Pastoral Letter 111
Dear Members of St. Andrew’s Uniting Church, Friends and Adherents,
Grace and peace to you all.
This Sunday we celebrate Palm Sunday, the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem to change the course of history. The following week is known as the Passion/Holy Week, with a service on Good Friday and then a celebration of the glorious Easter Sunday. We are grateful that with God’s grace we continue coming together to worship God safely and have fellowship at our much-loved Morning Tea. We hope and pray that the rest of the year 2022 will not disrupt our services and mid-week programs.
Unfortunately, the last two Sundays we missed some of our members due to COVID infection. But we are glad that everyone is now testing negative and plan to join us on Sunday morning. If you will not be able to join us to our face-to-face service, you can worship with us at home. Please light a candle and follow the attached Order of Service.
Be safe and well, continue to pray, remembering those who need care, support and love and let us know if any member of the congregation that you know of needs our help and prayers.
Here are some more prayer points for this week:
- Pray for all those who are again suffering because of the devastating floods.
- Pray for those who have lost loved ones, homes and property.
- Pray for the poor, the sick, the vulnerable, the struggling and the stressed.
- Pray for world peace and ask for God’s blessings.
- Pray for the coming week and the Good Friday and Easter Morning Services.
- Pray for Bonnie, who has been caught with COVID and those members of our congregation who are recovering.
Please let me know if you or anyone else has prayer points.
Best Regards,
Krikor
MESSAGE
His Way – His Charted Course
Luke 19:28-40
Long before Jesus was born, God’s people annually observed a festival known as the Feast of Tabernacles. This was a feast of great joy. It was a time of celebration. It lasted seven days. Part of what happened during this feast is that the people marched around the Altar. The priest would recite Psalm 118 during this procession and when the Psalm reached verses 25 and 26, the trumpet sounded, all the people waved their branches of palms and shouted with the priest these two verses together: “O Lord, save us; O Lord, grant us success. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. From the house of the Lord, we bless you.”
Jerome, a Christian priest, confessor, theologian, and historian, who is also commonly known as Saint Jerome, seems to think that the word ‘hosanna’ came from this practice at the Feast of Tabernacles. One of the Hebrew ways to say, “Save us” is: hoshi’a na. During the Feast of Tabernacles, this was repeated so often that it simply became, “hosanna”. From this – the word ‘hosanna’ was applied to other activities around the Feast of Tabernacles. The last day of the feast came to be known as the Great Hosanna and the palm branches received the name of hosannas.
Now coming to Jesus’ time let’s try to understand what was going on, when Jesus planned and executed His entry to Jerusalem, known as His Triumphal Entry. We should note that this was not the first time that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, He had been there several times when He was a child with His parents and at least two times during His ministry before this one.
According to the gospel of John, Jesus rode into Jerusalem after bringing back to life Lazarus, the brother of Mary and Martha and His friend and being anointed in Bethany by Mary. The people in Jerusalem had heard about this incredible thing. So, when Jesus entered the city, there was a group of people ready to receive Him with shouts of joy: “Hosanna, hosanna, hosanna – blessed is the King Who comes in the name of the Lord.” The people lifted palm branches to Jesus, and they laid their coats on the ground.
What were they saying? In essence they were crying – “O Lord, save us.”
All of this is in the Gospel that we read together earlier: “As he went along, people spread their cloaks on the road. When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen.” (Luke 19.36-37)
There is an interesting movie called “The Bucket List”, played by well-known actors Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman, which tells the story of two terminally ill men and after exhausting all possible means to win the battle of life, it was evident that death was inevitable and certain. They put together a list of 10 things they would love to do before their time comes. They call it “The Bucket List”. As it became clear that their days on earth would soon come to an end, they embark on a journey of a lifetime and one by one tick things off the list. Even though one was not able to complete the list, the other did. These two men were on a deathbed rally, a charted course to fulfill their wishes.
This sort of deathbed rally is not that unusual. Dying people plan things, write their wills, assign next of kin, in case something happens to them, and they pass away. They chart their course according to their wishes and desires. Jesus’ course was already charted – from day one. He didn’t enter Jerusalem to be celebrated, He came to die. The high and joyous praise on Palm Sunday was in many and real ways a type of deathbed rally for Jesus. Jesus’ destiny was sealed – He came to die. He came to be a real sacrifice for atonement of our sin. He came to fulfill the will of the Father and give His life to save the world and give the human race a second chance to reconcile with God.
