Approaching the Path

Approaching the Path

Excerpts from The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin and Luke 19:28-40

April 13, 2025

By Nicole M. Lamarche

Thank you again for being here, however you are joining us. And welcome to those of you who are online! We are experimenting with digitally welcoming people. Thank you to Chaplain Nicole for helping us do that. 

As I share a word, join me in a spirit of prayer from Psalm 19. O God, may the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in your sight, our rock and our redeemer. Amen.

From one direction, in some sort of royal procession, came a man covered in a robe of imperial power, surrounded by his entourage of takers, clothed in confidence from his riches, all of them empowered by the privileges from his position. And from another direction, likely in some sort of protest procession, came a man covered in a robe of the power of faith, clothed in peace, held up by the riches of his commitments, surrounded by his motley crew of misfits, people spreading their cloaks on the road, trying to make the way softer for him in a sense. And as we said, it really was a protest procession. As Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan point out in their book The Last Week, as we look at the stories in our sacred texts, there are very clearly two very different processions that week, on that last week, approaching the path to the final things, to the last supper, the end of this part of the story. There are clearly two sides with two different aims.

They wrote that, “For Passover that year, two very different processions entered Jerusalem. They proclaimed two very different and contrasting visions of how this world can and should be: the kingdom of God versus the kingdoms, the powers, of this world.”

One is about justice and the end of violence. 

The other is about domination and exploitation.

Jesus was facing and leading a “protest that was against a domination system legitimated in the name of God.”

From one direction, comes imperialism, rooted in riches, and from another direction comes faith in a greater love, faith in a greater love, faith in even that which cannot be seen.

It was and is not now a partisan matter, but a matter of human dignity. One procession includes the praises, the hosannas of all of us labeled unholy, those labeled unworthy, the women and the children, the widows and the poor. This procession is the procession where the circle is wide. 

And there is another process, as we all try to prevent anyone from being harmed on the way to what is killing us. And you will see in the story that they try to tell the disciples to stop. So last week we talked about courage being a spiritual practice, so this week I wonder if dissent is too. Because in this story to a disciple is to dissent, to dissent to the empire, to not consent to the lie that just some are worthy, that just some belong, just some deserve to speak, just some have rights, just some should have enough to eat, just some should have a safe place to sleep, just some should be free, but Jesus’ procession says this is for all, not just some. This procession is about loving our neighbors and being peacemakers- so this week I wonder if to be a disciple in this time is to dissent, to not consent to all of the lies paving a way leading some to tombs.

Jesus’ procession approaches the path he probably knew was awaiting him for a while. If he kept speaking that way and healing that one and preaching that message, he probably knew it wouldn’t go on for long, it just couldn’t. And so he approaches the city of Jerusalem, perceiving at the very least that it’s not likely to end well, that it won’t be smooth, that it will not be easy and that just a few will remain to the end. He probably sensed the procession would grow quiet, that the crowd would grow thin. The very next line after this part that we heard is Luke 19:41 which tells us that as Jesus approached Jerusalem, he started crying. It says, “As he came near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, 'If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace!” Jesus is among the procession melts toxic patriarchy with the tears of truth, inviting humans to try something other than violence and war, to experiment instead with peacemaking and making a way for the world that Love wants, but just as then and it feels like now, too many are choosing not to see the things that make for peace. It is hidden from the eyes of many. There is weeping. You know I am doing some weeping. But I am still going in the procession. 

Because as James Baldwin prophetically shares, “civilization is not destroyed by wicked people; it is not necessary that people be wicked, but only that they be spineless.”

The destruction is coming from the spineless.

The procession of tearing down, and dominating, of enriching oneself and expanding ones wealth only carries on because of the spineless, a network of probably decent people who are allowing it all to happen because of their spinelessness. The procession of breaking and taking, crashing and slashing what we have built goes on because of the spineless. I know that history will ask us which procession we were in.

And so there are questions for those of us who want to be in the procession with Jesus, as he approaches the city of Jerusalem, as we approach what I am guessing will be a long path ahead infused with chaos and uncertainty, knowing parts of this won’t end well, knowing it won’t be smooth, or easy, what do we need to stay in this protest procession? How do we care for one another knowing we are not all in the same situation so we can stay in this procession? How do we let ourselves weep over the city, like Jesus did while also being faithful to the path before us? I just know that I want to be among those of you who protested against all the domination systems legitimated in the name of God and I am grateful to be with you in this procession. 

I wonder what it will take for us to remain? I think part of it is Our numbers. More and more and more rising! The sleeping are awakening! The lights are turned on! We might not have picked this moment, but we are the ones charged with tending to what we know is possible in this time. It is on our watch that this is happening. We didn’t know it would be us that would be needed to stand up to the Empire, but it is! It is time to believe in each other!

Maybe more than we ever have.

Because we are the procession, the protest that chooses to be responsible to life: Together we are a beacon in this current terrifying darkness. We are committed to this procession that we know is right, to this path of peace that we know is good, to this way that is about us being together. Our faith in ourselves and in one another. Our willingness to put pieces of ourselves on the path. Our commitment to a longer view beyond the daily dose of threats. Our love of a vision where all belong. This is how we stop the destruction that is coming from the spineless. 

Communal Reflection

What do you think? What does this story hold for you? How do we not let hate change us? What does this story mean to you?

Beloved, we will not become that which is coming at us, together we are the beacon in this current terrifying darkness. What a gift to be in this love procession where all belong with each of you.

May it be so. Amen