Lent 101: footsteps of Jesus. Mark 11:1-11; 14:17-41; Philippians 2:5-11

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1 W OODBROO K B A P T I S T C H U R C H 25 Stevenson Lane Baltimore, MD Every member a minister. Lent 101: footsteps of Jesus Mark 11:1-11; 14:17-41; Philippians 2:5-11 an excerpt of the preaching experience at Woodbrook Baptist Church Sunday, April 1, 2012 a contribution to the conversation by the Rev. Dr. John Ballenger Sometimes as you think about what youʼre going to say, you hope it makes sense. And youʼre not real sure! I. Introduction Welcome to our last meeting of the invitation that is Lent 101. A few final reminders: the last paper is due this coming Thursday. I am Woodbrook. Weʼve invited you to explore how this particular community of faith manifests an expression of you, even as you express a manifestation of it. Just so you know (some of you have asked), the final test for Lent 101 (and there is one) is the life you lead. And your grade (which we donʼt give you) is the quality of life the abundance of life the life that truly is life that is a part of your living. And while you may never know if youʼre not doing well, I guarantee youʼll know if you are! For it is our conviction that Scripture the stories of God, the songs of Godʼs people that faith and faith community

2 in worship, service and fellowship with the overarching, undergirding presence of God prepare us (this is basic Lent 101) prepare us to be no less than as God is. So our thought for the day is: be therefore perfect, even as God is (Matthew 5:48), even as our learning objective of the day is the potentially startling affirmation that perfection is a journey, not a destination not an accomplishment, but a striving. II. Overview of the Season As we consider our last overview of the season, we remember not only that Lent starts with Ash Wednesday, but that it is preceded by Mardi Gras or Shrove Tuesday. And we remember that Mardi Gras or Shrovetide themselves extend back from one Tuesday into the season leading into the season of Lent. A. Ash Wednesday Remember, mortal, you are dust, and to the dust you shall return. i. preceded by Mardi Gras or Shrove Tuesday carnival or Shrovetide B. Lent 1. definition 2. name 3. history 4. disciplines/habits We also look ahead beyond Lent to see how we move so very intentionally through Holy Week to Easter and then beyond Easter through Eastertide. C. Holy Week 1. Palm/Passion Sunday 2. Maundy Thursday 3. Good Friday 4. Silent Saturday 5. Easter Sunday D. Eastertide So, Lent is a specific time frame (40 days) that extends both back in time (well before Lent) and forward in time (well after Lent)

3 like the incarnation a specific time frame extending both back and forward back into hopes, anticipation and expectation forward into memories and consequence like our own living incarnations of God that we are or are not since weʼve identified Lent as preparation for us to be like Jesus to be as God. So just like the 10 commandments the law and the prophets, the sermon on the mount, the beatitudes all these texts that manifest God and invite us to be as God, Lent, as preparation to be like Jesus, to be as God, Lent is... well, when is Lent not? Lent is 40 days, but also all time any time. We tend to think in (and thus be more comfortable with) sequence Mardi Gras or Shrovetide through Ash Wednesday into Lent into Holy Week into Eastertide. But truth be told, Lent is more a ripple effect the possibility of any moment any moment of defined time itself then rippling out from its particularity into eternity. Nothing like a clear, concise, contained overview! III. Scripture Mark 11:1-11; 14:17-41 We consider two texts from the Gospel of Mark this morning, two texts telling part of the story of Holy Week and such apparently different parts of the story they are! We have the so-called triumphal entry: Jesus coming into Jerusalem with the crowds, and in this gospel he does, right? Crowds ahead of Jesus and behind him, we read, as he enters the city. And thereʼs the red carpet, the press, the paparazzi, Access Jerusalem. I love what Jesus has done with his hair and beard, Mordecai, and his tunic tonight is just spot on showing just enough humanity in a divine design by Verily Verily Wang. But Peter, my goodness, someone needs to tell him to never ever again wear that particular shade of puce. We might not laugh so easily were we to consider this a parade of our own deepest hopes our dreams on parade. Because the great excitement that day was but expression of the hopes of that time.

4 Jesus represented the big vote the huge election of the day the opportunity the possibility on which the future of the world hinged. And some rejected Jesus as threat to all they held dear. And others turned to Jesus in hope that he would change everything. And itʼs the ones who were scared who were right. And they still are. I got a little tickled imagining this the big arrival, and he enters the city, we read, and goes to the temple crowds ahead of him and behind, remember? But the crowds ahead of Jesus as he entered the city couldnʼt have known he was going to the temple, right? So as they went ahead into the city, some of them would have noticed that Jesus wasnʼt following wasnʼt going where they thought he was, and they had to turn around, and maybe some of those who were first ended up last! Something sounds kind of right about that, doesnʼt it? And when Jesus got to the temple and had looked around at everything, we read, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve. Je left! Talk about anticlimactic! He looked around and he left. So what do you think? Were the crowds disappointed? Shocked? Angry? Expecting Jesus on the stump to, at the very least, make the loud promises they wanted to hear: to pull out the Scripture that justified their way of living that re-assured them of the opportunity that was their future to tell the stories of this their promised land to sing the songs of Godʼs favor in the key of prosperity to indulge hope in the key of me, and to end it all with a rousing, and God bless Jerusalem! that everyone could feel good about. But God on the stump is a very different reality. God on the stump does not make feel-good promises. God is, rather, crucified on the stump of expectations God will not fulfill. For God inevitably crosses the wrong people which isnʼt ever them, is it? But always us. And so consistently cross at this God,

