Midweek Faith Lift
March 28, 2018
“Let Them Love You”
Rev. Deb Hill-Davis
Good Morning, today is Palm Sunday, the story of the triumphal ride of Jesus into Jerusalem, which is in all four Gospels. This is significant because that means it is likely that it actually happened in the way it is described. We are going to hear the version from Luke:
Luke 19:29-40
29 When he had come near Bethphage and Bethany, at the place called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of the disciples, 30 saying, “Go into the village ahead of you, and as you enter it you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 31 If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ just say this, ‘The Lord needs it.’” 32 So those who were sent departed and found it as he had told them. 33 As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the colt?” 34 They said, “The Lord needs it.” 35 Then they brought it to Jesus; and after throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. 36 As he rode along, people kept spreading their cloaks on the road. 37 As he was now approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen, 38 saying,
“Blessed is the king
who comes in the name of the Lord!
Peace in heaven,
and glory in the highest heaven!”
39 Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, order your disciples to stop.” 40 He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.” (NRSV)
It is clear that in this series of events, Jesus was letting the people love him as best they knew how. In the other versions of the story, the people waved palm branches and covered the ground with palm branches. Good thing, or we would all have to wave our coats around and call this “Coat Sunday!” Jesus accepted the love and admiration of his followers by riding on a donkey, which was recognition of the status that the people were giving him. It was a borrowed donkey to allow the people to love him, as best they were able. Jesus let the people love him. And when he is told to order his followers to stop, he says to the Pharisees, even if he did, the stones would shout out. There is no stopping the power of love when it seeks expression.
So what are we to make of all this? We are at the beginning of Holy Week, that most sacred of times in the Christian tradition. Today is Palm Sunday, or as it is most frequently called, Jesus’ Triumphal Entrance into Jerusalem. It was the first day of the last week of his life. And he was aware of his impending doom. He had spoken about it many times in the weeks preceding this last week of his life. It was as if he knew that his earthly mission was nearing its end and that his role of prophet, of calling out the hypocrisy and calling the leaders to a higher consciousness would cost him his life.
Jesus was perceived as the Messiah, the anointed one. The Jewish people perceived him as being “the One” who had been identified by God to restore them to their rightful earthly kingdom. He was from the House of David, so he would become their new King. His healing powers were legend and his ability to call out the oppressors of their time contributed to his notoriety and his perceived power. He dared to question the authorities and even when threatened, he did not give up. Jesus had charisma, and he had a sizable following that included all levels of the society, outcasts and upper crust alike.
As the events of Holy Week unfolded, it became increasingly clear that this whole story that the Jewish people, the Apostles, his closest allies and supporters had told themselves about Jesus as king was a huge misunderstanding, a delusion. There is one short sentence that all the Gospel writers include in their narrative stories about Jesus and that is “let him who has ears to hear, hear.” It shows up in all the canonized gospels that are in our Bible as well as those considered to be heresy, the Gnostic gospels. That statement is a consistent thread of recognition that while many would hear the words of Jesus, they would not really understand the true message behind the words.
Jesus understood that people would hear what they wanted to hear, just like they do today. People would hear what they were able to hear, just like they do today. His affirmation, “Let him who has ears to hear, hear” is a repeated mantra of invitation to those who might truly understand his message. The message of Jesus about loving your enemies, about loving with a transcendent kind of love was leaps and bounds ahead of its time in the minds and hearts of the people of first century Palestine. They had a kind of tribal understanding of love, not the universal love of Jesus, expressed to all and offered to all in the particular individual of Jesus.
The Jesus message still seems to be far ahead of its time in our world today as we continue to struggle with cruelty, hatred and violence toward one another as humans. We struggle to understand what it means to give and receive love on an individual basis much less a love that gives its life for the beloved or any kind of universal love. The question we sit with on this Palm Sunday is what do our ears hear? How do we hear the message of Jesus? What does Jesus want us to hear and what did we hear? What does Jesus want us to hear about how we love one another?
Some days are more challenging than others in this loving business, and on those days, I find myself saying, “I love humanity, it’s people I can’t stand!” Jesus understood the “human-ness” of his closest followers. He correctly predicted that one of them would betray him and another would deny even knowing him. Even as Judas and Peter protested that they would never do this, Jesus knew it would happen, because they were human. And yet he loved them anyway. He was keenly aware of their human nature, and he was also able to express his own human nature, and at the same time live from his divine nature with the ability to love unconditionally. Here is how he described it to his the twelve disciples in the Gospel of John.
John 15:12-17
12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15 I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. 16 You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. 17 I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another. (NRSV)
How do we hear this? Let us have ears to hear that we are named as friend, we are followers of Jesus and we are called to love one another, to allow ourselves to be loved by each other with an imperfect love. Jesus knew his followers would betray him, would be imperfect, would sell him out. And yet, he let them love him as best they could and he did not sell them out! God never sells us out! GOD NEVER STOPS LOVING US! NO MATTER HOW PETTY, SELFISH, MEAN-SPIRITED AND AWFUL WE BEHAVE.
As I sat with this, I reflected on how I still can get impatient with people because they are not “perfect” in how they behave toward me. I want to tell them how to love me so that I “feel” loved. I got to have a huge does of that this past weekend on my trip with Sarah home to St. Louis. A 6-hour road trip is a great opportunity to have those conversations that clear up a lot of misunderstandings and to hear with the heart. And when we got to St. Louis, there were even more opportunities to “hear” the voice of love in my sister and in my dad. I even got to hear my dad sternly call me “Deborah!” something I have not heard in 50+ years! It was the voice of love, and at 66, I had the ears to hear it. Even Sarah got to hear that one! She laughed.
But the most poignant moment of recognition of love was not this weekend. It actually happened on my birthday while I was talking with my dad. My grandmother, his mother was born the day before me, so we were almost birthday twins. I had always thought of her as kind of crotchety and cranky. When I thought of Grandma Muenster, I did not think warm fuzzy thoughts. And yet….and yet….on my 66th birthday, my dad told me how much Grandma loved me. I had no idea. She had 12 grandchildren and she did things for me that she did not do for the others. I didn’t realize that. She made dresses for me that I needed to be in the Chorus while I was in high school. She never forgot my birthday; there was always a card and a $5.00 bill. I realized that her love language was to do things for me and in that moment, at 66, I felt the wash of her love like a ray of warm sunshine. And I cried tears of holy water as I finally let Grandma love me.
So on this Palm Sunday, whoever it is in your life that pushes your buttons, the Jesus message is “Let Them Love You….”
Blessings on the Path,
Rev. Deb