Palm Sunday

21 When they had come near Jerusalem and had reached Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, 2 saying to them, “Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to me. 3 If anyone says anything to you, just say this, ‘The Lord needs them.’ And he will send them immediately.” 4 This took place to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet, saying,

    5      “Tell the daughter of Zion,

    Look, your king is coming to you,
    humble, and mounted on a donkey,
    and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”

6 The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them; 7 they brought the donkey and the colt, and put their cloaks on them, and he sat on them. 8 A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 The crowds that went ahead of him and that followed were shouting,

    “Hosanna to the Son of David!

    Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!
    Hosanna in the highest heaven!”

10 When he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in turmoil, asking, “Who is this?” 11 The crowds were saying, “This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee.”

In the Church of England we have a peculiar way of reading the Bible in Sunday services – we follow a thing called the lectionary, which tells us what chapters and verses to read each week. Now, I have two issues with the lectionary: one is that it gives some parts of the Bible more importance than others, which that means anyone whose only contact with the Bible is in these services will never hear some chapters, and will hear others year after year.  The second issue is what we have today: two readings put side by side that aren’t supposed to go together, and that’s fine, except that putting them together misses something really important.

The first reading, that we heard comes from the twenty-first chapter of Matthew and the main idea behind it is that Jesus is welcomed by the people. They call him the Son of David—a title that meant the Messiah, the chosen one—and they use the word Hosanna, which means “Save us, we pray”.  The people accepted Jesus as the one who would save them.

The second reading, performed wonderfully by the Sunday School, is the Passion, or the suffering, of our Lord. Now the main point here is to show us everything that Jesus went through before and during the crucifixion, and who is it that demands Jesus be crucified? The people, the same people who were just welcoming him with cloaks and palm branches.  What’s gone wrong?

There’s a large chunk of the Gospel missing. We use Mark’s account of the passion in our Palm Sunday service because it’s shorter, but it’s in Matthew’s Gospel too, and there the passion story starts in chapter twenty-six. Five chapters later.

There’s five chapters, and five days between these two passages. But still in just five days the people go from welcoming Jesus as a conquering hero, to demanding his torture, humiliation and death.  What happened in those five days?

Well, we know what happens with the Pharisees, Sadducees and the other religious leaders: they feel threatened by Jesus’s teachings, they try to trap him with difficult questions, make him look foolish, and so undermine his authority, but they keep failing and just make themselves look foolish. So, between chapter twenty-one and chapter twenty-six they plot to kill Jesus; and they convince Judas to betray him.

But why does Judas agree to it? And why do the crowds ask for Barabbas to be freed instead of Jesus, why do they ask for him to be killed? We’re told that the religious leaders stir up the crowd, but why do they go along with it?

I think the answer is in the first of our readings, and it has something to do with the palm crosses that we now have. In the Old Testament there are stories about a dynasty of evil kings in Israel: Omri, Ahab and Jehoram; their line is ended by a man called Jehu, chosen by God to be the new king of Israel. In the second book of Kings, chapter 9, verse 13, we’re told of Jehu’s coronation:

3 Then hurriedly they all took their cloaks and spread them for him on the bare steps; and they blew the trumpet, and proclaimed, “Jehu is king.”

“They spread their cloaks”, just like the crowds did for Jesus.  The people of Jerusalem were expecting Jesus to be like Jehu: some kind of warrior who would wipe out the Romans, free the Jews and make Israel great again. But after five days I think they were starting to doubt that he would do it, probably doubting that he was the Messiah, and so they gave up on him. Turned their backs on him and took sides with the Pharisees and Sadducees.

One of the reasons that Jesus died is that he wasn’t the type of Messiah that the people wanted, because they were thinking too small. They were thinking about the people of Israel in the year 32 AD, they weren’t thinking about the whole world for all eternity.

Now it’s easy for us to condemn them, but I have a question for you, a question that I want you to think about for a moment.

When you talk to God, what type of God is He? Is He a personal, pocket-sized God who you ask for things on behalf of yourself and your friends, or is He the ‘All Mighty’, the all-knowing, eternal creator of everything who loves us individually, and who has loved every person who ever lived and ever will live?

