Sermon Library
“Lent, Life and the Wisdom of Hot Chocolate”
Rev. Dr. Gregg R. Anderson
March 07, 2010
Service Theme: Lent III - 2010
Source: Matthew 2: 1-12
Lent III-2010 March 7, 2010
Lent, Life, and the Wisdom of Hot Chocolate
Matthew 2: 1 – 12
The Imperial Procession
Two processions entered Jerusalem on a spring day in the year 30. It was the beginning of the week of Passover, the most sacred week of the Jewish year. On the West side of the city, the main entrance so to speak, entered Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of Idumea, Judea and Samaria. At the head of the column were the imperial cavalry and soldiers. Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan in their book The Last Week envision the imperial processions arrival in the city. Imagine a “panoply of imperial power: cavalry on horses, foot soldiers, leather armor, helmets, weapons, banners, golden eagles mounted on poles, sun glinting on metal and gold. Imagine the sounds: the marching of feet, the creaking of leather, the clinking of bridles, the beating of drums. Then think of the swirling of dust from the entourage. The eyes of the silent onlookers, some curious, some awed, some resentful.”
“Pilate’s military procession was a demonstration of both Roman imperial power and Roman imperial theology. Though unfamiliar to most people today, the imperial procession was well known in the Jewish homeland in the first century. [The writer of the gospel of] Mark and the community for which he wrote would have known about it, for it was the standard practice of the Roman governors of Judea to be in Jerusalem for the major Jewish festivals. They did so not out of empathetic reverence for the religious devotion of their Jewish subjects, but to be in the city in case there was trouble from the increased population. The irony is this was for Passover, a festival that celebrated the Jewish people’s liberation from an earlier empire.”
Imperial Theology
“Pilate’s procession displayed not only imperial power, but also Roman imperial theology. According to this theology, the emperor was not simply the ruler of Rome, but the Son of God. It was considered inherent with the greatest of the emperors, Augustus, who ruled Rome from 31 BCE to 14 CE. He was considered to be a descendant of the god Apollo, who conceived him in his mother, Atia. Inscriptions refer to him as “son of God, “lord” and “savior,” one who had brought “peace on earth.” After his death, he was seen ascending into heaven to take his permanent place among the gods. His successors continued to bear divine titles, including Tiberius, emperor from 14 to 37 CE and thus emperor during the time of Jesus’ public activity. For Rome’s Jewish subjects, Pilate’s procession embodied not only a rival social order, but also a rival theology.”
Domination System
Just prior and during the time of Jesus, Jerusalem became, unfortunately, a center of a domination system, according to Borg and Crossan and many other biblical scholars. It names a social system marked by three major features. The three major factors are:
1. Political oppression. In such societies the many were ruled by the few, the powerful and wealthy elites: the monarchy, nobility, aristocracy, and their associates. Ordinary people had no voice in the shaping of the society.
2. Economic exploitation. A high percentage of the society’s wealth, which came primarily from agricultural production in preindustrial societies, went into the coffers of the wealthy and powerful – between one-half and two-thirds of it. How did they manage to do this? By the way they set the system up, through the structures and laws about land ownership, taxation, indenture of labor through debt, and so forth.
3. Religious legitimation. In ancient societies, these systems were legitimated, or justified, with religious language. The people were told the king ruled by divine right, the king was the Son of God, the social order reflected the will of God, and the powers that be were ordained by God. Of course, religion sometimes became the source of protest against these claims. But in most pre-modern societies known to us, religion has been used to legitimate the place of the wealthy and powerful in the social order over which they preside.
Monarchical and aristocratic rule by a wealthy few began about five thousand years ago and was the most common form of social system in the ancient world. As the home of the monarchy and aristocracy, of wealth and power, Jerusalem became the center of injustice and of betrayal of God’s covenant. God’s passion for justice had been replaced by human injustice.
Herod, King of the Jews
In the decades after Rome took control of the Jewish homeland, there were power struggles among the Jewish aristocratic families, and so Rome appointed as “king of the Jews” a man named Herod, an Idumean whose family had only recently converted to Judaism. He rebuilt the temple with spacious courts, elegant colonnades, with sumptuous use of marble and gold. He built a more lavish palace for himself, which was later to become the residence of the Roman governors, including Pilate, when they were in Jerusalem. There were glittering fountains, shaded pools, ceiling painted with gold and vermillion, chairs of silver and gold inlaid with jewels, mosaic floors with agate and lapis lazuli. It was also large. The dining room could seat 300 distinguished guests. He also built an extravagant vacation home in Caesarea which of course is named after Caesar.
He was profligate in his spending, brutal in his oppression, and near the end of his reign psychopathically paranoid. Herod appointed the high priest, but limited his authority. According to Jewish law, the high priest was to serve for life, but Herod appointed and deposed seven high priests during his thirty-three years as king. He called himself Herod the Great, but other inscriptions have been found naming him Herod the Monstrous.
The Other Procession
On the other side of town, the east side, there was another processional. There was a modestly clothed man named Jesus riding on a donkey coming down from the Mount of Olives. Jesus was from the peasant village of Nazareth. His followers were also peasants as were most of the people in the country and surrounding the city. It included people who were outcasts and lame, women and Samaritans. He was the son of a laborer, perhaps a carpenter. His message was about another kind of kingdom, the kingdom of God. Many people were just beginning to understand. They stood by him and along side the entrance. Many people simply spread their cloaks and shawls before him on his path while others quickly plucked branches from some trees to lay before him and still others waved palms. They cried out, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the kingdom of our father David that is coming! Hosanna in the highest!”
