Looking Ahead to April 18, 2025 -- Good Friday

This year we will be hearing the Passion story as told in Luke 22:39-53, 66-23:56

The Sermon title is Sacrifice? Revolution? Bait?

Early Thoughts: What do we do with this story? What meaning is there to be found in this tale of betrayal, injustice, torture and death? Why do we tell it every year?

Good questions. And ones I have wrestled with for many years without finding a wholly satisfying set of answers.

Of course we tell it every year because it is a crucial part of the narrative. We tell it to remind ourselves that the path to a renewed world is not without obstacles. But where is the meaning? Why is the cross needed?

From a purely practical viewpoint it can be pointed out that Jesus dies on a cross because he was deemed a political threat to the so-called pax Romana. When one challenges empire empire tends to strike back. The Romans and their Judean puppet leaders corked together to end the threat. But surely there is more than that...

Shortly after that first Easter Christians started to search for answers to the why questions. They started to ask what the cross could possibly have accomplished. As N.T. Wright asks in his book The Day the Revolution Began, what was accomplished by six o'clock in the afternoon on that day of execution?

Wright's book suggests that Good Friday is the day the revolution not only began but was victorious. I tend to disagree on both those specific points because I think the revolution began with incarnation and the victory comes with resurrection (although the final victory has yet to really come). But I do agree that Good Friday marks a significant event in the process of the revolution.

From the earliest days Christians have understood (though only with eyes that had seen resurrection, nobody believed this as Jesus was nailed to the cross) that somehow Christ's death was tied in to the ending of the power of sin. Various understandings of how exactly that happens have been offered over the centuries. So there is that, a major step in the revolution, the remaking of the world, is to break the power of sin (I tend to agree with Wright that the basis of that power is idolatry in some form or another). 

Some point to Jesus' death as some sort of sacrificial sin offering, as stepping in to take the punishment (which is not how the sin offerings at the Temple were actually understood in Jewish law). Others point to it as a form of bait, where Jesus allows the powers to think they have one only for the trap to be sprung and the victory revealed with resurrection. Others see it a s sign of commitment, that Jesus' passion for God's Reign was so strong that he was willing to die for the cause. There are lots of possible  understandings of Good Friday, lots of attempts to determine what had been accomplished when Jesus says "it is finished".

In the end I suspect that there are strands of truth in many of those understandings. I don't think there is one single meaning for the story we tell this day. Maybe part of how we answer the question is shaped by what we need (or think we need) it to mean to help lead us into the new and abundant life promised by Jesus?

What does the cross mean to you? What does the cross say to us in the disrupted world of 2025 (war in Ukraine and Gaza, mass deportations with no due process in the US, a Canadian election getting grittier, a trade/tariff war)?
--Gord

Looking Ahead to April 17, 2025 -- Maundy Thursday

We will be gathering at 7:00 this Thursday for a brief (about half an hour) service to mark Maundy Thursday.  Communion will be celebrated.

The Scripture readings for this service are:

• John 13:1-9, 34-35
• Luke 22:24-27

The Reflection is titled Love and Serve

Early Thoughts: Maundy Thursday is a day when we remember the Last Supper, and so it is a day we traditionally gather at the table of faith. But the name "Maundy" has little to do with the table....

Source

There is another story traditionally read on Maundy Thursday. It is from John's Gospel and it tells of Jesus washing the feet of the disciples, over the strenuous objections offered by Simon Peter. [There is a tradition in Rome where  the Pope washes the feet of inmates to remember this story, Pope Francis has made news over his reign by including Muslims and women in those events. I wonder if he will be able to take part in this tradition this year given his health challenges.]  A few verses later John recounts Jesus giving a "new" commandment to his disciples -- they are to love each other as they have been loved. This in fact is where the title Maundy comes from, it is related to the Latin mandatum which means commandment.

In fact I think this is the most important thing to remember as we head into Holy Weekend. The commandment to love each other given in the context of Jesus modelling how to serve each other. In Kingdom/Gospel logic the world is routinely turned upside down. The last shall be first, the least shall be greatest, the poor lifted up and the rich sent away empty. To love each other as Jesus loves his disciples is to serve each other, to be willing to be servant and friend instead of master.

This is what our passage from Luke reminds us (a passage that appears immediately after Luke recounts the words of institution, where Jesus tells us to break bread, share cup and remember him) of this call to love through service. 