That destiny was known early, as we read in the scriptures:
When Mary and Joseph presented Jesus at the temple as a young baby, the faithful prophet Simeon said to Mary: “And a sword will pierce your own soul” (Luke 2.35b), indicating that both Mary and Jesus would see suffering.
John the Baptist pointed to Jesus and said: “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” (John 1.29b) In identifying Jesus as the Lamb of God – the sacrifice that Jesus would make was emphasised.
Jesus Himself said a number of times that He would suffer and die. For example, Matt. 16.21; 17.23 and 20.18; Mark 10.34; Luke 18.32.
When Jesus and His disciples descended from the Mount of Transfiguration – He said to them that He would die.
Messianic prophecies in the Old Testament clearly say that the Messiah would come to die.
One of the identities given to Jesus in the book of Revelation is: “The Lamb Slain from the Foundation of the World”.
Jesus’ destiny was clear from the start. His course was charted. He would enter Jerusalem – and even though the shouts were, “Hosanna – blessed is He Who comes in the name of the Lord,” soon the words that would ring in Jesus’ ears would be “Crucify Him; Crucify Him; Crucify Him.” In a few days – the honours would give in to the sound of Roman hammers pounding nails into His hands and feet. This is what would ring loudly – the hosannas would fade.
As we consider these events, there may be the temptation to compare what Jesus endured to the selflessness and self-sacrifices sometimes on prominent display among people: The father or mother who sacrifices all for the welfare and safety of a child. The soldier who gives his life in order to save his companions. These and many other examples are all worthy of being recognised and the memory of the person honoured. But in each of these cases, the choice made by people willing to give it all for others is a situation driven by circumstances. For example, the soldier-hero didn’t plan to be killed in the battle – it happened as the circumstances evolved.
With Jesus it was different. He came into the world to die. His identity as the Lamb was marked from before the time that humanity was created. And so, Jesus stands as the ultimate model – the One that we look to when it comes to trying to understand what loving others looks like. He took the walk into Jerusalem knowing what would happen. Consider the words that Paul wrote to the Philippians:
“Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death – even death on a cross!” (Phil 2.5-8)
God loves us so much that He would let nothing – not anything, deter Him from winning our salvation. Save us, Lord – Hosanna.
A few months ago, we celebrated the birth of our Lord, singing “Silent night. Holy night. All is calm, all is bright. Round yon virgin, mother and child. Holy infant so tender and mild. Sleep in heavenly peace. Sleep in heavenly peace.” The shadow of the cross was not so easy to see then. But today – as we enter the week of Christ’s passion, the shadow of the cross over the manger is coming into much, much sharper focus. As we contemplate the joyous reception that Jesus got as He entered Jerusalem, our thoughts go to the reason that He entered in the first place, to save us by dying on the cross. And He did it His Way, with His Charted Course.
It’s not only Frank Sinatra singing his famous song: My Way
And now the end is here and so I face that final curtain.
My friend, I’ll make it clear I’ll state my case, of which I’m certain.
I’ve lived a life that’s full, I travelled each and every highway.
And more, much more, I did it, I did it my way.
Regrets, I’ve had a few, but then again too few to mention.
I did what I had to do, I saw it through without exemption.
I planned each charted course, each careful step along the byway.
And more, much, much more, I did it, I did it my way.
Yes, there were times I’m sure you knew,
when I bit off more than I could chew.
But through it all, when there was doubt,
I ate it up and spit it out,
I faced it all and I stood tall
and did it my way.
For what is a man, what has he got?
If not himself then he has naught.
Not to say the things that he truly feels,
and not the words of someone who kneels.
Let the record shows I took all the blows
and did it my way.
Jesus did it all His way, the way that led Him to the cross of Calvary. His course was charted and planned by the Father, who had come to the world to seal a New Covenant with us, the sinners, and promised eternal life, which we can have only through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, for whom is the glory now and forever.
Amen!