RonBlog

1st April, 2012 Passion Sunday Last Sunday in Lent
Palm Sunday Liturgy of the Passion


Sentence
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 2:10-11

Collect
God of all, You gave Your only-begotten Son to take the form of a servant, and to be obedient to death even the death on a cross; give us the same mind that was in Christ Jesus, that, sharing His humility, we may come to be with Him in His glory, Who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God now and for ever.
Amen

Old Testament Lesson Isaiah 50: 4 – 9a
The Lord GOD has given me the tongue of a teacher, that I may know how to sustain the weary with a word. Morning by morning he wakens-- wakens my ear to listen as those who are taught. The Lord GOD has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious, I did not turn backward. I gave my back to those who struck me, and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard; I did not hide my face from insult and spitting. The Lord GOD helps me; therefore I have not been disgraced; therefore I have set my face like flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame; he who vindicates me is near. Who will contend with me? Let us stand up together. Who are my adversaries? Let them confront me. It is the Lord GOD who helps me; who will declare me guilty? All of them will wear out like a garment; the moth will eat them up.

Psalm 31: 9 – 18
Have mercy upon me O Lord, for I am in trouble: my eyes waste away for grief, my throat also and my inward parts
For my life wears out in sorrow, and my years with sighing: my strength fails me in my affliction and my bones are consumed
I am become the scorn of my enemies: and my neighbours wag their heads in derision
I am a thing of horror to my friends: and those that see me in the street shrink from me
I am forgotten like one dead and out of mind: I have become a broken vessel.
For I hear the whispering of many: and fear is on every side
While they plot together against me: and scheme to take away my life
But in You, Lord, have I put my trust: I have said, ‘You are my God.’
All my days are in Your hand: O deliver me from the power of my enemies, and from my persecutors
Make Your face to shine upon Your servant: and save me for Your mercy’s sake

Epistle Philippians 2: 5 – 11
Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, 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.
Therefore God also highly exalted Him and gave Him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

GOSPEL Mark 14: 1 – 15
It was two days before the Passover and the festival of Unleavened Bread. The chief priests and the scribes were looking for a way to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill Jesus; for they said, "Not during the festival, or there may be a riot among the people."
While he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at the table, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very costly ointment of nard, and she broke open the jar and poured the ointment on his head. But some were there who said to one another in anger, "Why was the ointment wasted in this way? For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii, and the money given to the poor." And they scolded her. But Jesus said, "Let her alone; why do you trouble her? She has performed a good service for me. For you always have the poor with you, and you can show kindness to them whenever you wish; but you will not always have me. She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for its burial. Truly I tell you, wherever the good news is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in remembrance of her."
Then Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve, went to the chief priests in order to betray him to them. When they heard it, they were greatly pleased, and promised to give him money. So he began to look for an opportunity to betray him.
On the first day of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover lamb is sacrificed, his disciples said to him, “Where do you want us to go and make the preparations for you to eat the Passover?" So he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, "Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you; follow him, and wherever he enters, say to the owner of the house, 'The Teacher asks, Where is my guest room where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?' He will show you a large room upstairs, furnished and ready. Make preparations for us there." So the disciples set out and went to the city, and found everything as he had told them; and they prepared the Passover meal.
When it was evening, he came with the twelve. And when they had taken their places and were eating, Jesus said, "Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me, one who is eating with me." They began to be distressed and to say to him one after another, "Surely, not I?" He said to them, "It is one of the twelve, one who is dipping bread into the bowl with me. For the Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that one by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that one not to have been born." While they were eating, he took a loaf of bread, and after blessing it he broke it, gave it to them, and said, "Take; this is my body." Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he gave it to them, and all of them drank from it. He said to them, "This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. Truly I tell you, I will never again drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God."
When they had sung the hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. And Jesus said to them, "You will all become deserters; for it is written, 'I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.' But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee." Peter said to him, "Even though all become deserters, I will not." Jesus said to him, "Truly I tell you, this day, this very night, before the cock crows twice, you will deny me three times." But he said vehemently, "Even though I must die with you, I will not deny you." And all of them said the same.
They went to a place called Gethsemane; and he said to his disciples, "Sit here while I pray." He took with him Peter and James and John, and began to be distressed and agitated. And said to them, "I am deeply grieved, even to death; remain here, and keep awake." And going a little farther, he threw himself on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. He said, "Abba, Father, for you all things are possible; remove this cup from me; yet, not what I want, but what you want." He came and found them sleeping; and he said to Peter, "Simon, are you asleep? Could you not keep awake one hour? Keep awake and pray that you may not come into the time of trial; the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." And again he went away and prayed, saying the same words.

© New Revised Standard Version of the Bible
Copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the
Churches of Christ in the USA, and used by permission. All rights reserved

NOTES ON THE READINGS
Old Testament Lesson
One can almost feel the struggle in these words, of one fighting against both evil and the thought of surrendering to it! You may well know the difficulty of holding out against what you know to be false and evil, if you have been in a similar position yourself. But notice also the intense determination to remain true whatever contrary pressure is exerted.
These Servant Songs began life as an exploration by the prophet as to the reason, real reason for Israel’s existence. (Sadly, Israel never seems to have understood them so!) As the exploration continued, so did the narrowing of the framework – it became obvious to Isaiah that only part of Israel, then a smaller part, until finally it devolved to a single person. We see that Person to be Jesus. (Mind you, the whole importance still remains that the people of God are called to, even required to operate in ths same sort of way.)

