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Holy Trinity Anglican Orthodox Church
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Palm Sunday |
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April 1, 2007 Lent Is Not enough Lent is a time for holiness, and the things we do in Lent are simply the things that lead to holy living. Of course, every day is a time for holiness. We do not claim that holiness is appropriate for Lent, while wickedness is appropriate for other times. We do not endorse the Mardi Gras mentality. We simply agree that the forty days before the annual celebration of the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ is a convenient time to intentionally apply ourselves to seeking God. It is a good time to withdraw from the other pursuits of life, and devote our time to growing in Christ. If there is a Scripture verse that expresses the heart of Lent, it is Joel 2:13; Rend your heart, and not your garments. To many people, Lent is simply a cute ceremony they perform without engaging their minds and souls. I often speak to people who are going to confirmation classes, or Holy Communion, or some other act of worship, with a very light and casual, even flippant attitude. Often these acts include making serious vows, which the people never really intend to keep. It is very much like the approach to wedding vows some people have. They promise to love, comfort, honour, and keep in sickness and in health, and forsaking all others keep only unto each other so long as they both shall live. But they don’t mean it. They are simply performing a pretty ritual and putting on a show. They are rending their garments. But God does not care about rending garments. In fact, He probably considers that wasteful. God is concerned about our hearts. God desires true holiness, not the outward appearances of it. I think Lent is a good way to prepare for Easter because it reminds us again of our need for The Saviour. Even during forty days of intentional holy living, we see how very far short we fall of the mark, the target, of the glory of God. Even in Lent we find our hearts can be cold, our hearts can be hard, and our lives can be worldly and self indulgent. Truly our only hope is God, for we can do nothing good of ourselves. We find the same principle at work in our Gospel Lesson for Morning Prayer. Today being Palm Sunday, that Lesson comes from Mark 11, and is popularly known as the Triumphal Entry. But in reality there was no triumph in it for Christ because the people lining the streets and laying palm branches before Him were not really receiving Him. These people were the ones who had received the bulk of Christ’s ministry. It was to them that most of His sermons were preached, and most of His miracles were given, and they had come to believe that He was indeed the long awaited Messiah. Thus, as they marched with Him into the city of Jerusalem to observe the Passover, they acclaimed him as their King. But there was a serious flaw in their understanding of this King. It is so terribly important that we follow God God’s way and not according to our own devices and desires. There is one Christ. There is one Lord. There is one faith. There cannot be two. That is why Paul said: I marvel that you are so soon removed from him who called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: which is not another; but there be some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But even though we, or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. We simply cannot make up our own gospels and our own christs. To do so is not service to God, nor is it pleasing in His sight. These Galileans acclaiming Jesus were really cheering for what they believed was the culmination of their hope for a military Messiah to lead them in a holy war against the Gentiles and subdue the earth under them forever. It had nothing to do with the real ministry and purpose of Jesus. Likewise, we often try to force our ideas on God. We have our views of what God ought to be like, and ought to do, and how He ought to act, and they are often based on our own whims and desires rather than the revelation of God recorded in the Holy Bible. The people crowding the streets of Jerusalem, though outwardly cheering and worshiping Christ, were actually rejecting the true Christ. They were rending their GARMENTS instead of their hearts. Let us be careful, lest we make the same mistake. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
The Rev. Dr. R. Dennis Campbell, Vicar, Holy Trinity Anglican Church,
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