At the service, my father gave a rousing sermon.
And I kind of didn't even listen to the first
part of that gospel we heard because I'm thinking,
what's it have to do with anything on Palm Sunday?
It's just that bad news stuff. Judas is going
to betray and, you know, that whole part of the
story. But St. John is filling in the details.
He's telling us the realities of this world.
What we don't understand, we're afraid of. And
maybe we even hate. And we find an ideology that
is going to oppose that thing. The whole day
was set by the raising of Lazarus and the people
heard about it. The 1 .5 million extra pilgrims
in Jerusalem hearing about that. And the leadership
is thinking, we have to put this man to death.
And Lazarus too, because he's a symbol of all
that movement. And the Romans are going to take
away everything otherwise. Jesus doesn't sneak
into the city. He had left earlier because they
were trying to kill him. And he comes back even
though there's a bounty on his head. He doesn't
sneak in. He rides in. On a donkey. After that.
Glorious raising of Lazarus. We say the raising
of Lazarus. It sounds so casual. But can you
imagine. The incredible intensity. And the feeling.
Of awe. Incredulity. How could this be? This
man was dead four years. We say the raising of
Lazarus. It is incredible, an incredible thing.
As the hymn says, it's a sign also of the general
resurrection of our raising. And the Lord comes
into the city and all the people hear about this.
St. Gregory Palamas tells us how, just following
what the scripture says. Your king, your king,
because that's what this is about today. Your
king does not arouse fear in those who see him.
nor is he an oppressor or an evildoer, accompanied
by shield -bearers and spearmen. His banner is
humility, poverty, and lowliness. That's the
kind of king we have. That's the way those who
love this king are expected to be. They are empowered
to be. They are taught to be. They're given every
chance to be that way by the grace of the Holy
Spirit, which the hymn last night says, has assembled
us. Today, the grace of the Holy Spirit has assembled
us. Our King. We say, blessed is the kingdom
at the beginning of the divine liturgy. We say,
thy kingdom come. Thy will be done. We say, in
thy kingdom, remember us, O Lord. when thou comest.
The catechumens yesterday were asked, do you
believe in him? And their answer was not, well,
yes, obviously, why would I be here? The answer
was to the question, do you believe in him, is
I believe in him as king and God. Because even
the demons believe God, but they don't give him
their fidelity and love. Our celebration today,
there's so much that one could say, but let me
boil it down to what our response ought to be.
At least I think from reading those who know
more than I do, the Holy Fathers, those preachers
that have come before me. Our celebration today,
the commemoration of the entrance of the Lord
into Jerusalem is certainly not about ancient
history. It happened. It happened, but it's happening
right now, and we are there. We are with Christ
today. Why do you think we sing those hymns that
say, today the Lord comes to Jerusalem? Is it
just some kind of strange poetic device? No,
it means that the ceremony, the ritual of the
liturgy has brought us to that place, and we
are with Christ today. That's why we're holding
poems too. By our presence today. Our prayers.
Our hopes. This is the Lord's entrance into our
homes. The entrance of the Lord in Jerusalem
is the Lord's entrance into our souls. Because
we are members of his kingdom. What does that
mean? It sounds kind of religious and interesting,
but what does it mean? That we are members of
his kingdom. That he has come into our soul.
When I survey, just briefly, the world, the news,
I can see how easy it is to unite people against
something. Hatred's very easy to pull together,
to hate an opponent. Unity is pretty impossible
in this world. It's easy to create opposition.
One against the other. Our world's full of it.
So what does the entrance of the Lord into our
souls mean in light of that? What's my response?
Yes, I say Jesus is my king. I say, oh Lord and
master of my life. But I ask myself, really,
who's the king of my life? Mostly myself. I suppose.
