Holy Week Devotions

Palm/Passion Sunday

My Little Town

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__Ro3eGuznI

In my little town
I grew up believing
God keeps his eye on us all
And he used to lean upon me
As I pledged allegiance to the wall
Lord, I recall my little town

Comin' home after school
Flyin' my bike past the gates of the factories
My mom doin' the laundry
Hangin' our shirts in the dirty breeze

And after it rains, there's a rainbow
And all of the colors are black
It's not that the colors aren't there
It's just imagination they lack
Everything's the same back in my little town (my little town)

Nothing but the dead and dying back in my little town
Nothing but the dead and dying back in my little town
In my little town

I never meant nothin', I was just my father's son
Savin' my money
Dreamin' of glory
Twitchin' like a finger on the trigger of a gun

Leaving nothing but the dead and dying back in my little town
Nothing but the dead and dying back in my little town
Nothing but the dead and dying back in my little town
Nothing but the dead and dying back in my little town
Nothing but the dead and dying back in my little town

 

Source: Musixmatch

My Little Town lyrics © Paul Simon 

 

Grace and peace to you from our Lord and Savior, Jesus, the Christ. Amen.

During Holy Week we will continue our Lenten Series of exploring the human condition through the lyrics of Paul Simon and addressing the malady suggested by the song with the Gospel.

One can only imagine what Jesus was thinking as he entered Jerusalem at the beginning of this fateful week – might he have had a flashback to his home town of Nazareth?

Sepphoris is about 4 miles north of Nazareth and the capital of the province of Galilee.  A hotbed of anti-Roman activism, Sepphoris was sacked by Roman soldiers in 4 BCE as 30,000 people were captured and 2,000 Jewish activists/rebels were taken to Jerusalem and crucified in a single day.  

[Source: https://crucifixions.wordpress.com/sepphoris-burning/]

Imagine the impact that had on the little town of Nazareth.  In Christ’s little town pledging allegiance to Rome was crucial for survival.  Yet, God had God’s eyes on Jesus – leaning on him. 

Maybe Christ thought about his own debut in Nazareth:

The Beginning of the Galilean Ministry

¹⁴ Then Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee, and a report about him spread through all the surrounding country. ¹⁵ He began to teach in their synagogues and was praised by everyone.

The Rejection of Jesus at Nazareth

¹⁶ When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, ¹⁷ and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written:

¹⁸ “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
    because he has anointed me
        to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
    and recovery of sight to the blind,
        to let the oppressed go free,
¹⁹ to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

²⁰ And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. ²¹ Then he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” ²² All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They said, “Is not this Joseph’s son?” ²³ He said to them, “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, ‘Doctor, cure yourself!’ And you will say, ‘Do here also in your hometown the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum.’” ²⁴ And he said, “Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet’s hometown. ²⁵ But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a severe famine over all the land; ²⁶ yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. ²⁷ There were also many lepers^[a] in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.” ²⁸ When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage. ²⁹ They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff. ³⁰ But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way.

Nothing but the dead and dying back in Christ’s little town.  He came unto his own and his own received him not.

The haunting massacre at Sepphoris may indeed be on his mind as his own town feared another rebellion.  And besides according to his little town:

“I never meant nothin', I was just my father's son.”

The dirty laundry was out in Nazareth and Jesus was pointing it out.  This rejection by his little town was a foreshadowing of his passion and death.

And what of our little towns and our narrow thinking: our fear of reprisal for standing in solidarity with the marginalized and outcasts beyond our little cliques?

Maybe even our ‘little town like’ congregations who keep new people and strangers at a distance.  Try getting into tables at coffee hour after worship if you are new to a parish!  What of our churches that are in decline - is there nothing but the dead and dying back in our little towns?

How will we ever be an inclusive community when at the practical level of our tables during coffee fellowship we clique away?

Holy Week is a clarion call to walk the way of the crucified one and to move through this week toward death.  What needs to die in us and in our congregation so that we more fully come alive in the risen Christ?

Are we willing to make confession of our corporate rejections of the rebel Christ?  Or will we move lightly through Holy Week and remain the same:

Nothing but the dead and dying back in our little towns…Amen.