“A Cry for Peace”
Sermon Presented March 28,
2010
Palm Sunday - Year C
Luke 19:28-42
There are many organizations that work for peace today: the United Nations, the Baptist Peacemakers, and the Fetzer Institute among others. You may recall that I participated in a leadership program several years ago that was partially sponsored by the Fetzer Institute headquartered in Kalamazoo, MI. Last week I received the Winter 2010 Fetzer Institute News and the lead article was titled: Transforming Conflict, Fostering Peace. Transforming conflict – according to the article – can be accomplished by inspiring and training the next generation of peacemakers, offering spiritual rest and renewal to frontline workers, and helping disenfranchised young people move out of violence and poverty. This organization participates in a movement of people working to transform conflict, encourage forgiveness and reconciliation, and plant seeds of love and compassion in soil once rich in fear and violence. (p. 1) Lofty goals!
We may not have directly experienced the horrors of the Holocaust or the Rwandan genocide or hatred and violence fueled by racism, but we aren’t stupid and we know that terrible conflicts exist today all over the world. Something needs to happen to transform these conflicts. But is that even possible? Are people unrealistic to think that there can be peace on earth?
Peace has always been elusive, and yet, at his birth Jesus was called the “Prince of Peace”. The angels announced “Peace on earth among those whom God favors” (Luke 2:14). Now, here we are, just days before his death, and his disciples shout “Peace in heaven and glory in the highest heaven!” (vs. 38) What happened to the dream of peace on earth? Did that dream die even before Jesus’ died?
Our text this morning is familiar – to a certain extent. It is the Palm Sunday story according to Luke – but there are some variations in the Gospel stories, so you might want to go back and reread the other three accounts at a later time. Luke tells the story this way. I’m reading Luke 19:28-42.
New Testament scholars, Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan give us a riveting image of this day in the life of Jesus. There were two processions that Passover week. From the west came Pilate – complete with the trappings of imperial power: horses, chariots, and gleaming armor. He arrives with the Roman army at the beginning of Passover week to make sure nothing gets out of hand. (H. Stephen Shoemaker, Feasting on the Word Year C Volume 2, p. 155) It is a picture of military strength – the precursor to war!
From the east comes another procession, a commoner’s procession: Jesus in an ordinary robe riding on a colt. As Jesus descends the Mount of Olives, a multitude of his disciples throng around him; spread their cloaks on the road and lift effusive praises to God. (ibid) They sing of peace as they praise God. There is nothing militaristic about this procession! There is a dramatic clash between the two kinds of kingdoms proclaimed that week.
The contrast in kingdoms has to do with the persons who lead: Caesar and Jesus. Caesar’s kingdom is based on domination and ruthless power, the kind of kingship Jesus refused when tempted in the wilderness. The kingdom of God that Jesus preached is based on peace, justice, mercy, and the love of God and people. Those ideals are bound to clash. (ibid)
A group of Pharisees tells Jesus to order his disciples to stop their shouts. They previously warned Jesus of the danger he was facing from Herod, so this may have been an honest concern that the Roman authorities might sense insurrection and come with terrible vengeance against them all. (ibid) Attracting attention – especially calling Jesus king – could bring harm to Jesus, his disciples, and even to them.
This journey down the Mount of Olives is a momentous time for Jesus. He is affirmed and God is praised. But it is also a prelude to an ominous time. In fact, even before arriving in Jerusalem, Jesus is weeping for the city. Why did he grieve? The text says he grieved because the people failed to recognize the things that make for peace (vs. 42.)
For Jesus’ disciples, this parade is a bittersweet triumph. Soon their praise becomes silent and they desert Jesus. He isn’t going to conquer the Romans and set up an earthly kingdom like they had hoped. He’s going to die. There is no peace – at present or on the horizon!
Before we chastise the disciples, we need to consider that we, too, are fair-weather fans! We want to support a winner! We feel foolish supporting a loser! When I came to Milwaukee 6 ½ years ago, the Brewers and the Bucks had small crowds. Why? Because they weren’t winning! Two years ago, the Brewers began to win and the fans returned – along with new fans. Now attendance at Bucks’ games is growing because the team is playing exceptionally well. The same holds true in the life of politicians, ministers, and company CEO’s. When things are going well, the public, congregants and stockholders are effusive with praise. But when things turn sour, the ax falls.
Jesus weeps over Jerusalem because they just don’t get who he is or the role he is to fulfill. For three years he has been teaching and still there is no comprehension of who he is. The Prince of Peace has failed to deliver peace. What the people see in Jesus – and what they expected in a Messiah – are so different that there is a complete disconnect. So Jesus weeps over Jerusalem – a city that couldn’t recognize “the things that make for peace.” (ibid, p. 157)
Jesus grieves because Jerusalem is blind to the truth. His disciples are blind to the truth! They can’t see! And this inability to see brings tears to Jesus’ eyes.
And lest we think that WE see what they didn’t, we must accept that our own mental conditioning and blocks often cause us to miss the truth that God wants us to receive. Like the disciples, we, too, are blind to God’s truth much of the time.
Every day that Jesus taught, religious leaders tried to find a way to get rid of him, but the ordinary people who heard him were spellbound. The crowds that sing and wave palms and lay their garments before the colt on that special day as they make their way down the Mount of Olives are still with him, still part of the kingdom movement Jesus introduced. (ibid) But suddenly, things change for them!
Palm Sunday is a day of contrasts. It’s almost like the sky blackens and a sudden storm appears without warning. Jesus moves from a happy triumphal parade to a death march. The hope for peace is hidden from those who should be open to see it. They are blind to peace!
The city of Jerusalem continues to be a city divided – a city without peace. Jesus was a powerful force for reconciliation to God through love, but during this final week of his life, peace was elusive as people turned from him! And ever since, throughout the centuries, peace has been elusive!
What makes for peace is before us – in the life and teachings of Jesus. But we either fail to see it – or we fail to follow the teacher. We lose courage when the going gets tough. It only takes a few dedicated people who listen to God to begin to make a difference. We just have to be focused on the truth that God makes available to us and then follow that truth.
People everywhere are tired of living in fear – of living in a world of conflict. And we don’t like to think that we may contribute to the conflict. But just as the people of Israel gave up on the prospect of peace under Roman rule, we have given up on the prospect of peace today. Therefore, we remain silent, believing things will never change. This is not the way of Christ!
I received an e-mail last Thursday from a young man who was forced to get rid of his roommate because his own mental health was at stake. Sometimes we must separate ourselves from those who continually disrupt our peace. We can’t be advocates for peace when wars are raging in our hearts. Sometimes we need to be assertive and take a stand for the way of peace. To know the way of peace, to be called to a life of peace advocacy is our calling as followers of Jesus. Will we live that life, or will we be the cause of Jesus’ tears?
03/28/2010
