Jeremiah 31: 31-34
Psalm 51
Hebrews 5: 5-10
John 12: 20-33

When can you plant your garden?

Does it really have anything to do with the full moon?

Even without the recent snows, it would probably still be too early! It is amazing however, how even the simplest of greenhouses can stretch our short growing season. In addition, what you plant has a lot to do with where you live. Veseys, the Island seed business based in York specializes in “seeds for short seasons”. Despite her Island loyalties, my cousin in Southern Ontario finds that their varieties are not suitable for her garden. We can still have snow and killing frost when she is harvesting peas. Each packet of seeds comes with a planting guide, usually stating whether it can be sown directly in the garden “after all danger of frost” is past, or if it should be stared indoors.

Planting and repotting tomatoes was one of the activities that took up a great deal of my mother’s time when I was young - and until they went to the large box outside, a great deal of windowsill space. Then, as fall drew near, there was the making of quarts and quarts of tomato juice when there were too many tomatoes for my dad and the rest of the family to eat.

Whether the season is short or long, one of the things that is consistent though is that a gardener must sacrifice the seed in order to have any hope of harvest. When you plant a bean it is usually very easy to see the outer shell of the seed pushed to the surface of the soil after the seed has germinated. The seed is gone; only the husk remains, but the seed has lived out its purpose, it has done its work.

It seems that Jesus lived the last weeks of his life as if he were looking at the disappearing sands of an hourglass. It seems that he knew somehow that things would all come to a head in Jerusalem and he know that his time of earthly ministry was growing shorter and shorter. As the season of Lent draws to a close we read those passages that talk about this sense of time closing in and his purpose having to be focussed and re-defined.

On this day some Greeks ask to see Jesus. Whether these Greeks were converts to Judaism or were what might be called ‘seekers after truth’, the whole episode seems a little comical. Like one of those conversations we used to have in high school when the club to which we belonged or the student council had something that needed to be approved by the Principal. “You ask Mr Costello ..... no I’ll get Sally to ask the secretary if he’s in a good mood and then we will ask him. If he’s not we’ll go to Mr Mal, (the Vice-Principal), and HE can ask Mr Costello. But, YOU have to come with me! ------ Yes, that will work best.”

So, in much the same way, these nameless Greek people come to the disciple Philip and said, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” Philip went and said to Andrew. “Hey, Andy some Greek dudes want to see the Master.”

“Oh dear. We don’t think it’s a good idea for him to see anyone, he’s so preoccupied, but I guess we have to tell him; but we have to go together.”

So they did and Jesus, clearly focussed on the impending end, proclaims some of the great paradoxes of the gospel. Sounds a little like the famous speech of John F Kennedy, “Ask not what your country can do for you, but ask instead what you can do for your country.”

It was as if Jesus was saying, “At this point I am not interested in people who are looking FOR something, whatever that may be, I am looking for people who are willing to give something. I am looking for people who are willing to give their very selves for the sake of the gospel. I am looking for people who are so unconcerned about their own selves that they are willing to die so the good news may grow, expand and flourish. I have thought about asking God to take away this need to be lifted up in death, but deep down I know that this is my destiny. This is why I have travelled this road. When I am lifted up many people will see God’s way in a manner they would not otherwise grasp.

In the book of Jeremiah the prophet speaks of the days in the future when God’s laws will not just be in written list somewhere but written on the heart. The ways would become second nature and we would live them like we breathe, or like our heart beats, or like we care for those closest to us.

As we grow up we have to learn various rules and laws. At the very least they need to be in our heads, to recall when needed. At the best, they need to be in our hearts.

Back when I was living in Wallace, I lived on a road with no sidewalks. I was walking home from the church one day and I was passed by my young neighbour running up the hill on which we both lived. He called out to me, “Oh Beth, did you know that you are walking on the wrong side of the road!”

I thought for just a second and called back to him, “No Kevin, you are the one on the wrong side.”

He stopped and paused and then, as if a light went on inside his head, he said, “That’s right, I’m not a bike today.”

I’m not sure if he crossed the road to finish his trip home, but at least he reminded himself that walkers and drivers use different sides of the road. His parents used to wonder if he would ever develop an immediate recall of the basic rules of the road for walkers and bikers!

A teenager I know was being berated by his girlfriend. “Why would you choose to go to work and milk someone else’s cows on Christmas morning, when you don’t have to. Why can’t you spend the time with me?”

His reply showed more maturity than some teenagers possess, “Well because he has little kids; maybe he wants to spend Christmas morning with them, rather than in the barn. We can go somewhere later”.

