"Perspective" Matthew 21:1-11 - The First Presbyterian Church ...

“Perspective”
                               Matthew 21:1-11
                            Sunday April 5, 2020
                               Palm Sunday

CALL TO WORSHIP

  One:   God of all life.
 Many:   Soaring music, falling rain,
  One:   Springtime joy, evening rest,
 Many:   Children’s laughter, loud hosannas.
  One:   God of all life,
 Many:   Our Journey and our home.
  One:   Restless searching, gracious finding,
 Many:   Lenten mysteries, Easter hopes.
  One:   God of all life,
 Many:   Your praise we sing and offer you our lives.

(Note, you are encouraged to try reading aloud
        today’s scripture passages.)

Matthew 21:1-11
When they had come near Jerusalem & had reached
Bethphage,
 at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples,
 saying to them, “Go into the village ahead of you,
 and immediately you will find a donkey tied,
 and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to me.
If anyone says anything to you, just say this,
   ‘The Lord has need of them.’
   And he will send them immediately.”
This took place to fulfill what had been spoken
  through the prophet, saying, “Tell the daughter of Zion,
  Look, your king is coming to you, humble,
  and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt,
  the foal of a donkey.”
The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them;
  they brought the donkey and the colt,
  and put their cloaks on them, and he sat on them.
A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road,
  and others cut branches from the trees
  and spread them on the road.
The crowds that went ahead of him and that followed
  were shouting, Hosanna to the Son of David!
  Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!
  Hosanna in the highest heaven!”
When he entered Jerusalem,
 the whole city was in turmoil, asking, “Who is this?”
The crowds were saying,
  “This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee.”

Perspective
                                Matthew 21:1-11
I. Introduction
I received a phone call last week from an old friend.
Rev. Gary Larson was the pastor of the Olean Presbyterian Church, NY
  when I arrived, fresh out of seminary, to assume my first call
  at the First Presbyterian Church of Allegany, NY;
  a smaller community and church just outside of the larger City of Olean
  in southwestern New York state.
At that point, Gary had been the pastor
   at the (big) Presbyterian Church in Olean for over 20 years,
   and would remain there a good while longer after I left
   for my almost two year “vision quest” across the country
   living in a 3/4 ton Chevy conversion van arriving, eventually,
   at 2 Park Place, Canton NY, freshly married
   with a 4 year old daughter in tow
   (I found many lovely visions on my quest).
Incidentally, the engine blew in that Chevy van
   just as I crossed the Canton Town line
   but I nursed it into the driveway at the manse,
   and, then, drove it one last time to the junk yard in Norwood.
A Burning bush, no?

II.
As many of you know, I played football in college
  and am a big fan of the game at that level.
One of my favorite figures in college football is Steve Spurrier
  who won the Heisman Trophy in 1966 while a quarterback
  at the University of Florida, and later, in 1996,
  won a national championship as the head coach of his alma mater.
One time during an interview with reporters,
  in an self-effacing effort to deflect praise,
  Spurrier stated, “I’m just an ‘ol ball coach.”
That’s Gary Larson, just an ‘ol pastor.

Like Steve Spurrier, Gary Larson is a real character:
   a physically big man with tough but sensitive skin,
   an unmistakeable deep, gravelly voice,
   one who quickly cuts to the chase, is spiritually insightful,
   ever compassionate, doesn’t suffer fools (at all), a passionate sailor,
   and possesses an utterly enormous heart; the heart of a pastor,
Now retired, Gary and his wonderfully patient and gracious wife Sarah,
  raised two sons, each of whom is a Presbyterian minister serving a parish.

III.
During my five years at the Allegany church, Gary was always kind to me;
  a welcome point of reference, a sustaining and insightful presence
  who was ever ready to listen but not hesitant to chide when needed.
Upon leaving the Allegany Church,
  and all throughout the time of my questing,
  Gary continued to support me in a way few did (or could, I suppose).
I have never forgotten this, nor have I ever stopped being grateful to him for it.
So, when Gary Larson called me out of the blue
  in the midst of a global pandemic,
  I was delighted to hear that gravelly voice at the other end of the phone,
  and was more than a little curious to hear
  what he had to say given the circumstances.
As I have been doing with so many of you (and will continue to do)
  Gary was calling around to check in with all those for whom he cared.
Gary was also calling to remind people about the importance of perspective.
That this was coming from just an ‘ol pastor
  caused me to give great consideration.

