Yesterday across the country an estimated 8 million people joined in a protest declaring “No Kings” and this morning we remember the day when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey fulfilling the prophecy that Zion’s king would come mounted on a donkey. The whole of Jerusalem was in turmoil wondering if he was going to overcome the Romans; and today we also remember that less than a week later, Jesus the Christ hung on a cross with a sign over his head saying “The King of the Jews.”

Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor did not live in Jerusalem. He lived in Caesarea about 50 miles away. Historians think that he may have been in Jerusalem for the Passover because it was a time when the city filled with thousands of people and so it was important for the Roman occupying force to be very present. It would have taken a couple of days to get there and Pilate would have traveled with a military entourage. So when he arrived in Jerusalem he would have been seated on a war horse – probably a white stallion – and there would have been a lot of pageantry and symbols of military might.

In contrast Jesus rode in on a donkey. He not only fulfilled an ancient prophecy that Zion’s king would come riding a donkey but he also set up a significant contrast with Pilate on his stallion. It is as if he were saying, “Choose you this day whom you shall serve – the kingdom of human power, prestige and violence or the kingdom of God in gentle humility?”

And that is still the question before us today.

Jesus chose to continue his course of non-violent resistance. In the week between our two gospel readings he stood in the temple precinct, the very center of religious authority and preached against the religious leaders, he drove out those who were buying and selling and overturned the tables of the moneychangers and he healed the blind and the lame who came to him. Even though he knew he was in danger he publicly resisted the powers of empire.

When we hear the passion gospel and remember we hear how badly this all turned out, it’s like we have our fingers crossed behind our back, because we know Easter is coming. The disciples didn’t know that. When we resist the powers of empire, the dark powers that seek to turn our world into a place of hatred and retribution and power for the less than 1%, then like the disciples, we don’t know how it’s going to turn out in the short term. It is risky.

But it is following the path of Christ. It is following our calling as the people of God.

Our New Testament reading this morning from Philippians is perhaps the key to the reign of God, the kingdom of heaven, “Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus.” Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus.

Let us have the courage to resist the kings, the powers of this world whose paths bring death and destruction and have the same mind as Christ Jesus who brought healing, peace, justice and new resurrection life.

the Rev. Dr. Caroline Hall

What amazing readings we have this morning! First, Ezekiel’s wonderful vision of the valley of dry bones who came back to life and then the long and detailed account of Jesus bringing Lazarus back to life.  It’s all about new life in the Spirit, the Good News of transformation and resurrection.

For those of us who identify as LGBTQ this gospel reading has always held a special place in our hearts as Jesus cries with a loud voice, “Lazarus, Come Out”!

Coming out is rarely an easy process. Coming out means first acknowledging to oneself that one’s inner self is in some significant way different from the dominant culture. This inner difference may be deeply felt but take a long time to identify and name.

For many years I struggled with my own sense of self and my sexual orientation. The few gay people I saw around me were extravagantly gay men who were not attractive – I didn’t want to be like them – and were not Christian – which I wanted to be. But much as I prayed to be heterosexual It didn’t happen, and I began to feel like a hypocrite because when I went to church everyone thought I was a ‘nice’ Christian girl, they didn’t realize that hidden inside me was a lesbian waiting to come out. And so I stopped going to church. The dissonance between who I knew myself to be and who others expected me to be had become too great and it was yet too dangerous to come out.

And so I was unable to fully live. I was in a real sense dead and bound like Lazarus. The scripture tells us that when he came out “his hands and feet [were] bound with strips of cloth, and his face [was] wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”  It was not enough for Lazarus to come out, he also needed to be unbound by his community. LGBTQ people need not just to be accepted but to be seen, celebrated and encouraged by their community before we can be fully free to be the unique people God created us to be.

And it’s not just gay people.

My fifty year old nephew came out last year. Not as gay but as neuro-diverse. For fifty years he tried to fit in, copied the behavior of neuro-normative people. For fifty years he felt trapped in a tomb of normative behavior. Finally, he sought a professional diagnosis and came out as high functioning autistic. This identity has given him new life and new confidence.

There are many things that keep us stuck in the tomb needing to come out and be unbound and find new life.

It is in the interests of the powers of this world to keep us in the closet or in the tomb because the life of the Spirit is a direct threat to the status quo. The life that Jesus offers, the life that Jesus calls us to, the life that Jesus lived led him into direct conflict with the powers of his time. And those powers are very similar to the powers of this 21st century world.

We are caught up in a world where the rich get richer and the poor can’t get ahead. Where the priorities of those in power reduce the power of the rest of us. We have seen immigration raids which entrap and have even killed people who are not criminals, ordinary people who are living their lives and trying to look out for their families the best they can;  we have watched the administration push through the so called Big Beautiful Bill which reduces the ability of as many as 10 million people to afford and access healthcare and which may lead to the closure of as many as 300 rural hospitals[i]; and in the last two weeks the industrial-military complex has led to a war which has killed many people including children in the Middle East, especially in Iran and Lebanon, has cost this country about $22billionand counting, and has released 5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere – that’s as much as Iceland emits in a whole year[ii].

These are the powers that lead not to human and planetary flourishing but to a society where people are enslaved by the sin matrix and unable to free themselves. And the same powers lead us to feeling powerless, so we turn away and focus on the everyday things of our privileged lives, and we are kept bound in the tomb.

But Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” [And Lazarus heard him] and the dead man came out.

I don’t know what it is that is keeping you in your tomb – it may be fear, it may be grief, it may be past trauma – whatever it is, Jesus is calling you to come out, Jesus is calling you to allow yourself to be healed, to come out into the love and resurrection life of God.

