Holy Trinity Ankeny

The Maundy Thursday sermon given by Pastor Tim Olson.

We all love a good parade. Today, we hear about Jesus’ parade into Jerusalem. At the same time as Jesus’ parade, there is another one occurring on the other side of the city. The Romans are marching in to ensure law and order are maintained during Passover. And just as then, we are faced with the choice of which parade to attend. Which parade do we join? Jesus’ or Pilate’s?
 

The prophet, Ezekiel, sees a valley of dry bones and God asks, “Can these bones live?” We may respond, “No. Life is hard and then you die.” Death seems to get the final word. Yet, God has something else in mind as dry bones become Spirit-filled people. Jesus raises Lazarus from death. In baptism, we die to sin, evil, and death to live as resurrection people.

It takes little imagination to see that the world we inhabit is a pretty dark place. Hunger, violence, hate, war, failed banks, hungry people… all these things and more rob our souls of light and place a heavy burden on our shoulders. The gospel, however, tells us that “we are children of the light.” We need not solve the darkness of the world, we need only reflect the light of Christ given as we gather, listen, receive Christ, and are sent into the world to imitate the one who banished the darkness of death.

The woman at the well in today’s Gospel brings an empty jar to a well and has an encounter with Jesus. The woman brought a jar to fill up with water.

We all have jars that we carry around hoping to fill up with something. Most times it is with things that are not life giving. 

Jesus offers us another way. 

Our lives are filled with words – billions of them each week. Our conversations, our media, social media, and mail are full of words that try to tell us what to think, how to act, and who we are. These are generally dead words – they can’t give us life, love, grace, or mercy. Each week the church gathers around the Living Word Jesus Christ. Through scripture, hymns sung, sermons preached, prayers prayed, and creeds confessed Christ becomes a Living Word that grants new life.
 

It is not just by the effort of those in attendance to roll out of bed that the people of God gather for worship. It is an act of the Holy Spirit to create a desire to come into God’s presence, to draw us to the grace and mercy of God that brings us together. So, how do people who have fallen and failed, who have struggled to have faith prepare to come into God’s presence? We don’t. Through confession and forgiveness, God says, “You are my child. Come. Gather.”

We live in a culture where there are winners and losers. It seems like it doesn’t matter what we do, we are always in competition with someone. We compete for jobs and promotions, who has the best children, and who has the most stuff. And if we aren’t careful, we can think that we are loved because we are winners and we can feel unloved because we are not the winners. Living through the trials and tribulations of this world is a lot easier when we know we are loved; when we know we are chosen. When we too hear the words, you are my child, my beloved, with you I am well pleased.

Jesus says. “You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, ‘You shall not murder.’” (Matthew 5:21) That sounds reasonable. I think I can manage not to murder anyone so I can live in God’s reign of peace, justice, joy, and grace. It is the least I can do. Jesus, however, wishes for us to live in a way that is more than “the least we can do.” Jesus wishes for us the abundance of the reign of God.

Salt in our day is cheap and plentiful. We even spread it on our streets. It was different in Jesus' day and culture. Salt was precious. Sometimes it is easy to forget that when Jesus calls us salt that he is calling us precious. Today we are reminded that we are precious.