Palm Sunday
March 20, 2016
Luke 22:14-23:49
Earlier this week we had our kids’ Holy Week service. The service starts with Palm Sunday and walks through a lot of the events of Holy Week to put the whole story in context for the kids. We end with a preview of Easter, just so as not to leave the kids in the bleakness of Good Friday. We had the service before Holy Week this year to remove it from spring break when so many families go away. But even in previous years, when it was held during Holy Week, my more liturgically correct friends have sometimes given me a hard time for trying to fit so much into one service.
But the proper Episcopal Palm Sunday service today actually prompts us to do pretty much the same thing. We start with Palm Sunday and can choose to use the entire Passion Gospel reading, from Last Supper through Jesus’ burial. The resurrection bit of the Gospel isn’t read today, but you can certainly find hints of it in our Creed and Eucharistic prayers.
Just like this morning, on Wednesday we began out in the circle and heard the story of Jesus entering Jerusalem and then waved our own palms as we processed in singing. In a way, we became part of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. It looked and felt so joyful, so hopeful. For a minute we could almost forget what was about to happen.
Now, one difference between this morning and the kids’ service is that I had kids with costumes and roles to play on Wednesday. Two young girls eagerly found the donkey’s colt (or as close as I could get) that Jesus would ride on and then helped lead our procession. They took their job seriously and led us well, unhurried and steady. Then we moved on to other parts of the story, with other kids helping to show us where to have our Passover celebration, passing out bread and wine, acting as soldier and angel.
But one of the girls who had originally led our Palm Sunday procession pulled me aside a little later, looking worried.
“Who am I?” she asked.
“What?” I responded. (I didn’t think I’d heard her right, because she knows I know her.)
“Do you know who I am?” she asked.
“Of course!” I answered smiling. “You’re Charlie. I know you!”
“No,” she said, looking even more serious. “I mean, who am I really?” “Uh.” I paused. Maybe she wanted me to say her given name? “Charlotte,” I answered.
“No, no!” she insisted, stopping me as I started walking off to join the rest of the group. “I mean who am I right now? Where am I in this story?”
Now, it may have been that she was hoping her original role would have some more lines. But it may have been that she was on to something, something even deeper than I’d been considering when I planned our Holy Week walk-through. There are so many places where we might find ourselves in this story. And this is the week set aside for just that.
Luke 22:14-20
14 When the hour came, he took his place at the table, and the apostles with him. 15 He said to them, "I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; 16 for I tell you, I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” 17 Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he said, "Take this and divide it among yourselves;18 for I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” 19 Then he took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 20 And he did the same with the cup after supper, saying, "This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.
During Holy Week we are confronted with the cross and it’s meaning more abruptly than usual. In seminary-speak, ideas about why Jesus died on the cross are called theories of atonement. There are many theories, and favorites are ever changing. Is Jesus’ death a substitute for ours? Or did Jesus’ death satisfy God’s requirement for holiness? Or did Jesus pay the penalty for our sin? Or did his death set an example for us? Or is the cross Jesus’ victory over evil and death? Scholars don’t agree on the answer, and Jesus’ own disciples clearly didn’t understand either. But I love Luke’s simple take on the question: "This is my body, which is given for you.” and “This cup … is .. my blood … poured out for you.” For you. And you. And you. And me. We may not ever completely understand the why, but maybe we can live without that if we can come to really believe that it was for us. For all of us.
And then we follow his instructions and we keep eating the bread and keep drinking the wine and keep remembering him. Not remembering from afar, or objectively, but knowing ourselves part of this story. Remembering that it is really for us.
Luke 22:21-23
21 But see, the one who betrays me is with me, and his hand is on the table. 22 For the Son of Man is going as it has been determined, but woe to that one by whom he is betrayed!” 23 Then they began to ask one another, which one of them it could be who would do this.
