John 10:1-10 

Jesus the Good Shepherd 

10 “Very truly, I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit. 2 The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. 

5 They will not follow a stranger, but they will run from him because they do not know the voice of strangers.” 6 Jesus used this figure of speech with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.

7 So again Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to them. 9 I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. 

Our congregation is finding itself in a new place I believe.  Every few years there’s anxiety that the congregation won’t be around much longer.  When COVID hit, some said that was it, we won’t recover.  Yet, a couple of years out of the height of COVID, we are not only still here, we are finding new ways of being and moving in the world.  What we are doing and being is making sure that our congregational life is strong, as well as our community engagement.  This has happened as we have listened to one another and listened to what God is doing in our congregation and neighborhood and getting into that flow of God’s movement.  

Our passage this morning tells us to listen to the voice of the Shepherd. During this season, we’ve had so many voices to listen to in our culture: government voices ranging from the local to the federal, scientists, political leaders, clergy folk, neighbors, friends, family, news outlets…all sorts of folks often saying conflicting things…in the midst of those voices, it’s been interesting to see who we hear and what we hear. 

Overall, I feel like we’ve been able to listen well, especially to one another, and hear a collective voice that speaks towards deepening friendship, new practices, authenticity, and growth as persons and as a church. 

Yet, we still hear other voices that try to pull us in so many directions…it can give us whiplash! But, in the midst of it all, we try to cultivate a deepening awareness of recognizing the voice of God and God’s love for us in the depths of ourselves, in others, and in the world around us. 

Last Sunday, in our sermon conversations, some folks commented on how they have seen and heard God’s beauty all around them during this season.  We also heard from Pat on how we have met many goals already this year and moving towards other goals.  

It can be hard to train our ears for the voice of the Shepherd, of God, in our lives, even in this season.

One of the things that we have been doing is trying to train our dog, Leo, to listen to our voices. He’s a smart dog, an Australian/Pointer mix. It’s been quite the journey! And, it’s been hard for us to get everyone in our house on the same page in training him. But, he’s learning. 

Another thing about Leo, as a shepherd, he stays close to us…all of the time. He wants to make sure that we are OK. He knows us now. 

Our gospel lesson talks about sheep and shepherds. Obviously, the metaphor worked well in an agrarian society like first century Palestine. We are the sheep, Jesus is the shepherd. Jesus is leading us through whatever walls that divide us or prevent us from pastures that give life and nutrients. Sheep need lots of different fields, throughout a day, shepherds take their sheep to different fields in order for them to graze on fresh food, to have open spaces. Jesus wants us all to have life, abundant life, and he wants to lead us to better fields. 

We may want to stay in worn out fields…we produce a lot of smelly and messiness as we consume so much in those old fields. Our relationships with each other are filled with craziness at times, we don’t always follow or lead each other well. There are also dangers around us and we need to be led to safer fields. Dangers that come as thieves to us such as depression, loneliness, selfishness, pride, or addictions, or folks not being the best version of themselves, or fully understanding themselves or others. Those thieves can come in the middle of darkness as it says in John 10:10 that kill and destroy the lives that we were called to live. 

Yet, Jesus tells us that he has come to give us life. When we slow down, or get caught up in recognition of good things around us and the origin of that goodness, we can recognize the voice of the true shepherd, the voice of Jesus who has entered in the fields of our lives, who walks with us and towards us…walking through the messiness to call us towards new fields, new adventures. We often recognize the voice of Jesus through others. Maybe we literally hear words from Jesus through others such as a speaker, or maybe even a preacher. Or maybe we recognize the voice of God through something we read, or a song we hear. Maybe it’s listening to our neighbors. Or, maybe it’s seeing someone else practice charity through actions or giving themselves away. 

We know it when we see it and hear it though, especially as we train our eyes and ears to see and recognize the true shepherd. 

Friends, we have said it before, we are living in a new place with church. This season has moved us into ways of being…there never is a true “normal” because life is always evolving, life always teaches us something new, and this season is no exception. It has reminded us that some of the old forms simply don’t work anymore. 

