March 25, 2018 (Palm Sunday/Sunday of the Passion) – Mark 11:1-11, 14:1-15:47
Mark 11:1-11, 14:1-15:47
Jesus Borrows Us
Palm Sunday/Sunday of the Passion – March 25, 2018
First Lutheran Church – Winnipeg, MB
Jesus has to borrow a lot of stuff.
When he rides into Jerusalem, he has to borrow a colt.
When he teaches in the temple he will have to borrow a coin.
When he goes to Bethany to stay at the house of Simon the Leper, he will have to borrow a bed.
And when he dies he will have to borrow a tomb.
Jesus has to borrow all this stuff because he doesn’t have any of it.
Jesus has to borrow all this stuff because the fact is: Jesus is poor.
Jesus was of that large class of people who had been pushed into extreme poverty by
an unjust and exploitative empire.
And so, after his fame in the countryside, he comes to town and the people shout,
“Hosanna!” – that is, “save us.”
Save us from poverty. Save us from despair. Save us. Just, save us, please.
A while later he is in the borrowed home of Simon the Leper, breaking all rules of decorum and
eating with lepers and women and
who-knows-who-else he’s not supposed to be eating with.
An unnamed woman gets up and anoints his head with oil,
proclaiming him king by her actions.
The king of a movement to end poverty and injustice and bring peace and well-being to all,
not just the few.
A king so in contrast to the emperor in Rome and the king who rules in Judah on his behalf,
a king that Jesus knows cannot suffer a rival to live.
Yah, he says with grim humour: she’s just anointed me for my death.
Ha ha.
And when she is rebuked for spending money that could have been given to the poor on
such expensive oil, Jesus quotes Deuteronomy: you always have the poor with you.
I won’t be around forever: the powers that be are going to execute me.
So now leading this movement to eradicate poverty and
alleviate human suffering is yours to lead.
If we were to quote the whole verse from Deuteronomy that Jesus quotes, it would go like this:
There will always be poor people in the land – therefore I command you to be open-handed and generous to your neighbours who are poor and in need. (Deuteronomy 15:11, NIV, alt.)
Jesus isn’t condoning poverty in any way, shape, or form.
He knows the brutality and inhumanity of being poor.
He is instead commanding his followers to follow in his footsteps and do what he has done:
feed, heal, forgive, include, and challenge current norms and practices that
reinforce prejudice and poverty.
Well, Jesus, as usual, was right – he is indeed killed shortly after these events.
He is taken away and executed for challenging current structures and practices,
and for proclaiming a reign where all are valued and where poverty is not necessary.
He could have continued quoting from the same chapter of Deuteronomy:
There need be no poor people among you. (Deuteronomy 15:4)
Because God has given you a land – a planet – that is rich.
There is no need for 1 percent of the earth’s population to own 99 percent of its resources.
The kingdom or reign of God that Jesus comes proclaiming and
embodying is a challenge to the status quo.
And so he is silenced.
And he becomes even poorer.
His friends entirely abandon him in Mark’s Gospel.
He is bereft even of companionship on the cross as
both of those executed with him taunt him and mock him.
Most shockingly of all, Jesus feels that even God has abandoned him.
And then even his life is taken from him.
Jesus becomes poor of everything.
Ultimately Jesus is poor of everything because he has given us everything that he has.
He has emptied himself, as Paul says this morning – for us.
He has given us his healing, his forgiveness, his strength – and his love.
He has identified himself with us at our most vulnerable.
And he has charged us with taking what he gives us and doing with it what we can to
realize his vision of peace and justice and equality – and ending poverty.
We are given everything he has.
And while he may no longer be with us in the same way he was before his resurrection,
he is surely still with us.
He is still surely very close to the poor, as God always has been and as God always will be.
And he is still surely working through us to end poverty and hardship and suffering.
Jesus borrows a lot of stuff.
And, it turns out, Jesus even borrows us.
So together, let us say, “Amen.”
Pastor Michael Kurtz
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
