Matthew 21:1-11,26: 14-27
From the beginning of time our
names have been written on the heart of God. Our lives have been etched in the
palm of his hand, Isaiah 49 tells us.
"I will Never Forget You My People I have carved you on the palm of
my hand”. Today we are celebrating how Jesus entered Jerusalem riding on a colt
and was acclaimed by the common people as the Messiah. This may appear as a bit
of a contradiction to many both inside and outside the church today. Especially when hear talks about Justice for
all, Christian love for one another, Jesus Saves , symbols posters and sayings
all around us, yet at the same time knowing that the Christian CROSS also
represents for many rejection, division, disgrace, even a sign of torture and
death. We cannot control all the
circumstances surrounding our lives let along those around us or in other
countries because choice does. War bigots
war, violence bigots violence, hatred bigots more of the same. But,
where love is sown it to bigots love.
Same goes for all positives compassion, justice, peace, joy, and hope. We reap
what we sow folks.
There are many things that happen
to us - and that happen in the lives of others that are seem contradictory to
the ways and teachings of compassion, love, peace, and justice for all. The mass killings of innocent peoples all
around the world seem overwhelming at times especially today with us being so
connected to the news media. My heart
goes out to the Syrian peoples and their relatives here now living in Canada
and America.
The young child or the elderly
woman who have been maimed or killed in the market place by a suicide bomber. Or here in our country as a graduating student
loses his or her life after a graduating party being the victim of drugs or
alcohol. There are figures out today
that suggest 25% of the children in our part of the world, in north America are
living in poverty, imagine 25%. There is more than enough food produced each
year to feed the entire world's population, yet millions are dying of
starvation while in our part of the world millions die from over-eating. It just doesn’t seem logical or right. All these are signs of great contradiction
to way of Jesus, the way of loving our neighbor as ourselves. Yet we are still looking or hoping for a hero to come and fix it all and to save the world. Many people today feel that President Trump is
the next great hero and savior. Fake
news or not some people truly believe he is the chosen one even cheering over
his recent retaliation, even though we know that violence and killing only
bigots more violence more killing. His way is not the way folks.
How can we justify all this as we
profess our faith in Jesus, his teachings and in our religion? Well folks we live and breathe in a fallen
and fractured world. Yet we, the
affluent peoples of this world, struggle to live in gratitude for the good
things we all enjoy in this life, while at the same time blaming God for not
stopping these insane atrocities that are going on all around us. Why is it that we fail to recognize that we
ourselves have made the bombs, guns, chemicals, and fuel our overwhelming
desire for wealth and power? These are
the instruments of war folks. Jesus knew as he entered Jerusalem to the
welcoming shouts and cheers of his people that he would be rejected and killed
within the week because he was trying desperately to make people aware of their
choices. Aware of the contradictions in their faith. He cries out for us to be transformed so as
to overcome our sinfulness, we who are often blinded by our own sense of righteousness.
The craziness in our world is the result
of those who disagree with Jesus' way, the way of humbleness, of forgiveness, justice,
love and reconciliation for all peoples within the world. The signs are clear that our world today has
fallen into the trap of desiring privilege without responsibility, honour
without humility, profit at any cost, power without accountability and pleasure
without having to share. Jesus knew that
these ways, the ways of the worldly were the enemy and that because of these
ways, the people of God would sing songs of praise to him one day and call for
his death the next. During our Lenten time we need to ask ourselves this important question
folks: Do we really want to be save us
from ourselves, to be transformed and change or are we to becoming more and
more like the crowd? Do we really understand what we are doing and asking
for, or are we just wanting for someone, anyone, to come along wave the magic
wand over the world and fix everything, so we can have a better, more
comfortable life. God knew what the remedy would be. The good life was not meant to be comfortable,
because the good life takes risks, hard work, commitment and sacrifice. You don’t have to die on the cross to save
the world as did Jesus but you may be asked to give up some of your
materialistic comfortable lives to help make this world a better place for your
children and those who are less fortunate than we. God wants to show us a new way to live
and it is the way of Jesus. Jesus doesn’t represent just himself on the
cross, “Oh NO!” he represents
all of the injustice in our world. He
represents the inhumane killing of the innocent, and the starvation of so many
people that continues to exist on our planet.
He represents the lack of gratitude for clean water, shelter, and the
resources that keep us and our families going.
He represents all the homeless, minorities and those on the margins of
life everywhere. You see the crowd was
only cheering as long as things were going their way and it hasn’t really
changed much since then has it.
So then
what can we learn today from this Psalm Sunday experience? Let us not become just one in the crowd. We cannot stop the wars in our world nor the
chemical attacks on the innocent in Syria.
We cannot stop the genocide and starvation in Africa but we can begin
here at home to take a serious look at ourselves to see what we can do to help
those around us. We can also write and
speak out for the injustices that are happening right in front of our own noses
and we can change ourselves to be better stewards of our environment and to
help our fellow citizens. You Change
and the world around you will have no choice but to change. That is the way change really works folks. We can
you see make a difference.
Go Make A difference.
Go Make A difference.
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