April
8, 2001 - Palm Sunday
Luke 19:28-40
After saying these things ["Risk your life....], Jesus headed
straight up to Jerusalem. When he got near Bethphage and Bethany
at the mountain called Olives, he sent off two of the disciples
with instructions: "Go to the village across from you. As
soon as you enter, you'll find a colt tethered, one that has never
been ridden. Untie it and bring it. If anyone says anything, asks,
'What are you doing?' say, 'His Master needs him.'"
The two left and found it just as he said. As they were untying
the colt, its owners said, " what are you doing untying the
colt?"
They said, "His Master needs him."
They brought the colt to Jesus. Then, throwing their coats on
its back, they helped Jesus get on. As he rode, the people gave
him a grand welcome, throwing their coats on the street.
Right at the crest, where Mount Olives begins it descent, the
whole crowd of disciples burst into enthusiastic praise over all
the mighty works they had witnessed:
"Blessed he who comes,
the king in God's name!
All's well in heaven!
Glory in the high places!"
Some Pharisees from the crowd told him, "Teacher, get your
disciples under control!"
But he said, "If they kept quiet, the stones would do it
for them, shouting praise."
<The Message >
=======
1.
Blessed is the one who comes in GOD's time! To have the eyes to
see that blessing has come into one's presence is both gift and
work. To respond is another issue. First, however is recognition.
As we have traveled through Lent toward Easter there have been
many opportunities to sharpen our awareness of how gifted we are
with sisters and brothers (even unto St. Francis' sun and moon
and fire). In paying closer attention to the blessings of life
we are further encouraged to risk placing our values in the open
blessing basket of abundance rather than the of close guarded
handful of scarcity.
2.
Having recognized the goodness of the fullness of life we have
choices about how we will participate in same. There are suggestions
that America and Abundance are synonymous. If so why is depression
such a major issue for people living in such a place and time?
One response is that unexpressed blessings fester.
This is not to promote more gloating that I got mine or I got
more than you got. It is to encourage thankfulness of blessings
wherever they break into the open. Can we hooray GOD when evidence
of healing wholeness comes in someone else's life?
3.
When we are loathe to give honor where honor is due (paralleling
the issues of love of GOD, neighbor, self, one-another, and enemies)
we invite being dismissed as irrelevant. In a sense, the issue
of honoring (a very Native American Indian category) is a measure
of spiritual maturity. Will we shout out our experience of being
blessed? Will our lack of praise be so evident that even a pebble
will get it and be moved to song?
I expect we will sometimes get it wrong and will praise that which
inflicts pain. This is a part of our political reality when we
look to validate our theory regardless of the witness of those
who are harmed in the name of some greater good for some self-selected
greater group.
It is difficult for us to continually monitor the blessing of
GOD's peace versus tilting things to our own benefit. This is
one of the places where the community can be of assistance. How
ready are we to offer our colt, our benefits, for the use of making
evident the presence of GOD? Perhaps we are more ready when we
can see the larger picture. So the final question for the week
is -- what would I hold back from helping clarify that blessing
aplenty have been in our presence? Would I hold back my "colt"?
Would I hold back my enthusiasm?