AS I look at the world today in the midst of tariff/trade wars, and a Canadian election and all the news about Trump-ordered deportations I say we need a big reminder. We need to remind ourselves, our neighbours, our leaders that the highest calling to to love and serve. Jesus proclaimed the coming of God's Reign. One of the markers of that Reign is servanthood and love. What better way to prepare for the world-changing event of Easter than to remind ourselves how we are called to be in the world?
--Gord

Looking Ahead to April 13, 2025 -- Palm Sunday

The Scripture Readings this week are:

• John 11:16, 45-53
• Luke 19:28-40

The Sermon title is Jesus Turns Up the Heat

Early Thoughts:  What was he thinking? Why would he take such a risk? Did he know what they were thinking/planning/scheming?

As Luke has structured his Gospel, back in chapter 9, just after foretelling his own betrayal and death, Jesus sets his face to go to Jerusalem. From that point on we are headed toward that city. Along the way (in chapter 13) Jesus has been warned that there are those who want him dead. Just one chapter ago, in chapter 18 Jesus reminds his disciples and friends that his death is coming, that it will happen when they get to Jerusalem.

Now, as Passover looms, we find Jesus on the last stage of that journey to Jerusalem. And he has no plan to just slip into the city unnoticed. It seems he has made arrangements for a piece of street theatre. He has arranged (or someone has arranged) for a colt to be available. I suspect there are people planted in the crowd to start building a pathway with their cloaks (no palm branches in Luke's telling of the story) and begin the cheering/proclamation that accompanies his journey -- and then it takes on a life of its own.

It seems pretty intentional. Jesus knows the risks and seems to go ahead and amplify them. Is he trying to challenge those in power to act?

I think so.

I think Jesus is intentionally turning up the heat to confront not just the Roman Empire and its puppets in Judea but the powers of evil that stand in the way of God's Reign, I think Jesus is forcing the issue. And I think he is doing it with full knowledge of what the extra heat and pressure will lead to.

It is far more than cheerfully waving palm branches and singing bouncy songs. It is a reminder of what Jesus is all about. This is not just a party along the roadside.

Jesus knows what the stakes are. The people along the roadside don't understand (or have chosen not to hear) what he has said the stakes are. The leadership knows what the stakes are, and I think they are a little bit afraid.  Afraid of the people and afraid of the Romans, caught between the two, they tell Jesus to quiet his followers. As Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber put it: "Tell the rabble to be quiet, we anticipate a riot". The stakes are high and Jesus is upping the ante.

Will we have the courage of Thomas, willing to risk death with Jesus for the sake of God's Kingdom?  Can we live into the true implications of naming Jesus as the one who comes in the name of the Lord? Can we shout for the world that is about to be changed? Can we join in the revolution?

Or will we be quiet and force the earth (or at least the stones) itself to shout on our behalf? Is the increased heat too hot for us?

Hosanna! SAve us! From the powers of the world and maybe even from ourselves.
--Gord

Looking Ahead to March 29, 2024 -- Good Friday

This year we will hear the story from Arrest to Burial as told in the Gospel of Mark 14:43-15:47

The Sermon title is Disaster???

Early Thoughts:  What do we think about as we sit at the base of the cross and remember this story? Can we read it, immerse ourselves in it, feel all the feelings, without remembering the rest of the story? Does remembering that this is not the end of the story rob the cross of its horror and power? (And is that necessarily a bad thing?)

The disciples, the people closes to Jesus had to live through this not knowing for sure what the end of the story truly was. For them it must have seemed very possible that this was the end. All their hopes were being destroyed. The promise of a new world was gone. The horror and terror must have been a palpable part of their experience.

For them, this was a disaster. Yes Jesus has repeatedly told them that the Son of Man would be executed and then would be rise three days later but I am pretty sure they did not believe it. After all why would they? As far as they knew dead meant dead. Some of them might have heard and even believed in the idea that the righteous would be raised at the last days, resurrection was a part of some Jewish schools of thought in the first century, but still was now the time? What they knew for sure was that Jesus was hauled away and his death was imminent. For all they knew the highly identifiable followers of Jesus could be next.

How might you react if you had been there?

To be honest I think that even though we know the rest of the story (so far, the story has not actually come to an end yet) we need to stop and pretend we don't for a moment. It is too easy to ignore the horror and terror of this day when we want to jump right to an empty tomb and the promise of new life. I am not saying that is bad. Hope is always a good thing. Remembering the promise of God that life and love will always defeat (in the long view) death and fear is always a good thing. But maybe if we don't pause to remember the realities of death and fear, despair and defeat we don't fully appreciate the power of the victory.

