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.