Palm Passion Sunday
April 13, 2014
Matthew 21:1-11; Philippians 2:5-11
There is a tumblr blog that I follow
called “Ev’ry day I’m pastorin’…” A
recent entry is titled “The Plight of the Associate Pastor” with a video clip
from the movie “27 Dresses” showing the lead actress Katherine Heigl wearing
one of her 27 bridesmaid dresses.[1] The caption reads, “Always preaches Palm
Sunday, never Easter.” I truly don't mind, because there’s an
advantage to preaching the same holy day each year, and that is that I remember
what I preached about last year. You
see, it had a catchy title: “Highway to the Danger Zone.” Last year I focused on how Jesus enters Jerusalem
knowing that his Passion is coming, knowing that Good Friday is coming, knowing
that the crowd that today shouts “Hosanna!” will in just five days shout
“Crucify him!” This year has become Part II because I’d like to
take that idea a little further. This year, I
realized that Jesus does the joyful procession with the palms not just knowing
that Good Friday’s coming, not just knowing that Easter’s coming three days
later, but knowing the long-term future, the last things, the end of time. He does this triumphal entry into the danger
zone not just knowing danger is imminent, but from the vantage point of God’s
kingdom fully come. Jesus knows the end end game.
A couple weeks ago my Disciple class
did an exercise that invited us to consider present events and dilemmas from
the last things of your life, and I’d like us all to think about it for a
minute. Close your eyes, and think about
what’s going on in your life right now.
What’s troubling you? Now, imagine
yourself at the end of your life. In
your last hours, your last days, will that trouble matter? Looking back at your life from that vantage
point, will whatever you’re going through be all that important? What will be important then? [pause]
You can open your eyes now. It’s
an interesting way to gain perspective. Jesus
perceives events this way throughout the Gospels, he views the present from the
angle of the future. He tells the
disciples multiple times what’s going to happen with regards to his death and
resurrection and that God’s kingdom is going to come. And yet, even though Jesus can look back on his
passion from the future, that doesn’t seem to make it any easier for him to go
through this week. He seems somewhat
reluctant to go through with what he knows is coming, and he even knows how
it’s going to turn out!
We are all
plagued with fear and doubt at times, and that includes Jesus. As our second reading, also known as the
Philippian Christ hymn, explained, in Christ, God took on human form. Jesus is fully God and fully human and his
fully human self experiences the whole range of human emotions. He enjoys spending time with his friends and he
weeps when his friend, Lazarus, dies.[2] Jesus gets mad when he enters the temple and
kicks out everyone who set up shop inside a holy place of worship.[3] He calls King Herod a “fox”![4] And as we journey with Jesus through Holy Week,
we discover that while he is willing to carry out God’s will, there are times he doesn’t really
want to. Listen to his prayer in the
garden of Gethsemane: “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from
me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”[5] Or, in another translation: “Father, this
is the last thing I want. If there is any way, please take this bitter
cup from Me. Not My will, but Yours be done.”[6] Or my husband’s paraphrase: “Seriously,
Dad? Do I have to? Can’t we just do
the fire and brimstone thing again?
No? *sigh* Fine.”
Jesus
seems to have a few doubts. He’s
reluctant to do what God’s calling him to do.
The path is clear. The happy
parade into Jerusalem will lead to the cross will lead to victory over death
and the salvation of the world. Jesus
knows God’s long-term plan, he knows what he’s gotta do, and he knows today
begins a time of great trial and tribulation that will eventually lead to his
death on a cross. The disciples, on the
other hand, think today is great! Jesus
is finally entering Jerusalem and will inaugurate his kingdom! Yay God!
But Jesus has a different perspective on things. He knows the rest of the story after today,
and while the long-term is good (who doesn’t want to defeat death?), the
short-term is fraught with peril (or, in modern parlance, sucks).
Is
that something you can identify with? Are
there times when you know God is calling you to something, but the journey from
now to that place seems full of potential for disaster and so many unknowns? You know
God’s calling, but how he’s going to make a way just isn’t clear? It’s all right to be reluctant. Captain America in his newest movie has his
doubts about what he’s doing and whether he’s doing the right thing or
not. Right and wrong were a lot clearer
during World War II than they are now.
However, Captain America is a soldier, and soldiers obey orders. He has his reservations, but he still does as
he’s told.