The world around us knows a lot about fear and death. Despair is a common reaction to our news stories. Some days it seems like the disaster wins -- sometimes on a personal level, sometimes in our faith communities, sometimes on a global scale. We may need to sit with the disaster for a bit, even as we try to live into hope.

What are the disasters you need to sit with this year? Where does it look like the forces of empire and destruction are beating down the Kingdom of God? What makes you want to run away and hide so you are not the next one to get caught in the web of death?
--Gord

Looking Ahead to March 24, 2024 -- Palm Sunday

The Scripture Readings this week are:

• Psalm 118:19-29 (read responsively to open the service)
• Mark 11:1-11
• Mark 11:27-33
• Mark 14:1-2

The Sermon title is Triumph!??

Image source

Early Thoughts: Hosanna, loud hosanna the happy children sang...  All glory laud and honour to thee Redeemer King... Ride on ride on in majesty...

Opening lines from 3 Palm Sunday hymns. Just typing them out conjures up images of people parading around the church waving palm branches. It brings out feelings of hope and joy. 

When I read the story of the entry into Jerusalem it carries with it that feeling of hope and possibility. The air seems to resound with the triumphant glory that the king has entered the city. It may well have been street theater. It might have been carefully staged to make a point. But there is a clear sense that the air rings with great news.

Unless you look beyond those verses of course.

The trouble seems to start immediately. People with power see Jesus' street theater as a threat. They start to wonder how they should react. (To be fair Jesus seems to be doing a fair bit to antagonize them as well.) By the beginning of chapter 14 the direction is clear. As Andrew Lloyd Weber and Tim Rice put it "this Jesus must die".

What type of triumphant story is this? When we sing those hymns and wave the branches what victory are we celebrating? The next few steps of the story seem far from victorious, in fact they lean more toward disastrous.

The Palm Sunday story is often called "the Triumphal Entry". But there is a big shadow looming over the parade. In fact  one of those hymns I quoted above includes the line "in lowly pomp ride on to die". 

Where do we go from here?
--Gord

Looking Ahead to April 7, 2023 -- Good Friday

The Scripture Readings for Good Friday this year are:

• Isaiah 52:13-53:12
• Matthew 26:47-27:56
• Matthew 27:57-61

The Reflection title is Consequences

Early Thoughts: Choices have consequences. How many times have you heard or said those words?

Rarely, though we may like to, can we escape the consequences of our actions. However, we do have the ability to decide if the likely consequences are worth doing it anyway.

Jesus knew the likely consequences of the path he was walking. He had told his closest friends that this path would end with his death -- more than once he had told them this. And yet he kept going. He spent the last week of his love in the Temple, the central point of Jewish life at the time, teaching and confronting the "way things are" with the promise of "what will be".

The people in charge did not like this. While the Gospel accounts tell us clearly that the Jewish leadership were the ones most upset about the challenge that Jesus presented to their authority I have little doubt that the Roman officials were equally disturbed by this threat to the peace. So they acted. They had Jesus arrested, tried, beaten, mocked, and executed.

Was it worth it? 

The story we tell on Good Friday is often called the story of the Passion (think of Mel Gibson's movie The Passion of the Christ). This is drawn from the Latin word that means to suffer/suffering so the story of Christ's Passion is the story of Christ's suffering. And really that makes sense. The story we tell on Good Friday is a fairly horrific tale. But given that the English word passion has developed other meanings I wonder what else we might do with it...

In modern usage passion is a word used to describe something that is very important to us, or maybe something that gives us great pleasure, or maybe something that makes life more worthwhile. How do these meanings (well really the first and the third I suppose) tie in to our Good Friday narrative?

The proclamation of a changed world, of a world where God's priorities take precedence over human priorities is what Jesus was all about. I think it is fair to say that Jesus' passion was the Reign of God. I also think it is fair and accurate to say that his passion for this changed world, for a world where the established order is turned upside down, annoys those who benefit the most from the world as it was and leads directly to his arrest, trial, and execution. The cross was a direct consequence of him living out his calling and passion.

