"Io Triumphe" or "Hosanna?"

 

Matthew 21:1-11

 Jesus rode a donkey into the city.  It was the seat of power for the corrupt Temple Cult Leaders of the time, the vassal King Herod and the Roman Empire that occupied and oppressed God’s people. 

 He rode a donkey as a sing of peace, yes, Shalom – completeness, wholeness, well-being that lead to peace for all of God’s people.  There was no peace under Rome.  The Pax Romana was a brutal subjugation of God’s people, who dared not revolt because of the viciousness of empire, and who could not have Shalom because empire took all that they had and held them down, back and out from Shalom.

 It was an expression of the resistance to empire that Jesus had introduced to those who followed Him.  Now, Jesus caricatured empire and the people genuinely responded with joy and delight, devotion and enthusiasm.  Through the same gates that the conquering armies of Rome paraded on great steeds with weapons drawn while forcing the population to join in shouts of “Io Triumphe,” Jesus rode a pathetic looking donkey and the people waved palm branches, yelling, “Hosanna!”  “God save us.”  God save us from this evil that humanity has done to humanity since the first megalomaniac struck out in conquest.  God save us from this evil of false superiority over other human beings.  God save us from those whose highest values are ruthlessness in Greed, lust for Power and desire for Status.  God save us from those who justify their hatreds by claiming to be better than others and thus entitled to exploit, divide, bring to despair and destroy those they believe are “beneath” them.  God save us.  O, Son of David promised of old, save us!  God save us from empire.

 Much of the world still cries out, “God save us.”  Jesus hears them.  Jesus, who made fun of empire while symbolizing real peace, still takes shots at empire through the Gospel accounts of His teaching and actions.  Jesus, who spoke truth to power, also speaks truth to those who are oppressed and occupied by empire today.  Jesus, who entered the seat of power making fun of those in it, who cleansed the Temple of those who abused His faith practice and who raised an army in a day and armed them with bread because empire had weaponized food against them, got cheers from those who got His message on that day, and still gets cheers from those who get that message today.

 Jesus wept over the city.  Jesus wept over the people held down, back and out by empire and wept for those whose souls were dying who promoted empire.  Jesus lamented that they would not see Him until this day, when those who got the message would praise Him with these words in genuine love, gratitude and hope.  Jesus weeps now for the children of God who must endure the Greed, lust for Power, desire for Status and Hatreds of those who hold sway over the world and our nation today.  Jesus laments that the corrupt religious leaders collude with empire in order to gain more for themselves, that some of those who are oppressed exploit others in the same plight and that so many see this as normative and even somehow virtuous, patriotic, faithful and good.  Jesus laments that so many have been duped into believing that this can be acceptable or even laudable to God.  Jesus laments.

 And Jesus resists.  Jesus pokes fun, dramatically shows an alternative and confronts head on those who believe themselves to be right or righteous in their idolatries of self.  Jesus brings out the joy and hope of a people in spite of their occupation and oppression and encourages the singing of Hosannas.  Jesus resists and elicits a response of resistance by the people who get it.

 We live under empire.  The Gospel of Jesus addresses empire, confronts it and demands that it be transformed.  Do you get it?  The agaph that Jesus commanded, taught and modeled for us counters empire and its values of arrogant hubris, devotion to self and ruthlessness with the values of humility, selflessness and compassion/empathy through committed action on behalf of the other.  Do you get it?  Do we get it?  Are our souls alive in joy, gratitude and hopefulness or dying in merciless entitlement, insatiable desire and ruthlessness?  Are we people of empire or of The Way of Jesus?  Are we people of empire or The Kingdom of God?  Are we people of empire or of Love, Peace, Joy and Hope?  Are we people of empty and brutal shows of force or people of real Triumph in Love?

Of Life and Death

 

John 11:1-45

 Jesus is I AM in John’s Gospel.  He is from the beginning at the creation, and now because of that power of the Creator, Jesus is the Resurrection and the Life.

