The Church of St.
Paul & Incarnation, Jersey City NJ
April 14, 2019
Year C: The Sunday of
the Passion – Palm Sunday
Luke 19:28-40
Isaiah 50:4-9a
Psalm 31:9-16
Philippians 2:5-11
Luke 22:39-23:56
From Light to Shadow
We
don’t know what the weather was like in Jerusalem that day two thousand years
ago when King Jesus rode into his capital city.
In
my imagination, anyway, it’s a perfect, sunny day.
The
city was already filling up with people from all over the Jewish world, who had
gathered for the greatest of all feasts, Passover.
And
now there was the added excitement of the arrival of the one whom many had seen
and undoubtedly many more had heard about, the unusual teacher and healer from
Nazareth in Galilee, of all places, the one some dared to hope and even dared
to say was the long-awaited Messiah.
Throughout
the gospels, Jesus is usually reluctant to reveal his identity, but not that
day in Jerusalem.
He
rides into his capital city in a self-aware and bold declaration of his
identity and his mission.
Even
after two thousand years, we can still sense the excitement – the Passover
crowds, the arrival of the possible messiah, the waving of the palms, the
placing of cloaks in the road and the shouts of “Hosanna!” – all on what was
likely a sunny day in Jerusalem, a great day for a parade, a beautiful day for
a new king to take his throne.
We
tried to recreate at least a little of that excitement in our own chaotic but
joyful parade this morning.
In
Jerusalem that day it was light, so light, but, almost from the start, shadows
began to lengthen.
The
Pharisees – often, but not always, depicted as Jesus’ enemies – they may have
been among the first people to sense the shadows, the first to perceive the
dangers for Jesus and for the nation, and so they warn Jesus, “Teacher, order
your disciples to stop.”
But,
Jesus knows that it’s too late for that now.
And
in Jerusalem that day two thousand years ago and here in Jersey City today, the
move from light to shadow is so quick, so frightening, and so heartbreaking.
The
crowd that had just been joyfully shouting “Hosanna!” all too soon becomes a
mob crying for blood, calling out “Crucify him!”
The
disciples who had been with Jesus witnessing his teaching and his healing, who
had been with Jesus for the more private times that are mostly unrecorded in
the gospels and lost to us, the times that must have been so precious to them -
the simple moments of friendship and laughter and tears – these same disciples
and friends betray him and deny him and abandon him to the cold calculations of
the religious establishment and the brutality of Rome and, finally, they leave
Jesus to his fate: the shameful death of a criminal.
From
light to shadow.
If we’ve lived
long enough, we know what the quick trip from light to shadow feels like.
One
moment everything is going along just fine – the sun is shining bright - and
then…
We take one wrong step.
Or, the phone rings in the middle of the night
bringing us terrible news.
Or, all of a sudden we feel a new kind of pain
or a frightening lump.
Or, the boss calls
us into the office with a grim look.
Or, one unexpected
expense empties whatever little money we’ve managed to save.
Or, old institutions
and traditions that we thought were rock solid start to bend and break.
One moment
everything is going along just fine and suddenly we discover that what we had thought
of as a sure thing was nothing of the kind.
From light to
shadow.
You
know, the life of Jesus – and especially the story of his betrayal, arrest,
torture, and death – tells us so much about God.
God,
who is pure light, is always willing to enter the deep shadows of human life –
willing to experience heartbreak and despair and fear and loss.
In
and through Jesus, God moves from light to shadow.
That’s
what happened in Jerusalem on that beautiful day two thousand years ago – that’s
what happened when Jesus journeyed from the palm parade to the cross - and
that’s what happens to us today when we face the deep shadows of our own lives.
God
moves with us when we make the quick trip from light to shadow.
Over
the next few days, during what we call Holy Week and what the world calls
mid-April and some call Spring Break – during the next few days, while most of
the world goes about its usual business of trying to fool itself into thinking
that security can be achieved by piling up money or power or pleasure or
popularity or even good health, we are invited to journey with Jesus from light
to shadow.
And,
since we’ve got plenty of shadows in our own lives – plenty of shadows in our
own very shadowy world - this journey with Jesus is only worth taking because
we know the final destination.
If
we had been one of Jesus’ disciples in Jerusalem two thousand years ago, we
would have thought that the cross is the tragic end of our story.
But,
even then – even in the time of deepest shadow - there were a couple of hints
that the light is not quite extinguished: there’s the promise of paradise to
the thief who repented – and, most of all, there’s Jesus’ words of forgiveness
from the cross.
But,
for now, and in the next few days ahead, we sit, we walk, and, we wait, in
shadow.
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