The world is crying out for us, the church, to be an example of goodness, of the good shepherd, to be reflections of Jesus’ actions and to reflect and amplify the voice of the Shepherd who is calling us towards him, towards abundant life, towards being one flock. This shepherd has laid down his life for us, yet in doing so, has overcome all of the messiness in our lives and is creating something new and beautiful as he leads us into new fields, filled with beauty and relationship. 

So, let’s listen to the voice of the Shepherd, let’s love each other well, and let’s play in the fields of Cincinnati, and the world and be the diverse, yet unified flock God’s marked us out to be…we can do this, we can believe in each other as so many have done with me and God does with us, trusting each other, loving each other, and changing the world, starting with the world within us.

 Luke 24:28-34

28 As they came near the village to which they were going, he walked ahead as if he were going on. 29 But they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over.” So he went in to stay with them. 

30 When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight. 32 They said to each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?” 33 That same hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven and their companions gathered together. 34 They were saying, “The Lord has risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon!”

Just a few years ago, in the height of the shutdown during the pandemic, wasn’t it good to get outside and simply walk?  Cleared our minds, got some sun, maybe even waved at a safe distance to neighbors?  Walking still has been important to me.  I try to get my steps in every day.  Running helps, but, I love slowing down and simply walking and taking inventory of my life within and around.  

Our lectionary passages finds two of Jesus’ disciples walking on the road to Emmaus.  We can relate to them.  They want to get out, they need to get out.  They have been isolated, disrupted, and their expectations crushed.  They need to work it out and were walking to a destination. 

This passage is particularly helpful for us today.  Doesn’t it seem like we are in a “liminal space”.  Liminal simply means being in a transitional space, one boundary has been cross and then entering into a new one.  We have been disrupted, some more than others love these past few years.  Yet, God has been leading us to this moment.  We may be disoriented, we may feel lost, we may want to go back to “normal”, but then we realize that we cannot.  We have crossed a threshold that was handed to us.  We must grow and move towards a new “normal”, and that new normal has to be good for everyone in some way.  

In this moment, I am so grateful to have our church as “walking partners”.  We are having some amazing conversations as we continue to move towards a liminal space.  

Along comes another walking partner in our story.  At first the disciples don’t recognize him, but as they share, and as Jesus moves into sharing a meal with them, it dawns upon them, this is Jesus and they are filled with emotion.  

Friends, as we walk together, aren’t we often surprised that as we sit, as we listen, as we share life together, slowly, but then suredly, along the way, we see Jesus!

I believe that in this season, we have the opportunity to “see” one another, and in the process, see God in each other.

In our story, Jesus goes on to give them communion.  

It’s hard to be at communion with everyone, to live in that recognition that we are connected.  Communion seems to not be the practice when we look at events in the world around us.  As I watched events unfold this past week and the divisiveness, I wonder if we can ever live in unity.  

Yet, we are called to remember that we are created for connection.  I am amazed at folks like Martin Luther King who were able to work towards justice while rejecting violence and seeking peace.

We also experience a lack of connectedness or communion with our deepest selves.  We live in a state of image that we’ve created of ourselves and try to hide the hard things that we don’t want to see or others to see.  That can lead to a discontent within ourselves.  Sometimes that discontent can lead us towards growth if handled in loving community with God and others.  But, oftentimes that discontent left on its own leads us to despair.  

I believe that our congregation has been towards communion…deeper connections that are burning within our hearts.  We may not be able to control what others do to us or to others or the circumstances around us, but we can live in Christ and strive to respond to others as Jesus would.  We are finding deeper places within our hearts that moves us towards curiosity and momentum towards a faith that will take us forward.  

After Jesus’ death and resurrection he appears to the frightened, lonely, desperate, insecure, and hopeless disciples, along the road, and in their hiding places.  They have just seen Jesus crucified, their hopes are dashed, their lives are threatened and they have locked themselves up in a room.  

