St. Paul’s Church in
Bergen, Jersey City NJ
March 29, 2015
Year B: The Sunday of
the Passion – Palm Sunday
Mark 11:1-11
Isaiah 50:4-9a
Psalm 31:9-16
Philippians 2:5-11
Mark 14:1-15:47
“And the Curtain of the Temple was Torn in Two…”
Today
is probably the most disorienting day of the church year.
The
service itself is a bit more complicated than usual, so if you’ve found
yourself confused, a little lost, that’s OK. In fact, that confusion and sense
of lost-ness is actually appropriate on this day.
We
began with so much hope and promise.
The
new king – this unusual, unexpected king – rode into his capital city, rode
into Jerusalem, on the back of a colt as people spread their cloaks and their
palm branches on the ground before him and shouted “Hosanna” – meaning “save
us” or “savior”.
The
people – can you imagine their faces – their looks of expectation as finally the Roman occupiers would be
driven out and the powerful kingdom of David was going to be restored.
But,
of course, as happens so often in life, things did not go quite according to
plan – at least not the plan of those people shouting “Hosanna!” and, for that
matter, not according to the plan of Jesus’ own disciples.
Instead,
we have an all-too-familiar human story of unfaithfulness, of betrayal, of
horrifying brutality, of mockery, of abandonment, blood, and death.
In
recent days people all around the world have spent a lot of time wondering
about motives – why would a young pilot deliberately fly a plane into a mountain,
killing every terrified person on board?
And,
for two thousand years we’ve been wondering about the motives of the people
around Jesus.
Why
did Judas betray his teacher – betray him with a kiss?
Why
were the Chief Priests and other religious leaders out to get rid of Jesus?
Why
doesn’t Pilate just release Jesus?
Why
does Peter deny his Lord? Why does everyone – or almost everyone - abandon Jesus
in his greatest moment of need?
Over
the centuries, lots of answers have been offered, but mostly it comes down to
the messiness of being human.
We
betray. We are insecure. We want power over others. We are cowardly.
That’s
why here in church on this Sunday we all participate in the reading of the
Passion – we are these people – and they are us.
“Crucify
him!” they cry.
And
in all sorts of ways, both large and small we’re still crucifying Jesus – each
time we turn away from people in need, each time we deny our faith, each time
we manipulate others to get what we want.
And,
what about the motives of Jesus?
Why
doesn’t he who had saved others come down off the cross and save himself?
And,
what about God’s motives?
Why
doesn’t God rescue God’s beloved Son, the one with whom God was well-pleased?
The
answer comes at the end – or what seemed
like the end – Mark tells us, “Then Jesus gave a loud cry and breathed his
last. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.”
Jesus
completes his work, tearing down the curtain separating God from us.
In
Greek Mark uses a stronger word than “torn” – more like it was “ripped apart.”
The temple curtain that separated the Holy of Holies from the people was ripped
apart from top to bottom, meaning that the curtain could never be – would never
be – repaired.
The
curtain separating God from us is destroyed forever.
The
innocent man hanging dead on the cross reveals to us what God is really like.
The
innocent man hanging dead on the cross reveals to us who God really is.
God
is love - self-giving, self-emptying, self-sacrificial love.
The
curtain separating God from us can never be sewn back together again -but that
doesn’t stop us from trying.
We
try to sew up that curtain separating God from us each time we live like
everybody else, each time we betray, each time we seek power over others, each
time we are cowardly.
We
try to sew up that curtain separating God from us each time we turn away from
people in need, each time we deny our faith, each time we manipulate others to
get what we want.
But,
if we’re open to it, God can and will use us to tear up those stitches, to rip
apart our attempts to separate ourselves from God.
In
many parts of our city, stained by violence and broken by fear, it sure feels
like people have gone a long way to sew back together the curtain separating
God from us.
That’s
why I hope that as many of us as possible will walk the way of the Cross in
Jersey City on Good Friday, praying and singing and blessing at places of
violence, stitch by stitch tearing apart the curtain, ripping up our human attempts
to separate ourselves from God, revealing to Jersey City the God who is love -
self-giving, self-emptying, self-sacrificial love.
Today
is probably the most disorienting day of the church year.
We
begin with so much hope and promise but, of course, as so often happens for us,
things did not go quite according to plan.
Yet,
despite human unfaithfulness, betrayal, horrifying brutality, mockery,
abandonment, blood, and death, Jesus completes his mission of revealing what
God is really like, revealing who God really is.
The
curtain separating God from us is torn apart forever, but that doesn’t stop us
from trying to stitch it back together.
So,
God calls us to follow the example of the innocent, dead man on the
cross, the one who will rise again on Easter Day. God calls us to love and to
sacrifice, to tear out the stitches of the curtain that can separate us from
God.
May
it be so.
Amen.
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