March 28, Palm Sunday

Isaiah 45:21-25

Of all the stories in the Bible, the stories around the events of Palm Sunday touch most deeply in my heart. The triumphal entry into Jerusalem, the trial, and crucifixion are central. But as Paul Harvey used to say, “Now for the rest of the story.” And therein lies the truth for me.

We read of Jesus asking the disciples to stay awake with him in the garden of Gethsemane, yet they all fall asleep. We read of Peter denying Jesus three times – Peter, the rock on which the church is to be built. We read of the disciples, “All forsook him and fled.” Not very stalwart Christian soldiers I would say.

How do we know this about the disciples? Certainly there was no reporter from The New York Times or The Washington Post. No reporter from Fox News or Channel 4. No, we know this about the disciples because they told us about themselves. At some point in the weeks and months after the crucifixion, after they had fled and began to come back together, they told the truth about themselves. They stopped whitewashing themselves and began to accept their own dark side, that side which no one wants others to know about but which is very real and powerful. And in that acceptance, I believe, they discovered the love of God in a new and transforming way.

What a profoundly different Gospel story we would have if they just told us about the nice bits of their lives, of their successes and triumphs. In fact, many churches create their common life out of the beautiful pieces only and leave the rest, well, hidden or unspoken. The movie producer Samuel Goldwyn is supposed to have said, “Honesty is the most important quality to have in acting. Once you have learned to fake honesty, you’ve got it made.”

The transformational process of bringing the light and the dark, the failures and the successes, the good and bad, the beautiful and the not so pretty parts of life together takes great courage and strength. In fact, it is the single most difficult part of becoming whole. Yet it is in that process that new life is born based on honesty and truth, and it is that which makes us free. It is living life in the power of the resurrection and of God’s love.

A church community born out of the truth of all of our lives is indeed a safe, healing, and transforming place to be. For all of our sakes and for the sake of God, let St. Peter’s be and remain such a place.

The Rev. Joe Clark