 This drama is around Lazarus (al – God; yatzar – help; eleazar in Greek), “God has helped.”  This story is not just about the Jesus’ resurrection or the final resurrection, but about Jesus having power over resurrection NOW.  As I AM walks on earth, the Kingdom is exhibited in ALL it’s power. 

 I believe this a study in grief.  The euphemism “fallen asleep” is used, sometimes to soften the sound of someone dying because of our inability to fully grasp or face the reality, but here to set up the dramatic resurrection as a demonstration of the power of I AM. 

 The anger, bargaining statement of “had you been here he would not have died,” is quite common in voicing regret over the circumstance that no one has asked for and certainly no one wanted.  It is beyond our control and it feels like it is being done to us.  Attaching blame is a vain attempt at wishing it away after the fact, or an expression of anger at an aspect that might have been avoided medically, emotionally, psychologically or physically.  Here it is spiritual for Martha, who would have expected I AM to intervene on Lazarus’ behalf and save him, had He been there, because He loved Lazarus and his sisters.

 Jesus was quite disturbed over their grief.  He showed compassion and empathy in taking on some of their feelings over this loss.  It was His loss, too.  He wept, even after informing everyone that this event would just be used to show the power of God by raising Lazarus, Jesus still wept in an expression of natural, genuine grief.  He wept for Lazarus’ sisters, but also for the crowd of people and for Himself.  He wept at the loss of one He loved.

 Lest anyone think that Lazarus had some condition that appeared like death, but that he was really still alive, they warned Jesus of the stench of his decaying body, because he had been in the tomb for four days.  This was not a failure of primitive doctors’ inability to pronounce death properly.  He was dead for a long time already.  Lazarus was really, really dead.  Jesus’ power at resurrection with someone really dead was not to be questioned.

 Jesus, with the power of Creator, commanded Lazarus to COME OUT.  He came out, still bound in the strips of clothe used to bind his body.  UNBIND HIM AND LET HIM GO.  Thus the story ends, except the part about how people believed in Jesus as Mary and Martha and Lazarus had believed in Jesus.

 COME OUT

UNBIND HIM AND LET HIM GO

   Come out from Death to Life, Unbind Him from the things of death and let him live.

 Lazarus would be free of death and all the things of death. 

If that could happen for Lazarus, it could happen for anyone else.

To be raised from death to life gives us a certain vicarious power over death, we who are linked to Jesus.

We can be unbound from death and the things of death, including the fear of it as the end.

 Now, Lazarus did eventually die again.  He is not still walking around to my knowledge.

But this is not just a foretaste of the resurrection of Jesus.  It is the hope of our resurrection as well. 

We know the Great I AM, who is all about Resurrection and LIFE, Life Abundant and Life Forever.

 Now, with that out of the way, we can focus on living that “Love one another as I have loved you” command.

We can trust in the Grace, Mercy and Love of the God of resurrection and strive to truly LIVE in that God here and now.  We are unbound from death and the things of death to focus on life, but not only our spiritual lives, the lives of those around us who are bound by things that threaten them with death. 

 Jesus wept for Lazarus, even knowing that He would raise Lazarus from the dead.  I believe that if the Lord wept over someone who has died, even knowing He was about to raise him, it is certainly alright for those of us who follow the Lord to weep over those who have died, given the same knowledge of His resurrection.

 Jesus had compassion and empathy for those who wept, and I believe our best course is to express that same love when others die, for ourselves and those who have loved them. 

 This God we worship and serve is the God of LIFE, LIFE ABUNDANT and LIFE FOREVER.  For that we can give thanks.  To that God we can offer our lives in loving service on behalf of our sisters and brothers in the world who struggle with the things of life and death. 

20/20?

