Sermon prepared for
by
Gregory S. Kaurin, pastor
Texts: Mark 11:1-11, 14:1-11
(and Philippians 2:5-11)
Sermon:
The Congregation
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I
have always found Palm Sunday to be a lesson of extremes, of highs and
lows. We start with Jesus’ triumphant
entry into
Then
in the gospel lesson we just read, a woman came to see Jesus and beautifully
showed her affection. With an
extravagant sacrifice of oil, she anointed his head. Without getting schmaltzy, that was a truly beautiful
moment. It was an expensive and
extravagant gift… and it was beautiful. Immediately,
it was followed by the nay-sayers that always seem to
be there. It was followed by criticism, and
finally: betrayal. Palm Sunday is lesson
of extremes.
So
those are the lessons, with all the people gathered together around Jesus,
praising and complaining, loving and hating, sacrificing and critiquing, supporting
and undermining, …and betraying. It’s a
lesson of extremes, but I’m not exaggerating when I say that it’s just like
life in the Church and the Congregation.
When
people come together, it’s not just a big glob of nameless people. We come with all kinds of stuff: histories,
baggage, expectations, assumptions, and emotions. Congregations are like our families… We invest
a lot of feelings here. This is where we
place many of our highest values and expectations. Just like families, this is where we can feel
the most love and support. As a direct result,
it is also where we can get the most hurt, offended or insulted.
Think
of your family. Now, multiply the number
of people by 100. Take away the blood relations
and ties, and the expectation to live together or to work things out. Think of parents, and how some of us acted
toward them when we were teenagers. Now,
imagine trying to track all of these emotions, and needs, extended friends,
hormones, unknown backgrounds, hurts and losses.
How
are we ever going to know what to say, and when to say it to each other? How will we ever know if there might be
another explanation for things that people do or say? Why do we often jump to the worst conclusions,
even here in the church? How do we
survive as a congregation, or as part of the true Body of Christ? How are you and I all going to hang together?
There
are four virtues that you will hear from me over and over again as your
pastor. These are four related things
that will help hold us together: Humility, Forgiveness, Patience and Humor.
1) First is humility. In our second lesson Paul wrote that we need
to learn from Christ’s example.
Humility: do not count equality with God, do not count your relationship
with Christ, as something to be abused or lorded over others. Instead, humble yourself, because we are no
different than that big confused and fickle crowd that gathered around Jesus.
Now,
it’s obvious that we’re all human, and that we all
make mistakes, but we, as Christians, need to give that truth more than lip
service. We need to let that humility
flow right into the second thing, a ready forgiveness.
2) I’ve heard people say that you can’t forgive
someone until they confess it or ask for it.
That’s simply not true. It does
keep them from experiencing it, but forgiveness is not a gift I give to others.
The
ability to forgive others is a gift that God has given to each of us, so that
we can let go of our own hurts and angers, so that we can move on. Even if they can’t get over it, I can. I can, with Christ’s help, forgive them, put
them in God’s hands and move on, with or without them. Someday, if they ever get to that point of
needing forgiveness, here it is, already there and waiting for them. More than anything else, we need a liberal
and free use of forgiveness.
On
that note, I know that it takes a lot of forgiveness to be a pastor, but it also
takes a lot of forgiveness to be ministered to by a pastor. From time to time, we’re going to hurt each
other—unintentionally or no—and the only way we’re going to survive and
minister together is with liberal forgiveness.
3)
That’s also why we need to practice
being patient. The reason we stumble
over each other’s feet is usually not because we are conspiring or hard-hearted. For the most part, it is because in life we are
all just clumsy dancers. We need
patience, because none of us are great at this.
We are all winging it in life, most of the time.
However,
the big thing that gives Christians patience is realizing and trusting that, as
forgiven children of God, we really do have eternal life. You and I all have all kinds of important
stuff to do. That’s true, but when
you’ve got eternity to work with, what’s most important is almost always the
person or moment that’s in front of you, because that’s where God is. More important than talking is listening,
first. We can wait for our turn, even if
it means forever. We have eternity to
work with.
4)
Last, number four, is humor. I mean the kind of humor that God had when he
created the platypus, or the earthiness that God had when he created the dung
beetle. I’m talking about the kind of
humor that forgives your own humanity. We
can laugh, and we need to laugh, because laughter is God’s victory over death.
Holy
Week begins today. Later, as you listen
to the Passion narrative, I really ask you to place yourselves within that fickle
crowd around Jesus. We’ve been in all
these places: praising and complaining, loving and hating, sacrificing and
critiquing, supporting and undermining, …and betraying. Judas wasn’t alone in this. Who was it?
I, Lord, I crucified thee.
Use
this week as a time to back up, to renew yourself, and to listen again to the
sacrifice Jesus made to save us, all of us.
It’s time to ask God for the strength to let go and forgive, and to
think better of others. Christ died that
they might have life, too.
Really,
we aren’t the ones with the strength to hold ourselves together. Jesus is the one holding us together. It is only the extravagant and miraculous
forgiveness of Jesus Christ that holds us together as the whole Body of Christ,
in spite of our sinfulness and fickleness.
Let’s embrace him, embrace each other, and start forward, toward the
death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, once again. Amen.
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