March 25 2018 sermon - The Beginning Of The End Or The End Of The Beginning?

When they were approaching Jerusalem, at Bethphage and Bethany, near the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples and said to them, “Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately as you enter it, you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden; untie it and bring it. If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ just say this, ‘The Lord needs it and will send it back here immediately.’” They went away and found a colt tied near a door, outside in the street. As they were untying it, some of the bystanders said to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?” They told them what Jesus had said; and they allowed them to take it. Then they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it; and he sat on it. Many people spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut in the fields. Then those who went ahead and those who followed were shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David! Hosanna in the highest heaven!” Then he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple; and when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve.

(Mark 11:1-11)

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     In 1942, British forces defeated the Germans at the Battle of El Alamein. It was the first land victory by Allied forces over the Germans in World War II. It was widely considered a significant turning point in the war. A few days later, in a speech in London, Winston Churchill uttered these famous words in speaking of the battle: “This is not the end. This is not even the beginning of the end. But this may be the end of the beginning.” I often think of that quote by Churchill at this time of year. Palm Sunday has a bit of that same feel to it. The life and ministry of Jesus changes on Palm Sunday. Aside from the Sermon on the Mount, most of the major events in Jesus’ life take place in the few days between his entry into Jerusalem and his crucifixion. The Gospel takes on a frantic quality as it depicts the last week of Jesus’ life. I suppose that could mark Palm Sunday as either a beginning or an ending. But either way, beginnings and endings are the most important parts of any journey. There’s the excitement of the beginning, as we set off, and there’s the satisfaction of the ending, as we arrive at our chosen destination. In between? Well, that can sometimes be kind of a drag. Lent can feel a bit like that, and Palm Sunday tells us that our journey through Lent is nearing its end; approaching its destination. Today, we find Jesus entering Jerusalem – the destination he had set for himself, even knowing the risks he would face in that city. If it’s not itself the end, Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem must have seemed to many to be at least the beginning of the end. We know how those next few days after he arrives in Jerusalem will work out for Jesus, and by Friday we’ll be gathering together for a Good Friday service to commemorate Jesus’ death. It certainly sounds as though this entry into Jerusalem represents the beginning of the end, doesn’t it? As tension mounted, and as the threats grew, it must not have seemed like any sort of beginning – not one that people would be excited about, anyway.

     We probably think of endings and beginnings as mutually exclusive, or at least as polar opposites, when in fact they’re complementary terms. The ending of one thing often means the beginning of another. “Bring Up The Bodies” is the second in a trilogy of historical novels by Hilary Mantel that charts the rise and fall of Thomas Cromwell, one of the leading advisors to King Henry VIII. In that novel Mantel writes that “There are no endings. If you think so you are deceived as to their nature. They are all beginnings.” No ending is truly an ending, in other words. Every ending is really only an invitation to a new beginning. So endings and beginnings aren’t necessarily as simple as they might seem at first glance. Sometimes they overlap; sometimes they’re the same thing. In God’s plan even those things that seem to be so final sometimes only lead to something new and different. We know that Jesus died on a cross, for example, and yet we know that he lived on and that he lives on still. It seems that with Jesus, beginnings and endings have very little relevance. If the beginning and end of a journey are characterized as I suggested a few moments ago by excitement at the beginning and satisfaction at the end, we can also see those things in Jesus’ ministry. At the beginning, there was great excitement as men such as John and Andrew and Peter surrendered everything in their lives to follow him, and at the end, Jesus’ last words on the cross would seem to have been a cry of satisfaction: “It is finished!” Jesus had accomplished what he had set out to accomplish.

     Holy Week, beginning today with Palm Sunday, challenges us to think about beginnings and endings. It challenges us to reflect on whether we think of Palm Sunday as the beginning of the end or as the end of the beginning – because that makes a difference. If today is the beginning of the end, then it’s a sombre day that leads us into a sombre week as the shadow of an unpleasant and yet inevitable destiny begins to cast itself over us. If today is the end of the beginning, though, then today is a day of celebration that leads us into a week that certainly contains some sombreness – because the cross beckons us – but that also reminds us that this is, indeed, only the beginning. All will be well; all will go on; all will move forward; God will be with us; light will still shine; hope will still exist; life will be victorious. But, still, there is that shadow.