Jesus came to the disciples on that road later and he comes to us today, having overcome everything, even death.  We approach this new season of life with expectation, or a hope for peace within ourselves, others, with God, and in the world.  He has made everything new and desires for us to live in unity, not conformity or an image, but in deeper relationships that are real, authentic.  Our hearts turn towards God and one another, and we begin to notice that our hearts beat as one.   As the church, the Body of Christ, Christ lives in us and we have the power to live in peace.  Friends, may we live in the one communion and may we allow our hearts to be open once again to one another and new possibilities. And may we live in Christ and abide in Christ as Christ lives in us.

John 20:19-31

19 When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the  disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. 21 Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” 22 When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” 

24 But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.” 

26 A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.” 28 Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” 29 Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” 

30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. 31 But these are written so that you may come to believethat Jesus is the Messiah,the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.

During this season of coming out of the pandemic, as if we ever will, maybe we have felt “locked in” or “locked out”, we need time to “breathe”, but feel like we can’t escape.  It seems like oxygen, or breathing has been a theme this year for our culture.  We have experienced so much in these past few years, and even in the past few weeks.  It’s overwhelming at times and we all need space to breathe, to take in oxygen.  

This is the season for me, as well as our congregation.  Giving our faith some oxygen.  We have a lot of energy in and around us as we intentionally look at ways to encourage congregational life and community engagement.  There are three words that begin with an “r” that will help give us focus as we look for oxygen for growth:   renewal, and rest, and another “r” word:  resurrection!  

In my own life, I am experiencing it.  Last fall, council gave me some extra time off this year so I could apply for a PCUSA Board of Pensions grant for clergy renewal.  I received this grant, which is a great gift.  I will be using that for a family pilgrimage to Iona and Lindisfairne this summer, some time with Debbie, and then a personal retreat for me.  Even with the extra time off, I am not missing any more Sundays than I have in previous years.  Some may call this “vacation”, and there is certainly an element of rest and a change of pace and scenery, however it is more than that.  Our family is using the term “pilgrimage” as all four of us have been on what we’ve termed our own “hero’s journeys” the past couple of years.  We are looking for to give oxygen to our desire for renewal and for some rest as we live into resurrection, new life. This time away is a marker for us in many ways as we live into a new reality, new growth, that is emerging within us.  

It is the same for our congregation I believe.  The grant was for $5,000.  I am donating $500 out of that grant to the church to plant some seeds for all of us to cultivate a recognition of some rest and renewal as we live into “resurrection”.  Just as the early disciples needed time to let the reality of a resurrected Jesus sink in, we need time to reflect on this same Jesus rising up within us.  I am working with Pat Young and Dave Kleinschmidt to come up with some simple, yet meaningful, ways we can experience renewal as a congregation through some small group opportunities and another project similar to what we did last year with my doctoral research project involving a small group of folks from the congregation and the community.

Our text this morning has a lot to do with moments like this, moments in our lives when we need to breathe, breathing that brings life, and not just any life…life that feels locked up or locked down and not going anywhere, lives that seem shut off from the world…we want life as it was meant to be lived…that has been true for humanity throughout our history.

Right after Jesus’ death on a Roman cross and resurrection from the dead. Jesus appears to his disciples. As we mentioned last week, it’s not every day that you see someone raised from the dead, they were disoriented, lost, so I imagine they were a bit overwhelmed, in shock, and wondering what was going to happen next. 

The disciples are in a state of fear. They were locked in a room, afraid of the same folks who had just crucified Jesus and fearful that they would be after them as well. They were literally in a “stay at home” quarantine out of fear for their lives!  They were in a self-imposed lockdown.  They were wondering if there was a light at the end of the tunnel of fear that they were experiencing, the uncertainty was overwhelming, not sure what to think about what’s going to happen next. The room was shut, and probably the lives of those disciples were in a state of being shut down from fear. There was probably a war of emotions going on within them. 

Into this room, this state of anxiety, Jesus appears and has the greeting “Peace to you”. The word “peace” in this context is a common word, but in this context, it meant the world to the disciples. They needed what Jesus was giving. 

They had to be overwhelmed in seeing Jesus, but Jesus’ physical presence was also comforting. Our passage this morning says that they rejoiced and they were strengthened by having seen the Lord. 

Jesus gives a charge to those disciples, an imperative command. Just as the Father had sent Jesus to the world, Jesus was now sending the disciples out from behind shut doors into a crazy world desperate for hope. 

