Rev. Dr. Mark Tusken

For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit, in which also he went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison, who in former times did not obey, when God waited patiently in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were saved through water. And baptism, which this prefigured, now saves you--not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers made subject to him. 1 Pet 3:18-22 

During the season of Lent, we are reminded that we don't measure up. Like an arrow being shot towards a target, we have a tendency to miss the mark. We continuously disappoint ourselves, those we love, strangers we meet along the way, and most of all, God. This is how we fall short. It was Blaise Pascal who said, "I lay it down as a fact that if all men knew what others say of them, there would not be four friends in the world." This quote hits close to home! We come today to lessons that deal with this dilemma of failing and not being able to measure up. Our old testament reading tells us of the destruction of the world, because people were not living up to God's plan for them. It is a frightening and sobering passage, because we see God actually repenting of creating us. Only 8 people were left, and everyone else perished. We have so much hubris that we actually believe that we could destroy ourselves, but really it is God who can destroy us. But God put a rainbow in the sky to give us a promise: that this destruction of the entire world by flood will never happen again. God repents of destroying us. A modern-day example of such a promise might be a signature on a contract, a ring on a finger, or a handshake. The rainbow has meaning too; it is aimed skyward as a reminder that God is on the line, and that he made a promise. The rainbow is aimed at God's heart, because of his love for us. We will always fall short, and we will never be able to deal with our shortcomings on our own. In the lesson from 1 Peter, the promise of the rainbow is fulfilled. "For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God." The penalty is paid as Christ breathes his last breath and gives up his spirit. In effect, God fulfills his contract and makes a way for us, as Christ dies for our sins. A substitution is made, the righteous for the unrighteous. In the gospel lesson from Mark, we see that Jesus was tempted in every way that we fall short. We can't fulfill that covenant. Jesus, the righteous innocent son of God, dies in our place, in order to bring us to God. Lent becomes that time in our lives when we do moral searching of our souls to remember how we fall short, and to turn ourselves back toward God. What has God done in your life recently to bring you back to him? What ways has he shown himself to you? Lent is a time to discover that love that he has for you. How is he tugging at your heart? Christ suffered once for all, in order to bring you to himself.

Rev. Bill Kruse

Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, ‘Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.’ He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, ‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.’ Mark 8:31-38

Jesus tells us that if you want to save your life, you will lose it; but if you lose your life for the sake of the gospel, you'll save it.

I want to tell you a story – a true story, a love story, about a woman named Jane. Jane was born not so very far from here, in Cedarville, IL, in 1860. In her autobiography, she recalled that when she was 7 years old, Jane asked her father why they lived in a lovely large home in a neighborhood of large homes, but some of the children in town lived in dirty little houses crowded close together. Her dad explained gently that many people did not get an education, and as a result they often could not get jobs that paid much and so they were very poor and lived wherever they could. Jane decided on the spot that, "When I grow up, I shall of course have a large house, but it would not be built in the midst of other large homes. Instead, I will build my home in the midst of horrid little houses like these, and I will be a friend of the poor."

Jane graduated from high school when she was 16, and enrolled in the Rockford Female Seminary (now called Rockford College). The director of the seminary, recognizing Jane's deep love for people, and her desire to help make a better world, recommended that she become a foreign missionary. Jane agreed that she wanted to make a better world by helping people, but she didn't know that going to another country was how she should do it. "There are many poor people in Cedarville, and even more in Rockford, and so many more in Chicago," she thought. Why look beyond Illinois to learn where she might help?

In the late 1800's, few careers were open to women. Most people thought that is wasn't proper for a woman to hold a job, that a woman's place was in the home, raising children, caring for her husband, and keeping her house clean.

After graduating from Rockford, Jane enrolled in the Women's Medical School of Philadelphia. She soon found that she really did not like studying medical texts and memorizing hundreds of medical terms. After a few months, she left medical school. Like hundreds of other educated young women, she found herself without useful work. As she became more depressed, and then more depressed, her doctor prescribed an extended trip to Europe to restore her to health and youthful enthusiasm. (I like that kind of prescription!) So Jane toured Europe. She visited art galleries, museums, castles, palaces, cathedrals, and ancient ruins. She wanted to absorb the culture of the old world.

