Friday, March 26, 2010

Today’s text

Luke 19:38-40

They cried out: Blessed is he who is coming as King in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest heavens! Some Pharisees in the crowd said to him, 'Master, reprove your disciples,' but he answered, 'I tell you, if these keep silence, the stones will cry out.'

Reflection

We know the trappings of victory, Jesus. When the contest is won shiny medals hang around the victors' necks, and trophies are brandished high, glinting under spotlights and the flash of cameras.

Winners laugh, cry and hug each other, sharing their triumph which often has come after many thousands of hours of practice and too many set-backs to remember.

I, too, smile when I see such joy on the TV screen, but these moments stand in stark contrast to the joy and accolades lifting you, Jesus.

When the glory of heaven, the victory of God appears on earth, it rides a humble beast and is hailed by shouts of the poor waving palm branches, emblems of peace.

I take nothing from those who strive for excellence and find reward in human contests of strength and skill. These, too, teach us the excellence and striving for which the Holy One makes us.

But the contrast between our understanding of victory and your appearance, Jesus, is too striking to miss. You ride among the poor, the forgotten, those outside the inner circles of human significance.

You spent most of your days among those on whom no spotlight ever shined, ignoring human distinctions between winner and loser, rich and poor, acceptable and outcast. It is they who hail you as the glory of heaven on earth--not those whom we spend far too much of our life trying to impress.

They know: true glory is not the golden glint of victory, but the peace of God extended to every last living thing--no matter who, no matter what, and definitely to the most defeated parts of ourselves.

And when true glory appears, even the stones speak.

Pr. David L. Miller