Then, something happens, Jesus breathed on them.  Now, these days, we don’t want anyone breathing on us, do we?!  But, Jesus has been “vaccinated” with resurrection hope and power…with relational flow in the relationship of the Godhead, the Trinity, which also includes us through the universal presence of Christ.  This word “breathe” in this passage is the same word used in Genesis 2:7 where God breathes life into humanity, giving us life. Jesus is in effect saying that he is the Son of God, God in the flesh, giving life to the disciples. Jesus was not only bringing peace to the disciples, but breathing pure life into them. The verse goes on to say that Jesus gives another imperative, to receive the Holy Spirit. Jesus was breathing the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, God’s presence on to the disciples. The Holy Spirit, God’s Spirit, the unifying power of God would bring the disciples together, giving them confidence and power to overcome the world.  

The word for “spirit” in Hebrew is the same word for breath and wind. Do you remember the strong winds that rocked our city a few years ago? Well, God’s Wind is stronger and blows everywhere, filling every space. It has been with us before time, before history, it was and is and will be…it exploded out from the Big Bang and is every expanding, finding residence in humanity and ultimately fully in Jesus, who then breathes it out either literally or metaphorically to the disciples and to the world. 

The disciples needed to breathe in the breath of God. The breath of God that brings life and the power to forgive sins. Verse 23 in this passage can seem troublesome at first, does it mean that we can forgive others’ sins? No, it is an affirmation that if we receive the Holy Spirit and abide in Christ as Christ abides in us as stated in John 15:4, then the work of the Holy Spirit which brings the forgiveness bought by Jesus Christ’s actions on
the cross, is exhibited through us. It is the power of God at work within us as we recognize God through Jesus Christ. 

In verse 24 of this passage, we see that one of the 12 disciples, Thomas, wasn’t around to see Jesus the first time he appeared in that room. 8 days later though, they are hanging out and Jesus appears. It’s interesting to note that these same disciples who had just been blessed by Jesus showing up and breathing on them are scared and locked up in that room again! Yet, Jesus breaks through the walls again…gives them a peace blessing and then addresses Thomas. Thomas wants more tangible evidence, so Jesus gives it to them. Jesus doesn’t want to shame Thomas, this passage isn’t here to give reference to Thomas’ unbelief, but it’s here to give hope to those who haven’t seen. The writer of this passage is giving a direct address to those reading in verse 31 that these things have been written for you…for us. 

Friends, we may be living in fear, in anxiety. We may have just witnessed Jesus’ very resurrection in our lives…we may even have lived our lives in expectation of God’s faithfulness to us. Yet, here’s Jesus…appearing before us, walking through any barriers that we may be hiding behind. Calling us out of the four walls we’ve enclosed ourselves in…giving us himself, breathing new life into us, and calling us towards the next thing… a full life with him! Thomas and the rest of the disciples were living in fear, in disappointment. They were tired. Yet Jesus came to them, and comes to us…he invites us to know his scars, to touch the pain that has been inflicted upon him…to believe that he is God and is here with us now. Friends, with this belief, with this faith, we can know that God’s Spirit will flow through even the thickest of walls that our built.  Take a deep breathe, let the oxygen of God’s flow fill you and renew you!

John 20:1-18

The Resurrection of Jesus

20 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. 2 So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” 3 Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. 4 The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, 7 and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. 8 Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; 9 for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. 10 Then the disciples returned to their homes.

Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene

11 But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; 12 and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. 13 They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” 14 When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. 15 Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” 16 Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni!” (which means Teacher). 17 Jesus said to her, “Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” 18 Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”; and she told them that he had said these things to her.

Friends, here we are…Easter morning.  My morning started early!  It was dark…pitch dark.  Of course, it didn’t really start until I was able to get some coffee and a nice hot shower!  As a kid, I remember Easter morning always starting in the dark.  I couldn’t wait for it, it was kind of like Christmas “lite”, but with bunnies and candy…so, I was up, in the dark…looking for my Easter basket…and, yes, I loved the chocolate bunnies!!

