"Power or Love" - Mark 14 - 15 (selections)

A Sermon by Alex W. Evans, Pastor

Second Presbyterian Church, Richmond, VA

Palm/Passion Sunday - March 28, 2021

Mark 14-15 (selections) 

“Power or Love?” 

            Several months ago, the Christian Century published a cartoon depicting a man and a woman talking about faith. The man says, “I believe but sometimes I don’t.” The woman responds, “That weird because I don’t believe but sometimes I do.” (see CC, March 10, 2021, p. 42) 

            We can probably all relate to that cartoon. Most of us - I am guessing - find ourselves wavering between faith and doubt, between what we feel sure about . . . . and what we struggle with.

            This week, as we launch into Palm Sunday and to the events of Holy Week, that wavering between faith and doubt may get even more pronounced. We rejoice in the Palm parade, . . . and then we confront the horrors of the cross.  We love to celebrate Jesus, . . . and then we come face to face with the brutality of the people and Jesus’ suffering and death.

            What does it all mean? What do we believe . . . and not believe?

            Some of us have been reading a fine book by Crossan and Borg entitled, The Last Week - about Jesus’ final days in Jerusalem. Borg and Crossan remind us that two processions entered Jerusalem on a spring day in the year 30 AD. One was a peasant procession. One was an imperial procession. 

            One procession started at the Mount of Olives, a hill on the east side of Jerusalem, where Jesus’ disciples secured a donkey - as you heard again in the story. Then Jesus, this amazing teacher, healer, spirit-person, from the peasant village of Nazareth, with a message about the Kingdom of God, rode slowly into the city, cheered on by the crowds of peasants who were so enamored by Jesus and his message. Remember this is the year 30 AD.

            The other procession started on the west side of Jerusalem, led by the governor, Pontius Pilate. This was a parade to assert who was in charge in the region. This parade includes lots of soldiers with shields and weapons to escort the governor, along with stately horses and other images of power. This procession happened every time there was a changing of the guard in this Roman dominated region. 

            So that is the scene - from the different sides of Jerusalem - two very different parades - and this pending collision foreshadows what is going to happen in the coming days. The promise of the Kingdom of God - embodied by Jesus in love, healing, care for the less fortunate, and sacrifice - was colliding with the power of empire, embodied by weapons and intimidation in the region. The events of Holy Week would play out under this collision.

            And with our daily lives, in these days of Holy Week 2021, we are still trying to sort out this collision: are we people of the Kingdom of God - the kindom of God - where life is about love and caring, justice and peace? Or are we people of the empire, where power is all that matters? 

            Are we more aligned with the good news about life - love God and love God’s people, do justice and work for peace? Or are we more concerned with the preservation of power, through intimidation, and maintaining life as we know it? These are always the challenging questions for us, especially this Holy Week. 

            Here is the essential message of Palm Sunday: Jesus’ procession - with a lowly teacher and spirit-person riding on a donkey - intends to counter what was happening on the other side of the city. Pilate’s procession embodied the power, the glory, the violence of the empire that ruled the world. Jesus’ procession embodied an alternative vision - the power of love, the power of grace, the power of forgiveness and caring and justice for all. 

            The Kingdom of God always collides with the kingdom of Caesar. 

            Listen now to the story as it unfolds in Mark 14 & 15 (selections):

It was two days before the Passover and the festival of Unleavened Bread. The chief priests and the scribes were looking for a way to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him;  . . .

10Then Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve, went to the chief priests in order to betray him to them. 11When they heard it, they were greatly pleased, and promised to give him money. So he began to look for an opportunity to betray (Jesus). . .

17When it was evening, he came with the twelve. 18And when they had taken their places and were eating, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me, one who is eating with me.” 19They began to be distressed and to say to him one after another, “Surely, not I?” . . .

22While they were eating, he took a loaf of bread, and after blessing it he broke it, gave it to them, and said, “Take; this is my body.” 23Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he gave it to them, and all of them drank from it. . . .

15 As soon as it was morning, the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council. They bound Jesus, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate. 2Pilate asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” He answered him, “You say so.” 3Then the chief priests accused him of many things. 4Pilate asked him again, “Have you no answer? See how many charges they bring against you.” 5But Jesus made no further reply, so that Pilate was amazed. . . .

16Then the soldiers led him into the courtyard of the palace (that is, the governor’s headquarters); and they called together the whole cohort.17And they clothed him in a purple cloak; and after twisting some thorns into a crown, they put it on him. 18And they began saluting him, “Hail, King of the Jews!” 19They struck his head with a reed, spat upon him, and knelt down in homage to him. . . Then they led him out to crucify him. . 

