Sermon Philippians 2:1-11

There was a time when I thought Christian was pretty silly, in fact, I remember telling someone that. I met Ken at St. Andrew's residence at the University of Saskatchewan, in the cafeteria. A group of us would regularly gather, from various disciplines; engineering, medicine, chemistry, theology, and for me, commerce; we would gather for lunch and for company. We talked about many things but often the topic of God would come up. One particular evening we were talking about how governments of the world should solve their problems ... especially we talked about wars. This was the 1980's, the decade of greed, and the tail end of the cold war. I remember Ken saying about foreign policy, "We should do what we think Jesus would do." I replied, "What do you mean ... turn the other cheek? Don't be stupid, where would that get us? Our enemies would destroy us." Ken just looked at me, and did not say much more.

At the time I could not write him off for being a young naive pacifist ... or an empty headed white liberal. You see Ken was a African American, who had retired, and come up to study at the University of Saskatchewan, I don't know why here was there, but from the little I knew about him, he was not naive about the harsh realities of life... in fact, as a young man he had stormed the beaches on D-Day. And he certainly wasn't empty headed about the difficulties of reconciliation; he had lived through the craziness of the civil rights movement. I wasn't sure what to make of him and his comment about how a nation's foreign policy ... and all of our lives should be simple this; "We should do what Jesus wants us to do." At the time I did not understand and wrote him off as being strange.

I'm not sure why I wrote him off, and wrote off the bible, and wrote off Jesus as the answer to the world's troubles? Thinking back I thought Christianity had no depth. The shallow answers that I had heard from minister's sermons left me cold. There was nothing that seemed to challenge, seem to engage, nothing that seemed to make sense. What I thought the world needed and what Christianity seemed to offer did not fit together in my mind.

Perhaps it is not unlike how the people of Jerusalem felt. Here was Jesus who claimed to be the Messiah. He was the son of God, the one who would redeem the people from the bondage of Rome, and so when he arrived in Jerusalem, they greet him with the fan fair reserved for a conquering king. Perhaps not unlike in those old films I've seen of the Canadians liberating France ... with tanks rolling in and scores of people throwing flowers, opening wine bottles, children cheering as they ride a top tanks. They have been saved by the great armies of the west.

And yet, as the people wave their branches in Jerusalem do they realize that Jesus is not riding in on a weapon of war, a mighty war steed, ... but instead he comes on a donkey. And he has no sword, no armour, and certainly no mighty army behind him. How strange indeed is the plan of God for the salvation of the world ... how mysterious indeed is the mind of God.

Instead of force, order and control; instead of sending an army of angel's to destroy the oppressors and send them into a fiery hell, God sends his son on a donkey, and Jesus, knowing the mind of God follows out of obedience, but more so, out of love ... all the way to the cross. This is the deep mystery of Christian faith, and it's deepest truth. That this Jesus who had the power of God did not use it in the way that seems right to the world, instead he became as a slave to us ... washed our feet ... washed us in love ... washed away on the cross our destructive ways on the cross ... reconciling us with God on what has become for us the tree of life.

For you see, this conqueror, who rides on a donkey ... has indeed come to rule the world. But where we rule from the places of power, behind desks with battle plans, and missile silos and armies ready to destroy or subjugate our enemies. This Lord, rules from a cross, with the stories of faith as his plan, and a heart ready for the challenge of loving his enemies.

Yet, there is one thing our Lord shares with the world. He indeed does have an army! Yet this one is made up of foolish old and young men, silly women, and mixed up children ... all sorts of odd ducks, rejects, and people misguided enough to have heard what God is up to. Strange enough to listen for the mind of God in this old book. Crazy enough to waste time in silence listening for a voice to tell them that they should instead of hoarding their lives, they should give them away. Naive enough, to instead of killing one's enemies, to do what Jesus did and offer good in the face of evil, even unto death.

Such is the rag tag army of God who by grace through faith is willing to knee before the throne of this victorious crucified God. People, who touched by his forgiving, healing, and reconciling love confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the Glory of the Father.