“We wish to see Jesus” – Pastor Thoughts

March 17, 2024 The Rev. Erik Parker Leave a comment

“Sir, we wish to see Jesus.”

As we come to the last part of our Lenten journey, we hear this striking request in the gospel reading for the 5th Sunday in Lent. It has not been an easy journey to get ourselves here, Lent has not been hard on us. Week after week what has been revealed is just how much and how deeply we do not understand Jesus and the work of proclaiming the Kingdom. It has been a process of uncovering our inability to see, hear and know Jesus as we ought to.

So there is no small amount of irony in hearing a gospel lesson that begins with foreigners coming to the disciples, asking to see Jesus and the disciples not knowing how to respond. I think we know that there is a disconnect in our current understanding of Jesus (read: what this faith business is all about). We know that we are in a strange place these days as mainline Christians hanging on to whatever we can, yet also feeling distant from and uncertain about our own faith commitments, feeling unsure if all the stuff we profess to believe is true and trustworthy.

I am pretty sure many of us would feel ill-equipped to handle things if a visitor came to us and asked, “We wish to see Jesus.”

In the online spaces I roam about, I am connected to a lot of other pastors and clergy from all kinds of denominations – mostly mainline or progressive. As much as folks in the pews might be wondering and wrestling with what role faith and faith practices have in our lives, the same wrestling is happening among clergy. If someone were to ask a group of pastors, “We wish to see Jesus” the number of Jesuses that would be pointed to would be as many as there are clergy present.

Like the folks in the pews, pastors and clergy have wonderings and questions too. Often how we see and understand Jesus has less to do with what we know and understand from the witness of scripture and our ancestor’s faith as it has to with whatever concern, issue, hobby horse or question seems to be occupying our attention. There is gun-toting Jesus, social justice Jesus, moral purity Jesus, prosperity Jesus, correct theology Jesus and so many more.

It is almost as if we shape Jesus to fit whatever thing is front of mind for us, whatever issue of our own is most important at the moment.

So as rough as this Lent has been, unraveling the ways in which we don’t understand has been something we needed to do. Something we need so that the revealing of the Jesus we truly need can begin. And when those folks come to us and ask, “We wish to see Jesus” we might pause and consider. Rather than the version of Jesus we want to show, who is the Jesus they need to meet? Who is the Jesus being revealed to us this Holy Week and Easter?

Pastor Thoughts, Theology & Culture

Taking a break from the discipline of Lent

March 10, 2024 The Rev. Erik Parker Leave a comment

As we enter the back half of the season of Lent we are near to Laetare Sunday or ‘Rejoice Sunday’ which occurs on the 4th Sunday of Lent. It is meant to be a Sunday to celebrate – in the middle of a season of solemnity – as we approach Easter.

It kind of feels like a lot to unpack. Lent itself is meant to be a time that breaks us off from our usual rhythms and patterns of life. It is a time to pull back from all the usual things that occupy our attention in order to make room to focus on the promises of God, on our baptismal call to take up the cross and follow. Lenten discipline is about doing things that help us to see God, to see what God is revealing to us in and through Jesus’ journey to the cross.

But maybe it is a bit weird that after only 3 Sundays of Lent, there would be a Sunday where we pause the solemn and sombre reflection to celebrate. Surely five weeks of Lenten discipline isn’t too much to ask of us, too hard for us to follow.

While sometimes it can feel like the Church has a million rules, especially when it comes to worship and liturgy, the practices and traditions that we follow come from generations of Christians previously forming and shaping them. Maybe all the faithful siblings in faith who came before us understood what human beings are really like. We need shifts in pace, big and small, to help us along the way. Taking a moment to celebrate that we are nearly through our Lenten journey is a way to help us mark the passing of time, to keep us from getting too weighed down by Lent.

Though it seems like five weeks isn’t that long, we are creatures who need signposts to help us along the way. We are not meant to do the same thing over and over; rather we live according to rhythms and cycles that mark and make meaning of time. Even though we live by patterns of annual and seasonal repetition, we need things to change day to day, week to week in order that we can locate ourselves in time. We need things to change to keep us engaged and present in the here and now.

At four weeks into Lent, we anticipate the end of our Lenten journey, knowing what is to come in Holy Week. We look with even more hope to what is coming at Easter, and it is this hope that allows us to finish the journey of Lent.

So this week we take a moment to celebrate that the promise of resurrection is just and always around the corner.

Theology & Culture

The case for Palm Sunday of the Passion – Pastor Thoughts

March 3, 2024 The Rev. Erik Parker Leave a comment

We are at the mid-point of the season of Lent. Jesus has come from the wilderness to meet us where we are. Jesus has addressed our fears along with Peter’s fear.

Now the lectionary turns from the Gospel of Mark to the Gospel of John, we hear the story of Jesus clearing or cleansing the temple. This story is one that needs care and attention to address it properly, particularly as it can be taken as license to condemn Jewish religious practice more broadly as if Jesus is condemning all of Second Temple Judaism by clearing out the market vendors.

This scene takes place in the Gospel of John early on in chapter 2. But in the Synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke) it happens following the triumphal entry… the story that we hear on Palm Sunday of the Passion.

This week at our clergy gathering, we had some good conversations around Palm Sunday or Passion Sunday or as I call it: Palm Sunday of the Passion. For many, it can feel like a weird day, with two different stories jammed together. Are we talking about Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem or are we hearing the passion story? And do we hear the passion story for all those folks who might not make it to Maundy Thursday or Good Friday services and end up going straight from a street party with Palms to celebrating the empty tomb?

But there are reasons why this seemingly contradictory day actually makes a lot of sense.

Liturgical reason:
There are four versions of the Passion story but each year on Good Friday we hear the Passion according to John. So on Passion Sunday, we hear the Passion according to Matthew, Mark or Luke or the Synoptic Passions. These are meant to contrast John, to be heard alongside the usual Good Friday Passion.

Scriptural reason:
In John’s gospel, the clearing of the temple happens 3 Passovers prior to the triumphal entry. But in the Synoptic Gospels, it is the event that comes right after the Triumphal Entry, it is the thing that Jesus was on his way to do as he processed into the city to the crowds shouting Hosanna. After Jesus clears the temple of the money changers and animal sellers, the religious authorities decide to kill him.

Now, there is a lot more to the story that gives reason to the meaning, purpose and symbols of this event. But what is important is that the triumphal entry story paired with the Synoptic Passion helps us to understand how it is we get from Palm Sunday to Good Friday, and why the crowds that cheered for Jesus have changed their minds by the end of the week.

Without the Synoptic passion, we jump from something that feels like a street party to crowds demanding Jesus’ death and it might not be clear why.

So as we hear the story of Jesus clearing the temple and prepare to move to Palm Sunday and Holy Week, remember that these stories are connected and help us to understand the Passion of Jesus.