One Saturday evening, she was walking aimlessly in London, and she came upon a fruit and vegetable auction in a poor, run-down London neighborhood. Half-starved men and women crowded the pavement, bidding fiercely for bruised and decaying produce. Jane was shocked when one man bought a battered cabbage and immediately sat on the curb to devour it, raw and unwashed as it was. She later wrote in her autobiography that her main impression was of "myriads of hands, empty, pathetic, nerveless, and work-worn, reaching out to grasp for food which was already unfit to eat."

On another occasion, Jane toured London's Toynbee Hall, which was an experimental social project in a desperately poverty-ridden neighborhood. Educated young men moved into Toynbee Hall offering literacy classes, art lessons, and other activities to the people of the neighborhood. Because the men did not merely visit the area, but actually settled into the neighborhood, offering programs that enabled them to get to know the residents, it was called a Settlement House. As time went on, the programs of Toynbee Hall developed in response to the needs of the people.

After spending some time at Toynbee Hall, Jane returned to Illinois. She had made a decision to establish a Settlement House of her own in the industrial slums of Chicago. During the summer of 1889, Jane visited the city's leading churches, including St. James Episcopal Church. She spoke at civic organizations and to wealthy citizens who were recommended to her. She won very generous support for the project, although some suggested that she might do well to search for a dynamic and capable man to head up this Settlement House.

That summer when she wasn't raising funds, she was searching for a large house that would be suitable – a large house "in the midst of horrid little houses" is the way she put it when she was seven years old. At last she found the perfect place – a sturdy brick mansion on Halsted Street on the city's industrial near west side. Forty years earlier, the house had been built on the outskirts of Chicago. Now, the city had engulfed it, and it was surrounded by noisy, dirty, over-crowded tenements. Because the original owner's name was Charles Hull, the mansion came to be known as Hull House. Jane Addams and a friend from Rockford Seminary, Ellen Gates Starr, along with a housekeeper, Mary Keyser, moved into the house with great excitement and enthusiasm.

Nevertheless, other friends and concerned citizens of Chicago warned Jane and Ellen that they would be robbed, and that their very lives were in danger. "Mark my words," one affluent donor told them. "You will abandon this whole venture within a few weeks." It is understandable that many friends and well-wishers were fearful. In 1889, Chicago was a city in which two vastly different worlds existed side-by-side. On the one hand, Chicago was the domain of the affluent and privileged – a gracious landscape of wide boulevards, art galleries, theaters, elegant hotels, fine dining establishments and brownstone mansions. On the darker side, writer Lincoln Steffens described it as "the first city of violence…deepest in dirt, loud, lawless, unlovely, ill-smelling, a teeming trough among cities." Clearly Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr were rejecting a life of comfort and leisure to settle into one of Chicago's most infamous neighborhoods.

The remarkable thing, it seems to me, is that Jane Addams had no definite program in mind. She did, however, have a definite philosophical approach to her mission: a loving community. She reasoned that in a loving community, neighbors celebrated each other's triumphs, helped each other in hard times, and shared each other's griefs. All Jane wanted to do was to be a good neighbor and help create a loving, close-knit community. She thought it was likely that they would care for children, befriend expectant mothers, visit the sick, and help prepare the dead for burial. Whatever was needed, Jane believed, they would do. In addition, they would encourage other young women and men to live at the Settlement House and share their talents and knowledge with the community. Hull House would not only serve the impoverished neighborhood in which it stood; it would also teach the affluent and privileged about the needs and joys which all people share in common. Hull House would hopefully provide aimless young people with a fresh, new sense of mission and life purpose – a mission to build loving community which recognizes the dignity and worth of every person, regardless of their color or language or ethnic origin or religious affiliation. That was Jane Addams' dream – a community of love which respects the dignity of every human person, because every human person is precious in the eyes of God.

I wish there was time to tell you more about Jane Addams. As you probably know, Hull House became a tremendously influential force for good in Chicago and beyond. The first outreach was Jane and Ellen sitting on their front steps in the early evening, greeting passers-by and talking to those who stopped to talk to them. Their first week in Hull House, a woman who had visited them on the stairs one night stopped by apologetically explaining that she had to take two streetcars across town, and would they mind watching her three-year-old until she got back? In their second week at Hull House, they were doing day-care for several children. When they were ready, they did a house-warming party and everyone in the neighborhood was invited. They came and enjoyed meeting neighbors and having fun together.