It is traditional to name that Jesus' death was a sacrificial act. Jesus died because of the sinfulness of the world (more traditionally stated as "died for our sins"). Some will say this in a "paying the price on our behalf" way. I tend to use that language differently. I see the sacrificial act as a statement of his passion, of his commitment to God's vision for the world. The cause is so important that he is willing to risk, or even embrace, death to get the message shared.

What is so important to us that we are willing to suffer harsh consequences? What makes us passionate enough to risk serious payment? Can we get that committed to a vision for the world? What are we willing to sacrifice?
--Gord

Looking Ahead to April 6, 2023 -- Maundy Thursday

 For Maundy Thursday this year we will be having a short, less formal, worship in the Friendship Room at 7:00. Communion will be served.

The Scripture we will hear this evening will be:

• 1 Corinthians 11:23-26
• Luke 22:14-23

Early Thoughts: For 2000 years we have gathered at the table of faith. For 2000 years we have broken bread and poured out the beverage (sometimes wine, sometimes juice) and eaten together.

The central weekend of the Christian Year begins with this meal, this remembering of another meal shared in an upper room. Before the arrest, before the trial, before the horror we pause to remember the God who sets God's people free. We pause to eat together and be refreshed.

As we gather on this evening there are a few things I want us to remember.

1. this is the meal that unites us across the miles and throughout the centuries with other people who have chosen this path of faith.
2. this bread and this drink may be a mere mouthful on this night but they remind us of the banquet that awaits us at the end of days, a time when folk will gather from many different places and traditions to eat together.
3. the meal that lies beneath this meal is a reminder that God sets God's people free, and so is also a reminder that we need to avoid placing each other in bondage

May our gathering to eat and drink and remember on this evening strengthen us as we face the emotional roller coaster that the weekend will bring.

Looking Ahead to April 2, 2023 --Palm Sunday

As this week is the first Sunday of the month we will be celebrating the sacrament of communion. If you are joining us online you are invited to have bread and juice available so we can all eat and drink together.

The Scripture Readings this week are: 

• Matthew 21:1-11
• Matthew 26:17-30
• Philippians 2:5-11

The Sermon title is Poured Out

Early Thoughts: In Matthew 26 we read: "While they were eating, Jesus took a loaf of bread, and after blessing it he broke it, gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.”  Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you,  for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins."

In the other Gospel accounts of the Last Supper similar language is used. Luke (and Paul in 1 Corinthians 11) include words like "which is given for you" after the breaking of the bread. As we approach Good Friday and trial and execution (judicial murder if you prefer) maybe we should pause and reflect on the language we use around the sacrament.

Palm Sunday is a pivot point in our story. We begin the service on a note of triumph with a parade and promise and hope. But even in the midst of our celebration we can see a shadow on the horizon. All is not well with the world.

What does it mean to describe Jesus body as broken for us? What does it mean to describe the blood poured out for us? I ask this also thinking of the passage from Philippians we read this week.

Many scholars believe that these verses contain part of an ancient Christological [Christology is the branch of theology that talks about who we understand Jesus to be] hymn, which would make this among the earliest Christian musical pieces we have (does it count as a musical piece if we only have the words???). Paul's description of Jesus in the first half of this hymn, in my reading, goes well with the imagery of the words of institution -- broken for you, poured out for you.

There are many ways we can understand the communion meal. I believe that at different times we raise up different understandings. Certainly one of those understandings is to highlight the sacrificial nature of our faith story. Jesus embarks on a path for the glory of God's Reign, knowing what the likely result would be. Or in a more traditional understanding, Jesus take the place of the sin offering in the Temple, and makes that sort of sacrifice. Is that what it means to be poured out, to empty oneself for the sake of humanity?

This sacrificial understanding of Christ's work is not often raised up in the United Church (in my experience at least). It seems to be something that makes us uncomfortable. Certainly this is not my preferred understanding of the Communion meat (I personally prefer the banquet that gives us a foretaste of the banquet at the end of time). But I have come to learn that sometimes we need to intentionally sit with the things that make us uncomfortable. 

What does it say to you to talk about Jesus' body and blood broken and poured out for the world, for you? How does that cause us to respond?
--Gord

Looking Ahead to April 15, 2022 -- Good Friday

Our Good Friday service this year will be an evening service at 7:00. Folk can attend in person or via YouTube

This Year we will hear the story of Christ's Passion as told in the Gospel of Mark. The Scripture Readings are:

•  Psalm 22
• Mark 14:32-15:47

The Meditation is titled Empire Strikes Back

Early Thoughts: Just a few days earlier Jesus had entered the city to great excitement and cheering. In the days afterward Jesus has been spending much time in the Temple precincts, teaching and engaging with those who were around.  But then things took a turn.

