The popular Irish Catholic\u00a0comedian Stephen Colbert often sets up\u00a0frames of understanding as a part of his humor. He frames a situation\u00a0and invites folks to look through the frame with new eyes as he smiles at the implications he does not name...and we laugh.<\/p>\n
The triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem sets up a similar frame where, if we have eyes to see, we can hold the humorous and tragic tension of that event as naming the power of God to transform.<\/p>\n
The video \"Palm Sunday\"\u00a0by Marcus Borg describes the two triumphal entries that happened on Palm Sunday:<\/p>\n
One procession up from the western coast town of Caesarea with a reinforcement of Roman troops for the Passover (read Jewish liberation from Egypt\u00a0ceremony) in Jerusalem to keep the peace of the empire\u2019s interests (read liberation not welcome).<\/p>\n
And, the other from the east with entry of Jesus followed by crowds and children\u00a0(read another kind of liberation) with a\u00a0Messiah on a donkey! The vivid contrast of these processions could have been perceived by persons in the first century as a comic contrast with a tragic result:<\/p>\n
Marcus Borg: Palm Sunday<\/p>\n
http:\/\/bcove.me\/hepw91sr<\/a> (not responsible for advertisement before video)<\/p>\n I referred to the tension of these\u00a0two different entries in my sermon \u201cNazareth Jesus and the Temple of Doom\u201d<\/p>\n http:\/\/www.pvmcsermons.com\/2011\/09\/roy-hange-nazareth-jesus-and-temple-of.html<\/a><\/p>\n A part of this sermon focuses on the post Pentecost\u00a0encounter between the disciple Peter (Acts 10) with the Roman centurion from Caesarea who most probably led, or was a part of,\u00a0that procession from the west toward Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. Their reconciling encounter completed through\u00a0\"good news\"\u00a0the tension that was set up in the gospel of Luke as described by Borg.<\/p>\n Peter then says what the crowds could not see on Palm Sunday: I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation those who fear God and do what is right are acceptable to him.\u00a0 (Acts 10:34-35)<\/p>\n These links follow on our church\u2019s informal sermon theme from last year of how most readings of scripture in the early centuries would have included a Stephen Colbert smile\u2026at the implications of what was not said but meant to be seen in the original context.<\/p>\n In reading scripture we often take a literal reading of the \"window frames\" and miss the window into that culture\u2019s challenges that the frame is highlighting. When we see the deeper meaning\u00a0we can see the power of the Word in our own time also.<\/p>\n Which Palm Sunday will we remember<\/strong>? One, aren\u2019t those children cute waving their palm branches? Or two, how many children have the empires of this world sacrificed this year by not following the way of the Lord Jesus?<\/p>\n I think this is why Jesus wept over Jerusalem before entering it \u201cOh Jerusalem would that you knew what made for peace.\u201d (Luke 19:41ff.) The\u00a0one who comes in the name and way of the Lord brings blessings of peace we do not expect.<\/p>\n Stephen Colbert could also have wept over a reading about Palm Sunday 33 AD as occupation and exile were his family's story. Yet, he names how the pain\u00a0of remembering what the British Empire did to his Irish ancestors before they were forced to emigrate is turned into laughter\u00a0in this video link while naming that his wife\u2019s ancestors got land taken from his family by the British Empire:<\/p>\n http:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/facesofamerica\/profiles\/stephen-colbert\/11\/<\/a><\/p>\n I can imagine the disciple Peter and the centurion Cornelius sharing a grace filled laugh\u00a0as they reflected\u00a0on what brought them to the meal that day in Acts 10. Cornelius could have had Peter killed or imprisoned if Peter had not denied Jesus. Peter would have readily cut off the ear of Cornelius...or more. The work of the Spirit brought them together eventually in transforming reconciliation.<\/p>\n Waiting in hope for these grace filled eventualities is why peacemakers are called blessed. They do not react to one tragedy by creating another violent tragedy.<\/p>\n They do so standing in the River of Life that flows from the throne of God. That same river that flowed through the cross of Jesus Christ \"breaking down\u00a0dividing walls of hostility.\" (Ephesians 2).<\/p>\n So, we are called in faith to hold this foolish hope. The alternatives are not much better.<\/p>\n by Roy Hange<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The popular Irish Catholic\u00a0comedian Stephen Colbert often sets up\u00a0frames of understanding as a part of his humor. He frames a situation\u00a0and invites folks to look through the frame with new eyes as he smiles at the implications he does not name…and we laugh. The triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem … Continue reading