As the program grew, volunteer staff members were attracted and joined Jane and Ellen. Julia Lathrop worked tirelessly to develop programs for children and later lobbied to improve conditions for all children. She helped establish Chicago's first juvenile court, and later was influential in passing the first child labor laws in Illinois. Another volunteer, Dr. Alice Hamilton, was one of the first Americans to recognize lead poisoning as a threat to public health. Florence Kelley investigated the shameful conditions in the sweatshops. She fought for on-the-job safety standards and for more humane working hours. Hull House served thousands of people in thousands of ways each year. Children came to play and sometimes to be tutored; their parents came to learn English; their grandparents taught songs and folk dances from the old country. Other residents offered programs of fun, cultural enrichment, friendship, and hope to struggling immigrant families of industrial Chicago.

What has this story to do with the gospel lesson? Jesus said, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me." Does Jane Addams teach us anything about being a follower of Jesus?

1. Did she deny herself? In the sense that she gave up leisure and luxury for the sake of building a loving community in a wretched, multi-cultural neighborhood that was known for its ethnic wars, I think so. I think she can teach all of us.

2. Did she pick up her cross? What is a cross in the context of this gospel? At this point in Jesus' life, he himself had not yet picked up a literal cross. The cross is a metaphor for the mission that God asks you to accept. To pick up your cross is to accept the mission of your life – and face it, sometimes the cross you pick up will be the instrument of your death.

Clearly, building a loving, just community based on mutual understanding and respect and a willingness to tackle problems and threaten the community – that was the cross that Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr were called to pick up. Jesus is telling us that if we want to save our life, we will lose it. He is saying that lovers cannot hold back. Lovers go all the way. Lovers give themselves with abandon. And in so giving, they receive.

Steve Lowe, Candidate

The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. He told those who were selling the doves, "Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father's house a marketplace!" His disciples remembered that it was written, "Zeal for your house will consume me." The Jews then said to him, "What sign can you show us for doing this?" Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." The Jews then said, "This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?" But he was speaking of the temple of his body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken. John 2:13-22

The catch phrase today is REALITY TV. It started with the first SURVIVOR series and has continued to grow and flourish as stranger shows are developed and aired on television. Reality TV is anything but reality. We now even have the VIRTUAL ARK ready. This virtual reality game is best described as "Theology meets showbiz meets cow dung". Called "The Ark" this web-based game will set sail on Easter Sunday and being is billed as 40 days and 40 nights of games, challenges, topical discussions and arguments about, in the words of one web site, 'mucking out the gorillas'. 12 shipmates, with such names as David, Daniel, Esther, Paul and Moses will set sail on the Ark. Like the REALITY TV shows, one shipmate will be voted off by web visitors every fourth day. At the end of the voyage, you will have eleven sinners and one winner. The winner will even get a 'handsome' cash prize - 666 English pounds.

To paraphrase a TV announcement, let us return to the REALITY of the Gospel lesson for this week. As we heard, the Gospel lesson for the 3rd Sunday in Lent is the account of the Jesus' cleansing of the temple. The event is also found in the three Synoptic Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke. For the three Synoptic Evangelists, this event is the final challenge to the religious authorities and leaders of Israel. After Jesus clears out the money changers and the animal sellers, the high priest and his men plot the death of Jesus. The temple cleansing serves as a turning point in the life and ministry of Jesus. 

John's order of events, however, is much different. This temple cleansing is the first public act by Jesus and occurs immediately after his first miracle at the wedding at Cana. John recounts his Gospel in order of significance. This ministry event is at the start of his book because he want us to understand the importance of it as it is related to Christ's earthly ministry. For John, this event sets the direction and tone of Christ's work on earth, serving as a strategic sign early in John's Gospel. If the first miracle, a grand nuptial celebration, is the new use of old jars used in the rites of water purification, the second is the temple being replaced and renewed by Jesus' resurrected body. The old temple rituals will be replaced through the resurrected Jesus. 