5 who consistently challenges us, we crucify. Oops! Got a little ahead of myself. Didnʼt spoil it for anyone, did I? Everyone knows whatʼs coming the end of this week, right? So this isnʼt so very much a story about a crowd who didnʼt really know what they were cheering for, but a crowd who knew exactly what they were cheering for always ready to believe the next person to promise them the future they believed to be theirs. They just didnʼt know that cheers didnʼt matter to this one. They didnʼt know their numbers wouldnʼt influence him that he wouldnʼt just say what they wanted to hear. He looked around. He saw the people. He heard the acclamation. He felt the excitement in the air recognized the photo op the potential for air time for viral soundbytes. He left. Which leads us to the second part of the story: and Jesus, gathered with his disciples, says at the dinner table, One of you will betray me, then goes on to say after the meal, All of you will desert me. After I am raised, he goes on, Iʼll go before you to Galilee, and everyoneʼs talking about how they wonʼt desert (which they will) rather than that they will follow him to Galilee (which they will). So do you hear it? You will all desert me. Even so, I will lead. And you will follow you will. And again, itʼs not about sequence. Itʼs about love the deep reality of love thrown into time and experience rippling out intersecting life changing everything. All of you will desert me, but I love you anyway. And in the Garden, when Peter, James and John donʼt do what he wants when they fall asleep well, thatʼs actually in the larger context of God not doing what he wants either, right? Remove this cup from me; yet not what I want, but what you want. And everything takes its place in the larger context of love. I love you even when you fall asleep on me. I love you even when you disappoint me. I love you even when you let me down.

6 God loves me even when I donʼt want what God wants. I love God even when God doesnʼt give me what I want. Love is bigger than circumstance bigger than any part of the story. Love is the story. But we tend to read, even this story, in sequence. First the preparation of Lent, then the adulation of Palm Sunday, then the betrayals, then the agony and the pain, then the death, then the resurrection. Oops! got a little ahead of myself again. Didnʼt spoil it for anyone, did I? Everyone knows whatʼs coming next week, right? But thatʼs part of the problem! Honestly, isnʼt it? If everyone knows the resurrection is coming, what do we have to worry about? The footprints of Jesus lead from here to there, donʼt they? But God throws self into time, and the footprints of Jesus are the consistent impact of God on the world truth not so much leading anywhere as rippling out in concentric circles. And one of those circles always constitutes wonder and joy. One always constitutes betrayal. One is always rippling out in mockery, rejection, and pain. Crucifixion ever circles as do grace and forgiveness. And one always constitutes resurrection. We live narratively; we think narratively sequentially when, in fact, all of this story is true all of the time. Itʼs love. Itʼs all love. And loveʼs not a narrative not a sequence, just truth the whole story all the time. IV. The Tragedy of Our Time Born into poverty, married into abuse, divorced, Ellen escaped to pursue her education earning a degree in accounting in Madison, Wisconsin, studying economics in Colorado,

7 earning a masters in public administration at Harvard. Six years ago, she was elected president of Liberia. Last year, she won the Nobel peace prize and in a commencement speech at Harvard said, If your dreams do not scare you, they are not big enough ( Itʼs tragic but true: we donʼt dream dreams big enough to scare us. We donʼt risk them. We donʼt want them. And none of our leaders are willing or, Iʼll grant you, are able are allowed to dream big enough to scare us either. We want to be entertained, soothed, reassured, complimented. We are the crowds, but our leaders donʼt leave. They seize the photo op the air time the soundbyte play to our wants, and our needs go unaddressed. We insulate ourselves from even the possibility that we could be a part of substantive change. Thatʼs just too scary a thought! We inoculate ourselves from the possibility that we could change the tenor of conversation could address the huge disparities in access to resources the injustices endemic to our systems the obscenities that are our priorities from the possibility that we could make a difference that we could make a change. And then we inebriate ourselves from the consequences of not. Someone else can do it preferably without inconveniencing us, or costing us much. And God loves us anyway. God still leads, and we can still follow. We can still be as God is. and in light of having let ourselves down (and God), itʼs the next thing we do that matters most. God loves you in spite of everything in spite of anything. God still leads, and you can still follow. You can still be as God is. And in light of having let yourself down (and God), itʼs the next thing you do that matters most.

8 V. The Word of the Day So the transformative word of the day is scared! with all the potential inherent to our fear all the possibility all the dreams big enough to be worthy of us. But the corresponding tragic word of the day is assured the unmotivating salve to apathy. And itʼs precisely what we think is bad thatʼs good (we need to be scared!) and what we think is good (blessed assurance) thatʼs bad. Everything turned on its head. Appropriate this day, no? VI. We Live in Hope I imagined a litany for this day a litany led by us with Jesus responding a litany that leads us, unexpectedly, into hope: You came to be king among us, we would say. comes the response. You came to be the leader, the one in charge, the one with all the answers. You came to change everything for us. You came to fulfill our expectations of how God would be manifest among us. You came into what we think we know! into the assumptions and presuppositions we hold to be truth reality You came because we know what we need, we recognize it when we see it, and we receive it with joy and acclamation You came because as long as our world can be turned upside down as long as we hold our truth and reality lightly, thereʼs hope You came because God takes the wisdom of the world and makes it foolishness. You came to remind us to hold out for dreams big enough to terrify. You came so we could be scared to life.

9 You came to love us and make fools of us all. Sometimes you think about what youʼve said, and you know it makes no sense. But sense is not what weʼre promised. Love is. And love doesnʼt necessarily make sense. VII. Assignment Iʼm going to hold off on your assignment and give it to you as you leave. Thanks for your participation in Lent 101. All the best to all of you continuing into Eastertide... Your final assignment: Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death even death on a cross. Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Philippians 2:5-11). Go from here into this holy week, scared and choosing to embrace the fear the terrifying thought that this same mind might truly be in you that was in Christ Jesus...