The quality of our prayers is determined by the quality of our God, and I suspect it also affects the quality of our actions.

Fulfilling 'the law'

21 “You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, ‘You shall not murder’; and ‘whoever murders shall be liable to judgment.’ 22 But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment; and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council; and if you say, ‘You fool,’ you will be liable to the hell of fire. 23 So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, 24 leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift. 25 Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are on the way to court with him, or your accuser may hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you will be thrown into prison. 26 Truly I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny. 27 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. 30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to go into hell. 31 “It was also said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ 32 But I say to you that anyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of unchastity, causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery. 33 “Again, you have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but carry out the vows you have made to the Lord.’

[Matthew 5:21-33, NRSV]

 

 

“You have heard that it was said”, verse 21; “You have heard that it was said”, verse 27; “Again it was said”, verse 31; “Again, you have heard that it was said”, verse 33.

 “You have heard that it was said…” was a phrase that rabbis would often use when they started their interpretation.  You see the way the Jewish teachers would operate is that they would read a passage from scripture, and then they would interpret it. A bit like we do.

But there were rules to this interpretation: no rabbi would ever come up with a completely new idea, that would be frowned on, what they did instead was to link back to some earlier teacher and build on those ideas.

The Jewish Torah, their bible, is often referred to as ‘the law’, as in ‘the law and the prophets’, and in some ways it’s very much like our legal system. 

Eighteen years ago I started a law degree.  Seventeen years ago I changed that to a psychology degree with legal studies.  The main reason I changed course was because law confused me. Everything was based on a thing called ‘precedent’: a judge would be expected to decide a case but they couldn’t do anything that contradicted a previous judge’s decision. So solicitors and barristers would argue their case by saying stuff like in Stephenson versus Donohue the judge said…

To be a good legal mind you needed to either remember every case and the precedents that were set, or know where to look to find them.  I couldn’t do either very well. So I wouldn’t have been a very good solicitor. I wouldn’t have been a very good rabbi either.

So, that was the system Jesus came into – you had to know your scripture, you had to know what previous rabbis had said about scripture, and you had to choose your interpretation and support your argument.  But Jesus didn’t do that. He changed everything.

“You have heard that it was said”, verse 21; verse 22, “But I say to you that…”;  “You have heard that it was said”, verse 27; verse 28 “But I say to you that…”; “Again it was said”, verse 31; verse 32 “But I say to you that…”;  “Again, you have heard that it was said”, verse 33; verse 34 “But I say to you…”.

Four times he reinterpreted scripture.  Four times he took what previous rabbis had said and threw it out the window.

Now the Bible is not just a good story, it’s also a work of literary genius.  It’s been studied for hundreds of years and people are still learning from it. And the most important lesson is that everything happens for a reason.  Nothing happens by accident. So when something gets repeated four times, there’s a reason, and it’s not just because the writer couldn’t think of anything else to say.

Actually this “You have heard it said,” “But I say to you” pattern happens six times, four here and two in the following verses.  So there are six times when Jesus reinterprets what the Pharisees and Jewish people thought was truth.  Six times when he tells the people: what you have been told is shallow, it’s inadequate; it’s not good enough.

He’s doing something rabbis wouldn’t dare do: he’s re-interpreting scripture. But he can do it, because he’s the son of God and he knows what the words of scripture meant.  In last week’s reading, in verse 17, we heard Jesus say “Do not think I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfil them.”  Here, in his re-interpretation of the law he is showing us how they can be fulfilled: it’s not enough to not kill people, we have to not be angry with fellow believers, we have to avoid insulting people; it’s not enough to avoid the physical act of adultery, we have to stop looking at other people with impure thoughts. 

It’s not enough to obey words of the law.  We have to follow the spirit of the law.  And how do we do that?

The answer to that is easy: Romans 13 verse 10: “Love does no wrong to a neighbour; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.”

Let’s listen to those verses back to back: Matthew 5:17 and Romans 13:10:

“Do not think I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfil them.” 

“Love does no wrong to a neighbour; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.”