As we grow and mature we need to develop our own sense of what an appropriate decision is in those situations in which there are no real rules. As a people of faith we need to develop a sense of God’s way without having to have to check it out all the time. In the context of today’s gospel passage it is the self-giving aspects of our faith journey and practice that we need to place in our hearts.

I do need to add one proviso or caveat to this passage; and it’s a very important one. We know that even Jesus went off by himself to nurture his own spirit; he was not available 24/7/365 and we can’t be either; but if our only goal in life is to look out for ourselves, to look after ourselves and to place everything second to that, we have not placed the gospel in our hearts.

When people bring their infants to me to be baptized I remind them to take time to work on and develop their relationship because that is one of the best gifts they can give their children. Ask Grandma, or uncle to babysit for a night or two and spend time together without diapers and stuffed animals and having to keep eyes and ears open for the pitter-patter of little feet or that eerie silence that means something is up. Sometimes people CAN be too giving for their own health; only we can ultimately decide what is the right mixture for us.

In the season of Lent we have this gospel passage to help us to look at our lives and to decide if we are living in gospel ways. The gospel passage for today does not speak of self giving as an end in and of itself, (that would mean that we were doormats) but as a means of promoting a bountiful harvest. Like a grain of wheat is given up so that the stalk may grow and produce a bountiful harvest, so we keep these broader goals in mind.

Sometimes though the harvest takes more than one season. I remember a powerful story I read a long time ago about a theology professor who found one of his students to be a particularly difficult young man to reach. A self-proclaimed atheist, this student scoffed at the idea of a caring God. He passed his courses in due time and was duly graduated. Many years later he sought out his former professor and showed up in his office.

He has been diagnosed with cancer and the treatments had not worked. His time was becoming very short. His former professor asked him what it was like to be only 24 and dying.

His reply was, “Well it could be worse. I could be 50 and have no values or ideals. I could be 50 and think that booze, seducing women and and making money were the important things in life.

From what he told the professor, it became obvious that the seeds of faith had been growing in his heart all along and the things the professor thought had gone ignored had been lying dormant in his heart until he was ready to let them grow.

Sometimes the harvest is a long way off, but that does not mean that we are not to give of ourselves and trust that in God’s time the seeds will grow and produce.

As we journey toward Jerusalem and the cross we can easily become bound up in the sorrow that is so evident in the stories; but we must always keep our eyes on the goal of following a loving God by living a life of self giving.

We are called to life and to love. Let us continue this Lenten journey together as we seek to discover what it means to write that law in our hearts and to give it away and let it grow.

. Amen

Isaiah 50: 4-9
Psalm 118
Philippians 2: 5-11
Mark 11: 1-11

After a significant life-changing, or world-changing, event it’s often hard to imagine how much could have changed so fast. A baby is born and a couple’s life changes forever; a person dies or is seriously and permanently injured and the lives of many people are changed forever. The events that are widely believed to be the “final straw” before WW1 and WWII, the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which both ended the second world war and ushered in a new era of nuclear fear, and the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 are probably the best examples of this on a world-wide scale.

It’s hard to remember the way it was “before”; but it’s often essential to be able to fully understand the events “after”, to be able to go back and look at them in “slow motion”. We sometimes need to ask the question: “How did this happen?”

I have just read the passage from Mark’s gospel that tells of the “first Palm Sunday”. For those of you who wont make it to Maundy Thursday and Good Friday services, there may seem to be something missing if you show up on Easter Sunday and we are proclaiming that “he is alive” and “He is Risen”. We may ask: “What happened? Why all, the excitement. He was fine last week?” On Palm Sunday he was the hero of a parade; how could he be dead by public execution on Friday evening?

That is what we need to look at in this sermon. I have talked to the children about the palm branches and told them that the word “hosanna” means something like, “save us now”. The Messiah was the one who had been expected for generations. We must remember though that the messiah was not seen primarily as a “spiritual leader” but as a political one. There was absolutely no separation of “church and state” in ancient Israel. The Messiah, the Awaited One, the Son of David, was to be the “new David”; the one to save them from the power of Rome and to put a true son of Israel back on the throne in Jerusalem.

Even though it seems clear to us now that Jesus had no intention of seizing power from the Romans and placing himself on the throne of David, his goals were not merely spiritual. They had decidedly social and political implications.

His preaching called people to allow the Spirit of God to transform their entire lives and to embrace the totality of the message their own tradition that had been ignored or watered down for generations. He shared the passion for justice that was proclaimed by the prophets long before, but like many of the prophets, he found himself on the wrong side of power.

