Delusional Hope

 This Palm Sunday is the beginning of the week in which 

            we once again live out the core story of our faith

                        in all its drama and depth.

This is the central week of the whole church year, our highest holy days,

 

For me this year, having just stood in the exact same places 

that Jesus and his disciples have stood,

            the story is alive again with a freshness and immediacy 

                        that 2000 years have not diminished.

 

One of the observations I made again on this trip to the Middle East

            was how very political religion is.

I think our forebears in this country tried their hardest

            to separate politics and religion.

But the reality is that religion is very political,

            and Jerusalem is where that can be seen in spades.

 

And what Jesus did on his donkey ride into Jerusalem 

            was very political and provocative.

People had real hope in Jesus 

            that he would be the Messiah 

                        that would set them free politically from the Romans.

But this represented a delusional hope.

            Palm Sunday is a story of delusional hope.

 

There were all sorts of assumptions about what this parade

would accomplish:  hopes for the future, yet delusional hopes. 

 

Some had the hope that Jesus was the long awaited Messiah 

            the one who would free them from foreign oppression.

 

Some hoped that the Romans would see Jesus as a revolutionary

            and would arrest him and get him out of the picture

so that they could return to a safer way of coping with and living with 

the enemy in their midst,

so that they could manage to carry on with the upcoming Passover festival 

albeit under the oppressive shadow of the occupying military forces.

The irony – Passover, a celebration of the oppressors’ defeat by the Hand of God

            and the liberation of the Israelites from slavery.

 

And the Romans, they hoped to keep spontaneous demonstrations and riots 

            from erupting in the city square, and to hold onto control.

 

Recent events in Israel would indicate that 

            the ancient hope of political power and control will only last so long.

Whether for an oppressive dictatorship or for a popular uprising,

            the outcome rarely turns out to be what was hoped for.

 

Palm Sunday represents delusional hope.

 

We may look at today’s Palm Sunday procession

            as a way to give honor to Jesus as Son of David, Messiah, king, Son of God,

                                    the focus of our faith.

And we may want to ignore the details of the Gospel story and its outcome.

 

This event left the whole city in a turmoil.

The parade ends in the temple courtyard

            and next Jesus clears out all those 

                        engaged in the commercial part of the temple activities – 

            the money changers who made sure that no Roman coins 

                        with Caesar’s image on them would profane the temple

            and those selling the sacrificial animals.

Jesus then with incredible chutzpah carries out his usual ministry 

            of healing and teaching right there 

            in the geographic, liturgical and theological center of their faith.

He places himself between the people 

            and the temple sacrifices they came to offer, 

between the people 

            and their old way of worshiping God 

                        and assuring their right standing with God.

We are beginning a week of liturgical events 

            that if we were to pay attention to them

            they could take us out of the confinement of our current understanding,

                        our current religious confinement,

and would open our awareness to vastness of life

                        and all of its liberation, empowerment, joy, and love

                                    which is our inheritance in Jesus.

 

I urge you to attend the liturgies of this week,

                        Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, 

and you could also attend the Easter Vigil at the Cathedral or ...

 

This is the central week of the whole church year, our highest holy days.

What we do this week in liturgical form

                         is to place ourselves into the story,

 

As you take part in this holy week’s events, drop religion.

Drop the compartmentalizing of seeing this only as a liturgical observance,

            a narrow slice out of our whole life experience.

Instead what assumptions and hopes do you have in your life that get battered?

How are they shown up as empty and disillusioning?

 

NOW            whereas Palm Sunday represents delusional hope,

Good Friday is then the collapse of all our delusional hope,

            crushed and nailed to the Cross.

That is where we ended up with our reading of the Passion Account 

            from the Gospel according to St. Matthew ,

 

Brothers and sisters, this story of Jesus’ death is not a tragic account 

of suffering beyond all measure.

Jesus knew what he was doing; 

            this was the outcome he anticipated for the parade.

And he knew that what he was doing was essential,

                        all in service for you, for me, for every living being.

Good Friday is the necessary and beneficial collapse of all our delusional hope.

 

And then the Resurrection is the transcendence of this collapsed, delusional hope.

            Easter is a revelation which could not be anticipated.

But we can’t get to Easter, to resurrection, by any other way 

            than through the collapse of delusional hope and the Cross of Good Friday.

From delusional hope to transcending that hope with what cannot be anticipated

            that is what’s up for us these next few days.

 

If you come and take part in these liturgies of Holy Week, 

            with a willingness and trust to bring all your own 

                hopes and sorrows, shame and pride, suffering  and inner questioning                                                  

                                                                     with you,

that Love of God, Love which is God, will be at work in you,

            transforming wounds, bringing healing, and revealing to you great truth.