Palm/Passion Sunday “APRIL FOOLISHNESS”

Readings: Psalm 118:19-29, Isaiah 50:4-10, Mark 11:7-10, 15-18, 1 Corinthians 1:18-25
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY, on April 1st 2012

A printable PDF file can be found here

Can somebody answer me a question. Why is there a man in a gorilla costume sitting with his legs hanging over the edge of the balcony? APRIL FOOL! Of course today is 'April's Fools Day'. April is a significant month for remembrances.

April 3rd is 'Don't Go To Work Unless It's Fun Day '
April 7th is ' No Housework Day'
April 9th is 'Winston Churchill Day' (and don't you ever, ever, ever forget it!)
April 11th is 'Eight-Track Tape Day'
April 24th is 'National Pigs In A Blanket Day'
April 30th is 'National Honesty Day '(Honestly... you can't make this stuff up)

But more significantly, for ourselves, here and now, April 1st 2012 is also the Sunday in the liturgical calendar we know as Palm Sunday or Passion Sunday. Already in our service we have sung about and heard about how Jesus came into Jerusalem riding on a donkey.

What kind of April foolishness was that? You see kings didn't ride donkeys. Kings rode war horses that snorted at the crowds and held their heads up high. They didn't ride little donkeys that had to be persuaded to move with a stick and who responded to the crowds by saying 'Hee-Haw'. Donkeys are creatures of comedy, not steeds of royalty.

But here comes Jesus. And the crowds are yelling and cheering. “Hosanna. Hosanna. Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord”. They are crazily waving palm branches around. Dad is saying 'Be careful with that son, you'll have someones eye out'. They are throwing down coats to make a carpet. Mum is saying; “Oh no. not the new coat! What are people going to say when you go to school tomorrow and there are donkey hoof marks all over your clothes?”

But they don't care. Everybody is in on it. Everybody has got a touch of April Foolishness as they welcome Jesus into town. Everybody... except maybe the important people standing in the shadows on the sidelines. Except for the soldiers who are making sneering remarks to one another about ignorant peasants. Except for the religious leaders who are already planning to do away with Jesus.

Then what does Jesus do! He goes into the temple and almost starts a riot. Overturning tables. Letting sacrificial animals go free. Telling everybody; 'My Father's House is a house of prayer for all people! You've turned it into a den of thieves!” It's like He's suggesting the priests were the mafia, the temple assistants were con-men and the whole thing was just some kind of profiteering racket. And maybe, as nobody seems to try to stop Him, that's exactly what was going on! But, again, what kind of April Foolishness was that? That kind of nonsense could get you in trouble.

If you followed the story through in Marks gospel you would find out that's exactly what happens. He debates with the important people. Tells some stories that make them look bad. They gang up on Him and have Him arrested. He's put on trial and even though innocent loses the case. His friends betray Him. The authorities let a criminal go free and give Jesus a death sentence. They parade Him out of the city. Soldiers mock Him and insult Him and torture Him, dressing Him up in a robe and sticking a crown of thorns into His scalp. They crucify Him amongst thieves on a Cross in a place called Golgotha. April Foolishness turns dark and nasty and nobodies laughing anymore. It's bleak and cold and scary. Even Jesus shouts out; “My God, My God, Why have You forsaken me?”

But wait a moment. There's something going on here that everybody was missing. Paul talks about it when, a few years later, he's writing a letter to a church in a place called Corinth.

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written: "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate." Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling-block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength. (1 Corinthians 1:18-25 NIB)

Here is a different kind of April foolishness. Here is Paul telling us 'The message of the Cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God!”. Here is Paul telling us that this whole thing, from the donkey ride into town, to the uproar in the temple, to the betrayal and trial and trouble, all through to Jesus death on the Cross was not an act of madness but all part of God's plan for bringing salvation to the world.

And it is kind of crazy. How can what Jesus did all those years ago matter to us here in the 21st Century? How can one innocent man's tragic death help anybody to know the love of God? How can the life of Jesus have anything to do with my life in the here and now? What kind of April Foolery is going on here?

Look friends! A table laid with bread and wine. A table in the midst of our church sanctuary, in the shadow of a Cross. A table with the words “remember me” carved into it. An invitation will be given to break bread and to drink wine and remember the life, ministry and death of Jesus Christ.

I've been foolish enough to miss out the craziest part of the story as Mark tells it. It doesn't end on the cross but on Easter morning. Our story ends with His followers, women and men finding an empty tomb, encountering Jesus risen presence and declaring to the world, “It's not over. It's just beginning!” It ends with the Risen Jesus telling His disciples, “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.” (Mar 16:15). Marks final words are these. “The disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed His word by the signs that accompanied it.” (Mar 16:20 NIB)

So today I'm inviting you to be a fool for Christ. To think about His life. What do you make of someone who hangs around with people with contagious diseases? Or consorted with known outcasts? Or spent time with the mentally ill? Or spoke with strange women in the byways? Or insulted the rich? Or irritated His own family and villagers with His claims? Or made heroes of children and workers and the poor and down-trodden? Or invited people to take up their own crosses and follow Him?

I invite you to think about the disciples. How were those who betrayed Him transformed into being those who proclaimed Him? How did those who saw Him die become people willing to die for their faith that He was alive? How did a small band of fishermen, tax-collectors, freedom fighters, doubters and betrayers become world-changers? What happened to that guy Saul, who had no time for Christians at all, that he become a guy named Paul, who claimed to have a life changing message for us all?

What is this April Foolishness we are gathered here together to celebrate around a table with little bits of bread and tiny cups of juice? Dare we be those who are crazy enough to put our faith in God that through God's power, through the presence and influence of the Holy Spirit, God can take the smoldering embers of our faith and ignite them with the fire of Jesus love? Again as Paul writes to the Corinthian church 'For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength. '

So here we are. April Fools Day. Invited to place all our hope and trust in God, through Jesus Christ and seek for the same Holy Spirit who raised Jesus to life, to live in and through us and enrich the lives of others. Here we are on April Fools day, invited to commit ourselves to the foolish (and in the eyes of many in our world, unimportant tasks) of feeding the hungry and praying for peace and seeking freedom for those denied justice.

Here we are invited to stand with the crazy palm waving, coat throwing crowd that shout “Hosanna, Hosanna, Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!” Here we are invited to say that this place is our Father's house, that this time is a time for prayer, that this is the Lord's day and we are the Lord's children.

A favorite quote of mine says; "Any Christian is a jester in the court of a king, a dissident in a society of rules, someone who makes mischief and laughter and flirts with danger… and in doing so flirts with a higher authority than the one which physically confronts him."

So I invite you to come to this table as an act of April foolishness, to flirt for a moment with a higher authority than all the earthly voices that seek to tell us what really matters and who really counts. To make this time a moment of re-commitment to the love of God that confounds the ways of the world.

To God’s name be the glory!

Rev Adrian J Pratt