Can we make a commitment this week to try and fulfil the law, if only a little bit?  Can we try and love our neighbours just a little more than we already do?  It’s what Jesus did for us, and what he expects us to do for each other.



Salt

¹³ "You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot. ¹⁴　"You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. ¹⁵ No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. ¹⁶ In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.

[Matthew 5.13-16]

Today’s reading holds a special place in my heart.  It was the basis of one of three sermons that I can remember as a child. I remember the other two because in one a vicar got something really wrong, and in the other a curate told a rude joke about Tarzan and some elephants.

This particular sermon was memorable because of something the vicar said.  It was at St. John’s in the Vale and I was there with a group of Scouts from Harrington, and I think this vicar was trying to be cool. So, he was telling us about the importance of salt and all its amazing uses, as a preservative, a cleaning agent, a flavour enhancer, and then he said “And by, it hurts like a bugger when you get it in a cut!”

That was more than twenty years ago, and I still remember it clearly, so I guess there is some preservative quality to salt.

But something I never understood was this business about salt losing its taste. If salt stops being salty surely it loses its very essence, the thing that makes it—it.  It would be like a dog losing its dogginess.  It would be like an unfishy fish, or an un-girly girl. It would cease to be.

It bothered me, but not a lot: at age fourteen I had more pressing things to think about than the theology of salt.  Her name was Dawn.

But now I’m older, wiser, and married, so I have the time to find out what Jesus meant.

You see, the thing about salt is that it hasn’t always come in bags from shops, about 2,000 years ago if you wanted salt you would likely get it from someone who’d brought it straight from the ground, maybe from the Dead Sea.  They’d shovel it up, fetch it round on a cart and give you the measure that you paid for. 

And not everyone was very honest in those days. Not like now. Some would ‘adulterate’ the salt. They’d pad it out with ‘fillers’, like gypsum, which looked like salt but were useless as a preservative.

I think that’s what Jesus was getting at: he wanted the disciples to see saltiness—like light in the next few verses—as representing their actions, their belief, the very essence of their faith.  He wanted them to realise that if they padded out their faith and belief with fillers that they would be useless as witnesses to the truth.  They had to stay salty, they had to stay faithful, and visibly faithful.  Salt works best when it’s mixed with other foods, not kept in the cupboard.  We will work best as Christians if we mix with other people, and not stay in our church.

Doves

9　In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. ¹⁰And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. ¹¹And a voice came from heaven, "You are my Son, the Beloved;^h with you I am well pleased."

[Mark 1.9-11, NRSV]

The dove is a beautiful symbol of the Spirit of God in its purity and in its ministry of peace.

There are lots of occasions where doves are sold and sacrificed (they get a bit of a raw deal in the Bible). But do you know the other two times where a dove makes a special appearance in the Bible?

The first time we see a dove in Scripture is in Genesis 8:6–11. Noah sent out two birds, a raven and a dove; but only the dove came back. The raven represented the flesh; there was plenty for the raven to eat outside the ark! But the dove would not defile itself on the carcasses, so it came back to the ark. The second time the dove was released, it returned with an olive leaf, a symbol of peace. The third time, the dove did not return.

The second occasion where a dove makes an appearance is when Jesus sends out His disciples.  He says “See, I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.” (Matt 10.16).  He’s warning them that they are going to have a tough time. But importantly for us, the dove represents innocence

Final question, there’s another famous person in the Bible whose name means dove.  Do you know who it is?

The name Jonah means “dove,” and he experienced a baptism as well. If spending three days in a fish counts as a baptism! Jonah was sent to Nineveh – a hated race – and his prophecies convinced the Ninevites to turn to God and repent.

Three times we see doves connected to sending out: Noah sending a dove out to check that everything is safe; Jesus sending his disciples out; and Jonah being sent out to Nineveh.

We’ve been sent out too, we’ve been told to go out of this church and bring people to Jesus, and the good news is that the Holy Spirit is with us, whether or not we see a dove.

Christingle II: candles v glowsticks

This isn't a revenge thing, I want to be clear on that. It's so often the case with sequels that part 2 is about revenge. If anything this is more like sequels in being a gratuitous attempt to cash in on previous efforts.

