4th Passiontide 2017, Palm Sunday, Light Bends

4th Passiontide

Palm Sunday

Matthew 21: 1-11

And they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage by the Mount of Olives. Then Jesus sent two disciples ahead and said to them, “Go to the village which you see before you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there and her foal with her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, tell him that the Lord needs them, and he will let you take them right away.”

This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet:

Entry IntoThe City, John August Swanson

‘Say to the daughter of Zion,

Behold, your king comes to you in majesty.

Gentle is He, and He rides on a donkey and on a foal of the beast of burden.’

The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them. They brought the donkey and the foal, placed their garments on them, and Jesus sat on them.

           

Many out of the large crowd spread their clothes on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of them and followed Him shouted:

Hosanna to the Son of David!

Blessed is he who comes in the Name and Power of the Lord!

Hosannah in the highest! [Sing to Him in the highest heights!]

When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, “Who is he?” The crowds answered, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.”

4th Passiontide

Palm Sunday, April 9, 2017

Matthew 21: 1-11

Ninetta Sombart, Entry into Jerusalem

The sun rises in the east, climbs to its noonday zenith, and descends to disappear in the west. In the morning it will rise again, once again shedding light and stimulating life.

Elements of our lives, too, follow the same pattern. Our work, our relationships, have their dawn, their zenith, and also their setting. We are delighted with beginnings, happy at their zenith. But we may grieve the decline, finding it hard to let go at the dusk.

Christ Jesus's life follows a similar pattern. Today, on Palm Sunday, his life is in decline. With praise, the crowds dimly perceive the glories of the setting of the Christ-Sun. Darkness will increase. In a few days, the same people will demand his death.

But that is not the end of the story. He will rise again as the dawn of a new era. Those who love Him will be comforted and strengthened. For the sun does not cease to exist upon setting; it continues to shine as the center of our universe. So, too, is Christ ever present to us now, on the earth, though our face may be turned away from Him and our awareness of Him clouded. He is the Day that no night darkens. He is deathless Life and the Light of our spirits, here and now. As the poet said:

Light leaps out of its star

everywhere in straight lines

bending only

out of its love

for matter.*

*Unknown. Attributed to Einstein.

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3rd Passiontide 2017, Either/Or

3rd Passiontide

Woman Taken in Adultery, Rembrandt, wikicommons

John 8: 1-12

Jesus returned to the Mount of Olives; but as soon as day dawned he was already in the Temple court, where the people flocked to him, and he sat down and began to teach them. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees led in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand in the middle, and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now, what do you say?” They said this only as a trap, in order finally to have a reason for accusing him.

But Jesus bent down and started to write something in the earth with his finger. When they kept on pressing him with questions, he stood up and said to them, “Whoever among you is without sin, let him cast the first stone at her.” And again, he bent down and wrote in the earth.

When they heard this, their conscience began to stir within them, and they went out, one after the other, beginning with the eldest. And only Jesus was left and the woman who stood in the middle. Jesus stood up, and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one passed judgment on you?”

“No one, sir,” she said.

“Then neither do I judge you,” Jesus declared. “Go now, and leave your life of sin.”

And Jesus began to speak to them again: “I am the light of the world; he who follows me will not walk in darkness but have the light in which there is life.”

3rd Passiontide

John 8: 1-12

St. Albans

In the beginning, God gave a command to Adam, the law-abiding masculine side of the human being. Humans were not to eat of the fruit of knowledge without dire consequences. Eve, the curious, open feminine side of the human, in innocence, grasped the fruit and ate. For already in Paradise, God had allowed the tempter to approach the human.

In today's reading, we hear of the further evolution of this ancient human motif. The boundary-breaking, forward-moving feminine side of the human is given a death sentence as punishment for breaking the law. This punishment is to be meted out by the so-called law-abiding masculine element.

Artist Unknown 

Yet Christ rises above this problematic either-or, black or white antagonism. Though He clearly discerns, He does not judge. He gives the feminine, forward-moving side of the human being the strength to observe out of herself the appropriateness of boundaries. And neither does he judge our punitive masculine side. Rather, by writing in the earth, he leads us to understand that we all have sinned. His unspoken command to our masculine side is that wise empathy is more important, more fruitful, more life-giving than judgment. For wise empathy leads us out of the finality of death into the living future.

All of our sins are written into the earth. But Christ Himself has taken on the earth as His Living Body. Thus, our sins are sins against Him, which He nonetheless absorbs and transforms into a way forward. Through Him, working with Him, we can find the way into God's light, His life, His love.

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2nd Passiontide 2017, Wakened Ear

2^nd Passiontide

Ivan Aivasovsky, Wikimedia

March 26, 2017

John 6: 16 - 26

When evening came, his disciples went down to the lake, where they got into a boat and set off over the sea for Capernaum. By now it was dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. A strong wind was blowing and the waters grew rough. When they had rowed three or three and a half miles, they saw Jesus approaching the boat, walking on the sea; and they were terrified. But he said to them, "I AM, have no fear." Now when they wanted to take him into the boat, immediately the boat was at the land, at the place where they wanted to go.

The next day the crowd that had stayed on the opposite shore of the lake realized that only one boat had been there, and that Jesus had not entered it with his disciples, but that they had gone away alone. Then some boats from Tiberias landed near the place where the people had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. Once the crowd realized that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and went to Capernaum in search of Jesus.

When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, "Rabbi, when did you come here?"

Jesus answered, “Amen, amen, the truth I say to you: You are seeking me not because you saw signs of spiritual power, but because you ate of the bread and were satisfied.

  

2^nd Passiontide

March 26, 2017

John 6: 16 - 26

We are in rough waters. The wind of events are howling; the seas of emotions are running high. We are making efforts toward our goals, but are being pushed back. Fear is rising.

This is the moment when our hearts can call on our awareness of the spirit. We know that there is an over-arching divine consciousness. Our awareness of the spirit becomes a Presence; it can itself be terrifying at first. But in compassion, the Presence says: Fear not. I AM. And immediately we are at our goal. We find the ground under our feet. We experience calm trust and the radiance of love. For we 'have eaten of the bread and were satisfied.' (John 6:26)

The heart’s song did not sound in vain,

for many now can hear again

the word of angels: Do not fear!

New light and sound in us appear

for strengthened heart and wakened ear.*

*Lent Song, German folk song, translation from Camphill

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