Since then, life has happened.  I’m 55.  I’ve had some ups and downs.  And, I’m sure we all have. We’ve experienced loss, disappointment, expectations dashed.  When we get in touch with those moments of disorientation, we can have a notion, or an inkling, of what those early disciples were going through.  And, maybe the point of beginning Easter Sunday in the dark.  We have to go to the dark places.  When Jesus is asked earlier in his life what sign that this generation needs, he responded with the sign of Jonah.  We have to be swallowed in the belly of the whale at times, in a dark place, not in control…and then spit up on the shore unexpectedly.

The disciples may have felt like that…out of their control, not sure what happens next.  Their lives had been filled with so much, they met Jesus, they fell in love with him.  Even in this gospel narrative of John, we hear the phrase, the “disciple that Jesus loved”.  Now, scholars say that could be referencing John, or another disciple who’s writing this text, or it could mean all of humanity, or a reference to Judaism and Gentiles…those inside and those outside.  Either way, the disciples that morning, Mary Magdalene being the most prominent, had just seen their best friend, their rabbi, someone who’s words and actions drew them in, someone who they had projected their hopes and dreams on, humiliated and violently killed on a cross by a religious structure in bed with the state.  All because of love that asked us to be better humans, to include everyone in community, in authentic friendship across social barriers.

Jesus’ death was more than physical pain, that moment on the cross, Jesus was lost…resurrection was not on his mind. He cried out “my God, my God, why have you forsaken me”. Many of us today have been disoriented by so much happening in our culture with the war in Ukraine, the pandemic, political partisanship, the collapsing of so many institutions, including the church, and then adding in our own personal issues. We have felt lost, wondering where God is in all of this, if God has forsaken us.  

Yet, if we believe that God and humanity are together in Jesus, then God through the cross, is telling us that God, the Divine, is in the struggle with us…all of the struggle, embracing all of our lives, and the lives of those around the world.    

We find ourselves here we are on Easter morning. What do we say to each other on this morning?  What phrase? Christ has risen! Christ has risen indeed! Jesus’ love for us, Jesus’ promise of a full life filled with purpose and presence could not be kept in a grave. 

Mary Magdalene was a true disciple and friend of Jesus…one of only two disciples that did not desert Jesus, goes and finds the tomb empty! She runs to tell the other disciples, they go to the tomb and find it as she said…and, I love this passage as a runner, John, who is at least credited with writing our gospel lesson this morning, makes it clear that he’s faster than Peter!  

These disciples ran to the tomb in the dark.  And, again, we come to Easter morning in the dark.  Easter comes to us in the dark, it does not come alive in triumphant statements from this pulpit, from the liturgy or music of the moment…those things remind us of when Easter does come when we are disoriented or lost.  When we look at the casket of a loved one who has died.  When we sit with a church member who’s just gone through surgery and doesn’t know what’s going to happen next.  When we walk with a neighbor who’s daughter is going through a destructive relationship.   A friend who’s thinking about ending their lives.  When we hear of someone on a ventilator, fighting for their lives.  Or when we hear the voice of a loved one in the middle of a war zone wondering if they, or someone they know will make it through the day.

In those moments, when we are lost, when we see the empty tomb and wonder where God is…those are the moments when Easter becomes real.  Maybe like Mary, we run to friends, friends we’ve shared life with to look into to our lives or situations in life to get a different perspective.  Often, we find that they are just as disoriented, just as lost. But, they are there for us.  Friends, in this world where church is declining in attendance across the world, I believe it is more important than ever to remember that the church can be a great source of deep friendship and community, a gathering of people committed to leaning into the throes of life together…it’s more than what we do on a Sunday morning, or at any event.  It is a way of sharing life together.

In these moments of being in the dark when the impossible becomes possible, when, like Mary, we hear a voice that we don’t recognize at first call our names.  It may take a bit to hear deeply, but then we hear God calling us from deep inside and outside of us and we are awakened to a new reality, that God is with us as we look into the tombs of our lives in the midst of the darkness to find a deeper illumination, a light, a love that connects us to our suffering and the suffering of the world, and also gives us the hope that resurrection, growth, promise, and, yes, new life, springing up within us.  