If you are game enough to see it, the People of God, of whatever age, are called to attest to a completely different way of operating in order that reconciliation can occur, life become more true and just, and that potential for people, life and history can unfold in the direction it was designed to move. If you find that to be an enormous scope, then take time to absorb it – this is quite some of what the Gospel is all about, and has always been on about.

Psalm
And how does a person who is in the straits as mentioned above? This old psalmist has quite something of the answer. Yes, it is one hell of a struggle to remain true; and it can be done only in the strength of the Father.

Epistle
Goodness, do you want all this all over again? I find this one of the most highly significant passages in the New Testament, yet it tends to be a delight for Christians, who manage to miss the major point of the whole thing! This is considered to be one of the earliest hymns of the Christian Church and it encapsulates the main focus of the Faith. If you have never travelled this path before, please sit down, hold your breath and be stunned.
The story of the Fall (Genesis 3) is not just there to prove you to be a sinner: the Creation Stories are in fact the Biblical answer as to what has gone wrong in life and in human relationships. It has nothing to do with apples or even other fruit. It has everything to do with our individual and corporate demand to be considered top dog. Power games, the determination to rule everyone around us. Refusal to be creature and demand to be creator. And that is where all the screw up in life stems from.
This passage in Philippians compares and contrasts the roles, if you will, of Adam (representative human) and Jesus. The former grasps for divinity; the latter does not, but is content to serve. Not only does Jesus defeat Adam but is also the example par excellence of how to live in this distorted and unhappy world. Yes, exemplar, for He calls those who follow Him to operate with the same mind.
If you wish to follow this up further, may I suggest that you look up diowillochra.org.au and find the Sermon Archives and go back a few years in my list.

GOSPEL
There is rarely any sermon on Passion Sunday, but the reading of the Passion Narrative as considerable length. In Mark’s narrative, one can see fairly clearly the contrast between the Servant of the Lord, and His antagonists, especially in the light of today’s absolutely stunning Epistle.

SERMON NOTES
There has been quite a lot of comment recently about the veracity or otherwise of the Biblical record, both Old Testament and New. What follows is not so much a defence against such comments, but a series of thoughts to keep it all in perspective.
I imagine that most people are well aware of the extent to which Biblical criticism has taken place over the past 250 years or so, partly no doubt as a result of the Enlightenment so called in Europe. While much of that attention had been very negative – and sometimes quite correct! – it has also been very helpful in getting to the reality of which the Judaic and Christian Faiths has been expressing. Charles Darwin set the cat among the pigeons for many people over the 150 years or so since his ‘Origin’ emerged, whilst the reality was that it forced the Church to see that the Creation stories are not and never were intended to be seen as history, but like the Aboriginal Dreamtime stories, were and are theological views of humanity and our tendency to rather egotistic actions.
What has occurred over that long period of critical analysis, is a sort of series of cycles of examination of the Faith, sometimes damaging and later correcting with adjustment of understanding along the way, There is nothing all that terribly new about this – it is the process used by ancient Israel in their search for understanding the meaning of life .... and of God.

What I would emphasise this morning, as you ponder the readings offered, is to focus on the Epistle, for it underlines the basic point and purpose of the Faith: and that has nothing to do with any life after this, but is directed to the modus operandi for living here and now.

This passage from Philippians, as has been mentioned often, is regarded by many scholars as one of the original Christian hymns, sung at worship in the early Church. Whether that is so or not is of less importance than what is being said. For this passage offers a stark and strong contrast between the ‘normal’ human way of operating, which brings such tension and strife to ordinary living, with that mode both positted and lived out by Jesus. In other words, here is the Christian answer to that most intractable human problem for here and now. And the question is whether one will remain ‘adamic’ or chose to follow Christ.
If you find this hard to follow, then I ask you to read the passage again, asking the question who – in Biblical literature – did regard equality with God something to be grasped? The answer to that is quite obvious and unquestioned – in Genesis 3, it was Adam. Not some person from a distant and unchangeable past, but representative humanity, you and me and everyone else who has ever or shall ever live on this planet. Here is the archetypal control freak, egotist, ‘blow you, Jack I’m all right’ who operates on the proposition that I will try and find any means whereby I can ensure that you fulfill my expectations of you.

No one needs much in the way of searching to see how remarkably true to the ‘human condition’ stemmed from the ideas and visions of whoever first told this tale to explain the great problem. As I often say to fundamentalists who demand a literal faith in the Creation sagas, first no self-respecting Jewish person to my knowledge has ever viewed the stories thus. The other thing I offer is that when understood Biblically, one does not need to defend these tales, but rather defend oneself against the clear and valid truth of them

So the basic question of the Faith is, who will you be? A follower of Adam and continue the rot, or choose to follow Christ, Who offers nor power and strength, but service and assistance. One needs only to read back into the Old Testament prophets, especially Isaiah, to see that as the Hebrew Faith evolved, even those ancients saw the direction that needs to be travelled, as the Servant Songs in particular illustrate.

This has some fascinating answers for those who reject the Faith incidentally. As I have often said to those denying the validity of Christianity – Judaism also come to that! - = that when one can deny the validity of service of others, of truth and integrity and compassion and justice, then one can deny the validity of the Faith once delivered.