Hearing Voices

“…Pilate said to them, ‘Why, what evil has he done?  I have found in him no grounds for the sentence of death; I will therefore have him flogged and then release him.’  But they kept urgently demanding with loud shouts that he should be crucified; and their voices prevailed.”

                                                                        --- Luke 23:22-23

            Whose voices prevail?  Growing up in America, I have always been taught and have always believed that democracy is the best form of government.  Even if that means it’s also the worst--except for all the others.  The voices of the majority are supposed to prevail, so we get what we asked for…supposedly.

But we know even better how it works in a family.  We can see the pitfalls of majority rule if we applied it to our family.  In a family, whose voices prevail?  Hopefully, the voices of the parents prevail because they know what’s best for the children.  If the children’s voices prevail, we’ll have a mess (at least if the children are anything like I was when I was a child). This doesn’t mean the children don’t have a voice and don’t get a say, it’s just that they don’t get to make the final decisions.  Their voices don’t prevail.

            We also know what happens to the masses when they are swayed by high emotions, manipulated by false facts, turned from the “better angels of our nature” into a mob that reacts with fear and violence.  One day’s bombshell dropped in the headlines, and your previously admiring public turns against you.  In the eyes of the world, you go from “winning” to “sinning” in an instant.  Whose voices prevail?

            As Jesus rode into Jerusalem positive that he wouldn’t make it out alive, it was the voices of the crowd prevailing.  They lauded and applauded his humble entrance, singing songs of blessing and celebrating with waving palm branches and a king’s welcome.  They were hoping he would be the one to defeat their enemies, rout the Romans, build them a new kingdom and help them dominate the world.  Their hopes were high when he entered the temple and drove out the merchants.  At last their voices were being heard.  At last they would be the ones on top. 

            But the enthusiasm fades fast…  He is seized, beaten, judged, and hurried to an execution, and when the crowds had a chance to redeem him from death, they prefer saving a terrorist.  Jesus, Son of God and Savior of the people is crucified, sentenced by the majority.  Their voices prevail.

            This month we will hear their voices ring out again as we walk together through Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday (the “night He was betrayed”), and Good Friday.  We will remember how those voices drowned out the voices of hope and faith and reflect on how our own voices still mingle with that crowd.  We will also hear his cries of agony and forgiveness from the cross, hear the shutting of his tomb, hear the silent finality of death.  But our journey does not end there.  On Easter Sunday we will walk together out of the dark and into the sunrise, and hear the one voice that matters most of all: the voice of God.  After it was clear that humanity deserved no part in what he came to bring, God brought it anyway: a new chance at hope, life, and love. 

We are blessed to live in a world where Jesus lives, and where in the end, God’s voice prevails.

OUR EASTER SERVICES THIS YEAR INCLUDE:

            Sunday Services on Palm Sunday: 8:30am, 10am, 11:30am

            Maundy Thursday service with First Communion: 7pm

            Good Friday service: 7pm,
                                                    followed by all-night vigil at the tomb

            Easter Sunday Services: 6:45am (outdoor sanctuary),
                                                                8am with 9am breakfast, 10am

            Each year we relive the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, and his journey from life to death and back to life.  One of our confirmation students observed that passion is what makes an athlete persevere to the finish of a race, a fight, or a hard-fought game.  Passion is what we have when we have invested body and soul in something or someone we love.  It makes us willing to sacrifice and willing to give our all for another.

            We hear a lot of voices in our world.  They want to tell us who is and is not worthwhile.  They want us to see the world from one angle and forget that there are many perspectives.  They want to mesmerize and distract us from God’s message of love and hope.  Come join us this Easter, as we listen to the one voice that calls out to us all…the one voice that prevails in the end, the voice that says we all are loved.  Come hear our God say, “Rejoice, for He is risen indeed…Alleluia.”

Peace,

Pastor Scott