| The Liturgy of the Palms Psalm 118:19-29 Mark 11:1-11a The Liturgy of the Word Psalm 22:1-21 or 22:1-11 Isaiah 45:21-25 Philippians 2:5-11 Mark [14:32-72] 15:1-39 [40-49] click above to read lessons |
As I watched the news about the war over the past several weeks I began to realize the many different types of parades that are associated with it. The most significant parades were in Iraq. I became intrigued by these parades, because there had been a subtle expectation that as our troops marched into Iraq, we would see the Iraqi soldiers parading toward our forces under a white flag of surrender and the civilian population would parade through the streets dancing for joy. Then reality set in as the soldiers paraded with their weapons drawn and the civilian population was hesitant to parade at all. But when the Iraqis finally realized that Saddam’s regime had been toppled, they paraded throughout the city streets, still somewhat hesitantly, but little by little they have come out of their hiding places. One newscast showed a picture of people waving palm branches as they greeted American soldiers in Baghdad this past week. It caused me to think about Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem.
There seemed to be the air of expectancy as Jesus paraded into Jerusalem, that he was coming to liberate the city from Roman oppression. With shouts of Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David! Hosanna in the highest heaven![1] The people who had gathered along the road leading up to Jerusalem waved palm branches in jubilation as Jesus passed by. But as the week progressed and other parades occurred, the jubilation turned into exasperation and even anger.
Today we are invited to join in the parades with Jesus, beginning with the road strewn with palm branches, that leads not to a throne but the cross. We are summoned to the garden with his disciples, to his trial before the Jewish high council and the inquiry by Pilate, to the final parade leading out of Jerusalem to the “place of the skull” where Jesus ascends the cross.
The Gospels paint for us a picture that sees Jesus humiliated. His messiahship is ridiculed as he refuses to bow to the sarcasm of the Jewish council, the apathy of Pilate, and the death cries of the crowd.
The popular name for this Sunday is Palm Sunday, but it also has another name - The Sunday of the Passion - which refers to the sufferings of Jesus Christ in his crucifixion. Paul in his letter to the Philippians says, "...Though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be exploited, but emptied himself..."[2] This self-emptying of Jesus is what we call his Passion. Yet, I believe there are two dimensions to Jesus' Passion. Certainly, we see Jesus tormented and suffering beyond human endurance. Try to picture the streets of Jerusalem as Jesus carrying his cross was paraded to the place called in Hebrew Golgotha. There are no Palm branches, instead, it is probably strewn with rotten food, food throw at Jesus, littering the streets on which he walk. Try to imagine the nails piercing the skin, and the difficulty to breathe as Jesus hangs on the cross. The Passion of Jesus is one of humiliation and loneliness, one of suffering and pain. The great spiritual "Were You There When They Crucified My Lord," has probably evoked some of the strongest feelings from people as they are drawn into the Passion of Jesus' death.
Yet, the Passion of Jesus Christ is something else as well. The passion of Jesus is men and women, boys and girls. We are the passion of Jesus Christ. He is so passionately in love with us, that out of love, and love alone, "(he) emptied himself, taking the form of a slave...(and) humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross."[3] No law commanded his obedience, other than the law of love, a passionate love of God and us. Because of this love, which Paul reminds us is the greatest spiritual gift of all,[4] Jesus embraced the cross.
Only a love that is willing to suffer could have saved us. Only God's love could do it. When the Centurion said, "Truly, this man was God’s Son!"[5] it was not from the mind that he spoke. To the mind this was a senseless death. As I said last Sunday, "The cross speaks to the heart." Only a passionate, divine love could have suffered the way Jesus did. This is the love that only the heart knows, and it is from the heart that the Centurion speaks.
We - have been saved by this divine love, a love that permeates the hearts of all who follow Jesus. This is the cross of Jesus, a love so sincere, so passionate, that he was willing to give his life for us.
How do we fare at carrying the cross? How far do we get when the going gets rough? Do we love enough to walk the distance? To give a little bit more? To be a bit more caring, more patient, more sincere, more honest? These are the ways that you and I can be Christians who walk with our Savior.
Jesus has walked the path before us. He knows both the difficulties and the obstacles - especially the obstacles of human nature with its desire to remain safe, comfortable, secure, and in control. When we give our lives to Jesus, his passionate love permeates our hearts, enabling us to manifest this same love toward others. It is then, and only then that we enter into the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ. For we are called not only to receive the Passion, the love of God in Jesus Christ, but to share it also.
In her devotional writings, Evelyn Underhill, a early twentieth century mystic, writes, "Because we are all the children of God, we all have our part to play in His redemptive plan; and the Church consist of those loving souls who have accepted this obligation, with all that it costs. Its members are all required to live, each in their own way, through the sufferings and self-abandonment of the Cross; as the only real contribution which they can make to the redemption of the world."[6]
The Passion is more than a story, it is an invitation. If we are to follow Jesus, to walk with him, if we are to carry our cross, it will be in love. Not just the love of Jesus, but of others as well.