Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29
Mark 11:1-11 or John 12:12-16
Isaiah 50:4-9a
Psalm 31:9-16
Philippians 2:5-11
Mark 14:1-15:47 or Mark 15:1-39, (40-47)
Passion or Palm Sunday? Some years one seems more appropriate to the situation than the other. There is also the reality of ruts and we keep focusing on one or the other, year after year.
How might we continue to hold these two in tension as we need both to walk steadily along taking events as they come (Palm emphasis) and to recognize our aversion to tough spots and to keep them ever before us as a way of looking at the world (Passion emphasis).
My bias is for Palm Sunday and to let the troubles of tomorrow take care of themselves in due time. There is a surfeit of being able to find the downside of life and a deficit of finding something to celebrate in the direst of situations.
Mark 11:1-11 or John 12:12-16
ReplyDeleteIn Mark we play an important part of setting up the recognized presence of Jesus. We go out of our way to get the colt/donkey/vehicle of peace ready to present Jesus and place our outer lives/coats on the line (vulnerable to receiving the "mark of the donkey" as it passes over).
In John, King Jesus has resources available at the snap of a finger, only royal palms are used, and, instead of retiring for the night, the Pharisees stay up to complete and confirm their assessment of having no option but to destroy this king in their midst.
Two very different perceptions and recounting of the same event. In some sense this is a reversal point. Usually speedy Mark lingers over preparation processes while loquacious John is the briefest of the four accounts.
Finding which of these stories best describes the situation we are in will give us another piece of information about next steps. In Mark, our part is taken back as Jesus goes on to his last act of power, a cursing of the fig tree, and the cleansing of the temple money/sacrifice exchange system. In John, we then see outsiders moving toward Jesus. There is a continuing play between myself and G*D as represented here with my active going to prepare and then Jesus retiring or with Jesus riding forth and my response to find out more. In the back and forth specifics we also find a generally forward arc toward life renewed and life eternal.
Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29
ReplyDeleteG*D's steadfast love - - for me! - - endures.
Now comes a question of whether that steadfast love is inclusive or exclusive. Am I an example of all and so the gift to me is a gift available to all? Am I an example to all and so the gift to me shines against the darkness of their non-gift?
Isaiah 50:4-9a
ReplyDeleteThere are those behind who push and those before who pull, neither in a good way. Hurt is intended and received. It does no good to spin around to confront the strikers as they become the pullers and those who were pulling now push. We simply become more and more unstable as we try to address each and every hurt along the way. Finally we topple over, exhausted.
An alternative is simply not hiding, riding in to the presence of death's door.
Perhaps this is not a setting of one's face, like flint, hard and immovable, but a setting of one's eyes on the created goodness within every adversary. We are still upright and moving toward another with steadfast intention to love them. We are not simply reacting to the situations around us, but, not understanding the fuss when all about us are running in all directions, we listen for the teaching of the moment and ready to bring a parabolic word to set imaginations free.
What city will you be riding into today? Who will you meet and how will you meet them?
Psalm 31:9-16
ReplyDeleteOne of the deepeners of distress is a consideration of control. Where we think and feel and behave as though we have or deserve a place of privilege because of one small factor or another, we find ourselves in distress when our expectation of an edge doesn't pan out in ways measurable by our idiosyncratic standards.
G*D, in particular, sets us up for a distressing downfall. We invest all manner of powerful privilege in G*D and expect it to redound to our benefit in the context of whatever modernity is around us. It is difficult to think and feel and behave beyond the culture in which we live and move and have our being.
When we find ourselves at odds with getting an edge or another rung on our ladder, the establishment (be it religious, political, economic or whatever) intentionally adds to our distress to bring us around to its standard. Our steadfast love, will be called upon to preemptively celebrate defeat and continue living with provocative beauty and challenge in the face of such expected distress.
Riding into the hypocrisy of a city named for peace that acts otherwise is a powerful moment that can inform the generations to come. Where has your steadfast love ridden these past days? What has encouraged that and what has gotten in the way?
Philippians 2:5-11
ReplyDeleteThis is not a passage that stands up well to the violent imagery of The Passion of the Christ. It is much more celebrative, more Palm Sunday-ish.
The humility of the cross is not something that goes over very well in today's digital age. We don't do nuance very well. If it is cross-oriented, the baggage of our religious institutions says it must focus on violence.
And so a question about where you find encouragement: Well?
It is out of the Palm or the Passion part of the story? Both together, you say. Then how would you weight them?
Here we may look primarily at the Palm story in light of creation.
ReplyDeleteIn Mark the section ends with a rest. This punctuates the "it is good" refrain from the Word/Logos/Spirit of GOD moving over the deep with a singing retranslation of, "Peace on Earth" and with the days of an evolving ministry with periodic pronouncements booming retranslations of "you are my beloved" that finally come to this Sabbath when it is already late. Now we lay ourselves down to dream of an 8th day, an easter, if you will.
It is so easy to get caught in the fevered brow of nightmares to come. It is so hard to rest with friends in Bethany knowing this day has had troubles enough of its own without borrowing some from Thursday or Friday.
Might this be a humble story that also needs telling? Is this enough? Even if folks, like the disciples of old, run away from the Passion stuff and we are not there to repackage it for them?
Mark 14:1 - 15:47
ReplyDelete[Anointing Oil] She anoints my body for its burial.
[Waving Palms, Laying Coats] They herald my ministry for its trial.
[Wrapping Linen] He wraps fear and death in compassion.
[Living Life] We imitate Christ to learn forsaken faithfulness.
Wherever good news is proclaimed these stories will be told of a woman, a crowd, a man, and you.