Sunday of the Passion: Palm Sunday The Liturgy of the Palms
Mark 11:1-11
The Liturgy of the Word
Isaiah 50:4-9 Psalm 31:9-16 Philippians 2:5-11 Mark 15:1-39
After a few minutes of small-talk, I finally blurted out the question to my colleagues that has been on my mind since the middle of Lent: “How does one preach this particular Sunday? What does one emphasize on this particular Sunday? Which is it, Passion Sunday or Palm Sunday?
There is such depth of emotions, richness in imagery, transparent images reflecting conflicting ideas of power, feelings of jealousy, pathos, joy, disappointment, confusion, betrayal; of lament, humility, obedience, grief, and ending with the shocking testimony of a Roman centurion that would take a month of sermons or weeks of Bible study to scratch the surface of what is taking place in today’s lectionary readings. On one hand, today’s story begins in the eleventh chapter of Mark’s Gospel with Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem with shouts of “Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!” that finds a different voice in that of a mob with screams of “Crucify him” motivated by political convenience, treachery, and ambivalence.
The prophet Isaiah writes of the lament of the servant who announces his mission and reports on the suffering that it brings. His message of liberation is met with resistance but he is nonetheless confident that with God’s help, he will endure.
In the appointed section of Psalm 31, the psalmist provides for us the words and feelings of lament and anguish in this petition to God in the
midst of an unrelenting crisis. It’s clear that the psalmist is writing from a place of depression, sickness, and persecution though based on an underlying faith and trust in God. The image of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, praying to his Father that his appointed time might pass, provides yet another layer of emotional poignancy to the readings for this Sunday.
Today’s portion of Paul’s letter to the Philippians reflects a rather short but succinct summary of who Jesus is and what his mission was all about; “who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited but emptied himself taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death- even death on a cross.”
So which is it, Passion Sunday or Palm Sunday? As we begin our walk with Jesus on this day that will take us from the festivities associated with the celebration of Passover to the house of Simon the leper where we hear of a woman who anoints Jesus with an expensive jar of ointment, where we read of Judas’ arrangement with the Jewish authorities to betray Jesus, where we find Jesus and his disciples gathering in the upper room for the Passover meal, where the disciples question who among them is to betray their master, where Jesus institutes the Lord’s Supper, where Jesus tells his closest friends that they will all desert him at the moment of his destiny with death, where his most trusted disciples can’t stay awake as Jesus prays in deep distress and agony, where Jesus is arrested, taken before the Jewish and Roman authorities, where he’s railroaded by the aforementioned religious and governmental authorities, where he’s sentenced to death but beforehand is stripped, scourged nearly to death, spit on, mocked, nailed to a cross, mourned by his family and many other women, and finally treated with respect and buried in a tomb belonging to Joseph of Arimathea. So which is it for you: Palm Sunday or Passion Sunday? What did you hear today in these readings? What images came to mind? To whom do you identify: the centurion, the mourners, the
disciples? This story will continue to play out this coming week and I’m convinced that our willingness to live with and explore our feelings, our questions, and our reactions to what we find will have a dramatic impact on how we will experience Easter, the celebration of God’s victory over sin and death. So I invite you to sit with this unfolding drama that is ultimately revealed to be the greatest love story in the history of humankind. To go directly from “Hosanna” to “Alleluia” with no time for grieving or wondering will leave you wanting.
On a slightly less ominous note, during my weekly study session with fellow clergy, one of my colleagues walked us through this little nugget of insight involving a four-legged character from Mark’s Gospel we read out in the portico. In this story, Jesus sends two of his disciples out on an errand to find a colt upon which Jesus would enter Jerusalem. This is similar to the story in the longer Passion narrative where Jesus sends two disciples to go and prepare the place for him and the rest of the disciples to share in the Passover meal. The locating and preparing of a donkey, and the preparation of a meal, two rather routine requests though somewhat shrouded in mystery for members of Jesus’ inner circle. These simple tasks asked by Jesus of his dearest friends reminded me of another fellow from the first chapter of Mark’s Gospel, a fellow named John the Baptist. This camel-wearing, locust-eating man from the wilderness also had a task, to embody the prophet Isaiah’s writing as the voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.” Both John the Baptist and the aforementioned two unnamed disciples were doing the work of “preparing the way,” a response to a call of discipleship that plays out today in everyday places and circumstances, including here at Holy Spirit.
I wonder if you’ve ever thought of the work we do here as “preparing the way” for Jesus? I know I hadn’t really considered it in that light during my life as a Christian. But isn’t that what we do in our everyday, routine, maybe even mundane activities as disciples of Christ? I’ve only been with you 90 days, but I can think of numerous instances where one or more of you “prepared the way” with your acts of kindness and compassion: praying
for those facing difficult circumstances, rejoicing with those who are celebrating life’s milestones, committing time and a listening ear to inmates in our local jail, providing transportation to and from medical appointments, ensuring that our worship space is appropriately prepared for our use, writing cards to those who could use a word of encouragement, supporting with both goods and financial resources the work of Bonner Homeless Transitions and the local food bank, and sharing your love and goodwill with each other every Sunday. I was also thinking about all the work that went into buying and renovating this holy space some 10+ years ago. I think of the time, the skill, and love of place of those of you who built the two wooden crosses, constructed signs, hung drywall, painted, installed lights, added bathrooms, and built a magnificent kitchen, all ways in which the life of this community continues to “prepare the way” as a beacon of Christian living and for those called to a life in Christ in the Episcopal tradition. I look forward to our efforts in “preparing the way” as we provide the funding for underprivileged kids to attend Camp Cross this summer. I think of the folks who established St. Agnus and “prepared the way” for the mission of God in Sandpoint decades ago.
My friends, most of us are not called to do what the world would consider “great things.” It is in our daily lives of prayer, service, acts of charity and compassion, words of encouragement and hope, that “prepares the way” for the Holy Spirit to work in the lives of the lonely, the lost, the hopeless, and to those seeking meaning in their lives. Our actions as followers of Christ “prepare the way” for the ongoing work of the Spirit in our own lives. As you ponder what lessons lay in store for you this week, I pray that you will be encouraged and find hope in what you experience and that you might see yourselves as partners with John and the disciples as “preparers of the way.”