Sermon 3.29.26 Awaken our Ears, Lord, Save us.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6qNyGBRbS4

 One of the things that I continue to be challenged by in this world is my desire to speak and to be heard.

In a church with so many educators, I imagine that I am not the only one who has had this desire.

As a priest in a congregation who had many people attend the No Kings Protests yesterday, I imagine that I am not the only one who wishes those in power would listen to our voice.

As one who has been adopted into the legacy of the Civil Rights pioneers and those who were not given a voice, but took the microphone to the mountain top, I often deeply desire to make my own voice heard in the pursuit of justice.

I am challenged by my own desire to speak, because there seems to be so much to say, and because as the prophet Isaiah says, “The Lord God has given me the tongue of a teacher, that I may know how to sustain the weary with a word.”

To be able to offer a word of comfort is a fulfilling thing, to be entrusted with the vocation of teaching is a great and gratifying responsibility.

And, as the Apostle James warns us teachers, that we will be judged more harshly, it is also something to be held in balance.

In our Scriptures today, on Palm Sunday, we are given the opportunity each year to hold ourselves in limbo, in balance;

To understand the power of what we speak, and the cost of our words.

What I want us to notice today in our Scriptures is the difference between who speaks and who listens, who thinks they know exactly what they want and need, and who has ears to hear.

Right after Isaiah tells us that he is a teacher, what does he say next?

“Morning by morning he wakens--wakens my earto listen as those who are taught.

The Lord God has opened my ear,and I was not rebellious,I did not turn backward.”

He goes immediately from a posture of one who has been given the tongue to speak wisdom,

And he shuns his power of speech to be one who listens.

He defies our expectations of a prophet as one who speaks only; who castigates, excoriates, and pontificates.

 To be a prophet also means to have ears awakened and to listen as those who are taught.

Moving into our split gospel lessons for the day, I want you to transfer this knowledge from Isaiah about speaking and listening and notice Jesus anew.

This man, “who though he was in the form of God did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself,” as the Apostle Paul tells the people of Philippi.

In the first gospel lesson, the only time Jesus speaks is to ask the disciples to get him the donkey that he will ride into Jerusalem,

The rest of the speaking is done by the Scriptures or by the people.

And we notice year after year, how the people speak.

At the beginning of the week, as Jesus rides into Jerusalem on the opposite side of the city from the Roman occupiers whose mantra like some in our own government is “overwhelming violence,”

The people cry out the words of psalm 118, “anna Adonai Hoshia-na: Hosanna, Lord save us.”

The people rally and they speak and they beg for relief from the cruelties of Roman power.

In Jesus, they see a king of David’s line, who might be able to save them from the perils of this world.

And Jesus doesn’t say a mumblin’ word.

He notices, and he has pity, and he resolves to save these people, and so he enters Jerusalem.

Later in the week, these same voices, who know what they want and what they need, the ones who cry Hosanna, become the same voices that say “crucify him.”

And Jesus doesn’t say a mumblin’ word.

Again, Jesus notices, and he has pity, and he resolves to save these people, and so he bears his cross.

In as much as Jesus teaches and preaches to his disciples and to us, Jesus also listened, stayed silent, and offered us a model of power that rejects “overwhelming violence.”

 In a world, that constantly encourages us to speak, encourages us to cry out Hosannas one moment and curses the next,

Maybe to be prophetic and to be powerful is also to listen, to awaken our ears, and not turn back.

This week gives us that opportunity.

As much as it is important for us to be those prophetic people who carry on the tradition of civil rights, who don’t let ourselves be run over by the powers of this world, who go out and protest and say,

“No Kings in America!”

We’re also people who listen.

And so this week, I invite you to a Holy Week of listening, a Holy Week of awakening your ears,

So that you can see that Jesus came to save us.

When we cry, “Hosanna, Lord Save us!”

It’s the same word that Jesus’ name comes from, Ieshua, the one who saves.

So when we cry, “Lord, Save us,” God sent the one who saves.

And notice at the end of our Scriptures today, they say, “Look at this guy. He should be able to save himself.”

And Jesus doesn’t speak.

Jesus doesn’t say, “you were crying Hosanna, and I’m the answer to that plea. I’m here to save you.”

They say that Jesus should save himself.

But Jesus answers by his actions, “I didn’t come to save myself. I came to save you.”

That’s the Lord that we follow.

That is the King of Kings.

So, this week as we go through the week, I invite you to speak a little less, listen a little more.

And, let’s see if Hosanna in the Highest comes to save us.

Amen.