Imagine Herod temple's in the time of Jesus. The temple, which is God's house, was to be the house of prayer for all nations. Surrounding the Temple sacred areas is the Court of the Gentiles - an area that was open to the people of all nations. The existence in the Court of the Gentiles of a corrupt sacrificial livestock market profaned the one section of the Temple open to the Gentiles. In the cleansing of the Temple, Jesus clearly shows how he values the temple and the sacrifices when they are done rightly. He does not stand in awe of the brick and mortar and the grandness of the buildings themselves. Still, he does not want the holy places profaned. 

It is the REALITY of this Gospel lesson that should speak to both you and me today. It is the humanity of Jesus that is present in this event. Simply, he is angry. He gets angry just we get angry. This is not the image of Jesus that we see portrayed in many pictures -- the meek and mild-mannered Christ. An intriguing classical painting of Biblical themes is El Greco's 'The Cleansing of the Temple." In this painting, the figure of Jesus holds the central place. His eyes are flashing; the right hand, holding the 'whip of cords' is poised to strike down. Pandemonium is everywhere; tables falling over, merchants holding up their arms to protect themselves, bystanders aghast. 

So, what is the meaning of this event in the live and ministry of Jesus for us in 2003? First, from a biblical perspective, one meaning centers on the Temple itself. The temple was the totality - the Center - of worship in Israel. Sacrificial animals were on sale so pilgrims did not have to bring them from a distance. Yet Roman coinage was not acceptable in the Temple. So, in one respect, the money changers did serve a good purpose. Jesus' actions, his anger, though, were not directed at the normal Temple practices but against the abuses of the system - the dishonesty, the robbery of the pilgrims, the misuse of the system for personal gain, the choosing of $$ before God). 

Secondly, a deeper meaning of this event is the pronouncement, not just an announcement, but a pronouncement that Jesus was creating a new habitation for God the Father. The Temple was out - no longer to be the sign of God's presence. It would be a living structure, not wood, stone or bricks, but the mystical Body of Christ. We will have a New Temple, a new dwelling place of sacrifice, a new source of blessings. As the Church is the Body of Christ, we also becomes the New Temple. 

Yet, in this lesson we also have the reality of the 'Other' Jesus - the Jesus who was very angry. He is not your comfortable 'guy'. He is the God of justice and mercy. You can forget the pot luck suppers with this Jesus. He is definitely not the Jesus that makes us feel comfortable in our pews. Certainly, the "Other' Jesus is difficult to preach about. He convicts, he shouts, he shoves, he even whips. The reality is: this Jesus cannot be dismissed and he must not be explained away. We can either run away from him; stand with our mouths open embarrassed by what he has done; or we can in some way respond to him. 

In this Gospel story, Jesus is consumed by a passion for his Father's house. That passion should challenge us, especially in Lent. This story gives us a clear picture of being a follower of Christ. What consumes Christ should also consumes us! It is not about being passionate for buildings or temples. It is about passion for God's people -- the poor, the needy, the rejected -- all the words that are associated with our Brothers and Sisters who are less fortunate. To forget the poor is to forget Jesus. To leave behind the least of these behind is to leave Jesus out of our life and not to have Jesus in our day. God's passion, likewise, must burn in "our temple". 

But, what about the 'righteous anger' of Jesus? The emotion of anger has always been seen as un-godly. Can you and I be so indignant also? To focus on the anger displayed by Jesus in this Gospel lesson would cause us to miss the deeper meaning of the Gospel. If you and I reflect honestly on our own lives and the times that we have been angry with others, you will have, I believe, a glimpse of the meaning. We must always separate 'righteous anger' from that of the 'self-righteousness' we sometimes display. If anger is a feeling of displeasure, not rage, not fury and certainly not abuse toward and of others. Are there times that 'righteous anger' is called for on our part? I believe that there is. But, we must replace not the 'righteous anger' in our lives; but the self-anger, the rage, the abuse with the spirit of the Living God so it can reside in his temple. 

Let me share this example by asking you to turning in your Prayer Book to page 305. When we renew our Baptismal Convent at the Great Vigil - only 4 weeks away, Father Mark will ask each of us: Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being? We respond with "I will, with God's help". Was it not for justice and peace that Darlene Marcusson, the founder of Lazarus House - the homeless shelter in Saint Charles, spoke out against the plans of the City Council to move the homeless to the boundaries of that city? As followers of Christ, we are called to stand against injustice in this world. 

