“Who is This?”

Palm Sunday - March 29, 2026 - BRCC

Pastor Deb- Phil 2: 5-11

Grace to you and peace as we enter into the passion of our Lord today and into this Holy Week.   Lord Jesus…come, and make yourself  known to us.  Amen

Today we encounter the paradox that defines our faith: Jesus is both Saviour and King of our lives, but also a humbled servant, a sacrificial lamb, who surrenders everything for humankind.  In our lives on this earth, we too are full of paradox, for like Peter, we come here every week and fervently declare in our confession of faith that we believe in Jesus Christ, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  But taking that confession of faith and belief outside these doors is not easy.  For many in our communities, even saying Jesus’ name can be offensive and oft putting to those around us who judge organized religion with distrust.  Like Peter, it is hard, isn’t it, to claim our faith in Jesus Christ outside of these church walls?  It seems many Christians avoid it and sometimes, even deny it.  Why is that?  How is Jesus still such a source of conflict in our world?

This week, I listened to an excellent sermon by a pastor in the twin cities who began his message with this statement:  DISTORTED RELIGION DISTORTS BOTH OUR VIEW OF GOD AND HOW WE SEE OTHERS.  He quoted a study of how 23 nations from around the world view their neighbor.  Of the nations that responded, the shocking surprise was that the United States was the only nation that saw their neighbor negatively.  53% said they saw their neighbor as somewhat bad, or kind of bad.  In contrast, Canada described their neighbor as somewhat good, or good.  

He went on to share these statistics: 62% of people in the US say they are Christian, and, we all know, THE CORE OF THE Christian CHURCH IS TO LOVE GOD AND LOVE OUR NEIGHBOR.  And 83% say they have some belief in God, yet, IT SEEMS WE DON’T TRUST OUR OWN NEIGHBORS THESE DAYS.    Why is it, he asked, in our nation where so many say they have faith, that we think so poorly of our neighbor?  What divides us into tribal ways of deciding who is Christian and who is not?  Why do we get caught up in who has the right view of God and truly knows Jesus and who does not?  He said he didn’t know the answer, but he felt the statement he had made about distorted religion distorting our view of God and one another must play into the way we see Jesus and one another.

I agree.  I have personally struggled with this a lot since I entered the ministry. 

The harmony and unity of being a Christian among other Christians around me began to shift as things like the unpopular Vietnam War, Iraq, immigration, economic challenges, climate change  and other world and political influences began to divide us into camps of agreement or disagreement.   I was raised in a loving home and my parents and all of my siblings came to celebrate my ordination into ministry in the ELCA, and I thought they carried the same theological base of grace through Christ that I had now dedicated my life to proclaim.  But in recent years,  four of my siblings have turned from our Lutheran tradition to embrace a politicalized evangelical form of belief in God, in Christ and in our nation.  It has been a challenging family dynamic for me.   I have watched them in their worship settings where they literally shout the name of a victorious Jesus with boldness and absolute certainty…but, from my perspective, completely miss the humble Jesus, riding on a donkey into a massive city where the world is ready to spin out of control.   I truly struggle in the face of their hyper religious presence in my life, and I often question whether they are right and I am wrong.  How do I square that they look so happy and energized, jumping and singing and waving their hands in the air with abandonment.    I’d like to be that happy and look the other way from all the angst in our world, believing that God is on OUR side and the ENEMIES all around us are meant to be squashed in righteous glory.  But I can't get there!   The man on the donkey just doesn’t fit with a procession of glory, does he?   The man on the donkey came to love me….but also, my neighbor, right?

My youngest brother is now a worship leader in his Evangelical Free church, and working up their ladder to be an elder in their church.  He and his son in law, who together with their daughter have taken over the family farm and have three young children,  are being groomed into a Patriarchal role where they lead all the prayers, morning, noon and night, and the women must look to them for Christ’s wisdom.  Their daughter and grandchildren are fully on board.  They often send worship clips to show  their grandchildren among the throngs of kids singing their hearts out, while Grandpa leads them on his guitar.  But…amid this glorious picture, there is a PARADOX.  You see, they have a son who, it turns out is gay.  Josh is a cardiac trauma nurse, and an organist who plays each week for a church near the cities I used to serve.  The people there love his gentle spirit and loving ways.  He has a vital faith in their midst.  However, his parents and his sister and brother in law are always trying to do an intervention to “save him” from the evil within him.  He is one of those considered bad. I can’t tell you how many times Josh has called me struggling with how to love his parents and family and be in their lives, when he is made to feel so “out of the grace” of Christ.