24 A dispute also arose among them as to which one of them was to be regarded as the greatest. 25 But he said to them, "The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those in authority over them are called benefactors. 26 But not so with you; rather the greatest among you must become like the youngest, and the leader like one who serves. 27 For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one at the table? But I am among you as one who serves. 28 "You are those who have stood by me in my trials; 29 and I confer on you, just as my Father has conferred on me, a kingdom, 30 so that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and you will sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 31 "Simon, Simon, listen! Satan has demanded to sift all of you like wheat, 32 but I have prayed for you that your own faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” 33 And he said to him, "Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death!” 34 Jesus said, "I tell you, Peter, the cock will not crow this day, until you have denied three times that you know me.” 35 He said to them, "When I sent you out without a purse, bag, or sandals, did you lack anything?" They said, "No, not a thing.” 36 He said to them, "But now, the one who has a purse must take it, and likewise a bag. And the one who has no sword must sell his cloak and buy one. 37 For I tell you, this scripture must be fulfilled in me, 'And he was counted among the lawless'; and indeed what is written about me is being fulfilled.” 38 They said, "Lord, look, here are two swords." He replied, "It is enough."
There’s a lot going on here, but the part that stands out for me is the teaching that Jesus comes as one who serves. There is no foot washing story in Luke, but this is the same idea. Jesus hasn’t invited the disciples to walk with him, learn with him, and pray with him to make them great and powerful leaders. He has been modeling all along a way of love and care and service for others that all of us disciples are called to live into, and almost all of us have trouble with.
Luke 22:39-46
39 Jesus came out and went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives; and the disciples followed him. 40 When he reached the place, he said to them, “Pray that you may not come into the time of trial.” 41 Then he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, knelt down, and prayed, 42 “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me; yet, not my will but yours be done.” 43 Then an angel from heaven appeared to him and gave him strength. 44 In his anguish he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down on the ground. 45 When he got up from prayer, he came to the disciples and found them sleeping because of grief, 46 and he said to them, “Why are you sleeping? Get up and pray that you may not come into the time of trial.”
After having his Last Supper with the disciples, Jesus goes off to pray, “as was his custom.” For him, prayer was so much a part of who he was that it was his natural response to the darkness he knew lay ahead of him. It was his custom. He knew that only time with God would give him the strength he needed.
We see from this story that the disciples’ time in prayer that night was a little less impressive than Jesus’ earnest, blood-sweat encounter with the angel. I’m guessing they started out with good intentions, but then they fell asleep. But I’m relieved that they were there at all, that they at least knew their need to follow Jesus when he went off to pray. I easily find myself in this part of the story. With these disciples who may not have known how to sustain that kind of fervent prayer like Jesus did or live the kind of faithful life that Jesus lived, but they knew enough to want to. We Christians are people that want to follow Jesus. Even if, just like those original disciples, we often fall asleep.
Luke 22:47-48
47 While Jesus was still speaking, suddenly a crowd came, and the one called Judas, one of the twelve, was leading them. He approached Jesus to kiss him; 48 but Jesus said to him, “Judas, is it with a kiss that you are betraying the Son of Man?”
Judas reminds me of Snape in the Harry Potter series. He’s someone you instinctively dislike and can’t dredge up much sympathy for. We want to place the blame on him for everything that goes wrong. And yet, even as he repels us, we can’t help wondering whether there isn’t more to his story. Judas is an enigma. We aren’t quite sure what he’s up to. You can see the different Gospel writers trying to understand why he did what he did, trying to cement his evil intentions. Maybe so that they don’t have to look too closely into what might turn out to be a mirror. Judas was money hungry! Or maybe Judas was bitter that Jesus wasn’t willing to go along with his zealous desire to overthrow Rome! Or the old standby - “the devil made him do it!”
About 10 years ago, the world of the Bible was rocked when scholars discovered a Gospel of Judas in which Judas was knowingly asked by Jesus to be the one to betray him in order to set God’s plan in motion. No one was sure what to do with this version of Judas, who might have been honorable and faithful. Like Harry Potter with Snape, it is hard for us to let go of the demons we create. Especially the ones that make us feel more certain about our own rightness.
But even Judas was included in that Last Supper with Jesus. Jesus gave his body and blood for Judas too.
Luke 22:49-62
49 When those who were around him saw what was coming, they asked, “Lord, should we strike with the sword?” 50 Then one of them struck the slave of the high priest and cut off his right ear. 51 But Jesus said, “No more of this!” And he touched his ear and healed him. 52 Then Jesus said to the chief priests, the officers of the temple police, and the elders who had come for him, “Have you come out with swords and clubs as if I were a bandit? 53 When I was with you day after day in the temple, you did not lay hands on me. But this is your hour, and the power of darkness!”