In his humanity, Jesus experienced the total range of emotions that you and I will go through in our lives. He understands our grief when a loved one dies -- remember that he wept at the tomb of Lazarus. Jesus knew joy, love, happiness and yes, even anger. But, and this is a key point for us to remember, even when he was angry, Jesus did not abuse others. Even on the cross, he forgave those who had crucified him. While we will not always be successful in emulating Christ, we all still need forgiveness. 

The reality is that it is Lent 2003 with the world at war. You and I are not on some virtual Ark tour with David, Daniel, Moses and the other nine participants. But, we are on a real journey that will take us through Lent, Holy Week and finally to Easter Sunday. It is in that journey that the Church calls us to a deeper relationship to Christ this Lent. Let it be our prayer that we understand more fully how God works in our lives through Christ and the Holy Spirit. May the house of our soul become one of prayer and the Father's will. May we also be consumed by his passion this Lent -- not just to hear about it but to fully let it overwhelm us.

But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God— not the result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life. Eph 2:4-10

Above All
by Lenny LeBlanc & Paul Baloche  ©1995 Integrity's Hosanna! Music

Above all powers

Above all things

Above all nature and all created things

Above all wisdom and all the ways of man

You were here before the world began

Above all kingdoms

Above all thrones

Above all wonders the world has ever known

Above all wealth and treasures of the earth

There's no way to measure what You're worth

Crucified

Laid behind the stone

You lived to die

Rejected and alone

Like a rose trampled on the ground

You took the fall

And thought of me

Above all

In today's epistle, St. Paul boldly tells us that it is by faith that we are saved. Let's consider this faith that Paul describes – how we can get it, how we should use it, and how we can live in it.

The words from Ephesians reveal to us a sad cycle in which we are all caught. We sin, we confess, but yet we continue to sin again. But St. Paul proposes a solution for us. First, he recalls that we are dead through our sin and trespasses. But then Paul offers us refreshment (and oftentimes, this fourth Sunday in Lent is referred to as Rose Sunday, or Refreshment Sunday): "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God— not the result of works, so that no one may boast." (v 8-9) It is not the result of good works or what we can do or buy. How do we accept this promise?

The first task before us is to believe these words. That's what faith is – taking the words of God into our heart. It is what God gives us, not what we can earn. Do we have enough faith to utterly believe them; or do we run from them? Faith is believing that what someone says is true. Salvation is experienced by us personally. By accepting God's love, we have been rescued. When we place our trust in his hands, salvation is real for us. It is hard for us to accept that we have nothing to do with it! We are easily tempted to believe that we can earn salvation by our own good works. A young Martin Luther must have taken this to heart. In 1510, Luther visited Rome where there was, at the time of his visit, a stairway of white marble that was said to have been the stairs that Christ climbed to Pilate’s judgment hall. Whoever climbed them on his knees, it was said, merited an indulgence of fifteen years for each ascent. While climbing the stairs, Luther was startled by a sudden voice that sounded in his ears as thunder saying, "The just shall live by faith." Upon hearing this, Luther immediately got up, turned, and walked down the stairs. With this "scandalous" act, the seeds of the Reformation were planted. Talk about Amazing Grace!

The second task before us is to live these words. What is our response, after taking these words fully into our heart? "For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life." (v10) God knows each of us well, along with our own particular besetting sins. Even so, he has prepared for us beforehand good works for us to do. "Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms." (1 Pet 4:10) What did he create for you? Many of us spend much of our lifetimes searching for this work God has prepared for us. Our God is an abundant God; he can feed 5000 people with a few loaves and fishes! Not all of us are able to drop anything and become foreign missionaries, for example. Our work may be to raise children, to bring someone to the knowledge of Christ, to lead worship and music at church, to minister to the sick, to befriend the lonely, to comfort the dying, or to assist the oppressed. Opportunities will present themselves to you time and again, because our God is an abundant God.

We must first accept we are sinners. Despite our best intentions, we continue to sin. Yet through Christ's blood we are forgiven, and we are saved by faith. Finally, we know we are saved for good works. What is our faith-filled response? We are to be available and open. Take this passage to heart, and listen for the whisperings and yearnings that God places there.

