Perfume, Parade, & passion... Oh My!
Rev. Tara Barber
The Community Church of Sebastopol
April 13, 2003 Palm Sunday
John 12:1-8; 12-16
Well, have you decided? Have you made up your mind? Are you a person of the passion?
During this Lenten Season, we have been talking about people of the passion – people who encountered Jesus in his last days, and who were changed by their encounter. We met the women at the cross, Simon of Cyrene, Judas, Pilate… and you? What about you? Have you been changed this Lenten Season or at other times by an encounter with Jesus? Are you willing to risk being changed by this passion?
In the gospel according to John, we meet another passionate person. In this telling, it is Mary, sister of Martha and Lazarus. It seems that she doesn’t only sit at Jesus’ feet to listen, she also washes his feet with her hair, and with expensive, extravagant perfume. The onlookers are upset with her waste of money, her sensual display of passion.
Those onlookers remind me of the devout Christians in the movie, Babette’s Feast. They are an austere bunch. They live in a small community in Denmark, and worship together with a minister who preaches self-denial. Many of his followers sacrifice their passion for this understanding of faith, where paradise exists only after death. Then Babette enters their world. She is a French woman fleeing her country, which is at war. Her husband and son have been killed and she comes to this country and begs to be a servant, a cook, to the daughters of this minister. Now, after 14 years of service, she receives a large sum of money, and decides to cook a real French dinner for the now small, Christian community. As the daughters see the extravagant foods, the wine, the crystal, the copper pots and pans arrive, they begin to get nervous. This Christian community is afraid that they will be tainted by this extravagant meal, and so they vow not to taste, and not to tell anyone about the meal. Course after course is served, and the “faithful” eat without enjoyment. Only a visiting general seems to understand the amazing gift that they are being served. By the end of the meal, the wine has softened the Christians’ resolve, smiles begin to cross their faces, and something changes around the table. Somehow passion has been awakened, and love returns to this community, erasing the bitterness that has plagued them in recent years. Babette has spent her entire windfall to provide this passionate feast. As the church members leave for the evening, they join hands and sing… “Let us use this time to try to serve the Lord with heart and mind, so that our true home, we might find.” What had they been so afraid of? Coming home? Discovering passion, right there in their midst?
I tell you, I experienced a passionate crowd yesterday. True, we were rain-soaked, but that didn’t dampen the passion and enthusiasm at the Apple Blossom Parade. Between the participants, and the observers I found people of the passion. We were passionate about children and teenagers. We were passionate about the environment, and our community. We were passionate about a parade.
They had come from a distance to gather for the festival of Passover – a festival that reminded the people of God’s presence, God’s salvation and God’s liberation. So when Jesus arrived, they were already in the mood to celebrate. Grabbing palm branches, clearing a path with their cloaks, shouting Hosanna! They welcomed and cheered for Jesus, the man who rode a small donkey, and brought his faith into Jerusalem.
And then the parade ended. The same people who shouted their blessings would soon be shouting curses. And we don’t really want to think about that. It is much easier to stay here at the parade, and continue to wave palms. But we have to go there today – otherwise, we can’t get to Easter Sunday.
What happens next? Jesus’ faith turns to passion. The crowd’s passion turns to fear. What are they afraid of? Is it this passion stuff again?
Perfume, parade, and passion, oh my!
Dorothy, the scarecrow, and the tin man are following the yellow brick road toward the Land of Oz. They are in search of a heart, a mind, and the way home. As they enter the forest, they become a bit frightened. Dorothy comments on the increasing darkness, and the scarecrow replies, “of course I don’t know, but I think it might get darker before it gets lighter.”
Appropriate words for a rainy Palm Sunday. But they don’t stop there. They begin to talk about what they are afraid of and Dorothy sums it up. Lions, and tigers, and bears. Lions and tigers and bears, oh my! Lions and tigers and bears, oh my! Louder and louder they chant, Lions and tigers and bears, oh my! As they continue to walk deeper into the forest.
How would you name your fears? The only lions, tigers and bears I know are in zoos and not on my Top Ten List of things to be afraid of. What would you say keeps you from being passionately alive, passionately engaged, passionately faithful?
I imagine that Jesus and the crowd might say something like this:
Betrayal, desertion, and death.
Betrayal, desertion, and death, oh my! Betrayal, desertion, and death, oh my!
And if pressed, I think these fears would make it to my Top Ten List. The problem comes when we let these fears get in the way of passion. When we let these fears stop us from walking into the forest. It is fear that keeps us from taking action for children, and the environment, for our community and world. And it is fear that numbs our passion – and disconnects us from our faith, and from Jesus.
How can we choose passion when we are afraid? How can we live lives of faith without passion?
Are you ready to choose? Choose we must.
In the words of Paulo Solari,
Choose, choose, choose
To fight or run
To sleep or read
To study or play
To be faithful or promiscuous
To obey or rebel
To yield or resist
To create or destroy
To forgive or resent
To save or spend
To take risks or be cautious
To dream
To trust
Who will I trust? Who will I serve? Who will I please?
The crowd, the fashion, the neighbors?
For what will I sacrifice…?
Choose this day…
So again I ask, choose the passion. The passion that awakens your senses. The passion that calls and inspires. The passion that casts out fear. Choose the passion and come home. Choose the passion and live.