Salvogesis

  Image 4 of 5: Palm branches: John tells us also that the people lining the streets aren’t just yelling, ‘save us king’. This is important.  They are waving palm branches. Today is Palm Sunday. Can anyone tell me the significance of palm leaves at this time and place? The palm branches are important.  What do the Palm branches represent? They didn’t just pick up palm branches because palm branches happen to be near-by; they pick up the palm branches because palm branches are a nationalistic symbol (cf. 1 Maccabees 13:51, 2 Macabbees 10:7; cf. also Leviticus 23:40, Psalm 92:12, Matthew 21:8; Mark 11:8). Recently in Canada our National Flag was lowered for months and it looked like it may never rise again. Later it was used in a massive protest on Parliament Hill. These are significant. The use of the palm branches in our text is even more significant. It would be like if Canada was going to seek independence from the US or someone else and we were waving maple leaves or f...

Our third image to consider today is that of the crowds shouting. Verse 13, John records, ‘They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the Name of the Lord! Blessed is the King of Israel!” This is significant stuff. We sing ‘Hosanna’ in a lot of songs. We always mention ‘Hosanna’ at Palm Sunday. ‘Hosanna’ is what they are shouting as Jesus is riding into the capital of occupied Judea right under the noses of the Romans even as their collaborators, the Jewish religious leaders, have already put a plan into motion to kill Jesus. Do we know what Hosanna means (Verse 13; cf. Psalm 118:25-26)? Hosanna means ‘O Save!’, ‘Salvation!’, ‘Save us!’  Jesus is triumphantly entering the historic capital of Judah – which is occupied by the Romans and people are saying, ‘Jesus! You are our king! You –like all kings are supposed to – you come here in the Name of the Lord! Jesus, you – not Caesar, not the Romans, not the chief priests, not the ric...

The second of our five images for of Palm Sunday: What city is Jesus riding into? Jesus is entering Jerusalem. What is the significance of Jerusalem? Jerusalem is the historic capital of Judah and Israel? Susan the kids and I went to Ottawa for Canada's 150th anniversary. One would expect a lot of patriotism in any capital city on a day of national celebration. Now Jerusalem, in our text today, is part of the occupied territories. The Romans, the Superpower of the time, have troops in the city and they control the government. To some extent they even appoint the religious leaders in Jerusalem (cf. John 18). And like all superpowers they don’t tend to like rebellion and they know that if there is to be a rebellion by the Jewish people it would probably happen here in Jerusalem – their ancient capital city – and it would probably happen now during Passover, when the population of Jerusalem overflows with so many people descending upon the city. Jerusalem is the ancient capital city o...

Palm Sunday is a significant day in the Christian Church. Any of us who have grown up in the church or who have been going to church for a few years have inevitably been to a few Palm Sunday services. Do we know what the big deal is about Palm Sunday? John in his gospel does a great job of telling us the meaning of Palm Sunday in his record of the triumphal entry. He uses a lot of symbolism – not unlike Shakespeare in ‘Julius Caesar’. This week we are going to pull out five pieces of that imagery and then put it back together for a full picture of what Palm Sunday looks like in our life today. In this entry we are going to look at Triumphal Entry and Jerusalem. First, let’s re-read John 12:12-19: The next day the great crowd that had come for the festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting, “Hosanna!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Blessed is the king of Israel!” Jesus found a young donkey and sa...

You cannot take care of both your soul and your worldly goods at the same time. If you want worldly goods, give up your soul; if you want to protect your soul, renounce worldly goods. Otherwise, you will be constantly divided and you will not receive either one or the other.  When you are alarmed or upset with something worldly. remember that you will have to die. and then what you used to think was an important misfortune will become an insignificant nuisance in your eyes. - Epictetus

Perfect love drives out fear: People have been filled with so much fear and hate in this country that it is not only driving out love but it is also clouding our reason - at least mine. There is lots I do not understand. Look at our rules still in place right now about Covid-19. I don't understand them. People are now allowed to be in bars dancing and drinking and being in close contact with one another. You can be crammed in a seat in sports game so close to someone else that they can spill their drink on you or spray the food from their mouth all over you.  At the same time, in our province, one must be vaccinated to eat at a restaurant where the server takes your order from the table. The waiter, however, who goes from table-to-table does not need to be vaccinated. If unvaccinated people are more likely to carry the virus, then the legislation is putting all the customers and especially the staff at risk; if not, then what is the point of the passport - to keep unvaccinated patr...