54 Then they seized him and led him away, bringing him into the high priest’s house. But Peter was following at a distance. 55 When they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat among them. 56 Then a servant-girl, seeing him in the firelight, stared at him and said, “This man also was with him.” 57 But he denied it, saying, “Woman, I do not know him.” 58 A little later someone else, on seeing him, said, “You also are one of them.” But Peter said, “Man, I am not!” 59 Then about an hour later still another kept insisting, “Surely this man also was with him; for he is a Galilean.” 60 But Peter said, “Man, I do not know what you are talking about!” At that moment, while he was still speaking, the cock crowed. 61 The Lord turned and looked at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said to him, “Before the cock crows today, you will deny me three times.” 62 And he went out and wept bitterly.
Peter said he did not know Jesus. It was a lie, a denial. And yet maybe it was also the truth. Maybe in some way this was Peter’s confession. This wasn’t the Jesus’ he’d thought he was following. He thought he’d found the Messiah that everyone else would soon recognize and honor too. He had never believed it would really come to this. He’d said as much to Jesus more than once when Jesus predicted his ugly end. He wasn’t sure he was up to being a follower of Jesus if this was what it entailed.
Maybe we need to make this same confession ourselves. I do not really know him, and what I think I know is certainly incomplete. And the glimpses that seem most true are usually the hardest.
Luke 22:63-23:12
63 Now the men who were holding Jesus began to mock him and beat him; 64 they also blindfolded him and kept asking him, “Prophesy! Who is it that struck you?” 65 They kept heaping many other insults on him. 66 When day came, the assembly of the elders of the people, both chief priests and scribes, gathered together, and they brought him to their council. 67 They said, “If you are the Messiah, tell us.” He replied, “If I tell you, you will not believe; 68 and if I question you, you will not answer. 69 But from now on the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the power of God.” 70 All of them asked, “Are you, then, the Son of God?” He said to them, “You say that I am.” 71 Then they said, “What further testimony do we need? We have heard it ourselves from his own lips!”
The assembly rose as a body and brought Jesus before Pilate. 2 They began to accuse him, saying, “We found this man perverting our nation, forbidding us to pay taxes to the emperor, and saying that he himself is the Messiah, a king.” 3 Then Pilate asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?” He answered, “You say so.” 4 Then Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowds, “I find no basis for an accusation against this man.” 5 But they were insistent and said, “He stirs up the people by teaching throughout all Judea, from Galilee where he began even to this place.”
6 When Pilate heard this, he asked whether the man was a Galilean. 7 And when he learned that he was under Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent him off to Herod, who was himself in Jerusalem at that time. 8 When Herod saw Jesus, he was very glad, for he had been wanting to see him for a long time, because he had heard about him and was hoping to see him perform some sign. 9 He questioned him at some length, but Jesus gave him no answer. 10 The chief priests and the scribes stood by, vehemently accusing him. 11 Even Herod with his soldiers treated him with contempt and mocked him; then he put an elegant robe on him, and sent him back to Pilate. 12 That same day Herod and Pilate became friends with each other; before this they had been enemies.
We’re about to turn an ugly corner. Now, along with the entire assembly — both church and state — we’re about to stand on the other side of our Palm Sunday procession, accusing and condemning Jesus. Like it or not, our story now places us among the people watching Jesus with suspicion and fear. The light has changed, and now Jesus suddenly looks more like a threat than a promise.
2000 years ago, Jesus challenged the luke-warm and judgmental religion of the Pharisees and he undermined the Romans’ assertions of national exceptionalism. And so he was killed in the name of justice and faith by people who believed they were doing the right thing. Today, as we become part of the crowd in this story, how does Jesus challenge our own luke-warm and judgmental religion? How does he undermine our own assertions of exceptionalism?
Luke 23:13-25
13 Pilate then called together the chief priests, the leaders, and the people, 14 and said to them, “You brought me this man as one who was perverting the people; and here I have examined him in your presence and have not found this man guilty of any of your charges against him. 15 Neither has Herod, for he sent him back to us. Indeed, he has done nothing to deserve death. 16 I will therefore have him flogged and release him.”