Occasionally Jesus. But that's not good. We can't
put Jesus occasionally. Do you recall the first
commandment, the greatest commandment that a
disciple is to follow? Do you remember when Jesus
was asked that? And he quoted Exodus and Deuteronomy,
and then he added something more. Of course you
know this. Love the Lord thy God with all thy
soul, with all thy mind, thy heart, thy strength,
and thy neighbor as thyself. Love. That's Jesus'
kingdom. Not, quote, love is love, unquote, which
is a slogan, which I think means well, but it's
too general, it's very superficial, and now it's
political. Love is love. One can love all kinds
of things that are not proper or healthy, and
that's obvious. St. John records Jesus saying,
and this is the condemnation, that light has
come into the world, and men loved darkness rather
than the light because their deeds were evil.
Yes, one can love all kinds of things, and it
could be extremely dysfunctional and harmful.
Friday morning, we had the last Lenten Matins.
It was wonderful. We did Matins every day, Tuesday
through Friday. And this hymn grabbed me by my
neck and was a warning to me why I love, sometimes,
darkness more than light. Why the world is in
the situation it is in. Listen to what that hymn
said. Despising the divine commands, my soul,
thou hast become easy prey to the snares of the
enemy. And by thine own choice, thou hast surrendered
thyself to corruption, sunk in slumber through
thy many trespasses. Thou hast covered with filth
the garment that God wove for thee. This is me
talking to myself. I've covered with filth the
garment that God wove for me, the garment of
light, of joy, of beauty, the garment of truth,
honesty, justice, those things that St. Paul
mentioned in the Philippians today. But cry to
the Savior, the hymn says, O dread eye of God,
thou hast become what I am. You became man, O
Lord, without ceasing to be who thou wast. Before
thy crucifixion for my sake thou hast worn a
robe of mockery. Tear in pieces my sackcloth
and clothe me with gladness. Deliver me from
the outer darkness and eternal weeping and have
mercy on me. That's the hymn that took me by
surprise finally when I really started to listen.
It only took 40 days of matins for me to start
listening. This hymn revealed the state of my
soul. This hymn reveals the state of our society,
those in power and those in governance. Why?
Because without Christ, without his love, his
specific love, because God is love, it's hopeless.
Members of the kingdom of God, that is you, brothers
and sisters. We are invited and led inevitably,
inescapably, necessarily to be like our king,
to put on that robe of humility first so we can
receive the glory of his love, to be full of
love, the love supplied by God. And it's going
to come. Through that humility in prayer, when
we enter to the low gate, the low gate, the church
in Bethlehem built by Justinian in the 6th century,
the front door is like this high. You have to
bow low to get in. So we learn by prayer, by
prayer more deeply, by prayer knowing that perhaps
today is my last day as a member of his kingdom
on this earth. That I might possess as a gift
that love toward my neighbor that the Lord says,
a new commandment I give to you, that you love
one another. How? Even as I have loved you. To
the end. Not just the neighbor. But the neighbor
you can't love. That's the enemy. Jesus says,
love your neighbor, sure. He also says, love
your enemy. The one that's impossible to love.
The one that's not achievable to love in this
world. It's the radical thing. But it's essential
because as soon as you identify someone who is
not your neighbor, then all talk of love, you
might as well forget it. and it becomes opposition
again. Our Lord commands us, love one another
even as I have loved you. We are so deeply desirous
of this love, but we continually fall away from
Christ. Today, and I use that word meaning truly
today, we are with him as he enters Jerusalem,
as he goes to Jerusalem. his passion to the cross
this is our path to if we want to love if we
want to have godly love that's the sign of his
immeasurable love for us that cross so let's
beg for love from above things we like from below
that's easy but love from above that's a consecration
of our heart our mind that's a crucifixion of
our passions It's a cleansing, a washing, a renewal
in us of God's love. For God, as we heard yesterday
in the epistle, is a consuming fire, and he will
burn up all that is not love within us. If a
man loved me, and this is the promise, he will
keep my words, and my Father will love him, and
we will come unto him. and make our abode with
him, what more wonderful destiny could we possibly
hope for?