I've been thinking quite a bit about the merits of both candles and glowsticks, and trying to see some theology in it all. This isn't as mad as it may first appear: we have to remember that the whole idea of the Christingle is the symbolism that children can learn from. So let's recap:

The orange represents the world,
The red ribbon represents the blood of Christ,
The four cocktail sticks represent the four seasons, or the four directions on a compass (the four 'corners' of the world)
The sweets represent the gifts of God, either physical gifts like the sweets themselves, or spiritual gifts such as kindness and patience
The foil is apparently only there to catch the drips from the candle, although I remember one clever clogs suggesting that the foil reflected the candle light, and so it could represent us, reflecting Christ's light.
Finally we have the candle, or the glowstick, which symbolises the light itself, and is a reminder of Christ, "the light of the world".

So, candle and glowstick, the pros and cons:

The candle is traditional, it's the source of light that many people had to rely on in the days before electrickery, in fact candles have been around since before the incarnation (I was going to say since before Christ, but that would be stupid). They also have the advantage of being reusable, at least until the wick is burned away.  The candle is also dangerous -- which started this whole thing off -- there's the risk of burns from the flame or scalds from the hot wax.

Meanwhile the glowstick is much safer, unless you know someone with a habit of biting into plastic tubes to get to the yummy dibutyl phthalate, hydrogen peroxide, phthalic ester or phenyl oxalate ester. They are relatively modern too, and so they appeal to young people.  But glowsticks are a one-shot deal: once the glass vial inside has broken the various chemicals mix and a reaction takes place that causes the glow.  After the reaction has taken place the chemicals become inert (or inactive) and the glow fades.  It can't be reproduced in that one glowstick.

The question of  which is better isn't simple, we have to think theologically and practically?

Practically speaking, while the candle carries a greater likelihood of harm, it is reusable, less expensive to produce and won't end up in a landfill. As it's more socially responsible it probably just wins out over the glowsticks.

Theologically there isn't that much to choose between them: they both produce light, which is what this is all about; the glowstick will eventually fade, but the candle will eventually burn away to nothing, so neither one represents the eternal light of Christ very well; there are places where a candle cannot burn, such as under water or in windy conditions, but the glowstick better symbolises God's ability to shine in any place, and as such might just beat the candle.

Finally, I want to return to the issue of risk: we spend a good portion of our lives trying to assess our environment, staying in control of the risks, managing and minimising them at all costs. We want to be protected from dangers. The truth though is that God is dangerous.  God is not some amazing wish-granter that we can blow out when we've got what we want; and if we try to misuse him we will get hurt.

Whatever we use, we need to remember that our God should be respected at all costs, and to avoid the risks is to avoid Him, because we can't have one without the other.

We also need to include the tin foil, whether it's needed to catch the wax drips or not, because the reminder that we are there to reflect the light of Christ into the world is really very important.

Wheat or Chaff

4. 1 The LORD of Heaven's armies says, "The day of judgment is coming, burning like a furnace. On that day the arrogant and the wicked will be burned up like straw. They will be consumed--roots, branches, and all. 2 "But for you who fear my name, the Sun of Righteousness will rise with healing in his wings".

[Malachi 4:1-2a]  

I've spent quite a lot of time up trees recently. Which isn't as much fun as it sounds.

It is satisfying though.

Our house has a little garden, just past a shared lane and down a few steps.  It's big enough for us to sit out and have barbecues, grow a few herbs and for our cat to prowl around pretending she's a tiger.  But for the last three years we've hardly used the little garden because it's been in permanent shadow under our neighbour's 40 foot pine trees.

The trees were at a reasonable height when we moved in, but they've grown and grown and grown.  I've been round to see the neighbours a couple of times to ask if they would trim the trees but never managed to get hold of them, and there always seemed to be more pressing jobs than fighting a turf war.

Well all that changed a couple of months ago, when another neighbour, a less busy and more grouchy neighbour, did start a war.  They complained daily, until Mrs. Pine-Trees and her son gave in and agreed to do something about the problem.