By the nature of his teaching and preaching Jesus was sure to cause controversy. Jesus encouraged folk to pledge allegiance in word and action to the Reign of God. Jesus challenged the authorities (Jewish and Roman) because they were not properly supporting the weakest and marginalized in society. Jesus told people that priorities needed to change.

These are not things to teach if you want to make nice with Imperial Rome or their local governors.

Eventually it was bound to happen. Jesus has in fact warned his friend on multiple occasions that it was going to happen. The authorities were going to react, and react with violence. After a week of teaching and preaching and challenging (which included not only the street theater of Palm Sunday but also the causing of a minor riot in the temple precinct as he tossed the tables) the time had come.

The Empire, backed by some Jewish leaders who felt it was best to make nice with Empire, was going to strike back. As Andrew Lloyd Webber put it in his musical Jesus Christ Superstar "This Jesus must die".

Afterward people would try to find meaning and theology behind the death of Jesus. Theological arguments would arise that Jesus was a sacrificial lamb of some sort. The death would be seen to have some role in the restoring of right-relationship between God and humanity. And that has great meaning to many of us. But it does not change the fact that on the ground, in the midst of it all, Jesus' death has a lot to do with politics as well as theology.

As we strive to follow The Way of Jesus are we willing to challenge the imperial mindsets and powers of our day? Are we willing to admit the times we have been complicit with imperial power? Are we willing to risk a cross on a hill in case the empire strikes back at those who challenge it? After all that is what empires do, power tends to fight back when it is threatened.

Jesus challenged his friends, and challenges us, to take up a cross and join in his passion for God's Kingdom. Such a choice comes at a risk. Are we ready and willing?
--Gord

Looking Ahead to April 10, 2022 -- Palm Sunday

 The Scripture Readings this week are:

• Psalm 118:19-29
• Matthew 21:1-11
• Isaiah 49:5-16

The Sermon title is A Different King

Picture Credit

Early Thoughts: Is this a coronation procession? Is the king about to take the throne? Perhaps.

Or maybe not.

Jesus is, after all, a very different kind of king. In fact that may have been part of the problem. The people who were suffering under the heavy thumb of the Roman Empire wanted relief, freedom, liberation. Some of them saw in Jesus the possibility that this was about to be made reality. I wonder if some of those people in the crowd along the road to Jerusalem thought finally the day had come.

If so they were going to be disappointed.

Jesus, in the end, is a king and slave. Jesus is the one who the Apostle Paul will later talk about saying:

"who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death— even death on a cross" (Philippians 2:6-8)

The relief, freedom, and liberation that is promised in the Jesus moment is not shown by driving the Empire away with swords and clubs. It does not result in a new all-powerful monarch sitting on the throne of David. A revolution begins with Jesus, but not a rebellion.

The Psalm this week talks about the rejected stone that has become the cornerstone. For centuries Christians have looked the the story of Jesus and applied this image to him. If Palm Sunday is a possible coronation procession the throne seems to have been blocked and the claimant rejected. But for thousands of million of faithful over 2000 years that rejected claimant has now become the cornerstone of their understanding of God and how God interacts with the world. A different type of kingship, a different understanding of power.

The Matthew passage tells the story of the Palm Processional, a story many of us have heard many many times over the years. Interesting thing about how Matthew tells the story... Matthew uses a passage from Zechariah to show that this event was foretold (Matthew likes to link the Jesus story to the Hebrew Scriptures). However the Zechariah passage uses poetic parallelism and Matthew seems to miss that literary device, writing the story as if Jesus is riding two animals at once (take a look at verses 5-7). As the story is told it certainly looks like a grand procession, though we have no idea what "large crowd" means in relation to the number of people in and around Jerusalem that day. But then it ends with people asking "who is that?". An underground coronation at best.

Traditionally Palm Sunday is a transitional day. It marks the joyous parade and it starts the final road that will lead to arrest, trail, torture and death.  The Isaiah passage is chosen to help us into that transition. I find hope in these verses, but it is not the wild exuberant hope of the entry into the city. It is a more muted hope in the midst of darkness and struggle. Yet in the end it promises that God will never leave God's people, that God could no more do that than a mother could leave her child. That, to me, is the ope of the coming of this different king. Some of the expected trappings may be missing. Some of the pomp and power and majesty are hard to see. But there is promise, there is relief, there is freedom and liberation. To those who are the most vulnerable, the most beat down the king comes. And that is a cause for hope and joy.