 

John 9:1-41        

 When I turned 45 years old, I went to my medical doctor for a check-up and he suggested I read the eye chart, “just for fun.”  I did so, and he asked me if I drove to my appointment.  He was not joking.  He was alarmed.  I always had 20/10 sight and considered it to be superior because I could see things at a great distance away.  I did have to use pharmacy reading glasses a bit, but never believed that my eyesight was affecting my driving, something in which I also prided myself on being superior.  I was so convinced that my sight was good, and that any close calls on the road were due to the bad drivers around me, until that day.  I went and got glasses. 

 First Jesus’ disciples were looking for who to blame because this man was blind.  Someone must have sinned in order for this man to be thus afflicted.  Him?  His parents?  Who was to blame?

Jesus gave the answer that it was in order to show God’s works.  A near lifetime of blindness so that God could have Jesus heal him?  Hmmm

Jesus did heal him, though.

Then his neighbors took their turn and expressed their surprise that he was once the blind man who begged from them, even in disbelief that he could be healed.

 Then the Pharisees used it for political gain, claiming that Jesus must not be of God because He did not observe Sabbath Laws and dared to heal this man on the Sabbath.  They did not believe it and sent for proof that he had been blind and now could see.  His parents were afraid to get caught up on the political struggle, and deferred to their son for an answer.  They provoked him by saying that Jesus is a sinner for having done this on the Sabbath.  The man formerly blind said, “One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.”  He bantered with them, they doubled down on their differences with Jesus and then called him a sinner also.

 The man formerly blind confessed his faith in Jesus.

Jesus shared His purpose in terms of helping others to see who have not seen the Kingdom of God, and that those who think they see it may be exposed for their blindness of sin.

 When we find healing, it is because things are right for us to find healing.  It is the Kingdom of God way that we should be whole.  It is the Kingdom of God way that we should be complete and have well-being.  If we are not whole and do not have completeness or well-being, something is wrong in our lives.  What is wrong is not our sin, but that the world is imperfect because of SIN itself.  What is wrong is that some will claim that they are without sin and that their appearance of wholeness somehow proves that they are spiritually superior to others around them who are not whole.  They claim those who are not whole to be sinful in order to make themselves appear to be more righteous by comparison, rather than having and sharing compassion with those who are not whole.

 All who believe themselves to be without sin and therefore to be superior to others who struggle in life are truly sinful.

All who blame the victims for their lack of wholeness in a world that creates people who lack wholeness are truly fools.

All who live their lives striving to appear to be superior to others in any way are not following Jesus.

 In an imperfect world such as this, stuff happens that makes people suffer a lack of completeness, wholeness and well-being.  It could happen to anyone.  Instead of asking, “Why me,” perhaps a better question to ask when afflicted would be, “why not me?”  Instead of believing falsely in some personal superiority as a reason why any of us are not afflicted, perhaps we should then ask, “Why me?”  The truth is that the answer may be unflattering.  Perhaps it is out of the oppression of others, the ruthlessness of ourselves or our adherence and promotion of systems that keep some in poverty, illness and life trauma that we seem to have it so much better than those others.  Perhaps our appearances hide deeply internalized evils that we continue to perpetuate on others around us in order to make ourselves feel superior and blessed.  Perhaps our privilege, entitlement and advantages over others are showing when our lives go smoothly as others struggle just to survive. 

 Or perhaps it does not matter who suffers and who skates through life seemingly unscathed.  Perhaps it is rather about our relationship with God and Neighbor about which we should be most concerned.  If we truly love God and love Neighbor, perhaps we will not react by looking for blame, blaming the victims, refusing compassion or empathy, refusing help when we have the means, creating conditions and systems that cause harm to others or looking for reasons why the victims of this world’s cruelty have it coming to them.  Perhaps we, out of love for God and Neighbor, will suspend our value statements around the plight of others and simply love them, care for them and strive to help them have completeness, wholeness and well-being in life.

Perhaps we will insist that every resource be used to bring people to that well-being in life.

 Perhaps what we believe we see clearly is truly our blindness, and acknowledging that we do not see it all clearly will help us come to see.  By claiming to see we put ourselves in a place of blindness to the plight of others who God loves, and by claiming our blindness we open ourselves up to God for insight on faithfulness to God and Neighbor.

