Processional Gospel: Luke 19:28-40
Isaiah 50:4-9a • Psalm 31:9-16 • Philippians 2:5-11 • Luke 23:1-49
23456789101112"Then the assembly rose as a body and brought Jesus before Pilate. 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.” Then Pilate asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?” He answered, “You say so.” Then Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowds, “I find no basis for an accusation against this man.” 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.” When Pilate heard this, he asked whether the man was a Galilean. 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. 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. He questioned him at some length, but Jesus gave him no answer. The chief priests and the scribes stood by, vehemently accusing him. 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. That same day Herod and Pilate became friends with each other; before this they had been enemies.
13Pilate then called together the chief priests, the leaders, and the people, 14and 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. 15Neither has Herod, for he sent him back to us. Indeed, he has done nothing to deserve death. 16I will therefore have him flogged and release him.” 18Then 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.) 20Pilate, wanting to release Jesus, addressed them again; 21but they kept shouting, “Crucify, crucify him!” 22A 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.” 23But they kept urgently demanding with loud shouts that he should be crucified; and their voices prevailed. 24So Pilate gave his verdict that their demand should be granted. 25He 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.
26As 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. 27A great number of the people followed him, and among them were women who were beating their breasts and wailing for him. 28But Jesus turned to them and said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. 29For 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.’ 30Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us’; and to the hills, ‘Cover us.’ 31For if they do this when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?”
32Two others also, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with him. 33When 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. 34Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” And they cast lots to divide his clothing. 35And 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!” 36The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine, 37and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” 38There was also an inscription over him, “This is the King of the Jews.” 39One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” 40But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? 41And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.” 42Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” 43He replied, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”
44It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, 45while the sun’s light failed; and the curtain of the temple was torn in two. 46Then Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.” Having said this, he breathed his last. 47When the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God and said, “Certainly this man was innocent.” 48And when all the crowds who had gathered there for this spectacle saw what had taken place, they returned home, beating their breasts. 49But all his acquaintances, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things."
Did you notice it? Did you catch it? When did that moment of realization come for you? In the span of just a few minutes, we have traversed six days of the Holy Week story of Jesus. When did you notice the transition from Palm Sunday celebration, to Good Friday lament? Was it the invitation to contemplate Jesus’ “passion”, the name we give to Jesus’ last days before crucifixion? Was it the servant song of Isaiah, echoing Jesus’ torture: “I gave my back to those who truck me…” (Is. 50:6) Or was it Paul’s “Christ hymn” to the Philippians, reminding us that Jesus’ triumphal entry to Jerusalem didn’t get to his head, but rather he “emptied himself, taking the form of a slave…” (Ph. 2:7)? Or was it the passion story from Luke, with our very own words that sadly put Jesus on the cross: “Crucify! Crucify him!” (23:21) At this point we may feel as if this sudden transition from one extreme to the other has driven a nail into our uplifted hearts, just as the very words of “Crucify him!” nail Jesus to the cross in brutal fashion.
What happened to Palm Sunday? Some of us may remember a time years ago when Palm Sunday was not Passion/Palm Sunday, but focused just on Jesus’ royalty and power that reign with servant-like humility. With the liturgical renewal coming out of the Roman Catholic Church’s Vatican II council in the 1960’s, and the revision of the common lectionary many years later, it was decided that because so many cannot attend services on the great Three Days—Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and the Saturday Vigil of Easter—many could go right from the joyful Palm Sunday procession, to the joyful Sunday appearance of the resurrected Jesus . Today becomes Passion-slash-Palm Sunday so we can all see that we cannot get to Easter resurrection without the cross. What happened to Palm Sunday? It is celebration tinged with the awareness that our voices that shout “Hosanna in the highest!” will be the same voices that demand Jesus to die.
Our palms themselves carry that same conflictedness of joy and lament as our voices. Cheryl Pinter, who has been working for many years at this church as a custodian, made a profound observation this week to me as we were talking about preparing for Holy Week. While many of these palms today get brought home and will turn into crosses, others will be left here, or thrown into the trash. Cheryl told me that every year she always retrieves these palms that get left behind. She told me she brings them home and puts them in her garden—or somewhere where they can be seen as a prayerful reminder of Jesus. To Cheryl these aren’t just any branches. These are precious palms that give praise to the Lord of our lives. These branches may seem silent, but indeed, they too sing out to bless the one who comes in the name of the Lord.
At the same time, these palms also sing a tune of despair, that they, along with us, and along with Jesus, will die. With the palms that do not get taken home today and are left here, Cheryl and I will be storing these precious palms until next year, when they will be burned to become the ashes that mark our foreheads on Ash Wednesday. These palms of praise will mark our heads with the cross and the words we heard at the start of this Lenten season, “From dust you came, and to dust you shall return.”
Although what we hold in our hands today holds both the joy of our songs of praise, and the brokenness of the ashes to which we will return, it is at the intersection of those two places where Jesus holds these things together. Jesus feels them both on the cross. Jesus’ throne isn’t that processional colt; it isn’t being the focus of a victory parade. Jesus’ throne is the cross, where he wrestles with that same question we ask today: how can this palm-waving crowd so full of love and passion for Christ so quickly become cruel and violent and vindictive?
As quickly as we transition today from life to death, we are moved even more quickly from shouts, to silence, as we stand at the cross with the disciples. As Jesus hangs on the tree, we see the tragic reality of our nature.
But on the cross we also see the depths of Jesus’ faithfulness, and the depths of his compassion for us. For Jesus, this is not the end. The cross is his beginning of new life. God’s power is at work in him, and in us, even in the midst of tragedy, scandal and pain—even as we strain to see God at work.
This Holy Week, I invite us to watch the faithful and compassionate depths Jesus goes to for us, and follow him. Let us follow him as he washes our feet, breaks bread with us, empties himself for us—just as we will empty this chancel bare and strip it bare at the end of the Maundy Thursday liturgy. Let us follow him as he walks to the cross in solidarity with us—just as the cross will be processed down the aisle to this chancel on Good Friday. Let us follow him as he rests with us in death in the tomb, and as he joins with those newly baptized into his death and into his resurrection on Saturday’s Vigil of Easter.
As Jesus lies on the cross, seeing us watching him, he puts our shame to death. As we stand as the church at the forefront of this Holy Week, what is Jesus putting to death in our lives? What is Jesus putting to death in the world? What is Jesus ending as he lies on the cross? I invite us all, as we watch Jesus go all the way for us during the Three Days, I invite us to see Jesus putting to death that which leaves us and our world at a dead end. I invite us to consider what fears does Jesus most need to put an end to this year—fears about the economy, fears about sicknesses we face…whatever it is, turn them over to God, so that Jesus can put them to death, and again open us up to new life and a new beginning. It may not be the new beginning we expect, or want, but Jesus promises to bond us to his new life out of the depths of his cross.
As he is crucified, Jesus seems silent as a stone as he is crucified. But his cross still shouts out “Hosanna” and “Glory be!” at his putting to death anything that separates the love of God from us. Nothing can ever keep us from hearing this choral strain of praises raising up to our Sovereign who reigns from the cross: Jesus, who is our Christ. Amen.
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