I was curious about what my brother truly believed and so I checked out their church website.  Two things jumped right out at me.  First, they declare that they are WELCOMING, but not AFFIRMING  In other words…no homosexual or trans-person, or other questionably sinful outsider will ever receive their acceptance.  Second, they warn that SALVATION is easily lost, so one had better totally commit to earning their way into God’s forgiveness or they won’t make it into heaven.  

This is what my brother, whom I love dearly, and likewise in their similar churches, my other siblings are praising God for week after week.  I don’t know how to deal with this.  My stomach churns and I find I cannot speak up for fear of losing our family ties, and so we PRETEND to honor one another in our differences in theology, and understanding of WHO Jesus really is.  But I know that they consider me the WRONG KIND OF PASTOR IN THE WRONG KIND OF CHURCH.  Everytime they send a religious thought or song or testimony, my silence probably adds to the belief that they are right and I am lost.  

To be fair, I must own that I  too am guilty of judging them “bad” for what I experience as an  in your face way of declaring God’s truth and justice.  Sadly, I don’t have the courage to ride into the midst of my own family’s worship parade, carrying a banner of honest faith in Jesus…I can only thank God that Jesus, His Son, had the courage to do it for me….for us.  

Perhaps that is why this profound statement by the Apostle Paul in his letter to the Philippians is such a gift in the paradox of our human struggle to REALLY believe, and to REALLY live in faith and trust.   Jesus didn’t come on a conquering horse of victory, but a humble, despised, disregarded donkey to fulfill scriptural prophecy.  He had both the courage to speak…even to angrily destroy the temple market apart…yet, he was also SILENT, letting his humility speak VOLUMES into the noise of the crowds. Who is this who turns the other cheek when Hosannas dissolve into cries of “crucity?”  Who is this who loves even the unlovable…submits to cruel mockery…and thinks first of his mother…the widow…the orphan…the downcast criminal on the cross beside him…over himself?  It’s Jesus…the one we struggle to reflect into a world that doesn’t want to say his name unless He fits their statement of beliefs.  Jesus called out the Pharisees and religious leaders for their distorted religion of laws and self righteousness. Surely “distortions” still must exist today.  And, they DO, I believe, lead us to distort God’s ways and distort our relationships with our neighbors.

In this Holy week journey, we are asked to bring ourselves into this transformative narrative…emptying ourselves of all our perceived images of who we THOUGHT Jesus was, and to open our minds and souls to experience the REAL, living  RISEN Jesus,  “Let the same mind be in you as was in Christ Jesus, who though he was in the form of God…emptied himself…became a servant…a servant who willingly gave himself to die..for us..for you…for me!”  Paul is inviting us to know a Jesus we NEVER fully knew before.  One we can only meet upon a dark and violent cross, in a vulnerable, soul-wrenching moment of shared reality.   A reality where brokenness opens a path of grace that the human soul needs to finally see ourselves just as we are, and to humbly love ourselves and our neighbor.

How do we come to know THIS JESUS?   How do we see THIS JESUS in the faces on the news?  How do we live in the paradox of power and helpless vulnerability?  The paradox of truth and propaganda.  The paradox of have and have not.  The paradox of an anxious, waring world filled with anxiety and overwhelming problems, BUT ALSO offering the precious gift of sustaining, freeing grace that God in Christ offers to us each and every day?

This week…we are called to ponder this hard paradox in the midst of sacred story.  We are being called to empty ourselves of our preconceived notions and discover God’s power and love DEEPLY AT WORK in Jesus.  Holy week is meant to be a journey into the depth of God’s heart….and our own.  It is meant to peel back our denial and wait upon God’s plan over our own. I invite you to return here on Good Friday for a service of Tenebrae.  Tenebrae literally means “shadows and darkness.”  So in this service, we will read the passion narratives from the Gospel of Mark, while slowly dimming lights and extinguishing candles to fully enter into the passion of our Lord.  I hope you will come and encourage others to participate in this moving service.  A blessed Holy Week to each of you…May you find peace and hope in the paradox of our life together.  Amen.