IV.
During my aforementioned vision quest, one of the places I landed for a time
  was our denomination’s conference center
  in remote Abiquiu, NM: Ghost Ranch.
I have since returned there several times, twice for sabbatical leave,
   and again on our cross-country RV odyssey to visit our daughter, Nicole,
   who was on staff there that summer and fall.

The physical setting of Ghost Ranch is more stunningly beautiful
  than any other single place I’ve ever been

  (a location for 28 movies, most famously “City Slickers” and “Silverado”).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5YmvBAUL5o
https://www.ghostranch.org

V.
Though the landscape of Ghost Ranch has been painted
   by many famous artists over the years
   (in part owing to its close proximity to the nearby “art colony” of Taos)
   none have done so as famously, or as frequently, as Georgia O’Keeffe.
After falling in love with the landscape
   during several visits to Ghost Ranch beginning in 1934,
   Georgia O’Keeffe eventually purchased a home there
   with 7 acres of land, from owner Arthur Pack in 1940
   (Pack would later donate the entire 21,000 acre ranch
   to the Presbyterian Church after many other organizations
   had declined the gift (including the Boy Scouts, YMCA
   and Diocese of Santa Fe).

Many of O’Keeffe’s most recognized paintings
  where inspired by, and undertaken at, Ghost Ranch.
Beyond the soaring and rugged colored rock formations, desert flowers
  and quintessentially western scenes,
  the most captivating view at Ghost Ranch is that of the mesa Cerro Pedernal
  (Spanish for “flint hill” as it is rich in chert for tool making).
More commonly referred to simply as “Pedernal,”
  it was the most frequent subject of O’Keeffe’s artistic eye.

VI.
Of Pedernal, Georgia O’Keeffe once said,
   “It’s my private mountain. It belongs to me.
   God told me if I painted it enough,
   I could have it.”
And paint Pedernal she did, over 20 times in fact: vividly, mutely,
  as seasons and weather changed, during different periods in her own life,
  with other objects in the foreground, and from memory the end of her life
  when her eyesight failed.
The same view of the same mountain painted again and again
  with a different perspective.
Georgia O’Keeffe died in 1986 and her ashes were scattered atop Pedernal;
  in a way, perhaps God gave it to her after all.

VII.
Today’s scripture reading, Matthew 21:1-11,
  recounts what we refer to as “Palm Sunday”:
  the occasion of Jesus’ triumphant arrival to Jerusalem
  for the purpose of attending the Jewish Passover.
This week long celebration commemorates the tenth and cruelest
  of God’s plagues visited upon Egypt, meant to finally convince Pharoah
  to set free the Hebrews who had been
  enslaved by his nation for over ten generations.
The angel of death “passed over” the houses of the Hebrew slaves
  marked with the blood from a sacrificial lamb
  smeared upon their door posts, with the result that the angel smote
  only the first born sons of the Egyptians.
The disciples go with Jesus to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover,
  but little do they know that in just one week’s time
  Jesus is to become the sacrificial lamb,
  whose blood would make death “Passover”
  not just the people of Israel, but all the people of the world.

VIII.
Whenever we study the scripture,
 it is important to ask why a particular incident or event
 is recounted at all, and how it matters to the overarching biblical narrative?
The answer to why today’s Palm Sunday is recounted,
  is that it places Jesus, physically, on the scene in Jerusalem;
  passing a point of no return that would begin an unfolding series of events
  we now understand as Holy Week:
  -    the cleansing of the temple
  -    the last supper and Jesus washing the feet of the disciples
  -    Jesus praying in the Garden that the cup may pass by him
  -    Jesus’ betrayal by Judas and his arrest
  -    Peter’s denial of Christ
  -    Jesus’ trial before Pilot
  -    Jesus’ Crucifixion, and death on the cross
  -    and, finally, this whole drama culminates
        with Jesus’ resurrection on Easter Morning.

The answer to how this event matters is that it provides the perspective
  necessary to reveal the truth of these Holy Week events
  within the larger biblical narrative.

