Palm Sunday – The Meek and Humble Rider

On Fridays I teach the middle school kids at OLPH a Bible study. That is the local Catholic school here in Rocky Mount. One of the things we talked about this past week was what the people of Jesus’s day where expecting from him, from a promised Messiah. From this man who was making himself out to be the “King of the Jews”. How would they think he would arrive in Jerusalem? Well surely they thought, he would come upon a white house as all kings do. He would have had a sword in his hand and would be ready to fight these wicked pagans at any cost. But how did he come? He comes into Jerusalem as the “meek and humble rider”, sitting upon a donkey and as Luke tells us he is weeping for Jerusalem. This is a far cry from what the people of the day expected. Or from what we too, might expect from a King making his grand and triumphal entrance.

We can see this great expectation with the crowds as they cry out, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the kingdom of our father David that is coming! Hosanna in the highest!” (Make 11:9-10) “Hosanna”, “Lord save us”, they are saying. Come on Jesus, please help us to get rid of these evil Romans! They knew about a very similar scene to this from the Bible, in the Book of Maccabees. There two hundred years earlier, Judas Maccabees entered Jerusalem upon a horse, as he did we read, “the Jews entered with praise and palm branches, and with harps and cymbals and stringed instruments, and with hymns and songs, because a great enemy had been crushed and removed from Israel.” (1 Mac 13:52) This then was a celebration because a group of wicked pagan had been cast from the Land. So, it makes perfect sense when people see Jesus riding and palm branches waving they would expect similar results. But is this what he brings? After Jesus dies, Cesar is still on his throne and the Romans are still in power. That is why in Acts the disciples of Jesus after the Resurrection, ask him “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6)

So, what then did the “meek and humble rider” bring with him. For one thing he brought to life the message that he had been preaching for three years. He showed the world and us, what in meant when he has said, “the meek shall inherit the land” (Matt 5:5) and “He who is greatest among you shall be your servant; whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” (Matt 23:11-12) Jesus puts into perfect operation his command to, “not resist one who is evil. But if any one strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also; and if anyone would sue you and take your coat, let him have your cloak as well; and if any one forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles.” (Matt 5:39-41) Of giving all and receiving nothing in return.

Jesus also through his death and resurrection took the greatest symbol of fear, hate, power, and death, the world had ever known, the Cross. And he transformed it, through meekness and humility, to be the greatest symbol of love and mercy, a symbol of life where there was only death. He turned a symbol of exclusion and intimidation, into hope and the welcome arms of God’s own personal love. This all began as the “meek and humble rider” entered into Jerusalem almost two thousand years ago. As St. Paul teaches us in Philippians “Jesus emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:7-11) You see if we want the follow Jesus into his glory, then we too must go through the Cross to get there. If we want to share the riches of New Life on the other side of Resurrection, then we too must climb the donkey with the “meek and humble rider”. We must in our own way make the journey with Jesus to Calvary daily.

How do we do this living today? How do we live out our vocation to be meek and humble of heart? We can begin in our own homes. If we get into an argument over something and even though we know that we are right, we still can “turn the cheek” and say, “I am sorry”. I did not mean to offend you, please forgive me. By doing so we bring love and mercy, the Power of the Cross, into where there could have been quarreling and fighting. Joy and peace instead of hurtfulness and broken hearts. What about at work, what can we do there? If someone in gossiping about us behind our backs and we find out about it, do not get angry but be nice to the person. Pray for them and show them kindness and not hostility. Bring the transforming power of the Cross in the middle of the relationship. Do not repay evil with evil, but evil with good. That is the path of the “meek and humble rider”. This is also our path too.

When we live like Jesus teaches us, by the Power of the Holy Spirit, we make God’s own love and mercy come to life in our own bodies, just as it did with Jesus. We do this when we die to self and live to God and each other. Becoming last of all, that we become in God’s eyes, the first of all. As St Paul says in 2 Corinthians “as servants of God… we are treated as impostors, and yet are true; as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold we live; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing everything. (6:4-10) That is the description of a disciple of the “meek and humble rider”. To many peoples’ surprise, this is what a Cross shaped, Spirit filled life looks like in action.

St. Paul also gives us the glories conclusion, the result of this life when he further tells the Philippians, “Jesus will transform the body of our humiliation that it may be conformed to the body of his glory, by the power that also enables him to make all things subject to himself.” (3:21) This is the path of our Christian life, from the Cross, to the Resurrection. From humiliation, to glorification. As we walk with the “meek and humble rider” this Holy Week, think about the difference that the Cross has had upon the world and upon you own life. And if the Cross has not make a dramatic difference in you life, then think about that even more! Consider those places where you can spend more time turning the cheek and going the extra mile.  Practice bringing Jesus’s Cross shaped love and mercy to all those people you meet and interact with daily. Work harder to cast out pride and arrogance and put on understanding and patience. Something the world needs a lot more of now than ever before. Spend some extra time with Jesus this week and dare to walk with the “meek and humble rider” at you side!

The Mind of Sin

The opening verse of Psalm 36 is, “The transgressor, that he may sin, speaks within himself; the is no fear of God before his eyes.” Here we find a man who has to convince himself that his actions and thoughts are not really sinful. He is saying sin is not a problem for me. I am ok. I think this is what many people do today. They spend much time and go to great lengths to try to say within themselves, “I am doing no wrong, there is no sin in me. I never do anything to bad.” But what is this problem with this? The key issue is that sin breaks down our relationship, not only with God, but also with one another. Every action and thought that we have has a result upon something or someone else.

