On Palm Sunday I spoke from Simon Peter the apostle's perspective… of course I can't say what he really thought and did and saw. But by trying to imagine what it was like for those who were there, using the background information I have I find imagining oneself into the situation that first Easter quite helpful for understanding what happened and what it all meant for those who were there.
If you want a copy of Palm Sunday's message – there are a couple by the door; you can look at the church's website, or ask me and I'll try to get it to you in whatever way you would like me to.
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I'm Simon Peter, one of Jesus' disciples… I was one of the first to follow him; I was there the week of his crucifixion – I was one of the founders of the early church…
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Last week I told you how the week of Jesus' crucifixion began… Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
No one would have taken him seriously – the Romans with their horses and machines of war – their crucifixes – on which they thought nothing of crucifying hundreds of people in one day.
They had the power to quickly squash any upstart. Jesus – preaching peace – on a donkey was no threat to them.
Jesus entry into Jerusalem was quite festive… He was making a point – like an Old Testament prophet; acting out a prophecy in order to make its message stick.
The people responded well to Jesus' picture of a Davidic King – they rejoiced in the hope of Messiah coming as the prophet Zechariah had foretold.
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Whisperings could be heard throughout Jerusalem: "Who is this person – he is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth."
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When Jesus came to the temple the festive mood of the day changed… he was angered by what he saw.
The sacrificial system upset Jesus – the commercialism of it, as if you could buy God's love with a few coins exchanged for an animal and the animal sacrificed. In Jerusalem around the time of Passover it was as if there was a Spring sale on God – people haggling over the price of God's grace.
(Many people misunderstand Jesus' actions – the money changers working in the court of the gentiles, a very large area around the temple, were just doing their job.)
But like the prophets who went before him – Jesus showed people that God wasn't after burnt offerings and cash offerings… What God wanted was changed hearts.
Like the prophet Micah in 6:8:
"What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?"
Our prophets sometimes blessed and often denounced the sacrificial system – sacrifices made with the right attitude, the right heart – were considered acceptable… But it was so easy for people to slip into a religion of convenience rather than conviction.
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I must admit – I was quite surprised at Jesus actions; but I knew he was positively allergic to hypocrisy – people making sacrifices without changing their hearts, "bearing fruit worthy of repentance" as John the Baptist had instructed.
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During the week leading up to his crucifixion Jesus acted and spoke like a bold prophet. We knew that God was with him in what he said… God underlined Jesus' teaching with signs and miracles.
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One of the parables Jesus told was about a man who leased out his vineyard to tenants. When he sent his slaves to collect the rent – the tenants seized them, beating one, killing another and stoning another… He sent more slaves and they were met with the same response.
Later the owner sent his own son… but the tenants killed the son too.
The story sounded like the story of our nation, a people who for many years had murdered and tortured the prophets who spoke the message from God that we did not want to hear.
Later on Jesus lamented over Jerusalem… "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it!"
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Jesus knew that as he spoke God's ever unpopular judgment on those who claimed his authority would be stoning and death.
The Pharisees and chief priests knew that Jesus was speaking against them, challenging them.
All of Jesus challenges to the system proved too much for those in power. They wanted to put a stop to this fearless prophet – who said the things that people were thinking, but were afraid to say for fear of being rejected – put to death – accused of blasphemy. They plotted to get rid of him, to kill him…
In spite of the danger Jesus continued to say what God had laid on his heart – he continued to challenge the Pharisees and the Scribes launching into long scathing speeches about their hypocrisy.
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Jesus warned us time and again that following him was going to get dangerous... we had to learn to imitate him and he was living dangerously. He knew about the plots to kill him; he said to us: "You know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified." Yet he continued to do what God called him to do.
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On the night before Jesus was crucified we disciples shared our last meal with him… Eating together was important for us, it took time, it was intimate, it showed acceptance and love. With Jesus we had eaten in some strange houses – we had met people with whom we wouldn't even have spoken – let alone eaten.
Jesus constantly reached out to all sorts of people.
The last meal we shared together was a Passover meal – a meal in which we Jews celebrated God's deliverance of his people from slavery in Egypt.
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While we were eating he broke bread and gave it to us saying: "Take, eat; this is my body
He took a cup of wine – gave thanks for it and said "Drink from it all of you – this is my blood of the covenant which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins…"
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At the time we didn't really understand what he was talking about the prophet Jeremiah had spoken about making a new covenant with his people… He said that a day was coming when all people would see God and know him, that he would forgive their unrighteousness and remember their sins no more.
We understood more clearly only after all the events.
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In our sacrificial system – put simply when people fell out with God and needed forgiveness they would share a meal with him; offering up a sacrifice – burning some of the meat or grain and sometimes eating part of it.
It was like breaking bread together… For us eating together meant making peace with each other.
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When Jesus fed us and said: "This is my body…" he was talking about how his death would be a sacrifice… When we ate bread with him we were to remember his death – which replaced the whole sacrificial system – we were eating with God being reconciled to God.
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We went to the Mount of Olives that evening – but Judas betrayed Jesus and the temple guard came to arrest him… I drew my sword ready for a battle – but Jesus surrendered.
They were quite afraid (the temple guard) if they had arrested Jesus during the day there would have been outrage from the crowd.
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I was afraid. From there I kept my distance from Jesus… these were powerful people and they were out to kill him – they would think nothing of killing his followers.
They took him to the high priest to stand trial… the high priests knew that if they sentenced Jesus to death themselves they would lose all of what credibility they had left with the people. They pushed him on to Pontius Pilate – hoping Pilate would have him killed for treason.
This way they could brand Jesus as a treasonous political criminal and not a religious prophet.
Jesus had spoken about how Jerusalem rejected God's prophets.
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Pilate reluctantly decided to crucify Jesus on political grounds in an attempt to keep peace… Jesus surrendered to his fate and was humiliated and crucified as he had predicted. The sign on the cross above him read: "The King of the Jews."
After Jesus was certified as dead he was buried in a tomb.
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It was only later that it began to dawn on us who we had eaten with, who we had kept company with in his journey on earth. We realised that God had made himself known in human form.
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Jesus had criticised the sacrificial system – but as God in human form he literally became a sacrifice for us… showing that it was God reaching out to us to show his love.
The writer of the letter to the Hebrews explains how Jesus death replaces the sacrificial system… how because of Jesus we can now enter directly into God's presence – assured of his love and his forgiveness of our sins…
Heb 10:19 We have, then, my brothers and sisters, complete freedom to go into the Most Holy Place by means of the death of Jesus. 20He opened for us a new way, a living way, through the curtain—that is, through his own body. 21We have a great priest in charge of the house of God. 22So let us come near to God with a sincere heart and a sure faith, with hearts that have been purified from a guilty conscience and with bodies washed with clean water. 23Let us hold on firmly to the hope we profess, because we can trust God to keep his promise.
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