SEEing Jesus; Mark 11:1-10

 

Rev. George Miller

March 24, 2024

Mark 11:1-10

 

Last week we had a joyful worship with our guests from ARC. 

 

20 unique and lovely personalities filled our sanctuary with their socks and beads, their smiles and the occasional audible interruption.

 

Last week was truly a moment of embodying the Gospel- loving God via worship, loving our neighbor via welcome.

 

As a result, because of your unwavering generosity, we raised $333.50 for Ridge Area ARC.

 

Then on Tuesday we had our Garden Of Hope Pizza Party.

 

Our gardeners were celebrated with gift cards, stipends, pizza, miniature ice cream cones and cold bottles of Mountain Dew.

 

As the gift cards were presented to each participant, it began to feel like the Oscars. 

 

The people from ARC came forward to receive their recognition and then would bow, smile, they would wave their well-earned envelope around like it was a golden trophy.

 

Sunday’s worship and Tuesday’s gathering were meaningful because it was a moment of Emmanuel UCC giving to our neighbor,

 

AND it was a way of saying to our neighbor “We SEE you.”

 

Not “see” as in “oh yeah, hey-there you are,” but “see” as in –

“We see you as a person, we see the work you do, we see your induvial worth.”

 

It was “we see you with our heart.”

 

And those acts of generous giving and compassionate seeing made all the difference.

 

That’s a lot of what we discussed last week when Jesus was anointed by the woman with the alabaster jar.

 

That act of generous giving and seeing is what we witness in today’s reading.

 

Jesus has come to a pivotal moment in his ministry.  He is done walking all around the rural roadways.  He has put in nearly 9,000 steps.

 

So who can blame Jesus for wanting to enter Jerusalem on a colt- his feet must’ve been T- tired.

 

Jesus has come to the end of his ministry in which he’s gone to seashores and wheat fields, graveyards and dusty roads. 

 

He is ready to enter the city and be surrounded by buildings and paved streets.

 

Jesus has spent all his time talking to people connected to the earth and every day, from fishers to farmers, to housewives and daughters, the elderly and the ill.

 

So it is no surprise that when Jesus is ready to enter into his final destination, in a community that is largely made up of people who are agricultural based and work with their hands,

 

that he is greeted by folk who run out into the fields to cut down, pull up, and bring branches and greenery and whatever kind of plants they can find to show their support.

 

What is so beautiful about today’s reading is that Jesus is greeted by the very people he has spent his ministry seeing. 

 

These are the folk he acknowledged, ministered to, validated when he gave the Beatitudes.

 

Jesus has spent all of Mark’s Gospel seeing the folk, seeing the neighbor.

 

He has spent his time listening to them.  Speaking with them.  Offering words of hope, words of comfort.

 

When they were hungry, he made sure they were fed.

 

When they were dysregulated, he made sure they experienced some kind of healing.

 

Jesus spent his entire ministry making sure that the every day person was seen, heard and validated…

 

…so therefor it is so beautiful that today we have an experience in which they people “see” Jesus back.

 

The people “see” Jesus, they see him for who he is and what he is about,

 

and as a response they sing out “hosannas”, they sing out words of thanks, and they sing out to the heavens.

 

What a joy to be seen!

 

In addition to that, the people that Jesus has spent an entire ministry seeing do something else- they give. 

 

Those who can run out into the fields to give branches, rushes, grass.

 

At a time in which Marshalls and Beals Outlet do not exist, there are those who lay down their cloaks. 

 

At a time in which most people only had one coat and it was used for protection, heat, and comfort, there are folks who lay theirs down.

 

At a time in which folks did not have a closet full of options or replacements, there are people who lay down their cloaks with no guarantee it won’t be ruined, or messed upon, or even returned.

 

Not only are people “seeing” Jesus, they are joyously giving and sharing and celebrating.

 

Like the woman with the alabaster jar, the people in today’s reading are doing something wonderful- they are showing love.

 

They are showing love to God, and they are showing love to Jesus, who is their neighbor.

 

It is a moment that is beautiful, a moment that is heaven on earth, it is a moment of humanity at its absolute best.

 

Nature, animal, people all coming together….just as in the Nativity, to welcome and celebrate Jesus and to show love, honor and glory to God.

 

Last week we heard Jesus talk all about the doom and gloom, and that does exist, but for now that negativity is out “there.”

 

But for now, at this moment, the Gospel is embodied, the Gospel is alive, and everything feels right with the world.

 

How can we maintain that feeling today?  How can we find a way to “see” those who are before us?

 

How can we find a way to joyfully give what we are able to share?

 

How can we find our own way to sing out our hosannas, praise the Lord and make it so that heaven is here on earth.

 

Even if for just a moment. 

 

Amen and amen.