Because
what’s important is that we follow through with it, anyway. God
calls us to follow him boldly, despite our fears and doubts and questions and
reluctance. Even Jesus, “being found
in human form, humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death—even
death on a cross.”[7] Jesus was obedient to God’s plan for his
life. He knows that the crowd cheering
him today is fickle, and will turn on him by Friday. But I can’t imagine him not smiling and
enjoying today’s procession and enjoying the people’s happiness. Jesus doesn’t sulk his way through the
crowd. He goes through with it, boldly.
The
very first sermon ever I preached before I’d even had a class on preaching and
was at my first summer field ed. The
text was from Genesis 22, when God asks Abraham to take his only son Isaac and
sacrifice him. God had already promised
to Abraham that he would make of him a great nation through Isaac, offspring as
numerous as the stars. It doesn’t say
what Abraham was thinking, we’re just told his actions, but Abraham had to be
wondering. What God was asking him to do
didn’t make sense. But Abraham trusts
God and obeys him, anyway. He does what
God asks, even though it didn’t make sense.
Since this was my first sermon, it didn’t have three points and I only
had one illustration, taken from my life.
Before seminary I had been serving in Nicaragua on a three-year contract
with a mission agency. After only one
year, God said it was time to leave and to go to seminary. I had my doubts about that, as you might
imagine. Leaving early meant leaving my
students, breaking my contract with the mission agency, and announcing an
abrupt change of plans to my supporters.
Plus, I had already done grad school once and I swore I was never going
back to school! It didn’t make sense for
me to return to the U.S. permanently at that time. But I did.
And two weeks after I finished that first field ed is when my husband
and I were married. God knew the
long-term plan; he has that advantage.
He knew it was the right time for me to return. I had to put aside my doubts and follow.
If we face our
fears with our faith in God, he will
see us through. A lot of us are going through major life
changes this spring: selling a house, changing jobs, the death of a parent, the
birth of a child, the graduation of a grown child. I don’t know if it’s the season, or what, but
it seems that a lot of us are going
through major transitions this spring, some which we chose and others which we
didn’t. We have our doubts and our fears
about what’s going on. We may pray for a
sign for reassurance that we’re doing the right thing. Sometimes God sends neon signs and sometimes
it’s harder to interpret. Sometimes it’s
our own fault and we ignore the sign because we don’t actually really want to
do what God’s calling us to do and we’d rather pretend otherwise.
Christian
comedian Ken Davis tells the following story about waiting for a “sign from
God.” A Christian gets on an empty city
bus, walks to the rear, and sits down.
‘Lord,’ he prays, ‘if you want me to speak to someone about you, please
give me a sign.’ At the next stop
another passenger boards the bus, goes all the way to the back, and sits down
right next to the Christian. The
passenger asks, “Do you know anything about Jesus?” The Christian excuses himself for a moment
and slowly bows his head and once again prays, ‘Lord, if you really want me to
talk to this stranger, I need just one more sign. Please turn the bus driver into an
armadillo.’[8]
Now,
if you’re praying for armadillos, then it sounds like you don’t really want to
do whatever it is you’re praying about. You
don’t want to obey God, whether out of fear or doubt or for some other
reason. Are you praying for
armadillos? Or are you ready and willing
to follow your Savior wherever he may lead, including this week, to the
cross? God doesn’t always call us to
things that make sense by the world’s standards. He calls us to die to ourselves and live to
him. He calls us to be obedient. And if you are obedient, God will see you through.
My
Disciple class moved into the book of Acts this week and the first few chapters
talk about how the apostles and early believers act and preach boldly.
Moreover, the early church prays for more boldness! What would happen if we were to pray for more
boldness? If we were to act more boldly,
and less fearfully? If we were to follow
Jesus, wherever he may lead us, secure in the knowledge that there’s no safer
place to be than in the center of God’s will?
Sometimes following Jesus leads us through a danger zone. Sometimes it means we go through a period of
uncertainty as we wait for God to open a door, or even a window. Sometimes it’s hard to follow Jesus, but he’s
a better wingman than Iceman or Maverick, and he will see us through, just as
he will see us through this Holy Week as we follow him yet again to the
cross. Maundy Thursday and Good Friday services
are both at 7 p.m. Come listen to the
story again, discern where God’s calling you to obey him, and gain the courage
to take up your cross and follow him once more.