IX.
The story of Palm Sunday is a story about the importance of perspective.
The perspective of the Jewish people looking back on their own history,
  and God’s redemptive actions on their behalf,
  to remember and celebrate who they are and how they came to be.
The perspective of God’s actions in human affairs,
  individual, national and international,
  to fulfill a divine purpose and plan for this world.
Pharoah’s stubbornness throughout the escalation of plagues
  exemplifies my belief that one of the few true prayers in life
  is to have the courage, wisdom and humility
  to the learn whatever lesson God is teaching the first time;
  if we don’t, we will inevitably have the opportunity to do so again
  but with even greater adverse consequence.
And, the perspective of Jesus as more
  than merely a teacher, healer or prophet,
  but, rather, Jesus as Messiah, the Christ,
  the lamb of God whose atoning sacrifice takes away the sins of the world
  and Jesus as King come to claim the world.

X.
“This took place to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet,
  saying, ‘Tell the daughter of Zion, Look, your king is coming to you,
  humble, and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’”
The specific prophecy being referenced is to be found in Zechariah 9:9-9.
Really, though, this is meant to cast Jesus
  as the culmination of the entire prophetic tradition
  inherent in the totality of the Hebrew Scriptures;
  one which anticipated and foretold of a King who would one day arrive
  not only to save the nation, but to also rule the nation.

Such a King was always understood, or assumed to be, a geo-political figure.
By riding into Jerusalem that day Jesus both aligns himself
  with that perspective of long-awaited King,
  but begins to shift that perspective
  to redefine the very concept of such a King:
  not as a geo-political instrument of God
  ruling with an army and government,
  but as God in actuality ruling with the
  power of love and administration of compassion.

XI.
As we begin Holy Week in the midst of global pandemic,
  those of us who have placed our faith in this King
  clearly have much to consider as individual believers,
  as members of this church, and as citizens of this nation
  belonging to the world community.
We also have much to reconsider.
Whatever perspective we had on our lives three weeks ago
 is, now, forever changed; and will continue to change.
We’ve passed a point of no return
  that has begun an unfolding series of events.
Though, perhaps, not in a position
  to consider geo-political changes in perspective,
  it is a most opportune time to consider
  changes in perspective on our own faith.

XII.
A great many years ago now, my friend Arleigh Jorgenson,
   that theologian masquerading as a dog musher,
   once said to me, “Faith is nothing we would ever choose for ourselves,
   it is something that is thrust upon us.”
Over the past several weeks, I think many of us within the church
  have had an “A Ha” moment about our faith.
As if that which was only ever seen out of the corner of one’s eye
  is. now, squarely right in front of us in plain view and full sight.

We fully understand the words of the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians chapter 4:
We have this treasure from God,
  but we are like clay jars that hold the treasure.
We have troubles all around us, but we are not defeated.
We do not know what to do, but we do not give up the hope of living.
Regardless of chronological age, or time spent believing,
  these recent weeks have turned each of us into just an “ol’ Christian.”
A great gust of wind is bending the stalk
   and has blown the chaff from the wheat.

XIII.
I also think that most of us will never again view our faith
   in the same way.
Undoubtedly, this current crisis will surely pass,
  and, mercifully, we will go on to resume lives of quiet contentment.
However, like Georgia O’Keeffe’s fascination with Cerro Pedernal,
  we will forever return, again and again, to this same experience.
Each time we do so, it will yield yet another new and different perspective
  on the goodness and mercy of God to follow in all the days of our lives.
If we use our faith enough, it becomes ours.

XIV.
Finally, I would like to end today with a suggestion
   inherent in today’s scripture reading about Palm Sunday:
   to raise our perspective over and beyond that of Jesus as Christ the Savior
   to also include Jesus as Christ the King.
Harkening back to the founding of our nation,
  and perhaps now more than ever, we have always been
  terribly unaccustomed extremely uncomfortable with the idea of “King.”
Additionally, within the uniquely American form of Christianity
  that has emerged over the last 200 years,
  there has always been a decided emphasis on individual salvation.
As we move through these days of Holy Week leading up to Easter morning,
  and in contemplation of the Cross,
  I would suggest an understanding of Jesus
  as the lamb of God whose atoning sacrifice takes away the sins of the world

is only a partial perspective; though, certainly, profoundly important.
The full view of Jesus, is also as King who has come to claim the world,
  each person and every nation, with love and compassion.
In the days to come, may God rule our hearts and minds
   with such love and compassion. Amen.