Date: 3/28/2004
Time: 6:24:35 PM
Sorry to be off topic everyone - i have just read a liturgy about Jesus telling the disciples to go to the city and find the guy to prepare the upper room. This liturgy said the mans name is Larry... Where does that come from, do you know?
Date: 3/30/2004
Time: 6:30:52 AM
The passion story in Luke's gospel is filled with human and cosmic images of what God is doing through the death of Jesus: restoring all creation to the grace and peace of paradise.
"Why didn't you say something?" the silent bystanders of Nazi Germany are often asked. "How could you sell out so badly?" a contemporary missionary pastor is asked when, in order to be allowed to offer a Christian presence in a country still hostile toward Christianity, she voluntarily vowed not to baptize anyone. The answers to these questions are bleak at best. "What could we do?" reply the former. "I did what I could," shrugs the missionary.
"What would I have done?" the hearer of today's passion reading is compelled to ask, afraid of already knowing the answer. "What do I do in the face of world hunger, the threat of war, the plight of the homeless?" Indeed, today's reading confronts each of us with the pervasive and damning power of silence. Herod questions Jesus at some length; Jesus gives him no answer. Lots are cast to divide Jesus' clothes; "the people stood by, watching." Jesus breathes his last; "but all his acquaintances, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things."
Indeed, "too little, too late" is the judgment when the silent bystanders, at last, take action. The damage is done already when Joseph, who at least had the courage to disagree with his fellow council members, wraps the body in grave clothes; when the bystanding centurion announces Christ's innocence; when the women who followed him from Galilee prepare spices and ointments.
Yet, we are not, like the silent crowd, sent home today "beating our breasts." For the gospel cannot be contained by human silence. The good news today has come through the stones. In our processional gospel, Jesus declares that if his disciples were silenced, "the stones would shout out." Better yet, absolution is declared even before the threefold sin of denial, when Jesus counsels Simon "the Rock" Peter: "after you have turned back, strengthen your brothers."
It is both our indictment and our hope when we, today, with the crowds cry out, "Hosanna! Save us Lord!" For he has come for this very purpose.
Date: 3/30/2004
Time: 6:31:28 AM
Throughout Lent we have journeyed with Jesus, beginning with entering the wilderness and now ending with entering Jerusalem. In contrast to the quiet desolation of the wilderness, this entry is marked by not only the teeming of the city but also by disciples shouting, "Blessed is the king that comes in the name of the Lord!" So much has happened since Jesus emerged from the wilderness: teaching and healing that has given the people a vision of who Jesus will be for them. But just as Jesus revealed a purpose beyond the temptations offered to him in the wilderness, here he will keep moving beyond the jubilant crowds of followers towards the true revelation of his identity and purpose on the cross.
The gospel writer tells us that the throngs of disciples are shouting triumphantly because of the deeds of power they have witnessed along their journey with Jesus. Jesus has told them, however, that the ultimate revelation of his identity and salvation will be his betrayal, death, and resurrection (9:22). This shift towards a completely surprising revelation begins with Jesus entering Jerusalem riding on the back of a donkey, recalling the messianic promise: "Your king comes to you...humble and riding on a donkey" (Zech 9:9). Kings serve by ruling, but Jesus is one who rules by serving, even to the point of suffering and death. In this gospel's account of the Last Supper, the humility of Jesus is highlighted by having him remind the disciples that "the greatest among you must become like the youngest, and the leader like one who serves" (Lk 22:26).
The writer of Luke intends readers to understand that the events of this week are part of the plan of God and that Jesus understands himself to be engaged in the fulfilment of that plan (Lk 18:31, 22:37). This plan will not be thwarted. If the disciples stop their proclamations, then even the stones will cry out.
This plan does not end with Jesus' resurrection. The second volume of this two- volume work that is Luke-Acts takes up God's plan in the life of the church. All through this final week are warnings and hints about the struggle there will be in the lives of the faithful (Lk 22:28-33, 23:28-31). Jesus' conduct during his trial becomes a model for the faithful in their trials. The promise of Jesus' resurrection becomes a promise for the survival and growth of the church.
Date: 3/30/2004
Time: 9:43:23 AM
With all the debate around "The Passion of Christ," I'm thinking that there is more of a need to read this entire passion account on Sunday. Ralph Milton's "Reader's Theatre" version is faithful to the text in Luke and can be found in his Rumors newsletter at joinhands.com. I think it'll be a part of our Sunday morning worship. Mark in NC
Date: 3/31/2004
Time: 6:42:25 AM
We read the entire passion story each year from either Matthew, Mark, or Luke (depending on the lectionary cycle) then on Good Friday we read the whole thing from John every year.
Augsburg Fortress publishes pamphlets for congregational reading adapted from the NRSV. For instance, the Luke story has parts for Narrator, Jesus, Peter, People (the whole congregation), Centurion, Servant, Witness, Pilate, First Criminal, Second Criminal.
After a procession with palms and the dramatic reading of the passion there's really not much need of a sermon on this day. I didn't preach last year but this year I've prepared a sermon but only half the length of one of my typical sermons.
Shalom
Date: 3/31/2004
Time: 7:27:17 AM
This is a quick thought. Those who have read my posts before know I'm a perenial 3-point guy. I see - hands. There are many hands here.
1) Pilate's hands - Jesus was delivered into the hands of the soldiers (22:53) and then into the hands of Pilate. Although our text here does not say it, Pilate's hands are washed of this matter. Pilate wants no part in Jesus' death. We, however, if we are to be redeemed, must confess our hands are unwashed.
2) Jesus' hands are nailed to the cross and His hands bear my sin. If my sin is to be forgiven, I must lay my sin in His hands and realize He is there because of me.
3) The Father's hands now bear Jesus' spirit as friends' hands bear Jesus' body. William Barclay writes, "That is Psalm 31:5 with one word added--Father. That verse was the prayer every Jewish mother taught her child to say last thing at night. Just as we were taught, maybe, to say, 'This night I lay me down to sleep,' so the Jewish mother taught her child to say, before the threatening dark came down, 'Into thy hands I commit my spirit.' Jesus made it even more lovely for he began it with the word Father. Even on a cross Jesus died like a child falling asleep in his father's arms."
JG in WI
Date: 4/2/2004
Time: 8:20:42 PM
JG in WI,
Got another point for you to cement your hands theory: check out the Greek word for betray/s/ed. Nine times out of ten it is the word more accurately translated as "handed over."
RB in PA