25It was nine o’clock in the morning when they crucified him. 26The inscription of the charge against him read, “The King of the Jews.” 27And with him they crucified two bandits, one on his right and one on his left.29Those who passed by derided him, shaking their heads and saying, “Aha! You who would destroy the temple and build it in three days, 30save yourself, and come down from the cross!” 31In the same way the chief priests, along with the scribes, were also mocking him among themselves and saying, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. 32Let the Messiah, the King of Israel, come down from the cross now, so that we may see and believe.” Those who were crucified with him also taunted him.

This is the Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. 

            So, the story of the week begins on Palm Sunday, with Hosannas, and parades, but it unfolds with jealousy, persecution, pain, and death. This story depicts the deepest sins of human life – cruelty prevailing over compassion, betrayals and denials taking center-stage instead of fidelity and devotion, fears prevailing over faithfulness, and then the crucifixion and death of one so inspiring, so peaceful, so God-like, indeed, the Son of God. 

            It was a collision - the kindom of God embodied in Jesus - and the Kingdom of power so strong in Pilate, in the officials. 

            So threatened, the kingdom of the power and empire crucified Jesus.

            The kingdom of power does not like the kingdom of Jesus, of love and justice for all.

            We have learned a lot about this in recent months - and we have lots more to learn and lots more to do.

            Our society, our economy, our way of life has thrived for 400 years on the backs of black and brown people. These people were enslaved for 200 years, and, as Prof. Julian Hayter reminded us this week, these people were re-enslaved through so many other means - like Jim Crow laws, unfair financial and housing restrictions, unfair education limitations, and more - across another 200 years. And those unjust practices continue even in these days. 

            The long, purposeful oppression and manipulation of black and brown people will not be overcome with a few kind gestures and words. It demands long, purposeful reconciliation and reparations toward justice. The kingdom of power and privilege does not like the kindom of Jesus - where justice and love make the way.

            The kingdom of power colliding with the kindom of Jesus. Our country has seen this in recent days - through the pandemic - as the wealthy have gotten increasingly wealthy, and the poor have fallen further behind. 

            Yet what did Jesus come to proclaim? Good news to the poor, release to the captives, hope to the despair, life and light to everyone. 

            Here is what we have to remember during Holy Week: God did not kill Jesus. The Kingdom of power killed Jesus - just as that kingdom keeps on in these days. Jesus was too much a threat - brought too many followers attentive to his alternative vision - of compassion and care, justice and equity for all. 

            So they crucified him. God definitely did not kill Jesus. The kingdom of power killed Jesus. So the question persists: which is more our vision - power or love?

            Are we shaped more by our selfish and self-interested inclinations? Or are we shaped more by the alternative vision of Jesus - that cares for the lowly, that affirms the power of love, NOT the love of power? 

            During Holy Week - as we move from the palm parade to the suffering and death of Jesus - we get an important and powerful reminder of what God is really like. God comes to confront the powerful - just as Jesus rides a donkey into Jerusalem from the east while Pilate rides a strong stallion from the west. God comes in Jesus to re-order the world - to show how sacrificial love is the way - not the reign of power and intimidation and oppression. Jesus comes to redeem the world - a world obsessed with power and might - to show that love and grace, justice and kindness win out. 

            So what is our passion for? 

            As we think about parades today - as we gather at the baptismal font with the Eliza Lazerow today - as we consider our lives, our priorities, which parade are we in? Which parade is our church in? Which parade is our country in? What are we working towards – more personal wealth, more power over others, more influence, more followers? 

            Or is it the way of Jesus - suffering love, sacrificial giving, and abiding faithfulness?  That is the way to life!

            We have all learned afresh that we live in a world where gracelessness is too often the norm and grace is the exception. We live in a time of deep divisions where the rhetoric of hate and the practice of greed go hand in hand. We live in a society where White supremacy mocks the supremacy of the Most High God and the dignity of all human beings. We live in a culture where so many know the price of everything but the value of very little. It is a fresh opportunity for all of us to align our lives with the ways of Jesus - the servant leader riding on a humble donkey, the embodiment of God in our midst, riding right into the guillotine of power and intimidation. (see R. Lischer, Christian Century, 3/10/2021, p. 38)

            We are in an important time to step up with courage - against racism, against oppression and injustice, to participate in the kindom of God - not the kingdom of power and might. That was Jesus’ life - that is the way to Life! 

            May we move this Holy Week to deeper faith, to more faithful following, to giving our lives afresh to new and deeper ways of participating - in the kindom of Jesus - which keeps working for love, peace, justice, and hope - following the prince of peace. And we look forward always to God’s great resurrection promise. AMEN

Alex Evans, Pastor, Second Presbyterian Church, Richmond, VA preached this sermon during Sunday morning worship on Palm/Passion Sunday, March 28, 2021. This is a rough manuscript.