Is Isaiah talking about Jesus? When the words were first written or for Jewish believers today? Almost certainly no. For Christians reading the story with eyes and hearts that have experienced the life death and resurrection of Christ? Almost certainly yes. Texts have a life in their original context and a life beyond that original context.

What do we commemorate on Palm Sunday? Is it the coming of a King to take the throne? Is it, as John Crossan and Marcus Borg suggest in their book The Last Week, a carefully choreographed piece of street theater? Is it the first (and last) hurrah of a doomed rebellion? Maybe it is all those things and more. Because Jesus is a different type of revolutionary. Jesus calls us to determine where our loyalties are (or where they should/could be). Jesus challenges us to see the possibilities of the world differently. And since we are still talking about it 2000 years later, it seems to have worked.

--Gord

Looking Ahead to April 2, 2021 -- Good Friday

Our Good Friday service this year will be live streamed on our You Tube channel at 7:00

The Scripture for this service will be the Passion Story as told in John 18:28-19:37

The Sermon title is So You Are a King?

Early Thoughts:  Good Friday is always a bit of a conundrum. Do we simply tell the story and let it be? Do we try to do some sort of annotated telling of the story and touch on all the parts? How do you preach the Passion narrative?

My approach has been to ask what jumps out of the story in any particular year and focus on that part of the story. Other parts of the story can be explored in other years.

The piece about John's account of the Passion that has always  caught my attention is the discussion between Jesus and Pilate. It has a note of philosophy about it as they discuss kingship and truth and authority. And that is how it raises up the different worldviews we see in the Passion narrative. 

Jesus is not a king as Pilate and the Jewish leadership use the word in this story. Despite what Jesus says, Pilate has authority (in his worldview) that allows him to pronounce life or death over Jesus of Nazareth. And, as Pilate notes, truth is a bit of a fuzzy idea at times -- or as Andrew Lloyd Webber has Pilate say:

What is truth?
Is truth unchanging law?
We both have truths
Are mine the same as yours? [Source]

At the same time....
Jesus is a king. Authority belongs to God. Truth is a real thing, something Jesus calls people to see, something God calls people to live by. How we see the world greatly impacts the way we live in the world.

What kind of king gets enthroned on a cross? What kind of coronation procession is accompanied by jeers and taunts? What kind of power or authority exists in the sight of a broken beaten man?

A few days ago one crowd cheered and celebrated as Jesus came into the city. Now another crowd calls for his death. Does that mean that people are fickle? Possibly, there may be some overlap between the two crowds. But I think it points to the clash that happens when "the way the world is" is challenged by "the way the world could be". Which viewpoint will we choose?

Is Jesus the king we have been looking for? Who has real authority? What truth guides our lives?
--Gord

Looking Ahead to March 28, 2021 -- Palm Sunday

This week is Palm Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week. We have once again reached the pinnacle of the church year.

The Scripture Reading for this week is John 12:12-19.

The Sermon title is Clouded Triumph.

Early Thoughts: It s a moment of great joy.  Jesus enters the City with great acclaim.  But at the same time, in the background, there is a scheme hatching. Despite what I remember being taught as a child, Palm Sunday is not only a day of great joy.  It starts a week with one crowd cheering, a week that will later have another crowd jeering.

As John built his Gospel Jesus enters Jerusalem right after the raising of Lazarus. In John's Gospel the raising of Lazarus is the thing that puts the plot to get rid of Jesus into high gear. Keep that in mind as you read verses 17-19. I see fear and jealousy there. I see people who are running out of options as they want to maintain the status quo. Jesus consistently threatens the status quo.

In the next few verses Jesus will talk about a seed that has to die to bear much fruit. Jesus will talk again about hating life to gain life and loving life to lose it.  Jesus not only upsets the status quo, sometimes he upsets basic common sense!

The next week in the life of faith takes us from excitement to confusion, to fear and despair, and then -- when all seems lost -- to hope beyond all hope. This Sunday we may wave the branches high and shout and celebrate. But even as we do that forces are moving and gathering. A cloud is poised to cover the sun.  But clouds are transitory, the Son remains.

--Gord