One tree was felled and then Mrs. Pine-Trees had a hip operation, which went wrong and left her pretty much bed-ridden, her son was working all day and looking after the house at night and the tree-felling stopped.

Now, I knew none-of this, I just saw one tree had come down and the rest hadn't so I went to see Mrs. Pine-Trees and got the whole sorry tale; and being the generous soul that I am I offered to cut the trees down myself.

I'm not really generous. Cutting the trees finally lets sunlight back into our garden, and I can dry the wood and burn it in our wood stove next year: free heat.

But that does mean I have to sit twelve foot up a pine tree cutting the branches around me.

It's not until you've been deprived of something for a while that you realise it's value. Standing in our garden with the sunlight streaming through the remaining trees is so uplifting , it makes me want to get back out there and start weeding and planting. It fills my head with possibilities. It's warming and healing to the soul.

That's what Malachi refers to in today's Old Testament reading, the healing power of the sun of righteousness.  It's the promise of something wonderful for the true followers of God.  At the same time there's a warning to evildoers, that the very same sun can consume them totally, it can burn them up.

Some of the wood that I've gathered up is already dry: dead branches and twigs that I can use as kindling. What amazes me is how fast our wood stove can burn up a pine branch--there's a crackle and a few seconds later it's completely gone.

I think part of Malachi's message might be lost on most Twenty-First century listeners. The people  who turn on their gas fire when they're cold, and turn it off again when the heating comes on. For them fire is something that can be controlled, it's almost like a pet, or a tool, to be enjoyed but not respected.  The Old Testament hearers had no illusions though.  Fire can be harnessed, and used, but it can't really be controlled, it has to be respected, even feared.

Through Malachi, God was reminding the people--and remember he was talking to the believers, the Old Testament version of us--he was reminding the believers that a day was coming when those who really believed, and did what they were supposed to as true believers would be healed, and on that same day, the arrogant would be burned up.

That day hasn't come yet. I say that with some conviction: I know it hadn't come by John the Baptist's day because he referred to the same thing:

“I baptize you with water for repentance, but one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.  His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and will gather his wheat into the granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

[Matt 3.11-12]

 And Jesus said it too, at the end of the parable of the tares:

"The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all evildoers, and they will throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Let anyone with ears listen!"

[Matt 13.41-43]

And there hasn't really been any event in world history that we might think fulfils this prophecy

So here's the timeless truth: that day is still coming, a day when the true believers will be made leafy and luscious again, but the arrogant will be burned up in a fire that can't be controlled and can't be put out.

Personally, I'm hoping it won't come while I'm up a tree, but that's not essential.

The Daniel Fast

2 At that time I, Daniel, mourned for three weeks. 3 I ate no choice food; no meat or wine touched my lips; and I used no lotions at all until the three weeks were over.

Daniel 10.2-3 NIV There are times when even the most devout of believers may feel distant from God. In almost all cases this is because of things going on in the believer's life, and they are lucky if someone points out to them the barriers that have appeared. I was lucky this week, someone made an innocuous remark that left me in no doubt that I had been convicted of the sin of faithlessness. For weeks I have cast around fruitlessly, grumbling and blaming God. What I haven't done is pray more. Why not? Because I am a foolish human who forgets God's grace faster than the Israelites did in the desert. Anyway, I decided that it was time to take action, and the form of action taken was suggested by Ben Patterson in his book Deepening Your Conversation with God. He pointed out a time when he had fasted for forty days along with some of his congregation. He said that the act of fasting focussed his mind in important ways. That was what I wanted. So I chose to fast. To make sure I was doing it properly I decided to do a little research. See how people fast in the manner of Daniel in the Twenty-First Century. I'm not sure if I should be amused of horrified, but within minutes of looking through web pages on the subject I found advertisements for the Daniel Fast Cookbook, nutritional information and a reminder to check the labels on processed food to make sure there are only Daniel Fast friendly ingredients. This all sounds a little too muck like letter of the law vs spirit of the law to me. If I'm wrong no doubt I'll get struck by lightning.