"Easter's Precursor", Palm Sunday March 20, 2016

John 12: 20-36 Isaiah 60 All Glory, Laud and Honor to Thee, Redeemer King! Today is Palm Sunday, the Climax, God and the World have been awaiting since the dawn of Creation. Genesis 1 began with God setting the rhythm for all Time and Space to sing Glory to God. That was the Original Divine Purpose of Life, of all Creation to sing Glory to God. In the beginning when all was a Waste and Void, God brooded over the face of deep unordered chaos. God commanded “Let there be light!” and there was light, in rhythmic balance with darkness, every day following every night. And God said: “It is good!” God separated the waters of chaos in the Heaven from the waters of chaos on Earth with an atmosphere and God separated the waters on the earth into seas, and fresh lakes, rivers and streams. And God said: “It is good!” God created plants in the seas and other plants on the land, each with their own seeds. And God said: “It is good!” God populated the heavens with stars and moons and constellations. God populated the seas with fish, swarms of living creatures; and on land, God populated with every living creature, reptile, bird and mammal. And God said: “It is good!” Beethoven Sang Glory to God, in penning the Ode to Joy. “Hearts like flowers open to the sun above.” Earth and Heaven reflect God's love. Stars and angels sing with field and forest, vale and mountain, flowery meadow, flashing sea.” The Gloria Patri, one of our most ancient elements of worship, reminds of the Order of all things: “Glory be to the Father, to the Son, to the Holy Ghost, as it was in the Beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end.” The baby in the house knows God's Rhythm and Divine Purpose. Lying in the crib before fully awake. She does not yet know her name. She does not know the name of God, she cannot run or talk, but with the morning dawn, with the birds singing, the baby sings a baby's song Glorifying God. George Gershwin on a train from NY to Boston wrote “Rhapsody in Blue” feeling the clickety clack of the train, the steely rhythms, the bells and whistles, everything we often hear as distractions, Gershwin heard as “music in the heart of noise.” He described that rhapsody as The Music of the City, of life. Finally 1000 years after Abraham, 500 years after Moses, finally The Prophet Isaiah, High Priest of the Temple at Jerusalem, in the 60th Chapter of Isaiah prophesied “Arise shine; for Your light has come. The Glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, thick darkness the peoples. But the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you. The nations shall come to your light, kings to the brightness of your rising.” Isaiah prophesied that the purpose of God's people being chosen as a royal priesthood, being Elect, was not to believe they were better or worse than anyone else, not to sit on their laurels as an Empire; but for all the Nations to witness God's Glory through Israel and for all the Nations in turn to come to God, to worship, to sing God's Glory. 700 years after Isaiah, on this day, some Greeks finally did! They came asking Jesus' disciple Phillip who was a Greek from Bethsaida; Phillip went to Andrew, and together they came to Jesus to announce: “Some Greeks have come to Jerusalem asking to see the Lord wanting to sing glory to God.” We should not be so surprised it took so many centuries, not when we have been fighting with one another, and killing those who also believe in Jesus for the last 2000 years! We have developed a warped understanding of “Glory.” Glory is not notoriety. Glory is not how many Tweets, or followers you have. Glory has nothing to do with awards or medals, or degrees. Glory means to recognize the True Nature of a being. What they are about. Who they really are, at times revealing even more about our identity than we know? I would confess that this is the point at which I struggle celebrating Palm Sunday. Palm Sunday ought to be this incredible celebration, because it is one of the few events identified in all 4 Gospels: Christmas did not get into all four. The Lord's Prayer is not identified in all four. The parables of The Good Samaritan & Prodigal Son, only made it into Luke. The Beatitudes are only in two gospels. But as much as we know This is The Climax of each of the Gospels of Jesus Christ; as much as Greeks coming to Jesus is fulfillment of Isaiah's prophesy; as much as finally humanity is trying to fulfill God's Divine Purpose for us by singing God's Glory; STILL we know what is coming... We know Palm Sunday is only the pen-ultimate climax! As much as today people cheer Hosanna, by Friday the crowds will shout Crucify. I explained my frustration to my son who is a GeoPhysicist studying in Alaska and California, and he responded “There is a name for this with Earthquakes, Palm Sunday is: The Precursor.” When an earthquake happens in Alaska, scientists track the shock triggering More Powerful later earthquakes coming to California. Geologists are developing a whole Early Warning System, just as we do for storms, so they can slow down subway trains, evacuate elevators before the Big One. Then he said two other things: So far, with everything scientists think they know, we have gotten this to as much as 6 seconds from the first climax event to warning people about the the big one coming on the 7th. And, as much as people think earthquakes are seismic and about vibration, this “precursor” is reflected in “light.” Causing me to wonder. Light is too familiar, in the Beginning, in Christ being the Light, Maundy Thursday we will have a Tenebrae service of increasing dark, and even in Earthquake Precursors. As the time between the first climax and the big One is 6 seconds, Palm Sunday being six days before Easter, instead of Palm Sunday being the Climax unto itself, Palm Sunday is the PreCursor of Easter. For Jesus, this becomes the point of No Return. We have each experienced that “point of no return” when hiking you struggle to reach a plateau and recognize you cannot climb back down! When you have been pregnant for nine months, you have been having contractions for 43 hours and now they tell you to start pushing! When standing before everyone you know, you look into the eyes of the person you love, seeing their searching for commitment and you state that for better and worse, in sickness and in health, you can be depended upon. Jesus declares that he is scared! He would rather this cup pass, but he came to provide salvation that could only come by his suffering, death and resurrection. This is no simple thing for Jesus, or for us, knowing he dragged us onto the cross with him saying “If anyone serves me, they must follow me.” Being Christian does not mean listening to Gospel music on the radio, putting a fish on your car, or showing up for worship. Being Christian requires that you not stand up for your desires, but that you do stand up, even lay down your life: for the needs of others. There is no courage in denying that you fear, courage is admitting you are afraid and moving forward. What happens on Palm Sunday is that finally, finally after the whole of all four Gospels Jesus has come to Jerusalem; after the 700 years since Isaiah, Greeks recognized in the Passover the need to find God and did so through Jesus Christ; after the whole history of the world, humanity joined the rest of Creation is singing God's Glory. But also, after this and as a Precursor of Easter, Jesus declared “Father, Glorify your name.” And God responded “I Have glorified it and I AM will Glorify it again. Palm Sunday as we reveal and discover who we really are, as we sing Glory to God claiming our identity as Creatures of God's Creation, God reveals who God is and the greater Glory only made possible by Jesus' following through for our Salvation.