18 Then they all shouted out together, “Away with this fellow! Release Barabbas for us!” 19 (This was a man who had been put in prison for an insurrection that had taken place in the city, and for murder.) 20 Pilate, wanting to release Jesus, addressed them again; 21 but they kept shouting, “Crucify, crucify him!” 22 A third time he said to them, “Why, what evil has he done? I have found in him no ground for the sentence of death; I will therefore have him flogged and then release him.” 23 But they kept urgently demanding with loud shouts that he should be crucified; and their voices prevailed. 24 So Pilate gave his verdict that their demand should be granted. 25 He released the man they asked for, the one who had been put in prison for insurrection and murder, and he handed Jesus over as they wished.
This awful scene, where the crowd keeps shouting “Crucify him!’, is hard to hear. Sometimes on Good Friday, when roles for the Passion Gospel are assigned, the entire congregation joins in on this one and you feel so complicit, so unclean. Jesus has done nothing wrong and yet the crowd demands his death. I wonder how we follow the furor of the crowd rather than listening for the honest, challenging voice? How are we complicit in resisting the love and mercy of Jesus?
Luke 23:26-34
26 As they led him away, they seized a man, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming from the country, and they laid the cross on him, and made him carry it behind Jesus. 27 A great number of the people followed him, and among them were women who were beating their breasts and wailing for him. 28 But Jesus turned to them and said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. 29 For the days are surely coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never nursed.’ 30 Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us’; and to the hills, ‘Cover us.’ 31 For if they do this when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?”
32 Two others also, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with him. 33 When they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified Jesus there with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. 34 Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.”
Jesus shows us how different life in God’s kingdom is from life in the world. Rather than defending himself and assigning blame, Jesus issues a blanket forgiveness for the whole system. With this one line spoken in the midst of his darkest moments, Jesus forgives the disciples who deserted him, Judas who betrayed him, the soldiers who arrested him him, the ruling and religious elite who condemned him, the crowd that screamed for his death, the passive bystanders. And all of us forever who often have no concept of the harm we do by our actions and inactions. What might our lives be like if we truly believed forgiveness were possible even for us? And equally possible for the ones whom we find unforgivable?
Luke 23: 34(b)-43
And they cast lots to divide his clothing. 35 And the people stood by, watching; but the leaders scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!” 36 The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine, 37 and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” 38 There was also an inscription over him, “This is the King of the Jews.” 39 One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” 40 But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? 41 And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.” 42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” 43 He replied, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”
If it wasn’t clear before, with Jesus’ words of welcome to the criminal beside him we can see that he has ushered in an entirely new order. Instead of being defined by our mistakes and regrets — instead of death having the last word, now love reigns — the kind of love that never wearies in extending and receiving second chances. We may not get to the resurrection part of the story this morning, but the promise is already clear. What could that assurance of welcome into God’s paradise mean for the way we live our lives?
Luke 23: 44-46
44 It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, 45 while the sun’s light failed; and the curtain of the temple was torn in two. 46 Then Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.”
Jesus doesn’t avoid suffering. He walks unswervingly into the darkest place so that he can be there to meet us whenever we find ourselves in our own darkest places.
But in Luke’s version of the passion story, Jesus also knows he hasn’t been abandoned by God on the cross. He relinquishes all that he is and all that he has into the heart and hands of his loving God and Father. At funerals we use these words too: “Into your hands, O merciful Savior, we commend your servant.” But how can we, like Jesus, commend our lives to God, even now while we are fully alive?
Luke 23:46(b)-49
Having said this, he breathed his last. 47 When the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God and said, “Certainly this man was innocent.” 48 And when all the crowds who had gathered there for this spectacle saw what had taken place, they returned home, beating their breasts. 49 But all his acquaintances, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things.
Maybe in this story we are most like those women, standing at our distance of a few thousand years, watching all these things, maybe not at all sure what any of it means. And yet, just like those women, we are included in this story. From Palm Sunday to Good Friday, but also from Creation to Incarnation to Resurrection. I encourage you this Holy Week to find some small piece of this story and spend some time there. Imagine yourself at the table receiving a piece of bread, or on the mountain when Jesus is arrested, or by the fire where Peter is confronted with his own humanity, or on the road as the heavy cross is carried, or hearing Jesus’ words of forgiveness, or near him when he breathes his last. Every piece of God’s story is big enough to include us wherever we are.
The Gospel of the Lord.
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