Palm Sunday, 2012 Sermon (Both audio version and manuscript)

A Remarkable Covenant III: A Covenant of Grace
Mark 11:1-11
Rev. Dr. John E. Manzo
April 1, 2012

In the 17th century a Flemish scientist by the name of Jan Baptist van Helmont invented a word for a substance he identified. The word was ‘gas.’ It was the word he used to describe fumes from coal burning, from wine fermenting, from burned gun powder, etc. He realized all of these things had something in common so he developed a word that used all of them.

In 1907, the American humorist G. Burgess coined the word blurb to describe a short summary or brief advertisement. A few years ago the word “Google” went from being the name of a website to the action of searching for something on the Internet. And, most recently, in 2006, Noah Glass coined the word Twitter for mass text-messaging with short updates or “tweets.”

Things change.

On a day in Jerusalem so many years ago things changed. Jesus arrived, on a donkey into the city of Jerusalem and things changed. He was no longer an outlying preacher, he was no longer an eccentric preacher and miracle worker who wandered in the wilderness, but now he was in the center of action for the region. He had arrived in Jerusalem. Everything changed.

There were people in the crowd genuinely excited for the entrance of Jesus. Things were changing and they were happy. There were others who were taking a more ‘wait and see’ kind of attitude. Still others were angry. They saw Jesus as little more than a trouble maker. Jesus was entering with mixed reviews.

From the perspective of Christianity, this marked a change of covenant.

But then there was Jesus. Nothing has ever been simple about Jesus. He confounded and confused people in his own time, and so it is no wonder people today are still wrestling with him and his message. People still grapple with the legacy of Jesus, his life, his death, and his resurrection and his power and charisma seem undimmed from two thousand years ago

In the last few weeks I have been talking about the three great covenants of the Bible between God and people. The first was made through Abraham and it was simply identifying God as God and God’s people as God’s people. The second was through Moses and it was a covenant of living loving lives by following commandments or God’s Law. The third is the final covenant and comes through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ and it amazing, unique, beautiful, and a clear demonstration of God’s love for people.

What makes this covenant so remarkable comes down to really two things. The first is that it is a transformational covenant. It is a covenant that is not static in any way. It demands more than good conduct or being righteous.

Whereas we look at the 10 Commandments as ‘thou shalt nots’ this is a covenant of ‘thou shall.’ It is living a life of ongoing transformation and conversion. It is living a life always seeking something more.

Jesus had a radical and troubling message to the world that still knocks people off their kilter.

Love one another.

You may wonder why a person with a message of ‘love one another’ is so radical and ends up getting killed.

When we love one another we don’t allow people to go hungry. When we love one another we do not allow people to have no clothing. When we love one another we embrace and accept one another with no reservation. When we love one another we commit ourselves to never be violent to another. When we love one another we try to heal all of a person’s hurts. When we love one another we can never hate. When we love one another we can never judge. Loving one another is not about rules; it’s about loving one another and loving one another is really, really difficult.
Loving one another demands that we see the inherent worth and dignity of every person, expect justice, equity and compassion in human relations; and practice a radical acceptance of one another.

Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey listening to the voices of a cheering crowd was bringing a message and living a life people were not really ready for. If we are truly honest, we still aren’t ready for it.

The second aspect of this covenant is that it is a covenant of grace. It is a covenant of forgiveness when we fail. It is a covenant filled with ambition and yet an amazingly compassionate anticipation that everyone will fail.

It is a covenant of grace that Christians debate about all the time.

A priest, a minister, and a rabbi were all on vacation at the beach. Hour after hour the priest and the minister were arguing about what God’s grace meant. The rabbi kept begging them to stop as they were ruining his vacation. But the priest and the minister kept arguing.

They finally came upon a lamp and when they picked up the lamp a genie came out and said, “I will give each one of you one wish!”

The priest said, “I want to be Pope,” and he was whisked away to Rome.
The minister said, “I want to be the pastor of the largest mega-church in the country,” so he was whisked away to Houston.”

This left the rabbi standing alone on the beach with the genie. The genie said, “What is your wish?” The rabbi said, “Oh, don’t worry. You granted it when you whisked those two away.”

Therein is the problem with grace. We love to debate about it more than we like to embrace it. We love it for ourselves more than we like the grace of God being given unto others.

And, again, Jesus riding into town on a donkey brings all of this and people were not ready for it; and we still aren’t.

Jesus ushered in new words, new ideas, and a view of God that was radical and transformational. Jesus coming into the world, living, preaching, teaching, dying, and being raised changed how we approach God forever. It became the new and everlasting covenant which remains forever.

On this day, on this Palm Sunday, we celebrate Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem but we need to do so recognizing a sense of profound irony. The crowds which cheered on Sunday, jeered on Friday. The people proclaiming him the King of the Jews on Sunday were shouting for his death on Friday. Jesus was, in so many ways, a very difficult Messiah to embrace. He still is. But we are given the opportunity to embrace Jesus for who he really was and is to our lives today. As he entered into the city of Jerusalem he enters, again into our leaves. It is up to us to cheer or jeer.