Jesus did not go to the cross to appease a vengeful father. Jesus was nailed to a cross because he challenged a system that excluded many, while maintaining a status quo that kept some in places of servitude, while others seemingly prosper. Jesus came and demonstrated radical inclusiveness, radical friendship, and called us into lives filled with freedom, love, purpose, and deep Presence with others and with God. Jesus invited us, and still does, to deeper lives that are good for us and for others. Jesus models this live and calls us from the cross and the empty tomb to truly love everyone, including ourselves…which is often the hardest person to love, ourselves.  Yet, God says that if we want to change the world, start with changing our own.  

Mary, overcome by grief…stays, she is weeping, struggling, in the dark. Yet, she stays at the tomb, letting things unfold…when she finally hears, really hears, this gardener and sees that he is Jesus,  then, the joy of Easter possibility, Easter imagination, Easter reality rises up within her! 

What happens next? Well, the story gets out, the new reality sets in, people begin to see Jesus and to experience new things. Life as we know it is never the same, and it becomes filled with imagination, new possibilities, strength, confidence in the face of incredible odds. Something begins to form in these early believers that moves them to change the world, starting with their own awareness. 

I said at the beginning this morning that growing up I thought of Easter as Christmas “lite”.  As I grew and as life has come at me and as I’ve leaned into it, I have come to see Easter, as the early Jesus followers did, that Easter has so much to teach me…it’s more than candy and easter bunnies, it is leaning into the darkness and finding new birth, new beginnings…it is knowing that death is necessary, but not the final answer in my story, in God’s story, in your story.  We are all in the process of being reborn and becoming the persons that we have always wanted to be…especially in times of loss…God is always doing a new thing with us and in us.  Let us live towards that sense of awareness like Mary did.  

Christ has risen! 

This Jesus is inviting us to look into our lives and the lives of others, to not be afraid to look into the tomb…to find it empty and to see that God is about the business of overcoming death and inviting us to join together as a more loving and radically inclusive community marked by our identity in Jesus to go the distance in the hard, but worthy and beautiful work, together, of loving ourselves, loving others, and loving God.  This Jesus is also inviting us to come to this table this morning, really, every moment of our lives.  To remember that that the table is open to all people, everywhere…Jesus’ baptism is for all of humanity…and this Jesus invites us to remember that we are the body of Christ, and that this Christ is all around us and in us pouring new life into us.

Matthew 21:1-11

When Jesus and his disciples had come near Jerusalem and had reached Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, 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. If anyone says anything to you, just say this, `The Lord needs them.’ And he will send them immediately.” This took place to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet, saying,

“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.”

The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them; they brought the donkey and the colt, and put their cloaks on them, and he sat on them. A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 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!

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

This is palm Sunday.  We commemorate this day by waving palms and singing “hosanna”.  According to Scripture, Jesus entered Jerusalem the week of passover to celebrate this occasion with his disciples.  

In the other gospel accounts, we read that Jesus rode in on a warhorse, a white stallion or a colt, some say just a donkey.  The writer of Matthew is mentioning this to give us a picture that Jesus was not on a warhorse, but a donkey and a colt, both…fascinating.  But, Matthew is always trying to say something.  Essentially, Jesus is not coming to establish they type of earthly kingdom that folks in Jerusalem thought they wanted.  Common folks such as merchants, clergy at the time, or others would ride donkeys.  The symbolism is that Jesus is like one of us and comes to bring peace, not war.  It was also prophesied that the Messiah would enter Jerusalem on a donkey in the old testament.

The people of Jerusalem were gathering from all over the countryside to come to Jerusalem to celebrate passover.  They had heard about Jesus and the miracles he had performed, some were curious, most were hopeful, they were caught up in the festive atmosphere.  They welcomed Jesus with shouts of hosanna, which literally means “God save us”.  The people of Israel were under Roman occupation, they wanted to be liberated and free to live as they thought they should.  They were hoping for this Jesus to deliver them.  They probably were enslaved by even deeper things within their own lives, their way of thinking that prevented them from being the people they wanted to be…and, as is often the case in history, placed their trust and hope in an idea of a person or were transferring their hopes and dreams on to this person, rather than dealing with their own issues.  

