Rev. George Miller
April 10, 2022
John 12: 12-19
Over the past few weeks, we’ve discussed so many things.
What Jesus said.
What titles Jesus had.
How the Kingdom of God looks.
Not being afraid to feel good.
Feeling good about being happy.
Today, all these things come together.
Today we get to sing and shout Hosanna!
Today we get to smile and cheer, celebrate and welcome,
The Great Shepherd,
Sight Giver,
Storm Calmer,
Heavenly Servant,
King.
Jesus Christ.
After 3 years of ministry,
3 years of mountaintop feeding,
3 years of restoring relationships,
3 years of saying
“Pick up your matt and walk,”
Jesus,
Emmanuel,
The Living I AM,
Has made his way into Jerusalem.
To face the powers that be,
To experience injustice
head on,
And to rise from the grave,
Proving once and for all that
The Word cannot be silenced,
The Word cannot be censored,
The Word cannot be scared off.
The Word cannot be destroyed.
While the world assumed power can only come from mighty steeds and
weapons of mass destruction,
Jesus Christ shows that all God needs
are branches culled from a tree
A humble donkey
Songs of praise
And people who believe.
In a world that assumed power comes
From more more more
Jesus embodies
That the Kingdom of God
Needs less and less
In a world that says
In order to be successful
You must be eating steak and lobster,
Jesus says that your mother’s stew
made with love and
plenty of potatoes
is enough
The actions of Jesus today
Shows that
Humility is strength
Joy is a balm to the weary soul
That songs of Hosanna
Can drown out the doubt of naysayers.
Jesus, on a borrowed donkey,
Welcomed with palms
picked off the side of the road,
is more King than
Ceasar on a mighty horse,
Pilate with his massive army,
Or any of Egypt’s Pharaohs.
Today is the day
In which we join with the
Great Crowd,
Of all those who came before,
All those who are here now,
And all those who will come after,
To shout and Sing
“Hosanna!”
Which means
“God saves.”
Today is the day in which we say
“Do not be afraid,
No matter what happens next,
Do not be discouraged,
By the crosses you come across,
Do not lose heart,
Because the Dawning of the New Age,
Is just about to begin.”
And perhaps what we can
Love the most
Is that in today’s reading
Jesus doesn’t say a single Word.
Jesus doesn’t have to,
Because for 3 years
His words,
His actions,
His service,
Has said all
That needs to be said.
So let us take a cue from Jesus.
As Psalm 118 says
Let us give thanks to the Lord,
For God is so good.
Let us give thanks to the Lord,
For God’s steadfast love
Endures forever.
Out of our years of distress,
We have called upon the Lord,
And God has answered.
With the Lord on our side,
What can mortals do to us?
With the Lord on our side,
We can look around in triumph.
Blessed is the one who comes
In the name of The Lord,
The Lod is God,
And God has given us light.
In other words,
Today we are
not afraid to feel good,
And today we do not apologize
for being happy.
And for that,
we can say “Hosanna,”
“Hosanna,”
“Hosanna!”
“Amen.”
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