It is clear that the people were captivated by Jesus’ teaching but it worried the people that Rome allowed some vestige of authority in their small country. Their vested interests were at stake. Somehow they had to stop Jesus without arousing the ire of the people.

We begin this week with a palm parade. Jesus comes into the city riding not on a war horse or in a chariot, but on a simple donkey.

A donkey is not an animal many people would choose to ride; if they had a horse as well, that is! When I was in elementary school, we took a field trip to the horse farm next door and when offered a chance to ride the gorgeous horse with the beautiful saddle, my hand shot up. I was elated to be picked and could have stayed on that horse all day.

Then we were all offered a chance to ride the donkey (which did not have a saddle of course) and his bony back moved with every step. I was very glad when my turn was over. I think of this experience every time I hear of Jesus riding on the donkey.

When I was younger I pictured this Palm Sunday parade much like the Gold Cup and Saucer Parade, (you know, waiting in the hot sun for hours, getting a sunburn, drinking warm pop) but perhaps it was more like the Christmas Parade in Souris or the Plowing Match Parade in Dundas, yet even simpler and completely un-organized. Of course, there would not have been an ad in the newspaper telling people of the parade route; the folks who saw it suspected that something was going on, and joined in the cheers, the palm waving and coat throwing, but may have missed it altogether if they were not in the right place at the right time.

They shouted, “Hosanna” which means “save us now” and I suspect it started like a chant at a rally; one person starts off; two join in; four join them; soon everyone is chanting the same thing. In a crowd, one thing is certain - no one wants to be different.

As our passage for today ends we see Jesus going to the temple and having a look around, and then going to the nearby village of Bethany because it was late.

Part of what we need to come to grips with all these years later, is that the shouts of “hosanna” turned to shouts of “crucify him” by the end of the week.

It’s hard to get a handle on just why this happened. Scholars have been debating this for generations. While Jesus was not about to become the revolutionary that some people wanted, it seems that his gospel of love and radical inclusion was perceived as very dangerous by the people in power.

The first thing we need to keep in mind that the power of Imperial Rome was supreme and extremely brutal. Rome made alliances with the religious elites in order to keep the peace and these elites had a great deal to lose if Jesus’ gospel of God’s love for everyone actually caught on. If that happened society would be turned on its head. They feared that the country would be thrown into turmoil and that they would be blamed for their failure to keep the peace. So it seems that they managed to engineer a speedy trial and execution so things would go back to normal. Jesus was expendable; he just had to go before things got out of hand.

We know the basics of the story:

1) the last supper;

2) Judas, the one who tipped off the authorities about his location at a particular time did so for 30 pieces of silver;

3) the agony in the garden when Jesus prays for some other outcome - he has seen the writing on the wall!

4) the arrest

5) the trial - more like a kangaroo court than a real trial;

6) the procession to Calvary;

7) the crucifixion itself. Crucifixion was a brutal way to execute the enemies of Rome and it was a sentence imposed on a great many people.

8) the hasty burial because it was unseemly to have dead criminals hanging on crosses during the holiest of days!

So in few short days we have a crowd which changes from welcoming a hero, someone with the potential to change the world, to a crowd easily goaded into asking for his death.

We don’t really need to ask how it happened, because it happens all the time. We go to a public meeting with one point of view and we find out that everyone else (at least everyone who is speaking up) has a different opinion. It’s hard to voice a different opinion. It’s harder to go against the vocal majority when a vote is called.

When it comes to issues of faith, especially issues which involve the intersection of faith and society, we need to realize that the world no longer cares much about the views of the church; we can give up any notion that they automatically listen when we speak.

Of course that does not mean that we are to stop speaking, by no means, but it does mean that we need to be prepared to be like the voice of the prophet crying in the wilderness. We need to be prepared to be ignored or criticized for the work we do or that way we think or the lifestyle we live.

Within the United Church we hold diverse views on many issues, some of them quite contentious; we need to be able to disagree in integrity and love. We need to be able live in that diversity without demanding that everyone else act and think the way the vocal ones want. We cannot abandon someone else mid-stream when we realize that very few think the way we do and our only advantage is that we have remained silent.

When we were younger many of us had to deal with peer pressure of various sorts - and in some ways it is no different for adults, it’s just more subtle, more incidious.

As a people of faith, the journey of Lent helps us to clarify who we are and whose we are. The journey of Lent helps us to clarify where we stand. The journey of lent helps us to be able to do so despite the opposition - the journey of Lent is our journey - because we know that when we fall short of our goals the cross of Good Friday is for us and for our failures.

And when we have embraced the cross we can be witnesses of the resurrection.

Amen.