Sermon preached by: The Rev. Canon Dr. Brian A. Jemmott, Canon Missioner for Black Ministries in the Diocese of New Jersey, at Holy Trinity Cathedral, Trenton, NJ on Palm Sunday, March 20, 2016
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be always acceptable in your sight, O God our strength and our redeemer. Amen.
"The chief priests and the scribes stood by, vehemently accusing him. Then they all shouted out together, "Away with this fellow! Release Barabbas for us!" Luke 23: 10, 18.
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the Spring of hope, It was the Winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way - in short the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only." Excerpted from the opening chapter of: A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens, written in 1859.
What is going on? My Dear Friends in Christ Jesus, Our lives seem to be pursued - Between sorrow and joy, between suffering and glory, between the refrains of hosanna and the shouts of crucify, between death and life!
Life is often filled with contradictions, isn't it? And we are provided with a perfect example of this inconsistency, this very difficult fact of our existence, from the story of Jesus' arrest, trial, his ugly and cruel torture, the horrible crucifixion, death and subsequent and glorious resurrection. After the many, many years of our participation in the events of the Sunday of the Passion, Holy Week, and Easter, the question that has continued to plagued me over the years is: Having heard the story, and hopefully having felt its impact for as long as we have, what is our response to the atrocities - the egregious acts so regularly discharged by human beings against other human beings? I have observed the events which led up to Jesus' demise, beginning with his foretelling of the destruction of the Temple at Jerusalem, his prediction of the destruction of Jerusalem itself, his instructing the disciples about the foreboding signs of the impending persecution of humankind by the powerful in society, those who held positions of authority and influence. The fearless audacity of Jesus to suggest that he is the Son of God, that the Kingdom is his.
He already knew the consequences of his pronouncement, that he would be punished, that he would suffer, at the hands of the Roman Soldiers. And let's not forget The Angry Mob that wants him to be crucified, and seem to want to do it themselves, if only they could just get their hands on him. Yet, in all that turmoil, Jesus remains silent and even exudes, he oozes, he emanates peace! The author of the Psalm tells us, "depart from evil and do good, seek peace and pursue it." Psalm 34: 14. Did you notice that Jesus does not react or respond either to the angry mob who wants him dead, nor to the resentful leaders who are stirring up the violence? This scenario from the Gospel, makes me wonder if any of this type of attack on civility is happening today in our lives. My dear sisters and brothers on Christ, I am very concerned about persons standing at microphones before thousands and thousands of people, day in and day out shouting the rally cries about: Knocking the crap out of people!; Punching people in the face!; Having persons carried out on stretchers as in the old days, encouraging persons to rough up, and beat up the dissenters who are in their midst; Even promising to pay the legal fees of those, who physically attack others and even threaten to kill them the next time they see them; And ultimately goes on to suggest, to advocate if you may, that there could be rioting, if he is not the chosen one!
All of this, even as the First Amendment of the United States Constitution, gives persons the Right to peaceful assembly, the Right to upholding the freedom of the press, and freedom of speech!
I can't for the life of me see how such questionable and unacceptable behavior is going to make America great again! Instead, I see it as continuing to make America divided, racist, and fearful. In my opinion, there is no greatness in that! And, there are many who believe that this is right - how tragic!!! I think it is a sad day in America to watch the level of support that such vitriol is receiving!! What is disheartening, and even scary about this is, that: It is evident that there are many who have had the same deep feelings on their hearts, and now have someone who speaks for them. And some of us have the audacity to accuse other persons and nations of being terrorists, when we are guilty of stirring up violence among our people? We live in such a racially divided country, even after all the work we have done, and continue to do, to make amends for such divisions. I was beginning to believe that we had made more progress in this country. Now I pray that we can revisit our work toward reconciliation. Most of our dioceses in the Episcopal Church have Antiracism Commissions, working to educate our disciples on the dismantling of the Sin of Racism. How then, do we as the Church, measure the success of such work? The Bishops of the Episcopal Church at their most recent House of Bishops Meeting and retreat on March 15 2016, made the following statement: "A Word to the Church Holy Week 2016 We reject the idolatrous notion that we can ensure the safety of some by sacrificing the hopes of others.”
On Good Friday the ruling political forces of the day tortured and executed an innocent man. They sacrificed the weak and the blameless to protect their own status and power. On the third day Jesus was raised from the dead, revealing not only their injustice but also unmasking the lie that might makes right. In a country still living under the shadow of the lynching tree, we are troubled by the violent forces being released by this season’s political rhetoric. Americans are turning against their neighbors, particularly those on the margins of society. They seek to secure their own safety and security at the expense of others. There is legitimate reason to fear where this rhetoric and the actions arising from it might take us. In this moment, we resemble God’s children wandering in the wilderness. We, like they, are struggling to find our way. They turned from following God and worshiped a golden calf constructed from their own wealth. The current rhetoric is leading us to construct a modern false idol out of power and privilege. We reject the idolatrous notion that we can ensure the safety of some by sacrificing the hopes of others. No matter where we fall on the political spectrum, we must respect the dignity of every human being and we must seek the common good above all else. We call for prayer for our country that a spirit of reconciliation will prevail and we will not betray our true selves.
My dear people of God, As we begin our Sojourn into the Holiest Week of the Christian Year on this Solemn Palm Sunday, and having both heard and participated in the Story of the Passion of our Lord, and especially as disciples of this Jesus, the one who had himself been terrorized by the authorities, this innocent man, who was disrespected, tortured, humiliated, and subsequently murdered by those whose motivation was fear and hate, what will we do to stem the tide of the present attack on our civility, by those who seek to lord it over the lives of millions of people? Are we going to passively sit back allow the intentional and violent disruption of the progress, for which people sacrificed their lives? Will we be satisfied with the destruction of the land that we love? Or are we going to stand up with and for Jesus and do our part to help to save ourselves from the potential degeneration of civilized human relationships for the sake of God's Kingdom? Remember my friends, regrettably, the disciples abandoned Jesus after his arrest and subsequent crucifixion! Except of course for his brave mother and the other supportive women who stayed with him until the very end. Thank God for the women of the Church, without whom we would be in trouble, had it not been for their strong faith.
Now, I leave you with another quote from "A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens: "Crush humanity out of shape once more, under similar hammers, and it will twist itself into the same tortured forms. Sow the same seed of rapacious license and oppression over again, and it will surely yield the same fruit according to its kind ..... changeless and hopeless, the tumbrils roll along."
And now my friends, heeding the words of Jesus to his disciples as he entered the Garden of Gethsemane to pray to Almighty God immediately before his gruesome death, at the hands of an angry mob, more than 2000 years ago: "Pray my friends, that you may not come into the time of trial." Amen!
Sermon preached by: The Rev. Canon Dr. Brian A. Jemmott, Canon Missioner for Black Ministries in the Diocese of New Jersey, at Holy Trinity Cathedral, Trenton, NJ on Palm Sunday, March 20, 2016