Palm Sunday
D. G. Phillips
Holy Communion
AD 2008
Matthew 21:1-11
Philippians 2:5-11 Matthew 27:1-54
"Let this
mind be in you that was also in Christ Jesus: who…humbled himself;
and became obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross "
Today we begin
the holiest week of the year.
And we begin
this week with two gospels of triumph –
The first is
the triumphal entry
of Jesus into the earthly Jerusalem – humble, riding on a donkey,
lauded by the crowds as their king – Hosannah to the Son of
David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.
The second is
the triumphal entry
of Jesus into the heavenly Jerusalem – humiliated, lifted up upon
the Cross, mocked and spit upon by the crowds as an imposter -
Thou
that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save
thyself: if thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross. … He
saved others; himself he cannot save: if he be the King of Israel,
let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him. He
trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him: for he
said, I am the Son of God. The thieves also, which were crucified
with him, cast the same in his teeth.
The first
triumphal entry
we can easily understand – finally after three years of earthly
ministry in Israel Jesus allows the people to laud him openly as
their King. After telling the disciples of his coming passion and
death, Jesus chooses to enter into the holy city very publicly. He
tells them to bring him an ass tied. It is the same beast that King
David rode when he arrived in Jerusalem 1000 years before. And it
was to fulfill the prophecy Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold,
thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt
the foal of an ass.
This Jesus we
find it easy to follow –
- This
Jesus gave us success in the spiritual life – a new liveliness in
our youth, when we got insights, when we saw changes in us, a new
self control, even an empowerment, spiritual gifts and success in
the raising of a family, or success in careers outside of family, we
were strengthened to minister in new ways to others
- this
was the success of being part of the winning religion –
Christianity, the foundation of all the great institutions of
Western society – best to go with the winner
- this
was being part of the successful church that everyone came to attend
– look at the liveliness of the Sunday School
- this
kind of life of faith we could easily embrace
- The
Jesus who performs miracles in our midst, revealing His divine
power, who has all the right answers.
- This
is the Jesus we want to follow – this is the Jesus of the palm
branches, the sign of kingly triumph. This is the way the disciples
were excited about – can I sit on your right hand and on your left
in your kingdom?
It is a
foretaste of the triumph each of us will know in heaven. In
Revelation St. John writes, "After this I beheld, and, lo, a
great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and
kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and
before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their
hands." [Rev. vii. 9.]
But the way to
this success, this triumph, strangely, is revealed in the second
triumphal entry of Jesus into the heavenly Jerusalem. The way of
the Cross is the stumbling block, it is not so easy to understand,
it is perhaps not the triumph we first thought we were embracing
when we embraced Jesus.
- The
way of the cross reveals itself to us when in our Christian lives
there no longer seems to be an upward ascent
- It
happens when there is a certain humiliation and mocking of society –
our children no longer see us as gods, our careers come to a ceiling
or to an end and we are being replaced by others, we are fading away
from the limelight, the buzz and whirl of the world with its new
technologies is unconcerned that we are left sometimes bewildered,
- physically,
our health is diminishing, we experience a certain humiliation as
our bodies do not work as they once did
- the
church we are a part of is one that is increasingly marginalized –
looking more and more ridiculous to the world for all sorts of
reasons
- this
is the Jesus of suffering – a loss of health, a loss of influence,
the loneliness that fills us as we continue to live with the loss of
loved ones or the loss of their vitality
- this
is the life of faith we are less eager to embrace – the careful
searching of our hearts to see our own sin, our foolishness and to
confess not just our reluctant-sometimes-dependence upon God but our
utter and complete dependence upon God to save us
- this
is the life of crucifying our wayward desires
- This
is the Jesus we don’t really want to follow – this is the Jesus of
the Cross. To follow Him and His way we need great courage.
This holy week
we are witness to this second Jesus, this Jesus of the Cross. As we
hold before our eyes His passion and death through the witnesses of
the four gospellers, Jesus gives us courage. Here is something new,
a deep mystery of love being shown us. Here Jesus pours out his
life for us and shows us the way.
Whoever would
come after me, let him deny himself,
and take up
his cross and follow me.
It is not to
make a virtue of failure. It is not embracing failure for failure’s
sake, but the transformation of our ideas of what is success and
what is failure. When the world looks upon us as pathetic, we look
back at it with the loving eyes of Jesus, embracing our sufferings
and our humiliations in faith, knowing this is the way of
perfection, it is the way of the Cross.
It is the Jesus
of the Cross who leads us to the Jesus of the palms. This is why we
have this symbol of the palm cross which holds together these two
teachings, the two Gospels we have heard today: the palm, a symbol
of the victory that our Lord makes possible for us; and in the shape
of the Cross – the way and means to that victory.
LET this
mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: who…made himself
of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant…and
humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death
of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and
given him a name which is above every name; that at the name of
Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in
earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should
confess that JESUS CHRIST IS LORD, to the glory of God the
Father.
Amen.
