Mid-week Lenten reflection, 1 April 2009

Hi all,

Here is tonight's mid-week Lenten reflection. Peace to all,

Pr. J


First Reading: Deuteronomy 7:7-8

7Then Moses summoned Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel: "Be strong and bold, for you are the one who will go with this people into the land that the LORD has sworn to their ancestors to give them; and you will put them in possession of it. 8It is the LORD who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed."

Gospel: Luke 19:29-40

29When Jesus had come near Bethphage and Bethany, at the place called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of the disciples, 30saying, "Go into the village ahead of you, and as you enter it you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 31If anyone asks you, 'Why are you untying it?' just say this, 'The Lord needs it.'" 32So those who were sent departed and found it as he had told them. 33As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, "Why are you untying the colt?" 34They said, "The Lord needs it." 35Then they brought it to Jesus; and after throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. 36As he rode along, people kept spreading their cloaks on the road. 37As he was now approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen, 38saying,

"Blessed is the kingwho comes in the name of the Lord!Peace in heaven,and glory in the highest heaven!"

39Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, order your disciples to stop." 40He answered, "I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out."

(New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.)





Lent 5B, SLM – Parrottsville, 4-1-2009

One of the themes of the Lenten season is the theme of the journey, especially the wilderness journey. We see many images of the wilderness journey in the story of the Exodus and the wandering of the Israelites, the life of Moses, God’s promise of deliverance from bandage in Egypt, and God’s promise of deliverance to a “Promised Land.”

Now, as we come near to the end of our season of wilderness journeys, we heard a reading from Deuteronomy in which Moses tells Joshua,

"Be strong and bold, for you are the one who will go with this people into the land that the LORD has sworn to their ancestors to give them; and you will put them in possession of it. 8It is the LORD who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed."

We take it for granted that the name Joshua means Joshua. We don’t stop to think that it’s a Hebrew name that means “Deliverance.” We don’t stop to think that the Aramaic form of the name was Yeshua, and that we know someone by that name from the Gospels: Jesus.

Here, where Moses speaks to Joshua, I am reminded of the story of the transfiguration, of how the disciples’ vision portrayed Moses and Elijah speaking with Jesus, this new Joshua. That story never tells us what Moses and Elijah had to say to Jesus, but I wonder if perhaps the story was meant to remind us, and the original Gospel readers, of what Moses said in Deuteronomy:

"...you are the one who will go with this people into the land that the LORD has sworn to their ancestors to give them…."

The Exodus story of the Israelites’ wilderness journey really ends with Deuteronomy and Joshua, with the Israelites entering the land of Canaan - Palestine. Our wilderness journey during Lent ends with a reading from the Gospels on this coming Sunday - the Processional Gospel at the very beginning worship, as we recall the story of how Jesus entered Jerusalem with crowds of people cheering him on.

What’s happening in that story?

Jesus has come to the end of his own journey. He has come to Jerusalem for the last time where he will be crucified.

The disciples following him have come to the end of their journey, too, and it will change them They seem to think Jesus is going to be a somewhat different kind of Messiah than the one we know, one who enters the city in triumph to take over and lead the people to a new “promised land,” a new Jerusalem, where the Kingdom of God will be realized by a king on a throne in the Holy City.

But what really happens once Jesus enters Jerusalem?

Think of the events we remember at Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. Anything but entering into a “promised land.” After all the building of expectations and all the excitement, after really believing that this Jesus must be the new Joshua, that he will deliver his people from Romans and from corrupt priests and from self-serving Pharisees, Jesus is crucified and dies.

The disciples must have been devastated. And one gets that impression from reading the Gospels, and that was how the disciples saw the end of their wilderness journey.

But was it really the end of the journey?

What happens next in the story? After Maundy Thursday and Good Friday there is Easter. There is the mystery of the empty tomb and there is the proclamation: “He is not here! He is risen!”

And then the disciples, and us, realize that the journey to the “promised land” really has not ended after all. Instead it has really only begun as a new and unexpected journey into the real and eternal kingdom of God.

Thanks be to God!