Palm Sunday
04/15/2019: Epiphany
Spartanburg 9:00 am
Homily
Death required to complete the story of a life
It has surprised me in the past that there is only one Sunday reserved for proclaiming this central event for what it means to be a Christian.
My father died 34 years ago. Very often when I tell people, when I have occasion to tell something about my father, I talk about his death. I say, for example, that he died doing the things that he loved. His life was defined by being a Doctor and he loved the game of golf. Golf was one of those things that I’m grateful he taught me. When he died he was already at retirement age but had no sense, I think, that he would ever retire. His father had died with his boots on – as it were – a physician in a small rural town in Illinois. My father died with his boots on of a sudden heart attack while he was volunteering as a medic for the PGA Senior Open being played that year at a golf course in Castlerock, Colorado.
From a very early age I was intent on finding my own genuine way in the world. I wanted to be about the work that I was intended to do, and fairly early I understood that as -– what God had made me to be. But there’s a strong sense in which we won’t really know what that is until the whole of our life story can be told.
The rest of the story.
There was a famous radio personality from some years ago. If you are of a certain age you will remember Radio. In today’s world of course Radio is just one small piece in a rambling world of broadcast.
But a long time ago, a man named Paul Harvey was a famous radio personality. He broadcast a news show on ABC from 1952 until 2008. He always ended his broadcast with the words “Paul Harvey …… good day.”
He included in his daily show a segment called the Rest of the Story. It consisted of stories presented as little-known or forgotten facts on a variety of subjects with some key element of the story (usually the name of some well-known person, or some important detail) held back until the end. The broadcasts always concluded with a variation on the tag line “And now you know the rest of the story.”
Paul Harvey was a master story-teller. He knew how to get a hook in on his audience, to reel them in like a fly fisherman, and then before he let them go, back into the river, he jolted his audience with the thing that made the story significant -– the zinger. I know he was good at telling stories and hooking folks because -– while I found his politics to be distasteful, he hooked me a number of times on the stories he told.
I suspect you know that the very word “gospel” means story -– a good story. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John were outstanding story-tellers. I know that Paul Harvey would be embarrassed, but probably a little bit proud, to be used in such a comparison.
You may be aware that there are not very many elements of our 4 gospels that are in common amongst all 4. It may be obvious, but ought to be said, that one of those elements that is common to all 4 is the crucifixion. All 4 gospel writers could not tell the story of Jesus in such a way as to hook new disciples to follow him -– without telling the story of the end of his life’s story.
Let me illustrate this from a story that I learned in seminary when I met another fellow seminarian from Colorado. He was retiring soon as a professor of veterinary medicine at Colorado State University and he wanted to spend his last years usefully in service of the Lord. He felt called to ministry. And I learned several important skills for my life and ministry from him not the least of which was a little bit about Greek dancing. I was able to channel Zorba the Greek enough that it gave me energy and vision for my life at a certain point.
Gus Cholas was the man’s name. His parents had been immigrants to this country from Greece. They were Greek shepherds and raised their sheep in the mountains of Colorado. Gus told us about that part of his life as if he were Paul Harvey. He told us about the somewhat exotic life they lived in the 30’s, moving their sheep about the 2 mountain valleys that they owned. Then he told us the rest of the story.
His parents sold their property in central Colorado to the people who turned around and sold it again -– to the developers of Vail, Colorado. For those of you who don’t ski, that’s a very prominent ski resort that opened in the 1960’s, now attracting Hollywood stars and wealthy politicians.
Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John knew how to tell stories like that -– only better.
Gospels told similar way
They were able to hook the one who was listening to this person, Jesus. Perhaps it was the miracles he worked. Perhaps it was the stories he told. Perhaps it was the way he seemed to reveal the true nature of God. They would draw their listeners into the narrative.
Then, at the penultimate moment [I used to love that word, “penultimate”, meaning the next to last]. It was that point where we would say, “Wait, there’s more?” After telling us that the life Jesus lived -– as powerful and meaningful as it was -– ended with a terrible death in Jerusalem.
They would point to the ongoing significance of such a life, even though it ended in such a way. They would have highlighted the way in which Jesus’ suffering showed us the way to live through the suffering of our lives. They would underscore that it is only in seeing how a person dies that you can really measure and know the depths of the life they lived.
But even then, there would be more. There would be the rest of the story. It’s the added piece that makes all the difference in the world.
Holy Week
We tell the “rest of the story” over the course of the next week. Today only sets the stage for what we say and do over the next week. It will culminate, of course, in the proclamation at the Easter vigil, continuing through Easter morning that “Jesus Christ is Risen today.” That is why we are here today. But today we leave off before we proclaim the rest of the story.
It is the response that:
…… although darkness stalks light, the light will always reassert itself. No matter what is happening, the universe is invested in healing. Night is followed by morning. Crucifixion is followed by Resurrection. God always has the final say. -– Marianne Williamson
lectionary
The Sunday of the Passion: Palm Sunday Color: Red
Liturgy of the Palms Psalm: 118:1-2,19-29 Lesson 1: Luke 19:28-40
Liturgy of the Word
Lesson 1: Isaiah 50:4-9a Psalm: 31:9-16 Lesson 2: Philippians 2:5-11 Gospel:
Luke 22:14-23:56 or Luke 23:1-49
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