Every high priest chosen from among mortals is put in charge of things pertaining to God on their behalf, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. He is able to deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is subject to weakness; and because of this he must offer sacrifice for his own sins as well as for those of the people. And one does not presume to take this honor, but takes it only when called by God, just as Aaron was. So also Christ did not glorify himself in becoming a high priest, but was appointed by the one who said to him, ‘You are my Son, today I have begotten you’; as he says also in another place, ‘You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek.’ In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered; and having been made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him, having been designated by God a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek. Hebrews 5:1-10

This week we have been captivated by the dramatic story of the rescue of Jessica Lynch. Here was a young soldier who was badly wounded; her legs and back were broken, and she couldn't move. When her rescuers entered the room, they found her immobile on her bed with the sheet pulled over her head. It was a terrifying situation, and she didn't know what to expect next.

We all have similar times in our lives when we find ourselves crippled, and unsure where to go next. This Lent, we are considering how dependant we are on God, and how we can't move on our own. Jessica's rescue is a picture of our lesson from Hebrews today: "You are a priest forever." What does this mean, to be a "high priest according to the order of Melchizedek"? It relates to another rescue that occurred in Mesopotamia. In Genesis 13, we read about how Abram and his nephew Lot parted ways. Lot chose to go into the plain of Jordan, while Abram went into Canaan. At that time, a marauding band came through and carried off Lot and all of his possessions. When Abram heard of this, he gathered together a group of trained men, and went to Lot's rescue. Abram was desperate to rescue his nephew Lot, just as Jessica's fellow soldiers were desperate to rescue her.

This story found in Genesis 13 and 14 would have been one of those great stories that was told over and over again. We all can relate to a story of needing to be rescued, because we all find ourselves in a jam at one time or another. It's at times like these that we realize that God simply has to come take care of us. It is a moment of wondrous deliverance. After the rescue of Lot, Abram's family gives thanks to God, because they knew where the deliverance ultimately came from.

But what about Melchizedek? It's at this point in the story that this shadowy and captivating figure appears. Abram's family is in the midst of giving thanks to God, when Melchizedek came and brought with him bread and wine. Melchizedek was a king of a place called Salem (which in fact was Jerusalem). This mysterious king was "a priest of God most high." This point was important for Jews – because he in fact wasn't a Jew. No one was allowed to be both a king and a priest. The priests came from the tribe of Levi, and kings came from the tribe of Judah. So this presented a dilemma: How could there be a king who was also a priest? How can he show up during this rescue situation? He blessed Abram by saying, "Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth. And blessed be God Most High, who delivered your enemies into your hand." Then Abram gave Melchizedek a tenth of everything he had. He was, in fact, worshiping. Think about this character for a moment – he shows up out of nowhere, he is not a Jew, but yet he is both a king and a priest, he brought with him bread and wine, and Abram worshiped him. This figure shows up in Psalm 110 as well: "The LORD has sworn and will not change his mind: 'You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.'" A priest forever, with no beginning and end.

Here is the challenge for us: Lent is a time for us to think about our own rescue. We all find ourselves from time to time in impossible situations, like Jessica; and only God can rescue us. We've been asking ourselves during Lent, "How can God rescue us?" In Lent, God draws near to us with a priest who has no beginning or end – and this priest is in fact Jesus.

In the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams' book "Ponder These Things," the author speaks of a legend that considers what it might have been like for Mary at the time of the annunciation. The story has Mary sitting at the spinning wheel, creating a scarlet and purple veil for the temple. If you remember, the temple had a 40' high separation between the inner temple and the Holy of Holies. Only the high priest was allowed to enter this place, and he was only allowed to do it on one day a year. He would go behind the veil, and draw near to God. The veil, or curtain, was a sign of separation and fear. When Mary said "yes" to the angel, God parted that curtain of fear and guilt. Now we don't see the terror and darkness; we see Jesus taking his throne on his mother's lap. He has come closer to us than even we are to ourselves. God comes and rescues us in the person of Jesus.

We have a great high priest in Jesus. God has drawn near to us. Our shame, fear, and loneliness cannot separate us from God. Whatever challenge we face, whatever amount of shame and guilt we have piled up – God rescues us. He comes forth, bearing bread and wine to celebrate with us. He comes to us and meets our need.

