"God is in the Details" March 29, 2015 Palm Sunday

Mark 10 - 11:11 This is the greatest story ever told, retold in paintings and music, and drama... and yet if we are honest with ourselves, it is not the story we desire. We would spare Jesus the suffering and the death, but if we did, we would prevent the resurrection. Ironically, in telling this first climax, the Gospel writers have made the story as Anti-Climactic as possible. Jesus tells two disciples to go into the Village and find a donkey, untie it, if anyone asks tell them “the Lord has need of it.” Riveting! And the two went into the Village, and found of all things A Donkey! And as they untied it, some people said “What are you doing untying the donkey?” And they responded “The Lord has need of it.” Pretty exciting stuff! Since the coming of Jesus, we have been waiting, building intensity through every healing, every miracle and parable, all for Jesus to enter Jerusalem the city of David to come to the Temple of God. Genesis began with the Fall in human sin, so we look for the Bible to provide reconciliation and hope. The First Testament described the rise of Israel, from slaves of Egypt to being the greatest most powerful Nation on the face of the earth. The transition from nomads wandering after God, to a settled people in a promised land, the rise of Kings, and building of the Temple for worship of God. Then the people sinning, accommodating to the pressures to conform, abusing the poor, neglecting God, their destruction, captivity and dispersion. They returned to the land, and prophets foretold of a coming Day of the Lord, a Messiah who would save the people. And when finally the Messiah, the Son of God comes to confront Caesar, to confront the Greek and Roman Cultures, to confront the perversion of Religion that buying and selling sacrifices had become,... We are told Jesus rode a donkey down the hill to the Temple, and realizing the hour was already late, he left... I used to have a neighbor who described “The Devil is in the details.” What they meant was that we agree on the goal and outcome of our desires, the difficulty is in how to make it happen. America wanted to put a person on the moon, the devil was in the details. We want to have a wonderful loving family, the devil is the details. We want a great career with challenges and experiences to reflect upon/a marvelous home/a lovely community: the devil is the details of how to see these made real. But in Palm Sunday's story, in addition to what is accomplished, God is in the details. The Gospels were not written for 40 - 60 years after the Crucifixion of Jesus. The disciples each had their lives, their missionary journeys, establishing of individual churches, wrestling with whether Christian faith, faith in God, is for everyone, or only for a few, whether Christianity is about Morals or Sacrifice, Religion or Relationship to Others/ to the World as Self-Sacrifice? Whether Christianity would survive in the Empire of Rome? How would the faith manifest from the teachings and miracles of Jesus, to being a world wide phenomenon? ...What was known and remembered was that Jesus died on the cross at Golgotha outside Jerusalem. Everything that happens, all of the Gospel, is perceived through that singular event. The details, the stories of all the people along the road, are vital to understanding this as a vital story of faith. One day, someone came to Jesus inquiring “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” That is the eternal question is it not? And what do we know about this individual? He is named as a Rich, Young, Ruler. Male, Affluent, Educated, Young and Healthy, Powerful. He has it all. Dismissively, Jesus says, you know what Moses said. And he said, “All this have I done since the days of my childhood.” To which Jesus says, “One thing more you must do, go, sell all you have to give to the poor and follow me.” And the individual went away. Jesus told his listeners “It is easier to see how to get a Camel through the Eye of a Needle than for a Rich Man to see how to get into the Kingdom of Heaven.” Jesus goes on to answer challenges about death, divorce, taxes authority and religion. When along the road, the brother disciples James and John, who along with Simon Peter were the most famous of the disciples, come to Jesus saying “We want you to do whatever we ask.” Parents, when your children have asked this of you, has anyone every said: Yes, of course? Their request is we want to be first when you come into your glory, we want positions of authority, at your right and left. But who were the ones, one at Jesus left and one at his right, at the crucifixion? The two who knew they were guilty, who were crucified beside him. To whom he offered assurance, “Today, you will be with me in paradise.” But also, after asking for the greatest authority, Jesus sends James and John on a mission. “Get the donkey.” Can you not see these two walking down the road, saying to each other “You had to ask for power! Now we are tasked with cleaning up after a donkey.” But details,... that Rich Young Ruler who went away unable to see how to inherit eternal life, what was his name? No name is given. Personally, I have to believe there is a connection here. If I said to you Warren Buffett or Madonna you know who I am speaking of. If I named Dickens, Lincoln, DaVinci, Plato, all of these are recognized as only being those individuals. In all of literature, the name Timeaus occurs only in Plato's The Republic published about the year 360 BC, a significant piece of Greek Philosophy. In this, Socrates and Plato, Hermocrates and Timeaus each describe what they believe to be The Ideal State. This is one of the only places which describe the origin, history and loss of Atlantis. Timeaus' argument begins with distinction between the physical world and the philosophical. The physical world changes and perishes, the philosophic is perfect and eternal, never changing and therefore is the ideal of reason. Here Timeaus offers the equation that “As Becoming is to Being, so is Belief related to Truth, therefore in the natural world one should not look for anything more than a good and likely story.” Timeaus also is given credit by Plato for describing the origin of “The Soul.” Finally in relation to Timeaus, he derives what in mathematics is called the “Golden Ratio” a formula for calculating Perfectly balanced design. Why is it some shapes appear odd and yet a Rectangle, a Pyramid, a Flower, a Nautilus shell, are pleasing. In the Renaissance a mathematician named Fibonacci developed this as the formula for perfect balance, as such it is the required design ratio of all Apple products and logos. So why is it we are forever seeking the next iPhone? Because even perfection is not satisfying for us! The Renaissance Ideal was to be gifted at all, to be a superb Athlete, Scientist, Artist all; in Ancient Greece the ideal was balance, the Mean, doing nothing to excess, all of which are described in Plato's Republic, attributed to TIMAEUS. Now in Greek, when your father's name is Timeaus, to identify the son of Timeaus, his name would be BarTimeaus, much as we might say Johnson, or Richardson, or Thompson, or Davidson. So what if, the detail of identification here is not so much his physical name, but identification the Rich Young Ruler was a student of Greek Philosophy, aspiring to the Truth, the Ideal, Eternal Life. When first he heard Jesus reply, the Rich Young Ruler went away sorrowful, but eventually he came to the conclusion that in order to get to that state of Being, that ultimate Truth that is Eternal Life, he needed to Become in order to Be, he needed to Believe in order to find Truth. He went and sold all he possessed giving to the poor. But having given away all his possessions, he was still a man, with youth, energy, health, education, power, reputation and authority, which he could not escape, so in essence he was now hopelessly: a Beggar and Blind to the Truth. Having no where to go, Bartimaeus sat on the curb in the City of Jericho, a blind beggar. When, who should come by, riding a borrowed donkey from Jericho to Jerusalem, but Jesus? And Bartimaeus cried out “Have Mercy on me, Son of David.” The detail we have of this, is that in Greek, the word for “Have Mercy Upon Me” is “Hosanna!” Bartimaeus is the first person that day to cry out “Hosanna to the Son of David” and he gets up and becomes a follower. So while the crux of Christianity is that Jesus was Crucified, throughout the story of Christianity are details, details about people. James and John wanting to have importance and being told: Get the donkey; the guilty at Jesus right and left who are promised seeing Paradise; Timaeus philosophical origin of Ideal Balance 400 years before; BarTimeaus who had it all and traded everything for the mercy of Jesus, people like you and me 2000 years later. “Have Mercy on us Son of David, Hosanna!”