March 24, 2024 – The Sunday of The Passion: Palm Sunday
Fr. Cal Calhoun
In the Name of God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.
In Jesus’ time, the Roman Empire ruled the world, or much of the “known” world: from England to India, the Roman Empire was in charge. As writer and pastor Rob Bell points out: when the Emperor wanted to make a proclamation or statement about his latest military conquest or his latest accomplishment, he issued a document called a “u-an-geleon”, it translates to us as good news, or gospel; it is the root for the word evangelical.
When the Emperor conquered a new city or region, he would impose the requirement of worshipping Caesar as god. If the region was willing to do that, that is worship Caesar, they were given special status. If not, there were generally large-scale crucifixions until, whatever leaders were left, decided to conform. The Roman Empire’s toleration of the Jewish faith in and around Jerusalem was one of the few exceptions to this manner of bringing conquered lands into the fold. When a region or town embraced and worshipped Caesar, it was called an ecclesia. Ecclesia translates into English as church.
After Jesus’ resurrection his followers gathered in a community that was not concerned about conquering the world, but about making the world a better place. They were not so nearly as much concerned with a new world in the life after this one, but a new world here and now, where people took care of each other, where peace was achieved though love and compassion, not military might and using power to make everyone conform to a certain way.
We know that for 300 years, Christians, as these followers of Jesus came to be called, were often the target of persecution by the Roman Empire, because, like their Jewish ancestors in faith, they would not worship Caesar. Being a target of persecution might have something to do to with the fact that they appropriated the name “u an gelion” as a way of talking about their message, the good news of Jesus Christ. And after some years, when people began to write down the stories and the sayings of Jesus of Nazareth, these early Christians called these documents “u an gelions” or” gospels” and their authors we call Evangelists. So this community very early on, took the name of royal empirical propaganda, and borrowed it for their own purposes. They took the propaganda name ecclesia, and used it to name their gatherings, when they gathered to worship, not Caesar, but the Trinitarian God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, when they gathered to eat and sing and share. When they gathered to help those in need, they called themselves, ecclesia, or church.
It seems a bit rebellious. It seems like those early Christians might have been thumbing their noses at the powers that be. They appear to have made it a mission to spread a kingdom based on love and compassion, rather than power or might.
We come from a context that for about 250 years, this nation has practiced a separation of church and state. We can be inclined to think that church shouldn’t be political or make statements about how those in power are handling things. We inherited our Christianity from Western Europe, where like the end of the Roman Empire, Christianity was the state religion. That changes how a church comments on or is critical of power. Speaking truth to power can get lost when you are now part of the power structure.
Did this practice in the early church come from Jesus himself or was this a reform of the early followers? We do know he was critical of the Jewish religious leaders. The antagonists in the gospels are primarily the chief priests and the elders, the scribes and the Pharisees. The empire authorities don’t enter the story until the end. But Jesus is crucified. That was the punishment for those who questioned the authority of the Roman Empire, or criticized its methods. The gospels seem to indicate that Jesus was set up by the chief priests and the elders, and that the Roman authorities, primarily in the form of Pontius Pilate had him put to death.
What about this thing we remembered today? Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. We know today that immediately prior to the Passover, Pilate would come to Jerusalem with several hundred soldiers to keep the peace, or control the crowds that journeyed to Jerusalem for the Passover and swelled the population. So about the same time that Jesus was entering Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives on the East, Pilate and his soldiers would be entering Jerusalem from the West. While Jesus was on a donkey, they would be riding war horses. While Jesus’ followers were singing and praising God, the crowds on the West side would be getting out of the way, hiding from the armed soldiers. Seems hard to believe with an entrance like that, that the timing was a coincidence. Jesus was too smart to not know what he was doing.
All this is to say, Jesus and the early Christians were dead set on making a difference in the world, right here, right now. And they did that primarily by helping the needy in their midst. But they weren’t above holding the government accountable for doing the right thing. They weren’t above borrowing royal propaganda terms to describe what these Christians do and to show how it could be done differently.
As we journey with Jesus to the cross and the empty tomb, I want to remind you, Jesus and those early Christians were more concerned with making a difference here and now than in saving souls. They were more concerned with the Kingdom of God on earth, than the Kingdom of heaven. As we begin this Holy Week journey, I am so grateful for the ways this community of faith has embraced this notion so present in the early church. The desire and the need, borne out of compassion, to make a difference here and now. Amen.
Year B – The Sunday of The Passion: Palm Sunday – March 24, 2024 – The Rev. Cal Calhoun