When they were approaching Jerusalem, at Bethphage and Bethany, near the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples and said to them, ‘Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately as you enter it, you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden; untie it and bring it. If anyone says to you, “Why are you doing this?” just say this, “The Lord needs it and will send it back here immediately.”’ They went away and found a colt tied near a door, outside in the street. As they were untying it, some of the bystanders said to them, ‘What are you doing, untying the colt?’ They told them what Jesus had said; and they allowed them to take it. Then they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it; and he sat on it. Many people spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut in the fields. Then those who went ahead and those who followed were shouting, ‘Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David! Hosanna in the highest heaven!’ Then he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple; and when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve.  Mark 11:1-11  

Four years ago, the youth group went on a trip to the Holy Land. They were fortunate enough to be there on Palm Sunday, and they participated in the annual re-enactment of Jesus entering Jerusalem. Thousands moved slowly along through the Kidron Valley, over the Mount of Olives and into Jerusalem, singing songs of praise and waving palm fronds.

Palm Sunday, 2000 years later, still has a certain magnificence, but it also has a realistic side. It is a moment of worship, praise, honor and glory, but it also has the reality of an ending in suffering and death. All of our lives are like a Palm Sunday procession. If we are honest with ourselves, we are all desperately in need of Good Friday, because we all stumble and don't live up to God's plan for us. As we who believe, we cry out Hosanna in the Highest! – but also, Hosanna, save me.

Today, let's go back 2000 years and imagine we are in Jerusalem. What would we see? We might see a roman centurion riding a chariot through the streets. He strikes fear in our hearts, because we see him as the oppressor. What would we do with him? We would equate him with strength and power, and the enforcer of the law. Although we might long for his power, he would surely have nothing to do with us. Or, we might imagine that we see a parade forming, because a celebrity was coming through. This celebrity was said to have the ability to work wonders and miracles. The crowd would be pushing in towards him as he came through, and the disciples would be around him, protecting him, and not letting us get too close. He would be like our president today, with secret service bodyguards all around him. Do we see him as the deliverer of our difficulties? Or would we long for the glory and riches that he surely has, being a celebrity? Or perhaps imagine a religious figure appearing that day in Jerusalem. He would be wearing fine robes, and would not allow himself to be defiled. We would never be in the place of closeness that he is with God. How would we react to him? Perhaps we'd be attracted to the control that all religious leaders had in that day.

Which of these characteristics do you struggle with? Which has a hold on you? Do you long for power, like the centurion, or do you strive to be a celebrity, with lots of money and riches? Or do you want to have control over everything around you? What would we have done on that Palm Sunday?

Think about Jesus for a minute. He asked for a donkey. He didn't want the power of a stallion and a chariot. He went along the road amongst the people, where someone might reach out and touch the hem of his garment for healing. He wasn't concerned about getting his fine robes dirty. The disciples went and found the donkey, just as he said. The donkey is a lowly beast, and one riding a donkey rides low to the ground. Everyone is taller than someone on a donkey! But Jesus was fulfilling the book of Zechariah: Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. (Zec 9:9) The King of the Jews was riding on a donkey.

In the book of 1 Kings, David asks, "Who will be the next king?" He gathers his counselors around him, and announces that he wants Solomon to be the next king. And so that everyone would know that Solomon was to be king, he had his servants set him on David's donkey, and take him to Gihon where he was anointed king over Israel. The anointing here is actually a commissioning. The people blew their trumpets and played their flutes and shouted, "Long live King Solomon!"  The noise was enough to make the ground shake.

The question becomes for us today: What would we do with him? When our lives get caught up in the lure of power, fame, riches and control, what do we do? When the people say, "You are our king," would we say, "Jesus, save me?" Palm Sunday isn't about the crowds – it is about each individual in the crowd. We are not separated from Jesus by a chariot or security guards or fine robes. He knew that he and he alone would save. What would you do with Jesus? Today he isn't at the gates of Jerusalem, like he was 2000 years ago, but he is at the gates of our hearts, and he stands there knocking. All of our lives, he's been there. Imagine him there know, with bloodied hands. His gentle rap on the door might be smothered by the noise in our lives, but he is there. Will that be your prayer today? Will you say, "Hosanna, save me?"