Just like those dry bones.

Ezekiel’s vision came after the Babylonians captured Jerusalem and the conquered people of Judah were exiled. It is a vision of hope, of the renewal of the spirit in a people rendered lifeless and powerless. The story of Lazarus gives us hope as individuals that we can be freed from what holds us back; the valley of the dry bones gives us hope as a community.

St. Peter’s is at a possible turning point. In the year I have been with you we have lost people, some who have died, some who are no longer able to get to church because of health issues and some who have simply stopped coming. There have been few local visitors and those who have come have not returned more than a few times.

We are like a valley of dry bones. We remember vibrant times in the past and it is tempting to think if it could only be like that again everything would be better. But the past is past, and if we allow ourselves to revel in nostalgia we will miss the movement of the Spirit into the future.

We are hopeful that when Rev. Ollie comes, he will prophesy to the bones and new life will come to St. Peter’s. Yet in Ezekiel’s vision, the bones themselves came together and developed sinews and flesh and skin. Yes they were inspired by the prophesy, but they also acted. Inspired by the Spirit of God, they found new life. They found new bodies and new bodies lead to new ways. The Jewish people were never the same after the Babylonian exile.

The church of tomorrow will not be the same as the church of today. We don’t know what it will look like but as long as we cling to our memories of the past we will not be ready to move forward and welcome the breath of the Spirit offering us new life and new possibilities.

Next Sunday we will be entering Holy Week when we walk with Jesus through those dark days before his final confrontation with the powers of this world. But even as we acknowledge the darkness we also know the truth – that Jesus resurrected – that the powers of darkness did not win and will not win – that new life and new hope and new possibility flourish in the reign of God. No doubt the disciples longed for things to be as they had been in the past, but in those few days everything changed. But we know that Easter is coming.

Even in the darkness of these times when the powers of the world seem to be winning, we know that Jesus the Christ is the true light of the world and the darkness cannot overcome the light.

So let us open our ears to hear the cry of Jesus “Come Out!” and let us have the courage to leave behind the tomb of the past and step into the future of the Spirit.

the Rev. Dr. Caroline Hall
 
 
 


https://www.americanprogress.org/article/the-truth-about-the-one-big-beautiful-bill-acts-cuts-to-medicaid-and-medicare/

[ii] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/mar/21/middle-east-iran-conflict-environment-climate

For many of us today’s gospel reading contains familiar and beloved verses. Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews, comes to Jesus at night and we get to eavesdrop on their conversation. It is from this encounter that we get the famous verse John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.” A text made particularly familiar by the 19th century composer John Stainer, though as a child I sang a version of it to “O Danny Boy”, and perhaps you did too.

Building on this verse, theologian Marcus Borg says that the passion of God is to love the world -the cosmos – for God so loved the cosmos that he sent his only Son. “And God did not send the Son into the cosmos to condemn the world, but in order that the cosmos might be saved through him.” According to Borg, our mission as the church, our calling, is to love the world – the whole of Creation - with the same fierce and passionate love that God has.

But there’s a lot more to unpack in this reading. Nicodemus does not understand when Jesus tells him that in order to see the reign of God he must be born from above. Another translation is to be “born again”.

When I was a teenager, I knew many things with great certainty and unlike Nicodemus I knew exactly what it meant to be “born again.” Clearly it meant to accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. I put a lot of energy into persuading my peers and others, including one evening, a bunch of drunk old men sitting on a park bench, to say that they accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior, and I fondly imagined that once they said those words they were born again and no longer headed for hell.

Fifty plus years and a seminary education later and I am much less sure what it’s all about.
So I am wondering what being ‘born again’ or being ‘born from above’ means to you. Is it something that is important? Is it something you have experienced?  What do you think Jesus is talking about?
Please find someone to talk to and reflect with – what is Jesus talking about – what does it mean to be born again?
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Let’s share our wisdom with each other…
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I wonder what Nicodemus was wanting from Jesus. If we assume that Jesus was able to discern the need of Nicodemus’ heart rather than his words, perhaps his real question was “how do I see the reign of God?” or maybe, “How do you, Jesus, see the reign of God?”

And Jesus’ answer is that we need to be twice-born, not just physically born but in some way spiritually as well. I don’t think there’s a one-size-fits-all simple recipe for how that happens. I suspect that just as every physical birth is unique, so is every spiritual birth.

Spiritual experience is subjective. Yours will be different from mine. There are those of us who see visions, who are aware of angels; there are those of us who feel the love of God at a deep level; and there are those of us who don’t. Some of us have had times of feeling at one with God and all creation; others haven’t. Some of us have spoken in tongues; others haven’t. Some of us know exactly when we were “born again’; others don’t. It doesn’t matter. Whatever experience you have or don’t have is just fine.

Because God’s grace does not depend on our feelings. God’s grace does not depend on human constructs like being ‘born again’. God so loved and so loves the cosmos – which includes you and me – whether or not we feel it. God’s grace is dependent on God not on us.

As Jesus told Nicodemus, “The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” We cannot control our spiritual experiences. We may notice the Spirit blowing through us or around us but we cannot control her.

What we can do is turn towards God. We can, like the psalmist, lift up our eyes and turn our intention and our attention to God. We can ask to have the eyes of our hearts opened so that we can see the reign of God and so we can see the grace of God at work in our world.

And we can trust. We can trust in the One who loved the world so passionately that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. We can trust because God’s love is totally dependable. Because, remember, God did not send the Son into the cosmos to condemn creation, but in order that all creation might be saved through him.
And that includes you and me.

the Rev. Dr. Caroline Hall