Scripture Readings:
Psalm 118:1-2,19-29
Luke 19:28-40
Liturgically it makes sense, I suppose, to have the Gospel reading as appointed for today; however, as the preacher for today, I have decided to add verses 41 and 42, to help my sermon.
So, Luke 19:41-42 reads as follows:
“As he came near and saw Jerusalem, he wept over it, saying, ‘If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.”
The Oxford Dictionary gives the definition of betrayal as the act of betraying somebody or the fact of being betrayed, or a sense or a feeling or an act of betrayal, by somebody, or ourselves. We will come back to this.
So, today is Palm Sunday, and we have the familiar story about Jesus sending his disciples into the village to retrieve a colt for him to ride to Jerusalem. As he rides along, people are “spreading their cloaks on the road” and “the whole multitude of the disciples” are praising God “for all the deeds of power they had seen”.
However, despite today being about Jesus’s triumphant entry into Jerusalem, his entry is one of tears and lament, because Jerusalem has not recognized “on this day the things that make for peace”.
And today we are Jerusalem. We just have to look around us and listen to one news bulletin to know that we need peace. We all need peace; the world needs peace. We need peace within ourselves. We need peace with each other. We need to make peace with our past, and the good Lord knows the world needs to make peace with its history, so that we can have peace within countries and between nations. However, that peace begins with us. We need peace with what we have done, what we have left undone.
And what are “the things that make for peace”? Jesus reveals, especially during Holy Week, what makes for peace.
We just need to listen to him during this week. He never defends himself, he never justifies himself, he never offers excuses, he doesn’t have any entitlement, even after being called a king.
He doesn’t have to do any of those things, because he has no need to, because Jesus never betrays himself. We often talk about Jesus’ amazing sense of himself, his understanding of who he is, as throughout his life and especially in the coming week, he remains true to that self. He is at peace with himself, and that lets him be at peace with others and the circumstances he is facing. Those things happen to Jesus almost immediately after his entry into Jerusalem, when the crowds will turn from shouting “hosanna!” to “crucify him!” And Jesus absolutely cannot do this without the constant knowledge of and faith in God’s love.
And neither can we.
So, back to the Oxford dictionary and betrayal, especially self-betrayal, because I think we still suffer from this massive betrayal, especially when we try to place ourselves into the story, trying to decide what we would have done in the same situation.
Because how Jesus acts is true for us as well. When we refuse to betray ourselves, when we remain true to ourselves and what life is asking of us, we have no need to justify ourselves. We can be at peace with ourselves. We can be at peace with each other and whatever it is that we have to deal with.
But when we begin justifying ourselves, making excuses, or becoming defensive, it’s usually because we’ve betrayed ourselves. We’ve turned away from who and what we are, and there is no peace for us to settle into.
It is always worthwhile to look for those instances when we betray or doubt ourselves. And it is not just about doing something wrong, but also when, as the crowd so quickly denied Jesus’ holiness and goodness, we deny our own holiness and goodness. The times when we diminish ourselves, the times we turn away from our gifts, passions, and longings; the times when we settle for being less that we truly are.
Someone once said that self-betrayal might be our original sin, and we keep on wounding ourselves. This constant deep self-wounding that needs healing.
Could Holy Week be the start of that healing, when we step away from the betrayals of our lives, into the healing that God’s love brings? Tears are a gift, so what if we begin with our tears, just as Jesus started his Holy Week?
Jesus looks at Jerusalem and weeps, not because of our betrayal of him, but because of our self-betrayals. What has robbed us of our peace, our sense of God’s love, which brings us to tears?
Let us then turn those tears of sorrow and sadness into tears of compunction and love, to help us to get to “the things that make for peace”. And for healing.