Hilton Head Island, SC - April 16, 2014
The Chapel Without Walls
Luke 19:29-40; 22:54-62 - Palm Sunday
A Sermon by John M. Miller
I hardly know where to begin. Were I to tell it all to you, you would not believe it. As it is, telling what little I shall tell you, you still may not believe it; it is that strange a story.
Nearly three years ago I met a man. My brother Andrew introduced me to him. I was working on some nets beside the lake. I am a fisherman, you see, as was our father before us, and as was his father. The lake is beautiful, and bountiful; it is full of fish. Ha-Kinneret, we call it; The Harp, the Sea of Ha-Galil, of the Galilee.
Andrew took me to a man who was talking to Yakov and Yohonan, the sons of Zebedee. We have known them our whole lives. Yakov is a few months older than I, and Yohonan is a couple of years younger than Andrew.
We grew up only three doors from one another. When you live in Kfar Nahum, you soon get to know everyone.
"Shimon," Andrew said to me, "this is Yeshua ha-Notzri. Yeshua, this is my older brother Shimon." The Nazarene looked at me; no, he did not look at me: he looked through me. I never saw anybody with a gaze like that; he looked into all of us. It was as though our inside were outside, and he was carefully inspecting what he saw there.
"Follow me," he said, "and I will make you fishers of people." Can you imagine it? I had not even spoken to him yet, the others had been talking to him only a few minutes, and already this stranger was urging us to go with him wherever he might go! Who did he think we were?
But that is the amazing part; he seemed to know exactly who we were! It was as though he had been looking for us for ages, and suddenly, there we were! We were all four married, we had wives and children, we had mouths to feed and homes to keep up and fish to catch. But within an hour, after we had listened to Yeshua and heard him tell about something he called the kingdom of God, which none of us really understood, either then or now, we were ready to leave everything behind, at least for a while, to follow after him. I am an especially impulsive man, and I have always jumped into things without thinking. Leap before you look; that's my motto! Speak before you think! I don't know why I'm like that, but that's the way I am.
I cannot explain to you why the others followed Yeshua; I cannot explain it about myself. I can only say this: Yeshua ha-Notzri is like no one else anyone has ever seen. I don't know that for certain, but I believe it.
With Yeshua we started visiting all the towns and villages around Ha-Kinneret, we went over into the Ten Cities of Ammon, and up north as far Sidon among the Phoenicians. On the holidays of course we went to Yerushalayim, but we never stayed there very long. And everywhere we went, Yeshua talked about the kingdom, God's kingdom, and about how the God of Yisroel loves not only Yisroel but also the Goyim. I have never much liked Gentiles myself. They wear funny clothes, they eat things they shouldn't eat, they are loud and obnoxious, and most importantly, they seem to dislike us as much as we dislike them. So I have always steered clear of them. Until Yeshua came along.
It wasn't what Yeshua said which attracted the greatest numbers to him at first; it was what He did. And what he did was to perform miracles. It didn't seem to matter to him who wanted to be healed; he healed them all. Lame people, blind people, sick people; Jews, Goyim, poor, rich: it made no difference. I even would tell you dead people, but you wouldn't believe me, and I'm not sure I believe it myself. A few times I saw it, but I'm not sure they were really dead. And though I saw with my own eyes the lame walk and the deaf hear, I am not convinced that Yeshua made the dead live. Were they really dead, or did they only look dead? I don't know.
But I'm sure about the lame and the deaf, because when Yael the boatbuilder's daughter was twelve years old she got the summer sickness, and she never walked again, but Yeshua took her by the hand --- and she stood! Not only that, she walked. And then she ran. What I am telling you is true. You can believe it or not; it's up to you. Old Yitzhak hadn't heard a word for years, but Yeshua touched his ears, and suddenly he could hear as well as you or I. My mother-in-law was deathly sick from a fever, and when Yeshua merely touched her forehead, she was made instantly well. You had to be there, but even those who were there, and I was one of them, did not know what to make of all this.
It was people such as ourselves, the Am ha-Aretz, the common folk, who were most drawn to Yeshua. He was a common man himself, so he appealed most to the people of the land, the farmers and shepherds and shop keepers. Some of the leaders of our people felt as we did about Yeshua, but most did not. The sons of Zadok, the Sadducees, were usually infuriated with him, because he did not pay much attention to the temple in Yerushalayim or to sacrifice. And because sacrifice in the temple was the main religious function of the Sadducees, their noses were always out of joint. The Pharisees were more favorably disposed to Yeshua, and in a way he was one of them, but in other ways he was not like anyone or anything else in all Yisroel.
