Author: lakewooducc

Local drama. We recently had our children visit from New York and they read the Tampa Bay Times which is delivered to our house each day. I found myself filling them in on different things in the paper because so much of it is of local interest – to the Tampa Bay area and to Florida.

In reading the gospel accounts of the last week of Jesus’ life, in a way I have the feeling that I am listening in on the local news of a small town in a backwater locale. The town council is upset. There’s drama over this upstart. There is authority to protect. Damage control to consider. There is back room politicking about how to handle things. Covert deals being made. It’s kind of reminiscent of the troubles in rural towns in the south during the civil rights movement.

When I read the gospel stories of the ending of Jesus’ life I don’t get the feeling that the people really had a sense of the wider implications of what was going on. I think if you asked the High Priest Caiaphas, “What do you think people will be saying about this 500 years from now?” he would have looked at you like you were crazy. There is a sense in which you can see these people dealing with this stressful challenge during difficult circumstances but it has the appearance of a local, temporary crisis. You don’t get the feeling that the people in the stories saw this as part of a much larger narrative with far-reaching consequences. They certainly did not expect to be the subject of an on-line devotion 2000 years later let alone the centuries of reflection and scrutiny that their situation has received.

When someone is president of the United States there is discussion of how history in the near and far future will deal with that person’s time in office. I don’t think the people of Jesus’ day in the story of the last week of his life had any sense of this. Now we know that this story has wider implications. It is a defining story of human history to date. This story is read, re-read, analyzed, preached on, written about, investigated, translated, picked apart and put back together. The behavior and attitudes of the major players are studied and scrutinized. I don’t think any of them expected this. And yet it has occurred.

This is a week to think about our behavior, our attitudes, our choices, our dealings with the challenges and crises of our day. How will we stack up under scrutiny by future ages? What will be said about us? Maybe there won’t be discussion of us as individuals, but certainly our era, our cultural context, our world situation will be examined. How will we fare? What will we be remembered for? How will our decisions be regarded by future generations 2000 years from now? That is, if humanity still exists.

Prayer: The life of Jesus reminds us that the unfolding of history takes place through ordinary every day actions and decisions. The love of God, cosmic, eternal, and mysterious is made known in the everyday workings of nature, creation, and, yes, in day to day mundane human life. Without full knowledge of the outcome may we have the courage to embody divine love each and every day even if it leads to death. This is the way of Jesus. This is the way of life. Amen.

Historical photos show soldiers returning from World War 2 to a ticker tape parade down the canyoned streets of New York City with thousands lining the sidewalks in celebration of the courageous, victorious heros who have vanquished the enemy. Different eras and different cultures have rituals which accomplish the same societal function.

In Jesus’ day such occasions featured a military leader astride a steed with festooned soldiers in tow parading down the main drag of Jerusalem to great acclaim. Jesus has come to Jerusalem for the High Holy Days, the celebration of Passover. He knows his enemies are plotting to entrap him. He knows they have been waiting and wondering if he will appear for Passover or if he will lay low to avoid trouble. There is much speculation and suspicion. Who will make what move and when? Jesus is bold and direct. He makes his moves out in the open, without fear, grounded in faithfulness.

In the gospels we are told of a procession through the streets of Jerusalem lined with the faithful who have come to Jerusalem for the feast of Passover. The population has swelled for the festival. Jesus comes riding into town on a donkey; not a heroic horse, but a beast of burden. For Jesus comes not as a symbol of war, but he comes in peace. His ride on the palm lined street symbolizes the antithesis of the victory march of a military leader. Jesus comes in humility, as one who serves the least and the lost. He comes as one who represents the opposite of Empire, domination, subjugation, and power maintained through intimidation and violence. He is not afraid. He is not intimidated even though he knows there are those waiting to kill him. He does not come to dominate or subjugate but to truly liberate. All people. For all time.

Palm Sunday and the ensuing week invite us to think about what kind of savior this Jesus really is and we receive him.

Prayer: We come to our holy week, our festival, our celebration of liberation this week. The story is familiar. But in the days ahead, may we find new meaning in the words and images that convey the greatest expression of Divine Love yet revealed in human history. May we be open to receiving that love into our lives and sharing it with the world whatever the cost. Amen.

Can you imagine trying to live without the use of your limbs? No hands or feet. No legs or arms. But your mind and torso are basically fine? There was a recent story on Story Corps about a young man, Collin Smith, who lost the use of his limbs in a car accident when he was a sophomore in high school. When the time came for him to go to college, he would need full-time continuous help each and every day. A man from his church who did not know him heard about the situation. He determined that it would cost the family something like $50,000 to hire that kind of help. The family did not have those resources, so Ernest Greene decided he would help Collin.

Greene, 50 years older than Smith, headed to college. They were together each and every day. Greene helped not only with academics, but with personal care and with Smith’s social life.

At the end of the four years, Greene pushed Smith, the proud graduate, forward to receive his diploma. After the the diploma had been delivered, the college president stopped Greene. There was something for him, too. An honorary degree.

“I don’t think I’ve been any more shocked in my life,” Greene said. “I didn’t think I had done anything more than any other person ought to do.” [http://www.npr.org/2014/04/11/301574558/one-man-becomes-anothers-hands-feet-and-family]
Greene was so humble about the whole thing. The young man needed help and he could do it so he did. That was it. No grand heroics. Just simple human kindness and service.

Our faith tradition teaches us that God has grand hopes and dreams for the world. Yet what about God’s hands and feet? God needs help to accomplish God’s goals. And as the old prayer reminds us, “He has no hands but ours.” Like that steady, faithful church member, Earnest Greene, who was the hands and feet of God serving Collin Smith, so we are all called to be the hands and feet of God. To serve. To see the needs around us and give of ourselves, with no expectation of reward or acclaim.

This Lenten season is a time to consider what our hands and feet are doing. Are they serving God? Are they meeting the needs of those around us? Are they idle? Are they otherwise occupied?

Prayer: We are grateful for faithful souls like Earnest Greene who remind us of our calling as human beings and as people of faith. We pray for ears and eyes open to the needs of those around us, the needs of the world. We are thankful for all that we can do and we pray that we are able to give our lives in service to others without fanfare or fame. May we be simple, humble servants in the spirit of our savior Christ Jesus. Amen.