Loading...Are you overwhelmed yet?
• from Covid restrictions? or the sheer number of people who have died from Covid?
• in your family life?
• from your own life and/or health changes?
• because of society and culture, including economics and politics?
• by racial injustice?
• by how worship has been today, or any Sunday?
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As we began worship today, we heard the story of
Jesus entering into Jerusalem in triumph:
the people pull branches from the trees in order to wave them
the crowds take off their cloaks and strew them on the ground
everyone hollers out “Hosanna!” – a word of praise and honor.
And, we joined in that parade – in our livestream, screen restricted, most of y’all at home sort of way
The odd thing about the story being told
– that Jesus was one to be praised,
that he was the Messiah entering Jerusalem,
that honor was due him –
was that Jesus was on a donkey!
(if he was really the Messiah and a king,
he should’ve been on a horse or at least a camel)
And, the crowds waving the branches were made up mostly of a bunch of Hicksville Galileans and suburbanite Bethany folks.
And us.
So, yes, Hosanna to the Son of David. But, that’s somewhat qualified.
And, now, as writer Annie Dillard tells us,
put on your crash helmets,
and buckle your seat belts
because this roller coaster ride is just getting started.
We’ve heard and experienced the high:
the joyous, raucous parade with excitement;
we’ve made it to the top of the first hill and it is thrilling to be up here.
But, you have been on enough roller coasters to know what comes next.
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We entered with “Hosanna!” and “Praise!”
And then the story unfolded,
Jesus experienced grief, betrayal, desertion by friends,
wrongful arrest, made up charges, an unjust and unfair trial, mocking, torture, excruciating pain, a sense of abandonment
(by friends, family, and God), and death.
That roller coaster descended to the deepest and darkest depths possible.
It is no longer thrilling. It is no longer exciting. It is awful.
Jesus, in the span of a few days (or, in today’s worship – less than an hour),
experiences the full range of elation to despair,
and all kinds of emotions in between.
Jesus suffered.
This torture and death – it was –
it was –
beyond any words.
Just like you and me in the midst of life, a year, a season, a few days, or even – I suppose – an hour:
• You celebrate the birth of a grandchild/niece/nephew/friend’s baby – and learn of a loved one’s death.
• You spend relaxing, productive time gardening, wood-working, writing, or something else creative – and then learn of a child’s trouble with the law.
• You get home after a fun and exciting vacation – and then receive a phone call from your doctor’s office with bad health news.
You have, we have, suffered.
Neighbors, friends, strangers, and even enemies have suffered.
Terrible violence, gang violence – the torture and killing of family members, beloved ones – which drives people to leave homes and become refugees to El Norte.
Black men and Black women killed by vigilantes or police. And we still say their names: Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, Sandra Bland, Philando Castille, Breonna Taylor, Ahmad Aubery, George Floyd, Tamir Rice.
Asian Americans killed by someone who was filled with hate:
Daoyou Feng, Xiaojie Tan, Soon Park,
Hyun Grant, Suncha Kim, and Yong Yue.
Plus Paul Michels and Delaina Yaun Gonzalez
who were in the same place.
~~~~~~~~~~
So, yes, we know this roller coaster well.
We know some of what Jesus experienced with the rapid changes of deeply felt emotions.
Actually, more to the point –
Jesus knows what WE feel.
Jesus knows the joy and the grief; the elation and the pain.
Jesus as fully divine (Hosanna, Son of the Most High!) is also fully human – experiencing the heights and depths (and everything in between) of human life.
There is No. Place. that we can go that God doesn’t know.
That’s not a threat!!
That’s a promise.
A promise that God can find you when you feel lost.
A promise that God does not abandon you even in your deepest, darkest place.
A promise that God knows your pain and sits with you there
not trying to cajole you out of it,
but sharing the burden – shouldering the burden –
so that you are not stuck,
but that you can find life again, life renewed.
And, beautifully and painfully,
we are “invited in the suffering of Jesus
on this Palm and Passion Sunday
because our attention to suffering
is the first step in God’s mission of human wholeness.” *
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This is the beginning of Holy Week again this year:
It is not to re-enact Jesus’ last steps
It is not to memorialize the last days of Jesus
But, it is to walk in a way of recognizing and not shirking away from suffering in the world around us in order to be a part of the reconciliation of the broken and beloved world.
It is to enter the mystery of our loving, incarnate God
who walks with us in the joy and the pain
who rides the roller coast of the heights and depths,
and who loves us yesterday, today, tomorrow, and every day.
Amen
*Ira Brent Diggers in Working Preacher for March 28, 2021.
