This or that
The following sermon was delivered on March 28th, 2010
This week I went to the eye doctor. Just a regular exam and check-up. But always find it sort of interesting and fun to look at all those letters and see which ones you can (and can’t) read. And then the doctor begins to try out different degrees of correction: ” 1 or 2, ” she says. One, or two?
I remember in earlier years having my eyes tested, and the doctor would say: “Which is better: this, or that?” Given two choices: which one: this one or that one?
On Palm Sunday, Jesus presented a choice. Peter Woods, a Methodist minister in South Africa, reminds us that “in the Palm procession we do not have a Lamb to the Slaughter, a pre-programmed robotic Jesus, we have a living, choosing, inviting Jesus making one of his final offers to the people and powers.”
Palm Sunday represents an active choice: 1, or 2? This, or that?
You see, I think all too often we have a tendency to be spectators when it comes to the life and passion of Jesus. What someone has called “sideline Christians.”
On Palm Sunday we watch the dramatic story unfold and we sing the hymns which recount the events 2000 years ago, and then we go home – largely untouched. We like the palms and the singing and the excitement of it – the upbeat rhythm of Palm Sunday worship but then we go home and make Sunday dinner and pretty much just go about our regular business. The donkey moves on, and so do we!
Why is that? Is it because we’re shy or uncertain about our faith? Or is it maybe because we human creatures have a tendency to crave comfort and familiarity so much that we just do what we’ve always done on Palm Sunday? We go through the motions – traditions being comforting – and let the first day of Holy Week sort of slide over us and disappear for another year.
Like spectators we are mildly curious, interested in the show, along for the ride, up for a parade. But when the going gets tough – in Holy Week or in life itself – we disappear, evaporate.
Rev. [A] Austin Amerine of the Metropolitan Community Church once identified the problem this way: “Too many of us are sitting on the premises rather than standing on the promises!”
I like that, I think that’s just exactly right.
And yet, Palm Sunday is a dramatic reminder that Jesus of Nazareth is offering us a choice, an alternative to life as the world usually knows it, both then and now: a new paradigm.
So the question before us today is similar to the one in the eye doctor’s office: This? or That?
FANS, OR FOLLOWERS?
Danish theologian and philosopher Soren Kierkegaard drew a sharp line of distinction between followers of Jesus and what he termed “admirers.” Jesus, he points out, never asked for admirers, adherents or worshippers – he called disciples.
What’s the difference? “The admirer never makes any true sacrifices. He [or she] always plays it safe. He renounces nothing, will not reconstruct his life, and will not let his life express what it is he supposedly admires.”
The follower, on the other hand, “aspires with all his strength to be what he admires.”
Jesus offers a choice, at the gates of Jerusalem: are you going to stop here, or are you going to go with me? are you going to be a fan or a follower? Are you going to admire me, call me a great prophet, or are you going to try to match your steps to mine?
which is it going to be: This, or that?
SPECTATORS OR RISK-TAKERS?
Not all of us will pay an extreme price for following Jesus, but for all of us following brings some kind of risk.
UM Bishop Will Willimon of Alabama tells about leading a seminar for preachers along with his colleague Dr. Stanley Hauerwas. They heard a very painful story from one pastor who told them in a plaintive voice about being rejected by UM churches. His first appointment was to a church in a small town in South Carolina.
“I preached one Sunday on the challenge of racial justice. In two months my people were so angry that the bishop moved me. At the next church I was determined for things to go better. Didn’t preach about race. But we had an incident in town, and I felt forced to speak. The board met that week and voted unanimously for us to be moved. My wife was insulted at the supermarket. My children were beaten up on the school ground.”
Bishop Willimon says his pastoral heart went out to this dear, suffering brother. He was completely floored then when Dr. Hauerwas replied: “And your point is what? We work for the living God, not a false, dead God! Did somebody tell you it would be easy?”
Palm Sunday is the gateway – it represents a choice: Fan or follower? spectator or risk-taker? This, or That?
WEST, OR EAST?
Scholars tell us that at the same time Jesus, on a donkey – with his cheering disciples and a crowd of adoring Galilean peasants – were entering the city from the east side, there was an imperial procession arriving from the west.
During Jewish holy days – of which Passover is primary – the imperial occupiers would stage their own procession – to quash any displays of nationalistic fervor, memories of the people’s past political independence, or outbreaks of violence.
Borg and Crossan describe it as:
“A visual panoply of imperial power: cavalry on horses, foot soldiers, leather armor, helmets, weapons, banners, golden eagles mounted on poles, sun glinting on metal and gold. Sounds: the marching of feet, the creaking of leather, the clinking of bridles, the beating of drums. The swirling of dust. The eyes of the silent onlookers, some curious, some awed, some resentful.”
(The Last Week: A Day-by Day Account of Jesus’ Final Week in Jerusalem)
While on the other side of town, Jesus is deliberately acting out the prophecy of Zechariah, riding on a donkey, trying to demonstrate in 3-D a new understanding of Messiah, of kingship. . .
On the West side: Power through a display of force – domination through military strength – ambition, pride, control, superiority, competitiveness, strife.
On the East side: Power through compassion, community, healing, self-giving – a kingdom of healing and restoration – servants not swordsmen – the power of
agape love.
Which direction will we choose: West or East? “Jesus on a donkey calls us into accountability, if indeed we are serious about making him our model and paradigm.” (Jirair Tashjian, The Voice)
Palm Sunday is a joyful day, but it’s also actually a critical day – a day of decision, both then and now. It’s a moment to consider the choices that one-by-one will make up our lifetimes. . .
Which will we choose: fan, follower, spectator, risk-taker, West, East, premises, promises? Will we have the courage to walk with Jesus, or will we “drop out on the way to Jerusalem?”
As Sr. Joan Chittister says: “just as surely as there was need for courage on Jesus’ last trip to Jerusalem, there is need for it here and now, as well.”
Will we hang up the “Do Not Disturb” sign on our doors, or will we sing “Where You Lead Me, I Will Follow ?”
So tell me, what will it be: This or That?