 So, how is our sight?

Yes, even she gets it!

 

John 4:1-42

 Jesus was passing through Samaria, at the city of Sychar, at which is Jacob’s well.  The rivalry had run long and deep between the Israelites and Samaritans.  At best they were rivals, but really they were enemies in many ways for generations.  A whole lot of de-humanizing had gone on between them for a long time.

 The Samaritan woman who encountered Jesus came to the well at Noon.  I have read in the past that she must have been ostracized by other women, because she was at the well alone at Noon, long after the others would have come to draw their daily water together because of the heat of the day.  Was this woman marginalized within her own community?  Perhaps.  She was certainly on the margins for an Israelite like Jesus and His disciples, even though He was in her backyard.

 Women had no agency.  Their only power was in association with a man.  She had to have a man in order to survive.

 The disciples were gone and Jesus was thirsty.  He commanded her to get Him a drink, though perhaps the norm would have been for the man to do the lifting.  Was this an expression of her disenfranchisement by an Israelite in her own town?

 She was stunned that a Jewish man would ask of her a drink or talk to her.  Jewish Rabbi’s would not talk with a woman in public, and would certainly not speak to a Samaritan woman.  The banter that took place was a bit cute, clever and teasing.  My New Testament professor called it “light flirting.”  She held her ground with Jesus, claiming Jacob as her ancestor, teasing that it would be hard for Him to draw living water (perhaps she thought He meant flowing water) from the bottom of a well without a bucket.  But then it got serious.  Jesus was serious in offering her living water.  She asked Jesus for it.

 Jesus then put her in her place once again, telling her to go get her husband (in order to make this proper, perhaps), knowing all too well that she did not have a husband, but had indeed had five and was now living with a man.  We do not know what happened to the other five.  Whatever it was, she was powerless without a man.  If they had died or divorced her (because only a man could do that), her life prospects were tentative at best, especially since the man she was with was not her husband.  She acknowledged Jesus as a prophet.  She asked Jesus the controversial question – about which worship tradition was legitimate.  Jesus responded that neither was, inherently legitimate.  The only legitimate worship is that of Spirit and Truth, regardless of what mountain you may worship on or in which Temple you worship.  Traditions do not guarantee true worship.  Genuine spiritual connection with God happens beyond traditions and locations, in truth, when our spirits connect with God.  Jesus ten told her that He was the Messiah, and as the disciples returned, she left to tell other Samaritans about her encounter with the Messiah of God. 

 The disciples voiced their astonishment that Jesus was speaking with a Samaritan woman at all.  She went and told other Samaritans and they came to encounter Jesus, who stayed there for two days instead of passing through.

 Jesus met people where they were, acknowledged differences and built bridges.  Jesus represented the Kingdom of God, and He introduced it to those who were not accepted by those who had traditionally see themselves as the faithful of God.  Jesus reached across boundaries to include the marginalized, powerless and de-humanized ones that His own people rejected. 

 The followers of Jesus would do well to follow suit.  If Jesus sees within the least likely persons worthiness for His encountering and enlightening them, should not the church that bears Jesus’ name see it?  If Jesus engages with people who are ostracized, marginalized and disenfranchised by society and does not condemn them but rather offers them eternal life in Him, should not the ones who claim to follow Jesus do the same?

 Empire divides, de-humanizes and disenfranchises people because of its devotion to greed, lust for power over others and desire for status above others.  Empire portrays itself and its adherence falsely as being superior and therefore justified in its ruthlessness exploitation and destruction of others’ lives.  Jesus, who represents the Kingdom of God and faithfulness to God, unites, sanctifies and restores Shalom to the lives of people not like Him, giving up Glory in humility, sharing generously in compassion, empowering out of empathy and serving “the least” among us in agaph.  Instead of being astonished that Jesus is drawn to them, should we not be drawn to them as well, by His example? 

 How are we doing at following Jesus in this part of God’s Kingdom, here and now?