So, they waved palms, symbols of expressions of joy, even the coins at that time would have had inscriptions of palms and the words the “redemption of Israel”.  Again, different ideas of what that meant.  They welcomed Jesus and Jesus entered into the moment with them.  

Jesus knew that things were probably not going to go so well in a few short days.  Yet, just like when we come to a wedding, we know life isn’t going to be easy for the couple getting married, yet, we celebrate and we know that something deeper, somehow, some way, is going to happen.  

There were some though who didn’t enter into the festivities.  The religious rulers, those involved in the maintaining of the institutional temple worship had been trying to discredit Jesus, trying to gain the upper hand in discussions with him, attempting to validate their roles, the status quo if you will, by winning an argument, or by other means.  It’s easy to get frustrated with them, yet, we also know what it’s like to have anxiety over change, even if that change is going to be good.  The religious leaders may have known that their system wasn’t perfect, wasn’t sustainable, wasn’t good for everyone, yet it was the system they knew and they didn’t want to have that boat rocked.

They saw the crowds changing for Jesus, they saw the hope for something more in people’s faces and in their actions, yet they couldn’t enter in to the joy.  So, they began to conspire in even more sinister ways.

Jesus saw the injustices, Jesus also heard the deeper cries of the crowd for salvation, for hope, for something more.   Throughout the week between Palm Sunday and that dark Friday where Jesus was crucified, he spoke openly and honestly about deliverance, about the need for a God who was on their side.  Really on their side, not on their side for an earthly or temporal “win” but for the deeper things of life, the hard things and good things that produce a deeper sense of worth, of value, of forever permanence.

At the end of that week, the crowds turned on Jesus as the religious leaders stirred them into action.  Fear and anxiety overtook hope and the deeper need for love, change, and growth.  They, we, wanted to go with what we knew, rather than have faith and hope in something even better.  So, we killed Jesus, we experienced brokenness in our relationship with God, and with others.  

I know it’s easy to judge the folks in Jesus’ time.  To ask why couldn’t they see.  Yet, it’s a drama that’s played out in our lives everyday.  We put hopes in something or someone, and when life happens in ways that we don’t anticipate, we get disappointed, hurt, fearful, anxious, and may experience brokenness and despair. 

In our lives together at Fleming Road UCC and in this neighborhood and in our own families and some of our deep friendships, we have experienced weariness, tiredness, anxiety, and disappointment.  

As a pastor, I know that I will get tired, weary, disappointed, maybe even a bit anxious.  You will as well, and with each other.  You know that, you’ve experienced that over the years.

Yet, that’s not the end of our story, nor is it the end of the story with Jesus.  He was crucified.  But, there was something deeper going on in Jesus’ coming to us, his life, and even his death.  Jesus rose out of the grave three days later.  Jesus’ love for us was stronger than all of the disappointment, all of the weariness.  His love was deeper than our desire for an earthly king.  He overcame death and showed us that God’s belief in us, God’s expansiveness, God’s love for those on the margins, God’s desire for change, growth, and for a more just system…God’s pursuit of everyone and model of radical inclusive community, is stronger than anything in this world.  

This same God does not want us to be ashamed of our lives, ashamed of how we have reacted to our disappointments in life, but to realize the gift of growth, change, and relational presence God has given us.  To own our space and to celebrate with God what God has done for us and who believes in us.

That gives me, and all of us, opportunities for strength as our minds and hearts are inspired and renewed, by a God and God’s presence in our lives. 

The disciples didn’t get it as it said in this mornings passage, but they did get it after Jesus rose from the dead.  They betrayed Jesus, and some even felt betrayed.  Fascinating.  But, they continued to grow.  This gave them hope and a sense of purpose that they could face anything, that their momentary disappointment would give away to growth and a promise of even more beautiful things to come.

This same God calls us into deep community with him and with others.  We will move through the throes of life together, and we will see a future filled with promise, even as we live in the moment, present with each other!  We have a God who does save, who does give us a deeper hope and imagination than we could even imagine.  Makes me want to wave some palm branches and not just say God save us, but thank you God for saving us!