As time went on, some more people began to follow Yeshua on a regular basis. There were never very many, and we were a motley assortment, but none of us was able to break free of Yeshua.
Several strange things happened between Yeshua and me. One time the twelve of us were out on the lake in our boat, and Yeshua was not with us. A storm came up quickly, as often happens on Ha-Kinneret, and suddenly, we saw Yeshua walking toward us on the water! We couldn't believe it! "Let me try that, Yeshua!" I shouted, and I jumped overboard. (I tend to be a little impulsive; have I told you that?) I went down like a rock! (That's why my Aramaic nickname is Cephas; it means, "Rock." Because I swim like one.) Yeshua grabbed me. "If you believe hard enough, Shimon, you can do anything." But I guess I didn't believe hard enough that I can walk on water any better than I can swim in it. Actually I can swim; just not very well. Everybody has always teased me about it, since the others can swim like fish. I thought walking on the lake would be a whole lot more impressive than swimming in it, and I'm only sorry my impetuous attempt wasn't able to accomplish what I attempted.
Three months ago we were up at the Panias with Yeshua. It is at the foot of Mt. Hermon, where the Yordan River comes gushing up out of a cavern at the base of a high cliff. Yeshua asked us what we had heard from people about who he was. We had heard some say that he was Eliyah, or Yeremiah, or another of the prophets come back, or perhaps that he was Yohonan the Baptist, returned from the dead. "But who do you say that I am?" Yeshua asked us. I blurted out (I am an impulsive man; you need to understand that), "Yeshua, you are Ha-Mesheach, the Anointed One of God!"
I don't know what made me say that. It had never entered my mind till that moment. But, speak before you think, I always say, and that's exactly what I did.
A strange look came over Yeshua's face. It was as though I had confirmed something he himself had been wondering about, and he said, "Blessed are you, Shimon Bar-Yonah! It is God who has revealed that to you! You are Petros" (my Aramaic nickname, Cephas, is Petros in Greek), "and upon this petra I will build my church!"
I was as pleased with myself as I could be! I had made Yeshua happy, and that made me happy! Now I'll admit I didn't have any idea what he was talking about when he spoke of "his church." What is this church? He had never said anything about church before! But it meant something to Yeshua, and maybe someday it will mean something to me!
Then Yeshua said an astounding thing. He told us he was about to go up to Yerushalayim, and there he would encounter trouble, and be arrested, and then he would be killed. I was shocked. "God forbid, Yeshua!" I said; "this shall never happen to you!" It was the first thing that came into my head.
Yeshua's face became instantly dark. "Get behind me, Satan!" he said, looking straight at me. Satan! How was I Satan? I was so stung by Yeshua that I could not speak; I could scarcely breathe. Hot tears sprang to my eyes, but I held them back, and for once in my life, I said nothing. I couldn't say anything.
I have never again mentioned that day to Yeshua since it happened. It is still a great mystery and burden to me. How could he have been so pleased one minute and then so angry the next? I do not understand it; I do not understand him. And, since I have known Yeshua, I do not understand myself either.
A week or two later Yeshua took Yakov and Yohonan and me up to the top of Ha-Tavor. Mt. Tavor has been a sacred mountain for many centuries, even before the people of Yisroel came into the land when it was still called Canaan. While we were there, Yeshua was transformed before our very eyes. He glistened; he glowed; the light surrounding him was blinding, it was so bright. Yakov, Yohonan, and I saw Moshe and Eliyah with Yeshua. The three of us were awe-stricken. You will find this hard to believe, as we certainly did also. But it happened just the way I am telling you.
We felt like we should do something, but nobody knew what. "Let's build some booths," I said, "one for Yeshua, and one for Moshe, and one for Eliyah." It was a foolish thing to say, and I didn't even know what I was saying, but what can I say? --- I have already told you that I say things without thinking! Or did I tell you that? Well anyway, the moment I spoke, it seemed to break the spell, and we were alone with Yeshua, and he no longer glistened.
I just wish I had kept my mouth shut! Maybe if I hadn't spoken, that magical moment would have continued forever! But no, I had to start yammering, and it was over. Why can't I learn to think before I speak? Why can't I ponder before I act?
