’

The blood of the sacrificial lamb... would save them. God would deliver them from bondage.

And so the pilgrims come... wave after wave...
into the sacred city of the Jews...the city itself a symbol
of the day when all God’s promises are fulfilled...
all oppression, exploitation and cruelty… are ended…
the day when all creation…
is restored to right relationship with God.

So naturally…there’s an atmosphere of celebration as they approach Jerusalem...not only for what God has done... but in anticipation...of what God will continue
to do...to bring salvation and deliverance to those enslaved to bondage and tyranny.

And it’s right into this context… Jesus makes his audacious… and unmistakably regal entry…
into Jerusalem…The symbolism of riding on a donkey could not be missed by any Jew…
it’s a piece of high and sacred drama…
announcing for all to see…that God’s anointed one…has arrived…

The one who’d bring about the salvation of the world… had entered the city gates.

You can understand why the religious authorities saw him as a threat.

And isn’t it interesting that…when Jesus finally sits down to that last supper with his friends…
instead of downplaying… that dangerous declaration of his identity…Jesus dares to reshape and reinterpret…
the sacred tradition of the Passover.
He proclaims the Passover…to be fulfilled.

Here’s how he does it…In that upper room…as father’s are doing in every household…Jesus takes on the role of family head.

He offers his friends…
the broken… unleavened bread… of the Passover meal… and he blesses his cup of wine…

And as Jesus tells them their ancient story…
of freedom and salvation…
his words confirm their worst fears…
for his life and maybe even his sanity.

Just as the lamb… sacrificed by their ancestors in Egypt…was a sign from God of their deliverance… Jesus’ life would now be offered up…as a sacrifice… to bring deliverance for all people…
…their teacher… Their friend
was to be the sacrificial Lamb of God... and in this way the Passover would be fulfilled for all the world.

Yet in the face of their fear... Jesus comforts his followers... gently reciting the familiar tender promises of every Jewish bridegroom...
to his bride at their engagement party

‘in my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back... and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.’

And with this symbolic language...their Passover meal becomes the wedding feast of the lamb...
[pause]

and all he asks of them is to be faithful to this new covenant...and love each other as he loves them...so the world will recognise his disciples.

Maybe the reason it’s so hard for us to love...
consistently and sacrificially...
to love others as Jesus did...
is that we don’t really believe we are loved and forgiven ...maybe we don’t really believe...

maybe we’re still in bondage.... maybe we’re still enslaved... to the lie that we’re unlovable.

So as we share this meal in obedience and remembrance of him...may you come to believe the truth that in Jesus Christ you are loved and forgiven. May your thirst for living water be satisfied.

May you no longer live under the burden of guilt or shame. And may you be set free to love as Jesus loved and forgive as he forgave even on the Cross.

Questions for reflection:

For those who claim him as Messiah how does Jesus reinterpret and reshape the tradition of the Hebrew Scriptures?

What stops us from loving as he loved?

What can we do about that?

Who is your lord?

Lent 6 year C Sermon 07 Palm Sunday
what does Paul mean? ’every knee should bow, every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.’

How subversive and dangerous can that be?
How problematic can it be… to swear allegiance to the prince of peace? Couldn’t be a problem here in our little town surely.
Well it obviously depends on where you are.

But…just listen to this little slice of drama.

KING HEROD says: What does that mean?
The Saviour of the world?

ADMIRAL TIGELLINUS responds:
It’s a title... that Caesar takes.

KING HEROD shrugs: Wherefore should I not be happy then? Caesar, who is lord of the world, who’s lord of all things...loves me well. He’s just sent me most precious gifts. And he’s promised me... to summon my enemy... the king of Cappadocia...
to Rome. It may be at Rome he will crucify him...
for he’s able to do all things that he wishes.
Verily, Caesar is lord.

Tiberius Caesar is Lord. The Jewish king Herod is happy to confess this... in the chilling dialogue from Oscar Wilde’s play Salome...
Yes it’s a drama...but it’s certainly not fiction.

The same proclamation could be heard
right throughout the Roman Empire

Caesar is lord – kyrios.

Caesar is saviour of the world –
spread the good news... that Caesar’s presence brings peace and security to the world. [pause]

Caesar is ruler of the whole world.
Caesar is a god among gods. Hail Caesar.

And the most powerful symbol of Caesar’s power... is the wooden cross... upon which trouble makers will be executed.

Caesar’s ultimate tactic for ruling...for controlling those who oppose him...Caesar’s ultimate weapon... [pause] is death.

But contrast Rome’s political rhetoric in the 1st century… with Paul’s hymn about Jesus…
written to Christians in the Roman Empire.

Make your own... the mind of Jesus Christ:
who being in the form of God, did not count equality with God something to be grasped. But emptied himself, taking the form of a servant…
becoming as human beings are; being in every way like a human being. And he was humbler yet, even to accepting death...death on a cross.

for this God raised him high…
and gave him the name…
which is above all other names;
so that at the name of Jesus… every knee should bow…in heaven and on earth and under the earth…and every tongue confess…
that Jesus Christ is Lord.

So you can see that for people in the 1st century…Paul’s hymn to Jesus would be a powerful parody… of Caesar’s grandiose claims. A fierce proclamation... of the victory of the one true God...
over the pagan Empire of Rome... particularly over the cult of Caesar.