We see this on display in the Parable of the Pharisee and Tax Collector (Luke 18:9-14). Jesus tells the parable it those, “who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others.” My thought is that this situation, this way of thinking, must have been as bad then as it is today. The parable continues, “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week, I give tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!” We have the Pharisee who is doing fully what the Psalm verse describes, he is telling himself, standing within himself, and saying, yes God I am a good person. He proclaims and boasts of all the outward devotions that he does, then at the same time we find his inward heart and mind are corrupted by the sins of pride and arrogance. He is trying to “speak within himself” that there is no sin, no stain upon his soul. But he truly must know that things are not right within himself. That he is not in a truthful relationship before God. Life is very easy when all we do is exalt ourselves, but never kneel before another.

Then with the other actor in the parable, the Tax Collector, we see the opposite and correct response, “God be merciful to me a sinner.” Yes, Lord I know I am a sinner, please help me in my many sins. Transform my mind and heart by your powerful Spirit, we hear loudly in the background. The “fear” of God spoken of in the Psalm, then becomes the knowing that I need God in my life. The realization that I cannot do this on my own. Is this “fear” only of judgement? I think it’s more about the “fear” of not living up to the expectations that God has for each one of us. He made us a certain way and he desires us to go to work on his behalf. We have no “fear” when we do not care about these things. So be it if something, if some sin, takes me away from God and others, I have no fear of this! As with the Pharisee, I am good with what I am doing. I stand alone in myself and here I am.  As we all know, this is not God’s design or his plan.

St. Paul quotes this same Psalm verse in Romans Chapter 3 and I think he is looking at this “fear” in the same way that we are talking about here. There Paul gives a long list of quotations that speak about how all of mankind, both Jew and Greek are under the power of sin and our verse come at the end of this passage (Romans 3:9-20). Paul then adds the important fact that, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (3:23) He is saying that everyone, not matter who the person may be, is not living up to the plan that God has for him. That sin and the power behind it, has taken the place of the “glory” that God gave man when he created the world. As Psalm 8 says, “What is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him little less than the angels, and you have crowned him with glory and honor. You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet.” (8:4-8) With this we are able to tie together sin, fear, and glory; when we sin, we lose the proper fear that we should have before the creator God, and therefore “fall short” of his glory. Paul has also made this same point back in Chapter Two of Romans, “For God will render to every man according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; but for those who are factious and do not obey the truth, but obey wickedness, there will be wrath and fury.” (2:6-8) I think we are able to see here plainly the two actors in the Parable that we have been reflecting upon. The Tax Collector, through godly fear seeking God and the Pharisee not obeying the truth but seeking and finding his own wickedness.

We as Christians living today have to practice often St. Paul’s command to us that we, “take every thought captive to obey Christ.” (2 Cor 10:5) When we enter into true communion with the Living God through Jesus Christ, this is what happens. Our thoughts no longer become our own, but they are then centered in and around Jesus. He becomes the focus of our minds and hearts instead of our own sinful and ungodly desires. Yes, this is hard work. Many of us fall into the trap of the Psalm and say within our wicked heart, “I never sin, what I am doing is not that bad, I never gossip too much. And so on…” Then looking in the mirror at ourselves and knowing full well this is not true. Only through the action and work of the Holy Spirit, by our prayers and other devotions can we bring Christ in and allow him to change our thoughts to obey him and not sin. Let us all pray that we may realize fully we are fallen sinners and only through our proper relationship with Jesus Christ and the Church he established, will we become the people that God truly desires us to be. If we try to live life in any other way, we are destined to fall. To fall into the very depths of our Psalm verse, “The transgressor, that he may sin, speaks within himself; the is no fear of God before his eyes.”

The Personal Presence of the Living God

The Church’s Lectionary in the West, gives us two readings today that I would like to reflect upon briefly. The first is from Daniel (3:14-20, 91-92, 95) and its part of the scene where King Nebuchadnezzar sends the three youths into the fiery furnace because they will not fall down and worship the false god the king has created for himself. The second is from the Gospel of John (8:31-42). There our Lord himself says these very powerful words for us to think about and live by, “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” (8:31-32)

When we bring these two readings together we get the story of a God who is faithful to his people and at the same time this faithfulness requires in return our faithfulness. The three youths will not bow down to the false gods of their time, just as we should not bow down and worship the false god’s who make themselves manifest through our own sins. This is just what we do when we sin, we take the worship that is due to our true Lord and King Jesus and give it to another lifeless passion or possession. But what if we do fall, which each of us will, what then? This is where to power, and presence of our loving God comes into the picture. He comes to us like the Fourth Man who came into the fiery furnace, that had been heated seven times its normal heat and delivered the three youths from their bondage. This is what God does for us also. When we find ourselves in the fire of sin and idolatry. When we get ourselves in a hot mess and cannot seem to find a way out. When we ask and pray for help, the faithful God who said, “the truth will set you free”, will come to our rescue each and every time. This is the confidence that we have as disciples of Jesus Christ.

I to find it very reassuring that while God does desire us to be “perfect”, he is also seeking the faithful and determined disciples, those who are lead more by faith, then the desire for perfection. As St. Paul tells us in Romans, “For he will render to every man according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life.” (2:6-7) Let us therefore seek God daily. To put into practice what Jesus tells us, “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples.” (John 8:31) He will not leave us in despair, but he is there beside us as he was in the furnace with the youths. Our God in not far away but is present to us, upon our lips and in our hearts.