"A golden opportunity for each one of us to realign our faith."
It was a misty March morning when our bus stopped at an Arab village known for over two thousand years as Bethany. A small group of St. Margaret's pilgrims climbed out and gathered together in this ancient village which lies just outside Jerusalem on the far side of the Mount of Olives.
We entered a small chapel erected many years ago to help pilgrims remember that this holy spot was the place where Jesus began his triumphal entry into Jerusalem on the first Palm Sunday.
The chapel was rather dark and as our eyes adjusted, we saw various objects scattered around depicting this holy event. Above us was a broad Victorian romantic-style mural showing Jesus riding on a donkey. Surrounding him was a happy crowd of people waving palm branches. Carol noticed immediately that the donkey was most pleased with his task as well. He too was smiling, a nice artistic touch, we all thought.
On the floor in the middle of the chapel was a stone block about two-feet square. "The very stone which Jesus used to step upon to mount the donkey," said the old monk who tended the chapel. Well, real or not, it was a helpful reminder that somewhere within a block or so of where we stood, Jesus did mount a donkey and begin his fate-filled ride to Jerusalem.
Our goal that morning was to walk the Palm Sunday route together from the chapel to the temple. So, after reading the story in scripture, we set out from Bethany toward the Mount of Olives, singing as best we could, "Ride on, Ride on in Majesty, and Hosannah to God in the highest, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord."
As we meandered through the village of Bethany and the tourist-crowded slope of Olives, I was aware that the local Arab folk were quite used to this pilgrim venture. Most of them ignored us and went about their daily business. A precious few waved and blessed us and, to our surprise, some of the children threw rocks at our procession.
Our guide reminded us that this was how it was for Jesus, as well, when he rode his short and final journey to Jerusalem. Jesus' followers waved and blessed him, but there were also those who ignored that journey and its kingly rider and always those few who cursed and stoned him.
We got a bit strung out on our way up to the Mount of Olives and just before the crest, we stopped for all to catch up. It was helpful because, as a group, we topped the hill together and saw lying before us the beautiful city of Jerusalem...sparkling in the early morning sun. We saw what Jesus and his disciples saw, the magnificent site of King Herod's great Temple Mount which dominates the whole city.
In Jesus' time, there would have been a great white temple on the Temple Mount, gleaming in the sunlight. Now, some two thousand years later, it is dominated by an exquisite golden-domed Islamic shrine...gleaming in the sunlight.
With our eyes fixed on the Temple Mount, our hearts fixed on the Palm Sunday story and our voices still trying to sing Hosannahs, we processed down the Mount of Olives, across the Kidron Valley and up Mount Zion to the actual steps of the Temple Mount, which remains intact to this day.
Once again, I was aware of the daily activity going on around us, busy streets filled with tourists, Arab merchants opening shops and holy Jewish folk going to the Western Wall to pray. Once again, our guide reminded us, that's the way it was two thousand years ago when Jesus rode up to those same steps on a donkey, for it was Passover time in Jerusalem and so the city was filled with foreign tourists, Arab merchants and holy Jewish folk going to the temple to pray.
Before we were quite ready for it, the procession was over, our Palm Sunday walk completed. But there was more to come, this was not the end of the story. In the long week ahead, we would walk our way through all of the events of Holy Week...visiting the places and remembering the Last Supper, the Garden of Gethsemene, and walking the way of the cross to Golgotha.
All this was to prepare us for our Easter Sunday visit to the empty tomb of Jesus in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. So we stood quietly on the steps of the temple, waiting for the bus to take us to the next event on our pilgrimage.
And that's where we are symbolically in this church today. When this sermon is completed, we will have completed our Palm Sunday liturgy and we will transition to the next event of Holy Week...Passion Sunday. To help us make this transition, we will change the liturgical colors of our altar and vestments from the purple of Lent to the red of Passion Week. Then we will read the Gospel of the Passion of Jesus which tells the events of Jesus' arrest, trial and crucifixion.
As this service ends and we leave this church, we will all begin the Holy Week of Jesus Christ. As you leave today, I want to encourage you to do so as a pilgrim, to make your own personal and spiritual journey through Holy Week a rewarding one.
First, if you do nothing else, read through the whole story in the Gospel of Luke, Chapter 19 on to the end. Second, attend as many of the Holy Week services as you can...services which help recreate the actual events of Jesus' life in Jerusalem...the Last Supper Thursday evening and Good Friday services.
I encourage you to participate because your Easter Sunday experience will explode with meaning and significance when you have been through and know the whole story. This week is also a golden opportunity for each one of us to realign our faith. We live in a busy fretful world with lots of pressing interests and priorities. All of us get disconnected from our spiritual center.
Participation in Holy Week, through reading prayers and worship, will help bring us back to the place which matters most in life. Very simply, I'm asking you to give some priority to God this week. Allow your life to be shaped by your faith as you walk with Jesus on your personal journey of faith to Easter.
And then, on Easter Day, when this church is filled with flowers, lovely vestments and grand music, you will be filled with God's Holy Spirit as you sing from the heart:
He is risen, He is risen
Tell it out with joyful voice
He has burst his three days prison
Let the whole wide earth rejoice
Death is conquered, we are free
Christ has won the victory.
Amen.
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