 Anti-Bully Day is coming. I saw a bullying meme the other day comparing vaccine mandates to seatbelt mandates with the implication being that just as no one is opposed to seatbelt legislation, no one should be opposed to vaccine legislation. My mind immediately recalled the time last century when BC updated its motorcycle legislation. The courts decided that BC’s helmet legislation discriminated against a particular religious/cultural group; so, they struck it down. The government of the day then decided to implement new helmet legislation for motorcycle riders. This is from the ‘new’ legislation:   MOTORCYCLE SAFETY HELMET EXEMPTION REGULATION Exemption 1 The following persons are exempt from the requirements of section 194 (3) of the Motor Vehicle Act: (a)a person who (i) practises the Sikh religion, and (ii)has unshorn hair and habitually wears a turban composed of 5 or more square metres of cloth.   I do remember the debates at the time. I remember ...

  This image pops up in my 'memories' on Facebook every year around this time. There was a building that we used to frequent in inner city Toronto when we lived and worked there with The Salvation Army. It was certainly a rough building in a rough area of town. Many of our congregation and people who frequented our café/soup kitchen and food bank lived in this building. I would lead Bible studies there once a week and other members of The Salvation Army would regularly clean out people's rooms so they could get rid of bed bugs or help each other out in some other way.   One day when I was visiting a friend or helping someone out in someway on the 11th floor I saw this on the elevator door. A few people were initially upset with this (maybe even for my sake because they didn't want me to be hurt). I laughed though and immediately took this picture as I took this graffitied elevator door as a blessing. I was blessed to know that our team's caring for and loving people...

He humbles those who dwell on high, He lays the lofty city low; He levels it to the ground and casts it down to the dust. Feet trample it down— the feet of the oppressed, the footsteps of the poor. The path of the righteous is level; you, the Upright One, make the way of the righteous smooth. Yes, Lord, walking in the way of your laws, we wait for You; Your name and renown are the desire of our hearts. I think the humbling of the exalted and the uplifting of the humbled is important to Isaiah. We have chatted about its meaning previously: God wants to gather us close to him like a parent picking up his children, or even a farmer picking up soil or seeds or anything else he can hold in the palm of his hand that he loves. Sometimes, as the Lord is picking us up we have a desire to reach heights quicker or greater than He is lifting us at the moment and as a result we try to lift ourselves up; we leap from the Lord’s hands. When we do this, of course, we wind up falling to the ground. We ...

Can you be angry with one who is sick with some disgusting illness? Is he to blame that his presence is unpleasant to you? You should treat moral illness in the same way. "However", you would say, "humans have the intellect to understand their vices." This is true. This also means that you have an intellect; you can help your neighbour to understand his vices and bring him to a better life. Treat his blindness, and awaken his soul, without displaying your impatience and superiority, - Marcus Aurelius

This week was Chinese New Year. At Chinese New Year events they often give each person a loonie. What we will do for that is donate a loonie to Partners In Mission for each person here today. The other thing I associate with Chinese New Year is what most of us associate with Chinese food. Fortune Cookies. I often think it would be neat to have a Christian Chinese Food Restaurant where instead of fortunes in the cookies there would be scriptures or proverbs. So today I have proverb cookies – well proverb plastic eggs for us. Heather will hand them out. You can open yours up and look at it. Don’t lose it. I am going to ask people to read them out. And then we will share in a blessing from each one. Who has Proverbs 3:5? Read it out please. Trust in the Lord with all your heart     and lean not on your own understanding God confounds the wise (1 Corinthians 1:27); the sin of the book of judges shows just how much trouble can come when we ‘do what is right our own eyes’. The truth...