     Reading the account of the joy and sheer excitement of the crowds as Jesus entered Jerusalem, who would have thought that such a shadow lay ahead? And yet, amid shouts of joy there were warnings as well. The people greeted Jesus as their king, but they didn’t understand the nature of his kingdom. He entered Jerusalem on a donkey, the lowliest of beasts which would be an appropriate vehicle for only the lowliest of people. The people overlooked this, and they

spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut in the fields. Then those who went ahead and those who followed were shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David! Hosanna in the highest heaven!”

     There are some words in there that are worthy of some sobre second thought. “Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David!” This was what the people were expecting of Jesus: liberation from the Roman Empire, and the restoration of David’s old kingdom of Israel. But Jesus had no time for that, nor was it his mission. In these last few days, He would Himself make clear, for example, that paying taxes to the Roman Emperor was expected. This was not a man to lead a revolution, in other words; at least, not the kind of revolution the people of Jerusalem were expecting. In only a matter of days, there would be at least three groups deciding that an end should be put to this Jesus: the Romans, who saw it as a threat that the people proclaimed him a king; the religious authorities who feared his popularity and accused Him of blasphemy; and these same people who had just hailed him as their king, who, apparently disappointed by his lack of revolutionary zeal, would be among those who appeared at his trial, demanding his crucifixion. And all three groups would have their way. An end would be put to this Jesus. He would be “crucified, dead and buried” in the words of The Apostles’ Creed. And then, this marginal Jewish preacher – who led no armies, who owned no home and whose own disciples would be scattered and frightened – could be forgotten. To a casual observer who had been present in Jerusalem during these dramatic days, Jesus’ entry would certainly have seemed to be the beginning of the end. And yet, in the words of Natalie Sleeth, who wrote what is today one of the most popular hymns in the United Church of Canada - “In The Bulb There Is A Flower” - “in our end is our beginning.” And so, I find myself ruminating once again on the words of Winston Churchill: “This is not the end. This is not even the beginning of the end. But this may be the end of the beginning.”

     It has always intrigued me that the entertainment industry often forgets about the resurrection when it portrays the last days of Jesus’ life. Two of the better known stage plays that deal with these last days (“Jesus Christ Superstar” and “Godspell”) both end with a dead Jesus. It seems that both Andrew Lloyd Webber and John Michael Tebelak – who wrote the respective scripts – would have seen Palm Sunday as the beginning of the end for Jesus. And if Palm Sunday is the beginning of the end, then it’s really a rather hopeless day on the church calendar. On CBC News this morning, I heard a reference to Palm Sunday as the start of “Holy Week celebrations.” I had a gut reaction against that. “Celebrations?” Holy Week? Knowing where we’re heading in the next few days, the word seemed misplaced. And yet, gathered together here on Palm Sunday, basking in the glow of the shouts of joy with which the people greeted Jesus, but also mindful of the cross now just beyond the horizon, perhaps we need to ask ourselves again: is this the beginning of the end or is it merely the end of the beginning? While the cross may be starting to overshadow us – is there something even more exciting than Palm Sunday already on the horizon? Is there another new beginning already beckoning to Jesus as he enters Jerusalem – another new beginning beckoning to us? Is Palm Sunday just the end of the beginning? And if it is merely the end of the beginning? Well, then, the possibilities are endless. And, of course, because there is no spoiler to the gospel after two thousand years, we can easily stand here just a few days before Good Friday, beginning to shift our attention to the cross, and yet still remember that the crucifixion was not in any sense the end, which means that the entry into Jerusalem can’t in any sense be seen as the beginning of the end. Maybe those of us gathered here can learn from the hundreds of thousands of teenagers and children who gathered yesterday in Washington for a rally against gun control – and the many, many thousands who joined them in cities across the world. They took a horrible event and turned it not into a celebration, but into a movement for change. Maybe that’s what we’re called to do with Holy Week. Not so much celebrate it as use it to recommit ourselves to bringing about God’s reign of justice and peace. Looked at that way, Palm Sunday is not the beginning of the end. Far from it, in fact. Palm Sunday is merely the end of the beginning, because even two thousand years later, the ministry of Jesus and the work of the church has only begun!