And this provides a clue for us… as to why Jesus dramatic entry into Jerusalem would provoke so much fear and denial. [pause]

In the first century... when Jesus entered Jerusalem and later when Paul wrote his letter to the Philippians... to all intents and purposes... Rome had conquered the world. A world whose ruler had the confidence… to claim to be a god …

You see… forty two years before Jesus was born....
Julius Caesar took the title Augustus...and gave it some mana…some extra punch
by adding "son of god."

People would hail him as Augustus Caesar son of god. Poems would be written about Caesar’s divinity... and across his vast empire... coins, monuments, temples and artworks…
would promote... the cult of Caesar.

People were encouraged to have "faith" in their "Lord," the emperor…who would preserve peace and increase wealth. And yes Roman civilization did bring stability and wealth to many.

Caesar’s spin doctors would proclaim the evangelion…the gospel of Caesar... the good news
of how Caesar had brought peace and security…
to all the world.

And right into the middle… of the greatest Empire the world had ever seen… Jesus proclaims his gospel and gives the language of Empire new meaning...

the prayer Jesus teaches his followers...
takes on subversive overtones...against the claims of Caesar.

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be thy name...thy kingdom come...thy will be done
in heaven as on earth...

And after Paul’s encounter with the risen Christ... Paul coopts the language of Empire…he takes the Greek word parousia... which described Caesar’s triumphal entry into conquered cities... and turns it into the Christians’ word…
for the triumphal return of Jesus.

For the Romans…peace was the Pax Romana... imposed by their armies. A peace…
guaranteed by Rome... fear and death and taxes…. were how Caesars peace was to be kept.
And the sign of the cross of execution
would not allow the world to forget it.

And right into the middle of this world...Jesus brings a message... of an altogether different peace...
a peace... in which violence and oppression
have no place... a peace that can’t be won by armies.

When Jesus says... my peace I give you, my peace I leave you. I do not give as the world gives.
Jesus is talking about the peace of God...the Shalom of God. A peace created only through love and by showing justice compassion and mercy.
And Jesus taught his followers... that’s how the children of God will be recognised!

Israel would have to give up its graven image…
of the warrior god who would redeem them...
who would save them by destroying their enemies. They’d have to learn that redemption through violence and revenge was a diabolical myth...a lie.

The children of God would not rid the world of evil by using the same tactics as Caesar… imposing control… through fear… and demanding a heavy price for a guarantee of protection… in the payment of tax. The motto of the Pax Romana may as well of been “Pay us off and we won’t hurt you
and we will call it peace!”

But Jesus taught and Paul after him...
That Caesar’s peace… achieved through domination isn’t peace at all. The only way the Children of God would overcome evil… would be with love...
even if it meant speaking out against the deathly tactics of empire... even if it meant dying.

And if we don’t shout hosanna when the prince of peace arrives...if we’re silent and scuttle into the shadows… then we bow our knee to Caesar not to Jesus. We betray the prince of peace we claim to follow. [pause]

And when the going got tough in the coming days after his Jesus triumphant entry into Jerusalem...

many would betray him. Many would cringe and deny their friendship with the troublemaker from Galilee. They would watch his violent death on the cross... from the shadows and they would see no victory for God in his shame. [pause]

Yet love did overcome the evil of that day...in his act of self giving love... Jesus would transform...
the terrifying symbol of Roman power and domination...

and redeem it forever... for God’s purposes of love.
It had to be done. And the confession that ‘Jesus is lord’... would become the earliest... and most profound confession... of Christian faith.

And some how... a small band of former fishermen, one-time tax collectors, business women and tent makers... would bravely spread...
this subversive and dangerous confession... throughout the Roman Empire and beyond. [pause]

Caesar could impose his lordship…
by the power of military might… and death.
But the Lordship of Jesus’ is only and always exercised…with the full consent of those…
who pledge their loyalty and faithfulness to him.

When Jesus enters Jerusalem, the Kingdom of God is at hand. But it is by no means complete…there will be others who seek to dominate the world through power… the kingdom Jesus inaugurated then…
will only be firmly established… when every tongue confesses faithfulness to the prince of peace.
When there is love and respect and justice for everyone. [pause]

And Rome’s power eventually succumbed. Rome could cope with revolutions; but she couldn’t cope...as history would prove... with a community who had made its own mind

the mind of Christ...

Yes, with Paul... we still live between the times ... confident and hopeful after Jesus resurrection...
And like the first Christians we are called to be ready to protest any power and principality that works against the coming of God’s kingdom .

Over and against a world... where public crucifixions proclaimed the power of death... as the way to rule the world...

Paul’s calls us to stand up to the tactics of tyrants... confident that their power is no match for the power of love seen on the cross of Christ.

A love which is stronger than death.

In today’s world, we might call these tactics genocide or ethnic cleansing or holocaust. Jesus and Paul call us to stand against all those… who would create their political or economic empires through exploitation…oppression and death. [pause]

Everyone bows their knee to something or someone. And for Paul the question isn’t, "Do you have a lord?"

but rather, "Who is your lord?’

Paul’s answer is firm...I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live… but Christ lives in me.
The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.