Busy, Distracted and on the Road (Palm / Passion Sunday)

Sermons on YouTube…

Palm Sunday marks the beginning of a week we call “Holy Week.” It’s a week of recalling and re-enacting the central story of our Christian faith – the story of Jesus’ death and resurrection.

Many of us will gather together at church multiple times this week, as there’s almost always something going on to help us dig deeper into the story of God’s redeeming love for us. In fact, Holy Week is supposed to be a special time of intense focus on the saving of acts of God. It’s supposed to be a time of reflection and prayer. It’s supposed to be a time when all of the distractions of the world are put aside so that we can we enter more fully into the story of Jesus’ death and resurrection for us.

And yet, over the years, I’ve found that this time of year really isn’t all that great for having a special, intense time of focus. And that’s because right before Easter is:

• Also the Feast of Spring Break – and many of us are on the road traveling, on vacation or visiting colleges …

• Usually a time full of distractions – as we’re getting ready for Easter dinners with families, preparing for graduations or finally getting around to yard work, or a bunch of other things that always seem to pop up when any holiday approaches …

• Still filled with all the regular stuff we need to do – this is a time of year when the deadlines and pressures of work don’t go away, and when everybody expects you, on the day after Easter (unlike the day after Christmas), to be fully up to speed …

For many of us – if not all of us – Holy Week is NOT a week of reflection and quietness.  Instead, it’s usually a time in which we’re, well, like we almost always are: busy, on the road and distracted.

Sometimes, I wish we could celebrate Holy Week at a time when we weren’t so busy, on the road or distracted.  But then, I’m not sure when that time would be!

On the other hand, maybe it’s not entirely a bad thing that we’re called to recall and re-enact the central story of God’s love and salvation when we are busy and on the road and distracted.  Because actually, that’s how it happened the first time.  It was in the context of busy, on the road and distracted lives that Jesus entered Jerusalem and accomplished our salvation.

Consider, as we read the story in a few moments, that everything that happened on that Holy Week happened among people who were:

• busy with all kinds of other things – even the disciples were busy trying to get the Passover dinner ready (and in the end, they’re so tired they can’t stay awake) …

• on the road – Jerusalem had swelled with people on “Passover break” who, like Jesus and the disciples, were on the road from other places, needing to find a place to stay and figure out which end was up …

• distracted with all kinds of day to day issues – the Romans, after all, had beefed up security, the Temple authorities were still plotting against them, and all the day to day stresses of their lives hadn’t gone away…

And yet, Jesus acted to save them in spite of all this. God was still at work, doing a new thing in their lives, even when they were busy, on the road and distracted.

So maybe, as we enter into this Holy Week, part of the message of Jesus’ salvation for us is that:

• God is always at work in our lives, even when we’re busy, and distracted and on the road … (Thankfully, God doesn’t wait until we find that quiet and reflective moment to act …)

• we ought always to be looking for the new and saving things that God is doing in our midst, especially when we’re busy and on the road … (often, we may think of “spiritual exercise” as times of intense focus; but often, like physical exercise, a little bit all the time is probably better than a lot only once in a great while …)

• often, simple acts of following Jesus are most beneficial to us precisely at those moments when we’re tired and distracted … (just as the disciples did when they followed Jesus to the garden, they took the time to listen and to serve, and so they saw what God was doing …)

We’re busy. We’re on the road. And we’re often distracted. But in spite of this, Jesus is still working in our lives, calling us to listen, to follow and to act, even when things are chaotic around us.  So let’s keep that in mind, as we read together now the story of God’s love and salvation for us – the Passion of our Lord According to Matthew …