After three years of traveling across the countryside, crossing back and forth across the lake, healing and teaching and preaching, it comes down to this. This is what we’ve come to know as Palm Sunday…
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It’s not easy to follow Jesus. It never has been. It wasn’t even easy for the disciples to follow Jesus when they had Jesus standing right there in front of them. Who is he? What is he saying? What’s going to happen next? It seems like most of the time, the disciples were confused.
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So, we’ve talked for a while now about how the Sea of Galilee and the crowd are two of the ongoing characters in the Gospels.
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I found a truly important box this week: the box of family home videos. These were videos that my parents took over the years of all the grandchildren as they grew up. My mother would lug this huge camera around and narrate whatever she was seeing: “Whose a big girl? How big? So big!” The grandchild of the day would then throw their arms in the air and the camera shot would shake along with my mother’s laughter. At the time, I wanted to just scream, “Can’t we just enjoy this moment?” Now, I have to admit, those tapes are pretty precious. There are things that you just forget. The videos really do prompt some memories.
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I think we all have certain songs that keep popping up in our lives. You may not have heard it for a while but as soon as you do, a cascade of memories from across decades are triggered.
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Last week, we saw Jesus in the most public of settings—outside, on the banks of the Jordan River—being baptized by John. The Gospel writers disagree on who saw what and who heard what but they don’t disagree that this is Jesus’ first public appearance. By all accounts, that appearance is a giant moment of validation: the Spirit descends on him; God calls him “the beloved son;” John clearly humbles himself before Jesus. As hard as it may have been to leave his life behind, Jesus is met with a huge moment of affirmation.
Then, Jesus is driven straight into the wilderness.
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Jesus grew up. We left him heading home to Nazareth at age twelve after his time with the religious authorities at the temple. Then, for the next 18 years, we can assume that he immersed himself right back into a pretty normal life.
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For the last two weeks, we’ve listened to Matthew, the writer who wanted to reach out to a Jewish audience. This morning, I want to switch to Luke, the writer who wanted to speak to the Gentile world, too. Matthew tells us about magi following a star and the dreams of a new father. Luke tells us about the birth of a child and the way the world’s expectations were turned on their heads.
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I want to remind everyone this morning that of the four Gospels that we have in the New Testament, two of those Gospels don’t include any of the stories that we tell during Christmas and Epiphany.
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Who are these people? The Greek text says they are magi, from the East. Matthew tells us that the first people who recognize Jesus as the King were not Jews or nearby neighbors. No, these visitors were from far, far away—complete strangers. Matthew implies, “They are so not us!” And yet, they understood.
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