Seven days ago Yeshua led us into Yerushalayim. It was the most glorious day anyone could imagine. There were hundreds of Pesach pilgrims, perhaps thousands of them, who followed along with us, and they were singing and shouting, "Hosanna to the Son of Dovid! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" They were seeing what I suddenly saw back there at the Panias: Yeshua is the Mesheach! It was wonderful!
Then things started to turn bad, and the longer the week went on, the worse it got. Yeshua attacked the priests and Sadducees and Pharisees. They had never approved of him, but now it was evident they were absolutely reviled by him. You could feel the opposition growing; you could almost reach out and grab hold of it. Or should I say we could almost feel it reaching out to grab hold of us? I was starting to get really scared; I am not afraid to admit it.
Three nights ago Yeshua celebrated Pesach with us. He seemed to sense something was in the wind, and we knew it too. As he often did, he said strange things at the Seder dinner, mysterious things, enigmatic things.
Then we went to the Garden of the Olive Press: Gate-say-ma-nee. Yeshua told the others to wait outside, and he took Yakov, Yohanan and me with him inside. He told us to keep an eye out while he went off to pray. The air was so heavy, and there was such a strong sense of dread among us, that none of us could stay awake. I do not understand that, nor shall I, ever, but that's the way it was. And it happened not once, but three times! I am ashamed whenever I think of it, so I try not to think of it at all.
Finally a group of Roman soldiers came to arrest Yeshua. They took Yeshua away with them. When they did, all the disciples ran away.
Sorry as I am to have to tell it to you, I went with them. Nobody ran faster than I. When Yeshua needed me the most, I failed him.
How could that be? I followed him from the first moment he asked me to come with him! I was the first to see that he was the Mesheach! Nobody was more devoted to Yeshua than I! So why did I let him down when he was the most up against it?
All night long I stayed outside the building where they were questioning Yeshua. Twice people asked me if I was one of his followers, and both times I said no. A third time I was asked, and again I lied. Just then, shortly before the dawn was breaking, I heard a rooster. In the stress of that terrible night I had forgotten it, but at the Seder Yeshua had told me, "Shimon, Before the cock crows, you will have denied me three times."
I could not believe it! How could I have done that? Why did I fall asleep in the garden? Why did I run off when the soldiers came? Why didn't I stay with him? Why didn't I die for him? Why didn't I die with him? For he did die, and horribly! He was crucified like a common criminal. It was the worst day in my life.
After it was all over, we buried him in the tomb of one of his secret followers, of whom there are quite a number, a rich man named Yosef of Arimathea. All day yesterday we stayed in the room where we had celebrated the Pesach together, not knowing what else to do. We said very little; we were all so numb.
Now it is clearly over. I shall never forget Yeshua. He changed my life. He changed the lives of all of us, each of us in a unique way, even poor Yudah Ish-Keriot, for whom, only now, do I have any compassion.
But what could Yeshua have done with somebody like me, even if he had lived? I have always been so clumsy in what I did, how I thought, what I said! I loved Yeshua, and I would do anything for him, but when he most needed me to do something, I did nothing! When impulse was what was called for, I froze! When courage was what was needed, I ran!
The sun has just peaked over the crest of the Mount of Olives to the east of Yerushalayim. I don't know about the others, but I'm going home. I never did very well as a fisherman, but it was certainly much better than I have done as a disciple.
* * * * * * * *
Who's that running this direction? It looks like Miriam of Magdala. It is Miriam!
Why does she look so happy? How can she be so radiant? How can any of us ever be happy again?
Well, before I leave, I'd at least better find out what she has to say.
(Historical Note: Following the resurrection of Jesus, Peter quickly regained dominance as the prince of apostles, and was so known for the rest of his life. He travelled much through the eastern end of the Mediterranean region [See the Book of the Acts of the Apostles], and eventually he went to Rome. Tradition declares that he was martyred there, dying, so the tradition says, by being crucified upside down. He said he was not worthy to die as his Master had died. Another tradition, not shared by all Christians, to say the least, is that he became the first bishop of Rome, and thus the first pope. Whatever may be the historical facts about the Big Fisherman, he did manage to overcome his strong feelings of inadequacy, and went on to become one of the greatest leaders in the history of the Christian Church. It should give much consolation and hope to the rest of us, many of whom are equally as impulsive and inadequate as Shimon Bar-Yonah --- if not even more so! - JMM)