Historically, politically, sociologically, theologically, Jesus presented and lived out a life that was radically and revolutionarily different than the so called esteemed norm of Roman and Jewish aristocracy. Jesus entered into a city which, at the time, had been considered the center of the world and religion. He entered on the lesser known side, the East side. Pontius Pilate, however entered on the main side, the West side. Pontius came into the city just prior to Passover in great pomp and circumstance. Jesus entered the city on the quieter side without any self-centered attention and a modest, but sincere sign of allegiance and faith by those who have been touched by this teacher of a new way of being and living and honoring God.
And Jesus Said:
In the Gospel of Matthew, in chapter 23, there are several paragraphs each beginning with “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees and hypocrites.” Jesus compares two different styles of, shall we say, leadership. In one paragraph he states, “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat; so practice and observe whatever they tell you, but not what they do; for they preach, but do not practice.” “He who is greatest among you shall be your servant; whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” Pilate entered with soldiers and a chariot and led by force. Jesus entered on a donkey and led by service. One was the executioner and one was executed. One is forgotten in history. One is worshiped and loved and changed the world.
Which Procession Are We In?
Two processions entered Jerusalem on that day. The same question, the same alternative, faces those who would be faithful to Jesus today. Which procession are we in? Which procession do we want to be in? This is the question of Lent and Palm Sunday and of the holy week that is about to unfold.
Many people seek power and prestige. Are we seekers of care and compassion? Many people seek wealth and control? Are we seekers of God’s kingdom of love and peace? For whatever people want to say about Jesus, the historical reality about Jesus is that he represented not only a new way of believing, but a new way of being. He deliberately countered the aristocratic and pharisaic domination system. Jesus spoke and lived for the oppressed and became the greatest leader by being the greatest servant.
I think of some recent followers of Jesus who have also recently changed the world. Mohatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Mother Teresa, Desmund Tutu, Nelson Mandela and the Dali Lama, just to name a few. Jesus’ task was for equality, which, at the time, was not heard of or experienced. Jesus said that all are included in the family of God. Jesus incorporated all into the family of God through a new sacrament called baptism. A Gentile, a non-Jew, became accepted into the family of God through the life of Jesus.
Jesus Is Political and Personal
The example of Jesus is both and equally political and personal. I am concerned that as much as Jesus has been worshiped, his life as a personal and political example has been eschewed and minimized. It has been enshrined in an altar to be looked at once a week and lately even that has been shrinking. And perhaps that is not so bad. Can we rediscover a new Jesus or as Borg has entitled in another one of his books, Jesus A New Vision. At the end of this book he writes, “We as Christians are called to become the church in a culture whose values are largely alien to the Christian message, to be once again the church of the catacombs. The absence of an image – the most common fruit of biblical scholarship in this century – leaves us with no clear notion of what it means to take Jesus seriously, no notion of what loyalty might entail, no direction for the life of discipleship. But the vision of Jesus as a person of Spirit, deeply involved in the historical crisis of his own time, can shape the church’s discipleship today. For us, as for the world in which he lived, he can be the light in our darkness.”
Lent and Let It Go
This is Lent and traditionally Lent has been observed as a time when Christians would give something up for the sake of remembering Jesus and his forty days in the wilderness resisting temptation. Rather than giving up something as a token, perhaps we could consider giving up our own personal need for control and dominance. Cynthia Bourgeault is telling us over and over again that one of the most significant messages of Jesus is for us to turn our lives around through an emptying of self, of our false and egoic self, and live a life free from attachments and egoic expectations. Cynthia’s mantra is “Let it go, let it go.” For it is, indeed, in our letting go that we fully receive, receive the blessing of real life and the true self. Cynthia did not make this up. She is simply repeating the essential teachings of Jesus and the millions of mystics who have found a personal Jesus behind the veils of orthodoxy and masks of authority. Cynthia’s book, The Wisdom Jesus reveals this historical and personal Jesus.
The Wisdom of Hot Chocolate
In keeping with this, I conclude with a great story entitled The Wisdom of Hot Chocolate. A group of graduates, well established in their careers, were talking at a reunion and decided to go visit their old university professor, now retired. During their visit, the conversation turned to complaints about stress in their work and lives. Offering his guests hot chocolate, the professor went into the kitchen and returned with a large pot of hot chocolate and an assortment of cups - porcelain, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite - telling them to help themselves to the hot chocolate.
When they all had a cup of hot chocolate in hand, the professor said: ‘Notice that all the nice looking, expensive cups were taken, leaving behind the plain and inexpensive ones. While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress. The cup that you’re drinking from adds nothing to the quality of the hot chocolate. In most cases it is just more expensive and in some cases even hides what we drink. What all of you really wanted was hot chocolate, not the cup; but you consciously went for the best cups ... And then you began eyeing each other’s cups.
Now consider this: Life is the hot chocolate; your job, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain life. The cup you have does not define, nor change the quality of life you have. Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the hot chocolate provided for us. God makes the hot chocolate, people choose the cups.
The happiest people don’t have the best of everything. They just make the best of everything that they have. Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly.
And enjoy your hot chocolate!
Which procession are we following? Which cup are we choosing? Amen.
Rev. Dr. Gregg R. Anderson
Aspen Chapel
0077 Meadowood Drive
Aspen, Colorado 8111
http://www.aspenchapel.org