Palm Sunday and the man

I’ve been able to get to a couple of Lent meetings this year.  They’ve been run using the first of the C of E’s ‘pilgrim’ course (‘What do Christians believe’), which is very good. (www.pilgrimcourse.org) 

During session 3, which looks in more detail at who Christians believe Jesus is, it occurred to me the although Jesus is both God and man, divine and human, the focus of Christians today tends to be on the divinity of Christ, and his humanity is often side-lined.  For me although both aspects of his nature are equally important I have more recently been finding his humanness an area of real revelation.

As an example we have in (Mark 11:11-26 and Matt. 21:10-22) the incident of Jesus cursing the fig tree.  Jesus is hungry and seeing a fig tree he looks for fruit and seeing none he curses the tree saying “May you never bear fruit again!”  Later the disciples pass the same way and notice that the fig tree has withered (Mark 11:20, 21).  Many read some divine purpose and forethought in Jesus action – an intentional demonstration of his power.  For me it is a straightforward record of a hungry man cursing when he doesn’t find hoped for food, demonstrating a very human frustration.  That the tree then withers also demonstrates his divinity.

This event comes after triumphal entry into Jerusalem when he receives the adulation of the crowd while riding on a donkey.  Again this is usually seen as an unexpected, unplanned, and therefore divinely arranged event by many following the story today.  But Jesus was a deeply well-read scholar of the scriptures.  He knew that Zechariah 9:9 prophesied “See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey…”  And, knowing his destiny from this scripture he, as a man, will surely have arranged beforehand for the provision of the donkey, the owner anticipating that men would subsequently come to borrow the donkey saying, when challenged, “The Lord needs it and will send it back here shortly.” (Mark 11:3).

Something that seems to be missed in a fundamental way is that Jesus was a man of deep faith.  He believed in the destiny that God had set before him, he set out in faith to comply with the prophesies about the Messiah, and was obedient to this role right up to his death. “…being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!” (Philippians 2:8).

Coalition

Given the situation that faced the Country in 2010, with no overall majority following the General Election, the Coalition has been a good thing.  Whether you are a Conservative or Liberal Democrat or neither, a Government formed by the Conservatives tempered by the Liberal Democrats has done well, with the economy nurtured back from the brink and, what would be viewed by many voters as, the excesses of a ‘Conservative only’ government have been avoided.

To achieve this Nick Clegg had to take a Statesman-like decision in the Country’s interest and risk the significant criticism and slump in popularity that he and his party have since experienced.

Public sector cuts were required to restore the economy.  The public sector had grown to an unsustainable size in any case.  Large numbers of senior and middle manager posts (highly paid posts contributing very little to the performance of their particular service) needed to go.  And this readjustment should be welcomed.

It now looks likely that there will be no party with an overall majority following the next election.  Alarm has been expressed that significant influence will be held by a minority party (the SNP or possibly UKIP, for example) able to influence policy because its votes are needed in parliament by whichever party is in Government.  

Well to an extent this will be the will of the voters in the UK, and parliamentarians should be expected to work out a way of working with the situation following the election.  Many countries in Europe have already had to do this for many years and have been successful, not least Germany.  Proportional Representation, which would require coalitions to be formed after every election, must be the future for this country.  The feeling that one’s vote has no influence is probably behind the voter apathy that concerns many, and true proportional representation would immediately address this.

However, the big parties are even now considering a ‘grand coalition’ following the election, simply to remove the need to grant smaller parties any influence.  (It should be borne in mind that the number of votes cast for minor parties is far larger in proportion to the number of seats that they win).   

A grand coalition where the two major parties, with largely opposing policies, are willing to get together solely because they cannot bear the thought of relinquishing any power to the influence of others, would be utterly anti-democratic.