Sermon for March 28, 2021 Palm Sunday House of Prayer Lutheran Church

John 12:12-26; Mark 14 & 15 Rev. Karl-John N. Stone

They had been through a lot together, those disciples. They all started out in Galilee--the backwater backcountry of Israel. Some were fishermen, others tax collectors. Some were bold and loved to be in charge, others were quiet and preferred to do their work behind the scenes. They had learned together, healed the sick and cast out demons together, taught others, prayed and worshiped, and kept trying to figure out the meaning of all those strange parables Jesus always told. They ate together, and even with notorious sinners who would surely ruin their reputations. They had celebrated together, and enjoyed a marvelous parade just outside the city. How exciting to hear the cheering voices and watch all the palm branches waving along the parade route! The twelve disciples, plus Jesus, even ate a final Passover meal together in a borrowed upper room tucked into a corner of Jerusalem city. Over the course of three years, they had attracted many people to follow them--men and women--who were interested in the ministries they were doing and the things they were saying, and many even followed them into Jerusalem. In short, those disciples had formed a community.

And now their leader Jesus--Peter was even saying Jesus was the Messiah--well now Jesus was nearly dead. Betrayed by one of their own friends. Convicted by the Roman authorities in a sham trial at the urging of a crowd and their religious leaders. Tortured by the soldiers, who were an occupying army that kept everybody else in line. Hanging on a cross in humiliation and shame. It wouldn’t be long now until Jesus was gone, and someone would have to find a tomb in which to lay his dead body.

What else could the disciples do if they didn’t want to suffer the same fate? They could scatter to the four winds. Hide in the nooks and crannies of the city. Keep away from their supporters, and from the frenzied crowd, so as not to be recognized. Wait for the excitement to die down, and then slink back home. Three years of their lives they’d dedicated to following this man, Jesus. They knew that now it had all come to an end. And where would they find a community, now that their community had been forced to scatter?

Like the disciples, we’ve learned something about communities being forced to scatter. The covid virus has disrupted our routines of work, school, church, social events, family gatherings, vacations, and even the ability to visit people in the hospital. We’ve adapted and experimented with different ways of forming community, figuring out the possibilities and limitations of technology and social distance precautions. Still, we’re tired of looking at the walls of our houses. We long to be neighborly again. And we’re starting to see hope emerge. With an end to the worst of the pandemic slowly coming into sight, can we now permit ourselves to dream and imagine what community will look and feel like in the future?

It’s strange--you might even say miraculous--the ways God can form a community. Even after Palm Sunday. Even after Jesus had been betrayed into the hands of sinners, and went to the cross. Even after all his friends have deserted Jesus, God still finds a way to form a community. The disciples and their followers from the countryside, along with Judas the betrayer, and the Roman soldiers, and the high priests from the Temple, and the Jerusalem crowd, and even Pontius Pilate--all of them ironically have been united as a community in their abandonment of Jesus on the cross. They have, in short, all become neighbors without even realizing it. Their lot was thrown together through no plans of their own. Only God can put enemies on an equal plane with one another, because all are equal at the foot of the cross.

And the only ones who stayed at the cross were three women--Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome. These three women embody the love of God that remains and abides even in the worst situations of life--even in a man nailed to a cross. In short, these three women embody a love from God that is available to all.

This is the love which God has planted in our hearts. This is the divine love given to us in Jesus, which our faith reaches out to grab hold of and plant in the world. This is the love that waits for the right time to spring forth and grow--to renew the earth, renew our hearts, renew our faith, renew our church, renew our communities, renew our hope. Because this man Jesus, who died upon the cross? Truly, this man is God’s Son. Amen.