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SERMON – 10.00am, Multilingual Eucharist Emmanuel Pokfulam, & St Timothy's Wah Fu, Hong Kong
Sunday 5th April 2009
Revd. Canon David Pickering
A hero on Sunday becomes a criminal on Friday.
What a turn around!
Triumphant Royal entrance into Jerusalem on Sunday
Execution outside the city wall the following Friday
Things can change so quickly.
I expect we can all think of situations in our lives when highs have turned to lows, triumphs have become defeats, and joys descended sadness.
People and things do change quite dramatically over both the short and the long term.
In this morning's reading we see Jesus acting out of character.
The general impression from the gospel record is that he shunned the lime light and honour
But here he comes in kingly triumph.
And we have celebrated this in our journey from Emmanuel to St Timothy's.
In Old Testament times a victorious king would often return from battle riding a donkey.
Jesus is setting the tone for the coming week.
It will be the week of his final triumph.
During Lent many of our Sunday morning readings have been from St John's gospel. John constantly refers to the Cross of Jesus as the hour of glory.
Here is the power of God's love; the power of love that takes away the sin and evil of the world.
Writing to the Church at Corinth St Paul says God's weakness is stronger than human strength. I Corinthians 1.25
The simplicity of the donkey, or the colt, of Palm Sunday reminds us of the true nature of God's power. This it is not the military might that so often kills civilians and combatants. The folly, the irony, the foolishness of the cross is God's way of liberation from the powers that usurp his reign.
Palm Sunday looks to the cross of Good Friday.
We step out today to go along the way of that cross to find its power in the contradictions and weaknesses of our lives so that we can rise to a new life next Sunday, Easter Day, the Day of Resurrection.
As we set out on our personal journey during Holy Week, perhaps we can look at the simple, the insignificant and even weak aspects of our lives and see them as strengths; strengths that come from God, strengths that make God a reality in our lives.
In the face of global warming, environmental responsibility, and even the economic crisis, we all need to look simplifying our lives. And by the grace of God the weak and insignificant can be the divine strength at work within us.
As we celebrate Palm Sunday, Holy Week, Good Friday and Easter, we are not just remembering something that happened around 2000 years ago, even if is greatest event in human experience and history. We are celebrating a reality of today, making present the weakness of the cross and power of the resurrection in our contemporary situation, so that the weakness of the world, and our own lives may become real strengths lived in the power of God.
Today we sing, hosanna. Hosanna literally means 'save now'
Our Great Week, to give it another title, celebrations are all about salvation for now in all the things that are weak, frail, impaired etc that they may become strong in the power of God.
Hosanna! Amen!
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